The 5 Best Runs of 2009

So one of the guys I follow in blogland is Andy Jones-Wilkins. Andy is a very good runner but is also a pretty cool guy it seems. I have never met anyone who knows him who will not say he is a good dude. He had a post on his best 5 runs of the year and that made me think about what I would put down. So hell here is what I can come up with.

5. Running the kids race at TCM kids events with my son Evan was a treat !!!

4. The Superior 50k trail run last May. Ran the whole race with my best friend and trail pal Paul !!! It was not our best times but hell 31 miles on the trail is cool with me.

3. The Paul, Adam and Kurt 50 mile trail run on the Voyageur course in late July. It was so much fun to enjoy the trail with 3 good friends. Hell it was Adam's first ultra run ever !!

2. Kurts's Fat Ass trail run out at Elm Creek this last November. Sonya ran all 62 miles. I was able to run the first 30 miles with her then the last 4 or so. I was so happy to be out there with her on that day. I knew how bad she wanted to make it all 62 miles and given that she had run Twin Cites marathon and the North Face 50 miler in the 4 week leading up to it what more can I say.

1. Leadville 100. Once more not my fastest but it felt so good to make it through that race given that I knew I was not in my best shape. A epic day for me that was for sure.

Kurt's Top 10 Albums of 2009

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Mine is a-OK so far. Running has been pretty good and I am looking forward to the 2010 season very much. One of the things I love about the end of the year is looking back at some of my top highlights of the past year. I hope to share a few of these things with everyone in the next week. So as a big music fan( and someone who loves to run with my ipod ) hear is my top 10 albums of 2009. Let me know what you have on your list.

10. Son Volt- American Central Dust
9. Monsters of Folk- Monsters of Folk
8. Wilco- Wilco
7. Mat Kearney- City of Black and White
6. Ben Harper & Relentless 7- White Lies for Dark Times
5. U2- No line on the Horizon
4. Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. The Dead Weather- Horehound
2. Pearl Jam- Backspacer
1. Mason Jennings- Blood of Man

What to run in 2010 ?

As I sit here tonight I keep going over in my head what I might want to run in 2010. That is a good question I have found and one I am not super sure I know the answer to yet.

Training has been going pretty well I have to say so that has made it more fun to look towards next season. I feel like working with Dr. Hills the last 3 weeks is helping me get much more flexible. I believe that alone will be of a big help. I have become so stiff and it is hard to run long long races when you are so stiff. Plus in a weird way running in the snow has been fun.

As a running junkie I always am looking for stuff to motivate me. That is a great thing about being a runner in this day and age. There is no shortage of things to read or watch online. I came across these two video's and both are super great. The first is by Montrail about there Ultra Cup race series and the second is about Marco Olmo who went from working the mines to winning the UTMB two years in a row I believe back in 2006 and 2007. Let me know if you like these or can think of some good race you would recommend OK. Take care !!

Excited for the sport

Man today I just saw that they updated the Western States 100 list and a fellow by the name of Kilian Jornet was listed on it !! People who follow my blog would have seen by now that I am a big fan of this 22 year old trail runner. He is the type of runner with talent who can change the sport. Kind of like Lance and the Tour for example. In fact there are many runners on the men's and women's side of the sport right now who are doing this. Now if we can continue to get them on our biggest stages to race each other that will be great. With Kilian added to the list of great runners already in the race, and many more to be added via top 2 in each of the next few Montrail Ultra Cup races this will be epic !!! Enjoy this last behind the scenes video from the last Kilian's Quest. Snow run today !!!!

Pretty Darn Good

( Evan and Cara in PA )
Pretty darn good is how I would describe the weekend. Not only did I get in 3 great days of running trails and such with lot's of great people but there was some great races going on as well.

Friday I ran with Sonya and Evan. Let's just say this was most likely the last run with the jogger for the year. As always great to run with my main two partners. To put a little extra pop into the day Sonya and I got to go out to a good friends party out at Lee's in downtown to drink beers and listen to great live and loud music. Epic I say !!

Saturday had allot going on starting with a great 12 mile run down on the river bottoms with a big group of people. Many of us meet after at TC Running to see if our names came up in the Western States 100 mile lottery. Only 1 of us got our name pulled. It will be fun to see how Tony does out there. Good luck buddy !! You can see results here. This day was also Nike team xc nationals in Portland. Adam owner of the store was out there with the EP boys. Great video/ pictures and results are at Runners Space.com check it out !! Lastly on this day was the North Face 50 mile championships out in California. Great races all around with a extra special result from my buddy Chris Lundstrom getting 3rd in a super great time and beating some super great runners in his first 50 miler !!

Sunday just caped it all off with a fun road/trail run along the river by the U of M and such with Nick, John, Duke, Eve and Sonya. We got in 14 miles in all I think. Now if only my Vikings could have played better. Oh well cant win them all I guess. Now I just need to figure out what races to run next year ?? Hmmm and idea's ?

Need a good laugh ?

Do you ever feel like towards the end of the day you need that good laugh to pull you through the day ? Well I came across these great video's from the Runners Space.com web site. This weekend is the Nike team cross country finals race out in Portland,OR. This is a great race where the top teams from around the country as well as some top individual people qualify to race to see who's best !! This year Adam from the store is out there with the Eden Prairie boys team. There are 3 team from MN there with EP, Wayzata and Elk River girls. One of the individual runners is Jacob Sandry who works part time for me at the store. I can't wait to see the results and watch the race as it will be show live on runnersspace.com tomorrow at 11:30am I believe. In the mean time watch these funny video's with lot's of Nike athletes making fun of themselves. Good Stuff !!

How we run

So as many of us know there has been a big push over the last year or so on "running natural" and how we run. Where that be with things like Newton running shoes, Vibram five finger I believe that we all can learn something from this and apply it to our running form. We all can work on getting more efficient, it will make running more fun and help us get faster. This is a little video I found from Newton running shoes that in my mind does a great job it showing how it all works. In the end like I said shoes like this can maybe help you. But we all can learn something. Enjoy and I hope to post more this week about our trip out east to Pittsburgh last week. Lot's of hill running.

