My Active Adventures

This race was just what I needed at just the right time!  I've been hitting things pretty hard since late January training for my marathons and now for my triathlon as well.  Last weekend I did the Garmin Marathon then another 20.75 miles on the trails that night and next weekend I have the Lincoln Marathon, so it's been a fun but grueling few months.  I needed something to do just for fun, not something that is serious training or a long distance even, just something nice and enjoyable.  This race was the perfect opportunity.  My friend and Ultra running mentor, Sherrie, was race directing this little 5k/10k to raise money to help kids pay to go to Young Life camp.  Add in the fact that one of my old friends Robyn is the regional director for Young Life so she'd be there too.  That makes this one a no-brainer.  Jedi Master Sherrie doing the race director thing! Sherrie had told m about the race so I told her I'd gladly register to run and vo...

Can you write a post about being the sweeper at a trail run?  I don't know if I can answer that question officially, but it's my blog and I think it's justified so here it is!  This one has a slightly different feel for me than the Garmin Marathon.  I'll explain as this post continues.  The Garmin Marathon was the same morning as the Free State Trail Half Marathon, Marathon, 40 mile, and 100k.  I had registered for the Garmin Marathon back in December before I really got into trail running.  My friend Ron registered for the 100k at Free State and mentioned that he was looking for a pacer for the last 20 mile loop so I quickly volunteered.  I figured running a marathon in the morning then catching 20 on the trails with Ron would be pretty great.  Rosie & me on arrival at Free State  After the marathon I had a 6 inch BLT from Planet Sub and took a good shower.  I loaded my marathon data from my Garmin to Connect and Facebook and spent...

Basically this is just another race report, but to me it is the celebration of huge accomplishments by many of my friends.  That's where I want to start, with my friends.  I want to list some notable firsts for several friends at the two big events of the day (Garmin Marathon and the Free State Trail Run).  If I miss anyone, please do not take offense, this weekend has been a whirlwind so I may not be entirely with it just yet! Sheri Agne - First 5k (at Garmin Marathon) Janee' Stump - First Half Marathon (at Garmin Marathon) Ben Hunter - First Half Marathon (at Garmin Marathon) Bryan Hay - First Marathon (at Free State) Indika McCambell - First 40 miler (at Free State) Brian Warren - First 40 miler (at Free State) Ammanda Warren - First 100k (at Free State) I might be missing some, especially people that were pacers that might have hit new distances, but these are all I can think of right off the bat.  If you read this and I missed you on this list PLE...

If you know me, you know I HATE the taper portion of training.  Hate...Hate...Hate...  In the past I never saw the benefit of it.  Sure, it give my legs a chance to recover, but it is always so tough on me mentally to cut down my miles; especially the long runs.  I love running lots of miles and I really love my long runs.  This time around things seem a little different to me.  I've been really working hard and pushing tough goals.  Since the Louisiana Marathon on 1/15 I've run 393.76 miles.  Lots of those have been on trails and the vast majority have been with great friends, so it's been an absolute blast!  Now I'm about 9 days away from a tough stretch of weekends so I'm in taper mode.  The odd thing I found is that this time, for the first time, I'm actually happy to be tapering.  I've been training more like I would for an Ultra than a Marathon so it's been lots of long runs and back-to-backs.  That's obviously draining...

I am a runner.  I love to be active in general, but nothing gives me the instant thrill I get from a run.  Yeah, I'm a runner.  But does that necessarily mean I have to only be a runner?  I don't think so.  I think I can expand and continue to grow; further, I think that growth will only benefit my running ability.  As many of you know, I've been fighting a bit of a calf issue.  Sometimes over the last couple months I've been getting a very tight knot in the lower part of my left calf muscles.  A.R.T. has helped, but then I go for another long or fast run and it tightens right back up.  Why?  I can't be 100% sure, but my personal opinion is that it is a lack of balance.  My focus and activities have been solely based on running.  Working your muscles in only one way gets things out of balance and causes problems, like tight calf muscles. Last summer I started getting into cycling a little bit.  Not much, but some.  ...

I've found an interesting trend in my running.  I don't know if it's true for all runners, but it has definitely been true for me; this race was a shinning example.  A good run (especially in a race) reminds me of why I love running while a bad run (especially in a race) reminds me of why I love being a runner.  Sounds like the same thing?  It isn't.  I'll explain what I mean as this report goes on.  As most of you know, I've had Ultras on my brain the last couple months.  That's my focus; working my way toward that 50 miler in September.  Ron told me about a little trail marathon up in Lincoln and I decided it would be nice to go up there and run as a training run. It's a race called the Wilderness Park Run For The Bridges Marathon.  Wilderness Park is a beautiful park on the southwest corner of Lincoln and it has some very nice running/hiking/biking trails.  They are non-technical, mostly single track dirt trails with very few hi...