Seattle Half Marathon and Cyber Monday

Yesterday I dusted off the Elvis suit for its 5th race (previous ones being Guinness World Records at London 2007, Rome 2008 and Seattle 2009, Miwok 100k 2011) at the Seattle Half Marathon. It was the last of my 2011 runs to help support and raise awareness for the work done at the Starfish Greathearts Foundation to help AIDS orphans in Africa, so if you're feeling generous, please donate here (UK) or here (all others).

The race was wet and windy and it didn't help that I forgot to bring a belt, which is essential for a one-size-fits-all costume. Instead I had string to hold up wet trousers, which meant they slipped down and chaffed more than usual. However, it was fun to be part of the 11,000 people running the marathon or half and to not do the full race for once, although the hilliest section is within the last few miles of both courses so that wasn't avoided. I think Amy and her sister, Megan, kind of enjoyed it as their first half marathon and longest run ever, but they may be cursing me a little bit today as they limp around.

I did spot a guy in a Spiderman suit walking around the finish after I'd eaten some food but I couldn't be 100% certain he'd run or not. You never know.

Next weekend is the big showdown at the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship 50 miler in Marin, by San Francisco. It's looking to be the hottest trail race competition of the year (sorry, UTMB), as you can see from the irunfar preview of the men's race. Just needs a couple more Salomon guys from Europe and it'd have pretty much every elite who's fit on the starting line. So it should be great to catch up with people and to meet a load more I've not bumped into before.

Finally, since it's Cyber Monday and I have a couple of coaching spots left, I'm offering 5% off my prices on my coaching website for anyone who commits today only (up to midnight PST).

Return of Elvis

Seattle marathon 2009

After a few weeks off running and plenty off racing, I tried a 5k last week and hated it. Annoyingly it was a PB, but only because the course was short and my actual speed was barely above marathon PB pace.

Luckily I have stuff that does interest me more coming right up. Firstly, there's the Seattle Half Marathon in a week where I'll be returning to the course where I last got the Elvis marathon Guinness World Record (2:42). Just half the distance this time, but faster and for charity. As with earlier in the year, I'm trying to help out the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, who help AIDS orphans in Africa. If you'd like to help me support this worthy cause, donations in the UK can be given here or other nationalities can donate here.

Given this time of year is Thanksgiving (for 330m people, anyway), it's a good time to remember how lucky most of us are and how much we take for granted, so please help the charity out if you're amused by or like my odd efforts to raise awareness.

After taking that race fairly easy, I have the final big showdown of the year at The North Face Endurance Challenge Final. This is shaping up to be a seriously competitive 50 miler, probably the best field I've ever heard of in a trail 50 (better than last year - check out some of the top names from all over the world on this list). Should be really fun to hang out with the world's best and be part of such a speedy field in one of my favorite places to run - Marin.

Enjoy the 'holiday season' as they say over here in the US and good luck with your races or off season fun.

Also, if you're thinking of a Christmas present for a runner, I have a couple of spots left for coaching and it's an ideal present for a distance runner which could help make their 2012 season the best yet. More details here.

Comrades 2011

Well, not quite to plan this time around. Comrades is always such an overwhelming experience and that was the case again, but this time in the sense that the race humbled me and left me heartbroken after spending so long focusing on it.

My race went bad after around 35km before even hitting the marathon mark and I could only jog from that point, losing motivation given that a sub 6h time was clearly not on the cards, never mind a gold medal for top 10. Luckily I perked up a bit nearer the end after seeing Kami Semick charging along as if it was the first few miles and with a shot of chasing down the Russian twins for a win. 6:25 was my final time, which was well off the 5:51 needed to get a gold medal this year.

But the real story, which I'm really glad I got to see first hand, was the set of amazing performances by the top Brits and Americans. Before I mention the names and times, I'll just lay out the stats of the course so people can appreciate how good their performances were.

• 87km (54 miles) long, from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in South Africa
• 7,000ft of ascent and 5,000ft of descent along the road between those cities (reverse those numbers when it's the down run in every other year)
• Up to $100,000 available for a win, based on sponsor/time/local bonuses and plenty more for the rest of the top 10s
• Men's course record of 5:24 and women's of 6:09
• 19,000 entrants with the deepest and strongest ultra field in the world
• Strict cut-offs with a finish line cut-off of exactly 12 hours, not a second longer

So, it's a tough race and those roads hammer the legs over the distance, especially at the pace the leaders go at. The men's winner was Stephen Muzhingi for the third year in a row, in 5:32 and the women's winner was Elena Nurgalieva for her sixth and slowest win in 6:24, with her twin sister Olesya a few seconds behind. These twins have marathon PBs under 2:30 and have won eight of the last nine Comrades, just being beaten once.

However, the twins were supposedly a bit tired from racing very hard at the Two Oceans 56km race five weeks ago (it's always over Easter which was particularly late this year) and they did look slightly weary when I ran with them for about 10k in the latter stages of the race before dropping off their pace. Kami Semick (The North Face) was chasing them hard and finished in third, only two minutes back in 6:26. If it had been a 100k, I'm certain she'd have caught them. And fellow Brit, Ellie Greenwood (Montrail), was overtaking people through the second half to finish in 6:32 for fourth, who may also have caught them given more distance. These two are on fire and now have a 1-1 record against each other after Ellie's win at American River 50 last month. Anyone want to bet who'll win their next showdown at Western States?

