The Great North Face 50 miler

This last weekend was the great North Face 50 mile out in the San Fransisco area. Each year this race grows in size and in the depth of the trail runners. Here is a fun little video I saw on youtube from The Endurables group that give us a good look into the race. Check it out.

Some top runs where put in from MN Chris Lundstrom, Katie Koski and Valeria La Rosa to name a few. Good job to all you MN trail runners who ran!!!

And the winner is.......

This weekend is a big weekend for me. First off it is Western Sates 100 mile lottery weekend. I will know this Saturday afternoon if I am a big winner or not. I figure either way it will be a great year or running in 2011 for me. Like I have said before with next year being my 1st year as a masters runner (40+) I am looking to put a little more into it. It will all start with a solid winter of running. Got to get in the miles, miles and more miles with a little bit of speed and hill training mixed in. Speaking of speed WS100 champ Geoff Roes has a pretty good blog up now with his take speed training.

The other big thing going on this weekend in regards to trail running in my world is the big North Face 50 mile championship being run out in the San Fransisco area this Saturday. As a big fan of the sport seeing a race stacked with such a deep field makes me super excited! Who ever wins the $10,000 first place check will have to work for it that is for sure. Here is my picks for the top spots.

Mens: Top 5 just not sure on order (I think there are like 8 guys who could win)
Uli Steidl, Geoff Roes, Chris Lundstrom(MN), Erik Skaggs, Dave Mackey. My heart pulls for Chris or "Lundo" as we call him since he is my good friend. If you see the names Dakota Jones or Thomas Lorblanchet do not be shocked as well. I know it has been rainy as of late but I would not be shocked to see the course record still fall.

Womens: Top 5 (like the mens race lots of top people but I will try to pick here)
1. Kami Semick
2. Devon Crosby-Helms
3. Ellie Greenwood
4. Krissy Moehl
5. Katie Koski (MN runner)

Also a big good luck to all the TC Running trail crew running in this race besides Lundo. Run great !!!

Turkey and Trail Running

Morning on the MN river bottoms

Well happy post Thanksgiving week to you all. I hope everyone out there had a great turkey day. I for one ate more than my fair share that is for sure. The problem has been that for some reason we got stuck with tons of dessert's at the house. I mean 3 pies, 1 plate with 12 huge brownies, and 1 big box filled with cookies. On that note I better start running a whole lot more.....

Speaking of running I had a great weekend of running with all my favorite people. I kicked it all off with a super Thanksgiving morning run with my wife. We have been trying to find ways to get out more together and this was great. Even though we did not get out to trails we ran a great parkway loop together from home. Always great to kick off the holiday with the wife!! that lead into a great Friday run from the store with Adam. How luck to work for such a good guy and friend.

After that end of the week I could not wait for the weekend. Saturday brought us the Pederson Benefit run out at Afton State Park. What a day for running great trails with just enough snow to make the trails feel a little different then a great pot luck lunch with so many fun people from the MN trail running community. Everybody out for a great cause of helping out the Pederson's after there house was flooded down in Zumbro this fall. Sonya, Paul and I got in a very solid 19+ miles. I was super excited with how good I felt.

Sunday was just the perfect ending to a great week. A 7 mile trail run with Paul and Sunshine down on the great MN river bottoms trail. Even though both Paul and I where a bit tired after the big day before, running with Sunshine will always pick you up. I can't begin to think of how many miles I have run with that dog. What a great running partner. Hell my first run ever with her was up and over Hope's Pass in Leadville,CO way back in 2005 I think? I should have know after that kind of first run it was the first of many.

Sunshine and me

After this last weekend I came away knowing what I always new all along. I am blessed with great family, friends and to live in such a special place. I give thanks every week for what I have.

Beer Relay's 2010

For the 6th year now I have hosted the beer relays. This event was thought of many years ago on a run with my buddy Nick; it just took a few years till I finally put one on. The reason for the two person relay was to add a fun team aspect to the event that was different than the normal beer mile. So how it works is simple. Runner #1 drinks a can of beer then runs a 400 and tags to runner #2 and they do the same. You repeat this 4 times till each team has a total of 8 beers and run two miles total. As you can guess your stomach takes a beating as that is allot of fluid of any type in that period of time.

This year we had a great turn out with 6 teams and many people along to take it the events. We had great weather once more which was great given that all week it looked like we would have rain/snow. The competition was hot and people ran till they puked. Well in some case's yes till they puked. In the end it was a great night with friends. Thanks to all who came and we will see you next year!

Our 3rd place team Chris and Helen 13:46

Sonya and Dave 2nd place once more 13:09 (Sonya's 6th in a row)

The 2010 Champions Paul and Laura 13:03

6th place team of Maria and Doug 31:39

5th place team of Adam and Dylan 17:22

4th place team of Nick and I 15:33 (we have been a team 5 of the 6 years!)

Lastly a picture I love. My good running pal's Paul and Brian"the younger"

Kilian's Quest

As any follower of this blog would most likely know by now I am a pure running rube. I have always been that way with sports in general but with running it has been off the charts for the last 22+ years. To me in sport it is so cool to see people push themselves to higher and higher levels. With running it is also cool because you can do this all while seeing the country or for some the world.

Kilian Jornet and his running quests the last few years have been extra fun to watch as the good people at Salomon let the normal people like us see the action with there great video's. What I love about these video's is to me you can truly see how much joy Killian gets out of these adventures and how he loves meeting the different people around the world. These 3 video's are from his last adventure but if you go to the Salomon web page you can see them all!!! Check them out and see our wonderful world.

Fall 50 mile

This past weekend Sonya and I where lucky to have the whole weekend to ourselves and headed up to Door County Wisconsin for a fun 5 year anniversary weekend and to do the Fall 50 mile road race. Now to most having 3 days without the kids is no big deal, but considering we had not had more than 1 night without the kids in over 4 years this was big. Thanks Mom Decker !!!!

