But ALL my goals are ways away. And I’m training “in the dark.”
Also, since I’m paying for another year of this jazz, I may as well produce at least a bit of content. Maybe this will be my thing? One post a year, justify the blogs existence?
In celebration of No Shave November, I’ve decided to highlight and try to watch some movies with, in my opinion, the best examples of facial hair. First up of course is the 1977 classic Smokey and the Bandit. Burt Reynolds in his heyday. Sporting a trademark lip warmer. Up against Jackie Gleason as sheriff Buford T. Justice with a pencil thin flavor savor. Mm-hmm! Those are some fine mustaches for sure.
Smokey and the bandit is only available to rent at the moment. But surely this summer it will pop up on a streaming service for free. I wouldn’t spend money on it unless you’re REALLY into southern redneck car culture, burt Reynolds, Sally field, and/ or Jerry Reed.
J/K! J/K! I see everybody out running. I see the stories on Instagram (rex.hunt.7) and Facebook, Garmin Connect, and strava (canceled premium after the price hike, but there’s no deleting the app 🤷♂️.) H.B.I.C. Sydney and I have been getting out in it, too. It’s…invigorating. inspiring? It’s certainly educational.
Syd and I did a long run in the caves at Park University. Go Pirates! It was fun. I guess the following weekend was the time to go, though. ALL of our friends were in there, jogging the just under a mile loop.
Syd and I did not do the caves at that time because we were busy registering for the Winter Argo 13.1 mile run. Or for Bootsy and me, a little bit further than 13.1 miles.
So Sydney and I registered and then ran a little bit of the road. Just a few hills, to remember what it’s all about out there. We saw friends and horses. I made a snow angel.
Fun story: After “Ollie’s Ultra,” Sydney couldn’t find her shockz. 🎶Sad trombone🎶. After searching and searching, she decided they must be on a picnic table in Chanute, Kansas. She ordered new ones, they arrived, everything is fine😐.
We brought some camp chairs from her place to my place in preparation for Cactus Roulette 🌵. Sydney is running 12 hours out there and is going to want to sit eventually. Having the chairs here has been great! I’ve been using them to take my shoes and boots on/off. I feel like Mr. Rogers. So I’m putting this chair away after putting my boots on, and I see Sydney’s shockz draped gently around the arm of the chair. I leave them there because clearly, “that’s where she keeps them now so she doesn’t lose another pair…” I think to myself cleverly.
The next day I’m going on about how great place looks since she cleaned it (she cleaned the house, it looks AMAZING!) And she tells me she was looking for something and just got on a roll. I said “ah! Your shokz! They were on the arm of your camp chair!”
Her
Face.
I thought she was going to cry, or attack me, or run out of the house like it was haunted. She walked over to a basket on the counter, pulled out a pair of headphones, and said, “These are yours.” Then she walked over to a different basket in the corner of the room, grabbed a pair of headphones, and said,”These are the ones I just got.” She walks, gingerly, to the camp chair. Points at the shokz. THE shokz. Turns and walks upstairs. She says, “You should blog about this. I’m getting cleaned up.” She may have cried. I don’t know. She definitely muttered. Hey, who hasn’t, though? Right? People are…you know?
Cactus Roulette 🌵 12 hour noon to midnight.
Argo 13.1 mile run (50k).
H.B.I.C., Chad, me, and some horses.Date night! Mexican food, giant margaritas and the Chiefs vs. Bills game
I hate the cold! I hate snow! I hate ice! I hate putting on 20 lbs of clothes just to walk a dog! It’s the worst!
Winter is also excuses season. From the weather to illness to the reduced daylight hours, if you don’t want to do something, there’s a reason not to. I guess I like that part.
I use shoveling the driveway as a replacement for strength training. I consider running over the debris field left behind by the road clearing snow plow technical trail training. And trudging through deep snow does make me feel badass. Also, sometimes I can get a nice snow explosion bursting through a snowbank on a curb, or running under low branches. Just “KABOOM!” Out of there, snow goes everywhere!
I make a snow angel and take a picture of it. I post the pictures on social media and challenge my friends to make snow angels. It’s fun. Plus, I like to show off. I guess I don’t hate the cold after all.
A person must be careful running in these extreme temperatures. Cover as much skin as you can. Layers! Loose, and multiple layers. Pay attention to your body. If your fingers or toes are hurting, stop and get inside. The only prizes for pushing through in this weather are hypothermia and frostbite. Be smart, but d.b.a.p., if you’re careful, you can do it. There’s no shame in NOT going out in the cold, only glory if you face it.