A little bit more than last week

That was what I kept telling myself all week. Just keep shooting for a little bit more than last week. Last week I got good total miles with that big 35 mile day out at Elm Creek but overall I did not get out many days. This week was better in that I got out the door 5 of the 7 days of the week. Now I just need to keep adding more miles with the days. I would like to build up to a point where I am up to 7 days and like 65 to 75 miles per week with 2 speed/ uptempo day mixed in. I know in the past this worked well for me. I figure if I can do that most of the winter that will make getting some 80+ miles weeks in come April and beyond will be much easier. It is all talk for now I need to just do it as I have no one to blame but myself if I do not make it happen.

One week from Saturday it is Western States 100 mile lottery day !! That will be a big day as it will help me shape what I am looking at training wise come summer of 2010. With all of this and some added strength work I hope to rebound after 2+ years of running far under what I know I have and can do from my past. It is not like I am looking 10 years back in time for crying out loud.



This a great little 2 min video made by New Balance about their outdoor runners. Check it out as it has a old Minnesota runner in Brandy in it !!!

Elm Creek Trail Run

Man oh man am I the only one who has been stuck with this sickness of coughing non-stop for the last few weeks. Well let's just say it sucks and sure puts a damper on running. After a few weeks of hardly running, and I mean hardly like 10 miles in the last 10 days or so. That sucks as it has been so very nice out to run all that time. Well Sunday was a day I was looking forward to for a few weeks now as I was having a few friends meet me out at Elm Creek park for a little trail run. I have this 25k loop I like to run out there and wanted to show it off to some folks and see what they thought as I hope to have a race out there maybe next year. So I had to suck it up and get ready to run.

Well I awoke at 4am Sunday to a great crisp morning. Sonya and I packed the van up and headed out to the park for a early start to the day. Sonya was looking to run 62 miles so we knew we needed to get going early. Helen meet up with us for the start so that was cool. Both Sonya and I thought it would be fun to run and talk more with Helen and what better way to get to know someone better than start running at 6am on the trails with them. After a great first 25k loop we meet up at the parking lot with a good group of maybe 12 people ?? It was a great day to run.

As we went out on that next loop I really felt myself being pulled in multiple directions since I wanted to run with and talk to all the different people. But as we all know that is just real hard to do ans there was many different paces being run. I felt like I was running a workout sliding back in forth between two groups. Plus I could feel my many weeks of sickness and lack of running starting to show itself around 20 miles or so. Once I got back to the van after 30 miles I knew I needed a break. I talked to some folks who seemed to like the trail even though a few of them got turned around a a place or two. I guess that happens when you can only mark the trail just a bit. I wish I could have talked to more people but I missed a few before they left.

After most everyone was gone I knew I needed to eat, stretch and rest as Sonya would need me on the last loop of her 62 mile day. So I sat back in the van and listen to my Vikes crush the Lions and waited for the kids to show up with our friends Ward and Joelle. Once the kids got there Sonya came in after 75k and was looking strong. The kids and I drove to a few places on the course to help her out then I went out for the last 5 miles or so with her. It was great to see how tuff and strong she was. The kids joined in for the last mile in the dark which was real fun. Sonya finished up in 11hours 24 mins for 100k. Not bad for a self supported trail run. I was happy with how my body felt running with her that last 5 miles after sitting around for many hours. All in all it was a nice day on the trails. I hope to have a few more of these before the snow flies. Thanks to everyone who helped Sonya and I pull off this day, and thanks to all who came out to run !!!

Back Online

So this Halloween we did the family costume idea and the kids wanted to be the Scooby Doo gang. It turned out to be lot's of fun for all. Thanks God it was not to cold out so we could show off the costumes in full.

A great weekend in cheese land

So this last weekend Sonya, Evan and I went down to the Milwaukee area for the North Face 50 mile race and to go to the Milwaukee zoo which we have herd so much about.

Evan and I got to spend the day cheering on Mommy/My wife Sonya while getting her all the clothing and food needs she had. All in all it was a great day to run. There was a little rain early and wind for most of it but all in all a good day. The race course looked good and the runners seemed to be having fun. I know Evan and I where loving our little house ( mini van ) on wheels. This is a race I would think about that is for sure. I think all in all Sonya was pretty happy with her race. I think she was 6th female in 8:45. Not bad I thought after her Twin Cities Marathon just a few weeks ago. Sonya has lot's of talent and is having fun trying to figure out this ultra running stuff. I think she has many faster times in front of her.

After the race we got to meet up with Pat and Katie Russell for some diner. We went to one of my favorite places in that area. It is called Kopps. They have great burgers and frozen custard. To me think Culvers but better !!

Sunday I met up with Pat for a great 1 hour run. It was very cool to run once more with my friend and catch up on life and such. I got to hear all about how his little girl is doing and do the normal running talk that I so love to do. Pat is a good friend and I hope someday in the future to have them back in the cities so we can run more. Plus I get a great pace workout in when I run with Pat !!

Before we headed home we took in the famed zoo. Man was it cool !!! Evan loves zoo's and hands down this is the best so far. You name it they had it for animals. What a great way to end the trip.

Next up is getting ready for my Surf the Murph 50 mile this Saturday !! I have been feeling great on my runs so that is exciting. Please no rain on race day.

Hymm to the rim Kilian style

The latest video in the Kilian's Quest is up and let me say for one it is GREAT !!!! Things like this make me want to get up and run baby run. Check it out.

Since my last blog the running has been going good. I feel like I am getting into a small grove so that is good. I had a very good run last Tuesday night with Minnick and Nick from the store. This weekend Sonya, Evan and I are going down to the North Face 50 miler and to see Pat and his family. Should be fun, even though the weather does not look great. Speaking of not so great weather we look like we are going to have shitty stuff for Surf the Murph next weekend as well. I guess it will be a muddy and slow 50 miler to end the year for me. Take care !!

Weekend of Trails

I had a great weekend of trail running with my buddy Paul. Man we got to run both days !! On Saturday we hit the Chaska single track trails for a easy 6.5 mile run before I had to work. While out there I felt pretty good. Nice to be on dirt with your buddy. We followed that up with a Sunday run out at Lebanon hills. It was my first run out there this year. I love running out there !! I used to run so much more there but the last two years I have not run more than like 4 times out there. I not only should run more there but need to !! It is a great mix of hills and flats. If you have never run there please check it out. We got in a solid 9+ mile run. I think we where just 1/4 mile short of 10 but we kept a real solid pace going. The temps where great and the trail was solid not to soft at all. Man looking at the log I have a good streak going now. Heck like 12 days straight. Not to bad for me now a days.