Kami and Ellie are both former 100k World Champions (in 2009 and 2010, respectively), but we also had the 2006 winner running since Lizzie Hawker (also a Brit running for The North Face) was out there and took it out hard. Lizzie was in third in the early stages but fell back a little to finish in seventh in 6:48. So Kami gained a position from her 2010 fourth place and Lizzie was one lower after sixth last year. Looks like it was a hell of a race out there and much closer than usual. I think all three ladies will be back to take down those Russians and it'll be good to see those battles over the coming years.

On the men's side, Mike Wardian and myself (both for The North Face) had our sights set on gold medals. The girls were all but certain to break the top 10, but the exact positions were what made it interesting. But Mike and I were 14 and 13 minutes off a gold last year, respectively, and even 10th would be a huge victory (or ideally both of us top 10). Mike had a storming race and our pre-race estimate of needing to run sub 5:50 to get a gold wasn't far off. Mike had the painful pleasure of coming 11th in 5:52, just over a minute off 10th. That is a ridiculously good run, even given his pace at the shorter distances. I'm pretty sure he'll go for and get a gold next year.

So, that's just the top end of the field and the remaining thousands included tales of victory and despair as people hit goals they'd never thought they'd achieve (for many, just to finish in the 12 hours is the pinnacle of years of training and attempts).

One other excellent British run was from Scot (hmmm...I think you're really English) Jo Zakrzewski who ran 7:14 in her first ultra (excluding Atacama Crossing). World domination for the British ladies? Also, Amy Sproston (Montrail) squeezed in the race while on a work trip to Africa and knocked out a 7:34, just missing the silver medal cut-off at 7:30. She'll be yet another person attempting the Comrades/Western States double.

All these people had fantastic Comrades runs on a course that was hillier than I remembered from my 2008 up run. It wasn't my day and the seven consecutive weekends of marathons or ultras at a decent effort level, which culminated in Miwok 100k three weeks ago, just pushed me over the edge of overtraining. My legs have felt heavy for a while, but particularly over the last month so it just made it an impossible struggle to get them to function well. Even with everything going perfectly it's a big ask for me to run fast enough for a gold and my marathon time (2:32) is significantly slower than the other guys who aim for that.

I wanted it so much and was overzealous with my training, but I'll learn my lesson and regroup. One day I know I can get a gold and it'll mean so very much to me. The race is like no other and always lives up to its billing as the 'ultimate human race.' Full results here and you can filter it for Americans, Aussies, Brits or whatever you're searching for.

It was a great trip and a lot of fun (for the most part), especially meeting old and new friends from around the world. Special thanks goes to Dave Pearse for being the best host and crew in the world, even when doing so for more people than can fit in his house.

I also ran to support the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, which helps AIDS orphans around the Comrades course amongst other places (see my Miwok posting). Brits can donate here and everyone else here. Any donation is much appreciated.

Miwok and raising awareness/money for AIDS' orphans in South Africa

It was a bit windy.

Photo courtesy of Doug Bond at mile 51.

After my fellow Bend resident (where I lived at the time) and ultra running superstar, Kami Semick, raised money for the Starfish Greathearts Foundation for last year's Comrades marathon, I was inspired to help her and the charity out this year. They support children who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa and have projects in the KwaZulu Natal Province where Comrades is set.

Given the extremely high rates of infection in South Africa and the many orphans resulting from this, I thought it'd be a great idea to help out. Therefore I've set up a justgiving site for UK residents who wish to donate at: http://www.justgiving.com/sharmanian/ as well as a donation website for anyone wanting to donate in dollars at: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/comradesTNF/comradesmarathon. Both these links also have more information about the work the charity does.

So rather than just dedicating my Comrades run to fundraising, I thought that all my big races this year could be used to raise awareness. And the traditional way to do this in the UK, particularly at the world's biggest fundraising event, the London marathon, is to run in a costume. I've already run the Napa Valley marathon this year dressed as Spiderman (see posting here) but I've never run an ultra in a restrictive costume. I didn't want to announce it too far in advance in case the unpredictable Bay Area weather was too nasty, but I did run yesterday's Miwok 100k (with 10,000ft of climbing) dressed as Elvis. This seemed like a good idea at the time, although it was actually a lot more annoying to run like that than I'd expected. Previously I've used the costume for marathons (see here), but the prospect of nine hours or more in the sun and hills was a completely different endeavor.

In short, the race was as fun and competitive as ever and I think I got a lot of unexpected smiles from runners and spectators alike who enjoyed my costume more than I did. It was meant to be more relaxed than a full race effort but running that far on that terrain will always take a toll and it was still a hard day's work. The costume was hot, caused some chaffing and the wig kept getting in my eyes, especially with the really strong winds on some of the higher points. But I had a great day out with old and new friends and had one of the best conversation starters possible for meeting new people.

Oh, and I heard the best line anyone's ever shouted out at me while in a costume. Seven miles into the race, back at the start area of Rodeo Beach was a guy dressed as a pirate. He said, "I may be the captain, but you're the KING!" Couldn't help but laugh at that one.

The Golden Gate Bridge soon after sunrise.

Full results are here and I managed a respectable 10th place while avoiding the hard running at the front. There's also a great video following the leaders here and it also includes a few seconds of interviewing me mid-run right at the end of the footage.

If this story entertained you or maybe even just made you think a bit about the effects of AIDS in a much poorer country, then please donate something. Every little helps. This year's Comrades will have a strong North Face (and other sponsors) team again from the US and UK and the others are also behind the charity. Also, please let me know your thoughts and comments.