Are You Tough Enough 2009

RUTE 2009 Race Report (Team Beauty and the Beasts)

Intro (Dan reporting): 65 mile relay race, 5 team members, ten legs of varying difficulty and lots of fun climb and plunges. The route went from Summerland, south of SB (Toro Canyon Park) along the mountain ridges of Camino Cielo, above SB, down to Solvang and finishing in Nojoqui Falls Park.

Team roster (L to R): Dave, Kary, Brian, Drew, Dan.

I saw some of the buzz around this race last year, I really wanted to do it, but didn't have enough time to form a team, I threw my hat in the ring as an alternate, but all the teams were full, I vowed that next year I'd make it happen.

Many months before this race I start floating the idea with various runner pals, from the start I wanted to have a mixed team, so I had both the guys and the gals on the list. I settled on Dave, Drew and myself pretty quickly and through some arm twisting got Brian on board. Finally rounded out the team with Kary (Celine had heard she was doing SB9T solo, a 35 mile race w/ 11,000'+ climb and I promptly snatched her up).

We had enough time (enough rope?) to get trained and we did - Drew starting from blank slate to 15 mile mountain training runs at the end. David going for his first trail running (and trail falls) in the mountains. I had a great time doing the group training runs, getting a feel for everyone's pace and strengths. Along the way I also decided to run the Catalina marathon (4,000' climb) and of course got Dave into that too. The marathon was a month before RUTE, but we figured we'd recover in time, or pretend it was just a nice loooong training run before the relay.

We did some pre-race logistics, figuring who was in what car, support along the way, etc. I threw together a geeky spreadsheet of the legs and runners. I thought we were all TOUGH ENOUGH, so no one was looking to just 'finish the distance', we wanted everyone to run hard and stretch for their personal best. We made some quick estimates of our push times for each leg and came up with a 9:53 stretch goal.

The day of the race rolled around very quickly and we were off...

Legs 1,2,3,4,4a (Brian & Kary, Brian reporting)
Kary was smart to draft a friend and marathon runner to SAG for us. We could focus on the race and not deal with car logistics.

We showed up a few minutes before the start with Dan, Dave and Drew welcoming us with surly grins. Wondering where we were, they were worried that one of them may have to run the first leg in jeans and regular shoes! It was great to see the team spirit at this early hour.

Assisted with a downhill start, I ran the first four miles at approx 7 min pace. The climbs up San Ysidro and Mountain were tough but managed to finish at 7:48am. Kary picked off runners up Gibraltar, finishing the 10.5 miles leg 2 and 3 with 2800' vertical at 8:33 pace!

I had two 500'+ climbs up La Cumbre and Cathedral peaks. I vowed not walk. On the second climb, the peak was covered in fog. I vaguely remembered the altitude and could track progress by my GPS. It was a relief to summit.

Cruised down to the Painted Cave hand off averaging 8:25. The slow uphills were offset by sub 7's on the downhills. Kary covered the last two miles in 11 minutes. The woman is a machine! We finished the first 28 miles at 3:49 approx 35 minutes ahead of goal.


Leg 2 (Kary reporting): I was ready to RUNNNNNNNNNN! Brian came in smokin' fast and off I went. I remember during my drive of Leg 2 with Dan earlier that week being saddened by all the fire damage and thinking it was going to be a somber run ... however, I was so excited and focused on running that I barely remember much of what I saw during that leg ... I am definitely grateful to the positive words shared by the man driving the gold-colored VW van and was incredibly surprised to see my good friend, Terra, and her daughter on the side of the road cheering me on ... Yeah! As I turned the corner to start leg 3, I did wonder whether running these legs back to back was such a good idea ... MMmmmm.

Leg 3 (Kary reporting): Ahhh, Gibraltar ... I could see my route ahead of me, along with several runners. I felt good and think I smiled the entire run ... I was elated to hear the cheers from other teams ... the words of my friend Lori played in my head "You are fit" "You are fast" ... Oh yeah! When I drove this leg I thought I would remember the different mile markers but did not ... I knew there was a good climb after Flores Flats and indeed, it was ... I was excited to see Brian and Nichol at the hand off ... Yahoooooooo!

Leg 4a (Kary reporting): I think I am really running fast, I am running fast, I am going to fall really hard, I better slow down, I am still running fast ... there is 154 ... there is Dave ... GO DAVE!

Quick interruption (Dan reporting): Through these first legs Dan, Dave and Drew started to get reports of how much our team was ahead of our stretch goal, we were getting pumped for our legs and to keep pushing the pace. It was great to stay in touch with the whole team txting and calling in race reports. Next year though, we'll do a big party van with a masseuse!

So, Dave went up to his spot ahead of his scheduled time and Dan and Drew headed over to their legs early too. We were all getting jittery and ready to race. (There was supposed to be a shuttle for Drew's leg hand off spot, but that was a trick on us newbies and we had to drive ourselves up to the spot, bringing along other newbies who were tricked too.)

Leg 5 (Dave reporting): Got to my hand off location early cause I didn't want to miss Kary, and the anticipation was killing me. Good thing cause Brian and Kary blazed legs 1 through 4. Way to go, about 35 minutes ahead of our goal. After seeing Brian off in the morning and then having to sit around made me super anxious to run, so when I got the hand off from Kary I was off and racing.

My first leg was 4.7 miles through a mountain community all on a paved road. The climb was pretty tough averaging about 250ft per mile. Brian and Kary's fast pace on the first four legs put me in position to pass some of the other teams. This really helped me because I really feed off picking off runners in front of me and I wasn't sure how many other runners I would see on the course. By mile 2.5 I caught up to two other teams at the steepest part of leg 5. It was great to see other runners because my lungs were already burning and I hadn't even completed mile 3. Things settled in after mile 3.5 when I was able to get my breathing under control and had picked up another runner in my sights. Even with my breathing under control I felt like I might be pushing too hard. Got to the end of my first leg in 37.5 minutes, under 8 minute miles. I was really happy with my time, but I knew I needed to back off if I was going to get through my next leg. Sachi helped me on my first leg providing aid and support. Thanks Sach, you're the best, luv you lots.