Kilian in Tahoe pt.1

This is part 1 of Kilian's record setting run on the Tahoe Rim trail a few weeks ago. I love this stuff and simply love watch him run. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Feeling Lucky

It's been some time since I last wrote. In that time not much has been going on running wise for me. In fact I have not run much at all but that has been OK. It has been a busy 2 weeks for me with lot's of outside stuff going on. First on deck was the busy week of the TCM expo. In case you might not have been down there we ( TC Running ) set up with the R.V. in the expo. Man it was pretty cool and I had so many people say they thought it made a big splash. While the expo is pretty fun there is lot's of pre and post expo prep to do. Then add on top of that Sonya was running the marathon and Evan was once more in the kids race so I was also trying to do my best to help around the house so she did not have to do everything. All in all it worked out. The store had a good expo and Sonya ran a pretty good race. She ran 3:03 but was pretty disappointed since she felt so good thru 22 miles but had a good case of dehydration by the end. I am guessing with the cooler weather she was just coming up a bit short on getting the water down. I think we all forget just because it is not hot you still need lots of water. So better luck next time I guess. I am still very proud of her !!

Now I bet you are thinking what in the world am I feeling lucky about ? Well also during the marathon weekend I lost my Grandma Decker. So what's lucky about that you say. It is that I was lucky enough to have her in my life for 38 years. Grandma was very good to me, I was her "Kurty". She even called me that up till the end. I have always been aware of my luck to have the family I have from my parents, grandparents, brothers and friends. This has never been lost on me and never will be. Just in time like this I think we all look in word and think about things. This just drives home to me more than ever how lucky I am and how much I love my family. My Grandpa Decker made a big impact on me even though he died when I was 5 years old. My grandma had to live 33 long years with out him. I am just happy she is back with him !!! As I ran last night and today I thought of the two of them together and I think it added a hop in my step. Love you Grandma !!!

Go West Young Man !!

That is the title of the new video for Kilian Jornet's soon to be record attempt on the Tahoe rim trail. He is doing it next weekend and I so wish I could be there. On that note I am also thinking it is that time to start thinking about if I want to sign up for the Western States lottery. It opens Oct 1st so I need to figure this out soon. Hmm I am leaning towards it at this point.

Ripping and Rolling

Well it's almost 4 weeks since the 100 miler and I am feeling pretty good. I have not been getting in big weekly miles, but just getting out there when I am feeling it. So far my longest run has been a 15 miler I did last Saturday on the MN river bottoms with my buddy Nick. I felt real good, in fact I felt better as the run went on so that was good. Other than that run I have had a week with a few easy 7 mile runs. Well that is untill the last 48 hours. Last night I ran with Sonya and I did her workout with her. After a 6 mile warm up we did 15 x 400 at 5:30 mile pace. Now for a guy comming off a 100 mile race I did not think these would feel to good but in fact they did go pretty good. I followed that run up with running with the guys out at the Hyland trails at 6am. Wow two solid runs in like 10 hours. Now thats ripping and rolling kurt style !!

Kilian Jornet

So as most people who know me or read this blog much know I am just a bit of a running freak when it comes to following the sport and it's athletes. Well I would like to introduce you to someone who is part of what I call the "new wave" of ultrarunners. What I mean is runners who come to our sport with a incredible amount of foot speed as well as endurance. Runners like the Skagg brothers come to mind. They are re-shaping our sport and the idea of how fast people can push them selves for a long time. With that being said I would like to introduce you to a kid from France who is part of that group named Kilian Jornet. I first heard of him last year. After following him for the last year I find it time for more people to be aware of him. Salomon Running is his main sponsor and has this great page about him and his running goals. I strongly suggest checking out some of these video's and learn more about him. I would love to see him run our Western States 100 some year and see what he could do.

Catching up & more pictures

I thought it was time to catch up on the blog since my Leadville re-cap. Well not much exciting news to report. I took the whole week off after the race which was nice. I was feeling super good but held off the urge to get out for a run, instead had some great bike rides with Sonya as she did her speed workouts. The 2nd post week after (last week) I took the every other day approach. I know from doing these things there can be a big deep down soreness in you that you do not feel at first. My runs felt great. I got in a easy 5 miler one day with Sonya then a great 9+ miler with Sonya, Evan and Nick then I caped the week off with a great 7+ miler on the Chaska trails with Paul. I was super happy with how things where coming !!

Then came Sunday. Man I woke up at 3am i think feeling like hell. After about 10 trips to the bathroom with diarrhea I finally puked my brains out at like 7:45am. This continued like 4 more times during the day. It was not till about 10pm that I felt like I was turning the corner. Man what a day !!! Good thing Sunday was a day off huh.

Now it is Monday, Labor Day and I am feeling good. I am trying to decide if I should take one more day off or not ? I am leaning towards the day off. Heck what is one more day of rest at this point. Well I hope everyone has a great Labor Day and I hope to see you out on the trails soon !!



P.S. here are a few more pictures from my Leadville 100

Leadville trail 100 2009

Where to start ? That is the question I find myself asking as of now. I have so many emotions running thu me as I look back at this race and the last year leading up to this. As many of you know last year I went out to Leadville with big goals and came up short dropping out at mile 70 for my first DNF in 23+ years of running. That DNF haunted me all year long. I let it eat at me and my confidence as a runner. It was not fun being me inside of my head at times.

As 2009 rolled along I knew my buddy Paul was going back as was two good friends Joe Z and Tony K for there first LT100's. I kept saying I was going but deep down I did not want to do it. Well for months I kept going thu the motions of acting like a guy going back to "that" race but knowing I was not going to do it when push came to shove. Then came this little 50 mile training run with Paul and TC Running store owner Adam. In that one run things had changed. I no longer felt like I needed to go back, but I wanted to go back !! This along with lot's of love and support from my wife Sonya ( for the last long year ) I signed up and was on my way.

Fast forward to race week. Me and the family ( minus Summer who could not be with us ) where off to Colorado and I was excited beyond belief. I drove like a madman nonstop to Boulder where we where going to spend our first night. After a good nights sleep we had a great day playing in the foothills of Boulder before we had to pick up cousin Jessica from Portland. From there it was off to Cripple Creek, CO. which sits at 10,000 and is on the backside of Pikes Peak.


