North Face 50 mile

Last Friday I made the trip up to Des Moines, Iowa for the North Face 50 mile endurance challenge. Mark Stovall, myself and John King headed out from the Hotel friday to go see the course since we had not much idea of what we were getting into. Once we got to the Park entrance I could definitely tell this race had some money behind it. There were about 20 North Face tents, portable Ice coolers, Lighting systems, and banners and signs everywhere. We spent the next few hours following the course map, looking for markers to follow the next day. It was clear after we finished scouting the course that we were in for a lot of pavement running the following day, about 43 miles of the 50 was on pavement.
The race started at 5:00 which meant at 3:15 we were up and getting ready for the day. Kyle Amos, Josh Pool, John King, Mark Stovall and myself rode to the start finish together arriving about 30 minutes before the start. I met Brad Holzworth who started Running for recovery, a group which I recently became a member of. We chatted for a few minutes then before long it was time to get going.

My goal was to just run steady and finish under 9 hours. I wasn't planning on running too hard, just keep moving and get in some long miles towards Arkansas Traveller. The first few miles were mostly in grass about 8 inches long mowed along the edge of a field along side a gravel road. It was required to have a light for the start since the sun wouldn't be up for over 1 hour, so the long grass was foot soaking at the beginning.

The run was pretty uneventful for the most part. I just kept pounding away the miles. We did run over some pretty wooden bridges on a few of the paved trail portions and there was also a street bridge over 1 mile long we had to run over. The police were on site all day there to keep one of the 2 lanes closed for the race which made it a lot safer. I ended up finishing in 8:14 which I was okay with.

The best part was to see John and Mark both complete their first 50 miler successfully. John finished in 9:13 and Mark in 9:23. I think this was a great race for them to get their first 50 miler. The pavement sucked but there are not too many easier 50 milers around than this one to get started on.

Overall the race was excellent, the aid stations were no more than 4 miles apart and very well stocked. Most of the volunteers had no prior ultra experience but seemed to catch on quickly as to what worked well. There was tons of food and several booths set up at the finish, along with Ice bath tubs and free massages. Dean Karnazes ran the half marathon and was around hte finish for most of the afternoon. He gave a short speech and handed out the awards to the various winners.
He was very friendly and easy to talk to. I know everyone has varied opinions on him but he really impressed me. I asked him about the Tour De Mount Blanc last weekend he ran in and he really went into a lot of detail about the race and how much different the European races are. I was really amazed by the way he looked. I knew he was cut, but seeing him in person was different. It really inspired me to get my diet back to the way it was when I started running, which I have started doing since that day.

All of the participants got a North Face shirt, visor and water bottle along with some bottles of accelerade and misc stuff in the goody bags. After the race the RD said there was a bunch of water and accelerade that they had left if we wanted to take any. Somehow John and I ended up bringing home 9 cases of water in sports bottles. 12 boxes of granola bars, 25 cases of accelerade and 6 cases of accel-gel, so we should be well stocked for a while even after giving some of that to Rick. Luckily John's Father in Law had his truck at the race to bring it all back home.

My family spent the next few days in Des moines and relaxed. We stopped back by the store where packet pickup was to do some shopping. I ended up buying a pair of Vasque and Keens for myself, shoes for all the kids and several North Face and Patagonia kids items for really cheap since they were on clearance half off and we got a 20% of coupon from the race also.

I have been out on a few short runs the last 2 days trying to let myself fully recover while still getting in the miles too. Only 11 days until the Turkey and Taturs 50k, so I can't lay off too much. I am starting to get that excitement building knowing that there is a 100 miler coming up soon. Soon the excitement will change to nervousness but that is a few weeks away.

Northface 50 miler up next

I am heading up to Iowa on Friday for the Northface 50. I will be riding up with Mark Stovall from Blue Springs, John King, Kyle Amos and Josh Pool are aso making the trip us from KC for the 50 miler. The race starts at 5AM Saturday, we will have to start with headlamps for the first hour or so. The course is mostly paved as far as I can tell. We plan on trying to check out most of it Friday afternoon to see what we are in for. It will be interesting to see how the race is ran by the big north face boys. They are supposed to have handheld bottle filled with accelerade available at all of the aid stations. Tiff and the kids are coming up Saturday Afternoon and we are all staying up there thru Monday to relax and goof off.

Sunday is My Bday, I turn the 35, I figure after that day I am closer to 40 than 30, not a pleasant thought. What better way to finish of the first half of the 30's than to spend the whole day running, I couldn't think of anything more fitting.

My shin is feeling completely better now. I am sure the couple light weeks helped to recover from several other things also. I really feel soooo much better now that I am running full speed again. The day just feels sluggish if I don't run. I have been able to get in 55 the last 5 days, I plan on running about 6 tommorrow then lay off until Saturday.

Thursday we took Corbins football team to the Chiefs game, we got to go out on the field while all the players were doing the pregame warmups. It was a blast even though the game sucked.


