Vacation here we come

Oh, it's been a long wait, but it's finally here, time for a few days away from work and lot's of fun.
We are headed to the North Shore on Lake Superior in Minnesota. I can't wait looking forward to getting some running and hiking in with the family on the SHT (superior hiking trail). They have a 100 there on the SHT and might half to give it a try sometime. We are also going to do a little canoing in the Boundary Waters so a wilderness vacation it will be. Except for a stop at the Mall of America on the way, not my cup of tea but the wife will enjoy it. I ran my ass off this week knowing I probably wont get in as much running as normal but some time off to heal up just might do me some good and we'll still be doing a lot of hiking and sightseeing so that will help. I still plan to get out early a couple times for some time on the trails. See you all in 10 days and will have a vacation report when we get back.

Weekly notes 6-7-09

Monday I hit the Governs mansion after work for a nice and easy 9 miles. Tuesday I took a off. Wednesday was another run at the Gov's I hit it for 3.5 miles then looped back around for 6 more with a few of the Topeka trailgators. Thursday I hit the Gov's after work for 4 miles solo then 3 more with Kevin from work. Friday I hit the Gov's again after work for another 5.5 miles. Saturday morning I meet Hunter Munns and John Knowles for a trip to Banner creek near Holton for a couple 14 mile loops around the lake and a total of 28. It was a great day for running and was great to get out with them for a run. Sunday I was going to rest again, and it was hard, I kept telling myself to go run so I had to stay busy to keep myself from going out. It was like I was cheating on my girlfriend or something. I had decided to cut back a bit for the next couple weeks and let the body heal from months and months of hard training. Since we are leaving on vacation Thursday night for 11 days I thought this would be a good time for a break.
I'm sure I'll half to get in a few runs over vacation so we'll see how good a break I get.
Weekly totals:
59 miles
930 push ups

Weekly notes 5-31-09

It was another good week with lots of running and an extra day off work. Monday was Memorial Day so I had the day off and spent the day with the family hanging out on the patio. We put a couple slabs of baby backs on the smoker and man were they good. I took Monday off from running to recover from the previous weekends runs. Tuesday was back to work, hit the Governor's Mansion trails after work for 10 miles 7 miles solo and 3 with a co-worker who I have recently got to start trail running. Wednesday it was kind of rainy so I hit the elliptical for an hour on cardio level 12 for 4.25 miles. Thursday was another run at the Gov's for 10 miles in 1:30. Friday I hit the Gov's again after work for another 10+ in 1:45 with 3 hill repeats. Saturday morning I took off from home and headed to turkey point at Melvern lake where I was going to meet the wife and kid for a day on the lake. It was a good gravel road run for just shy of 20 miles in 2:45 min. Sunday morning I met some of the Lawrence Trail Hawks for a 20 mile trail run on the North Shore Trails. Runner role call was Nick, Jim, Gary, Levi, Laurie and myself. We had a great time as always running and chatting as we ran, it's always nice to run in a group after running solo most the time. Other notes: I'm starting to get siked for my next 100 miler, there is something about trying to run 100 that really intrigues me. I love the feeling you get from pushing your body and mind to extremes. I know Heartland 100 is still 18 weeks away but I am really looking forward to another 100. My sister is coming home from Florida to pace me the last 20-30 or so at Heartland so that makes it even more exciting. I think I have decided to try and run the Ozark 100 also, exactly 1 month after Heartland so that will be a huge challenge to try and complete 2 100's in a month. But I love challenges and the intence training it will take to pull it off.
Weekly totals:
74 miles
700 push ups
60 Lunges and Squats

Weekly notes 5-24-09

Let's see I had a busy run and work week. Had a job to get out so it was early days, up and at work by 4:30 a.m. all week for a total of 54 hours, as almost every week anymore. I guess it's better than the alternative but man would I like to get caught up once. Monday, was a Monday from hell and was glad the day finally ended and I headed to the Governor's mansion for a few miles after work. Ran 5 miles solo and meet a couple co-workers who are new to trails for 3 more. Tuesday I took the day off with no running. Wednesday I hit the Gov's again for 10.25 miles after work. Got to run at the Gov's again on Thursday for 7.75 and again on Friday for 9.25 in 1:30. Saturday I hit the gravel roads for 14 miles and then ran 3.5 with my Mom and wife. Today I went to Melvern and hit the 10 mile horse trail for an interesting 10 miles the lake was up so there was water over the trail in 5 spots and had to do some bushwhacking and wading to get the loop in. I was going to do it twice but after the firsts lap experience I decided to run the (dare I say it pavement) around the state park and see all the crazy campers. I ran every road in the park for another 10 and man was the park full. When I go camping I kinda like to get away from people so it didn't really look like that much fun to me. I did get a lot of looks running thru the park with my pack on and mud up to my knees from the loop on the trails.

