Ready to Roll

I am ready to hit the road. We have been buying last minute stuff for Kettle and I always buy and pack way more stuff than I could ever need. This weekend I bought some water bottles, a hat and shirt. At Sams I got V8, Red Bull, Beef Jerky, Water, Coke, Worthers, Snickers, Batteries and all kinds of crap at Walmart.

It was a nice weekend. We got family pics taken Saturday and did some shopping. Sunday We did landscaping then went to my Aunt's for some BBQ. Sunday Rick and Johns family came over and we hung out and ate all day. Overall it was a very good relaxing weekend. Our run at Smithville was great on Saturday. We did 12 miles but had it cranked up really good the whole time. It felt great running with my legs not trashed finally! I did short runs the last 3 days and will not do anything else until the race.

The boys started summer school already today. Corbin was soooo excitied to get to go to the "real" school now. I walked them to school this morning for the first day. It is kind of sad to see him off to school but I know he is really glad to be there.

I haven't really got a goal time in mind for Kettle. A lot depends on the weather. I will be dissapointed if I am not under 24hrs but if things go bad you have to be willing to adjust the goals on the fly.

I got my new Montrail Nitrus last week, the bright orange ones too! I have only ran in them twice but they feel wonderful so I am going to give em a go at Kettle. I am taking 6 pairs of shoes with me..why? I have no idea.

Time to hit the brakes

It is now time to hit the brakes and let myself recover. I was able to get in a really strong week. My mileage this week was higher than I had planned, somehow I ended up with 97 miles. My taper officially started today. It is such a difficult transition to taper off after building up so much.


We had a great weekend, several baseball games and practice. Saturday evening Tiff had a baby shower to go to, she took Ella and Tristan was with my mom for the day. I got to spend some great time with Corbin alone. We planted our garden and some flowers too, got Ice cream from the Ice Cream Man and played in the sprinkler. We need to spend more time with our kids one on one but it is hard to do. After Tristan got home me and the boys hit the Pizza Buffet and I bet I put down 3000 calories there!!


Rick and Kristi had their baby Friday. Tiff was fortunately working that day so she was their Labor Nurse. I am sure they are both going to be wonderful parents. CONGRATS!!!


I am really glad I am off next week because I have not got much together for Kettle. It is only 11 more days, I can't beleive it is so soon. I have already had a lot of doubts entering my head. I know I have trained well. I weighed in at 185 last Friday which is great. Everything is about right. If the weather stays good I should be ok. I keep telling myself that the race really starts after the 100k point, that is when we return to the start/finish and head back out for the last 38 miles. It is also the place where a large portion of the 100 mile runners drop out and take credit for the 100k. I am running 100 miles, as far as I am concerned the 100k is a DNF.


I plan on running Wed,Thurs and Sat. this week then maybe a short run Mon and Tuesday next week. We are leaving next Thursday morning for the race.

too much work, no play

I actually didn't run 1 mile this weekend. It is the first running free weekend in exactly one year. I had to put in about 15 hours at work between Sat and Sun night. I had baseball, Tball and team pictures Saturday plus Tiff worked and I did not run on Sunday due to a lack of sleep and Mothers Day.
I was a bit grumpy since I couldn't get out Sunday but it was probably a good thing. I ended up doing yard work and was chopping wood for 2 1/2 hrs in the heat. At least I got some work done in the heat to help with training. Both the boys won their games Saturday. Their teams played really well. I am not involved in coaching Corbins Tball,, it is hard for me to just sit and watch since I am usually coaching their teams.
I got out early this morning and was able to get in 28 miles. My legs feel really good, almost like I didn't run this morning. Only 19 more days until Kettle. How the heck did I run 100 miles the first time? and why am I going to do it again? Not Sure.
I told the boys about going to Western States next year,,,they are totally into it. They keep asking all kinds of questions about it. It is hard for them to grasp it is still another year away. They have never been on an airplane before so they think it's pretty cool.

Rainy Days

The rain and storms made me change my running a bit this weekend. I was able to get in 18 Friday, and 24 on Saturday but Sunday it stormed all day. I finally gave up at 4 and went and ran 2 hours on the treadmill at the gym. I got another 13 in this morning there also. My legs are really getting worn. I hope I am not over training. Only time will tell. My quads have been sore since the 100k a week ago. They are worn down but I figure the more I can run on them now the more it will pay off at Kettle. I have dropped from 195 lbs to 187 in 15 days. I am happy with the progress. I would love to be close to 180-183 by race day. I am still eating about 2500 calories a day but I have cut out nearly all sugars. I should be at a hefty caloric deficit since that is my BMR without the running calories used.
We have gotten like 5 inches of rain the past 2 days. My house backs up to the woods with a creek. The small creek which usually barely has water in it is now about 50 yards across and 15 foot deep. If it rains much more I may be in some trouble. There is about 2 feet left seperating the water from overtaking my yard then house.