Last weekend was the boys first regular season football games. Tristans team lost by an extra point. He played really well and is starting to find his spot on the D line. They have a solid team and are going to get much better.
Corbins team won 45 to 0, the game was about as one sided as it gets, the other team had one play for 12 yards, everything else were losses. Corbin led the team with 6 tackles for a loss and 3 sacks. We had 361 yards rushing in a 50 minute running clock game. Here are a few clips from the 2nd half.



I got up a little early to watch the Lunar eclipse before running this morning. It was really cool. I went out by the woods behind the house to see it in complete darkness which was even better.

Have a wonderful week and I will post a report after returning from Iowa.

Another Week Gone

I managed to make it through this week fairly well considering my running was cut way back to a injury w/ my shin. I put in about 8 hours on the bike and elliptical at the gym, which I really hate doing. I got in 3 miles on Thursday, 12 on Friday and 26 on Sunday. It was kind of nice not running so much, Friday I ran my fastest 12 miles ever I think, guess a few days of rest isn't so bad after all.

Sunday Rick and I went to Wyco, we ran for an hour in the dark and then a 15 mile loop. It was absolutely miserable out there. I bet I got bit 25 times by horseflies the size of quarters, not to mention the insane humidity in there. I drank 10 water bottles while running for about 4 1/2 hrs out there and was still slightly dehydrated. I was really struggling on the run, I am not sure if it was the weather or what. My legs were sore some this week from the 8 hours of cycling/ elliptical so maybe that was part of it too. After I got home I did another 6 on the treadmill to finish off the day.
I plan on getting only 50-65 this week since the North Face 50 mile is less than 2 weeks away. After that I will see how I feel.

The boys started school today, they are both really excited about it. Corbin woke up early and couldn't even eat his chocolate chip pancakes Tiff made for breakfast, he is ready to finally be in Kindergarten. The boys have both grown up sooo much this summer, Tristan has shot up several inches the last few months and Corbin looks much older than he is now. It was sad to see him go off to school. I have been sitting at work thinking we should have done more with the time we had this summer with everyone home. It just goes by so quickly, sometimes I wish I had a pause button. I hope Ella adjusts to being at home without her brothers. She has always had at least one of them at home with her all of the time to play with.



Both boys had practice football games this weekend. They each did a great job. Tristan's team lost, but played pretty well. He has been moving around between a lot of positions and is still trying to get his spot figured out. He made some solid blocks and was open on pass routes several times but never had the ball thrown his way. Corbin's team, which I Asst coach for, completely dominated their game. They never took more than 2 plays on offense to score a touchdown. The other team only had 2 plays the entire game which gained any yardage. Corbin made several tackles and had 1 solo sack and was in on a couple others, he also blocked extremely well on offense, usually picking up an extra block after his man was taken care of. I stayed at the fields most of the day watching other Kearney teams play. There are not too many things I enjoy more than watching football all day long.

Take advantage of today, tomorrow it will be gone.

Heat Schmeat!!!

John and Me






There has been a heat advisory the past few days in the Area which has created less than ideal running conditions. We had a long run planned for Sunday which meant we had no choice but to suck it up, heat and all. Rick planned out our route and he put out 2 water drops along with the 1 I was reponsible for. We also used the fitness center as a water stop, so in all we had 6 stations set up to refuel on the way. Rick, John and I all set out about 6AM while the temps were a cool 82 degrees. Our route was 2 out and backs, 1 to Liberty hospital and back and 1 to Holt and back, mostly consisting of gravel roads. John was having stomach issues and had to stop about 24 miles in. Rick and I ended up putting in 34 miles with the temp at 100 when we finished a little after noon. It was a good hot run although my left shin is really hurting today so I am gonna take aday or 2 off until it feels better.

Friday night was the Psycho Night 10k+ a little extra. It was really hot and muggy and the trail had a few shoe sucking mudholes scattered throughout. It was an out back course, running out through the triangle and back. I started out as planned, staying conservative the first 4 miles, knowing the 2.5 back from the traingle was a lot of downhills with good rocky sections. I planned on going all out the back section since I had been running that portion really hard on the training runs. Shortly after coming out of the triangle section I passed my wife who was on her way into the triangle. She grabbed my flashlight from me and said she needed it. It was her first trail race and first time ever running in the dark also. I just kept running, not even realizing she was trying to give me my headlamp she was wearing. So now I was at the fastest part of the course, it was pitch dark and I had no light. I stumbled my way through the last 2.5 miles, rolling my ankles several times and wandering off the trail now and then until I would run into a bush or something to let me know I was off course. I had a few people get close behind me and I would try to use their light until they would get a bit too close and I would pick it up so they wouldn't pass me. I ended up in 10th place, about 4 minutes slower than I was hoping for with a light. Once John finished we went back in a little over a mile to find out wives and run them the rest of the way in. We also grabbed all the signs and cones we could to help clear the course. It was a good time out there, I really enjoy running at night, but it is definitely much easier with a light.


clearing the course

Kyle enjoying an Icee



The boys are suffering well through football, we have to keep a close eye on them with the horrid temperatures that are experiencing. Lots of water breaks and ice cold towels. 3 boys from the high school team were taken to the hospital last week with heat related problems. Both of their teams have practice games this weekend so we will see how they do then.