I may be getting a little influence from the “fearless motivation” playlist. I know it’s over the top. I take inspiration from wherever I can find it.
Nothing lasts forever. Spring is coming. Stay safe!
The final race in the Kansas grand slam of ultrarunning super slam is the same as the first race in the Kansas grand slam of ultrarunning. Starting at celebration hall in Ottawa, Kansas. Running on the prairie spirit trail all the way to iola and back.
Maybe it’s poetic? Ending where it began, but a different season. The whole thing began way back in January, when I ran cactus roulette 24-hour, trying to get prepared for The Hawk. Every run, every race, every workout all leading up to this.
As of this writing, I have no intention of trying to “win,” or “breaking a record.” I’m really just looking forward to getting some fun miles with our friends.
The weather report so far looks awful! Rain, cold. Maybe wind? I love it! Let’s get miserable! Maybe we should set up a swear jar or “whine fines?” We’ve been pretty lucky with the weather this entire time. I guess we are due for some comeuppance.
We have a great group of pacers and crew signed up. There are more pacers than available pacing spots, so competition is getting a bit heated. I hope it’s all in fun, but I’m not worrying about that part. The whole thing is H.B.I.C. business.
Speaking of, Sydney has done a great job (as usual), getting everything set up for success. For example: accommodation 5 minutes from the start line. Yes, please! How about that? No 4:30 wake up. It feels kind of weird. Plus, all the fun costumes and Halloween stuff she’s doing. This will be a race to remember!
So, I’m very excited. And nervous, still. What I’m really doing is putting off thinking about what comes after. 🤔
This was a fun one. Getting to the start line was rough! There are warnings all over the literature for this race about flat tires. The roads are sharp rocks and gravel, watch out! Sydney and I were very nervous about it. We drove down the weekend prior for a dry run. Let her have some practice finding the aid stations. That paid off tremendously! She wound up being a little bit of a pathfinder for the other race crews. 😁
My name came up to work mandatory Saturday overtime, and there is really no room for compromise there. Luckily, I had already scheduled the weekend off! So I guess I’m a little more prepared than I like to believe.
We went down to packet pickup Friday afternoon. Sydney got some more detailed driving directions. There was a malfunction at the tollbooth in El Dorado, where we stayed that weekend. Our room was amazing, by the way. Days Inn was great! We slept like logs.
Early race morning things got hairy. We didn’t get a toll ticket in El Dorado. There was a lineup at the tollbooth in Cassoday. I took off my vest and jumped out to see what the problem was. It ended up being nothing, but now we were running behind, and I had to check in. Check-in is at race hq/finish line. The start line is about a half mile down the road from there. We just make it. I tell Sydney I’ve lost a bottle. It could only be at race hq, that’s the only time I wore the vest outside the car. She said she’d look for it. I went to get my pre-race photo. People kept jumping in front of me. Elden,the race director, kept yelling out the time until start. The Runner’s Church preacher was there, trying to pray right into God’s ear, just as loud as he can get. It was very frustrating!
Also, I was pretty nervous. 3 weeks is not a lot of turnaround time. I feel like I did the best I could. I felt okay, but I’ve done enough of these now to worry about mile 63 right at the start.
My plan, as always, was to go easy. Take it easy, take the whole time, and get to the halfway mark before dark.
Heartland, I thought, should be ideal for taking it easy. It’s got rolling hills and very pretty views throughout the race. And gravel. Big, chunky, tire-shredding gravel.
The gravel roads I sort of remember from doing the 50 miler in the spring. I might have blogged about it. They tore my feet up then, and they tore my feet up this time. There might be a practical solution to the foot problem. The only thing I can think of is “get tougher feet.”
Sydney found my lost bottle at the Cassoday tollbooth! That was a very lucky break. We hooked back up at the second manned aid station. I got to pet a dog and eat some snackies. It was a bit unsettling because they moved the aid station since the spring race. I came over a hill expecting a celebration and only found a sad little sign with an arrow pointing uphill.
This was also when the wind started blowing right at the front of me. It was at my back for the first and last 16 miles. So for about 100k, it was rock & roll and heavy winds in my face.
