Profile and Interview with Dallas Stevens: It's About the People

I recently sat down with Dallas Stevens, co-director of the Tucson Trail Runners, and talked about his love of the sport of trail running. Dallas was new to TTR just about three years ago and has made incredible strides since then; not only in his abilities but also giving back to the trail and ultra-running community. What follows is his profile and the conversation we enjoyed.

PROFILE OF RUNNER:
A.  Name, age, city and state, how long lived there?
Dallas Stevens, 50, Tucson, AZ, 9 years

B.  Place of birth, where did you grow up, high school, college, military, other?
I was born in Youngstown OH. I grew up in northern New Jersey (Chatham/Sparta). I graduated from Sparta High School in 1980 and immediately entered the Air Force.  I was stationed in Germany (total of 8 years), Portsmouth NH, Wellsboro, PA, and Tucson, AZ. I retired from the AF in 2000 at Davis-Monthan AFB here in Tucson. 
 
C.  Other than running – hobbies, interests, pets, kids, current employment?
Cross training (cycling, lifting, spinning, swimming, circuit), just started Bikram yoga, music (all types), reading, cooking
Two dogs - Dixie and Elvis
Two children - son/20, daughter/14
Sales Estimator with Carpet One in Oro Valley

D.  Favorite distance to run or race on trail and on the road?
Trail - running a 100 miler was my greatest experience so far
Road - ½ marathon - works well for my race pace

E.  Favorite race course or event?

OP 50. This year will be my third year volunteering as the AS25 Captain and sweeping the course from mile 25 to the finish and even though I have yet to run this race – I love it! Each year has its own story (or stories) to take away from and I learn something new about ultra running just by being out there helping the ultra runner.

F.  Favorite Tucson area trail to train, run, hike?  Anywhere in Sabino but I have a strong affection for Esperero Loop. One of our nice Zane Greyish routes!

G. Favorite vacation destination?  

Southern Germany in the winter (Garmisch) or San Diego (Coronado).

H.  Favorite post-race/run food, drink and activity, ie. hot tub, ice cold river soak, etc?
Coke, ice to chew on, and the fellowship between runners. 

I.   Pet Peeves?

Gossip

J.  Current book you are reading or favorite author?  

Roadsigns – Philip Goldberg

K.  Favorite quote or saying to live by?
“Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” E.Y. Harburg

L.  Person you look up to, emulate, hero?  

Disabled people who don’t let their disability keep them down. Terry Fox always comes to mind …

M.  What has been your worst running injury?  

Twisted ankle - June 2011.  Still need to be careful with it.  

N.  If you could no longer run or lost the use of your legs what sport or activity would you pursue?  

A wheelchair sport of some sort, swimming, power lifting

Interview:

TA:  Hey Dallas, it’s good to see you. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me and discuss your running exploits.

Dallas:  No problem. The interview blog is a nice change compared to the usual.

TA:  Thank you. The first thing on my radar is the fact that you recently finished your first 100-mile race. Talk about how it feels to have that behind you.

Dallas:  Javelina happened and it exceeded my wildest expectations.

 My training…everything…worked perfectly. I was doing the TTR runs on Sundays and then another 20-30 miles at the Air Force base on Mondays. There were days that I was dead from the heat. Another thing that really helped me was with Renee’s injury we got more into cross-training.

TA:  What kind of cross-training did you find useful?

Dallas:  We were doing biking and swimming. I probably wouldn’t have done those things if it hadn’t been for her injury. We were already going to the gym twice a week but the cross-training gave me time off of my legs.

TA:  There are many parts of the body being neglected when all you do is run.

Dallas:  I like the philosophy that you have of only doing one 100-mile race per year. I don’t think it’s good for the body to do one a month or even four of them in a year. I don’t know all of the science behind it but I just don’t see how it’s good for you. As far as this year I was thinking of San Diego but it seems too soon. So then I was thinking of the Mogollon Monster 100 in September. That gives me a lot of time to train.

TA:  Mogollon is the other end of the extreme compared to Javelina. That might be approaching the difficulty of the top five hardest 100s. Well, getting in at the ground level...you never know, this thing might take off and you can say you were there at the beginning.

