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 !!