Minimalist Running

So ever since the Ozark Trail 100 I've been keeping up with winner Jeff Browning's blog. Lately he's had some interesting posts on his transition to more minimalist footwear. He's mainly using fivefingers KSOs and the New Balance MT100. I happen to own both of these shoes so it's interesting to see how it's working out for him. There's is definitely a transition period. You can't just go from a beefy trail runner to the MT100s and do the same stuff. He also posted a link to an interesting article HERE. Long,but worth reading.

new shoes

I got a pair of New Balance MT100's for my birthday. These things are light! Nearly half the weight of all my other size 12 trail shoes. On my scale a size12 weighs 8.3 oz, while a size 12 Vasque Blur weighs 14.6 oz and a size 12.5 Montrail Hardrock weighs 18.4 oz. This lightness comes at a cost. They certainly aren't as beefy or cushioned as most other trail running shoes, so you wouldn't want to enter a rock kicking contest wearing these. I recieved a size 12 , which is what I usually wear and I would say that they fit true to size. I've only been on a couple of shorter runs in them so I can't say how they'd feel on a longer run (plan to try soon), but if I were doing a shorter trail race I'd probably grab these first.

More blogs to read

I've added a few more runner blogs to the list on the right. Timmy Parr, this year's Leadville 100 winner. Last years winner and 3rd this year was Vasque runner Duncan Callahan . One more blog that I stumbled upon while reading Leadville stuff was that of Nick Clark, who was 2nd at Bighorn 100 this year behind Karl Meltzer. Enjoy.

Wyco trails blog

I've been invited to contribute to the Wyandotte County Lake Park trails blog. I'm excited about the trail new projects that we are considering. There is the potential for many miles of new trail out there. Check out the blog from time to time for updates and new information about trail workdays and such.

Leadville 100 pacing and crewing

I went to the Leadville 100 trail run again this year. This year there was a large contingent of Kansas/missouri runners toeing the line. The plan was to pace Nick Lang later in the day from Twin Lakes to the Fish Hatchery (mile 60 to 77).
I was staying at Ben Reeves house in Denver before the race. We set our alarms for 1:15 and left his house around 1:30 so we could make it up for the start. We had a run in with the cops that cost us some time , but we still made it to Leadville with about 10 minutes to spare thanks to some badass driving by yours truly!
After the start we went to Chris Langs house for breakfast and to talk strategy. We wanted to get Nick across the finish line. Chris had run the race before so he knew what Nick needed to do in order to be successful.
At Mayqueen and the Fish Hatchery we cheered and crewed for all of our runners! I think everyone really appreciated the hometown support. Twin Lakes at mile 40 is where I think people were starting to feel the day's effort. We tried to get everyone refueled and send them on their way over Hope pass. See you at Winfield we told them.
Winfield can be a bad place. A lot of runners either drop here or don't make the cutoff and we had a few casualties. Andy, Paul, Greg, Tony, Nick, Josh and Colleen all refueled. and took off to get their asses back over the pass!
Ben left Winfield with Nick at around 5:45. Not much ahead of the 6:00 cutoff. When we got back to Twin Lakes we found out that the cutoff was 9:45. 4 hours to climb and descend 3000 ft over 10 miles. We were all a bit nervous because Nick seemed to be at a bit of a low point at Winfield. I prayed that he would make it time.
I think it was around 9:20 when I decided to go put some of my extra gear in Ben's FJ. When I got down to the parking lot I saw some people rooting around in the car. It was Nick and Ben! They made the cutoff easily. I was ready to go! We got Nick up the Aid station and filled his pack and bottles, got him food, lights, fixed blisters. Ready to go. Crack the Whip!
The climb out of TWin Lakes inbound is not small. It took us quite awhile to get to the top of it-mostly hiking. Once over the top we were able to run a surprising amount. I'm not sure if Nick realized it at the time, but whenever I saw a light ahead, I would increase our pace ver so slightly. No one passed us the whole time I ran with him.
I don't remember what time it wa , but eventually we cayght up to Colleen Voeks and her pacer Debbie Webster. Colleen was sleepy and I gave Debbie an extra caffiene pill so she had one too. We wishe dthem good luck and away we went. Shortly after Nick complained that he was getting sleept too. Luckily I had a 5 hour energy that Rick Mayo had given me back at Twin Lakes. A lifesaver. Nick was back online in a matter of minutes an we were cruising.
A quick stop at Box creek and we kept going. Between Box creek and Treeline I started to feel the effects of being up for over 24 hours. I started weaving a bit and started kicking rocks(not on purpose). We made it to Treeline and our crew where we both enjoyed a Red Bull. Now I was good too. Time to crack the Whip again! Nick and I passed probaly 20 more people on the road between Treeline and the Hatchery. When we got there Nick's dad was ready to pace him over Sugerloaf to Mayqueen. After a little tape job on some blisters they were off. My work was done.
There are a few runs that I'll never forget and this was one of them. I never thought about a thing other than how awesome Nick was doing after 60 miles at altitude. I was proud to be his pacer and I was confident he would finish as soon as he and Ben got to Twin Lakes. I made sure to keep close tabs on his food, drink, and salt intake. I wanted him to get that buckle!
At Mayqueen we tried to sleep a bit, but I really couldn't, so we went up to the aid station to wait. Nick and Chris came in around 5:20? I think. Soover four hour left to do the last 13 miles with no major climbs to stand in the way.
Laurie was pacing Nick from here to the finish. There was noting left for us to do but wait so we had Chris and Bonnie drop us at the Super 8 for a quick shower before the finish line gathering.
Andy henshaw had finished long before any of us got there (sub 19 hours!) . So we all got coffee and sat down to wait for our runners. We missed Paul Schoenlaub too! Dang. So Greg Burger comes in with Nick righ behind him. 28:50 something for both! Awesome finish guys! Gary Henry was a few minutes behind them! WE were all waiting for Colleen. fingers crossed. getting down to around 10 minutes to go....here she comes! and we all let out a sigh of relief. There were a few tears too.
I'm proud of the guys that didn't make it too. They were all there at the finish cheering on the ones still running.
An amazing weekend. Great job everyone!

