On Thanksgiving I ran the local Gainesville Turkey Trot 10k, sponsored by Lloyd Clarke Sports.

I chose to race in my Soft Star RunAmoc DASH shoes, pictured here with the race t-shirt:



A significant portion of the course was beautiful grass or trail. It very much reminded me of a High School Cross Country course. There were nice arrows painted every few meters and some sections were marked with tape:



My RunAmocs (with the 5mm trail sole) really enjoyed the grass. Out of all my shoes, these RunAmocs with the Vibram trail sole get the best traction on surfaces that look like this:

Saturday I ran the 2011 Tom Walker Memorial Half Marathon. The race course travels along the scenic Gainesville-Hawthorne trail, a nice out-and-back course on a paved bike path.

It was a cold crisp morning (around 40 degrees at the start), but the temperature was destined to go up 10-15 degrees during the race. After diligently checking the hourly weather forecast, I think I handled the temperatures perfectly, wearing a jacket at the start and shedding it after the first mile or so. Here I am cruising along beside Meredith Defranco fairly early in the race:


Photo copyright Martin McCrory Photography.

I had some stomach trouble a couple of days before the race so I think my energy stores were low. I did my best to keep up on the gatorade. I really need to learn how to drink out of a paper cup and not slop it all over myself or half-drown myself. I lost more than a couple seconds dealing with beverages at the aid stations.

I am very happy with my race since my performance was a huge PR at this distance. I improved my time by over 20 minutes from the previous year. I managed to run pretty consistent splits, I didn't go out too fast and stayed within my aerobic capacity for most of the race.

My performance was good enough to earn 2nd in my age group and 5th overall.

The finish line photo captured my official time of 1:29:51 (average pace 6:51 per mile):

I spotted Krampus at Tipple's Beer and Wine Store the other day and had to take a picture. I first learned of Krampus from a running blogger named Scott who writes wonderful running tales of his running experiences:

http://derscott.blogspot.com/2011/02/...tacks.html

Every race is different.

Last year I ran this race barefoot and had a blast, despite ending up with very sore feet. This year when I returned to the Brooksville, Florida area to run the John Holmes 16 Mile trail run, I opted to wear shoes. I wore a slightly used pair of Altra Instincts that I borrowed from a friend (thanks Matt C.!). As I become more performance-oriented in my racing, I am tending to want a little more protection around my feet on race day.



The 50k runners started at 7am. The 16 Mile race that I ran started an hour later. The 16 Mile course consists of a short run down the road to spread out the runners followed by two loops of mostly single-track.

The eventual winner (Brandon Dahlem) took off from the start. The leader disappeared by the time we hit the single track. Somehow I found myself cruising along in 2nd place, leading a small pack of runners. I skipped the first aid station. Then we hit the first group of hills. By the time we hit the 2nd aid station I had dropped all but one of the runners behind me. I took my time at the 2nd aid station, drinking a cup of water and gatorade (I continued this drinking strategy for the rest of the race since I ran without carrying any water). The 2nd aid station is where this runner (Hector Guzman) passed me and I was never able to catch him. He slowly got out of sight and I didn't see him for the rest of the race. He finished 2nd overall. I didn't see any of the other 16 Mile runners for the rest of the race. There were very long portions where I didn't see ANYBODY.

I was definitely hurting by the time I finished the first loop and hit the aid station. The race organizers were taking pictures here:

A few weeks ago I was on vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I wore my Soft Star RunAmoc DASH moccasins on a number of occasions.

I was completely in awe of the RunAmoc DASH trail sole's traction on the rounded boulders of the Appalachians.

Pictured here are my RunAmoc DASH on the Grandfather Mountain mile high swinging bridge, 5280 feet above sea level:



I was only able to sneak in one trail run during my vacation. I chose to wear the RunAmoc DASH since they felt so good crawling around on the rocks near the Grandfather Mountain visitor center.

I had researched some trails in advance of the trip and decided to run on the Tanawha Trail near the Blue Ridge Parkway and Grandfather Mountain. In summary, the trails were rooty and rocky and beautiful. I saw humans only once the entire time. I enjoyed the solitude.

I parked at the Cold Prong parking area (BRP milepost 299) which had a clearly marked sign to get on the Tanawha Trail, pictured here: