Here We Go...

View from Watson Lake Road in North Lake looking south.

         When I was a senior in high school a few of my friends convinced me to go out on a limb and try something that I had never enjoyed: distance running. The first couple weeks were brutal and I hated it. As I got in better shape I began to enjoy it simply for the fun of running through the woods on Tiger Mountain with my friends. When I returned from my first year of college I spent the summer running those same trails with my buddies Diggity (Nate Werner) and Yoak (Randall Yoakum). We had a daily routine of running the 6 mile Bus/Swamp/Big Tree loop, then floating on Lake Sammamish, then Mongolian Grill. We did that just about every day and it was probably the most fun I have ever had running. For the next couple summers in college and the few after that I would run simply to get back in shape. It wasn't necessarily fun, it was just habit. Over the past few summers of running roughly 30 miles per week I started to develop what I believe was plantar fasciitis, a condition caused by excessive stress on the heels of your feet which can lead to debilitating pain. I would frequently wake up at night or in the morning and limp around for several minutes before my heels loosened up. At the end of those past few summers I always told myself, "Next summer I'm going to find something else," but the following spring, for no apparent reason, I would start running again. That is what led me to this year when everything changed...


I recently read a book titled "Born to Run" that inspired and completely re-motivated me in my trail running. It talks about all this research that has been conducted proving that, contrary to popular belief, humans have evolved with the ability to run for extraordinary distances and lengths of time, and for the majority of their lives with no adverse effects. It focuses in particular on an isolated tribe of people in the rugged Copper Canyons of Mexico who's primary means of transportation is running to wherever they need to go. This tribe, known as the "Tarahumara," have been known to run for hundreds of miles at a time in thin, extremely minimal sandals. They frequently run 30-40 miles a day, whether it be for necessity or sport, and do this for the vast majority of their lives with practically no stress related injuries. No knee pain, no shin splints, no plantar fasciitis, no stress fractures...NOTHING. It seems impossible to achieve these distances year after year, and even more unlikely in shoes with no tread, padding, or arch support to speak of. However, the research uncovered in "Born to Run" claims that it is actually our modern, high-tech running shoes that are responsible for all of the ailments that haunt runners. It states that the human foot is designed to absorb tremendous amounts of stress, but when it is cushioned by thick padding or weakened by arch supports it looses its strength and becomes susceptible to injury. As a result of these discoveries, many trail marathoners and ultra-distance runners have converted to minimalist, or "barefoot," running shoes and watched their long-time injuries and running pains completely disappear.


This information was very intriguing to me, even though I had, and still have my doubts. Nonetheless, with the way my heels have been deteriorating over the past few years I felt like I had nothing to lose. New Balance is one of the primary shoe companies leading the way in the new "minimalist" movement, and with the guidance of some of the most accomplished ultra-distance trail runners in the world, they have put out an entire line of minimalist running shoes. I decided to pick up a pair of the New Balance MT101 and give them a shot. This shoe has been personally tweaked and re-tweaked by decorated ultra-runner Tony Krupicka, so I thought it would be a decent place to start.


I have been running in the MT101 for a few weeks now and I have completely adapted my running style to the design of the shoe. They are essentially a pair of aqua socks with a hard, thin rock guard under the toes and ball of the foot. That, combined with relatively little heel padding and support, forces you to run more on your toes and the ball of your foot as opposed to the more traditional heel-to-toe foot strike. Also, the lack of cushion has led me to shorten and significantly lighten my stride. Rather than charging over rocks or roots or whatever is in my way, I am much lighter on my feet and carefully choosing my foot placement. The first week I had the shoes I put in almost 50 miles, including two 12-milers and a 23-miler. The two weeks since then I have been running 50+ miles per week, with 12-15 miles every other day and the occasional 20+ miler thrown into the mix. I have never run those kind of distances before and I have been loving every mile of it. Now instead of trying to get my run out of the way, I am going out for 2-4 hours at a time and cruising. No rush, just enjoying it. The best part is that so far I have almost no pain in my heels, and my knees and feet feel pretty good too. This could definitely change, but so far so good.


After my first week or so of eating up trail in my minimalist shoes I started to wonder... How far could I go? And what trails would that kind of distance open up to me? That's when I set the goal of running the Tahoe Rim Trail. The Tahoe Rim Trail is a famous 165 mile loop that circumnavigates Lake Tahoe. It is broken down into 8 segments ranging from 12.2 to 32.5 miles, with an average segment distance of 21 miles and an average elevation of over 8,000 ft. I am going to run one segment a week (work schedule permitting) starting with the segment closest to my house (Tahoe City to Brockway Summit, 19.2 miles), and work my way clockwise around the lake until I have seen every inch of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Now all I have to do is wait for the record snow pack to melt and its on! Here we go...

My Gear

       My objective for running the Tahoe Rim Trail is to go as light and simple as possible. I have spent the last couple weeks trying different set ups and I think I have it dialed in. It might change depending on factors like water supply and how much food I will need, but this is probably everything that I will be using.

New Balance MT101 minimalist trail running shoe. Only 7.8 oz.

Salomon Twin Belt. Space for 2 water bottles and 2 small pouches for food. My water filter fits perfectly into one of the water bottle holders and will most likely replace one of the bottles on most of my runs.

One Salomon bottle for the waist pack and one high-tech, ultra-light homemade hand bottle.

MSR SweetWater Microfilter. This thing will allow me to run very light and can filter fresh water from a puddle of mud if necessary. It will surely be my savior on many of the segments. Thanks, Dad!

Watson Lake Trail Reconnaissance

       This winter we were lucky enough to receive a record 800+ inches of snowfall in Lake Tahoe. It made for an amazing ski season but it is going to drastically shorten my window of time to run the Tahoe Rim. Today I decided to at least try to run to Watson Lake and back. Watson Lake is roughly 7 miles in to the 19.2 mile segment from Brockway Summit to Tahoe City, making for a 14 mile round trip with considerable elevation gain. Aside from the occasional patch of snow the trail was mainly clear for the first 5.5 miles. Somewhere around the 6 mile mark I completely lost the trail under about 5 feet of snow and somehow ended up on an access road which I followed to Watson Lake. I arrived at Watson Lake, which sits at 7,500 ft  elevation, to find the lake still 90% frozen over and surrounded by at least 5 feet of solid snow pack. Keep in mind that it is already almost July and large portions of the TRT are over 9,000 ft with several spots over 10,000 ft. Needless to say its going to be a few more weeks before I can really start.