It's been awhile

Last Saturday my wife Brandy and I had the pleasure of directing our first race, The Summer intro 5k. I've been active at most of the Trail Nerd races over the last several years with course work and marking, etc, but this was the first time that it was totally my baby. We had 106 runners show up to run, which was awesome. The race was held on one of my favorite sections of the Psycho Wyco trail system, the Shane's Debacle/Megerson mound loop. The race was won by Andy Henshaw. Tom Murphy and Paul Shoenlaub rounded out the men's podium. The women's race was won by Sarah Hiller( who was also 4th overall!) with Victoria Thomas in 2nd and Hadley Osborne in 3rd. I felt like everyone had a great time and I'd like to thank everyone for coming out and supporting our events. complete results should be up soon HERE.

Rockin K marathon

I finished. Not sure of my exact time. I stopped my watch accidentally during the race and I didn't pay attention when i finished. I thinkI was around 5:30 something. Super windy all day, but the temperature was pleasant and the water crossings weren't too deep. I traveled to and from the race with a cool group. More details and photos later...maybe.

Psycho Wyco and no Leadville 100

I recieved my rejection letter for the Leadville 100 mountain bike in the mail last week. There is a lottery to get in and I didn't make it. Bummer.
My Psycho Wyco 50k finish streak ended at three. I opted for just the 10 mile version this year. That turned out to be a good thing because after being sick all week, one loop was about all I had in me. Jackson ran the 10 miler again this year too. He finished around 2:45 ish. Pretty good for a 9 year old. To see how this event has grown and matured these past five years is just amazing. The KC Trail Nerds are an awesome group. We have kickass sponsors and volunteers. Thanks Everyone! I think I might have to start a new 50k streak next year. I'm still trying to decide if I should keep my PsychoStache until then.

Psychopathic 5k

Sunday Feb 1 was the Psycho 5k. Went out Saturday with Kyle, Jim and James to mark the course. This is one tuff 5k. I decided to go ahead and race. I was pleased with my result (23: 56/15th overall and 3rd in my age group). Jackson ran it as well. He finished in 34:43. Those times sound slow until you try it. Caleb won in 19:18 with Kyle close behind. We had over 100 runners, which I thought was a great turn out. Separating the 5k from the longer distances was a great idea. Much more enjoyable and will make Feb 14th much less hectic and crowded. good start to the season for me. The only thing that sucked about yesterday was that te Cards lost the Super Bowl.

I mailed in my entry for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. I'm supposed to find out by Feb 9th if I'm in or not.

It's 2009!

Did 2008 fly by or what? I've been meaning to do a new year post and while I was running today I was trying to come up with a list of highlights from 08. I had a pretty crappy year as far as my running and racing. I did bad in every race that I entered so I kind of stopped during the summer.

We started out 2008 on a good note by moving into a new house right next to the Wyco trails.

I'd say the highlight of 2008 was our trip to Colorado last July. The trip started with the Lunar Trek in Scandia, KS and a lovely stay at the Chatfield Inn. From there we spent a few days with Ben and Allison. Ben showed a few local trails and we climbed Mt. Bierstadt.. I think he had fun torturing me on the climbs We also spent a few days up in Steamboat with Brandys Aunt and Uncle. The trails up there are SWEET! The trip also had the years biggest lowlight. On our last day there we were all riding bikes on the path and Josie crashed, knocking out her front teeth and smashing up her face in the process. Luckily she was wearing a helmet. Yesterday was the first time she'd been on a bike since then. One other highlight of the year for me was helping coach Jackson's 4th grade football team last fall.

So back to the present. I had a good run today. I went out for around 1.5 hrs on the Wyco trails. I'm guessing around 9 miles. Felt decent actually. I rolled my ankle on the 1st playing basketball so I had my left ankle taped. I started out slow and took it easy on the downhills. It didn't bother me too much.
I've actually been out on the bike a decent bit due to the good weather we've been having. Once it gets below freezing I'd rather just go for a run. I'd really like to get a pair of winter mountain bike s shoes. Yesterday(1-3) I went out for a ride on the singlespeed. I left wearing shorts and by the time I got back the temp had dropped probably 20 degrees. Crazy weather!
I've been playing chess and doing some art as well. This is a charcoal drawing of a buck that was harvested last fall by a friend. He got to spend the holidays in Afghanistan.