Dances with Dirt

Olympic Marathon Trials Picks

2012-01-13T22:20:00.002-06:00

I guess it is that time to make my final picks before I hit the hay and get ready for my very early long run. This is one of the hardest years that I can remember for me to come up with my picks. Well here you go and enjoy. Good luck to all running!!

Mens:

1.) Dathan Ritzenhein

2.) Ryan Hall

3.) Brett Gotcher

4.) Jason Lehmkuhle

5.) Matt Gabrielson ( call me a MN rube but I cant help it on the last two guys )

Womens:

1.) Desiree Davila

2.) Shalane Flanagan

3.) Katie McGregor

4.) Amy Hastings

5.) Kara Goucher

Hello New Year, What's Up?

2012-01-05T19:14:00.002-06:00

Kind of crazy that it is the start of a new year. It seems like not that long ago I was getting in some great long runs and rocking the indoor track in EP to get out of a everyday in the snow. Well this year I am still running the dirt trails. Yes I said dirt trails, and yes it is Jan 5th in Minnesota.

I think I had one of the best closes and starts to a year for me in sometime. On new years eve I met up with Paul and a ton of the guys for a little run down by the Mpls lakes. Some guys where doing a 31 mile run. Paul and I did the 16 mile option as we hoped to run longer the next day on the trails. The run was great and we had lot's of good conversation about the year that was passing and what some of us where looking forward to in 2012. Plus you got to love a run where the turn around in at the Melo Glaze doughnut shop! After the run Paul and I got some coffee then met a few others over at Paul's house for a little Unbreakable movie showing. Little did Paul know that after the movie I was taking him to his surprise 50th birthday party. He had no idea and seemed to love it. Sonya and the kids met me at the party and we ran in the new year.

To roll in 2012 Sonya and I put together a little fun run out at Lebanon Hills on what was a little snow covered trail running. People went between 7.5 to 31 miles. I had a super 21+ mile run. I felt so strong over all but did not want to push it to much. As I sat around and waited for Sonya to finish up I thought about what I was going to do different in the new year. I guess the answer I came to was to keep putting one foot in front of the other and let that love of my sport grow in my heart day by day and mile by mile. Keep challenging yourself people as who know where you might find yourself.

So watch this kid climb. Crazy and free

Top 10 Music for 2011

2011-12-28T21:53:00.002-06:00

It's time for the 2011 edition of my top 10 albums. Music has always been a big part of my life and every year I put together my top 10 list and share it with my friends. Last year I decided to do a top 10 songs of the year as I truly did not feel like there was 10 solid albums I got that year. I am happy to report that 2011 did not fall short. I feel like I have a solid list to share with you all. Here we go....

10.) Blitzen Trapper-American Goldwing

9.) The Decemberists-The King is Dead

8.) Blink 182- Neighborhoods

7.) Radiohead- The King of Limbs

6.) R.E.M.- Collapse Into Now

5.) Dawes- Nothing is Wrong

4.)The Black Keys- El Camino

3.) Coldplay- Mylo Xyloto

2.) Wilco- The Whole Love

1.) Ryan Adams- Ashes & Fire

I saw the comeback of Blink 182. More solid records from bands like The Decemberists, Coldplay, Blitzen Trapper, The Black Keys and Dawes. Radiohead? what can you say they always bring it for me. Wilco seems to get better every time I see them live. Sadly the end of a all time favorite in R.E.M. They went out on a super note. Then we have maybe the greatest songwriter of his generation Ryan Adams made a masterpiece. His show at the State Theater was a thing a beauty. Happy New Years people and talk to you soon in 2012!

2 weeks out

2011-12-17T16:28:00.004-06:00

Hey there. Well it has been two weeks since the 50 miler and I am happy to say I am feeling super good! I have been taking it easy with a few off days here and there followed by a 8 miler or so. Today I did my longest run with a solid 15 miles with a bunch of the guys. I was super happy that I felt crisp. Just trying to not be stupid and over do it. I am planning on one more easy week then I will start the training for the next race Sylamore 50k in Arkansas on Feb 18th. It has been 7 years since the last time I ran there. I look forward to challenge of what is ahead of me.

On a non running note I was Super lucky to be suprized by my wife and got to go see Ryan Adams play at the State Theater last Tuesday night. I have been a fan for a long long time and had never seen him. He did not disappoint that is for sure as I loved it!!

In the mean time enjoy this video from the Salomon people from North Face San Fransisco.

North Face 50 mile report

2011-12-07T16:39:00.006-06:00

( Like 5 min's drive from hostel )

Where to start I ask? I guess I will just give you the full meal deal and break it all down for you. So go get that drink and settle in as here we go....

It was 9:30am on Friday December 2nd and I find myself sitting on the plane heading to San Fransisco for the weekend and the North Face 50 mile. It was to be my first and last ultra race for the year. I will admit I was a bit nervous as it was a big deal to me to give it my best effort. I knew that I had a pretty solid training block behind me. Not the best training block ever but still pretty good and I was happy. I thought to pass the plane time and to pump myself up I would listen to some Ultra Running podcast to draw some inspiration from. Boom 3+ hours went by and we where there and I felt even more excited about what was about to happen.

( Look at the size of these trees! )

After checking out Muir woods then going to the hostel where we stayed, we headed into San Fransisco for the movie premiere of Unbreakable. It was fun to watch this great 2 hour movie with 350 other ultra runners while eating some pasta. After the movie Anton, Goeff and Hal three of the four movie's main players talked a little. It was pretty sweet. It was time to head back and get ready to go to bed and run.

( Sunset from our front yard )

Believe it or not I slept pretty darn good, something that does not always happens for me. After a little food and pre race prep it was off to the start and what was sure to be a super run.

( 100 yard walk to the race start/end )

As the start horn sounded I felt to huge amount of excitement rush through me. I was here doing this. My road to get back to racing was a long one but I was back. The first 3 miles of this race set the stage for what was ahead of me. Section after section of 1-2 miles uphill followed by 1-2 miles of downhill. It was a up/down race. Once the sun came up which was like 2 hours into the race I think the views where beyond belief. If you where not next to the ocean you where running in the huge redwoods of the area.

I felt good and in control for the all the way to the turn around of the short out and back section(mile 26ish?) not to fast but not to slow I thought. It was not until heading on the long downhill into Stinson Beach did my stomach start to be a problem. I started taking some salt and drinking coke at each station and that seemed to help some. On the climb up the Dipsea trail and mile 30 is when I could tell that my legs on the downhills where not so good. I guess it was time to hammer the power hiking up hills and try to keep a good pace on all the other sections.

My buddy Nick caught up to me at like 33 or 34 miles. He was having a great race I thought and this was a chance to challenge myself and try to stay with him. Over the next 8 miles Nick kept putting the hammer on me and I was proud that I kept fighting back. When we got to the beach aid station at like mile 42 we started this crazy big climb. It was at this point I pulled away from Nick as it seemed like I was climbing a bit better at this point of the day. Over the next 8+ miles I just kept pushing the uphills as hard as I could and try to do my best to not fall apart on the downhills to much. To think running downhill was harder at this point, kind of funny huh.

As I made my way up the final climb to the finish I was very proud of myself. Not because I had my best race time wise, not even close. But because I was back at it and that even though I was not at my best I kept on fighting. I know that with a year of solid training and racing I can come back and take off at least one and a half to two hours on my time. I guess we will have to see what happens. In the end for me it was not about time or place but about being apart of the sport I love with all my heart and soul.

( I am done!! )

Run= 51 miles in 9:48 with 11,604 feet of up and 11,591 of down!!

( Some of MN Race crew )

One week, It's Go Time

2011-11-25T16:54:00.002-06:00

I can't believe I am just one week away from the North Face 50 mile EC in San Fransisco. When I set out those 16 weeks ago to train for this race as a good way to go out 2011 it seemed so far away. Even with a few weeks of training under me it was so scary as that self doubt that sets in after not racing for so long. Can I make it work? Can I run the way I used to run? I stand here now knowing that I did all I can and in the process made myself a better runner and found that love deep in my heart for the trails. I look forward to the race and what it will toss at me. I will do my best and use this as a springboard to my 2012 season. I am ready, Bring it!!

Building the Perfect Beast

2011-11-15T15:52:00.003-06:00

Man what a great few weeks of training it has been since I last did a blog post. Have you ever had those times in your running life where with each run you can feel yourself getting stronger and stronger and you frankly just do not want to stop. Well after a long time passing with none of those feelings, I have finally come into a nice patch of those runs. Man what a feeling!

It has been so nice to go out on the run and just feel smooth with each step, strong on the uphills, fast on the downhills. It is a time where everything seems like it is in slow motion. I know that times like this do not always last forever so I will keep my fingers crossed and keep plugging forward as I know Dec 3rd and the North Face 50 mile is not to far away. No matter what happens the journey so far has been fun and it has been a great fall running lot's of new and old favorite trails with my buddies.

By the way who knew that Battle Creek Park in St Paul had so many trails and so so many hills! Thanks Aaron that was one hell of a last 20 miler in the training cycle. Happy Trails people.

On my way

2011-10-28T14:09:00.004-05:00

Since I last wrote I have had quite a few good weeks of running and life. Running wise I had my longest trail run since March when I got in a solid 21 miles with Aaron out on the great trails of Lebanon Hills, man what a great park as it never disappoints me. What I like so much is the mix of rolling single track and some pretty good hills. It was great to have some company for this one and I was super happy with how relaxed and in control I felt. Aaron is in much better shape than me so I was glad to be able to hang with him. I have also had a few real good ski hill repeats sessions out at Hyland as well. I know running on as many hills I can will be key in 6 short weeks at North Face EC.

Last weekend was a down weekend with our trip up to Door County for the Fall 50 mile race (more on this later) with Sonya and the kids. I did have a solid 7 mile run on Sunday on the country roads where I was able to keep a real solid pace. This week has been highlighted with a super fun Monday night run on the river bottoms followed by some beer and burgers. What fun and I hope we can do more of this type of stuff.

Back to Door County and the Fall 50 mile. This was our 3rd time going up for this race. Sonya has run each time. Last year I was able to join her for it as she ran to the win and a real solid time. I think she was like 7:10? for 50 miles. Anyhow this year we knew she was in good shape but was maybe one more rest week away from being ready to really go after it given that she had run the Chicago marathon just 13 days before hand. She still wanted to give it her best shot so I was happy to come along to help her out. We even brought the kids with and with the TC Running RV had one hell of a weekend. We where greeted with great weather for the race and all was looking super at half way. Sonya was still on 7 hour pace and looking good. It was at like 32 or 33 miles things took a turn for the worst as after many potty stops her stomach started to go south and the vomiting started. Man that is one way to cover the last 15-16 mile. Needless to say she stuck with it jogged/ walked the way in. Now it took her more than 2 hours longer this year I was super proud of her for marching forward. Lots of faster runners like her would have stooped since it was not there day but she dug deep and got it done. I am real proud of her.

After many hours of resting we new we where not going home that night so we decided to make Sunday a nice day with the kids. We went to one of the state parks Whitefish Sand Dunes park and had a super time. It was nice to have the whole family together.

This weekend will be a big weekend for me as I get ready. In fact it will be my biggest weekend leading up to the race. I am real excited to going out to Murphy to do my long run and watch some of my friends running the different race that are part of Surf the Murph. I just want to keep having fun and keep remembering why I love to run the trails so much. Happy running everyone and talk to you soon.

Fun night time running

2011-10-13T18:54:00.003-05:00

So I am into week number 4 of my training leading into the North Face 50 mile EC. So far so good overall I would say. I had a bit of a bump in the road the week of Twin Cities Marathon as I had a few real long days of work at the expo then marathon day watching Sonya in the 10 mile and hanging at mile 24 TC Running Company cheer zone all day long. Other than that things have been pretty good. I have been hitting the ski hill to get in some good climbing on my legs. I also have been making a good point of running allot of the hills in and around my home. They may be roads but a climb is a climb in my book.

Something else I have been trying to do is also get in some nighttime running to get used to running trails in the dark with my headlamp. The first few hours of North Face will be in the dark so i figure this should be a good idea. Last night was one of those nights. I made my way over to Lebanon Hills to run some sweet trails by headlamp in a light rain. Let me say the run did not disappoint as I had a blast making my way around the park. I will say running the trails can be a bit scary at times by yourself but hell it helped me keep the pace solid I thought. The first 4 to 5 miles went by fast but after that I somehow made a wrong turn. Needless to say I was a bit upset by this as the rain was picking up and the thought of being lost on the trails in the dark was not a good one. Lucky for me they have great trail maps out there and I was able to find my way back to my car with only adding on like 1.5 extra miles. In a weird way I think the whole finding my way stuff made the run a little extra fun. I will say I felt super out there as a night trail run in the rain was allot of fun. I will need to keep with this as I want to do everything possible to be ready to roll in just 8 more weeks.

I wish all my friends good luck who are running the Wild Duluth trail races this weekend. It is looking to be shaping up weather wise for a good weekend of trail running. I myself as thinking MN river bottoms one day and maybe Afton state park the other. At the end of the week I should have my biggest week miles wise in a few months. Yea!! Happy running people. I will have some new gear reviews soon on some stuff I have been using.

* Good video on the 2011 Leadville 100 mile, I will race there aging someday!

To Blog or not to Blog

2011-09-18T11:06:00.003-05:00

So last week my friend and fellow blog man Chad wrote about how it seems like blogs are dieing off some. When I first read that I thought really? But than I started to think about it and maybe in a way they are but also I think the types of blog post are better than ever. When I first started this blog I wrote everyday about what my run was for that day. I guess that was ok at the time but as time went by I started to think more about what I was sharing. Do people need or want to know about every little thing? Most likely not. I mean I like reading people like Anton or Goeff's blogs but think it would not be a special if everyday there was something like "I ran 2 hours in the mountains today and felt good". It is more about telling a story about stuff more meaningful. So with that said I am sorry I have not written as much as of late but I hope that when I share a story or a video you find it more worth your time.

