19 clicks, ultimate direction bottle review, and some Discovery

Last night I ran 19 clicks at Mount Doug. It has been a while since I cranked out distances greater than 7 miles so it was nice to get out there and stretch the legs. The run had 8 clicks on roads which reminded me just how much I loathe the asphalt. I hate the sound of cars and waiting to cross a busy road. I don't like how there isn't anything technical to occupy my mind and to pick my way through. No steep hills or anything to really push the legs. I was extremely happy to hit the trails and start cranking through the course. I ran late and the deer were everywhere. It was really amazing the number of bucks I startled with their budding velvet antlers. Several jumping huge distances to avoid my clumsy approach. I love running at dusk! My legs were definitely feeling it by the end and even though in my last post I mentioned that all the hiking had kept me somewhat in running shape I quickly realized that I was perhaps in 10 K running shape, but definitely not 20. The last few clicks on my way home were brutal and the pavement seems to always flare up the periformis/hamstring injury. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things. Restarting is always so challenging mentally. I think that is why I ran so far last night because I have been taking it easy for the last few months and I feel it is mainly due to a lazy mindset so I decided to buck-up and give er' the onion! It felt great and was a mental victory.

I tested one of my new water bottles. It is the "Ultimate Direction Neoprene holder and bottle". I really like this bottle. It replaced my old bottle holders made from socks and orange duct tape, which don't get me wrong were actually quite good considering but the new bottles are a vast improvement. The straps comfortably hold the bottles to your hands and adjust quite easily, both to tighten and loosen. The rubber kicker valve is a nice feature and I was happy with the ease of pulling it up and closing it with my mouth. I had some issues with the cap leaking a bit and may be because I was squeezing and may not have had the lid fully threaded on. I hate leaky bottles so I stopped and readjusted the lid and sucked the water instead of squeezing the bottle and found this did the trick. Other than that these will definitely become a staple for all runs over 10 miles. I have a feeling I will get my money's worth out of the bottles which I purchased from MEC for about 11 bucks Canadian.

I recently discovered a band appropriately called "Discovery". I stumbled on them from one of my many YouTube tangents. I have really been digging a song called "Osaka Loop Line". It is very electronic with interesting sounds and tempo changes. I like most everything from the group and think they are doing many innovative ideas with their music. This song was definitely blaring in the old noggin as I cranked the 19 clicks out. Enjoy!

Product Review - Injinji socks

When I really started increasing my running distance I knew that there would be some casualties and my feet perhaps would take the brunt of my obsession for steep rocky terrain and insane distances. Over the course of several years I found a shoe that worked well for me and eliminated many of the blisters, broken toe nails, and issues I received in my early running exploits. There has always been a slight reoccurring problem with toe blisters for me, both on the tips and between toes, as I approach the 14-20 hour a week range. I have played with lubricants and tapes and mole skin but always found blisters when I removed my socks after a long run rugged run or a hard week.

Finally I broke down this Spring and dropped $18 each on a couple of pairs of socks. I have seen adds for the Injinji toe socks for some time and have wanted to try them. Here is what I have found.

When I first tried them on they felt a little unnatural. Granted I don't like the feel of anything between my toes, hence my hatred of flip flops. I could however feel each toe flex and move independent of the others as I walked around my room in my new socks. My first chance to really try them out came during the last hard day of our Field School earlier in May. I had left a handheld radio on top of the highest summit in our mapping area and decided I would wear my running garb and run the summit to recover the radio. The entire class thought I was crazy since the summit requires a pretty good effort while hiking. I put on my new socks and attacked the trail. I was still recovering from a chest cold and was completely out of shape but right off my feet felt great. My toes adjusted in my shoe individually and seemed to improve my balance. After reaching the summit in about 30 minutes I found my radio and really began to crank down the steep rocky switchbacks. My socks made my feet feel great even though my feet were really slamming the front of my shoe on the steep rocky trail. The total run was just over 50 minutes and though my lungs and legs were knackered my feet felt great.

Last night I wore them again for the first time running my usual Mount Doug course. I have only good things to report. Normally my toes get sweaty and stick together often rubbing and chaffing skin from between the toes but with the Injinji socks they felt great.

I highly recommend spending the money for a nice sock specifically if you have issues with toe blisters and chaffs. The real test will come as I begin to push my running back to the 20 hour a week stage. I haven't gotten them too wet yet either but I am anxious to see what happens after a good soaking followed by 10 dusty miles of rocky single track. I will keep you posted but I think they may be the answer to another one of my running questions.

