DATE CHANGE! AUGUST 3rd & 4th first annual Running Water 24 hour relay event. A fundraiser for Living Water International and participating high school cross-country teams. 2 - 15 people per team. Sign up today at http://runningwater24.org
print off this poster and post it at your work or school. To help recruit your team and spread the word.
Food, Music and Friends! Don’t miss out 
Godspeed
Solo and Unsupported Run across America blog rerun. Posted every weekday at 8am. Buy the now complete book and full story at www.abrahamlouis.com/runningwater
I awoke to the sound of semi-trucks rumbling over the bridge at 4 a.m. Slightly board and a bit cold, I crawled out of the hammock to rebuild the fire. After watching the sunrise I packed up Ruby and hit the road. The camping site worked well and if the opportunity presents itself I’ll try the method again. It has been cold in the mornings, and I usually leave night gear on for the first few miles before slowly shedding layers as the day goes on. I occupy my time by playing games like trying to keep Ruby’s front wheel on the white line.
Solo and Unsupported Run across America blog rerun. Posted every weekday at 8am. Buy the now complete book and full story at www.abrahamlouis.com/runningwater
A decision was made. I would attempt to go around the mountains. The trade-off was a 4500 foot elevation and snow for extra miles. For the most part it was a gradual downhill route excluding one 3500 foot climb. It was another perfect sunny day, and I was excited to know I had a host family in the next town.
Solo and Unsupported Run across America blog rerun. Posted every weekday at 8am. Buy the now complete book and full story at www.abrahamlouis.com/runningwater
I woke at 6:30 to fill water bottles and mix my GU brew. After dropping the kids off at school with Chilto, we headed to where I had stopped running the day before. I started to put Ruby together when we both came to the horrible realization that Ruby’s wheels were left in there other car. Chilto was very nice about my mental lapse and drove us back to the house. By the time I was out and running it was 10am and I no longer had an early start to the day.
A locked gate blocked my entrance as I approached the Lake Perris State Recreation. I was hesitant to duck the gate and proceed but was left with little options. A sign on the ticket window read the list of fees for the park ($35 camping, $20 boating…) If the DNR stopped me, I would just kindly state, “their was no fee listed for run campers.” The park proved to be beautiful. With the whole road to myself, Ruby and I were off to a good start.
Eventually I wound my way out of the park, through Moreno Valley and over the Live Oak Canyon pass. The views were incredible with the San Bernardino Mountains as a backdrop. We were on a downhill course as Ruby and I rolled into Yucapia. Yucapia was in the shadow of a huge mountain with a dense population.
Doug picked me up shortly after I called and took me back to the house for some homemade turkey soup! We discussed my plans of passing over the San Bernardino mountains and both agreed it would be wise to stay clear of the 9,000 foot elevation and recent snow fall. My new route will take me south to Beaumont, east to White Water then I’ll stay on hwy 62 through Twenty-nine Palms.
For the amount of mileage I put in the past 3 days, (86 mi) I feel pretty good. I have some minor swelling in my feet, sunburn on the back of my ankles, a sore back and my wrists are starting to develop blisters from the tension of Ruby. I’m ready to hit the hay but will try to get a few pictures posted.
Below is the brochure for the 1st annual Running Water 24. Running Water 24 is a 24 hour relay race that will be a fundraiser event for Living Water International as well as an opportunity for High School cross-country teams to raise money for their team and up coming season. I am personally so excited for this event and to watch it grow. We are starting off with just one location this year but hope to grow the event nation wide with teams all 
competing against each other live online. (contact me if you are interested in heading up a location for next year) The event will be held on a track which brings up some interesting strategies if you really want to see how much distance your team can rack up in 24 hours. I would love to see a high school or college team with 10 to 15 runners just blasting quarters for 24 hours. The event will have a great atmosphere with music and food and plenty of teams with tents and things camping out for the 24 hours. So you can stay the whole time or just show up for a few hours to run your shift. So talk to your co-works, teammates, church group or who ever your evolved with and put a team together. 100% of your entry fee is donated to Living Water International for water projects around the world, plus what ever you will be able to raise on top of that. Traveling Trophy for top distance covered in each division as well as top fundraiser in each division. T-Shirts, Water Bottles and more included in your race packet. Check out runingwater24.org/registration to sign your team up. Email me if you have questions! abe@h2oride.org
Runners bringing an end to the water crises one step at a time.
Print off a pdf of brochure by clicking this link RunningWater 24 Brochure
An ultra marathoner whom I, and many others, have quickly grown a deep respect for is Geoff Roes. He has dominated the ultra scene for a number of years but probably first became a common name with his 2010 Western States 100 mile win which has now been made into the remarkable and intriguing film “Unbreakable” 
His quite humble nature mixed with a relentless drive to push past physical limits is simply mind-blowing. His recent win at the 350 mile Iditarod invitational was unreal and a great example of his character. Such an event tends to shed light on exactly who we are at our core, this in itself has tremendous value. In modern-day society we do not face our core nearly enough to have any recollection of who we are and what we are made of. Geoff Roes defiantly found out what he was made of.