To update you on my training it has been ok. As many people know 2011 has been a very tuff year for me since I have yet to be able to run any trail/ultra races. Still have my sights set on the North Face 50 mile in Sand Fransisco. Think I need to decide on this today as it is almost full. Yikes!!

All in all the last few weeks have been good. It was funny that not just two days after my last post my my back got real sore once more and my left hamstring was going crazy. Maybe I jinks myself huh. But the last 2 weeks have been good. I have been trying to get in like 5-6 day a week and running like 40ish or so per week. I have got in a bunch of 7-9 mile single track trail runs and all has been well. I also started my run from home must do the tangletown hills pledge. You see I live in the center of all these great hills of what we call tangletown in south Mpls. For the rest of the year every run from home must end with a loop of those hills. Figure this will make me stronger. I guess it cant hurt. I hope for a 50+ mile week this next one as I keep on marching forward. Happy trails!!

With this all being said here is a nice little re-cap video of UTMB from some of the North Face runners.

Finding meaning in training

2011-08-17T21:33:00.002-05:00

Finding meaning in training is the blog title. So what does that mean to me? Well as I have been on the journey the last few months coming back form injury I have had allot of time to think about that. At first I had the joy of just being able to run in our world once more. That was more than enough at first. But as that time went along it was becoming harder to believe it or not get out there as I found myself frustrated with how I felt and what my body was giving me, or for that matter not giving me. As the summer season continued I was becoming depressed about not being apart of all the races I love so much. But I kept at it and I would say that after the last few weeks I have gotten to a much better place. Each week I feel more like myself. I feel faster, can run farther. I guess I am back in a way. I have like not having a "schedule" in a way but feel like it is time to start pointing toward something. Training for a event is not the only thing that can give your running meaning. But I have found over the last 5+ months it is a big part of it all for me. I will always love the pure act of running but think I now know more than ever how having a event out there waiting for you can be just that extra glue to hold it all together.

Here is one more great video from Mr Matt Hart.

Fun new UltaRunning site

2011-07-26T13:09:00.002-05:00

There is a fun new ultra running web site. It is called Ultra Running Podcast.com and I for one think it is a great new source of info for all you ultra running junkies like me. The podcast interviews are second to none. Check it out.

Hardrock 100

2011-07-22T16:46:00.002-05:00

Ok so all I have to say is... If this video from the people over at Salomon about the Hardrock 100 mile does not make you feel like running trails I think you do not have a pulse. Wow is all I have to say.

As for my running there are some new things to report. Last Saturday I got in my longest run yet out on the trails of Hyland. I got in a whopping 9 miles!!! not bad I thought after a 7.5 mile run the day before. After that it has been more of the same. Runs of 4-7 miles where at times my knee hurts and at time it feels fine. I guess I just need to keep the nose to the grindstone.

Update & going back to Pittsburgh

2011-07-12T10:53:00.006-05:00

This last week the Sonya and I took Krya and Evan back to Meadow Lands,PA which is like 35 min's or so outside of Pittsburgh. This is where Sonya lived till she was 13 and is where all of her family still lives. We go every 2 years back to see these special people. It is a small town that is very hilly with very narrow winding roads; ie: not the best place to be a runner with cars and all. That being said we love going back. I thought I would share a few pictures.

Great sunset while driving

Sonya and cousins Eric and Lindsey

If running does not workout I am killer at corn hole

Kids pool time at a family picnic

Feeling the love!!!

As for a update on my running, well what do I say? It is nice to be able to run some, but it has also been very upsetting that my darn right knee has been such a bother and now my groin on the right side has been acting up as well. Dam right side of my body! But I guess I am happy to be running some. I have been at 30 miles per week the last 3 weeks off of 5-6 days of running. I have to just keep the faith and hope all works out. This week I am going to try and make my longest run up to 8.5 or 9 miles. Have I said yet how much I want to race even just once this year? Fight on I say, Fight on!!

The Super Bowl of American Ultra running

2011-06-25T20:33:00.002-05:00

Here is a great short video of Kilian and the super bowl of American ultra trail running, Western States 100. The history is second to none. Enjoy!!!

Progress

2011-06-20T20:08:00.003-05:00

Yes progress is the title of this blog post. Why you might ask? Well on many fronts I would say. For starters my body is feeling better and better over this last week. When I found out I had a stress fracture they said like 8 weeks off and then most likely 4-6 weeks more till I felt like my old self. Last Friday was 3 weeks post time off. I ended off the week with 2 very good runs, and tonight started off this week with my longest run yet. Is a 5.7 mile run long? For now I will take it.

I ask myself what is different? For one I have been getting great treatment from people and two my body is just getting better and stronger each day. I also would like to think some of it mental. I think we all as runners have seen how the mental side of the sport is big, real big. For those who know me good know how I am a student of the sport of running, all running. You want to know a race results of a track race in Europe or what is the next race of Ryan Hall there is a good chance I might know. I love the sport that much. Running is me. Call me a running geek. So this being said I like to study great runners attitudes about things. Weather that be people like my buddies Chris Lunstrom and Tony Kocanda or guys like Western States 100 champ Goeff Roes, I learn stuff all the time. With people like Goeff when I read his blog it helps me see how to just pull back from the "racing" attitude and just run. Love what is around me. Lately this seems to be helping me allot. No 5.7 miles is not something I would normally be jumping up and down about. But hell that is 5.7 more miles than before. I am looking at it as time in my environment doing what I love. This will sometime down the road become say a 30 mile run. But in the end it is still time doing what I love. Here are two videos that ground me. Both done by Joel Wolpert.

Good Luck this weekend Goeff at Western States 100!!!

This brings me to this upcoming weekend. First off Good luck to all my friends running the Black Hills 100 mile, 100k and 50 mile trail races. There are so many going there and I was hoping to be on that starting line for you but I will be there in spirit. Then go get em Arley out at the big dance Western States 100 miler. If that is not enough the USA track championships are this weekend. You can find info on the different races at www.usatf.com.

And lastly great job to all who ran last weekends Grandma's Races. It was so fun watching you all out there!! Now rest, and yes that is you Matty Champ Mr. 2:13 as well as my wife Sonya miss 3:03.

Two steps forward One step back

2011-06-07T12:22:00.006-05:00

Kyra and Evan striding out by the rose gardens

The title of the blog today says it all. Well maybe last week if seemed like the other way around. Man after a good run on National Running Day I went into the crapper. My back was so tight and sore and my sciatic nerve down my left leg was on fire. It was a dark day in my head for a few days. Then Saturday came and I went down to see my friends running Fans 12&24 hour race. Being down there snapped my head back around to remembering I am part of a great running community in MN. I looked at my friends and thought how can I help you? In doing so I stopd feeling bad for myself and then aloud myself to think about myself in a different light. Thanks everyone.