Back from my blogging hiatus and some Daylight

This is just a short update since I have been out of the blogging loop for a couple of months and have limited time to write tonight. The last few months have been very busy with a hectic end of the semester, followed up with teaching field school, and finally a few weeks in Utah seeing family and friends. In total I was on 12 ferry's and drove over 4,000 clicks in five weeks.

My running during all this madness was inconsistent at best but I did hike like crazy and hiked several hundred Km and over 100,000 feet of vert. One major deterrent was the crazy weather Utah had this May. I hardly got a chance to go above 7,000 feet because temps were low and storms which dropped significant snow seemed to come in daily. I was in Nevada on May 29th in freezing temps with horizontal snow on top of Bald Eagle Mountain in the Pilot Range. That is just crazy!

Tonight I tried my hand at my usual Mount Doug course so I could gauge my fitness and determine what it is going to take to salvage this Summer as far as running goes. Come to find out all that hiking seemed to keep me somewhat fit and I was able to run strong the first 6 clicks but began to fizzle the next 5. I was actually quite surprised but perhaps the best surprise was how nice it was to run without the upper respiratory problems that plagued me from new years to the beginning of May. It is amazing the difference being able to breath makes for your running, I think I am going to roll with the breathing for the next while. The Mountain is definitely overgrown and perhaps could use some daily visits from me to open up a few of the trails so that is my goal.

I am quite anxious to start running consistently again, I need to shed about 15 lbs so I have a one month goal to lose that extra weight so by the beginning of July I am at my racing weight. I also would like to be running a 50 Km long run once a month for the next few months and then go from there. I have been weak on my long runs and have only one over 45 km's in the last 4 months so I will need to improve there.

I have been really digging a song called "Daylight" by Matt and Kim, lately (a duo from Brooklyn). It is one of those songs that makes you want get out and attack the trails. The song gives you some pep and energy in the morning and I think it is a nice way to start the day or in the case of my run tonight it was playing in my head throughout the run. I hope you like it too.

Running the Juan De Fuca Trail this Summer and "These old Shoes"

I have hooked up with several experienced and accomplished ultra-trail runners to run the full Juan De Fuca Trail this Summer. These guys are serious runners and masters with a several decade head start on me. I am afraid my inexperience at ultras will definitely shine brightly but I don't care I am just glad I found people willing to let me tag along on their adventure with them and that they trust in me enough to keep up. I really like having this goal to really propel my training over the next 3 months. I feel if I can run consistently for the next 100 days I should be able to keep up with them.

Several shots I linked from a google image search of the Juan De Fuca.

The trail is 47 km long and starts at China Beach and finishes at Botanical Beach following the Pacific Coast of Vancouver Island. I think we are shooting for a time around 8 hours which seems slow but the trail is difficult with everything from boulder beaches to mud slides and shoots to suspension bridges. Though there is no spot along the trail with major relief the cumulative elevation is significant due to constant ups and downs over various headlands. I am way excited.

I may also may be running portions or all of the North Coast Trail as well this Summer. This rugged 60 km trail near the very northern tip of the island is a newly opened trail and looks truly epic. A nice write up by Ultra Runner Jeff Hunt can be read here. This would be truly challenging including sections that are so rough they are aided by ropes. It took Jeff and his party 11 hours and they appear to be great runners so I can expect much slower times. None the less it is exactly the type of adventure I could use this Summer.

I have a final on Tuesday and then I will be able to get serious into a training phase. I am looking forward to it.

I have really been digging a band called Deer Tick lately and have been enjoying a song called "these old shoes" quite a lot. I think the song makes me think about all my old shoes I have owned over the last few years and almost brings a tear to my eye when I remember all the beautiful miles of trails we ran together. Here is an animation and a live performance. I hope you like it as well. It kind of has a southern bluesy feel to it but great stuff.

Mount Work TH to TH to TH double summit

I have not posted for a while for several reasons, first because it is obviously the end of the semester and I have not had the time to write about my life, secondly because it is the end of the semester I basically have had to take a small hiatus from running to get my final assignments squared away so I have not had any training runs worth mentioning on my blog to report, and lastly two weeks ago I was ill and took some time off to let my lungs heal. I am afraid this lung thing is still hindering my running but I am not letting it slow me down too much.