We headed up early Friday morning so we could get out to our cabin in the afternoon. The drive was great as it was sunny and we got to talk non stop with each other for 6 hours straight; wow how cool. We rented a cabin in Bailey Harbor which is like 25 min's up from Sturgeon Bay where the race finish and headquarters was. The cabin was great with everything we could want or need. Hell I would love to come back and just hang out some long weekend. Well as fun as it was to sit we needed to get to work and get all our drop boxes together for the race as we did not have a crew and would need to have anything we would need all ready and waiting for us before hand. This is different for us as we always have a crew. Hell I think in races that I do more people know who my crew is as there are many of them and they are great. This weekend I traded there help with the race for a weekend alone with Sonya. After getting the drop boxes done we went into town to drop them off and get some diner. I was looking forward to a great big steak!!!

After a good nights sleep it was go time. Alarm went off at 4am and I was up and ready to go. Even though I did not really train for this I was excited and felt like it would be a great test for me. Where as Sonya had trained super hard and was ready to roll. I was very excited for her as I knew if she took care of herself she would do great.

We where greeted at the start with super weather and temps in the low 40's. We knew it was going to rain at some point in the day, we just hoped it was later in the race. After saying hi to our go friend John Storkamp and wishing him good luck we took our places at the line. Boom we where off.

Sonya and I settled into a good pace between 7:55 and 8:05 miles. The goal was to run 8-8:15 miles as long as we could. I knew for me I should be ok till 20ish or so at this pace then I might need to crack down and really work the mental side of things. It was so much fun running with Sonya. We kept a good pace, talked a little and got to see such a beautiful area together as we made our way down the peninsula starting from Gills Rock. As the miles rolled by I was happy with how easy Sonya looked and how I felt overall. Maybe this was going to be our day?

As we rolled past the marathon split in 3:32 I knew I was over half way done. I was feeling like my lack of serious training was starting to show a bit but I kept at it. It started to rain a bit at 28 miles and it was at that point I told Sonya to keep it rolling as I was going to go to the bathroom and just take a little extra care of myself. The last I saw of her in the distance was at mile 30 and it was raining hard, and would continue that way the rest of the race. I just hoped she would remember to take her rain coat at the mile 35 aid station. I knew I was looking forward to mine that was for sure.

Mile by mile went by and while I was a bit sore I kept running as much as I could and kept a good pace. I would take each mile and do a 1 min walk then run like 7:40ish pace for a few min's then take a 1 min walk and repeat that over and over. Once I got to 40 miles I knew I only had signal digits for miles left and that made me real happy. I fought thou the negative thoughts and was coming out the other side. With 2 miles left I just felt myself getting faster. The end was near, I was going to run a solid time, and Sonya was still ahead so I knew she ran a great race. As I crossed the finish line I pumped my fist two times. Once for me and once for my wife as I knew she had won the race and I was so proud of her. Our times at the end was Sonya 7:14 and myself 7:24 for 50 miles.


The next day after a great time looking around and such I was driving back home to our family and found myself looking back on the race weekend. It was great to have some time to just us, we both saw that we could do well, I saw that given some solid training I am not to far off where I used to be some years ago and we saw that we missed and loved our family.

Wow what a Fall to love running

Day by day, week by week it seems like everyday this Fall season has been great running weather. It has been such a joy to be able to hit the trails with the guys and get is some jogger runs with Evan and Sonya. Making it even better is the fact that I have been feeling pretty good as well. There is not a bunch to report on but thought I would just check in. I am hoping to do a few gear reviews and such.

This weekend Sonya and I will be going up to Door county for the Fall 50 mile road race. I am so excited to get in the care and hit the road. I have no idea what to shoot for as I really did not do a build up for this one. I am just looking to enjoy the race and the special time I will get to have with just me and my wife for 3 whole days!! This is the start to the as my friend Tony says the "new" Kurt days of not just hoping but doing time. I think he his right. I far to much when talking about myself say I hope I can do.... It needs to be I am doing...... Let the good times roll.

Here is a fun video from the North Face Canadian Death Race. Looks fun huh.


Lastly just wanted to say R.I.P Eyedea...........Mpls has lost a good onee

TCM and past few weeks in Review

Wow it's been a little while since I posted. So who was out at the Twin Cities marathon this last weekend? It was another year of fun, fun, fun. This is a special weekend for me as I get to see so many of my running friends all in one place over 3 days. Now working the expo is hard on the body and all but it is so worth it. After a great day on Friday I was excited for Saturday and the kids races. All my kids have always done these and little Evan LOVES it so much; he has done it every year and counting. He asked me if I would hang up a picture of him at the store if he ran well and of course I said sure. This is what I am thinking of, what do you think?

Sunday Evan and I got up early and took mom to the start of the 10 miler then when out on the course to start our long day of cheering people on. Sonya ran great to finish 7th and top masters runner. Her time of 1:03 40ish was one of her best on that course so she was very happy.

After Sonya's race we went up to the TC Running RV party at mile 24. Man was that fun. This year Adam added a music and microphone element to the scene. I think everyone running thought it was great. It makes me excited to be apart of the TCRC family on days like this. The combo of the party and seeing all the TCRC runners in there uni's go by litterly brings me to tears. Thanks People!!

On the running front my growing seems to be getting better week by week. So much so I signed up for the Door County Fall 50 mile. This will be a get the run done so I can put in for Western States 100. I got in a solid 25 miler 3 weeks ago which gave me the green light. It will also be a fun time to have Sonya to myself for 3 days!! First time in 4 years we will have more than 1 night without the kids. Plus on Sunday it is Vikings vs. Packers in Green Bay, Go Vikes.

Not sure what the next few weeks will bring but looking forward to getting out with friends and enjoy this great fall weather.

Low Profile

So with all the crazy talk in the paper the other day when a certain you know who in town talking about his book ( notice I am not saying the names? ) and his idea's on how to run. I found this great little video about the new for March 2011 New Balance Minimus shoes. They have a trail and road version. Both look and feel good to me. There is also a few great road version Inov-8 shoes out spring 2011. For that person who wants to feel low there will be lot's of good "new options" soon. I am looking forward to it allot. P.S. I have some five fingers and think they are great; just not for everyday use for me. Key word being "for me". Later people.......

