Not-McNaughtAgain

Recently this last April I ran my 2ND attempt of the McNaughton Park 100 mile trail Ultra Marathon. Now the beauty of waiting several months to write about it is, I can't remember most details and can't be held responsible for any inaccurate information.

I'd like to say I won it, but I do remember that. In fact If I was to skip forward to the end, I'd have to say it was another tough race and I ended up dropping at 70 miles.

Let me tell you the theme of the day was mud. There was a large storm that hit the course the day prior and it really messed up the trail. The stream crossings where deeper that normal. And it added several water crossings so instead of crossing two streams per loop, there were 4-5 extra, so it's safe to say my feet were wet during the entire run.
The shoe sucking mud made the day difficult. In all lower canon areas of the course, which was about 30% of the course. The water from the rain was trap. Illinois soil is thick clay like dirt that holds the water and as runners trample down the trail, it make a NICE THICK SOUPY MUDDY MESS.

It's ankle deep at times and adds about a pound to your shoes. OK I'm done crying about the mud.

Did I mention it was muddy?

Yep! more mud!

The race started at 6am. I ran well through the day. Again the course is 10 total 10 mile loops. When night came, it was a new experience for me. It was dark, but this year I brought better headlamp and flashlights. During the day you are surrounded by hundreds of people, but at night I only seen a few people.

The temperature dipped down to lower 30's that night.

These were the main two stream crossings. Nice and refreshing during the day and cold as ice at night.

This is golf hill. It's tough to see in this photo but it's steep enough you have to use a rope to get to the top.

You pass this old civil war cemetery right before you get to the next aid station.

This is Heavens Gate aid station. I love these guys. They had to stand in ankle deep mud for 30 hours.

The finish line. Runners line the entry to the finish line with tents. I don't know what to think about this. For the first 50 miles of the race it was great. You run down this lane of tents and you had your own cheering section. The family members of runners camped out to cheer on their runner and they always give you a courtesy clap and "you're look'in good. But as the day turns to night many of the tents are occupied by runners taking a break or finished for the day. I caught myself looking at these poor bastards thinking, Man they look like crap! Do I look that bad. Maybe worse.

This is the only photo that was taken of me after the race. It was a fun day but the McNaughton mud and rain got the best of me again. I'll be back. You can count on it.

Five Days of Taper

Five days and I'll be packing the car and heading toward Pekin, IL for the McNaughton Park 100 mile Ultra. I finished off the week with a fun 12K trail run at Platte River State Park. This race was organized by Teamnebraska and as always we had a good time. 1:33 time with 4500 elevation gain.

A Purgatory of Mileage

I read that Kansas is a Purgatory of Mileage and after running the Flint Hills 50 mile ultra marathon March 14th 2009, at times I thought maybe I was in Purgatory. I'm not sure if the official name of the run was the Flint Hills 50, but thats what I named it. The KUS club or "Kansas Ultrarunning Society held a 50 mile members only fun run March 14th 2009. It was fun. The KUS group drove us out into the middle of the flint hills in central Kansas to drop us off at the starting line of the Heartland 100 Ultra course then told us to run back to Cassoday Kansas. This was like running on the surface of the moon. 11 hours of rolling hills and never changing landscape. One of the most beautiful places in the midwest. But let me tell you. There was seldom a tree and never a house or traffic. Just looong loonnnng roaaads. The KUS group charged $5.00. They dropped us off. The followed us for 11 hours. They gave us food and drink. And they are the greatest people on earth for doing that. What a good time.

We ended the day by running 50 miles. Our time was 11:27.

Race $5.00

gels $15.00

hotel $29.00

Gas $20.00

loosing two toe nails $0.00

Running the heartland 100 course $priceless

Phyco Wyco 2009

February 14th Valentines Day was my third running of Kansas Cities Phyco Wyco. Who would of ever thought Bad Ben would have arranged good weather and decent trail conditions. We were not prepared for that. He always has something up his sleeve. Last winter is was ankle deep, shoe sucking mud. Last July was crazy heat. Don't get me wrong, the mud showed up, but not until the end of the day. Over-all I was happy with an 8hour 9 minute finish. I was still at the back of the pack, but this was a personal PR for me. AND we had a blast.

Always a half dozen stream crossing adds to the fun. At the end of the day the trail leading out of the stream was mucky ol' mud.

Bob was kind enough to slow his day down to help me stay motivated. I think he would of had a healthy PR had he chose to run his own race. He was looking strong.

Rob and KT ran the Dawgs.

KT ran the 10mile option. Rob ran the 20miler with OLY. His last 10 mile lap was impressive running it in a hour twenty-ish.

Oly the super stud with his first finisher metal.

What's next.......in two weeks I'm running a 50 miler on the Heartland 100 course on March 14th. Then two weeks after that (Easter weekend). I'm taking my second stab at the McNaughton Park 100miler.

Another Word for Winter is (NEVERENDING)

Just when we got used to temperatures in the sixties, mother nature slaps us with another winter storm. This is not quite what I had in mind for weather this week. I just signed up for a fifty miler in two weeks and really need some trail time.

I was lucky enough to have some help scooping snow today. While the Blink clan is basking in the Florida sun with the Bigun family, I get to take care of his meathead dawg and scoop snow. It just doesn't seem right. Have fun and we'll see you in a few.