Early

I ran with Nick and Nicole down on the lakes at 6am. Man it felt much earlyer than that to me !!! I felt ok.

Totals: 43:16 6 miles ( NB 826 )

P.S. Happy Birthday Emily !!! Or as Evan says Emmmy

Up Tempo

Sonya and I got out today for a run in the late afternoon. We where talking about how it was nice to be running in the daylight. I have just been feeling to burned out on the last stages of our winter and running in the dark seems so cold as of late. As we started out I figured we would just do a good run when Sonya sprung on me that she was hoping to get in her 25 min tempo run today as well. I figured why not. It seems I do not ever do workouts unless I am with her ? I need to get better on that. We got in a great tempo down around the lakes. The paths where pretty open and free of ice. I think we both felt good about the run. We got in a great cool down after. In fact with how wet I became during the tempo run I was getting extra cold very fast !!!

Totals: 1:31:05 15 miles ( Nike Haywards )

Me and my Honey

Sonya and I got out tonight for a good run from my parents house. It was feeling a bit cold with the wind but we ran a good loop where we got some good wind protection. Sonya seems to be hanging in there pretty good but has some tuf times as well. I keep telling her that is the way it goes and that together we can do it !!! I am starting to think the upcoming Mad City 100k will be a good thing for her in more than one way. I am leaning towards myself doing it as well ?? I need to get stronger if that is the case.

Totals: 1:15:11 10+ miles ( Nike Elites )

Start of the week

Not much to report other than trying to get back into the swing of it all. I feel not very motivated at all but feel come mid week I will be good. I took the day off with the Funeral and all going on. I also know for a fact that I ate way to much and had my fair share of Rolling Rocks with Sonya and her cousins.

Totals: 0

Been Away

So I have not put a post up in a week. Well I have a good reason, my wife Sonya lost her mom last Friday. Needless to say it has been a crazy few days at the Decker house. Neither of us have ever had to plan a funeral so that was tuff even without having the fact that my wife lost her mom to deal with. As the trooper she is she is staying tuff and using her running to help pull her through it all.

So with that being said let me catch you up on what I did running wise, not that that seems so important to me as of now.

Thursday Feb 21st- I ran at the Dome once more. This time my daughter Summer came and hung around with me. I felt ok over all but not super.

Totals: 1:05:12 9+ miles ( Nike Skylon )

Friday Feb 22nd- I had a slower morning run down buy the lakes. It was ok all in all. Then after the whole mess I went with my Sonya to keep her company. We had a good run together. I always like running with her but know that now is a very important time to give her extra support.

Totals: 50:00 7 miles ( NB 826 )
Totals: 1:05:12 8 miles ( NB 826 )

Saturday Feb 23rd- We ran with our friend Nicole and also part of the way with Karl and Joelle. It was a nice day and I great run with them all. Sonya and I have such great friends. Sonya was looking for 3 hours in all. I was able to make it 2 1/2 hours with them then I let the ladies close it out

Totals: 2:30:02 19 miles ( Nike Hayward )

Sunday Feb 24th- This was a no run day for me. With all the driving around and picking many people up at the airport and such I was just wiped out.

Totals: 0

Weekly totals: 61 miles ( 5 days of running )

A good read

So today there was to be no run. I am a little bumbed about this. Somedays it just does not work out. On a side note here is a link to a ESPN story on ultramarathon running that I found pretty good. Look into it.

A Dome running I go

Tonight was a Dome night. Man it was just too darn cold out there and knowing I had the option of the Dome was like a bee to honey. It also worked out great because I had the chance to run with some people. I saw the regulars like Mark S, Steve Q and such plus I got to run some with my buddy Chris Fuller. Chris is in charge of the Sporting Life which puts on lots of great races such as the upcoming St Patty Human Race 8k. Check out his races on his nice web site www.tslevents.com. I also got to run with Jenna and Tappe as well as Adam the owner of TC Running Company. Adam is a good guy and I never have run with him. I just took a job at his store so I am excited to be joining the crew over there.