The campground was so great !! We just chilled out, ran some trails, drove up to the top of Pikes Peak ( talk about a crazy drive ) and had a super time just hanging with the family. After two nights of that it was off to Leadville and to meet up with Paul and his family.



Once in Leadville it was beyond words. It was great to see Paul and be back in this great town once more. Heck I even got to meet many people I have met via blog land like defending champ Duncan to name a few. I got in a few easy days of running and before I knew it it was race day.

I could not sleep the night before and was up at 1am but the race did not start till 4am. Man this sucked. I listen to my ipod and got ready. Come 3am all the guys were up and we where ready to roll. Walking to the star line I knew it was going to be a good day. We all had different goals but where ready. Joe and Tony wanted 21 hours bad, Paul wanted sub 25 hours and the big buckle and well I wanted to rid myself of this monkey on my back and finish this race.



As the race started I felt good running with Paul and let him know that today he was to let me go if he was feeling it. After 20+ miles that happen. Coming off Sugarloaf I was having some issues and let him go. When I got to Twin Lakes aid station I got all set up and was feeling much better. I hooked up the ipod and was having fun on this hot day. I still had some things going on like a sore right knee as well as many #2 potty stops. But I got to mile 40 at Twin Lakes in good shape and still on my goal pace of 7 hours 40-50 min's.


I left Twin to climb the mighty Hopes Pass. Holly cow that is a long climb. On the way up I was doing my best and got passed by a few of the leaders who where coming back. Things went bad coming down hope and up to the road to Winfield at 50 miles. I wanted to drop so so bad. It was like last year all over.

I picked up my pacer Andy and went back out now more than 1 hour behind Paul. But something happen going up Hope once more as I started to climb pretty good and when I got to the top of the climb I was flying like a bird down the mountain. By the time I got to Twin Lakes once more at mile 60 I had gotten like 30+ min's back on Paul. I picked up Sonya and a pacer and we took off. It was here I made a big mistake but taking off my Drymax socks and put on some compression sock I had only run a little in on. Within 4 miles my feet started to blister bad. By the time I got to 70 miles I had very big blisters killing both feet with each step. I was being forced to walk. Man this sucked but I just kept moving. I was not stopping today !

After the final long climb up the power lines of Sugarloaf I got to the last aid station of MayQueen and I knew I was on the way home. I was falling asleep but kept moving. This was the longest I had ever been out running by many hours. As we got like 2 miles from the finish I knew if I could find a way to run some I could break 28 hours for a small victory. Sonya pushed and pushed me and I could feel myself going. I was moving hard down the final road uphill to the finish. I got in at 27 hours 58 min's. As I stood at the finish I new I did not get the wanted time wise, but got the race I needed mentally wise. This was a big day for me. I slayed my dragon.


I find myself now feeling more excited about running then I have for a long time. I do not know what I will do next but I do know I overcame something big within myself. Thanks to all who helped me get there. I love you all.

It's Go Time !!

Now is the time. It is time to fly and sore up an over these beautiful mountains of Leadville, CO. and get what I have so wanted for over a year now. I am feeling ready to complete this.

I have had a great week so far with my family ( minus Summer who could not come ) all around Colorado. We spent a great day in Boulder, then a few days in Cripple Creek at a KOA. That campgound was super great ! We even did the drive up to the top of Pikes Peak which just blew our minds. I will have some pictures to show when I get back home. We rolled into Leadville and met up with Paul's family yesterday. It was great to see my good buddy !!

Yesterday when rolling into town we stoped by the coffe shop Proven Grounds and I ran into the defending champion Duncan and said hi to him. What a nice guy ! After setting the kids up Sonya and I ran out on the course which was super nice. Later that night we had the race pasta feed then it was relax and go to bed time.

This morning we had weight in and now we are going to get in a quick 20 min shake out run then it's off to the race meeting. I am very excited and ready to go. We have a great TC Running group out here running so it will be fun. Wish us luck !!

Fun Mt. Running Blog/Video

So there is is runner named Joe Gray from out west. He is one of the best U.S. mountain runners out there. I cam across this post by him on his team Inov8 bog page. At the end is a nice video he has put together. Check it out..........

Europe here I come

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P.S. Man just when I think I have done my last blog post before I leave I keep coming up with something.

Before I forget

Man oh man I almost forgot to tell everyone to keep a eye on the World Track and Field Championships going on this week. They start Saturday I think ? and go till the 23rd. They will be on the VS. network and NBC. You get get the t.v. schedule at www.usatf.org and there is lot's of good info on www.iaaf.org as well. My good buddy Matt who is in the marathon on Aug 22nd is updating his blog from Berlin as we speak.

Lastly there is some good video's Runners World online did on all the Wisconsin runners. They are very good. Go to www.runnersworld.com/video

Time to start packing !!

It's that time everybody, time to start getting the back packed and ready to go. I would hate to wait till the last min and forget something way back in Minnesota ! It's hard to belive I am about to go back to what I call the "sceane of the crime" for me. The way the race ended last year really messed me up mentaly last year. I do feel much better now about it and am ready to take it on. After running with Paul this morning I think he is very ready as well. We will have fun !!

This last week of running was ok, but not great. I felt good for the most part running, I just got in a few less miles that I hoped. Oh well I will live. Ran two great hill sessions which made me feel good. Plus hell it was my super great wife Sonya's b-day this last Saturday as well !! We had a good time going out on Friday night and hell had a night with no kids at home for the first time in 3 years !! Well happy running to everyone and I will look foward to telling you all about the race when I get back. I will try to do some twitter posts in the mean time. Take care and happy running.

This is a video of Anton Krupicka who I would say many belive is the favorite for the win but I think a few guys like defending champ Duncan Callahan and his buddy Tim Parr will be in the mix as well.

Across the new divide

Oh good God it is just 3 weeks till race day. Man in many ways I am super jacked about this but on the other hand I would be lying if I said I was not just a bit nervous. I guess that is good, I have aways thought being nervous was a good sign meaning you are taking it serious. Last week was kind of a mix bag for me. I mostly had good runs during the week where I felt strong. My Tuesday night run with Jason Minnick was very good as well as the Friday early a.m. run with the guys out at the Hyland trails. My weekend kind of sucked but I did not fret to much as I like to say "the hay is in the barn" at this point.