Leg 6 (Dave Reporting): Leg 6 is a long 9 mile trek from the Gun Club on West Camino Cielo to Broadcast Peak, all on a dirt fire road. The total elevation climb on this leg was about 1250ft, but lucky for me it starts out with a mile of downhill. The downhill gave me a great chance to rest up for the rest of my climb to Broadcast Peak. Unfortunately I didn't take the opportunity, because one of the teams I passed on my previous leg blew by me on the downhill. He was a fresh runner and he was really, really fast. I tried my best to keep up but by mile 2 of leg 7 my efforts on my previous leg were starting to catch up. I gave up the chase and started to settle into my own pace.

My mother's boyfriend Jim was kind enough to provide support for me on this leg. Because the leg was all dirt fire roads he rode his mountain bike to provide support. Unfortunately it was easier for me to climb the hills than Jim so I lost support for about 2 miles. I was starting to wonder what happened to Jim when all of a sudden a truck passed me, stopped in front of me and Jim popped out. Jim passed me my water bottle and told me I was on my own. I thanked him and I was off to tackle Broadcast Peak. Some people might have worried about getting aid, but I knew the Lord would provide. As I approached the last crazy, crazy climb to Broadcast Peak I had only checked my watch once and I knew I was making pretty good time.

After I passed the first set of TV towers and came around to the back of the mountain to see the last insane climb I notice another runner. I hadn't seen another runner in 6 miles and I was dead set on catching one more team. This was just the motivation I needed to get me over the hump. I passed the runner just before the 2nd set of TV towers and pushed my way to the end of my leg. Man was I happy to see Dan and Drew. You could see the pain on my face. I finished my two legs approximately 13.7 miles in 1 hour 58 minutes and 31 seconds (approximately 8min39sec miles). Congratulation to the team and their spectacular efforts, and a special thanks to Dan for making this all happen. Dan is my motivator.

Leg 7 (Drew reporting): In driving from the end of leg 7 to the start, we found out that this leg was about 6 miles (as opposed to the scheduled 7), so David was running an uphill mile at the end of his leg (ouch!). Once we got to the hand off spot, we could see the runners come into view about 1 to 2 minutes before their hand offs. Over a span of about 20 minutes, several teams completed their hand offs. Because of the great performance by our first 3 runners, I was pretty nervous while we waited. Sooner than expected, a runner appeared around the bend, and I asked Dan if it was David. Dan said it wasn’t and then as he got closer, we realized that it was David, and he was working HARD!! I quickly moved into the road for the handoff and as he slapped my hand (with a maniacal look on his face), I took off down the hill.

I ran on adrenaline for the first half-mile or so, neglecting to start my stopwatch. Dan and Dave drove by (they might have offered water) and then about a mile and a half out another car pulled up behind me. I moved to the outside shoulder to let them pass. They passed safely, my foot hit a root, and I quickly fell into the road. Luckily, I did a shoulder roll, so the only thing to be scraped was my right elbow, and I was none the worse for the wear. Pretty soon after, I felt a tightness in my right calf. I thought it was a cramp, but it ended up being a muscle pull/strain. Those don’t go away, but you get used to them. So, with my adrenaline gone, I settled into a steady pace. The view to the left was great, with the ocean visible most of the time.

Over the span of the first few of miles, I was passed by 3 relay runners, who quickly disappeared into the road ahead. On Dan's advice, I tried to run as the road presented itself, going more quickly on the steeper sections. Good advice. I chased a solo runner for a few miles and eventually passed him with about a mile to go. It was nice to get into the shade so I could shed the bandanna. I had no idea how far I had to go (since I didn’t start my stopwatch), then suddenly I came around a turn and saw people up ahead. People cheered, I hit Dan’s hand, and he took off. Felt good to be done with the leg, but I was still pretty worried about the calf.

Leg 8 (Dan reporting): Nice hand off from Drew, who came charging in looking fast and still pretty fresh. The race adrenaline and big downhill on this leg took me over and I ran fast, 6:44, 6:44, 7:07 for first three miles, 7:30 average for first leg and faster then my stretch goal. It sure was fun to fly the down hills - run the terrain. No one was going to pass me on this part of the race! When I hit the leg 9 hand off my calves were hurting (I strained them) the price to be paid for pushing hard down the hill. Seeing all the cars and fresh runners getting ready for hand offs at leg 9 and knowing that I was not stopping was a bit challenging, but I had no doubts about pushing on for team B&Bs.

Leg 9 (Dan reporting): This leg was tough for me, I had no problem with the distance, I can cruise a half marathon in my sleep, but the hard burn on leg 8 slowed me down. I banked some time with that leg, so overall I knew I would still do OK. A few of the fresh runners who started on leg 9 passed me, looking, well, 'fresh'. I did run out of water with about 2 miles to go, but luckily one of the support vans stopped and asked if I need anything I bravely waved him off then, said wait, I need water! He filled up one of my bottles, which gave me a nice mental and hydration level boost. I think this is the same gold VW that Kary saw, nice to get support from other teams.

I was soooo happy to see Drew and David at 10. After burning my legs on the downhill of 8 I had to put everything into 9 to get through it in decent time. I tagged Drew's hand for his turn on the last leg and he was off.

For the total of both legs, I hit my 'good' goal, but missed my 'stretch'. Likely if I went out slower, I could have gotten pretty close to the stretch - next time. Still it sure was fun to fly those downhills, that's hard to resist. Woohoo! I was done with my legs and now it was all up to Drew to finish us in style.












Leg 10 (Drew reporting):
After we sent off Dan, David drove me to the last hand off point, which was great, since he took me from the finish line to my starting point for leg 10. This was important because I got to see the wicked hill that made up more of leg 10 than I expected. While we waited for Dan, a female team served as entertainment with their dancing (Thank you shout out to them!). I just kept thinking, “I don’t want anyone to pass me this time.” Eventually Dan came in looking like he’d given EVERYTHING he had! [Nice Job!!]




I started off with a limp to my gait (trying to warm the calf) and knew the hills were coming. Dan and David offered water on the hill and then again at the top (which came not a moment too soon). When I came to the point where I could see the finish, I heard the encouraging shouts and tried to accelerate. I don’t know how well that went, but when I got close and was joined by the whole team and (especially!) all the kids for the last part, everything felt great!

Finish time: 9:02, we killed our stretch goal of 9:53!

What an event. Couldn’t ask for better teammates. Fast, tough and supportive. 15th place, top 50%. Next year faster and top 10?














Post race dinner (Dan reporting): we cleaned up and had an awesome meal at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse with the spouses. Ruth's had their recession special menu going, soooper yum, desserts on the house for the runners and awesome beer mugs inscribed with our RUTE 2009 team logo and roster from Celine!