Dallas:  Right now Jeremy Dougherty has 21 people signed up since December. I will give some serious thought to this over the summer. If I don’t do a 100 this year then I’m not worried about it. One of the things I want to do this year is the 24-hours at Mt. Wrightson. Renee and I are also planning a Rim-to-Rim-to Rim in October.

TA:  Last year’s idea was a great plan starting the night before at 5pm. I’m not sure of the plan this year?

Dallas:  I talked to Bob Bachani at Tonja and Pete’s baby shower as well as confirmed with Raoul Erickson and it is on. I want to do different things. I want to test my body, my limits.

TA:  Are you strictly a trail runner now or do you still run the road races and marathons?

Dallas:  I don’t prefer road racing. I did the Gabe Zimmerman Triple Crown Half-marathon. I like the pace at that distance. I’m done with the 5Ks. We just did a trail race out at Colossal Cave. Halfway through I thought…I am done with these short races.

TA:  HaHa…anaerobic man!

Dallas:  Yeah man, I felt like my chest was going to blow up. I’m too damn old for this. I’m not going to go into these things and jog; I’m going to push myself.

TA:  It’s all relative; if it’s short then you have to run faster.

Dallas:  For all that work I missed third in my age group by 30 seconds. It’s still fun, you know, I like the trail. In the morning during the week I’ll run over to the Rillito for my weekly runs. We’re thinking about doing Pike’s Peak Marathon. One of my bucket list marathons is Big Sur.

TA:  Are you talking about the trail marathon?

Dallas:  I didn’t know there was a trail option. I would check that out. If I had to pick another kind of marathon not on trail it would be the Great Wall of China.

TA:  Cool. When did you first call yourself a runner outside of the Air Force PT test?

Dallas:  Probably the summer before my senior year of high school. In the summer you would have to always get in shape for football season. My final year I changed high schools; we were State Champs. I grew up around hockey and football in New Jersey. That summer I was running 6-8 miles at a time. My brother would come home on leave from the Army and say, “Come on, let’s go run.”

TA:  How much older than you is your brother?

Dallas:  Seven years. That motivated me to keep on running. Then I joined the Air Force. It was funny; I went into basic training and came out in worse shape than when I got in. Back then, I went in 1980, they had some new funky PT segment in basic training involving a lot of stretching; not much strengthening exercises. Things have changed since then.

     I went over to Germany, the first time I ran on trails, all of those logging roads; it was great. That got my interest up big time. I came back to the states and ran a 10K with my brother and then we moved to the marathon. In 1994 I ran the Warwick, New York Marathon. I’m not sure if they still have it. It was run simultaneously with the New York Marathon; it was an overflow race. My brother and I ran it together in 3:30. I probably could have run faster. I have not done another legitimate road marathon since then. But since that time I have continued to run.

TA:  You have been in Tucson almost 9 years. I first met you two years ago. Did you ever get out before that and run the trails?

Dallas:  About that time in 2009 I was living in an apartment near Sabino Canyon. I would run up to Sabino and then up Phoneline a little bit and come back. I would check out Esperero a little bit and come back; a lot of out and backs. And then I read Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes. I was totally blown away by this whole notion that you could run like this. So then I went farther.

    I got to Sabino Basin one Sunday and came back and looked at the map and realized…oh man, you can go all the way around. So the first day I did that I got lost. I actually went in the reverse direction of what we normally do on the TTR event. I got lost coming down around that 7^th or 8^th crossing. I spent about half an hour and then eventually made it back. As I was getting into my car, Gene Joseph approached me. I didn’t know him at the time. He had recognized me on the trail that day because the TTR group was running the Sabino Basin Run and I went by them in reverse. That’s how I got hooked up with TTR. He gave me his e-mail and told me about the group.

TA:  What was your first run with TTR?

Dallas:  The very next week I went down to Mt. Hopkins. It was hot and on a big uphill dirt road. I made a big mistake trying to keep up with Joel Stamp that day. I was totally wiped out on the way back down.

