2011 Open Male Runner Of The Year

I’ve already announced the individual Open Women’s Runner Of The Year (Sarah Graves); but, we’ll do the first full category with the Open Men’s Runner Of The Year.

As with the last two years, there were some hard choices to make.  But, this year, there was a whole new twist – how to compare runners in “traditional” road distances mostly within the state boundaries versus trail/ultra specialists whose major competitions were outside of the Big Sky State.  There has been some wringing of the wings and gnashing of the beak; but, for better or worse, the Buzzard has made his picks.

Number 1 – Repeating on his ranking of last year is Alan King of Billings (that gives him rankings of 3, 1, 1).  He had another stellar year at a wide range of distances.  Here are some of the highlights:

Shamrock Run   16:35 – 5K – 1^st Place
Ice Breaker         26:02 – 5-mile – 3^rd Place

                                           15:27 – 3-mile – 1^st Place
                                           4:23 – 1-mile – 1^st Place
                Purple 5K           14:57 (PR) – 5K – 1^st Place

  Big Sky State Games

                                            16:15 – 5K – 1^st Place (6:00 p.m. Friday)
                                            1:14:49 – ½ Marathon – 1^st Place (7:00 a.m. Saturday)

 Quality of Life Run  24:24 – 5-Mile – 1^st Place (net downhill)

 Fargo                   1:11:07 – ½ Marathon – 1^st Place

 Chicago                  2:37:48 – Marathon

 MT Cup                   2^nd Place (just a couple of weeks after Chicago Marathon)

He had a number of other fast runs at smaller races in the Billings area.  But, Alan is clearly not afraid to race against big or small field at just about any distance.  When he shows up at a race, it’s pretty clear that he’s going to be in the hunt for the win.  He made some valiant attempts to qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials in the past year – and, just to show how well he’s running – 2:37 was not a good day.  Alan’s high quality record, fast times, range of distances and total number of races gives him the nod to rise to the top of the list.

Number 2 – And here is where the dilemma comes in.  Mike Wolfe of Helena (moving up from #4 in 2010) is without a doubt one of the nation’s top ultra/trail runners (if not numero uno).  The Buzzard’s challenge was to try to figure out how Alan and Mike would compare head to head.  It’s hard to argue against Mike’s record in ultra events – could almost have gone either way and/or called them “co-winners”.  But, this isn’t youth soccer where everyone gets a prize to feel good; and, the Buzzard had to make a choice.  So, in the end, his lack of racing against other Montanan’s hurts his ability to get to the top of this podium. 

 But, all the same, let’s revel in some of the great races that Mike put together. 

              HURL Fat Ass 50K – 3:40 Course Record and 26:00 win
              Way To Cool 50K – CA – 3:28:01 – 1^st Place
              Western States 100 Mile – 15:38:29 – 2^nd Place (and only 5:00 behind the great Killian Jornet)
              North Face Endurance Challenge  50 Mile – 6:18:57 – 1^st Place
              Huffing For Stuffing 10K – 36:32 – 3^rd Place


Can Wolfe – a full time attorney – find the extra little bit necessary to take down Jornet and the other top Europeans?  Even without racing against Montanan’s that would clearly push him to the top of the list.

Number 3 – Jimmy Grant of Missoula.  The 2009 ROY and # 3 in 2010 continues to run fast.  This year he added a few new events (Wulfman and MT Cup) to his calendar; and, his performances across the board helped keep him in the top 3 (rankings of 1,3,3).

             Snow Joke ½ Marathon – 1:14:56 – 1^st Place
             Run For The Luck Of It 5K – 15:39 – 1^st Place
             Riverbank Run 10K – 31:39 – 1^st Place
             Wulfman CDT 14K Trail – 55:05 – 2^nd Place
             Missoula Marathon – 2:36:32 – 2^nd Place
             MT Cup – 7.2K – 23:22 – 3^rd Place

Would love to see Jimmy finally hit the sweet spot in the marathon and get that elusive sub-2:30.

Number 4 – Goes to the two-time #2 ranker – Thomas “Big Bird” Jodoin of Helena.  It looked like Big Bird’s season may have been over after his quick race at the AOH St. Patrick’s Run in Anaconda and an apparent hamstring injury.  But, he recovered well and had a strong season.  But, with the competition as it was this year, even the performance below couldn’t get him ranked any higher.

