Day of Conception-- About Me

Okay, so it's not exactly my conception day...but today is the conception of this idea I've got.  I'm riding on the heels of reading Christopher McDougall's 'Born to Run' in three days and 'Ultra Marathon Man' by Dean Karnazes in one day.  After reading both of these books I started thinking, how do these guys make it sound so easy to complete an ultra when it seems so far from humanly possible to the other 99.9% of the population.  Are these great stories because after the fact, they wrote a book about their experiences?  Are there hundreds or thousands of people who start out like they do training for an ultramarathon and end up hurt or just can't run for a 50K or longer no matter how hard they train?  While Dean does a pretty good job of describing the pain and agony he's in during a race/run, both books seem to skim through training for the most part and focus on the race at hand.  I'd like to take everyone along for my ride and let everyone watch me either succeed with triumphant success or fall flat on my face.  I'd like to be an example for the average joe's out there who want to run an ultra.  Perhaps I can give someone hope, or maybe save them some money in medical expenses.

I should start by telling everyone a little about myself.  I'm 28 years old.  I have a wife and 10-month old son.  I'd rather not use our real names in the blog, so I'll call them Legs and Thumper, respectively and I'll go by Pancho.  We also have an Italian Greyhound I'll call Bambi.  I went to college at the University of Washington where I earned a BS in Mathematics.  I was working in the energy sector for a commercial renewable energy consulting firm and also helping to build computer simulations that model electrical grids for utilities, and I did this from home while taking care of our then newborn baby.  Recently Legs received an offer to become a Foreign Service Officer with the United States Department of State.  As a result we both quit our jobs and moved from Seattle, WA to Arlington, VA where she began training as an FSO.  We are now scheduled to move to Hyderabad, India in January 2013 and we will be there for 2 years, and we will repeat the process of moving to another country every 2-3 years.

I've been pretty active all my life, but I've really never been great at anything physical.  I just loved being outside and playing sports.  I played baseball, soccer, and basketball as a kid, and also took Tae Kwon Do .  Then, in high school I switched it up to football, soccer, and wrestling.  The only sport I lettered in was football and that was more of a consolation prize than anything else.  In fact, I played soccer Sophomore and Junior year on the Freshmen team, but I got to play every minute of every game and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.  After high school, in 2002, I joined the Marine Corps and served in the infantry as a scout/sniper for 4 years and went to Iraq 3 times.

In 2009, while still in college, I began training for the Seattle marathon.  I trained with Team in Training and raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  While training seemed to go really well, the major hurdle I never quite got over was the pain I would begin to feel 10-18 miles into a run.  Around 10 miles my knees would begin to hurt with every step, and then around 18 miles my hips would be causing me agony.  I managed to finish the marathon at a not-so-impressive 4:22.  By the end of the run I had a giant blister on my left foot, my knees and hips were throbbing, and rather than feeling happy about my accomplishment I felt defeated.  I didn't run for at least 6 weeks after the marathon.

Based on my marathon experience one might think that I've got no shot at completing an ultra, but the other contributor to my new found enthusiasm is barefoot running.  I'm about 2-3 weeks into the transition and I feel amazing.  I haven't quite reached the 10 and 18 mile marks barefoot yet, but I'm very optimistic.  When I run barefoot (actually in a pair of Vibrams Fivefingers Bikalas) the only pain or discomfort I have is muscular, not skeletal.  Sure, in the last three weeks my calves have been more sore than in my entire life, but my recovery time is amazing.  The farthest I've run so far is 5-6 miles, but within an hour I'm as fresh as before the run.  I think that my pain before was caused by poor running form, and running barefoot has corrected the problem.  Only time, and distance, will tell.

So that's that.  I'm proclaiming to the world that I am going to run an ultramarathon barefoot, and I want tell the story as it happens.  Unlike Dean and McDougall, I'm going to start with a half marathon, then do a full marathon, and then try to push the limits.  Since barefoot running is fairly new to me I'd like to be sure I've built a strong foundation before attempting an ultra.  I welcome comments, advice, encouragement, and even discouragement, but if you've never ran an ultra please don't try to tell me how to train for one; however, if you have run an ultra, tell me everything you know!