I am happy to report that I had a super 3.5 mile run on the trails around Cedar Lake and Brownie pond last night. Heck even thought it was like 98 degrees out when I ran I felt blessed to be out there. Now on to the rest of the week. Happy Running!!

Running on National Running Day

2011-06-01T20:38:00.007-05:00

So last Thursday night was the very first time I had run in 2 months. I had the pleasure of having my super supportive wife Sonya with me along for the ride. What I found out that night was that even when working super hard in the pool your muscles fall asleep and go away when not used for that long. I was so stiff, sore and so so slow. That being said it was nice to loop the lake once more. I also knew after that run it was going some more time till I was running like before.

Almost a week has passed and in that time I have tried to run 2 more time and each time I got only 1.5 miles and was very discouraged about things. I thought over and over what the hell has happen to me? Either way I kept on aqua jogging and figured I just need to keep waiting.

Along come June 1st and National Running Day. We where luck to have the good people at Twin Cities in Motion ( the people who put on TC Marathon and all the other great races ) ask us to be apart of the day with us by hosting at the store. All I can say is wow; what fun! There where 5k runs each hour from 6am till 6pm with a ton of great prizes given away as well. The highlight of the day was going to be a appearance by Harry and Shelly for the little kids. My son Evan LOVES these guys and could not believe that they where going to be at Dad's running store. After running a half mile with Evan I thought to myself how much better I felt. Hmm maybe I should try to get out? At first it did not look good so I had to cancel a run with my buddy Nick. But just then things opened up so I jumped to it. I thought lets try something different. So I drove to a favorite trail of mine the MN river bottoms. The goal was to shoot for 2.5 miles and if lucky maybe even 3 miles. As I made my way down the trail I felt free and at home. I just took every step with all the joy in the world. I got to 1.5 miles and even though I was ok I turned around as I did not want to push my luck. As I got back to my car I thought about how I had hope once more. Hope to be back running where I love with people I love. I still have a long way to go but tonight was a huge steep.

3 weeks till Western States 100!!!

Up close with Goeff Roes

Meeting my Moment

2011-05-20T14:19:00.004-05:00

I am so excited and yet at the same time so nervous about the up coming comeback to running. While aqua jogging last night with my new running pal Erik at the YMCA ( let me tell you crazy workout of 8x 5min hard with 1 min rest!!) I told him how I was feeling. Part of me feels like a nut case freaking like this but then part of me is like hell this is because I love this sport so much, and it means so much to me. What to do with myself?

Over the last 7 weeks I have been going over in my head what I was going to run and how I was going to go after it. It has made the aqua jogging go by faster; but then maybe I need to step back a bit? I mean it is good to set goals and push towards them but then maybe it is better to take life as it comes to you? The answer is probably a bit of both. I guess we never know what is around the corner.

I have a few idea's of races/ events to do this fall what do you think? I love feedback.

1) Superior trail 100 mile ( go after my fears on this trail? )

2) The North Face 50 mile race in San Francisco in Dec?

3) Go to the Grand Canyon in Oct for a little R2R2R?

4) Train for TCM in Oct?

5) Fall 50 mile road race ( try for a pr? )

6) SHT Fastest Know Time try?

Either way I know I will Cherish every mile I get to run and love every second.

Going outside for some fun

2011-05-16T19:31:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Sonya, Evan and I had the great luck of being asked from one of my friends Brian to sit with him in his MN Twins seats for the afternoon game. As many know I love my Minnesota teams and have a 20 game pack to the Twins each year. I love my tickets!! But I will have to say sitting just 10 feet or so from the field was super cool. Plus it was a super day outside. Since I can't get any sun from running it was a joy to be out with my family. Thanks Brian!! Now back to the pool.

Evan flying around the field

Looking for Dirt

2011-05-13T18:47:00.003-05:00

As I sit hear getting ready and trying to get pumped up to go do another aqua jogging session I thought I would share this great video by the Endurables from last weeks Miwok 100k. Enjoy!!!

Also Good luck to all running the Ice Age 50k and 50 mile races this weekend. Got to love it.

Aqua Man

2011-05-08T14:16:00.007-05:00

Do I have gills? That was the question i was asking myself this morning 30 mins into my aqua jogging session. But when it was all said and done I got in one more hour and it was off to meet Sonya and the kids for a little mothers day fun.

I ended the week with a total of 7 1/2 hours in the pool in 6 days. I felt pretty good about that. I came across a pool running plan from Pete Pfitzinger on line which I started this week. It was a great help as he has some pretty solid and hard workouts. I have found with the workouts the time goes by much faster. I was also helped this week with company during the week by a new friend I made at the pool named Erik. Turns out he know a bunch of my teammates from Mankato since he also ran there back in the day. I also had Sonya join me yesterday!! It sure helps to have company.

I was also luck last week with a great B-day party by Sonya!! Thanks to all who came out and had a beer with me. Well happy mothers day to all the moms out there. One more week down and only 2-3 weeks till I get to try running some. Yea!

Got to love the boot

Rockin with Helen and Chris

Sonya, Mom, Dad and I

Sacral Stress Fracture

2011-04-27T18:22:00.003-05:00

Yep that is what is going on with me. Shit is all I can say. After enduring the crazy long, shitty winter to now find myself not be able to run at all the last 3 1/2 weeks and later next week join my friends on our R2R2R running adventure. I am also out to run the Black Hills 100 miler in late June. It does not seem fair. But I guess Life is not always fair.

I have been aqua jogging the last 3 1/2 weeks and now looks like I have a bunch more pool time ahead of me. I just will have to try my best to buck up. I will see you on the trails people; I will just be watching. Happy trails!!

Human Race Re-Cap

2011-03-29T10:43:00.004-05:00

Man oh man I am late with this one. Hard to believe it has been just over a week since the race. Sorry for being slow on this but lets just say it has been crazy at the store and home as of late.

So as many of you know the Human race 8k was my first race since last October and the Fall 50 mile. Not only has it been a long time since racing but hmm 50 miles and 5 miles are a bit different to say the least. But with the solid weeks of a little speed work and my solid weeks of long runs I thought I could pop a good one. I just needed to get my head around it all. I was pretty nervous about it going into race day.

Sonya racing hard to be the 3rd masters runner

As race day came I figured I would just look to start out at 5:50ish pace and go from there. If I could run that I would be around 29 mins and I would be ok with that. Deep down though I hoped to run 28:30-28:45 or so. I hit the first mile in like 5:52 or so and felt pretty good. As we made our way to mile 2 I tried to bridge a gap up to a few runners ahead of me as I was pretty much all alone. I think my second mile was like 5:55 or so? The 3rd mile is always slow as you go around William Mitchell law school and you have 4 turns to do so. I think I was like 5:55 or so aging for that mile. I find mile 3-4 to be the trick one as you have a slight uphill for over half of it so you are working harder than you think. I was thinking to myself to be solid and get myself in a good spot for the final .98 of a mile since that is fast and starts with a good downhill. I closed good and ran the final mile in like 5:22ish? Sorry for not having the exact splits as I have had my watch all cleared out by now. I hit the line in 29:07 a 5:50 mile average.

