Where's the Donuts?

March 29, 2024

Recent EntriesHomeJoin Fast Running Blog Community!PredictorHealthy RecipesDavid Nelson's RacesFind BlogsMileage BoardTop Ten Excuses for Missing a RunTop Ten Training MistakesDiscussion ForumRace Reports Send A Private MessageWeek ViewMonth ViewYear View
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2007200820092010201120122013201420152016
15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

WA,

Member Since:

Feb 10, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

I was an 800/1500 runner in high school and college, with PRs of 1:55 and 4:08. I've run as fast as 16:15 for 5k and 1:20 for a half, but my bests in recent years are 17:07 5k (Dec. '11), 37:40 10k (Jan. '12), 1:23:49 half (Sept. '08), 2:53:12 marathon (September '10), and 4:45:06 50k (March '10).

Short-Term Running Goals:

Late 2015/2016 races: 

— Seattle Soltice 10k (Dec. 19)

— Nookachamps half marathon (Jan. 16)

— Toyko Marathon (Feb. 28) 

Personal:

I'm an editor at a newspaper in Bremerton, Washington and head coach of the Bremerton Jaguars youth track and field team.

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Total Distance
15.00

Bear 100 report, I'll keep mine short because I'm sure Jon did the whole thing more than enough justice on his blog post

After marking the course and spending Friday morning with Paul and Cody at the Leatham aid station, I was feeling pretty close to the Bear. As much as I loved running that aid station and seeing everyone through, the one thought that kept going through my head was "You're going to keep going another 80? You, the person who looks half dead already?" But our boy Jon looked good when he cruised through, so I was sure we'd see him in good shape later. After seven hours at the aid station Paul and I broke camp and I drove up Logan Canyon to find Team Allen.

I ended up a little later than expected and found Cody at Tony Grove. Jon was doing great, ahead of his "average" projection. We saw him through that station and Joe ended his pacing, letting Cody take over. Joe and I crewed through Franklin Basin, Logan River (Which won my nod for best aid, with the Christmas lights and campfire and dutch oven BBQ. I could have stayed there all night.) and Beaver Mountain Lodge. Both guys looked great through each of those aids.

At Beaver Creek Joe and I had some time to kill, so we napped just a bit (really cold outside by that point) and then prepared for Jon to show. He was a little behind what we were hoping, so I was getting antsy to start running. When Cody led Jon in, Cody grabbed me and said "Dave, he's not doing as well. Keep talking to him." We took off at a walk on the trail heading north from Beaver Creek. Sure enough, Jon wasn't talking much, other than to promise it would be the slowest 15 of my life. No problem, as long as we got through.

We walked most of the first two miles, which are an easy grade on a forest road. I encouraged Jon to do some little 20-30 second jogs, just to keep us moving and his head in it (and I really wanted to run). The moon was out and it was clear, so even hiking wasn't bad. Warmer than I thought once we got going as well, I ended up dropping pants and shirt at Ranger Dip. But I knew Jon was struggling, he kept talking about how exhausted he was overall and couldn't respond much, and mentioned he just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. Uh oh.

After we finished that climb and got into the sagebrush field overlooking part of Bear Lake and back on the canyon a lamp showed up in the distance behind us. It was Leland, and we let him push us (before we knew who it was) then pull us (after he passed us). And, just like that, Jon clicked back in. We maintain a jog for awhile, which he'd been struggling to do, and then he started talking in a normal voice. I knew we were good at that point, and we hit the Ranger Dip aid soon.

We moved through quickly, changing batteries and grabbing drinks. The hill out of the aid is super-steep so we hiked it slowly, letting Leland lead again. At the top we passed Leland almost right away and zipped down the initial stretch. My lamp sucks so I was running through the tress mostly by feel, and almost biffed it a few times. Jon and I hooked up again right before the huge descent into Bear Lake. He had the good advice to separate by 30 seconds or so, so we didn't kick dust up on each other. I let him lead, keeping an eye on his lamp up ahead. It was a really peaceful and spectacular view to look out on that glassy mountain lake lit up by the moon and stars, and (other than kind of a crappy trial to run on) was a neat experience. We battled down the hill faster than he and Cody had trained on it, then hit the gravel road two miles from the finish and kicked it in. My ankle was pretty sore from the downhill pounding, but I knew it wasn't anything like what Jon felt. We had a brisk pace going, we were chatting freely, and I knew Jon just wanted to finish and hit that sub-21. Well he did it, we met Cody and Joe on the highway before the end and ran in as a team.

Comments
From Jon on Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 22:35:29 from 98.84.46.139

I didn't know Cody told you I was doing bad at mile 85. If he thought that was bad, he should have seen us an hour later, right!

Thanks so much for your help. I'll recommend you as a finishing-pacer to everyone I know! It was great to have you pushing me and run across the finish with you. Glad you could come.

From Cody on Wed, Sep 29, 2010 at 22:55:00 from 174.52.244.185

I am glad you were to there to get him to the finish. Things were getting a tad iffy. I never doubted, I swear! I had a blast hanging out with you a bit this week as well. Come back soon!

From David Nelson on Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 01:33:17 from 24.16.251.190

Anytime guys. Cody may have already sold me on Vaquero Loco for next summer. I had a blast, thanks for letting me jump in with you. I finally downloaded some photos, I'll shoot them over tomorrow.

And Jon, really good race report on your blog. Enjoyed reading the full perspective and I have a much better understanding of what the race meant to you. I'm proud to have been a part of that.

From Jon on Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 21:42:07 from 98.84.43.102

Dave- you and the other guys were a big part of it. Definitely send me your photos, I'd love to have them.

Add Your Comment.
  • Keep it family-safe. No vulgar or profane language. To discourage anonymous comments of cowardly nature, your IP address will be logged and posted next to your comment.
  • Do not respond to another person's comment out of context. If he made the original comment on another page/blog entry, go to that entry and respond there.
  • If all you want to do is contact the blogger and your comment is not connected with this entry and has no relevance to others, send a private message instead.
Only registered users with public blogs are allowed to post comments. Log in with your username and password or create an account and set up a blog.
Debt Reduction Calculator
Featured Announcements
Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):
Recent Comments: