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.