Happy to be racing once more

At first I was a bit bumbed out about my time. Then I thought about it all and was pretty happy with it. Racing is something you need to do often if you want to run your best. It is about feel. What I mean is knowing the feel of if I am pushing hard enough or maybe to hard. I found myself many times in this race thinking about that. I know if I ran this race right now I could be faster just by knowing what it all feels like once more. All in all it was a good day. Next up is supposed to be Ron Daws 25k this weekend but I am not sure yet if it will all work out or not. But for sure I have Trail Mix 50k in just a few weeks. Running has been feeling good since then so I am really looking forward to it. Happy running!!!

Steady Man

2011-03-14T19:09:00.002-05:00

One more week gone by and one more week closer to running on some dirt. With the weather we are going to be having all week I feel like my first run on the dirt is so close I can taste it. My good buddy Paul was down in Arkansas for a long weekend and got to run on some dirt trails, man so so jealous buddy.

So for this week I thought I would bring it down a bit like I said before. As much as I was rolling I needed to make sure I was got cranking it up to much to fast for the time of the year. So I ended up taking two days off during the week. It was nice to have the days to rest and know that I was not taking them because 1) I was being lazy or 2) I was totally fried. I still kept my solid indoor track workout in Tuesday night. One more week down and feeling fast, go figure.

When the weekend came I got in a solid pace 17 miler in with KJ down at the lakes. It has been great getting to know him more and have one more person to add to my super mix of running friends. Toward the end of the run we got to see the leaders of the Irish for a Day 10 miler go by!!! On Sunday lucky old me got to run another 17 miler with Sonya thanks to my Mom taking the kids. Thanks Mom. This week it was just Sonya and me so we got to talk about all the things we always want to talk about all week but never get to because we are doing like 1 million different things for the kids. This was great. Another great part of Sundays run was that I got to try my new Salomon Advance skin water vest for the first time. All I can say is wow!!! Man what a great fit as I never knew I had it on. I think this is going to be the ticket come Grand Canyon R2R2R and for the Black Hills 100 miler.

This week will also be down a bit as I get ready for the St. Patricks Human Race 8k on Sunday but I will keep things not to easy as I need to keep my eye on the prize at the end of June. I will leave you with these two great videos from last years Western States 100 done by local gal Audrey Weber. She did a super job!!!

Biggest week yet!!

2011-03-07T18:53:00.002-06:00

One more week down and one more super solid week of training. I feel like I have hit a solid groove with everything. You know keep it simple. One solid day of speed training and one solid long run. As I have said before in other posts the filler days will get much easier once the snow is gone and I can get back on my dirt trails; until then just keep it day to day. This week was highlighted by 4 real good runs........

My Tuesday night speed sessions at the EP indoor track have been super. I have in 10 weeks in a row now which makes me very happy. I was joined this week but Pete Miller. It was Pete's first week doing this with me and since I had had two weeks in a row of faster longer stuff we did on and off laps. Each lap there is like 260 meters I believe so it is a solid workout as you do not get much rest. We did like 10 or 11 of them I think then got in some nice cool down running. It was great to have new company, thanks Pete.

I was also luck to be able to run Thursday night at the Dome with the help of Sonya. She was able to get some help for us with Evan so I was able to run some ice free/ in shorts miles. What was super nice was the fact that I even got to run my first 30 mins with Sonya !!! When it was all said and done I was happy to see that I got in 10 miles that felt real easy at a steady 6:40ish pace.

Saturday found me meeting up with KJ and Paul for a fun 9 miles from the shop. It was nice as always to run with Paul and get to run once more with KJ. Since he is back in the cities I hope to log a whole bunch more miles with him in the future. Per normal as conversation got going so did my pace. A big problem at times is that I get so fired up that I find myself picking up the pace. Sorry guys. After our opening 9 miles with looped back to the store to run a easy 6 or 7 more with Adam and John "Mr. Afton" Storkamp. I was sure to stay in the back as not to be the one to pick up the pace to much. All in all a great run with a super breakfast at Woody's grill after.

The last of my super days this week was my Sunday long run with Sonya. My Dad helped us out so we could run together as we needed to get in 30 miles and it would have taking up the whole day if we would have had to run separate. We went back to French Park a place by my parent that we have done this before at. French works out great as I have a loop around the lake that is 9.9 miles so all we had to do is 3 laps and then a little add on at the end. This is also a good loop as we can re-fill our water and grab some more gels every 10 miles. Plus the lake path is clear for the most part. Adam Schwartz-Lowe joined us for the first 12+ miles which was nice. After that it was just Sonya and I. The weather worked out real well for a run like this. Not to windy and temps in the mid 20's I think. It was great to be able to spend this time with her. She is one tuff person and if this run was any preview she will do great at the upcoming Mad City 100k in a few weeks. After getting done we saw that we got faster each lap!! We ended with a total time of 4:05ish for 30 miles. Nice day to say the least. I do wonder what the people who live around the lake think when they see us go by 3 times over that many hours?

till spring comes I guess old Kilian video's will have to do

I ended the week with a solid 78 miles on 6 days of running which was great. Now this week I think I will take a bit of a down week since I have had like 70+ weeks like 4 in a row? My running log has not been kept up so I am not sure but either way a week of some rest will be good.

Hard Works Pays Off

2011-02-28T18:36:00.005-06:00

So this last weekend was the Tokyo marathon. A little known Japanese runner was 3rd in 2:08:37. At first look at his pr's at 5k and 10k one would not think this could happen. What is even better is that he works full time and is not part of the normal professional running scene. For those not in the know over in Japan they are distance running crazy. The pro runners rare on corporate sponsored teams. This guy broke that mold and went it alone. Very cool story!! Here are a few links about the guy and such check them out.

Photo by Photo Run

Story by Japan Running News

Lets Run .com message board talk

This leads me to a wrap up of my weekend of running. Yesterday I got in a super long run on the Minnetonka LRT trail with Sonya, Paul and Helen. I was so happy that we picked there to run as the light snow covered crushed limestone path was super for a 25 mile run. We all started together from Lunds parking lot and headed west. It is never lost on me how luck I am to have my great wife and friends to train with. They push me and keep the runs light with great conversation. I am very lucky I know.

Back to the run; we knew Helen was good for like 12-14 miles so we did a little 6 mile out and back then went thru Hopkins and then west toward Eden Prairie. After Helen turned around Sonya and Paul and I kept going a few more miles before we turned to get Sonya back at 20 miles. The whole run I kept thinking to myself how good I was feeling and how happy I was with how training has been going overall as of late. After Paul stopped at 22 miles I hammered through the last 3 miles. It was then that I had that feeling of man I need to race soon. It was not that I think I have my best race in me ready to pop, but more of I want to test myself and see where I am at so I can keep plotting my course towards the Black Hills 100 mile in late June. I think next weekend I will test myself a bit by doing a 30 miler and look to run hard the last 10 miles. This should tell me allot about my fitness. Of course I need to keep the track work up. Tomorrow will be 10 weeks straight baby!