Since it was a nice spring morning and we are on the tail end of this 4 day Easter break I decided to crank out a double summit of Mount Work, starting at the north Trail Head running to the south Trail Head and then turning around and running back to the north Trail Head. The distance or elevation are not anything to write home about but it ends up being about 10 km with 1800' of vertical. Since I have been ill and running inconsistently the past few weeks the run was nothing impressive, but what a joy to get out there and push myself to the top of the mountain several times. The summit is not spectacular in itself but if you run to the south a few hundred meters the views really open up. I could see Victoria and the Olympic Range to the south and the Gowland Tod Range to the west. The trails were littered with uprooted fallen trees and branch debris from a Spring Gale that blew in the previous week (the same story on Mount Doug with many trees fallen across the trail, I am kind of glad I postponed my run during the worst of the wind for that very reason).

I had never ran the south side of the mountain and found the trails to be fantastic. The trails switchbacked through large forests of Arbutus trees and wound down the ridge to the shore of Fork Lake. I popped out at the Munn Road parking lot and turned around and began my climb back to the summit. There was a major difference with the run feeling much steeper heading up than it did when I was gliding down. I took my time and pushed hard and cruised beyond the summit and started my final descent toward the North Trail Head again.

I caught up with a couple who had started the hike the same time I started the run at the north trail head, and they stopped and asked me why they didn't see me at the summit and wondered where else I would have ran. I explained that I ran to the other trail head and turned around and came back. They couldn't fathom that someone would or could do that, let alone in the short time it took them to hike to the top once and get a quarter of the way back down. I think it is interesting that many people don't really ever consider running on the trails. It was intriguing to see them react to my trail running as if it was the first time they considered the possibility. I strongly urged them to give it a try and who knows perhaps one day I will see them out there running in the bush and enjoying the freedom that comes with trail running. I can't imagine spending my life not pushing my physical limits, I feel many people underestimate what the human body is capable of.

I actually was surprised at how easily my pace came and that I still had some fitness to draw from even though the last two weeks have been inconsistent and challenging at best. I only have another strong month of running before I teach Field School for the undergrads for a month, and then head straight to Utah. It is really important that I run consistent the next 30 days and throw in several long 3-4 hour runs with 3-5000 feet of vert if I want to be up to running the peaks and trails I am planning on running in Utah in May. I know I will be consistent. School is really starting to cook but with the longer days it shoudn't be too hard.

I can't claim discovery of my song today because I am going to repeat one that I first heard on Krupicka's blog here. It is called "Sweet Disposition" and is by an Aussie group called the Temper Trap. The song has U2-ish guitar riffs with awesome vocals. The first time I heard it on Krupicka's blog I thought it was good and then forgot about it, but last night Vye and I were watching So You Think You Can Dance Australia (a guilty pleasure) and saw a routine with the song and I suddenly really felt it, and it has been in my head since. So while running Mount Work this beautiful song was stuck on repeat in my head as the drama of my run unfolded under cool gray skies. It was EPIC. I hope you enjoy it.

A day in the life...

I found this on a great ultra blog I follow and thought it summed up a day in the life of an endurance trail runner nicely. Since I am down with a bit of a chest/throat bug right now and haven't ran since Saturday I find myself obsessing over training strategy and future runs I want to do. It has been brutal focusing on my studies, with the end of the semester nearly upon me I am going to just have to hunker down make it through a couple of presentations, a final, and then it will be a Summer of experiments, data crunching, field work, and running bliss. I can't wait!!! The typical day of an ultra trail runner is truly epic!

Getting to the bottom of this pain in my bottom, and more Leiahdorus

This was a good week for running. I nailed a faster time on the reverse course of Mount Doug, and shaved anther 3 minutes off my best time (54:20). You have to love the spring, where drastic changes in your fitness and times are observable almost every run.

I have had a pain in my butt for over a year now. I have self diagnosed it as Piriformis Syndrome, which is basically when the piriformis muscle is inflamed and clamps down on the sciatic nerve causing all sorts of drama in the butt cheek and down the leg. The usual cause as you read about it, is overuse in challenging terrain. Well since I only run about 50 miles or so a week and only run up and down gnarly-rooty-rocky trails I was able to conclude that my injury is not a result of overuse or strain from running too much in rough terrain. So I turned to the scientific method to actually get to the bottom of this pain in my bottom. Basically I gathered all the observations as to why or when or how my butt hurts to identify the real culprit. Plenty of people run 200 miles a week in much worse terrain than me so clearly it has more to do with my form or biomechanics than the act of trail running alone.

