Well it's that time of year again. Old man winter has shown his face for what I hope will be the last time. The trails are changing from a frozen silent wasteland to a wet and slippery bobsled run. Which means one thing for me, 3 Days of Syllamo. some people have Western States and others have Leadville marked on their calenders as the coup de gras run of the season. For me it's 3 Days. The very first time I heard of this race from friend Paul Schoenlaub I was intrigued. It has everything I love in an ultra crammed into three days of sadistic punishment in the Ozark mountains of North Central Arkansas. Sweet single track, water crossings, gnarly descents, big climbs. Along with 26,000 foot of vertical gain without the thin air to contend with makes this race the Alpha and Omega in my book.
Over the last couple of years I've had bitter sweet success with this contest of human endurance. In 2007 winning the overall by taking second place on the first stage and first place for the second and third stages was a Cinderella like feeling. I only went down there with the hopes of finishing the suffer fest and to try and finish in the top five. For some inexplicable reason it was just my weekend to run well.
Well how do you top a performance like that. That was the question for 2008. My answer was to train harder and be in even better shape. Giving myself the best possible chance of defending my title. As the entries for 2008 started to roll in. I grew more and more nervous each week. The best from the west started lining up one by one to take their shot at stage running. My work was definitely cut out. So I started to push even harder leaving no margin for error.
Eventually the breaking point came for me three weeks before the race even started. I suffered a bad fall on the first loop of what was to be my last long training run before tapering. The result of that fall was a torn Vastus Medialis in my left Quad. Leaving me absolutely no time to recover. Still arrangements had been made. Vacation had been taken and I owed it to Steve Kirk to at the very least show up and try to finish. Winning was out of the question. The look on my face was anything but enthusiastic that weekend. Walking around. Sporting the number 1 on my bib. I felt like an impostor, a paper champion. Everyone was going to be gunning for me and I couldn't do anything to stop them. Some things I took away from last year was that life is funny and this sport is very humbling. The very minute you start walking around thinking you're the shit somebody emerges from a dark hallway and takes your legs out with a lead pipe.
Fast forward 365 days. As I sit here regurgitating my mind puke onto this blog for the whole world to read. I'm cautious about what I want to say. It's been a long and winding road. It's been two years since I've came into this race ready to go. Healthy, uninjured, physically and mentally ready to take on the challenge that is 3 Days. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to win this. So I'm just going to say it. "I Want To Win This." Does it mean I will. "Hell No." Anything can and usually does happen. Still I'm going to try. Whatever the outcome of next weekends race. I'll at least feel like this time I've done everything I could to do so. If it isn't good enough then so be it.
Over the last couple of years I've had bitter sweet success with this contest of human endurance. In 2007 winning the overall by taking second place on the first stage and first place for the second and third stages was a Cinderella like feeling. I only went down there with the hopes of finishing the suffer fest and to try and finish in the top five. For some inexplicable reason it was just my weekend to run well.
Well how do you top a performance like that. That was the question for 2008. My answer was to train harder and be in even better shape. Giving myself the best possible chance of defending my title. As the entries for 2008 started to roll in. I grew more and more nervous each week. The best from the west started lining up one by one to take their shot at stage running. My work was definitely cut out. So I started to push even harder leaving no margin for error.
Eventually the breaking point came for me three weeks before the race even started. I suffered a bad fall on the first loop of what was to be my last long training run before tapering. The result of that fall was a torn Vastus Medialis in my left Quad. Leaving me absolutely no time to recover. Still arrangements had been made. Vacation had been taken and I owed it to Steve Kirk to at the very least show up and try to finish. Winning was out of the question. The look on my face was anything but enthusiastic that weekend. Walking around. Sporting the number 1 on my bib. I felt like an impostor, a paper champion. Everyone was going to be gunning for me and I couldn't do anything to stop them. Some things I took away from last year was that life is funny and this sport is very humbling. The very minute you start walking around thinking you're the shit somebody emerges from a dark hallway and takes your legs out with a lead pipe.
Fast forward 365 days. As I sit here regurgitating my mind puke onto this blog for the whole world to read. I'm cautious about what I want to say. It's been a long and winding road. It's been two years since I've came into this race ready to go. Healthy, uninjured, physically and mentally ready to take on the challenge that is 3 Days. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to win this. So I'm just going to say it. "I Want To Win This." Does it mean I will. "Hell No." Anything can and usually does happen. Still I'm going to try. Whatever the outcome of next weekends race. I'll at least feel like this time I've done everything I could to do so. If it isn't good enough then so be it.