Hope

I guess there is allot to hope for. For one I am hopeful that maybe this abdomen thing is maybe not one more hernia for me but maybe a muscle pull and some scar tissue tearing? Either way things have been feeling a bit better over the last week. Not to say it is poof all better but it is on a upswing. I am going to give it a good test this week and see how it goes. If all feels ok I think I might go sign up for the Fall 50 mile race up in Door County in late October. Sonya is running and we where going to make a weekend/ 5 year anniversary out of it so why not run huh. I need a 50 mile if I want any chance of running Western States 100 next year. Then again I will not be stupid and do something I am not ready for and only hurt myself more.


Speaking of Sonya she ran a great City of Lakes 25k this last weekend. I think like 6th overall and 2nd masters runner behind some gal from Colorado. She ran 1:42 which is a solid time for her and I was super happy for her. I think she is in pretty good shape and will have a great TC 10 mile then Fall 50 mile with any luck.

I will leave today's post with some great video's on Krissy Moehl. I got to know her a little a few years ago when I was part of the Montrail ultrarunning team. I found her to be a great person. Here are two real good video's to let you see all about her and what ultrarunning is about. Enjoy !!

That's what friends are for

I often talk to people about how special running is to me in oh so many ways. I do not know where to start with this, I could go on forever. All I know is that when times are tuff one of the things that always pulls me thru is my wife, family and running friends. My friends inspire me to get out there when I do not want to, to maybe go a little farther than I wanted to, to push when I feel like shit, or to just say good job after a run. I will never take you all for granted (even if it is 5am and I had just 5 hours sleep) because you make the journey so worth all the crap at times. Thanks !!!


Here is my buddy Chris at last weekends World Mt. Championships on the way to team silver !!! Nice job man I am proud of you.

What's next ?

That is the million dollar question I guess. What is next? I had hoped to be in really good shape and getting ready to run the North Face 50 mile in a few weeks in Wisconsin but that just is not in the cards as of now. Sometime life throws you curve balls and you need to adjust to the pitch. The funny thing is I spend each and every day telling people that at the store ( TC Running Company ) but sometime it is hardest to take your own advice. But as I just got done telling my good buddy Chris, Running is so great because it is a life long adventure and you never know where you might end up next in this sport. Nothing compares sport wise to that. Nothing!!

So here is what I am thinking about this fall. Maybe running some shorter trail and road races to keep stuff fresh ? Then maybe do either the Fall 50 mile road race in Door County and/or still go out to North Face 50 mile trail in December with the crew? There is always Surf the Murph 50 mile ? I got to do a 50 mile if I want any chance of going to Western States 100 next year. Heck looking at the great pictures from last weeks run on the SHT I still have that desire to run the whole dam length of that trail. Like I said we will see where I go. If I could only be like Helen huh, I could go everywhere.

I would like to send out a little shout out to Chris as he leaves tomorrow for the World Mt. Running Championships in Slovenia. Go get em man! Also would like to say congrat's to my buddy Matty G on getting engaged over the weekend. Good times dude, good times.

Oh yea one last thing. Thanks to all the TC Running team members out there. I love looking at blogs, facebook entries and such and seeing you all with your TCRC shirts on. I am very proud to have you all in my corner. Thanks!

(This is a video from this years Leadville 100. It give a good look into the race)

Ragnar 193 mile Relay with the Class of 90

Wow what a few days I had last weekend. I was luck to be on a team of old classmates for the Ragnar relay race from Winona to Minneapolis; all in all 193 miles of heat, hills, and no sleep. Many months ago when my friend Steve asked me about running with the guys on a Armstrong class of 90 team I thought the idea was pretty cool, but I had no idea until race day how cool it could be.

So as one could imagine not everyone had kept training like crazy the last 20 year. But that did not matter as it was all about getting it done and in my mind showing some Falcon/ coach Kleyman pride. I was in van #1. We where short 1 guy so Steve, Rob H, and myself each had to run 1 extra leg. That was no big deal as all three of us had been running the most from the group.

Leg 1: After taking the tag from Steve I raced out along the road. I tried to stay nice and easy as I knew I had lot's of running ahead of me on the day. The sun was out and it was hot and muggy. I felt good making my way along the road. I was also super glad to have my Garmin on to keep me in check, but I was also happy that the pace felt very easy. Leg one was a pretty non eventful one for me. I was excited to see my team as I handed back off to Steve after 6.2 miles of running. I believe I averaged 6:55 pace for the leg.

Leg 2: As I was about to start my second leg I was starting to feel that competitive twitch in me start. Having both team vans there to see me off was big. I was very proud to be there with them and wanted to show them I would not let them down and run a great leg. The sun was going down so that also made me excited as I love running that time of day. After getting the tag from Steve I set off on what looked like on paper as a hilly both up and down leg. In the first few miles there was like millions of nats bugs flying around. Made for some good protein snacks! I was feeling great keeping the pace at like 6:30ish. As I made my way toward the big 2.5 mile hill I knew to do what I do in the ultra's and crank it down a bit pace wise and keep a good rhythm. I can not tell you how great I was feeling as I passed people and as each 1/2 mile went by I was getting more and more excited about passing people. At the top of the climb I got a water and just said let er rip. On the long down hill I was keeping the pace around 5:55 to 6:00 min pace. I think I passed like 12 people alone on that hill. As I approached the end of the leg there was one more runner in front of me. I put my head down and pushed all the way to the end. What a feeling, I crushed it!! It was one of those times I wanted to just keep going and going. In the end I was like 5min's faster than Steve and hoped. I averaged 6:53 pace( with lots of the leg at 6:30 pace or better) on one hell of a 8.4 mile run.

Leg 3&4: This is where it was getting hard. Dude I was so tired from the long day. We had just slept in the car for 1 1/2 hours and I could not stop feeling droggy but I knew I needed to get it together as once Steve started I had only like 19 min's or so till I was up. Seeing Matt Wendorf come in running so hard over the bridge got me going. Hell the team was trying hard so I needed to man up. When Steve tagged me it was like 4:30ish in the morning? and I was easing into the start of my run? crazy. After the early 1/4 mile I started to get my groove. There was not many people to chase at this point, it was all me and my mind. I broke the run into two parts. The first leg of 3.8 miles then then the last leg of 3.4 miles. I was shocked at how good I was feeling running so hard with no sleep at this time of day. I went thru the first leg at 6:44 pace. Now came the hard part. I wanted to keep fyling along but my head was saying dude there is no body to chase and you are tired. I am pound to say I kept pushing. I crossed the line in 22:23 for the segment which was 6:37 pace. Boom I was done and real excited.

Over the next few hours I watched my team push themselves as hard as they could and I felt good. Good about how I ran and good about being a Armstrong Falcon!! I am very proud of each runner on the team, we all did the best we could on that day. The guys are already talking about doing it next year. I am not sure yet if I will be able to but I know if it works out I will be there as one of "Ricks Kid's" (coach K) and proud of it.

Baby Steps

So far so good I guess this week. I have been trying to take it one step at a time. With this recurring abdomen pain over the last few months I have been scared to do to much and push to hard. You know 2 sports hernia surgeries in the last 3+ years does that to a guy. I have talked to a few people and am taking the approach that it could just be scar tissue beaking a bit and not a new tear. Nock on wood it is that. Trying to stretch allot more and working with Dr. Folske every week doing active release might just work. I know I need to just plug along and get the work in and look for that one race to get my 50 miler in so I can out in for Western States 100 lottery next year. At first I was looking to do 2 more 50 mile races this fall but know I am holding with one. Who knows with this extra race taken out I can do some other races in the area. I would love to try some shorter races and challenge myself to try and be faster once more.


One of the highlights last week for me was my wife Sonya's great birthday long run. She has a tradition of doing a long trail run on her birthday so we went out to Afton state park with a few of our friends. Paul, Kim, Arica joined Sonya and I for a hot but great trail run. If you do not remember last Sunday it was like 99' out side with the heat index well over 100!! After many miles first Paul and I then Sonya went into the St. Croix river for a great post run swim. Man it was great. Now I know what Helen loves about doing this. I used to do this but life is busy with 3 kids so most of the time for Sonya and I it is run then go home. It was a great reminder to make time for this kind of stuff.

So far this week has been pretty good. We had a great group run today out at Hyland with Josh, Andy and the boys coming for the first time. Welcome guys and please come aging soon. Hope everyone has a great weekend and see you soon on the trails. Oh yea also check out the NEW TC Running Company blog I just started. It should be lots of fun with a new blog post every week about fun stuff at the store and things the store is doing in our great running community. I also hope to do Q & A's with lots of different people. Lastly there are links to many TCRC people's blog as well. Let me know what you would like to see on there.


*This video is from the upcomming USATF 10k trail championships. Give it a try.

Where to start

Well lot's has gone on in my life since the last time I posted anything. Only thing is most of the fun stuff has been non running stuff. Hmm I guess that is ok as well if you ask me. As I am sure anyone who has followed this blog for some time now has seen my running has been up and down more than a roller coaster the last few months, well maybe the last year or so ? I have been stuck in this funk for sometime now where things are not great but not horrible yet either. I have not been to happy about it but at the same time have been just trying to enjoy each day for all it has brought to me. Hell some days have great trail runs with guys like Darius one of my workers at the store or great road runs with Nick and or Jason. Then some days like today I feel like I am going to die. Oh well got to take the good with the bad and overall I am lucky to have lots of good in my life. Here is some of the highlight the last week or so
My little boy Evan had his 4th B-day party which was super fun. It is so great to see him grow up and become such a great little boy. Hell we had good cross training with the moon walk. Maybe a idea before the next ultra?


Evan and I each ran in the Hennepin Lake Classic races this last Sunday. I have always liked this race as it has been around a long time. Plus it was at this race Sonya and I first started talking to each other many years ago and it was just 4years ago we brought the few day old Evan to his first road race to meet all the nice MN runners. Evan did the kids 1/4 mile and I did the 10k and 5k double header as a good training run. With any luck things will get going better so I can run the North Face Madison race in late September.

I am going to leave you with this video I just found with super sud Max King from team Montrail. I hope this week finds many good miles of running ahead of both you and I. Enjoy the running and remember life is to short to be caught up to much in what's wrong, hell what's wright is what I am looking at one step at a time.

Would this not be fun or what ?

I often find myself thinking of all the fun running adventures out there for me to do. I have been putting a list together of all the things/ adventures I still want to do. Here is a seek peak into my mind. Let me know what you think and tell me what would you like to do.

( In no particular order )
1. Run Western States 100 mile one more time
2. Run Leadville once more and get that dam big buckle
3. Run the length of the Superior hiking trail all the way
4. Run all the way around Lake MKTA ( got the idea when driving to my brothers new house on the lake )
5. Do the Trans Rockies or Trans Alpine run some day

Some Like it Hot= Afton 50k

photo credit to Jen Pierce

What more can you say about the Afton trail race. It will be hot every year, its just part of the race no different than all the great hills during it with names like Meat Grinder. The heat is part of the race. I guess in a way that's cool. This was the third year in a row I have done the 50k. I have always loved running out at Afton State park but until three years ago I had done either one of the MN Voyageur races just a week or two later or was coming off a 100 miler. I am glad I finally got to it as it is a classic in my mind and one I do not plan on missing for many years. With John, Alicia and all the Afton race crew doing such a great job from start to finish it is a must for all runners.

Going into this years race I have had a up and down training cycle going on. Over all it has been good but the 3-4 weeks leading up to it had not been what I dreamed of with thinking of doing the race way back in December. That said I was looking forward to seeing all the great local trail runners out there and seeing what I could do. When the gun( John saying go ) went off I took off down the hill. I felt good and was ready to roll. As we started the first climb I was feeling OK but knew I needed to play it cool and not hammer. But as I found out the whole day I was able to hammer the downhills and felt so in control in my Salomon S-lab's. After a quick #2 potty stop about 7 miles or so in I was feeling pretty good but could tell the clouds where breaking and Mr. Sun was ready for us. I went back in forth with a few runners the next 3 miles or so but then saw no one for a long time. I passed the 25k mark in like 2:11ish and headed out for lap 2. It was midway on lap two and one more potty stop that I could tell the combo of my lack of stellar training over the last few weeks with the temp's getting super hot was going to get me. I decided to just do as my buddy Paul says "Get er Done" and make it thou without killing myself. I was slowing allot over the last loop. I ended up getting to the finish in 9th place and 4:50. Solid but I know I can do allot better. I guess there's always next year.

Now I need to get my head and body in line and put together a great few weeks of training as I have until mid September till my next race at the North Face 50 miler in Madison area. I am looking forward to it. I really want to run Western States 100 miler next year one more time and I need a 50 mile time to enter the lottery. So this next race is real important. As I say it's about the journey just as much as the destination. See you on the trails people !!

You will find lot's of great pictures from the race at the races blogspot. Click here for the link. Thanks to all the people who where out taking these great pictures. They add so much to the race as well. And lastly it would not be a blog post from me without a a closing video. This is from USA mountain runner Ricky Gates from his European trail running tour back in 2008. It's more about adventure's we should take while we can in life.

What's next, take rwo

**( Second try at this post, Sorry wrote it late last night)
Man after last weekend I was very excited about running. That's the power of the Western States 100 miler. It is funny to me that I can get so much from some event like this and have it effect me in such a way when it is so far away. It truly is a special race in my mind. What about those times run ? I not sure what to say other that crazy. On the guys side we have 2 guys under the old course record, plus the next two guys ran times that win the race like every year other than this year. On the womens side you have the top 4 all super close and I believe all in the top 30 overall. Plus I guess they had more sub 24 hour people this year than ever before. Pretty special.

This weekend is the big 4th of July weekend and we know what that means in MN... It's Afton trail run weekend! I will be doing 50k once more. If you asked me a few weeks ago I would have been pumped about what time I could run. Well not so sure now but as ready to give it my best shot. If that is not enough we have the Tour de France starting on Saturday and the PRE classic on Sunday where there are some guys gunning for the American record in the 5k. Should be great!

If you want to get more WS100 crazy there is a great spread of info over at www.irunfar.com ,Go check it out.

The Western States 100 mile

It is almost upon us; the 2010 running of the Western States 100 mile. I think most runners you would talk to who have run it would say it is one special race. I had the pleasure of running it back in 2003. It was my second 100 mile race and first mountain race. It was one of the best days of running I have ever had. I learned so much about the sport and about myself in that 24 hours. I long for another chance to go back and give it a good shot. I know I would run so much faster. I guess I will have to put my name in the hat and see what happen once more at this years lottery.

This years race is looking like a epic battle on both the men's and women's sides. I for one think the men's side is deeper but that is taking nothing away from the women as there are a bunce of super good women running this year. It's just that the men's side is on paper maybe the deepest field ever? I guess we will see how thing shake out over the day. You can watch the web cast of the race at the Western States web site www.ws100.com or I also believe there is good race day stuff at this site Ultralive.net

So onto the race. Well in most peoples mind there are 4 real big dogs and a bunch of tier two guys. The big four at Anton, Hal, Kilian and Goeff. I am super torn on who to pick. I know Hal is two time champ and has lot's of experience. Anton; well he is Anton and super fast. Goeff has become a super stud over the last year and a half showing he has the goods over 50k up to 100 miles. But in the end I think Kilian is just a freak of nature. If not to fried from his last Kilians Quest 3 weeks ago I am guessing he will do it. That being said I think those other guys will give him a run for the title.

My picks:
1st- Kilian in course record time
2nd- Goeff also under the old course record
3rd- Anton in 15:58
4th- Josh Brimhall in 16:18
5th- Hal in 16:20

** My buddy Tony Kocanda I am guessing 19:19

Women's:
1st- Devon Crosby-Helms
2nd- Joelle Vaught
3rd- Nikki Kimball
4th- Tracy Garneau
5th- Megan Arboghast

Ok I have been slacking a bit, but...

So you call me a slacker? Well looking at how long it has been since I last did this I guess so. Where to start, hmmm? Well lets start with training. Man I put together like 3 1/2 great weeks of running awhile ago. I was hitting the trails hard and feeling great. Hell I even made it to Afton 3 weekends in a row to rock the great trails out there with Afton 50k up coming. Well then it all went south. The week after Fans 12/24 hour was hell as my wife was super sick. Like in the hospital 3 different times! I am happy to report after 2 crazy weeks she is feeling much better but man what a crazy 2 weeks. Then if that was not crazy all on it's own I tossed in this little 2 1/2 day trip to France with the great people from Salomon for a launch for this new road to trail shoe that will be out in early 2011. Great trip but ended up being bad timing with Sonya being so sick. Lucky for me I have great family who help out so so much.

But just like Sonya I am happy to report I had a great end of the week of training with 3 days of trails at Hyland, MN river bottoms, and Lebanon Hills boom boom boom. Have running being so messed up that 2 weeks did not make me to excited for what Afton will bring but I love that race and will give it the best I have on that day. If I can only get as fast as these guys I am standing with hear. On the left Adam Chase and on the right Jonathan Wyatt( 6 times world mountain champ and 2 times Olympic runner). I think I should go run more now. I will blog more later on my views on the weekends upcoming Western States 100 miler. Happy trails people.

New Afton Trail Race Blog

Just a little FYI for all those trail runners out there who are looking for more info on the upcoming Afton Trail Run on July 3rd. The race has a new blog where you can get info on the race as well as see what the shirt for this years race will look like ! I for one love the Afton t-shirts and love the look of this years one. Click here if you would like to see it.