TA:  The first time I met you was on the Mt. Lemmon Ascent two months later. There’s a funny story. Doug Kelly ran up the road pretty quickly and you followed him. He likes to run up the hills, I like to walk. I wondered how you would do keeping up with him. Eventually I found you at the Wilderness of Rocks intersection. You said something like, “My face is numb.” I did offer you an electrolyte cap. You managed to gut it out.

Dallas:  I’ve learned a little bit since then.

TA:  You’ve learned a lot. What is it that you like about the ultra-distance aspect of running?

Dallas:  The thing that totally took me over with TTR was the fact that every week there was another fascinating scene to take in with my eyes. For me it’s not really about the mileage; I enjoy seeing all the different things and places out here. Last Sunday we were out at Bear Canyon, I don’t know how many times I’ve run Bear Canyon now, but I never get sick of it. There was a beautiful sunrise, water running at Seven Falls, Jamil and Nick from Phoenix came down; I was excited. There are times when I run by myself and there are times when I run with Renee at a different pace. I really believe that running with Renee has helped me tailor my speed for races like Javelina where I need to find a consistent slower speed.

     It’s not a matter of distance really, although I do like the longer distance; anything over 20 miles. This Sunday at Tanque Verde Loop promises to be a great run, challenging, beautiful, probably some snow. Short or long, it doesn’t matter.

TA:  Did you have any problems staying awake during your 100-mile finish?

Dallas:  I had some problems on the last loop. I purposely did not take any gels for the majority of the race. I trained myself that way. It worked. I did use three gels total. I found myself sleep walking up a hill and used a double caffeine gel I had carried in my hand held bottle – “Break the Glass in Case of Emergency.” Within 10 minutes it was working great.

TA:  Did you encounter any issues with blisters?

Dallas:  Around lap three I had a severe hot spot and thought I was in trouble. I wore the Hokas. They were great. I couldn’t find anyone with a bad-aid so I pressed on and it never developed into anything.

TA:  You kept your hydration up pretty well?

Dallas:  I ran out of water twice using my hand held going into aid stations. I drank religiously. I didn’t drink any sports drink, just water and ginger ale. I used S-caps at every interval, basically two an hour.

TA:  I think the fact that you kept up on your hydration and electrolytes prevented you from worsening blisters. Let’s talk about your weight training regimen.

Dallas:  Renee and I go to the Air Force base twice a week. I go in and do two sets of everything upper body times 12 repetitions. Or sometimes I’ll pyramid the workout by going 10, 7, and 5 reps increasing the weight on the way down. I blow through it like a circuit.

TA:  No leg weights?

Dallas:  The only thing I do is the calf machine. I mostly do it on the move; I’ll do bench, then sit-ups, then the calf machine, and back to the bench. For legs I’ll go to the exercise room and do squats with the medicine ball. Also, I take the medicine ball and do torso twists. I used to use the squat machine but I messed up my back and don’t use it anymore.

TA:  Do you do any speedwork as part of your training?

Dallas:  The only speedwork I do is on a TTR run when I’m trying to get a good time; kind of a long trail tempo.

TA:  What accomplishments are you most proud of?

Dallas:  I have to tell you Chase, I am still a baby in this sport. But looking back, the marathon in ’94 with my brother was a huge accomplishment. We trained over half a year for a marathon; it was kind of silly. This last year though was the biggest highlight of my life. It was phenomenal with some of the things Renee and I did; I did the 50-mile birthday run; my first official 50-mile finish at Zane Grey; and of course Javelina. I couldn’t have asked for a better year and staying injury free.

TA:  Well at age 50 all of that stuff has to be a great feeling.

Dallas:  On top of that I had fun. That’s really my whole goal with all of this stuff. I’m not consumed with this; I have other things I would like to do in life. But when I set out to do something, I’m dedicated to the cause. If I put the money down then the training is going with it.

TA:  You sound like a very gritty person. I scored 9 out of 10 on that test, how about you, did you take it?

Dallas:  Oh yeah, I was like a 9, maybe even 10.

TA:  I knew it. Even though you are a baby at this as you say, what kind of advice can you give to someone getting started?

Dallas:  It’s interesting; now that Renee and I are coordinating TTR we get a lot of questions and e-mails from people. The biggest thing for me was to ask questions and listen to the answers. I ask questions and keep my ears open. I take the parts I can use and employ them in my training. Nutrition is an individual thing.

