New Web Site!

For those that are interested, I have launched a new web site relating to Stage Racing.  Check out ultrastageracing.com for a plethora of information.

Post Race Performance Analysis

With the race and recovery behind me I have had some time to try and assess how I did this year compared to my 2013 performance.  Out on the course I was getting the feeling I was way off the pace which turned out to be not quite true.  Additionally, it was a surprise that stage 1 and stage 2 were almost identical between the two years.  At least those allow a fairly direct comparison.  Weather this year I believe played a larger role compared to two years ago.  While much cooler it was significantly more windy.  So in the end it looks like my pace was very close to where I was at two years ago but the field was perhaps not quite as strong (even though it was 25% larger, about 1,400 vs 1,100).  I am happy with my old man performance....

Stage	2013 Miles	2015 Miles	Delta
1	23.0	22.4	-0.6
2	19.0	19.3	0.3
3	23.6	22.8	-0.8
4	46.9	56.9	10.0
5	26.2	26.2	0.0
6	4.8	7.1	2.3
Race Miles	138.7	147.6	8.9
Total Miles	143.5	154.7	11.2
	2013 Position	2015 Position
1	131	158
2	169	122
3	151	145
4	110	131
5	137	231
Overall	111	127
	2013 Time	2015 Time	Delta
1	4:34:30	4:45:03	0:10:33
2	4:39:17	4:14:01	(0:25:16)
3	4:53:43	4:47:38	(0:06:05)
4	11:32:39	14:09:25	2:36:46
5	5:15:46	5:10:52	(0:04:54)
Overall	30:55:57	33:07:01	2:11:04
	2013 Pace	2015 Pace	(km/hr)
1	8.09	7.58
2	6.66	7.32
3	7.76	7.72
4	6.58	6.5
5	7.98	8.11
Overall	7.24	7.19

Well it is over.  The marathon stage was today. Started off with our tent
blowing down at 4:30 am. I was lucky? to start 1.5 hours later in the top 200.
The first half went fast but the second half was slower.   I made up about 800
meters in the dune fields by following my compass and not the crowd. Tenative
results put me 234th for the stage (lost of people running fast) and about 126th
overall.  Time was around 5:10. Not too bad.  Dirk ran a little faster at about
5:06 putting him overall just over the 300 mark! We have our medals and Dirk
kissed Patrick, thru his pack in the air and took his shirt off. His anticks got
him intervied by some French TV station. Looking forward to a short walk
tomorrow and your emails tonight!

Stage 4, the long stage is done (57 miles). Quite a suffer-fest. Lots of wind
and sand. Could not eat my breakfast so I was fighting for calories the whole
way. The tea guy slipped me  a  double shot. Finished the stage in 142nd
position at about 14:12. That brought my overall standing up to 119th. Dirk did
well and came in about 2.5 hours later. he wind was blowing hard all night, in
fact my tent was down when I got in and had to wait 30 minutes to get it set up.
Blisters are not bad for me but Dirk got some good ones. We have the day off.
All but two of our tent mates are in. There will be a lot of people  dropping
out on this one. All the emails are great and very much apprecited.  One more
marathon tomorrow!


NEWS FLASH:  Just found out that the top 200 are starting one hour after
everyone else to compress the finish time line for the marathon.  Guess that I
am sort of at the top of the pile. Don't know if we get our medals tomorrow or
what.  They are saying that the solidarity stage is timed this year or there are
some prizes for the top three placers in it. I plan on trying to run at over 7
km/hr so I hope to finish in about 6 hours. Lots of sand on the route. My start
time is 8:00 ish.  Thought you might like to know.

UPDATE FROM MDS 2015

Stage 2 done. Re-tread of stage 2 from 2013 so I knew what was coming. Did much
better on electrolytes, water and food.  Finished strong at about 4:14. The tea
guy score me an extra cup at the finish. Do not know my place. I moved up to
158th for some reason in Stage 1. Dirk made it in much later and is having some
blister problems we will have to work on.  Lost my Buff! Thank you all for the
emails they are very much appreciated.  About 25% done and the first stage
excitement is done. Look for the webcam feed. Going to go and recover some more.
Breezy now and the hot part of the day.  Hope you are checking out the day's
photos and videos. The competition at the front of the pack is fierce.

MDS 2015 Stage 1

Well Stage 1 is over.

 It was a complete repeat of Stage 1 in  2013!  Wonder if I was slower this year.  Weather is hot and windy, just like Spring Time in NM. I got a little behind in electrolytes and food today but will do better tomorrow.  Was doing quite well until about half way through then I had to walk some and recover.  Feet are OK.  Pack started out at 7.5 kgs (just under 17 lbs) without water.  Tomorrow is about 20 miles.  Lots of standing around in the sun for everything.  The Sultan tea guy is back and one was very excited to see an american (my patch) at the finish today (didn't get me a second cup though). Dirk is hanging in there and finished in an ok state today.  Miss seeing family at the finish line but I am looking forward to your emails.  Not sure of my standing but it is somewhat irrelevent this early.  One US male is in 10th
place.  Check out the web site for pictures of the stage, there were lots of
photographers out there. 

LISA'S NOTE:

Garth is in 160th overall and is 5th US Individual after Stage 1 :-)

Ready, Set, Go!

After almost a week of traveling we are here in Ouarzazate one day out from leaving for the bivouac. Packs are ready and a final briefing by Jay is about 30 minutes away. The afternoon wil be devoted to a little more relaxing and sight seeing. The U.S. contingent is here and all are excited. Weather is hot as expected and no clouds. Tomorrow we will be off the grid but look for posts from the field later here, on Facebook or live tracking via Spot at the MDS website

All the preparation and training is done. It's real now!