RUR Roots Race

This weekend marks a roots race of sorts for the Rise Up Runners. Trail Dawgs in 2008 was the first race for our fledgling running group. Joel, Landy, Keene, and Valliant rolled over to Newark, ran various races, and met the RUR ultra guru Derek. A recap of the day can be found in the RUR blog archives, here.

In my mind, the Trail Dawgs course boasts one of the premier 13 mile loops around. If you poke around the triple crown photos on the blog here or on the TD site, you'll find scenic single track, a sweet creek crossing, a grassy finish (positioned at the end of a pretty mean climb, especially if you are making it for the second time to finish the full marathon!).

Since this time last year, the Rise Up Runners have grown exponentially per number of runners. We've gone as far north as Vermont as a relay team for the Vermont 50-miler. We've headed to Killens Pond to complete a 50K. We've taken Rehoboth Beach by storm for the inaugural marathon there. And RUR's rocked the podium most recently in Denton for a local 5K.

Anyone who runs with us will tell you, this is not a running group about racing. But man is it fun to head to a race with a pack of folks, push yourselves, inspire each other, and enjoy the day and being outside and running. On Saturday RUR's Lori, Keene, Shaun, Bieber, Joel, and Valliant head to Newark. Lori and Keene go after the Triple Crown (half-marathon, stop, 10K, stop, 5K, running the gauntlet), while the rest of us look to rock the half-marathon. AND, an RUR first, Liz Shilliday and Robin Valliant will come out and have at the 10K.

Weather looks warm and sunny. Should be a blast. We'll look for what the next group race might be. We've covered some miles over the past year plus. But it occurs to me that one thing remains the same: we've yet to kidnap Charlie and get him out to a race...;)

A Run in the Snow

You can't beat a snow day. Not flurries, but enough snow to slow or stop work and/or life around town as we know it. We had one of those snows this past Sunday/Monday. And most things around Easton and Talbot County took heed and stayed indoors. Most things.

One of the things I have enjoyed the most about the Rise Up Runners crew is that just about everyone is a gamer. Not a videot (vidiot) kind of gamer stuck on the couch or in front of a screen, but the kind of gamer who likes to bring their "A" Game to adverse terrain, weather conditions, or bizarre kind of challenges :)

For the Rise Up Runners, Monday morning was a call to action to run in the snow. Mike "Snow Frog" Keene ventured up to Easton from Wittman, while Joel Shilliday, Shaun Hunter, Lori Callahan, and Valliant ran to Lori's to meet and see where we could run. We explored the town with the help of Joel's black lab Sampson.


There was some serious high-stepping involved at times. There was some mean wind and snow whipping if you ran against it. But it was surreal and a blast and a perfect way to kick off a week with friends and an expedition. I find I am as prone, or more so, to wanting to go play in the snow at age 36 as I was when I was 6. Glad to see I am not alone on that!

By Foot or By Board

Some things are the same, whether you get up early to run or to hop on a longboard. One, you still have to get up early. Two, you should probably still bring something to drink. Three, with this morning as an example, it is still cold. And four, most importantly, when the weather is right, you still catch a sweet sunrise. Coming back up Oxford Road this morning with Charlie and Landy, I was glad to stop and bust out the camera to catch a couple photos. My bulky gloves didn't do any favors with trying to take anything worth keeping, but it's something.



This morning was 18.5 miles or so--my longest ride to date, with much more long distance pumping than pushing. One key difference between running and longboarding though: later in the morning, I was quick to jump back on the longboard to hit Rails to Trails with our Golden Retriever Ivan. I felt fairly spent after the morning's long ride, but still good. I can't say I've ever gone back out to run later the same morning of an 18-mile run :)

Rise Up Longboarders?

Our oldest son, Will (6) on my Subsonic Pulse 40.

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It's all Derek's fault really. I mean this in the nicest way. It all started when he sent us a link about this guy named Barefoot Ted, who is an ultrarunner who recently started skateboarding very long distances through a technique known as long distance pumping or LDP.

At first, I sort of chuckled and thought "That's just the sort of crazy thing Derek would be into". But then I thought about it some more and came around to the idea that is could really be challenging and fun.

I always wanted to skateboard when I was growing up, but it just never happened for me. I tried out a friend's board here and there but never really felt coordinated with it. The board felt too tiny, the wheels didn't seem to roll enough. Who knows? I even tried again on a small street board when my son wanted a skateboard a couple years ago, and nothing had changed- I still stunk. But now, things are a lot different with longboards. The boards are bigger, sometimes much bigger. The wheels are bigger too and actually roll nicely. Balance is more comfortable at first, and this long distance pumping idea seemed more like exercise, more like a long run, and more like a challenge that was less pounding on the body than a marathon but no less intense. If you have a few minutes, I highly recommend checking out James Peters' excellent site on LDP here. There are also a few videos filed under how to pump which demonstrate pumping better than I ever can in words.

Before I knew it, I had ordered a LDP board called the Pulse 40 from Subsonic Skateboards. I waited a few weeks for it to be made (very cool to have something made for you in this day and age), and then gave it a try soon after it arrived.

When I first got on the board, I was struck by two things. One, balance was way easier on this than any street/smaller skateboard I had tried before. Two, the board really likes to turn on the front trunk. It felt twitchy at low speeds or when trying to push off and go straight, but it turned so easily when I wanted it to that it inspired confidence early on. I really had no clue how to pump at first. I watched the videos several times and read the descriptions, and I soon managed a feeble wiggle on the front trunk that extended the glide of the board only a little. It wasn't really pumping, more like pumping light.

But I stuck with it. The first mile was exhausting. I felt muscles in my legs I didn't know I had. Every time I tried to push off the ground with one foot, I almost fell off. I felt wobbly. I fell a few times. But I was smiling most of the time. I felt like a kid again. After a few sessions, I began to feel an actual pump happening as I could feel the board accelerate during a quick turn. I could hit slightly higher speeds. One mile became two, and then three, and then five. I worked up to fifteen miles last Thursday and today I am hoping for twenty-five.

Soon, I was pumping to the Y to get to my other workouts in the early morning. I joined fellow RURs on my board alongside their morning run on a Tuesday, and I could keep up. I even joked the next time that I needed to find some faster running friends! All I can really say is that pumping is addicting, and that it feels sort of like a combination of other sports that I like. It has been described by others as surfing an endless concrete wave. I would say that it has the smooth feeling of rolling along just like cycling, with the steady rhythm and upper body movement of running. Add to that the improvisation and fun of dancing with the fluid, wavelike feeling of (pick your watersport). That is the best I can do to sum it up. Of yeah, I forgot to add to that a little bit of the feeling that LDP is weird, different, and, depending on where you live and skate, illegal, and you've got a pretty compelling package.

I'd love to share more, but I'd rather skate than type, and I have some training to do. Ultraskate VI is coming up in March, and I have to get ready for it!

--landy