Observations

• It doesn't matter how long I take off from running it always comes back when I start packing on some volume.
• It hurts when I sit for too long on a crappy chair.
• My gluteus isn't very maximus (I mean no padding)
• Speed work on flats makes it worse than hills and distance.
• Often feels better during running sore after.
• Only on my right leg.

Conclusions

The observation I really focussed on was it is only in my right leg. That tells me that there is something going on in my right side that isn't happening on my left. Possible explanations are:

• I am missing a lower right ab muscle due to surgery
• there might be some asymmetry in leg length
• I always carry a fat wallet in my back right pocket

So to me any one of these three observations would explain why my right side is more prone to injury than my left.

I tend to notice in science, if there is multiple explanations for a problem, it usually isn't one or the other but a combination of all the possibilities in different proportions. So to summarize I have a pain in my butt (right side only) because I sit in hard chairs at school and in my office (terrible office chair) all day long with a fat wallet in my right pocket, which crushes my muscle and pinches my sciatic nerve. I also use the toilet with a hard seat more than the average person (a gory side effect of not having a large intestine - T.M.I. - I know!). Lastly I have a missing ab muscle in my right side which makes a generally weaker core on the right side and may be manifested in asymmetry in running particularly on long runs when fatigue sets in. All of these problems place stresses on the piriformis and sciatic nerve, which are then exacerbated by running high volume in challenging terrain but even more so by flat speed work.

Solution

If I was really taking a scientific approach I would try to resolve one issue at a time such as removing the wallet for a month to see the effect this would have and in this way I could pinpoint the exact problem. I don't have the luxury to experiment on my butt pain for the next six months so I am running a preemptive strike against my pain in my butt.

I am first removing my wallet. Next I am trying to walk around more when sitting for long periods of time (I may even start sitting on an exercise ball). I think I need a padded toilet seat, and a new office chair. Lastly I really need to do core work to strengthen my weak core and particularly ab muscle and back. There are some stretches I need to start doing to fix the existing problem. The final step is using as efficient biomechanics as possible focusing on a neutral pelvis and straight back with no hunching or slumping. This should solve the problem.

I dislike that anytime there is any sort of injury on an endurance runner, the go to answer is too much running on too rough of terrain. I can see if I increase mileage in rough terrain by 40-50% in one week, but when I am doing the same mileage that I have been for a while there is usually a different explanation. I find if I try real hard to think and analyze all of my actions and movements throughout the day, not only when running, that often times the cause is more subtle and usually not related to running per se but aggravated by running. I have already put most of these anti-butt pain measures into effect and have noticed a marked difference in my butt pain already, with my wallet being perhaps the biggest factor (nothing to do with running). I think this stresses how important it is that we are able to analyze and listen to our own bodies. Doctors don't know each individuals daily routine and frankly have no choice but to blame running but we can dive deeper and come up with additional explanations.

Yesterday was a long 11 mile easy run (when I say easy I mean effort not necessarily the course or distance since the course I chose was brutal). I wanted to run 13-14 but it got dark on me and I had to bail because I didn't have a light. I made an effort to run easy and go up and down the hills as smoothly as possible. After my usual 7 mile mark I found I had tons of reserves and ran very well the last four miles including my fifth summit of Mount Doug for the night. I really love the 1.5-2 hour runs. I should be logging 3 hour runs right now for my long runs but I am a bit behind due to school. I can't wait to start injecting much longer runs into my week.

Spring is in full bloom on the mountain and I find it super refreshing and motivating to run through cherry blossoms and delicate neon green foliage. I really love the spring. I think that running anywhere in the spring is just about as good as it gets ( I especially love running the deserts in the spring, a green lush desert is just such an oxymoron). It seems that my fitness usually finally starts to come back around about this time of year, as I am ramping up for epic Summer runs.

For this post I decided to throw in a song by Leiahdorus called "Wake". I describe a bit more about this group in a earlier post here. It is just a chill song I really like.

Some speed work, Easy/Lucky/Free, and a PR on the MDGB reverse course

Thursday was supposed to be an easy run. I thought that because it was supposed to be chill I would run the reverse course and enjoy some variability. My legs were still knackered from the previous day's hard run and PR. I tried keeping a strong pace from the start but the legs were already burning. When you run the MD gutbuster in reverse you start out with a steep assault of the southeast face of the mountain. I gave it everything I had and was tasting lung by the top. I realized that my body wanted to try and set a PR on the reverse course even though it was supposed to be a rest day. I am not one for following schedules or regiments but instead prefer to have my routine dictated by my body and my mood. I let my legs start spinning down the steep south face and began to really push my speed.