Weeks totals:

70.75 miles

830 push ups

60 lunges and squats

Berryman trail marathon race report

Let me start by going backwards a bit. This year I have went into a few races thinking I would do well and bombed or not run up to my expectation. I thought maybe, just maybe, I had lost a little speed since over the winter, I was training for my first 100. While I had been running lots of miles, I wasn't really running hard, just running long. I had a couple times in training and in races where I was, or felt like was running so bad that it just wasn't fun anymore. So for the last couple races I went in to just run, and not worry about my time or how I was running. Finally running became fun again and I was now motivated to keep going. Then on Wednesday night I seen on the trailnerds email list that Pat Perry had a few unused entry's for Berryman. I had wanted to run Berryman but had waited to long to get my entry in and it was full. When I got the entry I had not tapered or prepared at all. The RD would not let him transfer the entry so I had to run under the alias of Bob Hudges, not a big deal I wasn't going to win anything, I just wanted to run. The race started with a short out and back on a gravel road before hitting the trail. I started out at a good pace to get in front of most of the other marathoners. The first few miles flew by and I was still running at a good clip. Mile after mile went by and running was still coming easy and my pace was still good. I was telling myself there was no way I could keep that pace up for 26 miles. As I ran down the soaked trail and hurdled downed trees, and slopped through the mud in spots, nothing seemed to slow me down. It was a good feeling to be running so well for a change. As the miles clicked off and my pace held steady I just decided to see what I could do. I had my sights on a sub 3:45 marathon, I kept flying down the hills and keeping a steady pace going up. When I arrived at the last aid station with 2.3 to go. I still thought I could break 3:45, I ran my ass off but, every time I would get going good there would be another log jamb to break my stride. When I realized 3:45 wasn't going to happen I slowed a bit till I got to where the finish was in sight and sprinted across the line to finish in 3:48. My best run this year and it felt good to run good again. I stood around basking in my second place finish in the marathon and still in a little disbelief that I had run so good. Then I realized other runners were coming in and going back out for another loop, man was it hard to watch them go back out every ounce of my body wanted to jump back in there for another lap. I waited for Lee Crane to come through and head back out before we headed back home. When Lee came through I was so jealous he was going back out again, I had to sit on my hands to keep from going back out. If I hadn't of changed my clothes I might of just took off. Next year it's the 50 for me, but was just happy to get to run 26 this time. I won't procrastinate next year in getting my entry in.

Weekly notes 5-22-09

Here is my weeks notes: Monday was a easy day for me just hit the elliptical for 4.75 miles on Cardio Level 10. Tuesday I had jury duty in the morning so got up early and hit the road for an easy 7 miles in 1 hr. I was not picked for the jury, so I got released at 11:30 and decided to just skip the rest of the day at work. I then finished putting the metal on Darcie's horse shelter, after taking her to lunch. I got bored in the late afternoon so hit the elliptical for 3 miles on Cardio Level 12. Wednesday I hit the Governor's mansion trails after work for 7.5 miles in 1:06.
Wednesday night I secured an entry into the Berryman trail marathon so was excited about that. Thursday night I was going to take a couple co-workers on there first trail run. So I took of a 4:00 and hit the trails for 3 miles then meet back up with them for another 3 miles at the Governor's mansion. I was both there first trail run and they enjoyed the run and are planning on running with me again this week. Friday we took of towards Cuba for Berryman on Saturday morning. I ran Berryman on Saturday morning and finished the trail marathon in 3:48. (Check back for my Berryman race report coming soon.) Sunday I ran an easy 6 miles in the morning with my mom who is training for the 10 miler at Rock Creek #3. Then in the afternoon I went to
Melvern to check out the new riverfront trails and ran every trail in the park for 4.25 miles.
Weeks totals:
64 miles
900 Push Ups
90 Lunges and Squats

Rock Creek and weekly totals

For only running once last week I ended the week on a good note. On Saturday I ran the Rock Creek trail 1/2 marathon. I decided since I had only ran once that week that I would go out and see how hard I could run the 1/2 marathon. I started out following the lead pack of the eventual winner, who's name eludes me right now, Rick Mayo, Greg Burger, I kept them in my sights for the first couple miles then fell back a little and was all alone. I ran really hard the first 8 miles or so and was felling really chipper. As the miles added up and with no one in my sights in front or behind I found myself running slower, I was still hauling ass down the hills but was taking it easy going up them. It's hard to keep pushing when there is no one around you, I was hoping someone would come up from behind and push me harder. But all in all it was a good run and I finished the 1/2 marathon in 1:45. Willie Lambert and the crew really put on an awesome event as usual. The Rock Creek series and the 50K last October was my first ultra and was what got me started running ultras. On Sunday I got up early and headed out for a country road
easy 16 mile loop from the house in 2:12. For the week I did manage 39.5 miles, 925 push-ups, and 170 lunges and squats.