The Iditarod Invitational is a human-powered race through the Alaskan wild in the dead of winter set on the Iditarod trail. The race is open to bikers, skiers, and foot racers. Roes not only won the foot division but nearly beat out all the bikers as well. This was in large do to some extremely harsh conditions that brought the speed of travel down to a crawling pace, (Literally Crawling) With temperatures plummeting to -50 degrees at some points in the race survival becomes part of the game as well (not to mention having to cover 350 miles on snow) I have personally been in Alaska when it has been -50 degrees and basic breathing is difficult. When the air hits your lungs it feels like your whole chest is going to collapse.
Geoff Roes nearing the finish line of the 350 mile Alaska Iditarod trail invitational
One thing I admire about Roes performance was that he had attempted the race the previous two years and failed both times. I don’t know how many times in life we see the final product and success of an individual and later find how many times they failed before everything came together for them. I truly believe that fueled by failure is a trait of many successful people. Most people give up on something far to soon. Roes wrote up a very detailed race report about his experience. It is pretty long (it was a week-long race) but if you have some time it is defiantly worth the read. Roes character, respect for his fellow competitors and astounding drive to push pass human limits really comes through in this race report. Here is a short excerpt from his write up.
Day 6 / Mile 165 – 210 – “The wind had done its thing here also, and left in its wake some amazingly hard sastrugi drifts. It wasn’t the surface that was the comical part though; it was the lighting that was so flat that I couldn’t see what I was walking on. Numerous times I would walk off 2-foot ledges without having any idea that they were there. At times I was crawling on all fours just so I could feel what was underneath me. It was so difficult and absurd that it was funny. And so I walked, crawled, and inched my way upward toward the pass.” Geoff Roes
First of all what is a Minimalist Running Shoe?
A minimalist running shoe is all about less. Basically empowering the foot to decided how to run vs the shoe telling the foot how to run. This changes everything. It hurts to run on your heel that’s why we don’t when we run barefoot. Running on the heel is an unnatural forward motion. It’s a braking motion, a stopping motion. When you have a shoe with a lot of cushion in the heel we can’t feel anything. Our foot is blind. However the jarring / jamming of the knees, hip, spine still happen. So just throw more cushion in the shoes right? Wrong. Take the cushion away and let your body figure out what’s best. It’s smarter than you think. Traditionally running shoes have had a 10mm to 12mm drop from the heel to the toe (a.k.a the extra cushion) Minimalist Running Shoes have a 4mm to 8mm drop from heel to toe and are also more light weight (10 oz or less), also less structure and material in the upper part letting the foot to be more free. From there it goes all the way down to 0mm drop or flat and the barefoot craze of vibram fivefingers. 
There has been a huge movement in running towards minimalist running shoes that is hard to ignore if you are a runner. This past week I was speaking at Revolutionary Natural running clinic and was of course asked about the shoe I wore running across america and what I am wearing now. I’ll say right off the bat that I am a fan of the minimalist approach but believe there are a few major mistakes that people make when making the switch. During my 2010 run across america I averaged 154 miles a week for 4.5 months. Every step of the way was in multiple pairs of acics cumulus running shoes. Nearly every mile was on pavement or packed gravel and I did not get injured. In fact I have never had a serious running injury. (knock on wood) On the flip side of that the same year a guy by the name of Tellman attempted to make the cost to cost crossing BAREFOOT! He made it 650 miles before giving it up due to blood blisters and deep tissue contusions in both heels. Now that is an extreme but it’s basically my point. Find the happy medium people! Why are we so extreme? Vibrum Five Fingers look stupid! Am I the only person to say that out loud? People rush into wearing Minimalist foot ware and you can’t, you will get injured. You can not simply buy a 0mm drop shoe and expect it to fix all your running issues. Change takes time. Below are the main training shoes that I have worn over that last 10 years of my running. Notice the mm drop and the gradual progression down to my current and favorite shoe thus far the La Sportiva Crosslite’s .