I ended up with 103 miles last week, which makes 4 weeks in a row over 100 miles. Good Stuff. 3 weeks till the North Face 50 mile, 5 till Tulsa 50k and 8 until Traveller. Mike Prentice is moving back to Kearney after living up the Cali life for a year or 2, I ran my first trail 50k at Psycho Wyco with him last Feburary. It will be good to have him back around to get in some good training runs with. He is going to go to Arkansas Traveller along with John to pace for Rick and I. Our little town of Kearney will now be the home of 4 ultra runners, not bad for a little MO town of 6000 people.

SUFFER WELL

Not only is Suffer Well a great song by Depeche Mode, they are also the words to live by lately. Every run seems to bring suffering in this horrid heat and humidity. I racked up another solid week at 101 miles which makes 3 weeks over 100. My longest was only 20 but I was able to get in some decent quality miles too.

I have been hitting the gym every day the past few weeks at lunch, usually doing a few light weights then 40-60 min on the dreadmill. I have started the core stuff again since the "sports hernia" has been non existent for quite some time now. It started up last summer an plagued me for almost a year but eliminating leg and ab workouts seem to have allowed it to heal.

I plan on hitting 100 again this week and ended up with finishing off with about 30 miles on Sunday. I have ran every day since June 30th, not on purpose but I just haven't had a reason to not run other than being a little tired now and then Friday night is the Psycho Night 10(really 11)k. Not sure if I am running or not. Tiff is going to run in it and is also doing the Race for a Cure 5k on Sunday with a friend. She and Kristi Mayo went out to Wyco last week and ran the 10k night course so she is aware what she is getting into.

The boys have been sweating their butts off at football practice. I am really proud of them for working so hard. We have started taking ice water and towels to cool them off during their break times. So far coaching has went well, we start in Full pads Tuesday so that will be a real joy in this heat.

Carey Smith is headed to Mt. Whitney this week to summit and I am sure he will have a blast. I am looking forward to seeing his pics and hearing the details when he gets back.
Suffer Well.

This is Ella's favorite song, every time it is on her face lights up and she loves to sing along. It makes me smile every time I hear it now.

A lot of trail nerds were off running in races this weekend. Bad Ben was doing Olga's PCT 50/50 and Gary and Greg were up in Minnesota for the Voyager 50 mile. Everyone finished their respective races and I am looking forward to reading some race reports.

There were some new records set at Badwater this year. Personally I am most impressed my David Goggins, that dude can run for someone that is built like a tank. It is good to see a bigger runner doing well. He placed 3rd overall, mighty impressive.

Everything kicks into high gear this week. Fall baseball and both Pop Warner teams start practice, so betweeen the 2 boys we have 7 football practices and 2 baseball practices this week.

Corbin's Bday is Sunday, he is turing six. He got his first loose tooth a few days ago and was really excited about that. He finally gave in and let me cut his hair this weekend, now I have to work on his long haired brother.

I got in another 105 mile week this week, pretty uneventful really. Tiff and I went to Smithville on the trails Saturday, she is probably going to do the Psycho night 10k next week. Sunday Rick and I went to Wyco for the group run. We did a 5 mile hill out and back before the group run. Kevin Guest is the only other one to show up for the group run though, luckily there were hundreds of horseflies out on the trail to keep us company. I am just concentrating on building miles right now, I have about 6 weeks of good running before cutting back before Arkansas Traveller. I still have not decided on whether to taper for the North Face 50 mile or the Tulsa 50k at all. I will just see how it goes, they are really just long training runs for Traveller after all.

Roll With IT

Sometimes you just gotta roll with it. I had every intention of cutting the mileage back a bit this week but it just didn't happen.

Monday 12

Tuesday 11

Wednesday 11 , 4 intervals at lunch

Thursday 13

Friday 10, 5 tempo Lunch

Saturday 22 trail

Sunday 17 trail

Total for the week was 105 which is a new high for me, other than the weeks of a 100 mile race. Considering it followed the toughest 50k I have done, it went very well. We got a nice stretch of cool mornings over the weekend and it was really enjoyable out on the trails. Tiff and the neighbor went out to Smithville on the trails Sunday and really enjoyed it out there. I don't recall too many people that don't like the trails once they have tried them.

The boys have football camp this week every night at the High School so I will be watching that all week long. The real practices start next week, so basically there isn't going to be any free time until football and Fall Baseball are over the end of October.

Throw in a few 50k's a 50 miler and a 100 and it makes for a very busy next 3 months, Oh well, it is better than sitting at home being bored.

Badwater is this week, I wish I had the opportunity and finances to go crew for someone. Running on the sun is my favorite documentary on running. The heat training and extremes that you must put yourself through to complete that race are amazing. Everything about it is extreme and the amount of mental strength and determination required to complete it is pretty much inconceivable to most people. I find myself thinking about that race whenever I am struggling in the heat. There is something about it that is very, very intriguing to me. I better just leave it at that for now.

Have a good one and enjoy it!!!