I have a small side note here in that it amazes me how many people have 3 and 4 large dogs and without fail the dogs have no concept of stepping aside and a good 5 times this week I had to come to a complete stop to get around dog blockages. I am an animal lover and have no issues with dog walkers but it does throw off your flow when you are trying to eke every bit of speed from your body. I realize it is just a part of the experience and I have to not be so selfish with what I term to be "my trails".

After my circumnavigation of several Grey hounds, Labradors and Great Danes I got back in my groove and began a longish climb to the base of little Doug. I hit my stride at this point and really made some tracks. After summiting the little diorite glob, I had a nice downhill stretch to the base of the bedrock buster. The final summit of Doug went smoothly and I couldn't run the full hill but seriously power hiked it. After the last summit I just had another two miles of easy downhill and single track. I finished up with a 57:30 which was almost 4 minutes faster than my first reverse course attempt. I feel my fitness is slowly coming around from my terrible winter due to the issues I had with my syncope. I was super happy with two PR's in two days and every night I was able to sleep peacefully knowing I put everything I had into each run and never sandbagged.

Yesterday my old running partner flew into Victoria after spending two weeks of running in Hawaii. We decided to do a 3 mile speed work drill together and catch up on things since he moved to the Mainland to take over a practice in December. The weather was perfect and we started out a little slow and even though my legs were knackered I really felt my cadence speed up within 5 minutes of running fast. I lead most of the run for 2 and 3/4 miles. Rob mentioned my form has improved drastically since we last ran together in December. That was good to hear that my mental effort and struggles with improving my running form have paid off a little. He kicked it in high gear right at the end, and I was spent, and couldn't quite keep up with him the last quarter mile. I finished 2 seconds behind him. Not bad, considering I had already ran 45 Km up to that point with 6,000 feet of elevation, and I have not done any real speed work in Months. It was fun to talk to rob and it was the first time I had ran with anyone in 3 months. I do miss having someone of similar ability to push me and force me to do speed work and run a little faster. That competition amongst running partners is a powerful tool to improve running ability. He heads back to the mainland and I will be once again a solo performer. I do like solo running though and must admit I prefer it most of the time.

I have had some Bright Eyes on my mind lately. I had a song playing in my head during my reverse course of Mount Doug called "Easy/Lucky/Free". It is a mellow song but has a cool almost surfer treatment with the guitar. I really like another song by the group that has great runability but I will save it for another post when it is playing in my head. I think the title of the song can be used to describe several aspects of running. Running really is easy, you just put one foot in front of the other quickly. It comes naturally and almost always happens within a few days of learning to walk (at least with my kids who only have two speeds, running and sleeping). I like to run easily and keep things very uncomplicated with no set distance or regime. I think that I am lucky that I discovered the fantastic treasure that is endurance trail running. Everyday I feel I accomplished something, I get to see the Pacific Ocean from the Summit of Doug and I get an hour or two with nothing but my thoughts and fresh air. Not only am I healthier but I am happier. Running is indeed a treasure each runner should cherish and find themselves lucky for the discovery. Lastly running is free and makes you free. It costs little, at least the way I do it. Sure you can dump thousands into clothes, shoes and races, but I have one set of shorts and shirt that I wear regardless of weather, and use my shoes until they are falling off my feet, I am too poor to enter races so I make my own events. Nothing is more freeing than pointing yourself toward the forest wall and then exploding into a fast run with nothing in the world but you, the wind in your hair, and the trail. Nothing is as easy, or lucky, or free!

Hard Earned PR!

I have been trying to set a new PR on the Mount Doug course since the 54:18 I set on the 26th of February, and today I finally smashed it at 52:57! I started the run feeling a bit leaden and heavy and had some sore spots in my chronic injured right hamstring and also in both lower legs (the usual aches that come with the consistent increase in trail mileage). This was supposed to be a hard run and I felt some doubt creeping in that I would not even be able to run 57:00 tonight.

I then reflected on an article in the New York Times about Matt Carpenter. Carpenter is very likely the best mountain runner to ever live. He has the highest VO2 max (a gauge to see how well the body processes oxygen) ever measured in a human save one (Carpenter's is 90.2 compared to Lance Armstrong's VO2 max of 81). The guy is a machine and I would like to make a "Titan's of Trailrunning" post dedicated to him in the future when I free up some time. In this article it mentions that Carpenter's training philosophy has always been "to go out hard, and when it starts to hurt, try even harder".