AOH St. Pat’s Day – 3-mile – 15:13 – 1^st Place

               Don’t Fence Me In 12K – 49:29 – 1^st Place
               Governor’s Cup 5K – 16:16 – 2^nd Place
               Wulfman CDT 14K Trail – 56:50 – 3^rd Place
               Montana Mile  - 4:31.95 – 3^rd Place
               August Road Race – Helena – 3.8 miles – 19:35 – 1^st Place
               MT Cup – 7.2K – 24:57 – 19^th Place

If Big Bird can go injury free through 2012, he may be poised to finally claim the top spot.

Number 5 – Mike Foote (matching his # 5 in 2010) - Missoula.  Another ultra/trail specialist, Footie fell into the same dilemma as Mike Wolfe.  How to compare his longer, off-road events to the other top runners from Montana?  Mike made a huge jump in his performances and reached the national level in his specialty. 

              UTMB (France) 166 K – 24:25:12 – 11^th overall and 1^st American

              North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile – 6:52:30 – 9^th Place
              Pocatello 50 Mile – 8:40:30 – 3^rd Place
              Antelope Island 50K – 4:03:09 – 4^th Place
              Don’t Fence Me In 30K – 2:19:56 – 4^th Place
              Huffing For Stuffing 10K – 36:28 – 2^nd Place
              MT Cup 7.2 K – 23:31 – 4^th Place

With his new affiliation with North Face, will Mike make another jump in performance and form Montana’s very own Mike & Mike show on the US Ultra/Trail scene?

As always, there was a whole bunch of deserving runners who couldn’t crack the Top 5.  Guys like Jesse Zentz, Devin Cowan, Zach Strong, Lyle Weese, Andy Drobek, Michael Fisher, Hunter Nelson and Graydon Curry.

In 2011, we maybe didn’t see quite as much head to head racing as the last couple of years.  Would love to see the top guys bang heads at some of the events like Wulfman, Ice Breaker, Riverbank, Roots Festival, Big Sky State Games and Governor’s Cup.  That would give us some great, great ability to really, truly be able to best define the ROY.  Unlikely that we'll be quite that fortunate; but, here's to hoping.

On top of the Runner Of The Year – The Muddy Buzzard wants to also make note of the Performance Of The Year.  And, for the Open Men, that goes to Elliot Welder’s 2:26:25 at the Missoula Marathon.  After having company (from Jimmy Grant) through a 1:12:52 Half, Welder then went on to a solo 2^nd Half in 1:13:33.  I may be wrong; but, I believe that this was the first sub-2:30 since the Hatcher, Zezotarski, Wold, Rothermel days of the 1980’s.  Spectacular run by Elliot.

That would definitely be followed by Mike Wolfe’s close 2^nd place finish at Western States and Mike Foote’s 11^th place at UTMB.

What a great year we had in 2011.  Perhaps the Olympic spirit will rub off in 2012 and we’ll see even more Big Sky magic.

 See you on the roads, tracks and trails.

 The Muddy Buzzard.

Trials Time

Tommorrow morning in Houston is the bid day for US Marathoners as they try to become the first members of the USA Track & Field's Olympic Teams.  The race will take off at 7:00 a.m. Mountain Time for the men and 7:15 a.m. for the women.  The race will take place on a multiple loop course - first loop of 2.2 miles around downtown Houston, then 3 8-mile loops around downtown and Allen parkway to the west of downtown.

Race day conditions look fantastic at this point.  Prediction of mid-30's for the low in the morning, warming up to only the high 50's or low 60's in the afternoon - so, it should be clear and crisp for the entirety of the race.  Very light winds from the south at 5 mph shouldn't be a factor.

So, the big question - who will make the team.  Just so that you can say you saw it here first, here are the Muddy Buzzard's predictions:

Men's Team:

I'm feeling pretty good about the first two slots - after that, it gets a little more sketch.  But, here goes.

First Place:  Ryan Hall.  He's clearly the man of the moment in US Marathoning.  Since his big sub-1:00 1/2-Marathon in Houston several years ago and his run to the 2008 Oly Trials win, Hall has been the class of the field on the US scene.  It's his race to lose - even on a bad day, when you have sub-2:05 speed, I'm just not sure he can be beat.

Second Place:  Dathan Ritzenheim.  A great talent with 60:00/2:10:00 PR's.  He seems to be reasonably healthy and is probably the biggest potential threat to Hall.  Again, a place on the team is his to lose.