Awesome supporters (Dan reporting): Families and friends, making race $hirts, race mugs, time for training, support during the race, refreshments afterward and gathering to celebrate with us at the finish line. They rawk and we LOOOOVE them!

Summary (Dan reporting): Now when I look up at the mountain ridges going from Summerland, above Santa Barbara, down to Solvang, I feel like we own those ridges. We ran them all, we ran them hard. Damn proud of our team. Looking ahead to next year and new PRs!

Overall RUTE 2009 Race Results

Rough Splits

I like the nice build up to beat the stretch goal, perhaps a little less sandbagging on the stretch goals next time :) Of course I love us beating it by 52 min for our first time, so it's fine. As Brian said, we hit the top 50% of the field which rawks, and this was a damn competitive field. Congrats to Beauty and the Beasts!

GPS / Elevation for legs 1, 4, 8&9

Catalina Island Marathon Report

I love trail runs and most of this race is all on dirt roads / trails. The family had also never been to Catalina and it sounded like fun for everyone!

I got my neighbor pal interested and he's not one to pass up a challenge like this. Next thing we know we were locked in and headed to Catalina, this would also be his first marathon, fun!

My parents who were at my first marathon, decide to join us, so it sounds like we are starting a little tradition here.

Training for this race went pretty well, I did some great training runs with some of our R.U.T.E. team, and then did my 18 and 20 milers by myself all in the mountains of Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez - some beautiful tranquil, runs exploring the backcountry. My wife and family were so great and supportive to let me do these long runs during precious our weekend time. As the runs got longer I pushed to get up and out earlier so as not to use up the entire day!

The trip to Catalina was fun, we took the ferry over to the island. Of course the kids loved the ferry, running all over the place. We got the 'mind the gap' speech from the Captain when the kids got too close to the gap between the massive ship and the dock, yikes! Once under way the rolling ship was great fun for the kids to bounce around like pinballs as they ran up and down the aisles. It was a little hazy so we didn't see the island until we got right up to Avalon, where we'd be staying, also the finish line for the race.

We checked into the Pavilion Lodge (great location across from the beach , near everything and nice rooms). We wandered around town the cool quaint little harbor town. After checking out the little beach and pier, we jumped into golf carts and toured around, of course the big kids loved riding up front like adults in these little putt-putt golf carts. We saw the 25 mile marker for the race on the road up to the hills, I thought then that we'd be happy to see that sometime the next day!

The Race
The race is a point to point race from Two Harbors to Avalon, 26.2 miles, 4000' of climbs and descent. I was looking at my hill training runs and the race course averages and I set myself a goal of 5:15 for the course. My last 20 mile training run, with 4000' climb, took me 4:43, but was at a more leisurely pace (13:46) and I thought I could do a better pace on race day.

My friend and I took a ferry to Two Harbors at 5:00AM, with kisses to the sleepy families before we left. We headed out with a boat full of excited runners and arrived in darkness.It was so dark I no idea where we were, where the start line was, even what general direction we were going to run in, spooooky! We did some wandering around at the start (crossing the island between the harbors twice looking for the bag drop off) and we saw the walkers / early starters head out at 6:30AM in the dim light of dawn. At the last second I decided to keep my iPhone on the race to take pictures and not put it in the drop bag. I like taking pix during my long training runs, but in that case I'm wearing a Camel Back pack which I can stuff it in. Here I was putting it in the mp3 pocket of my shorts. Always a good idea to try something new on race day! In my last marathon, I put so much crud in my shorts, they actually fell down while I was running! My pal laughed at me when I declared it felt OK after test running with the iPhone in my shorts for 50ft. Sure, it's OK for 50ft, but how about for 26.2! Hmm, we'll find out. We said if it started to bug me, I'd erase the data and throw the damn thing away at an aid station!

We lined up with around 600 other runners at 7am and with little preamble heard the horn and we were off.

The course doesn't mess around it immediately starts climbing from Two Harbors up into the hills. The first mile felt good running in the pack, getting warmed up. Typically in a race my partner would pull away from me in the first mile and I'd see him at the finish, but this time he held back and ran with me the entire race. It was really cool to run together for the whole 26.2. We talked and joked around while we ran at the start of the race devolving into grunts and short grim jokes toward the end of the race.

The race flowed from one hill to another with great wide dirt roads. The weather was great, a little cool, perfect for running. The view from the tops of the ridges were huge and sweeping out to the ocean, little harbors and beaches and nice valleys in the interior of the island. I took some pictures as we ran, stopping to fool around with the iPhone camera a few times along the way. Let's just say the iPhone camera is lacking when it comes to anything close to action shots, so I got plenty of pix that were distorted like fun house mirrors, and a few good ones on the run. I need to find a good small 'running' camera. In the end it didn't pull my shorts down and I didn't have to toss it. Here's a couple shots of us on the run, when we were both fairly fresh.

The first 10 miles were good, the pack stayed fairly tight, there were some hills which folks walked early on and we ran, so we started to spread out a little bit. On we went up to the ridges then down to valleys and harbors, it all felt nice and remote. At one camping spot, there was a bit of shouting and as we came up, we saw a few guys hanging out by a cooler w/ two full beers on top. They were encouraging runners to stop and kill a beer and continue on. One guy in front of us just finished one, but it felt a little early in the race to pound one down! A little bit after we passed, I heard another cheer, so I guess at least one more runner got a carbo boost from Bud!

At around mile 11 it started to get a little hard for me, just hit a stage with lower energy, nothing was really sore or hurt it was starting to feel like real effort. Thinking about the miles (and hills) ahead was a little daunting. The views helped and thinking of the family at the finish line made me run on. Eating my e-gels, sports beans and drinking water kept me going. The aid stations in the race were really great. There were lots of people staffing the stations, they came at just the right times, my pal went for the M&Ms. The stations had plenty of water, Gatorade and even Hammer gels. While runners probably do not need to bring water bottles or 'fuel' to run in the race, but I like having the water bottle and gels for a new race where I don't where all the stops are.

My pal kept pace with me throughout the race, until the end of the run, when we started hitting more hills. On my typical long run, I run up into the mountains and the second half of of the run is mostly down hill. Not so in this race, the longest climbs are toward the end, with one nice bit of downhill at the very end. The folks in our pace group started to the walk the hills and after a bit I realized they were walking as fast (or faster ) than I was 'running', so I fell into pace and power walked also. My buddy had the energy and power to run the last hills, so he'd pull ahead and was kind enough to wait at the top for me to catch him, so we could start running together again. It was cool for him to do that this time, but I expect he'll blaze ahead and do a nice PR if we do this race again!

