McNaughton 150M - Pittsfield, VT

Going for a walk,
Not ready to talk.

Trail Marathon - Hell, MI

Going for a run,
Report to come.

Windy Bike Ride Home

I decided to commute home, and talked Paula into riding with me. She biked down to the restaurant to meet me for the ride home, and from there we headed to Stony Creek Metro Park to get some extra miles in. But because the wind was kicking at about 20mph, we b-lined it home - via back roads - when we realized that the wind wasn't going to let up.

I was looking for an easy ride and this one could have been nice, it was just ten degrees too cold with the wind along with the tired legs; they got trashed from last weekend's race, and I really felt it on this ride - I had no leg strength to pick up the pace, but no injuries that I could feel.

The President's Challenge Silver Award

I started the President's Challenge on January 1st, 2011. With last weekend's Potawatomi Trail 50 Mile race - I Just received my President's Challenge Silver Award - Yea!!! 90,000 points so far.

The Potawatomi Trail 50M - Pekin, IL

Going for a run,
Report to come.

My First Outdoor Bike Ride Of 2011 - Hill Repeats

Everyone wanted to do hill repeats, so Paula and I headed over to John and Jaime's house then straight for the back roads. Our plan, warm up on the back roads on the way to Markwood - aka "Marky Mark". This is the tallest, steepest, longest dirt road in the area. Once we got there, we set out to do as many repeats as were comfortably possible - I had no idea how many I could do, Jaime was going for 2-3 repeats, and John and Paula were aiming for 2 each.

The first went well - I kept Jaime in my sights all the way up, hit the top, and passed John and Paula finishing their climbs on my way down. At the bottom, Jaime and I waited for the others and headed up again. We ended up getting a total of 5 repeats, Jaime beating me to the top every time. Paula got a total of 4 repeats. And John got 2.5 repeats.


Afterward, we took our time cooling down on the trip home. The weather was perfect for the ride, the company was great, and the results were better than I expected - which led to a great first ride of 2011.

Land Between the Lakes 50 Miler - My First Belt Buckle

The Land Between the Lakes is a trail running event put on by the West Kentucky Runners Club and is located at the Land Between the Lake National Rec. Area, just south of Grand Rivers, KY. They offer 23K, Marathon, 60K, and 50M distances, which take place mostly on single track meandering through the LBL Area with great views of both the Barkley and Kentucky Lakes.

A few of my friends – Andrew H, Ken A, Rick L, and Andrea E. - ran the race last year and were very excited about how well the course and amenities were, so I decided to look into it for this year as a first for 2011. There were a lot of bantering about of people going and not going, but when all was said and done, the road trip consisted of Kai K (60k), Jessy M (26.2M), Paula (23K), and me (50M).

Paula and I headed to Kai’s early Friday morning, and jumped into his Subaru for the trip south into Cincinnati to round up Jessy. From there, we highway-ed it through Ohio and across Kentucky to (almost) Grand Rivers. At this point, Kai ran out of gas on the highway in the middle of no where. We sat for about two minutes, Paula started for the phone for AAA, and I was out the door headed for the houses across the field for gas. We lucked out and a nice guy, Craig, had a tank and got us going – 15 minutes later, we on our way again.

By the time we got to the hotel, the weather had changed from Michigan’s 30s and 2 inches of snow to 60s and sunny – the weather was forecasted to be mid-60s and sunny for the race. We headed to the packet pick-up, got our stuff, and searched for food – no pre-race dinner for the runners. We ended up at the Yacht Club; a private club that let us sneak in for the night since we were running the next day.

Race Day:
We were in our own state of mind in the morning – moving around in the hotel room with the different pre-race rituals. Early, not much talking, checking and double checking to make sure everything was ready. One of my things is I need a good sized cup of tasty coffee – hotel stuff just doesn’t get it. So, I headed to the gas station and got a XL cup – delicious. We met up with Jessy in the lobby, packed up, and headed to the start.

The town was bustling with activity from the runners getting prepared and running the streets getting warmed up. We delivered our drop bags and headed for the start – Paula worked her way up to the beginning so she could get a nice head start on the slower people before hitting the trail (we had a 1.75 mile run on the main road before entering the trail system).

The Race:
Kai and I planned to stick together for as long as possible and to run the first miles a bit slower (9-10 minute miles) but ended up doing 7s until we hit the trail. The sun was just rising as we crossed the bridge and into the park – great views of Barkley Lake at this point. As we entered the trail system, we got our last glimpse of Paula about a half mile ahead.

Kai and I had both signed up for the 50M, so we found a nice pace and enjoyed the run. We were talking and taking in the vistas; the trail offered numerous points of interest overlooking the lakes and bays along the entire route.

We had four, eleven mile loops to complete before we headed to the finish line. The first two flew by easily, just meandering through the park and taking advantage of the Aid stations. By the start of the third loop, we both were feeling the mileage but were still feeling strong. We fueled up and headed out. Kai started to get leg cramps at about mile 30, after this point we split up and my race became solo – 20 miles to go.

I cruised through the next ten miles, hit the wall, got through the wall, and slowly jogged my way into the finish line feeling tired but solid. Cheering me in was Paula, Kai, and Jessy - Kai decided to be safe and drop down to the 60K.

My overall was 24th place, at 8:50:00. I think I would have done a bit better, but the mid-60s turned out to the low 70s and cloudless, and with the Michigan winter training, I wasn’t ready for such a hot day (I did hydrate like crazy, so it wasn’t too bad until the last few miles).

Heading Home:
Since I was the last one heading in from the trails, I ate and drank, got washed up and changed, and jumped into the car for home. Kai was feeling good, so took the wheel the entire time (thanks Kai). But I must mention that, if not for Jessy catching the fuel indicator, Kai would have run out of gas in the middle of Ohio (good eye, Jessy).

We all enjoyed the run and the trail, did well in our races, and came back healthy. Good trip.