I would strongly encourage anyone looking for a first class race to look into doing this one. I have had this on my race calender all year and am looking forward to it in a big way. Like I said it is first class in every way. Heck this year it is also the first ever USATF-MN trail running championship for 25k and 50k. There will be prize money to all runners running who are USATF members that place in the top 3 open and masters(40+) I believe. Pretty cool ! Hope to see you out there on the trail and while there look for me and the TC Running RV. Man I better keep training hard as we are like 6 weeks away I think.

Ruff Start, Solid End !

In my last post I talked about how the SHT kicked my ass. Boy how correct I was. At the start of last week my legs felt completly trashed. It was hard for me to believe this w the case as I felt I shut it down enough comming back to the finish the following weekend and that I would be ok. I guess I was wrong; dead wrong. So with all the shit in my legs I was going to take the week easy. I had Sunday and Monday off compleatly then began running Tuesday night. I was thinking I would take one more day off but went out after work with Pete Miller anyway. It was a good call as I could feel my legs getting better as the run went on. The next two days where more of the same and I was thinking I sure put myself in a bad spot. But after Saturday and Sundays run I was feeling much better about my desision to do what I did during the week. On Saturday I had a great run down on the MN river bottoms by myself. Man what a great place and only like 13 min's from my house ! Then I had the pleasure of running with Sonya and Helen out at Afton state park. Each and everytime I run at that place I just love it. It is perfect to me. Nice mix of single track, open meddow runnning, long uphills and downhills. I am very much looking foward to getting ready for the upcomming Afton 50k on July 3rd with many runs out there. If you have never run there please check it out !!!

So funny thing on todays down right crazy hot (96'outside) run. As Adam and I made our way out and back to from the store we talked about how great it is to have friends and teammates to motivate us in our running. It is so true and everyday that goes buy in my life I continue to see this more and more. It is one of the things in my life I feel so blessed with. It is one of the reason I love my family and job so much. Everyday I think I will reach that day where I do not feel this. So far 39 years has gone by and so far so good. I am blessed. So I will enjoy the jurney and keep pusshing myself and firends to be the best we can be.



So this is the latest 2 videos for the 2010 season of Kilian's Quest Please check them out. Good stuff to help you get out the door.

Getting my ass kicked by the SHT

Boy oh boy was it a crazy trip up north for the Superior Trail 50k. The trip started in the parking lot of TC Running company as all 13 people ( yes I said 13 ) loaded into the TCRC RV. I new from the second we left the parking lot it would be a fun trip with all these good people along for the ride. When Adam asked me like a year ago what I thought about us getting a store RV this was exactly what I was thinking about.

With all the people heading up north for the weekend it was a bit slow going at first but before we new it we where in Duluth and ready to get some food. Keeping with our group tradition we stoped at Grandmas for food. Maybe the only downside of such a big group is how long it takes to get your food. After eating it was off to Lusten and the Mountain Inn. Now there was lots of good stories all the way up which made the time go by pretty fast I thought. Then aging maybe it was Adam and his music that was doing this? Once we got there most people just realy went into pre-race mode and hunkerd down in all the rooms. Heck that was fine by me as I was pretty ready for bed.

Beep beep beep was the next thing I heard as it was race morning. I was excited to get up and get ready to get it on. After getting my race packet and doing all my pre race stuff ( a little food and my Vespa ) I headed down to the starting line ready for a adventure. I knew this would be a hard day as every race I have ever done on this trail has been real hard on me. Lets just say all the dam roots kill me each and every time. After a great team picture we where off and running. I felt strong as I setteled into a nice pace with my friend Erik. After getting to the first aid station at mile 7 I tried to take up the pace a bit. Things where going well the next 3 or 4 miles until I cranked my right ankel on a small bridge pretty good. Then I had a pit stop a few miles later. Hell before I knew it I was seeing my race fall apart before my eyes. As I headed out from aid station 2 which is at like 12 miles I was starting to feel like maybe I was doing ok as I had not seen the leaders yet comming back from the turn. It was like 1 1/2 miles later I came across Chris G the race leader. He looked good as he flew buy me. Not long later came some of my TCRC teammates Brian, Lundo, Joe and Tony ( we had 12 runners in all in the 50k ). Seeing them cranking along picked me up. At this point I was making my way up the climb to Carlton Peak and the half way mark. As I turned around and made my way back I knew I was in for a long trip back. Not only was my body just not rolling very well at this point, but my mind was going in the tank fast. Oh well I thought lets just make this a good long run and not hurt anything. Some things as easier said than done. Lets just say the last 7 miles seemed like a long time to be out there. I finaly made my way to the end of the trail and onto the short road section to the finish line. I knew my body had lots in it as I ran like 6:30 pace to the line, my mind just did not want to go with it. I finished in 5:10. Not bad but not good either as I felt like a 4:30- to 4:40 was doable based on my fittness leval. This trail is just not made for me. I am not the best super rocky/rooty trail runner out there. Then just add lots of mudd and bang a super course. Hell thats ok, I am what I am. I have run many races on that trail and none have ever gone as well as I wished. I am glad I just keep trying as in the end I got to run on a beautiful trail, see lots of great people from the MN trail community and test myself once more. I guess better luck next year huh.

Well the trip back as you might guess was even better than the trip up. Aging more great stories, Burritios from Burrito Union in Duluth and some adult drinks to top it all off. I think I could get used to doing this every weekend. Now I just need to think of another good trip for the RV !!

I now leave you with a song from the great new Dead Weather album !!!

Up and Down

Up and Down would be the best way to talk about the last week or so. Man I had a great week last week with some solid runs on Friday at Hyland and Saturday at Lebanon Hills. I was very happy with where I was standing last Sunday night. Well then came this week. Talk about a downer of a week. Man I have struggled with getting in my runs and hell when I have ran I have felt sluggish. Not really how I was hoping to go into race week next week. I hope to rebound with a good weekend and go from there. I have to remind myself that is the flow of running and of life.