We finally topped out at the microwave tower overlooking the town of Avalon and the finish line. It looked like we had a ways to go, but not too bad. Of course the race course didn't go towards Avalon, but in a little case of cruelty it both went away from it and into another series of up and down hills. At this point we started checking the time and I thought if I held pace I'd hit my sub 5:15 goal. We talked a little bit of sub 5:00, but anything below 5:15 without injury sounded good to me and I pushed hard for that. I told my pal to go ahead if he wanted to hit the sub 5:00, but he said not to worry about it, we'd finish together, nice.

We hit the last 3 miles headed down hill (it drops around 1600') and I took the lead setting a decent pace without tripping over rocks or careening off the trail. On the steep we had to govern our speed a little bit, we saw one of the youngsters trying to fly down the trail. Some of the old hands laughed a little at that, saying that he was going to flame out later. We did pass the youngin before the finish as he leaned over punching his legs trying to work out some cramps, but in the end he finished just a few minutes behind us, so it wasn't too bad.

The dirt roads gave way to the streets of Avalon and it was good to see the 25 mile marker we saw the day before. We picked up the pace, wanting to finish strong. We saw another runner stopping to stretch, I think the last big of downhill does something to you, she was doing a stretch we knew well. I said 'Oh, hello IT band!' to my pal and we both laughed, it seemed funny at the time...

Towards the end, I wasn't even really checking the time or looking for the clock, I was happy to be finishing strong. I even forgot to check for that last second 'pass' from another runner coming from behind, luckily we had pushed it enough in our run down the block, that no one was in place to do that.

We did a couple turns and then we saw a longish stretch and the actual finish line, what a great sight! We pushed it to the line, finishing together side by side with our kids running up to us as we finished, I saw my wife as I ran in, big smiles on both our faces. Hugs and congrats all around. The family took pictures at the end. Big kisses with the wife! We got our medals and stood around in a nice happy daze. My final time was 5:01:20 (11:29/mile). With the help of my pal, I crushed my 5:15 goal and I have a nice sub 5:00 target for next time. I think my buddy is going to target sub 4:30 next time, which I think he can do handily.

We did a little dip in the ocean to cool off our legs, nice ice bath temperature, it was cold, but I think my legs appreciated it. Of course the kids actually swam around in the chilly water, total polar bears.

After some nice hot showers at the hotel we wandered around town, seeing runners still coming in (7+ hours out on the course, wow, that's hard too!) We had a great meal (Ribeye steak, yum) at Steve's Steakhouse with a nice view of the harbor. We wore our medals around town like running geeks, luckily there were plenty just like us. There were even folks with these pins and bars for each year they had run the Catalina Marathon which made us look very understated in our celebratory fashion by comparison. Some had 26+ bars for running this marathon 26+ times! We were not too sure about the 'look' of these bars draping off their hats like metallic braids, but I'm sure we'll figure out the best way to wear them if we start accumulating more finishes! For now we each have a pin and one bar, it's a beginning.

We stayed in town for more one night, played mini-golf, did the undersea tour and the awesome Casino tour the next day, jumped on the ferry with the kids and grandparents and headed home. All in all a great race and trip which might become a tradition, even the kids want to race. The wives of course ran post race day, training for the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon, which we are all going to run together.

Woof woof!

My buddy and his wife and the kids waiting for us at the finish.

Finishing it up with some data from the race (nice elevation chart!)

Pier to Peak 2008 Race Report

13.1 miles, 4000' climb. Fun times.

This course is where it all started for me, back in 2006, it was the first 'distance' race I ran and trained for. Last time, I ran it in 2:57 - hit my sub 3 hour goal. This time with a few more runs (including the below marathon) under my belt, I wanted to better my time, looking for something between 2:30 and 2:57.

I signed up / decided to run this in early August after running the Angel Island 25K. I knew it did not give me much of a training period, but I figured I'd be OK, since I had just run a 25K trail run. I'm also toying with the idea of doing a 50K trail race or another 'ultrarun' at some point, so in those terms I could treat it as just another long run in the training for a longer run (heh, yah right).

I also asked my neighbor David to join in the race with me, he had not run the course before and also did not have much training, but he's a really good athlete and has a "I will finish it, no matter what" attitude! The last race we ran together was the SB Wine Country Half Marathon in 2007 and he crushed that with a sub 1:30 time. It would be cool to at least _start_ with someone I knew, he bolted from the starting line and I did not seem him again until the finish line!

There was an early start this year, 6:30AM and it sure was hard to sleep the night before! Equipment was the usual, with one addition: nuun tablets for my water bottle. These are electrolytes w/o carbs (sugar). The main reason I brought them was to try to avoid cramping. I had pretty bad cramping on my last P2P race, so I wanted to try something to try to avoid that.

The weather was great, overcast, but not too chilly. We ran through clouds / mist for a majority of the bottom of the course.

We ran quickly up State street from the start at the Pier, with David bounding out quickly at around a 7:00 minute pace. Too fast for me, so I setttled into a roughly 8:00 minute pace. I also saw another guy I knew Geoff, he had talked about running this for the first time back in the summer and it was great to see him going for it.

The run felt good up to the Mission (mile 3), looked for the family cheering section, but they were not there yet, I knew it was pretty early and we hit the Mission at a quick pace, so I was not worried, I was sure that I would see them further on up the course, since they would also drive the same course to the top of the mountain.

After the Mission hit some of the hills as a warm up and held my own on those, but then got the real gut check at Sheffield reservoir where the real hills start and go on and on and on... I felt good at the start and wasn't very hot, decent pace and cranking along. Saw my neighbors family on this part of the course and then saw my great family cheering section on the side of the road, taking pictures, that was great, a good boost to see the kids and Mrs. Mopsothoth.

Good running up the rest of the course, broke through the clouds, one runner pointed out the blue sky above and the mountains rising out of the mist. I said 'cool', but a runner behind me with a desperate edge in his voice said 'Don't look up, don't look up!' - I guess he didn't want to see how far up we still had to go :) I saw the family a few more times as they drove up and stopped a few times on the course which was really cool. Usually there is minimal cheering section due to the nature of the course, but it's nice to have a mobile cheering section!

