Resolutions 2014

New Year brings with it new hopes to start life afresh, along with it comes new resolutions to lead a purposeful life. It's quite possible quite a few of them are forgotten by end of Jan, but that never discourages most to commit to some form of Resolutions in the first week of the year.

In 2013 myself and R had following common resolution: learn something new every quarter. It sounded reasonable with all commitments at the same time exciting opportunity to address a few of the TODO's on the list. few of the things I wanted to accomplish was

1. Race Direct a Race:     Accomplished as part of co-RD for Ruth Anderson 
                                      Ultra-marathon races.
2. Chinese cooking class:  Missed.
3. Read more:                  Accomplished About 6 books for the year.
4. More time with Ahana: Accomplished, turning down ultra-running miles did help with getting                                        more time with A. I want to continue with that going into 2014.

Apart from this I was able to accomplish 20 runs in my cherished Trail PG &E @ San Antonio Rancho park.

Time for new resolutions and continue with some good old habits for 2014.
1. Learn something new every quarter (Cooking, Blogging tips, Mountaineering Class, ??)
2. More blogging and pictures (Goal of 26 posts for the year).
3. More activities with A.
4. 24 runs @ Rancho or Ohlone Wilderness Trail.

R has set aside following two
1. Focus on getting healthier (More time biking and hiking).
2. More activities with A

Happy blogging.

Make it happen: Pine to Palm 100

After days of anticipation and planning for 100M in 2014. 2014 is here and I have signed up for Pine to Palm 100, now I need to make it happen on the training front, balancing family, work and play.

This is relatively a new 100 organized by Rogue Valley Runners, Race directed by WS 100 Champion Hal Kroner. Course info from race website

A remote and rugged classic point to point course traversing the Siskiyou; Mountains Range in Southern Oregon. Starting in Williams, OR the course winds it way east to Ashland, OR on a mixture of single track trail, dirt road, with less than 4 miles of pavement. The course boasts over 20,000ft of climb and 20,000 ft of loss with 3 epic climbs to 7,000ft and fantastic views of Mt Shasta and Mt McLaughlin. 

It has  a challenging course profile consisting of mainly 3 epic climbs. Few of bay area runners have joined so far, Darshan has committed himself to this race as well, which should make it much more training for this epic race.  To say I am excited is a understatement. Looking forward to long trail runs, probably in Ohlone wilderness area and Diablo Mt, which very well mimics the course profile

Looking ahead: Races in 2014

 For the good part of this year I have been thinking of races in 2014, well mainly because I can get out of self imposed exile from 100s. I have been thinking of various mountain 100s with following  constraints
- Minimal training
- Late registration
- Hardrock qualifier

These set of factors helped me narrow down to either Cascades 100M or Pine to Palm 100M. Cascades is my favourite but I think a generous 34 hrs at P2P makes it more practical and registrations are open until late. So as things stand P2P 100 in September will be my main adventure for 2014. I am hoping few of Ultra people (Darshan, Todd, Vinod, Naresh and Rajeev) can join at P2P as well, makes it much more fun to train and soak in race ambience.

Apart from that I am chasing a lot of other goals. Arun and Dharmendra are joining me at M2B marathon in Spring.

2/1 Jed Smith 50K (sub 4:08, Ultra #46)
3/1 Razorback 100k (sub 10:30 Spartathlon qualifier, Ultra #47)
5/10 Quicksilver 100k (Ultra #48)
5/25 Mountains to Beach Marathon (BQ#3 sub 3:10)
6/21  Crissy Field 24hr  (Ultra #49 maybe)

7/27 SF Marathon (4hr Pacer)

8/2   Evolution Loop Adventure Run (w naresh maybe)
8/23 Headlands 50K (Ultra 50)
 9/15 Pine to Palm 100M
10/10 Firetrails 50M
12/04 CIM (BQ #4 sub 3:15 maybe)

Volunteering:
For the year I have plans to volunteer at following races 

4/19 Ruth Anderson Races:           co-RD (registration is open)
5/10 Quicksilver 50k & 100k:       Volunteer
8/19 Run Des Vous 100m:             Volunteer and Chef
Spring Trail maintenance.