Third Place:  This is where I think it get's interesting.  After the two big boys, it gets a lot more cloudy with no dominant person to fill this slot.  But, I'm going to go with Brett Gotcher of the McMillan Elite squad.  He debuted with a mid-2:10 PR.  He flies under the radar a bit; but, he had some solid races earlier this year at the US 10-Mile and 20K; and, ran well in Decmber's Club Championship XC race.  I think that he just may be ready to pop the big one.

Dark Horse:  Mo Trafeh.  A serious talent with some speed.  But, he's never raced beyond the half marathon.  And, not sure that the trials is the place to debut.  Just don't think he has the patience or marathon tactics to pull it off.  I predict a DNF (after being with the lead group through about 20 miles).  But, if he pulls it off and Ritz or Hall stumble, he could very well be on the team.

Sentimental Favorite: Meb Keflezghi.  2004 silver medalist.  First American to win NYC (2009) since Salazar.  But, he's getting bit older at 36 and he just ran New York in November (albeit in a PR).  As much as I would love to see it happen, I just don't think that Meb's older legs will be ready to bounce back with the type of effort that will be needed to make the team.

Winning Time:  2:08:28 (4:54 pace)

Time to Make the Team:  2:10:39 (4:59 pace)


Women's Team:

Again, I think the front end is pretty clearly defined, unless one of the front runner's stumbles.  So, here goes.

Winner:  Desiree Davilla.  The Hanson-Brooks runner, Boston Marathon suprise second placer and 2009 Worlds top ten finisher has been on a roll of late.  Besides her great marathoning, she was also a top ranked American at 5,000 and 10,000 meters (setting PR's in both races).  I see a race between her and Flanagan for the win - with Desi cranking it over the last couple of miles to put a stamp on the race - kind of the Hanson's

Second Place:  Shalane Flanagan.  2:28 PR and US Record Holder at 10K.  Perhaps more of a talent than Desi, she could easily be the winner.  But, I see her being a bit wiser and a bit more patient than Davilla (as would be expected by a Jerry Schumacher coached athlete) and not going to the well just to get a win.  I think she'll comfortably make the team and save her dig-til-you-puke effort in running for a podium finish in London.

Thrid Place:  Deena Kastor.  Bronze Medalist in 2004.  Trials Champ in 2008.  Quite since then.  But, she appears to be as fit as many of the girls out there and is "under-raced" over the last couple of years.  So, I'm thinking that her experience, race smarts and guts will be enough to carry her on to one last Oly team.

Most Likely To Make The Team If One Of The Front Runner's Falls Apart:  Kara Goucher.  2:24 PR.  She had a good Boston after coming back from maternity leave.  But, since then she hasn't really been the same.  Not sure that she has the sharpness needed to make te team unless some breaks go her way.

Dark Horse:  Amy Hastings.  2:27:03 PR.  She trains with the Mammoth Lakes group and they know how to get ready for the big races.  Meb and Deena will surely give her some pointers.  She could be the suprise of the day.

My Personal Sentimental Favorite For A Top 10 Finsih:  Caroline White.  2:37 PR.  Caroline is the sister in law of my old pal Kelly Fulton (sister of Kelly's wife Liz).  She is a US Air Force pilot who currently trains full time in their Armed Forces program.  A super stud, she's training at levels far beyond what she has been able to sustain in the past.  If she runs a smart race and PR's into the low 2:30's - anything is possible. 

My Personal Senitmental Favorite For A PR:  Sarah Graves.  Our very own Montanan - born and bred.  Lives in Ballantine - runs for Brooks and the Yellowstone Rim Runners.  See my January 7th blog entry for some more about Sarah.  She's represents all that's good about running - my hope is that we see her scoring another PR and having the race of her life.

Winning Time:  2:26:00 (5:34 pace)

Time To Make The Team:  2:28:55 (5:40+ pace and the Buzzard's PR)


Speaking of Kelly Fulton - he is in Houston to watch sister-in-law Caroline, 3 college teammates and competitors, and Sarah Graves.  I expect to get some race day input from him and will post his observations this weekend.

Go Red White and Blue

The Muddy Buzzard

She's The Top Of The Heap

While the Buzzard hasn't finished compiling his full list - he has made his choice as his Open Female Runner Of The Year.

Carrying on from her fine 2010 campaign, Sarah Graves of Ballantine (NE of Billings) had a breakout year in 2011.  She was the Buzzard's Open Female Runner Of The Year for 2010; but, was ranked behind the Overall and Master ROY Nicole Hunt.  Given her 2011 season, there was no such question of Sarah being the best of the best of the Montana Women.