One way to end off the week was a great Leadville get together hosted by Paul and his family. We had Joe, Tony, George ( Joe's pacer ) and myself as well as our families over for a great diner and met and greet. We also where joined by Adam and Kelly Lindahl owners of the TC Running Company. It is shaping up to be a great trip with lot's of TCRC shirts everywhere !!!

So this is my theme song for this years race. Enjoy

Less than 4 weeks

Man as I sit here at my computer now and think I have a little less than 4 weeks till go time I am pretty excited. I think the best thing for me as of late was to get signed up for Leadville. It is as if I lit a fire under me by doing so.

Train has been going pretty well since the 50 mile training run. Last week I took it easy the two days after the 50 and then slowly added miles as the week went on. I was shooting for a good weekend, and that I got. I did the ski hill loop with Paul on Saturday and then got a long run in on the MN river bottoms with Sonya, Paul, Adam and Nick. My hill session on Saturday did not go as well as I hoped but I think that had allot to do with the fact that I was 6 days out from the 50 miler and that I did a real good hill session on Thursday night as well. It was my bodies way of says please stop killing me. Sundays long run was pretty good except for the fact that I picked the wrong shoes to run in. I thought I would give my pair of Solomon XA's a second run to see if I liked them. Well I now know the answer to that question. It is NO. Man there is a reason these are under my bed. I know many people who like them but to me they just sucked. The problem was I had to feel them suck on my feet for some 21 miles. Oh well I will live.

This weekend was also big at my home because it was my son Evan's 3rd birthday !!! Man we love this little guy. Hard to believe it has been 3 years. I feel truly blessed.

50 miles of fun

At the Finish

Man what a day, what a day. So Paul and I wanted to get in a good 50 miler together before Leadville 100 to test out a few things before race day. Our thought was to go up to the MN Voyageur course which runs between Duluth and Carlton. We liked this because being a out and back we could leave a drop box along the course and hit it 2 times. We also did the course in reverse so we could also use the pumps at Jay Cook state park. All in all we would have 4 places to get water. We picked this day because it was 5 weeks before Leadville so plenty of time to recover plus not being a race we could take our time and enjoy it more. To toss something new into the mix Adam came along with us in the brand new TC Running Company RV !!!! Now keep in mind Adam has never run longer than 26 miles before and his weekly volume has been pretty low, but he is a super talented kid so we new it would be fun.

We drove up Saturday after work and got the RV all set up at the local KOA. After some food by the campfire we went into the RV for some movie time before bed. Man was this living. I would love to have this set up before races that is for sure.
Along the trail




Sunday the alarm went off at 5am and it was off to drop the box with water, etc. then to the Duluth zoo for the start. We got started at like 6:45am I believe and it was very nice out. As we made our way up Spirit Mountain I was very happy to be on the trail with the guys. The run itself was great. Lots of climbing up good hills and making our way across the creeks and such. I felt like I was nailing the fuel issue which was good. My shoes felt good as well. We did get off trail a few times but cut back and we where on our way. On the way back I think the sun was getting to us a bit on the powerline hills but nothing to bad. In the last 6 miles or so I was feeling as strong as a Ox and happy about it. Paul looked good as well and Adam hung in there much stronger than one could have thought. He should be real proud of himself, I know I am of him. We finished in 9 hours 28 min. I thought a solid time !! Now it is time to rest a bit then back at it this weekend. Should be fun !!
The start of the trip

More Hardrock 100 video

All of this video I got via Andy Holak. Check out his site.

2009 Hardrock 100 Report from Durango Herald from Andy Holak on Vimeo.

Durango Herald News, Hardrock 100 Runners Answer Hard Question from Andy Holak on Vimeo.

Hardrock 100 Video

here is a great video of Minnesota's own Kim Holak at the Hardrock 100. Kim is one tuff runner who like all of us at one time or another had a tuff day on the trail. But she kept going for it. Seeing her fight so hard gives me something to think about for my Leadville race. Way to go Kim !!

Hardrock 100 - Pacer's View from kelly korevec on Vimeo.

I got a score to settle......

Last year's Leadville 100 mile race in the rain !!

So I did it. I put my name on the dotted line and signed up for the Leadville trail 100 mile run !!! As pretty much anyone who knows me would tell you this race has been a thorn in my side for the last year. Well I am going back to settle the score.

Last year as we are sitting at the pre race meeting one of the race people Ken talked about not stopping because if you do it will eat at you for the next 365 days. At the time I was like yea what ever. Well I know now way to well what he was saying. All year I have been going this race in my head trying to figure out how and why I got so weak and dropped out at 70 miles. Well as I have seen it was not a matter of being week or doing something wrong. It was just being human and having one of those moments i guess. We as people always try to pin everything on something when in fact sometime shit just happens. Well I am going into this year with knowing that and with a different outlook. I know I can run well there but I need to just spend time running the race rather than being so rigged with how every little step is going. Should be fun. As a good test Paul and I are going up north this weekend to run the Voyageur 50 mile course on Sunday morning !! Wish me luck.

Afton in pictures and video

So if you want to see a bunch of real good pictures got to the Bryan Cochran photo website for the Afton trail. This is also a video put together by the same guy. Very cool stuff.

Afton 50k re-cap

This is by far the strangest race I have had in some time. Let me explain... So after a 5am pick up by Paul at ou home Sonya, Paul and myself made our way to the 2009 Afton 50k trail run. I figured what a great way to start the 4th of July by running on a great trail, at a great race with my lovely wife and best buddy Paul. It was real humid outside but not the crazy 90+ degree weather you can get on this day.

When John the race director started us I settled into a nice pace. On the first climb Helen, Sonya and Paul all came up on me. It was nice to see them and start running with them. While I was feeling pretty good I just did not feel like engaging into the "race" so to speak. I think this is one thing that has been a big problem this year and last year. Either way I was happy to be out there which was good and was running the type of race I had hoped for going into it. I wanted a solid run to build on in the next few weeks while I sorted out if I was going to Leadville 100 or not.

