Saratoga Fat Ass 50K

My aid station was my car..

Please see other pictures here...

What a run.. Wow…. It was great. These Fat Ass runs are very interesting because there are not trail markings… all we get is a map and a good luck and we are in our way. I decided to wait for someone that knew the course so I could follow him/her. Well I picked the wrong people to hang with. They dropped me pretty fast and all of the sudden I was on my own. I tried to navigate the course on my own but I came to the conclusion pretty fast that I will never survive on my own in the wild. Damn.. So I decided to wait for somebody that knew the course. A couple of people show up and I tagged along. After a little while two of us were ahead and I assumed that the person I was following knew the course. We took one wrong turn and we were lost… We finally navigated our way back to the starting line and the following two loops were much easier.

Check out the trail.. felt like running on pillows.. It was amazing..

Although the last loop we had a little incident.. we were running and all of the sudden this person comes out to his porche and informs us that we are breaking the law since that was private property. We were, WTF, where did we miss the trail? We went back and found the trail once again, we cruised to the finish lane from there..

These little bridges are pretty cute.. The smell of wet soil is amazing.. Love it.


Pre race, getting ready for the run, or was it at the end of the first loop I don't remember anymore. Andrew and Me...


Some of the runners prior to the start..

During the whole run, we kept going around a shooting range; you could hear the gunshots again and again. In more than one occasion I thought about a stray bullet, not a comfortable thought. I just don’t understand the use of firearms as a sport.. What is the point? Which brings me to other activities that I don’t think they should be considered sports, ultimate fighting? WTF is that?

This is my second FatAss run, I loved them both.. The only thing missing in this particular run was my running buddy, Janet. But she was out for a good reason. She and I are going to run the MOAB 100 Miler in 29 days… OMG, I am getting scared now.

This race was put together by Keith Bloom, I hope I can help sometime to do something like this. Running is just not about winning or getting a t-shirt, it is about going out there and enjoy yourself and your friends. The views of this particular run were so beautiful, the weather was perfect. Sunny and the ground was so soft.. It was like running on pillows..

Andrew, Keith, Anil and myself after the run... Felt fucking awesome.. :)

What is a FatAss run? Here is a quick definition.. FAT ASS is the name given to a series of low key runs that are frequented by experienced runners & walkers and characterized by the phrase "No Fees, No Awards, No Aid, No Wimps". Yes, the runs are totally free to enter and are put on by passionate runners who are also running. Think of it as a bit like meeting some people for a bushwalk - except it's a run. Because the runs are not races in any sense, there is no guarantee of anything other than a course to run (maps and directions will be provided). There are no course marshalls, and no course markers, and you should not expect any aid either -they are not intended for beginning runners.

Overall this was a great run... I had a great time. As the time to the big dance, MOAB 100 Miler approaches I am getting scared.. I cannot wait to get there and I hope that I don't get injured before the race.

Ha... today while writting this update I ate chocolate. I ate too much of it that now I am wired and I need to hit the sack.