Let's look first at her top performances from inside the borders of the Treasure State:

• 1st @ Wulfman CDT 14-K Trail (68:34) (# 3 Time on Course)
• 1st @ Women's Run 2-Mile (11:33)
• 1st Overall @ Beartooth Run 8.4 Mile (84:48) (2,000' elevation gain)
• 1st @ MT Marathon (Billings) 1/2-Marathon (79:05)
• 3rd @ MT Cup (only :33 out of 1st Place)

Great Picture of Sarah (in Yellow Brooks gear on right) as she finishes her 2-mile win at the Montana Women's Run.
To her left is US running legend Joan Benoit Samuelson winning the 5-mile race.

But, where Sarah really shined in 2011 was at the Marathon distance at 4 different races across the country.  In a snapshot, here's what she accomplished over the 26.2 miles:

• Houston Marathon - 1/30/11 - 2:47:21 - 16th Woman
• Eugene Marathon- 4/30/11 - 2:46:20 - 6thWoman
• Philadelphia Marathon - 11/19/11 - 2:46:24 - 6th Woman
• California International Marathon - 12/4/11 - 2:44:25 - 16th Woman

All by themselves, those are some prety top level performances.  She's running in some pretty elite company at that level.  And, her 2:44:25 at CIM in December is really something, especially considering that it came just 2 weeks after her race in Philadelphia.  But, what's the most impressive part about that Sacramento race - by running under 2:46:00, Sarah qualified for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials - where she will be the only Montanan (male or female) to compete.

Collectively, that set of performances puts her at the top of the Buzzard's list for Montana women in 2011.

But, I would be remiss if I didn't talk a bit more about Sarah and her journey to the Trials.  With one week to go before the big race, I visited with Sarah by phone to get a little more insight into her efforts over the last 5 years to run on the hallowed ground of American Marathoning.

The race is scheduled to be held next Saturday (January 14th) on a multiple loop cource in and around downtown Houston.  The runner's will do a first loop of 2.2 miles around downtwon, followed by three 8-mile loops along the Allen Parkway.  The men start first (7:00 a.m. Mountain Time) with the women to follow 15 minutes later.  Same day TV coverage will be on NBC from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time.  (Not sure if there will be any live on-line video coverage; but, Runner's World & Running Times will be doing live web coverage.)

Sarah first started trying to qualify for the 2008 Trials.  She missed the 2008 standard by just 61 seconds at the 2007 St. George Marathon; and, had a couple of other efforts in the 2:52 range.  Starting in 2009, she began her quest to meet the 2012 Qualifying Standard of 2:46:00.  Her first attempt was at the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon, where she ran 2:47+, just missing again.  She then made several attempts in 2010 running between 2:48 and 2:52.

Then she really went after the mark in 2011, coming Oh-So-Close on 3 occasions.  She missed the time by 1:21 in Houston, :20 at Eugene and :24 at Philly.  But, she just didn't want to close out the year thinking "Why didn't I give it one more try."  So, with just two weeks of recovery, she packed her bags and headed off to Sacramento for the December 4th California International Marathon.

After Philly, she spent a couple of days walking around the City of Brotherly Love to give her legs some post race rest.  Then, she did some easy running, with just one 10-mile run before Sacramento.  She was relying on her solid base fitness to get her through the last chance effort.

At Sacramento, their were around 50 women all with the same thought in mind - hit the Q-Time.  With that in mind, race organizers set up a pacing effot to get the group through halfway in 1:22 (for a finishing goal of 2:44:00).  A group of about 30 hit the mark just right - 1:22:11.  The group stuck together pretty well through about 35 Kilometers; the, it was everyone for themselves.

Sarah held on just right, coming through the second half in 1:22:14 (perfect, even splits) to hit her 2:44:25.  The big group helped tow her along to the great finish time, with 14 women running between 2:43:48 and 2:44:51.  In total, 29 women qualified to make the trip to Houston.  Sarah clearly made the right choice in making one more attempt to qualify - and, she clearly picked the right race.

Via the California International Marathon site (www.runcim.org), you track down some cool photos of Sarah in the race and at the finish line.  Try this link and it may take you right to the search pictures section of the official race photographer - http://www.sportphoto.com/Event.aspx?EventID=222

Since Sacramento, Sarah took several easy days.  Then got back into the training groove with several 18 - 20 mile long runs, togeter with several tempo efforts.  She says that her legs are feeling good and she thinks that she's pretty well recovered from her Philly and CIM efforts.  (And, she clearly has the ability to sustain several hard efforts in short windows of time.)