After the first 25k in 2:18 running side by side with Sonya much of the way I was pretty happy. I had had one bathroom stop along the way which killed like 2 min's or so but that was ok. As we headed out on lap number two I was just trying to stay close to Sonya as she seemed very strong. I was making a point to power walk all the uphills to save on my legs. While doing this Sonya would gap me some but I seemed to make it up when we got to a downhill. On our way down to aid station #3 by the river I could tell Sonya was slowing allot. She was having very bad tummy problems and had stop drinking for the most part. I was afraid this could be a very big problem. I tried to get her to eat some fruit and drink some coke coming out of aid #3. That helped some but I thing the damage was done. From that point on we pretty much walked like 85% of the time. She could hardly walk in a straight line. I just wanted to get her to aid #4 with the hopes she would call it a day. She kept telling me to go on but I just could not. This is the double edge part of having a wife who not only is a runner, but one that can keep up with you in races. If I left her I would not feel good about it. To me no race was worth leaving her struggle in what I thought was a un-safe position. Once I got her to aid#4 I was off to the races to see who I could make ground back on. Man was I feeling good. I am not sure what my pace was but I know I was making up good time that last 10k. When I got to the finish I was happy I ran it out and not droped. At this point I found Sonya in the ambulance where they where helping her with big time dehydration. I was sad for her but happy she was safe.

While getting my stuff together I was finding myself thinking about how much I like this race and about how I hope to get into "old" kurt super shape some day and try for a sub 4:05 someday. Not sure if that will ever happen but I do know that I will be back and I am sure Sonya will be back !!! Thanks to John, Alicia and all the Afton gang for all the hard work they do to put on a first class event !!!

Matty G blog spot

My good friend Matt who is training for the upcoming World Marathon championships has started a blog. You should check it out !! Click Here

The Day Before

Fun times with my son !!!

Well with any luck I will be getting close to the end of the Afton 50k at this time tomorrow. Man it is hard to believe it is the 4th of July already. Sure seems like the time is flying on by. Tomorrows 50k run at Afton should be a good one. I know many people running so it will be great to see them all. I also look forward to seeing how my body will feel.

Since Grandma's I have been running pretty good. Nothing super great but not bad either. I think that week after Grandma's I got in like 50ish or so for miles. I had a great weekend with 15 miles at Hyland on Friday, 7 miles from home Saturday and then a good 13 miles at Afton on Sunday with Sonya and her friend Kim. This week as been pretty simple. I have gotten in 5-6 miles each day except on Tuesday night I got in 7+ or so with the guys from the store. I hope with the race tomorrow then try to get in like 10 or so on Sunday I could end up with like 60 miles for the week. I have 2 more weeks after this one till the big 50 mile trail run up north with Paul. That will tell me allot about if I will be going to Leadville 100 this fall or not.

For some good reading check out this blog's.
- Devon Crosby Helms has a great report on her race at the World 100k championships. http://devoncrosbyhelms.com/

- Brian Morrison seems to have the same feeling about Western States 100 as I have on Leadville right now. Man to think he was only like 10 feet away from winning that race just a few years ago.

Western States 100- Best Race I have ever run !!

Defending champ Hal Koerner crossing the American River

Tomorrow is the 2009 running of the Western States 100 mile in Squaw Valley,CA. I ran this race back in 2003 and let me just say I feel so lucky to have be able to run it. I dream of doing it once more. This was the first 100 mile trail run in the U.S.A back in the day. It in my mind is still the best. This years race field is pretty stacked with some good runners. I am looking forward to watching the race web cast on the Western Sates web site www.ws100.com to see how the race shakes out. I would say check in during the day and see how it is going !!! This is my picks for the top 3.

Mens: 1) Dave Mackey 2) Scott Jurek 3) Hal Koerner

Womens: 1) Nikki KImball 2) Jenn Shelton 3) Krissy Moehl

Hitting Rock Bottom

The bright spot of the weekend- Fathers Day with my kids !!!


You know that saying that sometimes before you can recover from something you need to hit rock bottom first. Well this past Saturday at Grandma's marathon I believe I hit that bottom. For far to long now I have been struggling with my running. I have felt way to many days of self dought and motivation with my running and I was just muddling along. I have not run nearly enough miles, done way to few speed workouts, and just not felt it in my runs for a long time now. I am not sure why I feel this way ? Maybe it is 2 years in a row of sports hernia surgery ? Is it the lingering shitty feeling of my one and only DNF in 24 years of running at last years Leadville 100 ? Is it something more ? Regardless it is here and I need to buck up at get help and try to change it.

Going into Grandma's I knew I was not ready to run a marathon the way I used to run marathon. Races where I could blow up hard and still run sub 2:50 every time. No this year was going to be no way close to that. But I did feel that I should be able to run around 3 hours pretty easy. Hell I have done some 20 mile long runs this year where I ran at 6:55 to 7:00 min mile pace I sure hoped I could get 6 more miles in at that pace come race day. Well lucky me and many other people we got a super hot and shitty day at this years Grandma's. This changed things a bunch. I started out hitting 6:45-6:52 pace every mile up till 10 miles or so. Then by half marathon in which I got there in 1:31 I knew it was time to shut it down and just run/walk in to the finish line. My mind and body had had enough and was done. This was so darn hard to do. I had not felt this type of dis pare in a road marathon since my first one back in the 1994 Twin Cities. I just did not have it in my heart to push myself. I knew I had more in my legs, this was evident by the 6:30 pace I was running from mile 24 to 25 when I saw my Mom and little Evan cheering and looking so good to me !!! I was just broken inside. I got to the finish in 3:19 and was happy to be there. It was my 2 worst time ever. I am broken but will be fixed someday.

I guess on the bright side it was nice to see a bunch of friends up there in Duluth. Plus I was super proud of my wife Sonya who hung on to finish 22nd woman and I believe 3rd in the 40-44 age group. She does not like the heat but gutted it out like the super trooper she is.

Now it time to start the rebuild Kurt project. I am going to start with some easy running then go into Afton in a few weeks with looking at it as just a fun run. Then go from there. Maybe I do not go to Leadville 100 in August. I need to remind myself I do not have to do that race, I need to want to go. Till next time...

Week before Grandmas Marathon

Well it is marathon week I guess. Last week was a ok week for me leading into this week. I tried to keep it pretty easy but at times push myself a bit. Overall I am happy with last week. I know I have a TON of work to do after Grandma's in order to be ready for Leadville 100 in mid August. The plan for now is to run the marathon at a pace that feels good and does not trash me to much for the upcoming weeks. I am all signed up for Afton 50k trail run which is two weeks after Grandmas then two weeks after Afton Paul and I are planning on a 50 mile run on the MN Voyageur course. After that it will be 5 weeks till Leadville.