So I took Carpenter's simple advice and got down to business of getting this PR I wanted. The first summit felt forced and wasn't great. I was huffing pretty good and could feel my pulse in my neck and head. After my first summit I noticed my splits were a bit slower than my previous PR from the 26th. I knew I needed to make up some ground. I bailed off the Northwest face of Mount Doug onto the bedrock buster, a steep glacial scoured and exposed rock chute that is perhaps one of the most technical spots of the course (really bad when it is wet). I cruised on this section and made up 22 seconds on the downhill. I next summited the much smaller Little Doug and I was just hating it by the top but I put everything I had into it. Once I summited I realized I had gained another minute putting me spot on to my previous PR splits.

Now I knew that I could get a PR if I really pushed on the last half of the course. I took a deep breath a bailed off the south side of little Doug. I hit the next portion of the course which is a pretty gradual downhill grade for almost a mile. I struggled a bit on this portion of trail and the legs were tired and heavy and the lungs were not doing their job (I have had an upper resp. infection for over two months now). I finished the section of the course spot on with my previous PR's splits. I had one more big summit of the mountain, a final descent, and then a bit of flat sloppy single track to the finish. I kept repeating Carpenter's mantra in my head and when I began hurting I kicked it up a notch. I reached the summit and was a bit light headed but quickly caught my breath and screamed down the final slope. I reached the finish and stopped my watch and did a double take to make sure I had read the 52:57 right. I couldn't believe it, I had struggled for 12 days to even get near my previous PR, but tonight I passed it up by over a minute and a half. I guess Matt Carpenter knows what he's doing when it comes to winning and setting impossible course records on some of the most rugged and highest elevation marathons and ultras in the world.

I had some Frozen Plasma songs in my head tonight. FP is a synth group from Germany and could be considered futuro-pop. The song I am posting is a song called "A Second Of Life". It is kind of a dark and haunting song. Honestly the lyrics and mood of the song had nothing to do with tonight's run it was just in my head. I couldn't find any good videos to post for this song. Several versions had 9 minutes of watching people's digital avatars from some computer game wander around in some nerd environment. Another had clips from some vampire movie, so I ended up choosing this short version with a video of some fog and boardwalks and a forest. It was my best option for this post. Like I said the song has been in my head lately and though I don't expect many people to go nuts over it I think it is a cool song with a haunting vibe.

Easy 7 miler and some 7M3 - Devil Boy

Tonight was an easy run so I did a simple 7 miler at Mount Doug. It has been very cold this week and possibly colder than it has been since early December but that being said it was still 4 C or 45 degrees F. We even saw some snow flakes yesterday though they didn't stick around long. My focus tonight was just to run easy and run light with as little impact as possible and to run at a nice speed where it was easy to keep my breath. I accomplished my goal and was really amazed at how easy it really felt. I hardly broke a sweat or got out of breath even on the uphill. I was tempted to turn up the speed but with many more miles and summits lined up for the week I decided to take it easy like I had planned.

My thoughts were mainly focussed on my studies today and I thought a bit about magma differentiation and the effects of melt composition on element partitioning. Pretty heavy stuff to be focusing on during a run but I find my easy runs allow me to think more about school and other complex subjects that require my full attention. When I am really running hard I only have the brain capacity to tackle the trail and have to completely focus on the run and so other thoughts are pushed aside.

Today I had some old school Seven Mary Three playing in my head. The song that was blaring in the old noggin is called "Devil Boy" and is one of my favorite from their debut album American Standard. I have loved 7M3 since they saw popularity in the mid 90's with "Cumbersome" and "Water's Edge". I think many people stopped listening after the first album but the band has continued to create great music with many albums released since then. They are really a southern grunge band, though that is a bit of a generalization. I love the vocals and guitar riffs. They are still around and making music and playing various venues. I have also included a song from a more recent album called "Last Kiss" to show that they still make great music. Neither video is recorded in great quality but I think they are both still awesome to watch. I like their bearded look it is pretty sweet. "Last Kiss" is a great song and I like the rocky feel of it. I definitely have many fond memories of American Standard and the music of 7M3 has accompanied me throughout most of my adolescence all the way to adulthood. They often were playing as me and my brother slowly drove up many forgotten back roads in the Uintas as we pursued various treasures. For some reason that first album reminds me a lot of our prospecting trips in South Fork, Noblett's Canyon, and the Red Creek areas. Very nostalgic stuff for me. They release MP3's from their site (7MP3's) for free and I grab those whenever I can.