Here is a little video from last weekends Miwok 100k. This is one race I hope to do sometime soon. My friend Helen did it and was great ! If you have time check out the race write ups from Anton, Devon and Gary. There are links on my side bar to the right.


Well here is my video for the week. From a great Scottish band I like called Idlewild. There album The Remote Part is one great one. I think I would give it a A grade as I like every song on it. Check it out !! This song is from a later album, catchy song I think.

One last thing. There is a great write up from Matt Fitzgerald of Barefoot running. This is the link. I would read it as I found it very good.

Crazy Times

Good golly it has been so busy around the Decker house the last two weeks. Hence the lack of blogging. So where to start huh ?

Well how about with a little Trail Mix 50k race re-cap. The race went pretty well I thought. Going into it I figured I was in 3:50-4:00 hour shape. I figured I would shoot for 57 min laps or so and just go with the flow. The race was stacked with lot's of fast runners and we had a great day weather wise so that was good. When the race started we got out hard. Hell I looked at my Garmin and we where rolling 6:30 miles and the leaders where pulling away! I backed off as I knew I was not ready for that yet. The whole first lap I was feeling great and very much in control and happy with how I was running. I hit 54 mins for the first lap and knew I need to slow some as we still had a long way to go. I was running the race alone for the most part so I was very happy to have my ipod rocking. Late on the second lap my friend Kelly caught up to me and we ran for awhile together. It was great to see how he was doing. He was using this as a training run before Ice Age 50 miler in 4 more weeks. At the end of lap two I was 56 min for a 25k split of 1:50 and I was feeling super good! I took a second Vespa going into the third lap and was excited as this was coming together well for me. Not much happen that third lap. I continued to run alone and listen to my tunes. It was funny to me to think I had run so far and only ran with someone like for 30 min's or so total. This third lap was a 59 min one. The last lap was crunch time for me. I knew I needed a 1:10 lap to run 4 hours. I tried to be the "new/old" Kurt and said hell forget 4 hours let's run as close to 3:50 as possible. It was on this last lap I could tell I was getting towards the max of my current fitness level but was very happy I was still cruising along hitting 6:40 mile pace still in the flatter areas. As the finish was coming I was very happy to be done and very tired. But it was more of a emotional type of tired as I knew I was finally back to running more like my old self. It felt good! In the end I was 3:53 and good for 8th place overall. I will take it as it is a good starting point as I build for Afton in July.
Hmm what else was going on? Oh yea my wife had surgery to have her Gallbladder taken out and I had my 39th b-day. I am happy to report Sonya is doing good as we even got to run some trails yesterday for my b-day! I had a good feeling during yesterdays run this is a good start for the summer for both of us. Bring it on. I leave you with this little video for a group I have been digging. Enjoy!

Ist Ultra on the year

Well it's go time I guess. The first ultra of the season for me is this weekend at Trail Mix 50k. I have run this race many times over the years, and in fact it is where I did my first ever ultra way back in 2001. Because I train there so much and have run this race so many times it is easy to feel bored with it some would say. But in a strange way it always hold a special place for me because this is where it all started for me. The last few years I have not been in the best shape going into it so I have just ran it to run it. This year I feel like I have run pretty good leading into it. I do not think I am in any shape to go after my own course PR of 3:41 but do feel like I can run a good race. I actually feel a bit nervous about this one as I find myself wondering what I can run for time. Well in the end I just want to do the best I can and enjoy being back to running with a purpose. Plus it is always so fun to see all the trail friends I have come to know and love over the years. If you are out there say hi !

Looking for something to pump me up this week I was super excited to see the first Kilian's Quest season 2 video is out. Man this kind of stuff gets me all excited ! I also found this movie trailer for Wandering Fever about Salomon runner Ryan Sandes. Enjoy and I hope you get half as much out of this as I do. Also do not forget this Monday is Boston Marathon day. You can watch the race live on Universal Sports.com

Trail Season in Full Swing

What a weird week. It was a week filled with lot's of highs and a few lows as in no running days. I unforchatly had two goose eggs this week; what a bumber that was. All in all though I got in some good days of running everyday that I did get out. All but one run this week was on dirt as well. My shortest run this week was 8 miles (one day) and I had two runs of 15 miles or farther so that was good. I did miss out on a 20 miler I was hoping to hit but no such luck. Yesterday was going to be that day but I can tell I am getting hit hard by the allergies bug now. Man today I have felt like I am in outer space all day long, which makes for a long day let me tell you.

So if I was asked what big things stood out in my week I would have two say the group run Friday morning out at Hyland Park. I have been going to the group alot over the last year and it has been oh so fun. There is always like 4-10 people who run at the 6am start. Now that the winter is over and people are rapping up there running we even started back the "early" loop which is at 4:50am. Man it is dark at that time. So I figured I would go to the first one of the year to make up some miles for the week. We had like 5 guys going. But when we got back to the parking lot to pick up the 6am starters there was like between 25 and 30 runners ready to go ! I thought to myself "do they know its 6am" ? It was great to run with so many people on the dirt.

* Some of the friday group at last years Leadville 100 miler

But the biggest thing to happen this week was the birth of my nephew Oliver Martin Decker on Saturday night. I am so happy for my brother Kevin and his wife Emily. It's nice for Evan to have another boy around now.


This week should be a good one. I hope to start feeling better and run on some more dirt and then at the end of the week we are off to the Madcity 100k in Madison,WI for the USATF 100k national championships. Sonya has trained super hard for this and hope this is her year. Wish her luck. Click on the link for the race day webcast. Happy trail running people.

World Cross Country 2010

Good god can these runners make it look so easy as they float over the land with ease. Mark my words if World Cross ever comes back to the USA I will be there ! I hope you enjoy this as much as I did even though I do not speak polish. I guess that is the beauty of running. All you need to do is watch.

Human Race 8k Report

Man that was fun and scary all at the same time. As always it was so fun to be at that race seeing everyone from all the teams and such milling around before the race, during and after. That is one of the things I love best about all racing is seeing the people. I will say going into it I was a bit scared as it had been some time since I had run a race of any distance where I was going to give it my all right from the start. In the ultra's I find it easy to say heck it long I will just start easy; and in road races I just have not put in a honest effort out in sometime.