By reading the chart you can see that I was in a 12 mm drop shoe for a long time. I never had problems with it and so why change? The big reason was that I got into trail running a lot more. I running on the toes on technical trail is a big plus. Minimalist shoes help strengthen and allow your foot to do that. I find it funny that every one is trying to get into “natural” running shoes yet
A very natural running surface! Mud 
they still run on pavement or side walks (a very unnatural surface) The fact of the matter is the foot does need to be protected (Thats why we made shoe’s in the first place) There are so many types of feet and shoes out there that it can be hard to find what works for you. All that being said I think everyone should be moving towards minimalist shoes but just think how long we were not in minimalist shoes. You can’t expect your muscles and tendons to change over night. That’s when people get injured and frustrated that there new shoe did not magically make them stronger, faster and rid them of all their nagging injuries. The most important concept of running is consistency. Your body is amazing it will adapt to almost anything but you need to be patient and consistent with it. Find where you are currently at and slowly start dropping the mm heel. Another way to make the transition is to do a % of your training in a minimalist shoe. Find one you like and do 20% of your easy miles in them. Or just your speed workouts. Keep track of your mileage you log in each shoe and make the transition slowly. Below are a couple of minimalist shoe’s you can check out trail and road. I have only trained in the one’s I listed above and am very happy with the La Sportiva Crosslites. My brother is on his second pair of New Balance MT101 and really likes them. Revolutions Natural Running has over 60 lines of minimalist shoes and a very knowledgeable staff that can answer any questions you might have. So check out there site or click-through some options I put together off amazon. And remember all good things take time!
This past weekend I got the chance to met and race (well at lest for a few miles) Zach Bitter. Zach who in addition to having run the fastest 50 miler in the nation last year also won the Midwest North Face Challenge in 2010 and placed 2nd in 2011. I can honestly say this is a fun guy to cheer on. His passion for the sport really comes through in his dedicated outrages training schedule and sticking around hours after his race to chat it up with fellow runners. Below are a few Q&A’s about Zach’s record braking John Dick 50k (his first 50k) this past weekend and his up coming 2012 ultra races.
Zach Bitter Leaving an aid station during the Midwest Regional North Face 50 Mile with pacer Brian Finnel. In 2010 Zach won the race in 6:02 and came back the following year to place 2nd with a 6:08
This past weekend you just smashed the John Dick Memorial 50k course record by over 20 minutes setting the new mark at 3:32. Were you expecting to run such a fast time on the icy course going into the race?
To be honest with you no. I planned to treat the race as a training run. I had a total of 246 miles logged in the 13 days leading into the race, so I wasn’t sure how my legs would feel. Usually at the end of a running cycle like this my legs feel pretty heavy, but for some reason at JDM 50k I felt really smooth, so I just went with it.
Did you have any low points during the race? If so how did you pull yourself through them?
I didn’t really have any real low points. I guess the toughest part of the course for me was round four up the big hill on the out and back section of the course. My quads were burning a little more there than in other places. With tough spots like this I usually try to break the race down. I stop thinking about finishing and just focus on getting to a certain point on the course. It helps reduce becoming overwhelmed.
This years Ice Age 50 is shaping up to be quite the show down. With yourself, Timothy Olson (2012 100k USATF Champ) who is more of a pure trail / mountain runner and Matt Flaherty who seems to race just about everything distance and definitely has some leg speed with a 4:17 mile pr, 2:22:53 Marathon PR. And the list goes on from there… How do you see the race playing out?
I think the talented field will cause the race to get out fast. I see this resulting guys testing their limits and someone coming out with a spectacular time, maybe even a course record.
Now for some fun questions… Whats your favorite kind of GEL?
I like anything fruity with a pinch of caffeine
Are you growing your hair out?
As of now, yes. But I can be a bit impulsive with my hair style based on convenience.
Favorite Running Book or Movie?
I would say Born to Run is my favorite running book. I think it really captures the drive inside an ultra-runner. I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of Bryon Powell’s book, Relentless Forward Progress, which I just recently ordered.
Who’s Your Running Hero?
Roy Pirrung. He is a great story, and a timeless ultra runner who truly embraced the sport, and continues to push his limits.
In Wales there is a 22 mile race where runners go up against riders on horses back. In 2004 Huw Lobb became the first and only runner (on foot) to win the race. If we all pitched in and flew you to Wales do you think you could take down those horses for us?
Haha! I would certainly be willing to try. That sounds like an adventure impossible to turn down.
Read Zach’s Race report of the John Dick 50k and follow his running blog Here. Zach’s product Sponsors - Fuel Belt, Illuminite, Sportmulti, Feed the Machine, Vespa, and Drymax.