On this post I have also linked a great part 1 video from Runnerspace.com. It is part of a documentary with Bill Dellinger. Man this guy has had his hand in American distance running for many years. First as a Olympic medal winner then as a longtime coach of the Ducks. Enjoy and check out the RunnerSpace site if you have time.




Monday 6/8- easy day from home 5 miles

Tuesday 6/9- Ran from the store after work. Josh joined me for the first 5+ miles which was nice. I up to this point had never run with Josh. After he pealed off I ran a few loops at marathon race pace. Overall good run. 8 miles

Wednesday 6/10- Ran in the morning before work. Did a lakes loop. 6 miles

Thursday 6/11- easy day 5 miles

Friday 6/12- Ran with the Hyland trails group at 6am. It was a fun loop. I felt pretty good but not great. After run had some coffee with Adam and Paul and then was off to see Scottie at the Broast Clinic. Feels great !! 8 miles

Saturday 6/13- Ran the lakes before work. Felt ok but not great. It was feeling warm to me. I wish this could hold off till after Grandmas race. Even though I am not racing it I still do not want to melt out there. 5 miles

Sunday 6/14- Ran with Sonya, Evan, Paul and Sean on the MKTA trail. Nice and flat and soft dirt under my feet. I felt pretty good. 12 miles

Miles for the week= only 49 but oh well

Week of 6/1 to 6/7

One more week closer to Grandma's and one more week of me wondering what the hell am I going to do up there. I guess we are only like 2 weeks out so I will know soon enough.

Monday 6/1- Got out with my Tim from across the street for a 6am morning run. We did a little shake out down by the lakes. I felt a bit tired but not bad. It is nice to have someone to get you out in the early AM sometimes. 7 miles

Tuesday 6/2- Went for a run with Nick after work. It was a very nice night to run and it was good to hook up with my good friend. I let him talk me into running his speed workout with him on the MPLS Southwest track. Let's say me having to climb a 12foot fence is not a good thing ! Once in the track I ran pretty good I thought. We did 8x400 with 1:20 jog between. Given I have not ran on the track in like 1 1/2 years ? I felt good keeping them at 70-72 seconds per 400. Solid I thought. 8 miles

Wednesday 6/3- It was National Running Day today and I had the pleasure of running with some guys from the store. It was Adam, Dave Tappe, Chad Austin, John Nasland, and Jared Mondry. We had a nice group run. 9 miles

Thursday 6/4- Easy recovery day. 4 miles

Friday 6/5- Ran with Tim down to the band shell and met up with Nick for part of a run. I felt ok today. 6 miles

Saturday 6/6- It was Fans 24 hour day. I went down to the race after work to go help Sonya's friend Kim who was running her first 24 hour race. She has run many trail 100's but she was feeling the difference by the time I got there. She was at 62 miles when I started with her and by the time I stoped to go home with her it was 11:00 at night and I had run 20 miles. She was doing great and I felt good about getting her in a good frame of mind. I got her to add 2 more walk spot's in the loop for a total of 3. She did not want to do this at first but soon say she was running like 2 min's per loop faster while doing this ! Sonya went back down at like 5am and came back with the good news that she won the wmns race with like 120 miles !!! What a day. 20 miles

Sunday 6/7- Ran with Nick in the afternoon for a good easy run. 8 miles

Miles for the week= 62

Asleep at the Blog I guess

Man I have not been very good keeping up with this darn blog as of late. I guess it is good that I have been keeping busy at home and work. Well let's get caught up.

Monday 5/25- Ran with Evan and Sonya down to the Brian Kraft 5k to watch Sonya and a bunch of friends run the race. It was fun running to the race with Sonya and Evan. During the race Evan and I ran a few miles and waited to see the gang come on by. A bunch of the TCRC guys looked pretty good overall. I know we where a bit short handed. Sonya ran a very good race all things considering. She went out real slow on purpose ( like 6:18ish ? ) to keep her some mid-section in check. She finished strong and was 3rd masters woman in like 18:59. We ran some after and then Evan and I ran home. Nice day ! 12 miles

Tuesday 5/26- Nice 8 mile run

Wednesday 5/27- Did a speed workout from work of 10x 1min on at 5k pace and 1 min off. I felt pretty good overall. I averaged like 5:45 pace on the pick up's. 9 miles

Thursday 5/28- Nice 8.5 mile run in the morning.

Friday 5/29- Took day off. just not feeling it I guess.

Saturday 5/30- Went out with the best intentions but once more was just not feeling it. Might have had something to do with the very busy day off work ? Or maybe me just being week. 1 mile

Sunday 5/31- I ran in the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon today. It was a very nice day to run that was for sure. I went into this run with the idea of keeping it pretty easy and use it as a good pace run. With the help of my handy Garmin 405 I just settled into a pretty good groove. I was keeping it around 6:23-6:30ish pave most of the way. I had a potty break at like mile 5 which lost me like 1 min but then I got back on pace after that. In the end the clock read 1:27 so a 6:34 pace. I think over all I am pretty happy with this effort. I still do not know what to think of Grandma's but I will give it a shot. 14 miles for the day ( no warm up because of forgetting watch and having to drive home before race )

Miles for the week= 53 ( not bad I guess giving that I flaked out on two days )

The Week After

Well my post week after the SHT 50K was a pretty good one. The week started with me not being able to believe how darn sore my leg's where. Man I felt like I ran my first marathon. I guess I have not done enough hill work yet to pound my legs into shape. Lucky for me Leadville is still a long way away. I ended up running 5 days this last week with the bulk of it coming at the back part of the week. All in all a pretty good week filled with runs with lot's of friends.

Monday- Took day off as my legs where very sore still.

Tuesday- Ran a easy 6 miles with Sonya and Evan by the lakes. I felt ok overall. A bit sore on the downhills still.

Wednesday- Ran in the morning with Matty G. I like running with Matt on his easy days. We looped by the lakes and back home. I was like 9 miles.

Thursday- Took a off day today. Did not feel like running at 6am and was to tired after a family night at the MN Zoo.

Friday- Met Nick at the band shell for a good morning run. I need to find away to get us to do this more often as it would be good for both of us. I got in 8 miles.