The run was a pretty good. I felt good overall. I was pretty tired at the end. After a good warm up I ran some 600's while Adam and Tappe did 1200's. I was not as crisp as I hoped but I am sure part of it was from the fact that I am trying to build my miles up. When looking at my last week on a rolling schedule of last 7 days I have run 87 miles. I guess then it makes sense. In all it was a nice night of running and I look forward to continuing my good streak of days running. Plus when I got home I saw I got a box from my little brother Kraig with a pair of Inov-8 roclite 305 shoes to try out. Maybe this weekend I can try them out ? We will see and I will let you know what I think.

Totals: 1:07:04 9+ miles ( Nike Skylon )

This is getting Old !!!

So I am a big winter running lover but this years winter weather is getting old, or should I say cold !!! To me the year started off with such promise. We had some snow early and it was the stuff you can run in. Temp's stayed in the 20-30's all the time. Then we somehow hit this shitty streak of lot's of days of sub zero windchill and such. I hate that stuff. I am very much looking foward to this being over. Plus I am missing some of my favorite trails and would love to run on them very soon.

I got up early to run with Nick today. He did not have to work today but still needed to be done and home by 8am so his wife Cindy could go to the club for her workout. That being said we did are normal run from our houses and meet at the Lake Harriet band shell and go from there. As I started out the run I was not a happy camper. I was running into this cold head wind. Much to my dislike when I got to the lake the wind was even worse. Today was one of those days where if I was not running with Nick I would have most likely said I give and looped back home. When Nick and I hooked up I said we are running in the neighborhoods to get out of the wind. Much to my happiness once I had some company and was out of the wind I was having fun running. We did a small section of running on the frozen Minnehaha creek which was fun. After a few miles we had to break off and run our ways back home. Even though my run with Nick was short it is what I needed to get into a better mood.

After I was home today and stretching on the floor I had this good feeling of making ground on my training and such. This was a great feeling and I hope to keep this up. I think tomorrow is going to be a running at the Dome day and maybe toss some speed work into the mix ? Either way I just want to keep moving forward.

Totals: 1:05:32 8+ ( NB 826's not 823 like I have been puting down )

Sunday Fun

I had a GREAT run this morning with Sonya and Paul out on the Minnetonka trail. We started at the Lunds off of Hwy 7 and ran down past Excelcier and back. The soft dirt with a great layer of snow on top felt real good on the body. The temp's where good as well which was nice. The only time you could feel and wind was a few points along Lake Minnetonka but it was no big deal. Sonya and I love running with Paul and today was very funny at times. Lets just say Paul had a few to many drinks the night before. You could see it in his eyes, big bags !!! But as a super trooper he hung in there all the way. Sonya also hung in there pretty good since she is comming off 2 weeks of 90+ miles. As for my self I was feeling very good. I am very proud of my week all in all. I had 69 miles on just 5 days of running. I hope to have a 70+ week this comming week.

Totals: 2:30:08 19 miles ( Nike Hayward )
Totals for week: 69 miles ( 5 days )

USA Cross Country Championships

The USA cross country championships was today out in San Diego,CA. There where a few people from Team USA MN running. There are some video's from the finish line posted on-line. Tomarrow they are showing it on t.v. Sunday at 4pm on ESPN

Mens finish
Womens finish
Womens finish next pack

Out & Back with Steve

Today I was luck to be able to run with my buddy Steve. We met out at our old high school, Armstrong !!! We had not run together for a long time since Steve has been hurt for many months. It was great to run with him once more. We did a nice out and back loop from the school along Medicine Lake. I really like running around there. Something about being by that lake is like gold for me. I felt very good during the run and the time was just flying by super fast. We talked about a bunch of things. One of the things we talked about was the new web site Runnerville. I really like going on there and reading up and listening to the weekly pod casts. Steve had never seen it but I think he was going to check it out soon. When we got back to the school we had in like 8 miles so I dropped him off and added on 2 more miles so I could get a even 10 for the day. Great day !!!

Totals: 1:10:25 10 miles ( NB 823 )

Down Day

Today I found myself and legs just plain feeling tired. I decided to take the day off and rest. I am very happy with my last 3 days and am looking for a great weekend.