The aid stations were all pretty good. Standard ultra foods, tents to get out of the wind, friendly-ish volunteers. I had 3 burgers during my run. That doesn’t sound like a lot right here, but at the time, I felt like the hamburgler or Jughead.
I got to Matfield Green Aid Station, the last manned aid station before the turnaround, in really good shape. The trailhawks ran this aid station, and it was my good friend Eric volunteering! They had good ramen (spaghetti soup) and potatoes, but no forks. 😳
Crossing a flyover above I-35 on my way to Lone Tree Aid station and turning around, I got a semi truck to honk. Still fun as a grown up! There’s an unmanned aid station with water and Vaseline and very little direction. I lubed under my arms, where I had a hot spot going and jogged down the road. The course was well marked, I’m just very bad at looking. I knew I was going the correct way, though, because I saw more runners on this little 3 mile stretch than I had seen so far all day. Right then, at that moment, it occurred to me that I had not brought a headlamp. I made it before dark, but just before. So I was hoofing it out of there, trying to get as close to the aid station as possible before “dark” dark.
When I got back to Matfield Green, Jamie and her kid had shown up to help the crew, and Kirby was there, ready to pace me. The new faces re-energized me!
Kirby was a great pacer! We talked about her running goals (a marathon in Febuary! Killer!) And childhood road games. I am so glad she told me about “my cows!”
After Kirby, Coach Randy took over. He carried me all the way back to Cassoday. Figuratively. We were doing consistent and fast intervals and also used the terrain to help maintain a real nice pace. Not too fast! Not too slow. We did pick it up whenever we saw another runner (soul-taking? Lol!)
The funny story: Randy and I are passing “the Runner’s church” preacher and he tells us “don’t miss this turn coming up.”
So we cross an unmarked cattle guard, and Randy says, “I think we missed that turn.” After some quick math and a review of the strava heat map we decide yes. We did miss that turn we were specifically told about. And we also got passed by 3 racers! Grr! Not that I’m competitive. 😉
As we make our way to battle creek, the first/last manned aid station, we change up the intervals. 1:30 run 1:30 walk. Just a 30 second change, you might say? Plank for 30 seconds.
Battle Creek is special to me because my friend Scott “KSdirtrunner” is the one manning it the entire weekend! I just met him last year when I volunteered at this event and he has been an inspiration to me ever since.
The longest 8 miles in the world are between Battle Creek and the Cassoday Community Center parking lot. Randy and I are doing our thing…1:30 run, maybe 11 or 12 minute pace, 1:30 walk. Power hike! I have been practicing, and it did pay off. We passed some guys who were really suffering through the chilly morning.
We were approaching the end of the gravel when Rick from mile 90 pulled up and started taking pics. Randy and I agree, you do NOT walk in a race photo.
NOT walking!
Also, we could see Syd and Kirby stalking us from the paved roads, so I felt some pressure to go ahead and finish this thang!
We’re jogging the last 8/10 of a mile to the finish. I had told Randy the finish line strategy of start jogging at the stop sign, slowly build speed until I sprint into the finish. He asks me what the elapsed time is, and I tell him, “26:57 and change.”
He says, “Don’t you want to beat 27 hours?”
I ran. I sprinted in and finished at 26:59:18!
Afterward, it was coffee, a massage from Happy Hawk, and a table nap before a bath, a proper nap, and the long ride home.
100 miles is a long way. I mean, it’s far. It’s far enough to use as an excuse. Like: I would go, but it’s 100 miles away.
Ultrapalooza is a running event put on by our friends, Midwest Endurance Race Company. The same group that brought us the Kansas City Last Man Standing event, Miola Madness series of fixed time events, and the Mile 0 run. They do a great job with their events, and Ultrapalooza is no different.
There are 5 distances available to race at ultrapalooza: 50k, 50 mile, 100k, 100 mile, and 1/2 marathon. I was doing the 100 mile as part of my attempt at the grand slam of Kansas ultrarunning super slam. I had friends running in just about every other distance.
A couple of notable ones:
Kerrie ran her 100th half marathon. Apparently, her finish was amazing! I wasn’t there. I was on the trail, trying to run 100 miles.
Adam had intended to run his first 100 kilometer race there at ultrapalooza. He has been doing amazing things lately (the hawk trail marathon and pike’s peak marathon,) but life takes a toll. He dropped down to the 50k and did amazing! I hope his foot pain is temporary. He told me about it as he passed me on the trail, twice, while I was trying to run 100 miles.