There was an additional 0.4 miles added to the course, because in the past it was a little short of the full 13.1. This was up around mile 10-11 and was actually pretty nice, because it added some more up and then a nice downhill. I decided to try to run this faster and it felt good to cruise the downhill, but whoops, wham! Got a cramp! I was really hoping this wasn't going to be like last time where I had to walk a a bit, I rubbed the muscle, slowed the pace a little and then starting running again - no problems, whew!

Forest of Nisene Marks Marathon

For my first marathon, we traveled up from Santa Barbara to Aptos, CA and stayed at the Chaminade in the hills of Aptos. Nice place in the woods and close enough to the race and Santa Cruz. The woods were right outside our back sliding glass door and the kids saw some deer in the AM which they were jazzed about. My oldest son had a deer whisperer experience :)

The marathon was a trail race, 26.2 miles and 2500' climb into the Forest of Nisene Marks.

I was a little restless / nervy the night before, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my left knee that I was worried about. It really helped that I had a lot of support via email and txts from all my pals and family though, including my running buddy Brian who was pushing via txts to run it fast and not just finish the damn thing. I estimated 5:45, 5:15, based on my training runs. So, I figured 5:30-5:00 was a good estimate which I told my wife Celine and my parents who were going to come to the finish line. On the sly I did a soooper secret calibration based on my 18 mile hill training run which I felt was good run and then tacked on another 8 miles of flat at 9:00 and came up with around 4:45 as my soooper secret goal. Just before we left for the race in the AM, I told Celine that I had a shot at sub 5:00, since they were going to go back to the hotel and meet / hang out with grandma and grandpa before meeting me at the finish line. I didn't want them to miss me, if I came in a little early.

Mrs. Mopsothoth seeing me off

My gear for the race: Race Ready Fitness Shorts, 4 e-Gels, 3 Clif Shot Bloks (2 w/ caffeine), Garmin 305, iPod Nano, Nike+, 2-week old Mizuno Wave Ascend 3 Shoes, UD Water Bottle.

The shoes were a little bit of a risk, but I had at least run my last taper run using them and I think my old shoes were pretty dead (midsoles die around 400 miles and I think I had at least that on my old shoes). Also, the new shoes were a cool dark red, so of course that was worth the risk.

My boys seeing me off

The race start was the Aptos Village Park, a nice little park / spot in a little vale next to highway 1 Aptos, CA. My wife and my kids hung out with me at the start, we heard there was a record number of marathon participants this year (in the end there were 69 finishers).

Catch the bunny Dad!
While waiting at the start, I saw a bunny hopping around near a bridge and my kids told me to chase it and catch it while I was running, so I had one more race goal.

Mile 1 Pants-are-sagging
Carol (Race Director) did a nice casual start, simple count down 3,2,1, go! I wanted to start off slow, but I knew that the other racers and adrenaline would push my pace in the first mile. However I did not take the potential embarrassment of plumbers butt into account - my running pants starts to go into pants-are-sagging mode! I had never run with all my running pants pockets full of e-gels and shot bloks and the weight started to pull my pants down and it started getting rather breezy! Previously on my long training runs, I would wear the Camelback and stuff in extra gels and bloks into the Camelback. I had to stop three times to retie my shorts and most of the pack passed me up while I was screwing around with my shorts. I figured no one wanted to stare at my butt crack for the next 26 miles :P. When I got to the first 1 mile marker, my watch clocked me at 9:58, so I ended up starting out slow anyway. I guess this is a new technique for running slow at the start, keep your shorts really loose...


Toeing the line vid

Miles 1-4 In the 'pack'
We stayed as a loose pack for the first 4 miles and I was passing some people up (due to my pants are sagging episode), running at a good pace. We passed over some nice bridges over Aptos Creek, headed into second growth readwoods, it was relatively flat, a slight climb up. The road quickly changed from asphalt to a nice really smooth fire road, a good surface to run on. I was a little concerned about how long the asphalt would last, but I was pretty happy that it switched over to dirt pretty quickly. My knees were thankful too. We hit the first aid station around mile 3 pretty quickly and I just tanked up my water bottle and kept moving.

In the 'pack'

Mile 5 - Hills start, 2500' climb ahead!
Around mile 5 we started to spread out as the climb up started in earnest. The climb itself didn't feel too bad and I started pacing w/ various people, talking a little bit here and there. Typically I would pace with /behind someone until I felt like they were going a little slow and then I'd pull ahead and look for the next person. I met another first timer like this, however I saw her again later when she kicked into high gear and caught back up with me and then passed me headed towards the top. The trail up was cut into the side of the hill and there was a cool little creek (Aptos Creek, I guess) running down in the valley next to us. I was downing e-gels and shot bloks every 45 minutes or so. Everything felt pretty good.

Mile 9 - Podcast shout out
I was listening on my iPod to some running podcasts (Pheddipidations, Confessions of a Runner, Dump Runners Club), This American Life, Pokerroad Radio, etc. and then around mile 9 while I was listening to the Confessions of a Runner podcast, Jodi, the host actually mentioned an email I sent in about the race and wished me luck and had an inspiring message about pushing outside of your running comfort zone. I said a quiet "thanks Jodi" (I was chatting w/ another runner at the time) and that little mention gave me a nice boost up the rest of the hill. (COAR #22 podcast, towards the end.)

Mile 13.1 - Top already?
I hit the top (13.1, half way) and the other first timer was just finishing up and we were both surprised we were already at the top, she almost started running past the aid station instead of turning around and heading back down. I stopped for second and took my sock off to remove a 'blister' bandaid on my big toe which seemed to be throwing my gait off a little bit. I also noticed that they were writing your bib number as you came into the small aid station. Ah! Of course if you are doing an out and back race, you need to make sure that folks go all the way to the turn around and don't just turn around when they decide to :) Just before I left the station another guy came up asking for some band aids, I had some for blisters that I started to pull out then I saw his wounds, half his palm was scrapped off and it looked like a lion had raked its claws down his thigh! He seemed ok and the bleeding had stopped. I figured my little bandaids would be no help and the aid station had some first aid supplies, so I wished him well and started back down. No more major uphill yay!

Oh, and my time at the top was 2:15! I must admit I was pretty shocked. Since it was downhill and then flat from here, I figured I had a good shot at my soooper secret goal of 4:45. There was a lot of race still to run and I knew that I could really start to slow down if I got tired, even if I was running mainly downhill / flat. Hmmm, time to go for it, but be careful not to burn out on the downhill.