She head to Houston this coming Thursday; and, would love to score a new PR - although she was coy about divulging any specific race or performance goals.

So, from The Muddy Buzzard and all of Big Sky Country - good luck.  Run Hard, Run Fast, Run Happy.  We wish you the best of luck as you line up with the best women in the US at our Olympic Marathon Trials.

See you on the roads, tracks and trails

The Muddy Buzzard

The Sum Of The Parts

Did my yearly summation of my running log.

Miles for the year - 1,611 (2nd lowest in my 30+ years of keeping a log)

Days of 0 miles - 57 (not suprisingly - the 2nd high total in the 30+ years)

Cumulative miles in career as of 12/31/11 - 79,679

Number of races = 5

Number of long runs (> or = to 12 miles) = 7 (not sure; but, probably lowest of last 30+ years)

Minutes (Hours) of Alternative Exercise (due to foot stress fracture) = 760 minutes (12.67 hours)

Not really the numbers I had hoped for htis year.

But, the 2011 log numbers are now behind me.  Time to be optimistic about 2012 and look for better things starting tomorrow.

The Muddy Buzzard

Making The Best Of A Bad Situation

So - two weeks down in the boot - at least 2 more to go.  Then, probably another 4 to 6 before I'm back to running. 

As soon as I found out that I would be booted up, I took a day to wallow in self pity.  What the hell.  I've only had a few injuries that have required significant amounts of non-running time - far less than most runners who have been doing this as long I have.  So, I figured I was due at least a 24-hour period of laying around saying why or why did this have to happen to me.

But, I pretty quickly decided that it was then time to move forward.  And, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to find a way to achieve some general fitness goals.  For the last couple of years, I've notice some general lack in overall muscle strength and power, stride length and overall flexibility.

So, while I can't be running, I've added a whole host of exercises to my daily routine.  I'm getting in about an hour a day of workout in.

I've been starting with a series of dynamic flexibility drills.

Then, I move onto a routine (which varies pretty much every day) that involves some combination of core work, leg strength work, hip strength and flexibility and some light upper body work.

I then go directly onto the recumbent bike (my boot fits into the pedal straps) for 30 minutes or more of work.  This usually involves 5 to 10 minutes of warm-up at low resistance.  Then I'll do 20 to 25 minutes of some form of interval work.  I try to up the resistance during the hard sections (while always maintaining 90 rpm's) and trying to get my hard rate up into the mid 120's or low 130's (at a minimum).

Then, I finish up with some static stretching.

On top of that, I've been having 2 or 3 days a week where I have to put in 30 minutes of snow shoveling (per day).  And, I've had several days in the last 2 weeks where I've spent 60 to 90 minutes of splitting wood (which is now behind me since I have all the wood split).

It turns out that I've been able to get in quite a bit of work in spite of the added bulk of the boot. 

So, I'm hopeful that coming out the other side of this thing I'll have improved my overall weight to strength ratio; improved my overall flexibility; improved my knee stability through increased leg strenght; and, maintained some basic level of cardiovascular fitness.

Only time will tell; but, I'm feeling good that this time off running - and forced use of alternate training methods/opportunities - will set me up for a fitter, stronger Muddy Buzzard for 2012.

Until then, see you in the gym, on the machines and the mats

The Muddy Buzzard

Something Missing

So, something seems to be missing from my Christmas day today.  What oh what could it be?

How about an Xmas day run - for the first time in many, many years I won't be heading out on the roads this holiday morning.  In fact, I can't really remember a Christmas over the last 30 years or so that I haven't gotten out for my miles. 

But, that's what a metatarsal stress fracture will do to you.  Not much running to be done in das boot.

Don't worry though - I'll find a break between now and dinner to get in 30 minutes or so on the stationary bike at the gym.  Especially with it being Sunday, need to worship the mileage gods (hopefully the stationary bike will placat them) and attend services in the Church Of The Blue Dome (with the windows in the gym, I can see the Blue Dome - so, we'll have to call that good!!).

See you (eventually) on the roads, tracks and trails

The Muddy Buzzard

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to one and all from the The Muddy Buzzard.

We're having a white christmas here in the northwest.

Wonderful morning with Erin, Zoe and Erin's mom (Peg).  Skyped with Nick and Katie.

The 4 cats and the dog are all in the house.  The music is playing.  The gift wrap is on the floor.

All is well.

The Muddy Buzzard