I came across this video interview with ultra running star Karl Meltzer. Check it out I found it pretty good. It is with the people of 1st Endurance one of his sponsors. I also have used the products from 1st Endurance and found them great.

Happy Valentines Day

The day of LOVE. I was looking forward to today since I knew Sonya would have the day off so we could spend some extra time together. After getting the girls off to school we where able to hang for awhile then Sonya was off to get in a speed workout. I was going to go run after she got back. My plan was to meet up with Patrick and run awhile with him as he was making his way home from work. Well let's say this did not work as I hoped. Somewhere along the way I missed him ? Well anyhow I still ended up with a good run. I kept the pace up a bit as I made my way along the paths down by the lakes. I ended up with a super solid day. It was very happy with the fact that this was 3 super runs in a row. That gives me much confidence as I continue to get ready to test myself at the races soon !!!
Later in the night Sonya and I say the movie "ONCE". I would recommend it very much. It had a pretty nice story and some great music as well. To me it shows the power of how music can heel people and help them move on. Check it out.

Totals: 1:40:10 14 miles ( Nike Haywards )

The Day After

After my big day yesterday I was wondering how my body was going to respond on the run. Sonya met me at the store after I got off of work so we could go for a run together. She had done a workout the day before so she was thinking she would be feeling a bit slower as well. My to our surprise we both felt pretty good as the run got going. We made our way down to the lakes knowing the the paths would be in good shape. There where a number of runners outside which was cool. It is funny on days like this to think about how in a few months it will be crazy packed with people at times on these same paths. We made out way around both Lake Harriet and Calhoun and a short add on as we made our way back to the store. I was very happy with how I was feeling. I decided to bust out my New Balance 823 shoes. I for some reason had forgot about them the last few months. They felt good !!

Totals: 1:09:12 9 miles ( NB 823 )

Swoosh !!!

After taking Monday off for no darn good reason I looked at today as a day to go big. Not because I thought I needed to play catch up or anything. But because I had the time and it would be good for me. Sonya had the kids at Kyra's soccer practice so I was making the most of the night. My friend Nick was able to run but not till 6:30pm and I was off work at 4pm so My idea was to head out the door at like 5:30pm and run a hour before getting Nick at his house. So I got all dressed up and put on my ipod for some good running tunes and went out the door. At first I was feeling a bit under dressed but I knew I would warm up some as I went. It was a pretty nice night to run. It felt cooler now that the sun was going down but I was happy to be out there. I felt very good as I made my way up the parkway. Overall I have been feeling real good for a few weeks now and that has been exciting. I am so looking forward to being able to hit the trails soon !! Once I got in a hour and picked up Nick it was nice to have someone to talk to. We did our loop from his house which brings us up by Cedar Lake and then loops us back to Lake Calhoun. Nick had a pretty big bonk session about 20 min's into the run but luckily I had a gel with me so I gave it to him and after 5 min's or so we where back at it. The air was crisp and downtown skyline looked great as we rounded the south side of Lake Calhoun. We split after awhile and Nick went back his way and I continued along. I did not turn my ipod back on and instead listen the the crunch of my feet along the path. I was feeling fast. As I got close to home I was proud of myself. It had been along time since I ran a 2 hour run during the week. Now if I can just keep rolling and get in a solid week.

Later in the night I watched a great show on CNBC on Nike called "Swoosh". I know it is showing a few more times this month so I would check it out. I think even Kyra found it pretty cool.

Totals: 2:00:05 17 miles ( Nike Haywards )

One cold bonk

Sonya and I ran later in the day today with hope of getting a bit warmer temps outside. My Mom took care of Evan for us so we ran from their house. When we started it was still like -6 with like a -25 windchill outside. We started out into the wind and man was it cold !!! As we where like 2 miles into the run I could feel my body bonking big time. I had no gel or anything so we decided to turn back to my parents so I could slam some food. With the wind at our back it was much warmer that was for sure. Once we got back I ate a pudding cup in two spoon swipes and took a hard candy to suck on for the rest of the run. I felt so much better in like 2 min's. At that point we had like 6 miles or more in so we added on a little 4+ mile loop so we would get around 10 miles for the day. With the cold we where moving slower so I do not know if I could have run much farther cause I was pretty cool when we got home. It was a good run anyway. My week was a little less total miles than I hoped but still not to bad. If I can keep it up at 55-65 per week now it will make the jump up to 75-85 in a few weeks better. It is always great to run with my wife Sonya !!!