Miles 13.1-19 - Downhill feels goooood
Running down hill felt great. I mean really goooood. First four miles of the down hill kind of flew by. I was trying to stay hydrated and fueled well, so much that I had to take a few pee breaks on the way down and had a few folks pass me while I was peeing or slowing down to eat a gel or some bloks. This was fine I wasn't too worried about my overall placement, but I did want to finish well for myself, so I tried to catch up with some of the folks who passed me when I could.

Mile 20-22 What wall, oh THAT wall!
At mile 20 I thought, I'm still running well, no wall! Heh, of course right after that at around mile 21, I started feeling some cramps coming on in my legs, so I also drank some Gatorade at some of the rest stops. I never had a cramp during my training runs, but I knew I was running faster than those runs. Wham! At mile 22 cramped up in upper left thigh. I walked for a sec ramming my fists into my thigh to massage it out, walked a for a sec and then started running again, it didn't come back, yay! Keep going! I walked through the last rest stop and it did take me a bit to get going again, but I started envisioning my wife and kids and Grandma and Grandpa at the finish line and that really helped me get going again! As far as I could tell no one was around me, I didn't see anyone in front or behind me for a little ways out.

Miles 22-26.2 Running back in
Now I was starting to run on the flat again and my pace was all over the place, going fast then really slowing down. The natural beauty surrounding helped me keep my eyes off of my GPS which seemed to slow to a crawl sometimes. I also switched my iPod over to some music for a little aural kick too - Girl in a Coma rawks. I finally started seeing some homes by the road again and I thought I spotted the community building in the Aptos Village Park (but then quickly told myself not to get too excited, what if that's not it!) I finally hit the entrance of the park and that's when it hit me, I'm going to finish this thing and in pretty good time! Just as I went down the last stretch and some of the other runners were walking back up the course past me saying 'good job, way to go, etc.' one guy mentioned that there was someone right behind me. What! I hadn't seen anyone for the past 4 miles. A little bit of competitiveness kicked in and I didn't want to get out kicked in the very end, so I pushed my pace for the last little bit and finished ahead of whoever was behind me by a few seconds, they probably didn't even care, but I didn't want someone passing me at the 'tape' :)

As I came in, I heard a bunch of cheering, my son came running over and we grabbed each other and then I hugged my wonderful wife, my mom and my dad, it got a little emo :) I had finished my first marathon and a trail one at that! My family gave me such great support throughout training and on the run itself with their spirits.

I hit the finish line at 4:30:42, beat even my soooper secret stretch goal! 37th out of 69 finishers. I was tired, but not destroyed and I feel like I have more long races in me. Great experience.

Overall race results.


Hitting the finish line vid





MapMyRun route

Closing thoughts
Nice volunteers and great RD Carol. I tended to chat a little as compared to my 1/2 marathon where you grab and go. For this one, I'd stop sometimes and do a quick chat about my new shoes, about being from Santa Barbara, some other runner's concern about course length (his Garmin like mine said it was a little short, but I lost GPS coverage a number of times under the tree cover and in the end on a trail race I don't think you can be worried about totally nailing the mileage, it's just harder to measure than your normal road race.)

They don't give out medals, it's something different each year, this year it was a signed print in a little frame that appears at the top of the post, nice.

And sorry kids, I did not catch the bunny, I guess I'll have to run another one!

Grandma and Grandpa at the finish

Post race steak dinner wearing the race shirt at The Hind Quarter in Santa Cruz with everyone

8.5 Mile Training Run - Taper

1600' climb in 4+ miles.

Last of the long runs, trying some new shoes since last week, feel pretty good. I'll keep trying them next week, I can always switch back, but my old shoes have lots of miles on them. My pal Laurent ran this a little while ago when he was visting and inspired me to run to the top like he did. Got called 'hardcore' up at the top of inspiration peak *blush*, but I'm humble and respectful in front of the 26.2 + 2500' climb that is awaiting me next weekend. Excited!

13 Mile Traing Run - Taper

Taper! I still love the fact that I can knock out this run, from bottom of Romero Canyon Road fire road to the top of Camino Cielo. 2200' climb. Woohoo. I'm so lucky and appreciative that my family allows me time on the precious weekends to do my long runs, love ya guys!

20 Mile Training Run

This is my longest run in my training schedule for the Forest of Nisene Marks Marathon. I ran the first part (first 7 miles for me, he did about 10 total) w/ my pal Scott and then finished up the rest solo. It was a really nice trail, with lots of good climbing involved. It did get pretty hot at the end though, especially when I got back to the car and had to run two more miles to complete the full 20, woof woof!

We ran around the Palo Alto Foothills park. I used to visit and hike this park before I started running, so it was a nice 'homecoming' to come back and run the trails for the first time. I really got around to see pretty much the entire park, except for the lake, which I'll have to visit on another time. SportTracks claims 3000' ascending. The NMM ascent is 2500', so I think I have the hill climbing covered. I just need to do another 6 miles in the race itself. "just" :)

13.1 Mile Traing Run and Santa Ynez Half Marathon

Last year, I ran this w/ major back pain and did not break 2 hours. This year I ran fast and strong making a new half marathon PR and a 1:43:00 finish with 7:51/mile pace. Celine also ran and made a impressive 2:47:00 12:44/mile. Great day, great weather, awesome to run in the vineyards. I pushed myself hard in the second half. Finished in the top 15% or so of my age/sex group. I'm usually a mid packer, so I like that improvement too.

There's a 'heartbreak hill' in the middle of the race, but after all my hill work for the NMM, it really was no big deal.

Santa Ynez Half Marathon

18 Mile Training Run

This run made me think the marathon is actually doable!

I went in to it with some trepidation, I wondered if I would run it short. It was definitely a challenge, it would have 3000' climb in 9 miles. The actual marathon has a 2500' climb over 13.1 miles. I ran up Romero Canyon Road, a fire road up to Camino Cielo.

After first few miles of climbing, I again got into the groove. When I hit Camino Cielo I knew I could do more and ran an additional mile or so, so that I would get in the full 18 miles. Saw some climbers who asked where I was running and I mentioned that I came up from the bottom of Romero Canyon Road and they were suitably impressed *blush*. I thought 'hey I'm _that_ guy' - the long distance runner doing a major multi-hour training run with the camelback and 'fuel'. The guy I have seen before and been impressed by myself, wishing I could get to that level. I think if I can keep my training up and stay injury free, I have a good shot. I need to stretch more though...