TA:  How about advice that you picked up that has helped you the most?

Dallas:  From whom I got it, it’s hard to say. The biggest thing I would say is that you have to be your own runner. Watch what everybody does but eventually decide what works best for you. In the summertime I can lose 10-15 pounds on a long run. So I have some experimentation left to do. I read a lot about the sport on the Ultra-list. Develop your own strategy through trial and error.

TA:  I’ve heard that you have been lost on trail before. Was there ever a time you were really worried and how long have you been lost?

Dallas:  One time I was worried, not on a TTR run. I always knew that after some time I made a mistake and knew I could backtrack out. The only time I was actually scared was on a recon run on Esperero Loop. I got to the top of Cathedral, I had never been up there before, and it started to snow. There already was a foot of snow on the ground. It’s around 10am and everything is gray. I did not know how to get down the other side so I started bushwhacking. The snow was up to my thighs. I didn’t know where I was going. All of a sudden I got nailed in the thigh by a big old tree. I thought I could have broken my femur. I was able to stop myself by grabbing a branch. I thought I was in serious trouble. I crawled back to the top on my hands and feet taking 30 minutes to get back to the saddle. Then I went back home the way I came.

TA:  Good move.

Dallas:  That was a scary time. It taught me a lesson. Renee knew where I was but still…I’m up there. Getting lost is a necessary thing for the sport. You need to understand what to do in those situations. There is a guy coming out this weekend to Tanque Verde Loop that is doing OP50 but has not run with us yet. He wanted to know if he would be good with two hand helds and I said, “No no no,” you’ve got to bring a pack. I bring a pack and two hand helds on that run. I can have extra clothes or if I need to take clothes off I’m prepared. It depends on what the weather at the start of the run is or what it has been over the last couple of days. Come prepared.

TA:  Two hand helds? Maybe if you’re Doug Kelly and you have a hump hidden in your back somewhere. Where do you see the future of TTR? Do you see it as status quo, which is great, but do you foresee any changes developing in 5-10 years?

Dallas:  This first year has been a learning year for Renee and me. There’s so much history and we’re very respectful of the history and tradition. We will continue to do that. I can tell you that Ross is completely thrilled with the turnouts. I don’t think we want to change the face of TTR. We don’t want to make it something like SAR or anything like that. The underground character is good.

TA:  Do you think a race series similar to what the Coury brothers are doing in Phoenix could co-exist on other courses in the area? Could a race series survive?

Dallas:  There are ideas to develop more events. I wouldn’t mind seeing longer better trail events a year or two from now. We need to start asking the questions now as to how to make it happen, not accepting “No, you can’t,” but “How do we do it?” Let’s talk about it. Everyone else does it. We have some of the best trails around.

TA:  We have some really good trails on State Trust Land as well.

Dallas:  I foresee us trying to get something going on in that realm. There is certainly the numbers and interest to support it. The recent showing for Bear Canyon was high and Pemberton 50K was the same weekend where at least a dozen runners from Tucson attended.

TA:  It is good to see the younger runners coming out and making a presence. I see you like to do some cooking; any favorite recipes you can recommend?

Dallas:  We’ve been doing a lot of cooking lately. My favorite recent recipe involves a combination of sausage and fennel, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions; all over spaghetti squash instead of pasta.

TA:  Sounds delicious. Do you have a sweet tooth?

Dallas:  Ah, yeah, I have a sweet tooth and am a carbo hound. I like to make banana bread. Alli just gave us a good recipe for Nutella banana bread and I made that. Not trying to lose weight or anything but we ate the whole loaf in three days.

TA:  HaHaHa. Well here we are at the last question, what is the meaning of life?

Dallas:  To me, in my life, I would say people. People are the meaning of life for me personally because there was a time in my life I didn’t have people. I do now and it has changed my life. I think having other people in your life giving and giving back; taking when you choose to take and don’t be afraid to take. That’s it for me.

TA:  Cool, that’s awesome. That’s all I have. Thanks for having me over to your house once again.

Dallas:  You’re good man, thank you and see you on trail.