Well, this is going to be a long one. Pull up a good chair and settle in. I don’t even know where to begin this post after such a hectic but adventurous summer. I could start all the way back at Comrades Marathon in June or even go back to The Salomon Running Academy in Italy. I just haven’t had much breathing room from one week to the next so I’ll focus on the times where I’ve learned something, had a grand adventure which is always worth a story or been involved with the inner workings of the sport of running.

Or maybe I’ll just start with how I’ve been remodeling our rental property. You know, the most mundane daily activities are sometimes the most important. Due to my current state of being a professional athlete or what most would call “out of work” I got to go back to my roots and do some demolition and remodel work. I really enjoy working with my hands and building, or destroying something to make it better, and it’s something I used to do as a summer job when growing up spending the summer in Sacramento, CA working for my Dad. It was the cheesy cliché part of my life that taught me the value of hard work and it was the kind of work that would teach you exactly why you should go to college.  Well, I did go to college but I never lost that tenacity that taught me that in order to succeed you need work hard and harder than your competitors. That’s why after a good day of sealing asphalt or weed eating black berry bushes in 100 degree heat I would put my running shoes on, run down to the park to cross country practice at the local high school so I would be ready when the season came. I hear the line all the time from people now “I just don’t feel like getting out for a run after a full day of work”. Sorry, not much sympathy here. Is it hard to get out there? Yeah, totally. I get it. But once you take a few steps, problems melt away, your legs come back and it just feels good to get in some exercise. It becomes easy.

So the remodel of the house is done and ready for a new tenant and I feel like I accomplished something with my hands. It was fun and reminded me that I’m lucky to get to do what I do but only because of where I’ve come from and what I’ve done in the past.

Enough reminiscing.

I haven’t raced much lately other than the local Twilight 5k and a terrible Mountain Running Champs, but what time I lacked racing this summer was well spent in other adventures. It’s been a tremendous summer with a week and a half mentoring and teaching at Steens Mountain Running Camp (read about that here), RD’ing the USATF Mountain Running Champs in Bend (which from all accounts I’ve heard and my perspective were a huge success and a lot of fun to put on even if it wasn’t much fun to race), and now we’re full on in preparation for the middle school XC season with our Central Oregon Running Klub Youth Summer Practice.

Mountain Running Champs

Race Director Duties

Then Race

All of this gets in the way of training of course so why even do it? I get asked that every once in a while by an athlete that doesn’t understand how many opportunities that sport has given them. It’s because of those opportunities early on that we are fortunate enough to be able to do what we do now; adventure in the mountains, try to inspire that generation to get outside, and have the time to run fast.  I truly enjoy both sides of sport and feel like I can give back to it more fully now because of what I’ve been able to accomplish through performance, if that makes sense.

I haven’t totally neglected the training this summer though and have had ample time to get into the mountains.  Romping all over the place up at Steens Mountain is such a fresh reset of my soul each summer that it has become a necessary restart to the year.

Steens Mountain Running Camp

Photos by Kevin Janzter

A recent trip to the Wallowas in Northeastern Oregon, which I’d never even been to before, stoked my passion for just being outside in the forest, in the mountains, with granite rock all over the place. Have I mentioned that I love granite. I do. I don’t know why but man, it’s like a big playground. It was a cool trip. Three days, two nights of fast packing with three good friends. It almost didn’t end well after Tonya became pretty sick over the final couple of miles. It was a bit too much to cap off the weekend. We’d planned on bushwhacking the final 5 miles from one trail, up over a ridge, to the trailhead where the car was parked and being back by about 4pm. But a bad bonk and stomach issues would have us scrambling into the car just as it got dark. It ended up being much more than we bargained for with steep bushwhacks before we finally cleared onto a doubletrack road and could make for home at a reasonable pace. I ran ahead a few miles to retrieve the car, roared back down the road to where the other three would ford a river before crossing through a meadow and making the road where the car awaited. We were touch and go for a while and it was bad enough that when we had cell service we attempted a rescue call to the local Forest Service station. It was closed so didn’t work and we weren’t willing to wait around for a full on Search and Rescue effort that would actually end up taking way longer than staggering the rest of the way out. It was an epic last couple miles and ended up well all the way around in the end. Scary though.

 The Wallowas

Photos by Tonya Littlehales

These fastpacking running trips have been one of my big highlights lately. Spending a few days rather than hours exploring new territory, being in the wild, kind of geeking out on new gear is all a ton of fun. The best part is being able to really connect and spend time with a couple good friends without the stress of a race. I’m looking forward to many more in the coming years.

 Mt Blanc Marathon

Going back all the way to June the Mount Blanc Marathon was way cool. There’s so much to say about that trip. In a nutshell I got to see the Annecy Salomon HQ, help design a few new prototypes of a way cool new project (hush hush on that), had a mold made of my foot, did 3 more days of shooting in epic locations with the African Attachment for an SRTV episode for next year, ran TWO races, and had a wonderful vacation with my wife. Who now thinks I’m spoiled after getting to see what I have to endure on these international trips. This one was a bit out of the ordinary because of the rather large Salomon contingent at this race and the proximity to Annecy though.

Photo by Phillip Reiter

Photo by Jordi Saragossa

Despite just coming off a hard race at Comrades and treating the Mount Blanc Marathon as more of a “fun” race rather than a serious performance, it actually went rather well and I graded myself as having my best big Euro mountain race to date with a surprise 3^rd place finish. My body just hadn’t been feeling good from Comrades so I made this trip about exploring Chamonix further and doing what needed to get done for the SRTV episode. I shut it down the day before the Vertical K race on Friday so it wouldn’t feel too sluggish however. I didn’t feel sluggish but that is so far out of my comfort zone as far as a race goes that while it didn’t go nearly as well as I would have thought, it was a ton of fun. 37 minutes of redlining. Ouch. One of the more painful races I’ve had in a while but that got the competitive juice flowing and the endorphins were in full swing after that. I couldn’t believe how steep that course was.