Saturday- Met Paul at Hyland for a morning of hills. It was good to be out with Paul but I will have to say I do not miss the ski hill all that much. But that being said I know it is good for me. We knocked out 25 hill repeats before I started work. Got in like 13+ miles all in all.

Sunday- Man two days in a row running with Paul ? I guess the moons where aliened huh ? Any how we ran down at the Murph. After a day of ski hills this was no let up. We got in like 14+ miles of very hilly running. In fact after today we had in like 9000+ feet of climbing for the two days. Maybe not allot for some but I could feel it in my legs after the run. Heck we did just run the SHT last weekend after all.

Miles for the week= 51

SHT 50K

Man what a race. After a very shitty week of no running(I had 6 miles for the week going into the race) I decided to give it a go anyway. For awhile durning the week I was just not going to go. But after a little talking with people I figured what the hell give it a shot. Let me tell you I am glad I did. Paul and I where at first just going by ourselves but then before we knew it we had a party van going up. Joey Z, Erik L, Chris Lundo and Brian P all came up with us. We had a great drive up in the van as we talked and watched a great Western States DVD from 1982 !!! After a little food at Grandma's it was back into the van and up to Lutsen. Once we got there we all watched the end of the Twins game and a few of us had a pre-race beer or two. I knew I was having fun with all the guys but was not excited about what might happen to me out there on the trail. Let's just say my confidence has not been real good all spring. With that in mind it was off to sleep.....

When we woke up the next morning we where greeted by cool temps of like 26 and a tad of snow on the ground of all things. It was good to see all the people at the start. Man what a good group of people we have in MN ! Then just like that boom we where off and running. Paul and I settled in a good pace and so began our trail journey together. The trail was great and the company was even better. Let me just say I LOVE running with Paul. We seemed to be making good time and got to talk a bunch. The trail was muddy in some spots but oh well it is a trail race after all. In the end we both got in at like 4:57 ish ?? good for 10th and 11th place I believe. Now I loved this area but will say I hate racing on that trail. Running on it is good, racing is bad. That being said the race is great and I hope people continue to go up year after year. In the end I had a great trip with the guys and had a fun time. Glad I did it. Heck our van did pretty well also. I think we had 1,3,4,7,10,11 places.

Why we love trails

As I get ready to leave tomarrow for the SHT 50k( should be tuff since I have had a less than ideal week of running, more later ) I thought I would share this great video. It is a great video put togeather by Matt Hart for a Montrail running talk. Enjoy !

UltraRunning from Matt Hart on Vimeo.

Running the River Bottoms

Well one more week in the books. This was a pretty good week overall. I came out of the week feeling like I had a few good runs overall with a few easy recovery type runs. The week was highlighted with a super great Sunday long run on the MN river bottoms with Paul. Man on Sunday it was the first time in a long time I felt more like what I am calling the "old" kurt. I felt smooth, strong, easy and in control the whole run. Now if I can just get more of that on a weekly basis.

Monday- easy 10 miles with Sonya on the MKTA LRT

Tuesday- ran with Minnick and Keiser for 8

Wednesday- Took day off, just ran out of hours in the day I guess

Thursday- did speed workout down at the lakes. did 5x 800 with 1 min rest. got in 10 miles overall

Friday- early morning loop with the guys at Hyland, good run !! got in 8 miles

Saturday- ran lakes with Nick. good to catch up with him. got in 8+ miles ( Sonya won the New Prague 1/2 marathon !! )

Sunday- MN river bottoms with Paul. ran 20+ with ave pace at 7:56. Was at 7:05-7:16 pace on most parts that did not have hills.

Weekly miles= 65

If you are looking for a GREAT CD check out the new Ben Harper and Relentless 7 !!

TC 1 Mile

Last night in great weather was the TC 1 mile which was also the mens and womens USATF road 1 mile national championships. My buddy Matty G was on site with Mark from Flotrack and here are the video's. Thanks Flotrack for making the sport great with the great video's.

Meet Josh Moen

So Chad Austin does these great interviews with local runners. His last one is with my friend and co-worker Josh. Check it out at Running Minnesota.

Meet little Lucy

I also am happy to report I got to meet little Lucy Decker this weekend for the first time. It is fun to be a uncle for the first time !!

Week of 4/27- 5/2

Well after a sub par week last week running wise I bounced back with a good week. Not only did I get in all 7 days but I felt pretty good each day. I ended up with 66 miles for the week. Not a ton but not bad either I thought.

Monday- did workout on parkway of 6x 3 min on at 6 min pace with 1 min rest. felt good overall.

Tuesday- easy run with strides

Wednesday- nice run on river bottoms with Sonya after work

Thursday- easy run/park with Evan down at the lakes

Friday- great morning run on trails at Hyland with Paul, Joe, Tony and guys. Felt good

Saturday- did first ski hill workout of the year with Paul. I got in 19 hills. man was that harder than I remember.

Sunday- great 20+ miler on the river bottoms with Paul !!! Felt good.

Birthday Re-Cap

Man I have missed some time so I have to do a bit of catching up. So my birthday was a nice time with my family. Even though it was a rainy day we made the best of it. Sonya and I got to go for a great 14 mile trail run out at Elm Creek park in Maple Grove. We both really like it out there so it was fun to start the day off that way. In a funny way the weather made for a fun run. After the run I had a great brunch at my Mom and Dads house. I am a big breakfast food guy so to me I can eat like that anytime of the day. After that it was off to go see the movie Earth with Sonya and the kids. The movie was very good I thought. We finished off the day with a great diner at the Olive Garden. Thanks Sonya and guys for a great day !!

Looking foward to Sunday

Sunday will be a special day for me. It for one is my birthday. I have always been a big fan of birthdays for as long as I can remember. I find them extra special now with my kids since I guess I see them and that helps me remember to always try to be kid like no matter how old I am getting. My mom and dad always made my birthdays so special and I thank them.

Sunday is also London marathon day !!! Man year after year this race is so great. They hands down have the best pro fields. One thing that is great is that you can watch it live ( if you get up early ) on Universal sports. I for one will be up once more this year to watch to go. What a way to kick off my birthday I guess. Click on my link on the side bar to watch the race.

Lastly I will leave you today with a video from my all time favorite band. They have been the main soundtrack in my life since 1986. I have seen every show in MN since 1988 and each one has been great. The last one in 2008 was maybe the best ever. Thanks R.E.M for always being there for me.