So now to tie both my weekend running story together with that of the cool Japanese runner. I think in running we all get caught up in a "certain" way of doing things. Sometimes if not always we need to do what "we" need to do, and in doing so believe in what we are doing. Like for me I know there are lots of people running more miles than me. I have stopped freaking out about how many miles and more about what kind of miles I am doing. I know my volume will go up once spring is hear and running is much easier. It is just what "I" need to do. Never give up, Just run!!

*Updated 3/1 Video of the last 6.5k of his run. A must watch from 5mins on

Dreaming of Dirt

2011-02-22T11:17:00.005-06:00

Man oh man we got kicked in the nuts once more with snow. I love snow and everything but I am more than ready for it to go and my dirt trails to be back. I do not know why but I am chomping at the bit to run some dirt. Oh well I guess. Maybe this video will help?

( 2010 UTMB race )

I am happy to report one more weekend done and one more solid long run in the books. I got out for a very fun run Sunday morning with Sonya, Paul and Helen down and around the Mpls lakes area. After a nice 10 mile loop with Helen the rest of us headed out towards Lake of the Isles before coming back to Harriet to end up at 20 miles. As we ran we kept talking about how the weather was holding off and we where wondering if it was missing us? We all know how that ended now with 20" of fresh snow. When we where like 19 miles in the snow started and by the time we dropped Paul at 20 it was in full force. By the time we got to my stopping point at 23 miles it was coming down pretty strong. As you might guess my strong ass wife kept going to get in her 30 miles!!! Wow what a run. I am feeling stronger each week and am really looking forward to the racing season that is not to far away.

2010 Masters runner of the year

I guess we all know how important mindset is in the game of training. I feel better each week about mine. As I was finishing my run last night on the snowy dark roads I just found myself cruising along and living that moment. Even after 25 years or so of running it is important to have moments like that. Happy running!!!

TC Running Company with team awards

I like to move it, move it

2011-02-18T17:38:00.004-06:00

The last week has been quite a good week of running and such for me. Maybe it has sometime to do with the good weather all last week. After my Tuesday indoor track work two weeks ago I decided to try and pick up the pace ( running volume wise ) for the next weekend.

Well it worked as I ended up with 39+ miles over the two days! In allot of ways it was classic old Kurt running. I got out early last Saturday with the group (Tony, Joe,etc) for a brisk but fun 20 miler around lakes/Wirth/ Victory parkway area. I ran allot of that run with Dylan which was nice as I got to hear all about how things where going for him with his new little 1 1/2 month old. Boy I remember those days big time. The next day found Sonya and I with a chance to run together for a change. Yea!!! We hooked up with Helen and Chris for the first 10 miles then Sonya and I added on the last 9+ miles on our own. Once more great conversation about so many things. Before I knew it I had my best weekend of running in a long time. Best part is that I felt great both days!

I have kept the ball rolling all this week as well. Had a super track workout on Tuesday where I did mile repeats and felt fast. Then a nice run at the dome and a great Friday morning group run and boom I am at the weekend once aging looking for good miles once more. Now I will not be doing back to back 20 milers but would like to hit 35+ for the weekend. I guess we will see but I will give it a shot.

Sonya at TC10 miler

Just to add to the excitement I get to go to the USATF-MN awards tomorrow night where Sonya will be getting Masters runner of the year for the 3rd time in 4 years. I am so proud of her and how hard she works everyday!!! Congrat's Sonya.

Time is moving slowly

2011-02-04T17:34:00.005-06:00

So is it just me or is this winter time just moving so slowly or what? I have enjoyed my winter trail runs do not get me wrong but I also am finding these cold days making this winter see like forever. Maybe it has more to do with the fact that I can't wait for my May trip with the guys to run the R2R2R Grand Canyon run. Either way I will be happy when spring get's here.

So not much to report running wise for me. Been running between 45-65 miles per week for the last 8-10 weeks or so with maybe a few 70's type weeks tossed in there. Mostly just run's nothing special. I have been hitting the indoor track the last 6 weeks doing one night of fast stuff and that has been fun. I am looking at February as the time to start moving up the total volume into the 65-80 mile weeks then I guess go from there. I just have not had much to what I consider to be exciting to report so that is the reason for a big lack of blog posts, sorry. With spring almost here though I have been getting allot of fun new shoes to run in so look for some fun shoe reviews from me soon.

I have updated my race schedule. I have added the Get in Gear 10k in April as this will be my first race as a masters(40+) runner so that should be fun. I have also changed Chip 50k for Trail Mix 50k. I did this for a few reasons. First this allows me to do the 10k race and second this will be better on the pocket book as I do not have to travel as well as I can go work at the shop after the race like last year. Other than that No new races to add. I plan to add a fall marathon to the list but still not sure which one. Would like to do TCM but not sure with work and all I will be able to pull it off yet. Well that's all folks. Happy running.

Here is a great profile on MN's own Scott Jurek from CNN

Grand Canyon R2R2R

2011-01-11T11:54:00.004-06:00

Well this year is going to be the year I finally get to run the Grand Canyon R2R2R run. My good buddy Paul has been trying to get me to do this for years. So for my first "event" as a 40 year old masters runner I will be going to do this run with Paul and like 10 others from our running group in May. I can not wait till then and I am super excited to do this run I have always dreamed of doing. As I have always said my running can take me to many beautiful places in this world. I know this will also be a great training trip for my upcoming Black Hills 100 mile in late June. Now if May could just get hear a bit quicker!!!

A little update on training. So far 2011 has been a good one. I have run 10 of the 11 days so far. I have been feeling pretty good as well. I have run two speed sessions which have been good and fun. It is just fun to turn the legs over a bit in shorts after slogging away in the snow day in day out. I also had a great long run with the guys last Saturday morning. Man we had like 14 guys running 20 miles ( some longer) at a dark and cold 6am start!! How cool. I also have been enjoying running some fun mt bike and snow shoe trails as well. There is nothing like making your way through the snowy woods on a packed down snow trail. Funny how the trail looks so different than in the summer. You see things you do not see just because of the snow. Enjoy the miles people.

Top Songs of 2010

2011-01-06T18:02:00.002-06:00

Ok so I know that I have been real tardy with the blog posting as of late. Sorry!! I guess with all the holiday craziness mixed in with car shopping and my sons and step-daughters being in a all weekend play I have been short on time.

So every year I love to post my top 10 albums of the year here. Well this year I am going to do something different and post my top 10 songs and then my top 3 albums. As anyone who has seen me out on the trail/road would know I am big into running with my ipod. Lets just say I have lots of time to think about what songs are making me groove down the path. So here they are.

