Happy New Year......

It looks like 2008 will finish up at 836 miles pounded on the pavement. Hopefully that number moves back up in 2009 into quadruple digits...

Merry Christmas...

Projects....

The crown molding is stained and installed. The Venetian plaster is all but done on the entire ceiling......it took forever to do but it was worth it.



.....now I get to start on the flooring, the replacement of my 3 remaining hollow crap doors, and my stained glass for the windows on each side of the fireplace.....once the stained glass is done, it will replace the white mini blinds in the picture above. I actually have one panel already cut so the grinding of the glass will start today...

Kiawah Island Marathon weekend

We headed out for Charleston this weekend for the Kiawah Island Marathon. We finished at 5:09:12, completing marathon #71 and state #34 (marathon geeks). The marathon was on the 6th which also happens to be Kim's birthday. The marathon was a double loop that ran through the Kiawah resort, including some incredible houses. The Charleston area was great....this is one we may need to come back some time to spend some more time. Some pix....

The view out of our hotel room. A slot for your boat can be yours for $119,000....
We always manage to find a local brewery everywhere we go.
Charleston from the water at sunset.
The Atlantic Ocean from Kiawah Island.

Kiawah Island

We are heading east to South Carolina for the Kiawah Island Marathon this weekend. It looks like we are getting out of town just in time to miss some crappy weather....it looks like a high of 57 degrees for race day on Saturday. If all goes well, this will be state number 34.

Happy Thanksgiving.....

Goobler Grind...Marathon #70

I finished the Gobbler Grind yesterday in 5:10:16, bringing my marathon total to 70. The ankle held up again. I felt it off and on and it is a little swollen again today, but it will get 2 weeks to heal up before South Carolina. It was a great day to run. The weather can be unpredictable for this one, so I signed up for it on Friday when I was relatively certain it would not be 33 degrees and sleeting......it was in the 30's for the start and in the 50's for the finish. I ran the first 1/2 at an easy pace and hit the 13.1 at 2:17 or so and then I settled into a run one song, walk one song for the back half to try to keep the pounding on my ankle down a bit. I hope my good weather luck continues for South Carolina and the Goofy Challenge.

Make the voices stop.....

I have voices telling me to sign up for the Gobbler Grind Marathon this weekend and they just won't stop. I checked the weather...hoping for sleet and freezing temps....nope, it is supposed to be a great day, so that excuse is gone. I went to Dr Reed yesterday and he worked his magic on my ankle and told me it looks fine, so that excuse is out the door...so I am going to run tonight and make sure it feels okay tomorrow and if that works, then I think I will enter. I just can not ignore them....only delay them....maybe they will change their mind(s) by tomorrow.....

San Antonio

We went to San Antonio this weekend for the RNR-San Antonio Marathon. I went into this wondering if my ankle would hold up over the long mileage.....and it did with a little help from some NSAID's......I think I took enough to keep the inflammation in check and I was able to get through it in far better shape than 2 weeks ago. I finished around 5:16, which I was happy with, considering I was prepared for a 7 hour limpathon. The marathon was okay, but the destination was very nice. San Antonio is well worth visiting....here are some pictures from the weekend....the riverwalk, the Alamo, Mission Concepcion, and Mission San Jose....

Unplanned spending spree....

We ran out to Rensen House of Lights last weekend to "look" at ceiling fans. We came home with a ceiling fan and a new piece of furniture....a new teak wine cabinet......it is home and the ceiling fan is installed...

I sure hope I am ready....

Rock-n-Roll San Antonio is this weekend and I am still nursing a bad ankle. I gave it a test on Saturday with a 3.1-mile treadmill run and it was a little sore after just that, so it is getting some more rest this week. I think I will go out to Lee's Summit and see Mr. Miyagi (Dr. Reed) and hopefully he can work some of his magic on the ankle.

Injured....

I had to drop out of the marathon at about mile 18.5 miles. My ankle is jacked...it started hurting at about 14 miles and got progressively worse. By the time 18.5 miles rolled around, I could no longer put any weight on it.....so I dropped out. I am waiting until Tuesday to see how it improves, but I am afraid it may be something that throws a wrench into my fall schedule.

Off to Springfield......

Sunday is the Bass Pro Shop Marathon. This should be fun. I have done no long runs for quite a while now, just a lot of 10-milers and under and faster paces....we shall see how it goes. The medal looks like a big improvement over last year though, so that should help me during the late miles....I have yet to earn a fish medal....I have a 2 pigs and a mouse, but no fish.

San Fran Weekend Pictures....

My last TNT event was last weekend. It was the Nike San Francisco Nike Women's Marathon. After arriving, we headed to the expo and ran into an old friend that had run with us last year, then moved to LA, and now preparing to run it again.....
Saturday, I went for a 10+ mile run from the hotel down along the beach and over the Golden Gate Bridge and back, much of it covered the actual marathon course.....





Race Day
Early Starters

The 7 am starters.....

On the course.....

35 people and everyone finished their race.....

The medals....

