It's been a few months since my last post and quite honestly, the only thing I have written about lately are my race reports. So, what have I been up to? It would be best to rewind to a year ago and get caught up!
In Feb of 2011, my wife and I opened a local running speciality shop in Bluffton and poured our heart and soul into getting it off the ground. Mean while, I was also starting another company (my real job) Revenue Strategy Solutions, a remote Revenue Management company for Hotels. Both companies took off extremely well in 2011 and could not have been happier! Fast forward to the end of 2011. Holly and I made a decision and choose to sell the Running store as we were spending way too much time away from the kids and my running had taken a serious back burner due to being in the shop every weekend!
Within a month of solid training, I had taken off another huge chunk of time out of my 50K personal best and was THRILLED with where my training was headed. Holly and I decided to take another huge step at the beginning of December and moved to Ridgeland, SC. We didn't "just move" we found our DREAM HOME! A log cabin that sits in the middle of 800 acres on a private lake with plenty of room to start our own VERY large garden, citrus tree etc. We moved in on Dec 31, 2011 and have never been happier!
We had to make a tough decision about what we were going to do with the kids school, now that we were 35 minutes away - one way. We opted to put them in a local private school beginning next year, Thomas Haywood Academy (Go Rebels!) Izzy tested into 5 year old Kindergarten (she just turned 4) and Jake will be in the second grade. Both kids love the school and we are looking forward to a summer full of "camps" at THA including Art, Science, Sports and Cheer leading. Izzy is wrapping up her last "season" of ballet and is looking forward to playing soccer in the Fall. Jake is kicking ass and taking names on the baseball field right now!
Life is pretty good on the Waz front!
Back to running... So, last summer I launched "Lowcountry Ultras" when we put on our Cremator Ultra 50 Miler and it has boomed in the last year. We, through out the next few paragraphs will refer to several GREAT friends, with out them I would not be able to do what I love on the running front! My "crew" with-in Lowcountry Ultras is made up of my wife Holly, my two best buds Paul and Gary, and two completely random but awesomely amazing 3rd party acquaintances turned into excellent friends, Kayla and Joe. Again, without these guys Lowcountry Ultras would not exist!.
Our second race, the Delirium Ultra 24 Hour Endurance race took place this February on what turned into the coldest night of the year. With temps dropping down well below 24 degrees with an 11 degree windchill factor! Holly, Paul, Gary and I ran this race while Kayla and Joe held the race together as "Race Director" and "Joe". Joe is the man to get anything, fix anything or get in touch with anyone! The race itself sold out in less than 30 days and was full of awesome race swag, beanies, hoodies, kickin' medals and a lot of great people!
The day we wrapped up the Delirium I went straight to work on the second annual Cremator. We moved the race to Beaufort this year after having issues with the course on Hilton Head and Bluffton. We now have a straight out and back 25 mile loop that the runners will do two times. Gary will be the head-dog in charge for this pony show, and Paul will act as my Crew Chief.
In addition to the Delirium, we are also picking up another local event, the Bad Marsh 50k Night Ultra. This was a part of East Coast Ultras races, but Becky decided not to have the event this year as she and her husband get ready for their first baby. We did not want to see the race die off, so we picked it up and added it into our series. It's on an awesome 4.5 mile looped course and is on the same course as my current 50K PR. I'll be the RD for this race!
Personally, I'm getting ready to run the Palmetto 200 this weekend from Columbia, SC to Charleston, SC. It's a 200 mile relay that is meant to be run my 12 people. I am doing it as any "Ultra" with only 3 other runners, Marie, David and Ed. We should have a pretty good chance of winner the "Ultra" division... IF... my knee holds up.
A few weeks ago I was out for a run and I felt something... pull or pop. I could barely put any pressure on it and walked back home. I took the next few days off, icing and just trying to stay off it as much as possible. A few days later the knee began to bruise. With the race coming up, I wanted to get training if possible so I would go out for shorter runs 2, 3 miles at a time. it wasn't until this past week that I was able to run 10 miles. It's still bothering me slightly, so I need to run very smart this weekend as I continue to train up for Cremator in July. We'll see how it holds up!
Other than that, the only other racing I'm planning for this year are:
Palmetto 200 April 13-14
Cremator 50 Miler July 21
Arkansas Traveller 100 October
Mad Marsh November
2013
Harbison 50k (we plan on running an extra loop for training)
Delirium 24 Hour
See you on the road!
@timwaz
This past weekend, Jake also had to participate in his first Presidential Fitness Challenge... slaughtering the required time and other events, only to come back and ask to run the course again!!! We never know what the future holds for our children, but we always hope for the best and if he continues to run and be active, I know that he'll continue to make great life decisions and live a much richer life!