Next weekend is the Santa Ynez half marathon, so I'll keep a modest sub 2 hour goal there (which would be a PR anyway), so I don't get injured going too fast. The weekend after that, I'll do a 20 miler. I may need to figure out a new course for this, I may be out of town, so no Romero Canyon.

Map my run route

16 Mile Training Run

Ran this one around Briones Reservoir, typical long run for me, with some nice ups and downs thrown in for good measure. First five or so were a little tough, but then got into a groove and was able to pound out the other eleven miles with a good effort. Brought my camelback for water and as per usual had a lot left over. Ate two egels and 1 Cliff blok package. No injuries. Great view of Briones and San Pablo Reservoir and a nice peek over at the bay.

First run the next week was sloooow, legs felt heavy, backside of left knee felt a little tweaked, but it then went away throughout the week.


Elevation for route, marathon will be 2500' gain for 13.1, then decent for 13.1.










Route, around reservoir, and a little more to get 16.

Map my run route.

14 Mile Training Run

I just hit 14 miles in my marathon training, I did a run from Ventura,
CA (beach) to Ojai, CA (mountains). For the first time really started
to feel that I had a good shot at doing a fairly tough marathon.

My recent run.

Marathon 2008

A month or so ago I decided to start training for a Marathon. I started looking around for something local, but they were mostly road races and I'm really a trail runner. I've been training better and faster these days (thanks to my new rabbit like running partner Brian). We have run a few 4 milers and a few 10 milers at good paces and it gave me some confidence to push beyond my current longest races (30K PCTR, Pier to Peak Half Marathon, etc.)

Luckily I found a race that looks nice and challenging: Forest of Nisene Marks Marathon. It's an out and back on a fire road in the park near Aptos, CA on June 7th, 2008. It looks really nice and has a climb of 2500'.

I'll blog a few of my long training runs here.

Marathon details.
Map my run marathon route.

World Series Of Poker 2007, Event 35, Las Vegas Trip Report

Pals heading into the Rio Convention Center, WSOP HQ.

(Glossary for non-poker players at the end)

This year I built my bankroll up online and through live games to a point where I could take a reasonable shot at one of the smaller WSOP events. I've been doing pretty well in MTTs over the past year (thanks PXF!) and thought it would be fun to go for it. If I lost, I might have to drop down in levels for my normal online play and build back up, but this is all a fun hobby for me, so I wanted to go for it! It would be my first trip to the WSOP, I've played other 'largish' live events at our local casino (800 people $200-$500 buy in) and went deep in one, but I was a WSOP virgin. The trip also lined up w/ a trip a few other folks had organized for a pals birthday, and it was my birthday too, so my wife and I ended up w/ a big group heading up to Vegas for some good times.

The target event was Event 35, $1.5K NLHE (which a bunch of other PXFers were in) and I was going to arrive on the morning of the event. After seeing all the discussion in the forums about the long lines for registration, I was worried I'd miss the registration for my one target event, which would be pretty lame. So, I changed my flight to go the night earlier. The plane was late, so I got in around 1am. Went right to the Rio and did my reg which wasn't too bad. Luckily, some of my pals also went a day early and they had a room at the Rio that I could crash in. Of course the fold out coach turned out to be non-fold out and the sheets I got were like two burlap sacks from the end of their beds! Of course we were all keyed up, so went to bed pretty late... GG rest!

In the AM we headed down to Rio convention center to get started, there were four of us playing and three of us usually swap action, so we swapped 10% each, but did agree that the payouts would be _after_ taxes, since the WSOP submits W2-Gs for the winners and they _don't_ honor the Form 5754 (split up shares for IRS). See http://www.taxabletalk.com/archives/archive_2007_05.shtml (scroll down to "What If a Casino Decides to Ignore the Rules?"). Last year we did this for a $500 tourney at the Wynn, and one of us came in 4th, so everyone got paid and the two other guys stuck around for railing since they had a piece. We like to do this instead of 'last longer' bets, since it encourages everyone to do well instead of making stupid plays trying to just out last each other.

I wandered around looking for PXFers (folks that I know from my poker community website http://www.pokerxfactor.com/ ), I knew Papa's table, but before I got chance to run over, the cards were being dealt. I kept an eye out the rest of the tourney, but didn't see anyone else At the very end of my tournament, I saw someone watching another tourney with a white PXF shirt, but I couldn't get his attention.) I looked for MW (the lead for the website), didn't see him though, dang!

Walking into the convention center was pretty amazing, just a sea of people and tables and all the huge portraits of past WSOP winners.

View of some of the tables, portraits of winners, hmm who's that guy w/ the beard and hat?

We started w/ 3000 in chips. I was pretty relaxed at my first table, just getting into the groove and I got dealt some good cards. However, one person at our table went out pretty early, I think in level 2. Their play was pretty soft and they did a desperation shove which got called and he was out before the first break. I didn't see any reason for the move, but it was good warning for me.

I made it to the first break and chipped up a little bit, I got dealt QQ three times which also helped a bit , though on the last one I had QQ UTG, std raise, called by CO and BB and flop came AKx, BB bet out and it felt he hit it, so I let the hand go. First break with 4900.

I met up w/ my pals at the first break. One guy got was knocked out when his set ran into a str8 on the river and was hard to get away from. The other two were doing well, higher stacks then myself. I got a little short during the next two rounds and got a little more aggressive on stealing blinds when in pos to chip up. I got back up to 7500 at the next break.

Then I went to a long run of hovering around M of 5. Enough to wait, barely enough to raise, more likely shove and that's how I rode out the next few rounds. Getting chipped down by blinds, antes, shove against the right stack, collect blinds + antes and repeat. Eventually I got moved to another table, as I was walking over I saw a bunch of folks surrounding a table and taking pictures. One guy said 'hey Jesus is at the table!' I said 'cool, oh wait that's my new table'...