We did a post run session at Old Country Buffet. We both ate way to much. Sonya does not normally like this place but she new I wanted to go so she was a trooper. Thanks honey.

Totals: 1:30:11 11 miles ( Nike Haywards )
Weekly Totals: 54 ( 6 days )

That's Tuff

So today was a day of old Runners' Edge teammates getting together for a day of fun. We started off the day by meeting for a run down at the lakes. It was a great morning to run with the light snow falling and the temps feeling pretty good. I ran from home so I could run part of the run with them before I had to go to work. It was so good to run with those guys. It had been a few months if not more since I had run with them all. I brought back good memories. Even though some of us are still running on a team together we do not run much outside of races together. You know what can happen when everyone starts having family's and all. It was great !!! It makes me feel like I need to do a better job of getting us together more often. I will admit I have been bad about stay up on things but now know what I am missing in not seeing my friends as much. I felt very good running with them all and only wished I could run farther with them when I had to turn off and head back.
Later that night we all meet up with a few others who did not make the run for a night of food, drinks and pool !!! One of my favorite saying of the night was from Pete Gilman when talking about the beers we where drinking. He would take a drink and look at us and say " That's Tuff ". He said he liked it but felt he needed to go back to something more like his Miller Lite. What a wussy, how did that guy run in the mens marathon Olympic trials last November ? Just kidding Pete. But my favorite moment of the night was when Jason drank the last of Mark Evans beer and Sean Mulheron and I replaced it back with Malt Vinegar. The look on his face when he got a mouth full was to die for. I have not laughed like that for a long time !! Thanks to everyone for a great night !!!

Totals: 1:30:15 12+ miles ( Nike Haywards )

One more day, One more mile

My run today was nothing special, just another day of running. I did feel pretty good once more so that was good. I had a hour and a half to run before Sonya went off to work and it was going to be the Kurt and Evan show for the day. I thought I would do my Kurt and Nick hills loop for something new since it had been awhile since the last time I did this loop. I knew I would not be able to push super hard up the hills since it was somewhat slippery out but figured the effort of getting up them would be good for me.
As the run progressed I felt pretty good. The warm up was real good and the first few hills went by great. It was when I was half way into the hills when out of left field I needed to go #2 real bad !! I knew I was not to far from home and decided better to cut it short that run with tights that where not going to feel to good. I was a bit disappointed at first but new it was OK. I was hoping to run with a bunch of the guys from the team tomorrow which was most likely going to be faster than normal for me. Maybe cutting it short was pretty good after all. At least I did not fill my pants !!!


Totals: 50:42 7 miles ( Nike Haywards )

Fun to watch

Well no run for me today but this is a link to last years Houston half marathon american record by Ryan Hall. He is the future people !!!

Good, starting to feel normal ?

Got out tonight after work for a nice ans easy run down at the lakes. With the ice and all the lakes are a great place to run since they are kept in very good shape overall. I was feeling good once more today. It is strange to have this overwhelming good feeling day after day !!! I am not complaining, do not get me wrong. Nothing big to report other than that. Take care people !!

Totals: 50:45 7 miles ( Nike Elite )

Obama day Minnesota

Today was caucus day in Minnesota and I was excited. You could tell that many people felt good about the process by all the cars around the various voting places. They say it was a record day in our state for turn out which was cool. I was looking forward to putting in my vote for Obama so I needed to get the run over pretty quick to leave time for both Sonya and myself to get up and out to the voting area. The temps where real nice tonight. I was feeling like this was once more going to be a good run. I was loose and feeling easy. Once Nick and I got going I was feeling like I was floating across the land. Nick was not sure how far he was going to be wanting to run so I made sure I ran over to his house so I could get a few extra miles in that way. We did our standard 5 mile loop from his house. I saw I was getting short on time so I went back to the store a little early from where I was hoping to head back. I was bummed to cut it short but happy to feel so good once more tonight !! Have I said how much I love my Nike Haywards ? They are great. I would recommend them to people who like lighter type shoes. I believe TC Running Company have them in stock.