Our friend and regular pacer David “Bootsy” Boots ran his first 100k. He did amazing, even though he told me he was seriously undertrained. We saw each other a couple of times on the trail while I tried to run 100 miles.
Sydney’s coach Randy ran the 50-mile race. I mean, he RAN 50 miles. At the start line, he gave me solid advice: “don’t follow me” lol! And I didn’t. I had a plan(ish). I saw him on his way BACK from the turnaround. He was flying! I was trying to run 100 miles.
I did, by the way. I ran 100 miles at ultrapalooza. It took 28 hours. It was really hard. I did it with the help and support of a couple of amazing pacers and my girlfriend, crew chief, and H.B.I.C., Sydney.
The entire weekend was a fun, trippy, unbelievable experience. Syd and I drove down Friday afternoon for packet pickup. The entire main street through Osawatame was ripped up for some sort of project.
Crew chief Sydney as the “I” in mile zero.
Saturday morning, we made it to the start just in time. It’s funny to me how much I have to hurry at the start of these things. The shortest distance takes over an hour. We should be allowed a bit of a grace period at the front end. Maybe there would be, I hate being late, so I’ll probably never test it.
The forecast called for thunderstorms. Luckily I was moving too slow and missed the heavy rain, hail, and lightning. Gay Ann got some awesome video of a lightning show in the distance overnight.
Besides lightning, there was a lot of animal activity through the night. I saw a couple of opossum, some armadillo (possum on the half shell), deer, frogs, and an owl. The noise and being sprayed by something really freaked out my pacer Jeff and me! All the action settled down after he started blasting 80’s hits from his mobile. We agree that music without headphones is gauche, but since we were the only people left out there, it would probably be okay in this instance.
Yes, I was the last runner to finish. I’m okay with it. I wasn’t going slow, according to the stats. In fact, this is my second or third fastest 100 miler. And “last” was still 2nd place. I got a really nice framed print. It’s on the mantle.
Ultrapalooza was on the same weekend as some other popular races. So I didn’t have a lot of crew or pacers. I don’t mind. I understand there are only so many weekends. I hardly ever volunteered before this challenge. I will after, for sure!
So between the heat, humidity, lightning, limited support, and active wildlife… I think it went pretty well.
Everybody is different, with individual abilities and differing skill levels. Some people are pretzel-like yogis, and some can’t touch their toes. It’s all 🙂 👌 👍. A part of my fitness and something that has really been key for a couple of years now is adding at least some strength training to the routine. Nothing too crazy. Mostly body weight. Mostly core and leg things.
My favorite resource for workouts is, hands down, YouTube. I did a particular challenge that I won’t name here (it took 75 days and wasn’t easy) that required two 45-minute workouts a day. So I go to YouTube, search “45 minute ‘insert type’ workout” and BOOM! List of follow along workouts. It is too easy!
Some of my favorite YouTube workout channels are Juice & Tonya; Yoga with Adriene; Critical Bench; and 5 minutes fitness. There are so many more, but these are the ones I go to the most.
My standard, nearly everyday workout/warmup/confidence builder/ just do something routine is the 3 minute mountain leg routine by S.W.A.P. coach David Roche and I do it like this:
12 alternating back lunges
25 step ups with each leg
That’s it.
That simple little leg buster has helped me through some tough “I don’t wanna” days!
So there’s a little peek at my running support “program.”
I’ll try to publish some recaps for ultrapalooza 100 and Heartland 100…soon. Watch the Heartland 100 video on YouTube now! Sydtherunner is the page!
I’ve been trying to put the race reports together for the Hawk 100 and now Ultrapalooza 100. Thank you for being patient.
In the meantime, I suppose I can go through some of my process for these last races.
The shorter periods between events was pointed out to me, frequently and with varying degrees of concern (from curiosity to alarm) since I started discussing the super slam with other people. My response to “that’s not a lot of time between races” has consistently been “I think that’s part of the challenge.” I realize now they weren’t pointing this out to frighten me. They just want to know the plan. So here it is…
🤷♂️
I’m giving myself a week to recover, a week to do some tiny little builds, and a week to taper. Then it’s heartland 100.
After Heartland, I take a week to recover and a week of rest before Kansas rail-to-trail extravaganza. Basically, 8 hour workdays instead of 12, no runs longer than 1 hour, eat a lot.
W.W.R.H.D. 