It was fun playing w/ Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (WSOP Main Event winner in 2000) for a couple levels, he was a nice guy, very deliberate player, he busted two guys at my table. He made some nice calls w/ second pair to cripple one guy also nicely aggressive w/ short stack, he shoved w/ AKo UTG and was called by A7o from the button which was kind of a strange move by the caller. He told some good stories about folks throwing cards at the dealer in the old days, etc.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson staring down Mopsothoth

At this point we were getting close to bubble (270 people for bubble), I had an M of around 3 and I admit that I went into tighty bubble mode, this would be my first WSOP cash, and for a nice chunk of change ($3K) compared to my normal bank roll. A big stack went into bubble abuse mode and was picking up pot after pot. Until we were at 1 player to go and the big stack raised again and another stack about M of 2 asked the dealer what would happen if two players went out on this hand, the dealer said they would split the cash. He said OK and called All-in! Now, there were some people in the tourney that were getting forced in by the blinds, so I think he just had to wait one more hand or two, but he went for it. He had AKo, the raiser had 62s and of course the flush came on the river! Everyone was a little puzzled by this move by the caller, he didn't have a made hand, doubling his stack wasn't a huge improvement, he was _calling_, not raising to make a move and we were right at the bubble. Lucky for him, someone else went out on the same hand, so he split $3000 (breaking even with the buy-in).

Before the bubble, I picked up some blinds w/ shoves, then sucked out to stay alive (A8o vs A9o chop.) Of course, on the chop, I thought I was dead all the way to the end, doing the handshake and everything until the other players said 'chop, chop, the 9 doesn't play!' whew! My wife caught a video of that on our camera, pretty funny. The wife railed me a lot and took some fun pix, I really appreciated the railage! At one point, to makes things exciting, I also shoved w/ KQo against Chris in the BB, he made me sweat it, then folded.

Video of chop. I shoved w/ A8o, reshoved by big stack w/ A9o... flop ATK, Turn 4, River J, chop it up! I think this actually happened pre-bubble now, whew! Click on video to watch.

Of course after the bubble, folks started dropping like flies, I picked up some blinds w/ shoves, then sucked out to come back (77>KK) I hit the 7 on the flop, so it wasn't too stressful when I luckboxed my way to a double.

I got chipped down and moved tables, this time to a table w/ John Juanda, another talkative nice guy, he would make a move and then talk it up. Friendly but I'm sure it rattled folks. Twice to the same guy he re-shoved all-in pre-flop, and the guy could not pull the trigger. Apparently he made this move a few times already before I even joined, but no one could call his big stack. I did double up through John though JJ, I shove, he's in BB, he talks it out and calls w/ J8o. I was fairly short, he had a big stack and he probably had close to correct odds except against a high pair. By this time I had three pals and my wife on the rail, which was great, so supportive - I really like going over and talking on breaks or just looking over after I won a pot. After the hand, my one pal asked what happened, he said that after I flipped over my cards, Juanda's face fell.

I then went on a nice chip up, moved again, got dealt QQ. UTG raised, I shove, he calls. QQ>66. I guess he thought he had odds, but really only against two overs. Next hand, I'm stacking my chips and I get AQs, I raise, call behind. Flop comes AQx and I value bet down to the river as non-scary cards come. I end up all-in w/ a call and AQ>AK on that board. This was funny because me and my pal were talking about this situation just the day before, at what point can you / do you lay down AK in a sequence like that? So, now I had a nice stack back to average for the field.

Moved again, but now it was getting near 2am, and I was getting tired. I could make some moves, but I thought my brain was stuck at level 1 and I was ready for a break. So, even with TT in SB and one limper, I just called and folded to a bet on a AQQ board.

They called it a night, we bagged our chips, and I made it to day 2! 14 hours of poker, whew! Of course I went online and read the PXF live for the other folks in event 35. It was fun reading other comments, I _think_ I was by myself on day 2.

With Ms. Mopsothoth at end of day 1.


We started the next day at 2pm, I got some sleep, but I was so keyed up, I actually went for a run in the gym at the rio to relax a little which helped a lot.

We were now down to 147 players. I went up and down and then decided w/ M of 7 to make some moves, raising w/ 66 from mid to pick up blinds, etc. of course I made the move against the wrong stack. Big stack calls and checks a KTx flop, then I made the mistake of doing a c-bet. He promptly pops me all-in and I have to lay it down. This cut me in close to half, argh! He did the same to my neighbor a hand later.

I then pretty much finished up the game pushboting my way through with a M less than 5. John Juanda got moved back to my table. Picking up blinds and antes, sucked out once w/ KJo > JJ and then finally with around 56 people left, and a M of around 2, I made my last move from mid with A9o. folded around, but then BB insta-calls with QQ. The flop comes Ax......Q and gg me. I could have waited a few more rounds to move up in the cash, but unlike bubble boy from Day 1, I was already in the money and I didn't want to 'give up' and just get blinded out. It seemed like it was time to make a move and that hand was good enough. So I came in 56th out of 2500ish for a cash of $9708. My pals were happy too, they both got 10%! It was five more hours of poker for me.

That night we went to Nobu at the HRH with two other couples, good times and good food. It was fun to tell stories from the Event and eat all the specialty dishes. We went to Nobu one time before, but we just got the regular sushi/sashimi which was good, but not _incredible_. The food we had that night was really good, including Kobe beef on hot rocks, yum. The bill came to $1k for six people. I suggested credit card roulette, but too late. So, chop, chop.

The next night was my bday dinner. A group of 10 of us went to StripSteak (Michael Mina's steak place in Mandalay bay). Truffled french fries, blue cheese potatoes, Creme Brule, Kobe style steaks, Kobe Ribeye cap, harden those arteries! Great company and food, lots of funny stories and just a good time hanging out. Of course this time we did play credit card roulette (it was opt-in only, no pressure). Of course since it was my bday, they wouldn't let me put a card in, only the wife. In the end, I forced them to take my card... and of course after all but two cards were pulled out (the waitress wouldn'd do it, she was too freaked out, but I thought they'd see it all the time in Vegas), the last two were mine and one of my pals (great poker player and also has lots of gambooool). You know what happened already, I 'won'! My pal jumped on it before me though and sent back his credit card instead w/ a 'you can't pay on your bday', of course I threw cash at him across the table, but it was dismissively refused. All I can say is what a pal... much appreciated sir!

Bday dinner at StripSteak, we closed the place down...

All in all, a great experience, I just wish I got to see / meet some PXFers though. I'm going back for the Main Event (won a satellite) in July and I hope to meet some PXFers then!

Short glossary for the non-poker players:
pxfer = pokerxfactor.com member (poker community website)
mtt = multiple table tournament (poker tournament w/ lots of people)
nlhe = no limit hold 'em (texas hold 'em poker game)
77>KK = my pocket pair of 7's beat a pocket pair of K's (because the board had a '7' on it.)
M = measure of how big your stack is versus the blinds and antes (M less then 5 is small and you need to shove soon, M greater than 20 is big and you can play whatever style you want).
BB = Big Blind
gg = good game