Totals: 50:18 7 miles ( Nike Haywards )

Feeling like old Kurt

So the day started with a little snow. I say thank god !!! It was just like 1 1/2 inches or so but it was enough to cover up some of that ice out there. Plus I just like running in a little light snow. I was not able to run till after Sonya got home from work which was not till like 8:30pm. Now that has been the kiss of death for me for awhile now. Which is funny since I used to love running at night. I decided I was going to give it a try and see what happens.

As I started out the door I had a good feeling about what I was getting into with this run. I felt loose and good. I decided to run through the neighborhoods and make my way down to the lakes area. After like 6 min's of running I could feel my pace picking up a bit. It just felt good to be cruising along. Once I hit the backside of Lake Calhoon I was in full out tempo run pace. It was so nice outside. It was like 30' degrees out which was perfect. The darkness felt good. As I ran on the snow covered path around the lake there was the lights of Uptown and Downtown in the distance. There was a few people doing some nighttime ice fishing and I had a some great tunes coming out of my ipod just adding to the feel of the run. It was a special moment. I kept up my solid pace till I got to where I turn up 47th street. I took it easy back home very happy with what just happen. It was like going back in the past and having a " old " Kurt run. What a great run !!!

Totals: 1:05:40 10 miles ( Nike Haywards )

Good Company

Sunday brought me a morning where I knew I was at the very least going to have great company for the run. Sonya and I where able to get my Mom to watch the kids so we could meet our good friend Paul for a run. After last weekends great run from the Luce Line trail head we thought we would go back there. Well that was not a good idea for the most part because it was super icy on the Luce Line path all the way down to Medicine Lake. Once we had gotten to the lake we could at least run on the road and not worry to much since it is a low traffic road that goes around the lake. Weather wise it was pretty good. A little more cold than we thought it was going to be but not to bad. I know the ice was really bothering Sonya allot. I was dealing better with it. I felt real good the whole run other than the ice.

It was good to catch up with what was going on in Paul's life. It was great to hear from him that we have gotten a house in Leadville for race week to stay in that is only 1/2 mile away from the start/ finish line !!! That will make the early 4 am start good since we can get up and walk to the line.

That after noon we had Summers family birthday party at the bowling alley. We had a great time !!! It is a fun family thing to do. These are a few pictures from it.

Totals: 2:31:09 18 miles ( Nike Haywards )
Totals for the week: 57

A New Day

It is crazy what 48 hours can do for a guy. Since I did not need to get up super early today I went for my run after Sonya got back. It was nice to sleep a little longer than normal. Evan made sure it was not to much longer but I will take every little 10 min's extra I can get these days. I knew Nick was going only 3 miles since he was resting before the big City of Lakes Loppet ski race on Sunday so I ran over to his house, then with him, then back home. It made for a great 10 mile run !!! The weather was pretty good and I did feel good. It was a little icy in area's but not to bad over all. I was nice to feel good for once in the last few days.

After the run it was back to fun stuff for my daughter Summers 10th birthday !!! I can not believe 10 years have come and gone. Thanks Summer for being daddy little girl !!!

Totals: 1:11:12 10 miles ( Nike Jasari )

A little better, but long way to go

So after my not so good yesterday I decided to give it a shot today. I ran on the treadmill at my parents since I had no other options. The treadmill was back to it's normal feel of kill me slowly. I even tried the marathon movie and ipod hook up like last time. I just was not into it at all. After 14 min's I was dieing to get off that thing. I made it to 30 mi's at called it a day. I was pissed at myself but to not take it any longer. Hell I would have even gotten back on that 18 lap per mile indoor track at the YMCA. Well maybe I might have to take that back ??

Totals: 30:05 4 miles ( Nike Haywards )