MIWOK 100k

Right after the  North Face Endurance Challenge  I signed up for the lottery to participate in the Miwok 100k which is a race a little longer than the NFCE but not by that much (100K is 62 miles – only 12 miles extra!) so I felt it was within reach if I kept my training about the same and even built on the acquired endurance leading to NFEC. What really attracted me to the Miwok ultra is that it was in the same area as the NFCE. I was enchanted by the Marin Headlands in December and I wanted to go back.

And one week after NFCE I received an email stating:  “Congratulations, you have been selected to participate in the 2012 Miwok 100K.” I feel pretty lucky this year with race lotteries (I also got into Pikes Peak Marathon which is not really a lottery but it’s pretty random as the online registration gets clogged).

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North Face Endurance Challenge 2011

In 2011 I haven’t raced much. I think I was a little burned out from all those Ironman events. I engaged in other things, mountaineering and trail running (see previous Trans-Sierra-Express post). It was nice to stay away from the crowds and the commercial buzz of all races. I had signed up for the San Francisco marathon to run with a friend but he broke his foot so I skipped.

So I really entered only two events this year but they were truly unique. One was the Amsterdam Marathon that I ran with my son and the second was the North Face Endurance Challenge 2011 50 miles trail run. Both runs were truly special. I wrote about the Amsterdam Marathon previously. Here’s the NFEC race report!

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AMSTERDAM MARATHON 2011

My older son Miro is born in Amsterdam fifteen years ago. Since we live in the US we went back to Amsterdam a couple of times and I promised we would back when he would turn 15. We did go back when the was 13 on a lark to watch the Soccer World Cup Final on Museumplein (we were in France already). The Dutch lost…

And one day we became aware that the Amsterdam Marathon 2011 was one day away from his birthday (some years exactly on his birthday) so I asked him if he would be interested to run  it. And he said yes! A perfect example of someone who jumps into their first marathon and doesn’t know how painful it’s going to be and that’s great! I did my first marathon when I was about 16 and I actually walked the whole time – and I couldn’t walk for one day!

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TRANS SIERRA EXPRESS

Or how to run across the Sierra Nevada and beat the car – introducing the Trans Sierra Express! 

This summer I thought about the following challenge: I bet that I could cross the Sierra Nevada range running and go faster than a car which would have to drive around it! And I won (kind of)!

I decided that the race would start from Cedar Grove / Road’s End on the west side of the Sierra Nevada and end on the East Side at Onion Valley Campground. By foot (running) it’s a 22 miles trail run (with 7,000 ft of climbing eastbound, less westbound). By car, it’s a 354 miles ride taking 7 hours according to Google maps (not counting pit stops). I thought I could beat that both ways so I got started with preparations.

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born to run – book review

I usually don’t read books about running. A little while ago I had read a book about running by Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running… and I found myself disgusted by his self-importance, exhibitionism, and vanity. I’ll never read a Murakami book again, while I was quite a fan of his fiction work. In other words, I don’t care why one of my favorite writers ran or had a snotty nose or slept on the right side of the bed. Not interesting. I just love running! However…

Because I run “barefoot“, I usually end up recommending that people read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall although until recently I never read it. It was something to offer as support for the cause of barefoot and natural running. I never read it because I felt I didn’t have to be convinced of anything while at the same time I wanted to read it… I finally got the book. It made it to the top of the pile pretty fast: I was very curious about the Tarahumara tribe and the journey of the writer. And a question I had: how can someone write so much about running?

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