Pumpkin Run

We did the Pumpkin Run on Saturday morning. If you are in the KC area, this is one of those runs you have to experience. It was started 10 years ago to honor the memory of Jared Coones, who battled leukemia for many years. Unfortunately, Jared's mother, Jayne, died of breast cancer before last year's race. In 2007, a lightning storm and heavy rains forced the cancellation of the race.....so this Saturday morning arrived and the weather was perfect. We arrived early, met my TNT members who were participating and then headed for the starting line. They had a pink (for Jayne) and red (Jared) balloon release before the start and a few minutes later, we were off. I cruised the race and came in at about 26:30 according to my Garmin and then headed back up the road to cheer everyone in to the finish. There were over 1500 kids in this race (very few of which could run in a straight line!) and it was fun to watch them out there having a great time. Many of them went through training from each of their elementary schools just for this event and you could tell most of them were having a blast ( a few looked like they may have skipped the training portion of the program and were not as nice of a time, but once the finish line was in sight, that all changed).
We stayed for the awards presentation to watch some special awards given to some of our TNT people (congrats to Zach and Leesa) and then helped clean up. After helping with packet pick up the night before, the whole event flew by...it seemed like a flash. It was a huge success....just under 3000 runners. It is a wonderful event to honor two wonderful people.

Stair and hallway project is officially done......

I put in solid oak floors, stairs moldings, railings and pine doors and stained them with a Walnut stain. We replaced everything....lights, outlets, even the smoke detector. I installed the crown molding tonight and that was the last detail. We painted the walls and removed the nasty popcorn crap off the ceiling and painted it also.




The tile risers are my favorite detail......

Goofy Challenge

I am signing up for the Goofy Challenge through Marathon tours.

I entered the marathon, but had ruled out the Goofy Challenge because it was full......I had forgotten about the travel packages that have reserved spots so I am mailing out my app to them tomorrow and getting ready to start running back to back Saturdays and Sundays. I just figured I needed to get this done in January because in '10, we want to do the Bermuda Triangle Challenge!

Ouch....

We bailed after 15 miles or so in the Flatrocks 50K. It was one of the most beautiful trails I have ever seen......at least the parts I could see. You could not look up much because of the rocks and it was a small miracle that I only fell once. Now I just need to figure out what is wrong with my knees. The ligaments in the back outside of both knees feel really weird....hopefully just irritated a little and a couple of days rest is all they need.

Flatrock 50K tomorrow

We head south to Independence, Kansas tonight to pick up our packets for the 50K. It has been a while since I have done an ultra and this one is supposed to be tough. We have 10 hours so hopefully we do not need all of that. We had our Employee Day at work today so I will need to cover the 31 miles just to burn the calories I have consumed today.

Next new pet....Talisman

....yet another addition to my gargoyle collection. It should arrive next week.

Seed Ticks.......Bad

This is what my legs look like on Sunday from my Tuesday trail run. We ran on the horse trail at Shawnee Mission Park since the MTB trails were closed.

We ended up doing more than 6 miles, but picked up a few bugs along the way.....I didn't sleep for the next 3 nights because my legs were burning and itching.....I finally was able to sleep a bit on Friday night and now it looks bad but it no longer is causing me to consider amputation.

Trail Run Tonight

....looks like we may head out to Shawnee Mission Park for a much needed trail run. Considering that the Flat Rock 50K is only 11 days away, I guess I should start getting used to rocks and roots under my feet again. There is a 10 hour time limit and I may need every bit of it for what looks to be a long "hike."

Heart Of America Marathon

....this is one tough marathon, but for the 25.00 entry fee, you cannot expect a lot. It is hot, humid, and hilly and the water stops early on are way too far apart....but I knew this from running it several years ago, so we just dealt with it by going much slower and taking it easy. My shoes were filling up with sweat at the first mile marker, which I reached at 6:10 AM. I just signed up for Elite Racing's Rock-n-Roll San Antonio last night and it was 100.00. For this, Elite promises you a band every mile, in the HOA Marathon, you get at least one dead opossum, each at various stages of decay, every mile. Your entry fee also gets you some of the best trained horse flies anywhere. I think I had one for a running buddy for 8 miles. The temps reached the low 90's by the time we finished. This is one of the most challenging marathons I have ever done.

Crap.....

I have not done an ultra in 3 years or so.....but I signed up for a trail ultra in Independence, Kansas on 9/27...The Flatrock 50K.

http://flatrock50.org/index.php

It has a 10 hour time limit. I think I will need every bit of it. It will be a lot of fun and from some of the pictures, the course looks pretty tough but it will be worth it....I think. I hate peer pressure.

My new baby.....

My Sport Trac.....much more practical for me. I already have the appropriate stickers in the back window.

Psyco Night 10K Trail Run

Kim and I ran a 10K trail race Friday night. It started after 8 pm, so it was starting to get dark at the start. Trail running is a lot of fun....kind of changes things up a bit and is much tougher.....night trail running just increases both of those differences. The headlamp lights up the trail, but depth perception and shadows make it tough. We went into this assuming it would be dry....not a good assumption. I lost both of my shoes in calf deep mud......nothing like walking in deep mud in your socks looking for your shoes....I knew it would be hilly, but wow...I have run Shawnee Mission Park's MTB trails, but those aren't even close. There were many areas where I could only power walk because of the loose rocks and ruts.
I came cruising in at about 1 hour and 17 minutes.

Kim finishing a few minutes later....
Trail nerd Cheri and Race Director and fellow trail nerd, Ben....
Kim finally was able to meet trail nerd and fellow blogger Coleen, aka Cynical Mud Babe.
....and most importantly, RD Ben's home-brewed recovery drink....very good.