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.

They Will Let Anyone In a Race Oh Shit!

Oh Crap now what does this say about me. Here I thought I might be part of an elite group. You know the best of the best, and now look Rod Blagojevich is running Marathon's. Well just shake it off and be happy the blond with the speedo AND Blagojevich will never show up at the same race that I am.

Well now we are on the subject I'm about to kick off the season with my first Ultra. Next Saturday, I'm heading down to run in 2009 Phyco Wyco Ultra Marathon. It's a 50K with over 12,000 ft of climb. It's muddy! It's cold! And the RD Bad Ben always says he doesn't allow any Whiners so I better shut up. It's going to be fun.

Camp Corns Weekend

The first weekend in October Aneta and I made a road trip down to Indian Cave State Park in South East Nebraska. I always heard they had a great trail system and the rumors where right. We covered 8 miles of trail and didn't see half the trails. I was really impressed with the elevation gains and variety of scenery.

The following week I made last minutes plans to throw the tent and sleeping bag in the car and went back for two-day trail run.





Let's just call it CampCorns. So there was no entry fee to sign up for CampCorns, and as you can see there where no shirts given out. The attendance this year (at CampCorns) was 100%, but then again I was the only one invited.




The first day.... Saturday, I rolled into Indian Cave and set up camp. That took longer than I hoped so my first day of running was short. Maybe a ten mile run followed up by camp fire meal and a cooler full of beer. The weather was perfect. A cool evening, no bugs and no phones.



Day two was great. I got up early and had a quick backpackers breakfast. I filled up the camelback with H2O and hit the trails for a nice fifteen mile run. Indian Cave had a horse race that morning so I shared the trail with hand full of horseback riders. They were bigger so they had the right of way, plus they were faster, but then again if you've seen me run, that ain't saying much. The trails had some amazing hills with incredible views of the Missouri River, some deep valleys and you could run for 25+ miles without seeing the same trail twice.



After the run I went back to camp. Fried up some eggs and sausage and held the awards ceremony. CampCorns trailrunning series fell on hard times this year with the poor economy so there where no buckles awarded. Maybe next year.













Below.....I added a link to a short film of David Goggins, the US Seal Team member/Ultra runner. Most of the footage was shot at the 2008 McNaughton Park 100/150 mile ultra. I was running the 100 mile distance and the only time I got to see David he pasted me when I was on mile 25. He passed me like I wasn't moving and he already completed 125 miles. It's a great video. When you click on the link there are several video's. Use the tool bar to scroll over to "The Long Run". Enjoy!


http://lstudio.lexus.com/