Songs:

10. O.N.E- Yeasayre

9. That Western Skyline- Dawes

8. Rolling in the Deep- Adele

7. Howlin for You- The Black Keys

6. Xxxo- MIA

5. Jawbreaker- The Dead Weather

4. Your Hands (together)- The New Pornographers

3. Down by the Water- The Decemberists

2. The Cave- Mumford & Sons

1. The Catalyst- Linkin Park ( man my pace goes like 30+ sec per mile faster )per

Albums:

3. Brothers- The Black Keys

2. The Suburbs- Arcade Fire

1. A Thousand Suns- Linkin Park ( love every song, plus some different type songs for them!! )

The Great North Face 50 miler

2010-12-06T21:44:00.004-06:00

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.......

2010-11-30T09:46:00.005-06:00

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

2010-11-29T18:54:00.003-06:00

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

2010-11-16T10:44:00.004-06:00

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

2010-11-09T09:28:00.004-06:00

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

2010-10-28T18:41:00.007-05:00

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

2010-10-20T20:17:00.003-05:00

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

2010-10-04T18:46:00.003-05:00

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

2010-09-18T22:01:00.002-05:00

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

2010-09-14T09:36:00.004-05:00

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

2010-09-08T19:18:00.002-05:00

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 ?

2010-08-31T10:52:00.002-05:00

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

2010-08-24T11:48:00.009-05:00

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

2010-08-13T15:27:00.004-05:00

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

2010-08-02T20:03:00.004-05:00

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 ?

2010-07-20T12:43:00.004-05:00

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

2010-07-07T19:15:00.004-05:00

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

2010-06-30T21:43:00.004-05:00

**( 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

2010-06-25T17:59:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-06-21T20:47:00.004-05:00

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

2010-05-29T20:34:00.003-05:00

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 !

2010-05-24T19:30:00.006-05:00

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

2010-05-17T20:16:00.004-05:00

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

2010-05-07T16:37:00.004-05:00

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

2010-04-27T12:39:00.003-05:00

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

2010-04-16T12:08:00.005-05:00

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

2010-04-05T19:19:00.004-05:00

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

2010-04-01T20:22:00.002-05:00

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

2010-03-29T18:46:00.006-05:00

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

2010-03-25T19:49:00.003-05:00

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

2010-03-15T21:24:00.007-05:00

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

2010-03-14T18:19:00.004-05:00

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 !

Ultra Running podcast

2010-03-09T12:18:00.003-06:00

Over on Endurance Planet they have had two great podcast lately with a few ultrarunning ledgends Tim Twietmeyer and Anton Krupicka. If you have the time check them out. Just click on the names for the link.

My City is Alive

2010-03-07T16:31:00.003-06:00

Man just got back from a solid 12 mile run down and round the lakes in Mpls. The Sun was out, temps are good and I was taking it all in. As a trail runner I love how I can go get lost in the woods and wind from tree to tree and sometimes not see a soul for hours. But as I saw today during my run was a great reminder of what I love about living in the city. I love that there are people outside like crazy just breathing the fresh air and enjoying the day with there friends and family. I do not know of anywhere else where I can get both the great wooded trails and the non stop paths all within 5 to 15 mins from my house. I love my city and state !

Today also saw me finish up another great week of running. It feels good to have the miles added up while loving it all and for the most part not having it feel like a job. It's good to be back. I am looking forward to the next few weeks and getting to race aging after a long long break. I also look forward to the trails all being open sometime soon. I have a feeling it will be pretty muddy for a few weeks and I will try my best to stay off them so not to tear them all up to bad.

Remember a few posts ago I wrote about having a song going thru my brain over and over after rocking to it via my ipod on the run. Well I think I am going to make this a weekly part of my blog. The weeks song always gets me going. What a great old school punk rock band. Long live the Hives.

Sun, Snow and Friends

2010-03-02T12:10:00.003-06:00

This last week was a pretty good one filled with more fun running with friends on some good trails and roads with even a little indoor track tossed in for fun.

On both Friday and Sunday I got to run the great winter running trails at Theo Wirth and Lebanon Hills. The Friday morning group was the biggest it had been in many weeks. I think there was like 6 or 7 guys ready for the 6am start. The trail was in good shape and it was not to cold for the early start.

The Sunday group found Tony K, Adam L joining in for the first7 7+ mile loop at Lebanon along with Sonya, Paul and myself with Rick C. and we even ran into Helen part of the way so she jumped into the group. The snow was good and packed and the sun felt good. I loved the run and felt real good all the way. Still using my Vespa for all long runs and I will say for me it works like great! We got in a solid 20 miles for the day. After the run Sonya and I got a coffee on the way to pick up the kids. A great way to top of the morning. As great as the run was I will say I am excited to get the dirt back soon! With the warn temps we are having now it might not take to long.

One of my best days of the week was a super indoor track workout of 7x1000 meters at 10k race pace. I got to warm up with Paul and his son Danny which was super cool. Once I started I got the ipod cranking and I felt super great. This was my second workout of the year and I feel real good about where I am at this point. Still lots of work to do but it feels real good to be where I am at as of now.

What is Ultrarunning ?

2010-02-23T13:12:00.002-06:00

This is the latest Ultra trail running year end video by Montrail runner Matt Taylor. I have always enjoyed his blog work with all the videos and such. Please go to his site and tell him good job if you enjoy this. I would find it hard to believe that anyone would not find it great. It makes me so excited for spring and all the upcomming trail fun I will have with my friends. Enjoy and great job Matt !!

My Runner of the Year

2010-02-21T19:08:00.004-06:00

Last night I had the honor of going to the 2nd annual USATF-MN awards banquet. I was there on a few fronts. One was to pick up the great team awards our TC Running team won in last years team circuit. We got 1st Open Men, 1st Masters Men, 1st Grandmaster Men, and 2nd Open Women. I was very proud of my team and all my teammates. My other reason to be there was because my wife Sonya won Female Masters runner of the year !! I was so so proud of her. Lot's of her teammates and friends came out to Cheer which was nice. After the awards a few of us even went out for some drinks and a near by Champs. It was a good night in all.

Training has continued to roll along. One more solid week with a good long run today on the snowshoe trails at Lebanon Hills park and a super workout at the Dome on Thursday night. Fill out the rest of the week with some solid runs and I was a happy camper today. Plus hell team USA hockey beat Canada tonight to top it off. Now I just need to finish off the month in style !!!

**This looks like a fun race. Maybe someday ?

Steady as it goes

2010-02-16T10:15:00.002-06:00

The title of this blog entry sums up one more week in the books for me. Things have been overall very steady. I did miss my first day of running in like 50+ days last Thursday but that was ok as it was going to be a very late night run and I knew I had to get out early the next day. No need to run twice in like 7 hours. I ended up the weekend good with a solid 11 miles with Steve on Saturday then I got in a Valentines run with Sonya. We where looking at 30 miles for the day. Sonya got in the full 30 miles but I called it a day after 24 miles. My groing was getting pretty sore and I figured better safe than sorry. It was still a upgrade of 4 miles to the long run and I ended the weekend with a solid 35 miles. My run last night tells me that it was a good call to stop early on Sunday. All parts where pretty good as I knocked out a solid 9 miles. Keep it rolling people !!