The VK Course - This was my face for the last half as I gasped for oxygen

Saturday was a good rest day and Dory and I walked around Chamonix and took in the sights a bit before racing the Marathon on Sunday. I never felt great during the race, I just never really died like I usually do when there’s a ton of climbing involved. At one point I think I was in about 10^th during the first big climb. I let people go as they charged up the climb and tried to be smart during this one. The downhill was super technical at the top then leveling out to a nice runnable section. I pushed that section as I could then it was into the final big climb up to Flegere from Col du Montet. This is where I started to come on strong. I was feeling good, had good energy and my legs were moving. It felt so good to have that kind of feeling late in a big mountain race. I moved up through the field not really knowing where I was. As I crossed the finish line at Plan Praz huffing and puffing. I looked around to congratulate whoever had finished ahead of me. I only saw two other guys and the race officials wanted me to stand with them for a photo. That’s when I asked “Um, what place was I?” When they said I was 3^rd I was so confused. I didn’t think there was anyway I moved up through the field that much. But so I had.

Photo Jordi Saragossa

Photo Ski and Run

I then proceeded to raid the finish aid station dark chocolate and orange wedges and sit on the grassy hillside 3000ft above Chamonix and watch as paragliders took off right in front of us and marveled at the beauty of Mt. Blanc in the background. I don’t know how it gets any more perfect than that for a finish line backdrop.

There’s so much around there to explore and this was the first time Dory and I had both been in the Alps together. We took advantage of that and hiked to a couple refuges over the next couple days. There were so many beautiful little nooks and crannies of the Alps but we settled on a remote little refuge that’s not on the UTMB route outside Vallorcine. The hut was built into the rock in a big green bowl at the head of a canyon. The most picturesque little place you’ve ever seen. Waterfalls surrounded it with Le Buet (3000m) looming overhead. These refuges are so simple and rustic but I’ve never had a bad meal at one. It’s simple backcountry food like bread, vegetable soup, and roasted pork loin but man, it’s sooo good. They just know how to do it. Taking in the French and Swiss Mountain culture through immersing yourself in it by staying in the mountains is the best way to experience it, even when that means you might be sharing dinner with the resident cat that’s dining on wild mouse. Doesn’t get any more perfect (and funny) than that.

The run up Le Buet the next morning was amazing. Nothing like summiting a peak after breakfast, seeing all your new found breakfast friends on the way down, cheering them to the summit, and back in time for a lunch on the trail. Of course my wife took in the scenery of the mountains and stayed lounging in the sun reading a good book. To each her own, right.

Needless to say it’s been a busy summer. I’m leaving out a lot of details about Steens, the Mountain Running Champs, and our recent camping adventures with the kids. I was pretty awesome that Micah wanted to go camping for his 6^th birthday and invite all his friends along.

He said his favorite memory of being 5 was camping with all his friends so I think it was a success. It’s nice to know we’re doing something right in getting our kids to appreciate the outdoor lifestyle so far. Looking at their faces they like it a little too much, or maybe it’s just the right amount.  Hazel took up Paddle boarding (piddle paddle boarding to her) and his buddy got Micah to jump off the dock, but only once. It was a great weekend. As they grow up I can see many more adventures to come. Mom better get on the bandwagon. J

Outdoor Retailer Show

There are a lot of athletes out there that are involved in their sport, and a lot that aren’t. To really get into the nitty gritty of the outdoor world the Outdoor Retail Show in Salt Lake City is a great way to learn the ins and outs of the industry. Sometimes I think people think we just run around to races, expect that our endorsement of a product is what sells it and that’s that. The most successful outdoor companies and athletes are intertwined on so many different levels and I was fortunate enough to come into Salomon at a very exciting time. The athletes have always been integral to the development of the gear that comes out and that’s been so important in innovation across the board. The OR Show is a bit different though. It is retail buyers talking to sales reps to buy products for their stores, and the companies showcasing new products they’re trying to sell for next season to potential retailers. What does an athlete have to do with that? For me it’s meeting people. Something I like to do anyway. I get to meet the sales reps face to face so they know who I am. Next time I’m in one of their territories it’s much easier to set up an event when they know who I am. I get to do some product sessions with media outlets that are doing gear reviews and if you have an athlete that has used the new products that can talk about the product as well as the person that designed it, that’s useful to the media. It’s a win win. It’s also a great chance to meet other retailers carrying or thinking about carrying Salomon gear. I also feel like I’m in a unique position of having been a footwear buyer on the retail side as well as an athlete on the development side. Hopefully that helps the marketing team, at least that’s what they tell me I’m around for. The inner-workings of the industry are pretty interesting, at least to me, and I love being around all the different aspect from retail, to marketing, to development. There’s a little insight for you.

Currently I’m off on another adventure to a new part of the world. I’m in Sweden for Ultravasan 90km. I’ve never been to Sweden before but just the other day I found a new-to-me race format that was born in Sweden. It’s called OtillO, or island to island. So cool. Literally. It’s a point to point race format and you swim from island to island then run across the island, then swim again. Check it out: http://www.slowtwitch.com/Lifestyle/A_Rockman_SwimRun_report_5273.html Very intriguing but I won’t be trying it on this trip.