Door County Fall 50 - Zach Cruising to the 2011 fastest 50 miler finishing in 5:26
Interview after winning the Midwest North Face 50 in a time of 6:02
This past weekend was the 24th annual running of the John Dick Memorial 50K, a winter run that kicks off the start to the 2012 trail season. It has been quite a while since my last go at an ultra and this was a perfect one to dive back into the world of trail running and get my first 50K under my belt. Here in Wisconsin we are a little hard up for ultra’s this time of year so it was a fun gathering of the die hards who think nothing of running 30+ miles on ice and snow. Rumor had it that this was an exceptionally nice day in comparison to previous years and it was. No wind and cool temperatures were basically perfect winter running weather. So on to the race…
We started off in the parking lot and headed out down the road to jump on the trail and start the five lap corse. Each loop was about 10K and consisted of a long out and back with a loop at the end. The 7:30am start gave us temperatures in the mid 30′s, I started off with my faithful Sugoi running jacket knowing I would probably drop it pretty early on. Zach Bitter who has run a few crazy fast 50 milers the past couple years was there and took it out strong. I knew that the pace was to fast for my current fitness level but decided to go with it for the time being. We opened up with a 6:54, and 6:57 then hit the turn around and were able to see what was going on behind us. We had opened about a minute plus lead. As we reached the big hill Bitter dropped me as I powered up it the best I could without wanting to push to hard so soon. Once we were rolling on flat and down hill terrain again I was able to catch back up briefly dropping a 6:41 4th mile and what proved to be my last effort at matching Bitter the beast. Mile 5 was the only maned aid station and was located at the top of the loop. I only stayed long enough to hear Kishna say that Bitter had opened up a minute or two lead. I knew it would be far-fetched to chase him down but the nice thing about ultra marathoning is that there is usually never a shortage of race left and a lot can happen. I was still feeling good at this point and settled into my own pace for the first time and just focused on running fast and comfortably.
GPS died after mile 27.
Shpit #1 – Fast forward 5 miles I had survived the big hill again and saw at the turn around that my lead was still about a minute on the two guys that were gunning for me. I was happy to see that they seemed to have settle into about the same pace as I was. However right around mile 10 my race started to take a terrible turn for the worse. Every runners nightmare and biggest goal to avoid… Diarrhea. My stomach had slowly started to feel worse and worse and I could defiantly feel a class B eruption coming on. I spotted a big oak off the trail 20 yards or so and executed a pretty perfect Shpit stop. The nice thing about having Diarrhea in a race vs plane # 2 is that it comes out FAST! As I was dropping my last hand full of tarnished leafs 3rd and 4th sped past unaware of my hide out. They pursued chasing a ghost and I jumped back out on to the trail behind them feeling much better and settled in to chase mode. Before the aid station I had climbed back into 3rd and less than 40 seconds back on 2nd. I grabbed a GEL at the aid and immediately regretted it as I pushed on in pursuit. I should have grabbed a bunch of solid stuff like bred to harden up my stomach and soak up that diarrhea (my own theory) However I needed something and decided to just take a little of the gel at a time over the next 2-3 miles. It defiantly perked me up a bit and I was back hammering out 8 minute miles.
Shpit #2 – I remained in 3rd for some time and was feeling fairly strong until my luck ran out and I knew I was facing another shpit stop. Ironically the uprising occurred at the exact same place! I don’t know if it was mental or what. I was not so speedy this time behind the big oak but all in all it was another successful shpit stop… all things considered. I would not be surprised if that oak grows another 50 feet this spring. The two guys that were about a minute back pass me while I was busy with my oak, dropping me back to 5th. The Diarrhea Deja Vo defiantly took a lot of the wind out of my sails and I slipped into damage control mode. With less then 8 miles to go I was just trying to keep a solid pace rolling and minimize the amount of people that would most certainly inevitably catch me. The second to last aid station I downed a bunch of solid food (banana bread, sandwich ext) This seamed to help
my stomach a little bit but perhaps I was over annualizing it. By the 5th time at the aid station I had fell back another spot and had Robert (the race director) coming hard after me. We were only a mile or two from the finish and I had a large enough gap that I basically just had to finish strong and I would be safe. I downed a dixy cup of coke and ripped down my final decent and back on to the road. Another mile and Robert would have had me, he ran a great race and finished with a 17 min PR. I finished in 6th place with my new and only 50K PR of 4:21 which is 8:24 pace. (Official results posted HERE) In all honesty it was about exactly what my training up to this point would have suggest I would run. I don’t know why I always tend to choose the go out hard and die method but who knows maybe I’ll time it right some day and die at the finish line! I probably could have gotten a little closer to the 4 hour mark with out the shpit stops but it’s all part of the game. Live and learn.
Over all it was a great day. Its always fun to hang out with a bunch of crazy ultra runners (a.k.a LPTR). Since the corse was a 5x loop we got to see everyone multiple times. Of course the “Great Job’s” and “Nice Running’s” all turned into grunts as the day wore on but I think we all were in the same boat. It was a beautiful day to be in the woods and a fun opening to the 2012 ultra season.
Big congrats to Zach Bitter who completely owned the day start to finish. Setting a new CR mark at 3:33 check back tomorrow or Wednesday and we will have some Q&A’s with him about his race, up coming goals and some general fun questions about what makes this endurance junky tick!
Send your best running poo story to abe@h2oride.org for your chance to win a FREE copy of my book! 200-400 words, top 3 stories posted next month.
Thanks for the photo’s Bill! More photo’s of the race can be viewed at www.runningintheusa.com