I knew I had put together a solid 4 months of running and was is pretty good shape. Not my best but getting closer than I have been in years. I knew I had not done much speed work but figured I had done enough that I thought 5:40-5:50 pace was doable for me. I wore my Garmin 405 for a few reasons. 1) I thought it would help me not go out to hard from the start and 2) It would give me confidence when I saw that I could hold 5:40ish type pace and not feel like I was going to die. It was a good call by me.

Mile 1- Got out good, very in control as we made are way up the rise toward Snelling, a good start. 5:57 split
Mile 2- Well I never saw the 2 mile marker so I just kept on rolling as I was excited I was going to make it to the turn around the school before the leaders had past by me! It had been a few years since this has happen.
Mile 3- I was trying to catch up to a group that had just passed by me as I knew I needed to keep things rolling. A bit bumbed I did not feel any tailwind since we had it in our face a bit going out. Seems like the winds always swirl around there. I had a average pace of 5:46 for the last two miles.
Mile 4- So at this point I was working hard to keep pushing on. I was telling myself do not quit like the past few years. Keep pressing. Much harder to re-train yourself to do this that I thought. I believe I was like 6:03 pace but the Garmin read 1.06 miles so I guess sub 6 for a true mile. This mile has a gentle uphill for a while so it is always the slowest.
Mile 5- At this point my lung could not believe how hard they where working. I was happy to keep passing a few people and holding my spot. I was wanting to slow as I saw the line but kept going after it as I knew I needed to. I ran a 5:39 last mile which made me happy.

All in all I did not run anywhere near my times of the past when 27:30 was a normal day, but I was very happy about the run. I thought coming in I would be between 28:30ish and 29 mins or so. I guess 29:10 fits the bill. 5:50 mile pace for 5 miles. Still lots of work to do but as I did my 7 mile cool down I thought about how things are starting to go my way.


Evan " litte Pre " and Summer in the kids run. Just look at the arm carriage people

Race Week

I always struggle with how much to run the week of a race. It's not like I am peeking for this Sunday's race but I also hope to have a good run there. So after many great weeks in a row I decided to cut back just a bit so I could put my best foot forward at race time. I still had a great workout on Tuesdays and followed that up with a solid baby jogger up tempo run tonight with Evan. Man pushing a almost 4 year old gets harder by the week. But I will say I can tell my fitness must be better since I does not feel like total hell. It is funny the looks I get while we are flying around the lakes.

So have you been hitting the trails ? I sure hope so as it is great to be back on dirt ! I have been at Hyland a few times the last week or so plus the single track trails along the creek by our house have been nice as well. I have been trying a bunch of trail shoes this year so far. I have been super excited because we have gone all in full tilt with the trail running gear at TC Running Company. As a long time trail/ultrarunner I always thought it sucked that you had to go to like 5 different places to get what I wanted/needed. So Adam and I thought why not become trail headquarters for the Twin Cities area. We have added Montrail, Vasque and in July Salomon shoes to our already big wall of trail shoes. I also have stocked up the nutritional stuff, water packs and headlamps to name a few things. Heck as always I tell people that if they need it and I do not have it tell me and I will see what I can do ! So back to the shoes. I have been running in the NB 100, Inov8 xtalon 212, Montrail Rockridge and now the Vasque Transistor fs shoes. I will have to say that I have liked them all alot. The NB and Inov8 are super light and fast and the Montrail and Vasque are lighter but also have some good extra cush. It is great to have so many good options to run in. Hmm what will be my race shoe at Trail Mix 50k ???

Well my video or in this case 2 videos for the week is a good one. All time favortive bands in Fugazi and the Decendants !! Brings me back a long time ago and to a time where I spent alot of time at there concerts.

St. Patty "Haman Race"=Great race

Year in year out the start to the road race season officially starts at the St Patty Day "Human Race" 8k championship in St Paul. This race has hosted the MN 8k road championships for so many years in a row now I could not count that high. It is for a good reason. The race offers all the things I think make up a quality race. It has a great course, Great competition, very well organized race day from packet pickup to actual on course stuff like mile markers, air stations, etc. I have run the race almost every year since 2002. It to me marks the start of spring racing !! If you are looking for a great way to kick of the spring and want to run a top notch race check it out. You can get info at TSL Evants.com
* Ok so it is St Paddys Day "Human Race" 8k !!! Sorry Helen

A Busy Weekend

So can we say crazy nice outside or what. Man It is over 60 today ! This is one heck of a way to end out the weekend that is for sure. Hell its so nice I think the kids and I are going to go for a walk tonight.

Running wise it was another great week as well for me. I lock up one more solid week of miles and this week saw lots of faster pace running; something that was feeling good after so many months of running on snow and ice. Probably the highlights of the week for me came Tuesday and Saturday when I had a great runs where I was just feeling so easy while the whole time I was clicking off mile after mile of 6:30-6:40 pace with even some 6:10 miles in there as well. It was a great feeling to say the least. It feels good to see that the consistent running is starting to pay off. I finished off the weekend with a great MN river bottoms run with Tony around 12 noon. Man what more to ask for but sun, shorts, lots of dirt and great company. It was a real easy shake out run but once more I was feeling super good and feeling like the hard work is paying off. I know people say it all the time but good things happen with lots of hard work. I am so excited to race soon. I thought the trails would have been super muddy but they are not to bad.

Other busy stuff going on the weekend was lots of running to follow. We had NCAA indoor track live on ESPN 360. You can even go back and watch all the good races by clicking on the link. Also go over to Universal Sports.com to watch the World indoor track and field championships as well. And last but not least there was the USA 15k champs at Gate River run and Way too Cool 50k going on. Man lots for a running junkie like myself to keep up on. Now get out there and enjoy this weather !!

This Weeks video is the band Bloc Party. Their songs are great to run to, up tempo !