P.S. Great job by all who ran the Psycho Wyco trail races last weekend. Helen has a good write up on the trip down in the TC Running RV.

Double the Fun

2010-02-08T20:02:00.003-06:00

What a weekend it was. As people who follow this blog know I have been on a very good streak of running for sometime now and feeling like I am getting my grove back mentally about running. This post from super ultra runner Goeff Roes awhile back really helped me get in a good frame of mind. As we all know being in a good place upstairs helps so much when getting out the door.

So this weekend like all the past few ones I found myself getting out early with Paul on Saturday morning. This week we where going to do 20 miles. This was going to be my longest run yet of this year. The 18 miles last week felt good so I was up to added on the extra 2 miles. The run on a whole was great. Paul and I had a great time talking and running down by the lakes and such. I would say the first 18 miles where great. Now the last 2 miles kind of went down hill a bit because the footing was getting harder but all in all we got in a solid 20. After the run I was a bit sore but overall not bad.

After a good day and night of drinking water and eating some food I was excited to be able to run with Sonya. She was going to do 20 miles as well and I figured I would just go along for the ride then drop off after a while. Well mile after mile went by and I was feeling super good. So going by my "Goeff" attitude I was going with the flow. Before I knew it I had in a second day of 20 miles !! Man back to back 20 mile days. Boy it had been awhile. So long that I do not think I even had done this before Leadville 100 last summer. Man I was happy with myself.

This weekend gave me lot's of confidence in what I am doing as a runner and continues to make me excited for the upcoming season. Bring on the races... but not before some more good training.

The great weekend ended with a fun day of sledding for Summer's b-day party with the girls, my brothers and Kraig's little Lucy.

What makes us believe

2010-02-05T18:43:00.002-06:00

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

I am so pleased to share with you this amazing and special movie I found posted on Flotrack. This is the story of the Men of York H.S. cross country team. This team has won a ton of state titles over the years but what struck me most while watching this was how lucky I feel to have had the H.S. coach I had and the teammates I had. Many people take many things for granted over the years but for me the lessons I learned back then 20+ years ago are the ones that still make me the Husband, Father, Runner and person that I am today. This movie has touched me so deep. I hope you please find time to watch it as I promise you that it will be well worth the time !!

1,2,3 off we go

2010-01-29T18:08:00.003-06:00

Well it has been one heck of a week since I last wrote on this blog. I have kept my string of running days going which has made me happy. I can feel my body getting stronger week by week. This week has been a cold cold week in many ways.

One it was cold to see my Vikings loose that dam game the way they did last week. It was a great season but it came to a end way to soon in my mind. Not to sound like a total rube but the best team is not playing in the upcoming Super Bowl. Hell one way to look at it was we had like 200 more yards on offence then the "greatest show on turf" plus gave the dam ball away how many times more and where still there to win the game with just seconds left. I know could of should of. Better luck next year I guess. Second it was cold as in temp's outside !! Man those where a few frigid run this week.

So on to other things for those of you who run with a ipod like I do a bunch of the time do you ever have a song that seems to come up allot and when it does you feel like you are flying ? Well this song by Rogue Wave does that for me and lately it has been coming up allot on the old ipod. Good stuff. Well take care and have a great weekend of running.

Hmm looks like fun

2010-01-22T20:24:00.002-06:00

So we are always looking for what that next race/ challenge could be for us. It seems like my year of races keeps changing day to day. I feel like I should just take that part of my blog off. One race I keep coming back to is the North Face 50 mile final out in the San Fransisco area in December. I guess I will have to see how things are going but I think I might have to find a way out there. Here is a great video of the Women's champ this year Caitlin Smith.

As for my running it is going strong still ! I have kept alive my streak for 2010 so far with 22 straight days. I will have to say even though this is not very long it marks a good point for me as I think it has been at least 1 year since I have run 22 days in a row. Overall I have felt real good each day and getting stronger I think. Had the second Friday in a row with a GREAT trail run with the guys. I am hoping to knock out a 20 miler tomorrow morning so we will see. I am just going with the flow. Go Vikings !!

Ultramarathon Woman

2010-01-12T11:54:00.002-06:00

So my wife Sonya and I have this good friend Kim who like us loves to run long, real long. Sonya first met Kim a few years ago at the Sunmart 50 mile race in Texas. Lucky for us she and her family moved to MN and her and Sonya have been able to become good running friends. It makes me so happy when I get to hear that Sonya got to get out for her daily run with her friends !! This is a movie about Kim that was filmed at last years FANS 24 hour race in which she was the Women's champ. Enjoy !!

On a Roll in 2010

2010-01-12T11:19:00.002-06:00

So you know how we all roll into the new year every year and we talk about all the things we want to do different or better. Well I for one always like to do that. I remember my old high school coach Mr. Kleyman saying that even the best races you can always find something you could do better as well as even the worst races you can find something you did pretty good at. I have tried to live my life in all ways that way.

For 2010 in my running world I decided I need to put forth a honest effort and try to be better at sticking with things no matter how hard they get. With my daily runs that meant getting out no matter what, even if that meant running on the dreaded treadmill this winter. I told myself I would have a 3 mile minimum for distance. I figured if I felt like I needed a real easy day 3 should do the trick. I also know I need to do workouts once more. Man I have been so bad with this for far to long.

I am happy to report that so far everything has been working out pretty good. I have run everyday this year so far and even better I have been feeling pretty good doing it. I have had a few days where I just did not feel it but got out there or in two different cases even ran on the treadmill. I know it sounds silly at this point since the year is only 12 days old but I am pretty happy about it. I even am a bit excited to be putting a race schedule together. I hope everyone else is having a good start to there new year as well. See you at the trails/roads/ metrodome/ or even treadmill !!

The 5 Best Runs of 2009

2009-12-30T21:05:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-28T19:00:00.004-06:00

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 ?

2009-12-17T20:51:00.004-06:00

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

2009-12-08T11:41:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-07T19:27:00.005-06:00

( 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 ?

2009-12-04T15:55:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-30T22:21:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-23T18:28:00.004-06:00

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

2009-11-17T11:24:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-13T16:49:00.003-06:00

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.

We also had the 6th Edge Cup Beer Relays this past weekend at the Decker home. We had a great night and good time once more this year. Big shout out to my partner Brian who going into this night had only had 4 beers in his life then took down 3 (note I drank 1 of his so I ended the night with 5 beers in 16 min's or so) during the relay in all of 16+ min's. Note to self this does not get any easier as the years pass.

A great weekend in cheese land

2009-10-27T11:17:00.005-05:00

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

2009-10-22T18:39:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-18T11:42:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-12T22:08:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-09T19:44:00.004-05:00

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 !!

2009-09-20T15:41:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-18T09:47:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-09T20:30:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-07T10:35:00.004-05:00

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

2009-08-27T19:45:00.006-05:00

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 !!

2009-08-21T09:53:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-14T17:55:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-13T18:24:00.002-05:00

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 !!

2009-08-10T20:16:00.004-05:00

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.