I'm all in

As of today I am finally all in. I mailed off my entrants fee and registration, verified the hotel reservations and started printing out the mileage and aid station info for Kettle Moraine 100. I feel good that the soreness from 100k on Saturday is already gone. The all or nothing obsessive/compulsive personality gets to take over now. Ever since my first 100 last October I have wanted to do another. I have completed 6 ultras since November but I was just looking at them as training runs. This is the real deal. I am looking forward to being focused on 1 goal now, hopefully there aren't too many things that get in the way of the last few good training weeks. I can't run today, I might try to get in some tomorrow at lunch but mainly Fri, Sat and Sun. I ordered a new Nathan 2v elite plus waist pack today so I can get used to it before Kettle. I have taken the entire week before and 2 days after the race off work to relax and not have a bunch of work related stress to worry about. I think the month before a 100 is the best time, I get a kick out of buying and organizing all the stuff and redoing the mileage splits and aid station locations. I am an over planner and I go through everything too much but I usually am prepared when the time finally rolls around. I think a lot about those people who used to give me trouble and make fun of me when I was really overweight in school on the long runs. It is a good source of motivation.,,,,,,,the last part of Heartland I kept replaying a moment from middle school where this girl Kari came up and sat with me on the bus on our way to a school field trip to Silver Dollar City. She was being really nice and I was thought it was pretty cool that such a pretty popular girl wanted to hang out with me. After about 20 minutes she went back to the back of the bus and everyone was laughing. They were playing truth or dare and she took the dare to come up and act as though she liked me. F#$@ YOU! Kari,,,you piece of crap!!

Free at Last

Well thank goodness the month of April is over. It was a busy month in the running area with 3 races and 2 marathon training runs. I ended up with 304 miles for the month.

The Free State 100k,40mile and marathon were this past weekend. The family and I took the camper out on Friday and stayed the weekend. It rained a lot the days leading up to the race which made the less technical parts of the trail now nothing but a mudpit. So I was not really looking forward to that. I have to say that this race really kicked my butt. The temps got up into the 80's and I was definitely not used to running in anything over 65. I did the 100k,,,my first loop was about 3:35, I was very happy with that time but soon after that the bottom fell out. I ended up walking a good portion of the 2nd loop and was battling dehydration unsuccessfully. I was literally peeing something similar to Malt liqueur and it hurt like heck every time I tried to go. My hands were swollen and my stomach was upside down with nausea. I just couldn't seem to get everything working correctly. I limped in with a time of around 5:30 for the second loop. When I got in the aid station my wife and kids were there. It helped to see them and know they were having a good time. Rick was asking what I needed and I told him I wanted to sit, change socks and shoes and decide what I wanted to do(drop or finish 1 more loop). I told myself before the race that if I dropped I wasn't going to attempt Kettle Moraine 100, I told my wife that I was really struggling and felt like quitting. She basically said "you always feel like crap at this point, just get up and get out there and finish". So I did. Rick had decided to go with me for my last loop after he had already ran the marathon. I didn't ask, he just knew I needed a little push, and it definitely helped me. I greatly appreciated that. The last loop was kind of a blur. We passed Greg about 1 mile before the turnaround and he was really struggling, he DNF'd at Rockin K and was talking about it happening again. He ended up sucking it up and finishing strong. The last 4 miles were in the dark, when I got to the turn for the finish my 2 boys were waiting to run up the hill with me. I ended up 4:50 for the last loop and sat back and enjoyed a few home brews. It was a struggle but I finished 62 miles in 13:54. Thanks to everyone who helped out at his event and participated, especially Bad Ben, you did a great job.

I was able to ride a little on Sun and Mon and some weights. My legs are still sore but I got in an hour on the treadmill this morning with sweats and a Stocking hat on. I got some nice looks while doing that. I am going to make sure to get the heat acclimatization completed before heading to Kettle. I hope to be able to get in 2 long afternoon runs this weekend, just depends on how the legs recover.