The heavenly aroma hung in the air as I sat at the large wooden table across from the barista counter. It was 10:00 AM on a chilly Thursday morning and Philz Coffee in downtown Sunnyvale was jumping with activity. I sipped from my hot cup of Philharmonic and sat in front of my laptop making small talk with my colleagues through our virtual meeting. Before we got into the business side of things we were discussing our upcoming plans for the long weekend. "Well, I'm running a 50K" I said with a chuckle. Our Controller, who is well aware of my running exploits, jokingly said "oh, come on Liam. Just a 50K, that's it?". I guess when you have people teasing you about running only a 50K, you have a element of nuttiness in your persona. It is "just" a 50K indeed. The FOURmidable 50K in Auburn, to be exact. The race was two days away on Saturday February 18th, 2023, and I was starting to get pumped up.
Every ultramarathon has it's own unique story and experience and even though the event was still two days out, I was certain that FOURmidable would be a memorable race. This was going to be the first ultra I would be running as a dad. The last ultra I ran was the Bishop High Sierra 50-miler in May 2022. Sam was six months pregnant, and that same weekend that I was in Bishop, she was in New Orleans celebrating her friend's bachelorette party. I was excited for the future but there was a lot of uncertainty at that time. I had no idea how Aidan's birth was going to go, how he was going to be as a baby, how good of a dad I was going to be, or how fatherhood was going to go. I had times during that race when I was enjoying being in the moment, but my mind was elsewhere during most of the journey. I clearly didn't perform my best, but I made it to the finish line.
It's pretty safe to say that my reality has changed quite a bit since toeing the finish line in Bishop back in May. We had some complications during the little dude's birth that resulted in Sam having an unexpected caesarean section. Her pregnancy had been great up until that point so we were both thrown a major curveball in the hospital. In the end, Aidan arrived at 8:52 AM on Sunday August 7th, 2022 and was a healthy little guy. He just celebrated his six month "half birthday" ten days ago. That six months has gone by quickly, but a lot has happened. He has grown in size, outgrown his newborn clothes, he's gone from having two emotions (crying and quiet) to having several emotions. He's grown more baby hair, learned how to play with toys, learned to appreciate the sound of music, and learned how to engage when we read him baby books. He's been able to roll and inch his way forward. He's now eating solid foods, he loves to smile and laugh, he loves being out and about and being around people, and he's very easy going most of the time. He gets cuter ever single day. Sam is such a great mom to him. She always makes sure he's getting fed well and that he's comfortable and happy. Being a mom to a six month old little dude is challenging enough, and meanwhile she continues to run her own pet care business, she works out at the gym four times a week, and has started running again.
And as for me, I've been trying to make stuff happen too. I try my best everyday to balance the "four quadrants of my life" as I call them: being the best dad I can be, being the best partner I can be, making sure I'm productive and having an impact at work, and taking care of myself, my interests, and my needs. I fall a little short in one or more of these "quadrants" from time to time, but I try to do my best. When it comes to preparing for FOURmidable, I like to think I'm in a good place. I've been able to keep up with running since becoming a dad, and I've been going to the gym in our apartment building and doing strength training four or five times per week. I've gained about eight pounds of muscle since November 2020. A big part of ultrarunning is core fitness, especially when it comes to hauling myself up the hills. I'm hoping that my work in the gym will pay off in that regard. I've been doing longer runs on Saturday mornings ranging from eight to eleven miles on relatively flat surfaces like the Stevens Creek and Bay Trails.
Admittedly I haven't been spending as much time on the mountain trails as I should, but I've done some hiking and trail running at Rancho and Mission Peak here and there. A new workout that I've adopted lately is running up and down the stairs in our apartment building. This twenty-minute exercise that I've been doing about once per week is a good alternative to hiking. I've also been doing more treadmill running during the week. The stair workouts and treadmill running have emerged into my routine partially as a result of the fact that we've had a pretty wet and rainy winter here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm not a big fan of running on treadmills. It can be boring and monotonous and it feels more physically difficult than running outside. But besides the rainy weather, I've been doing it to get out of my comfort zone. A couple of weeks ago I decided on a whim to run eleven miles on a treadmill on a Saturday morning as a challenge to myself. It was as psychologically taxing as running a full marathon, but I got it done and it felt great afterwards.
I don't know a whole lot about the course of the FOURmidable 50K, but the race is being held in familiar territory. I found out about this race from my buddy Arjun, who ran it last year. He will be joining me on Saturday and running for the second year in a row. There will be about 6,000 feet of elevation gain and we'll be running mostly on the same trails that I've traversed during other ultras that I've done in the past. We will begin the journey from Overlook Park in Auburn, California at 8:00 AM. That's a little later that most ultramarathons start, but it gives me some time to drive out there from Sunnyvale in the early morning hours. I'm really looking forward to this race. It's been a while and I'm excited to be getting back out there. Running has definitely taken on a new meaning since the little dude was born. I will do my best, but I don't know exactly how it's going to go. Regardless of how fast or slow I run, I'll be thinking about Aidan and Sam a lot. In a way, I feel like I'm doing this race for Aidan. I'm hoping for a memorable experience and that the race will be solid training for The Canyons 100K in April. See you at the race report blog afterwards!
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