Married, Yes Married

To quote Long Duc Dong, we are now married, yes married.

Thanks to everyone who traveled from near and far, braving the rains to share our day with us. You are all the best!!

Trivia for the day, bonus points to the first person who can tell me what Long Duc Dong was wearing went he went missing... and no, he's not retarded.

Leadville Date Set / Race Sites

Our date with destiny has been set! The Leadville Trail 100 date for 2010 has been set. Mark your calendars for August 21-22, 2010. Registrations will be accepted starting January 2, 2010! Cost has not been set yet, but Ken will keep your money if you back out.


Also, anyone looking for ultras might want to check the following sites for race listings:

Ultra Running Magazine Calendar - Nice thing here is that you can search by region for ultras. No marathons or shorter listed.

Jason Robillard's Ultra Schedule - As the site states, he has attempted to "list every North American ultramarathon". You can search by distance, state, or date.

Happy Running!!

YMCA Triathlon Report

Sat was the 31st annual Wilmington Family YMCA Triathlon. Over 1000 people competed; some, like Erik McFetter's Aunt, in their first triathlon and others in their 100th or 1000th. Like any race, everyone came in with their own goals and dreams. Todd Midgett was fighting hard for the NCTS 30-34 Age Group Championship (GO TODD!!!)

Todd Midgett Getting It Done

Then their was Lori Campbell, who competed after having her final chemo treatment during the preceding week and being released from the hospital just days before the race. Her husband Curtis said that the nurses could never find her in her room, she was always in the hospital fitness center. Anyone want to argue the healing powers of sport?

As for the race itself, it was a good time with good weather.

The swim was wetsuit legal, but you probably didn't need it. I swam in my full suit, but was plenty warm. I did hear some reports of jelly fish stings, so maybe I'm glad I was covered in neoprene! Anyone not familiar with the race - you swim from the Blockade Runner hotel, down a salt water channel to Seapath Towers. Transition is across the street from Seapath in a field in front of the Wrightsville Beach Municipal Buildings. I did find the run from Seapath to transition pretty easy on the feet, which I attribute to the almost barefoot running I have been doing lately (more about this in a future post).

The bike course takes you off Wrightsville Beach, down Airlie Rd (love those ruts!), around Greenville Loop, up OIeander, and back to WB via Eastwood Rd. The bike was brutal for me. I have been training pretty hard for IM Arizona and the legs started burning way too early in the bike. I did hold off most in my age group, but did get passed by Steve Lewis and a couple other 35-39 age groupers going down Eastwood Rd. Great, these are the guys I'll be racing next year!

Steve Lewis Flying (literally)

The run went a lot better than the bike for me. The run course is one lap of the Wrightsville Beach "Loop" with a little out and back down N. Channel Drive to get the required 5K. To find a flatter run, you would probably need to run on a 400m track. I always look forward to the run and felt pretty good doing this one. I had no idea what my pace was, as I forgot my watch, so just tried to go fairly hard. Unfortunately, that was not hard enough and the run wasn't long enough for me to make up for the first two legs of the race. Props to Adam Rose and Todd Midgett (and everyone else ahead of me) for beating me like a rented mule. Great job guys!!!

Happy to be Running

Congratulations to everyone who raced! Overall winners were local Matt Wisthoff for the men (1:03:23) and Brianne Gaal of Cary for the women (1:10:47).

Take the Lake Report

Ok, I'm a little slow in posting this... What else is new?

Labor Day Weekend saw the "Take the Lake" events at Lake Waccamaw State Park. There was a 15 mile run on Sat, a 15 mile bike ride on Sun, a 14 mile paddle around the lake on Sun, and a 4 mile swim across the lake on Mon. This year, any of the above events were FREE to participants! Thanks to all the sponsors and volunteers for putting these events on!!!

We only went out for the run, but maybe next year I will get my act together and arrange for an escort boat and participate in the swim.

The run was a fairly "casual" affair. No chip timing or other "technicalities" here. The idea of all the Take the Lake events is for them to be a personal endurance challenge, which in the end is what this is all about anyway right?

I got started a little behind the crowd, as I was running my mouth (go figure!) with some friends, across the parking lot, when they started the run. So, I just started following / making my way through the "herd". The run takes you out the access road to the State Park and through the town of Lake Waccamaw. I took the lead about 2 miles in and was grateful for the police escort, as my one complaint would be that the course was not marked. Luckily, the police officer knew where I was supposed to be going :)

You are encouraged to bring a water bottle, but except for the last 4 miles, the course is very well supported. The people of Lake Waccamaw set up their own aid stations, which seemed to be on every block. Everyone that I encountered was extremely nice and the run really showcased how wonderful the people are over there!

The last 4 miles of the run take you back into Lake Waccamaw State Park via dirt trails. There are plenty of cypress knees ready to trip the unsuspecting runner and some sections of soft sand. However, I would not rate it as overly technical, you just can't be doing too much sight seeing or you'll find yourself face to face with a cypress knee.

The finish takes you back to the State Park Visitors Center, assuming you make the correct turns. Overall a good time. Oh, and I did see a gator while I was out there!!!

Andrea and Leanne after the run

Finishing the run

Remembering Walter

He trained for my first marathon and countless other runs with me, kayaked with me, camped with me, banked with me, played fetch until my arms fell off, and was overall just my big brown buddy. Most people knew me as "Walter's Dad" before they new my name (some people probably never knew my real name), as he never met a stranger. He lived a great life and saw most of this great country (I marked a map once with all the states he had been through and it was amazing!). He was even my copilot (literally)!

Walter Flying with Me

Well, age finally caught up with Walter and he is no longer with us. You are missed brown buddy. I know you'll be waiting for me with a tennis ball on the other side...

Leading the Next Generation

Registration Wednesday!

Tomorrow is "Registration Wednesday"!

Registration opens tomorrow for the 2010 Boston Marathon and the Umstead 100.

Speaking of registrations, the Mt. Mitchell Challenge is full, but the marathon is still open... Here is the description on Active.com:
"A very challenging 40 mile trail run from Black Mountain to the highest point in the East and back...or a Marathon to the Blue Ridge Parkway and back...Expect ice, snow, atrocious footing and a crushingly difficult course at times...Not for beginners."

Sounds like fun to me!!

Chains, Centimeters, and Centuries

First a thought on bike chains. If you are like me and believe that Gatorade, Perpetuem, and road grime are excellent for lubricating, cleaning, and maintaining your chain; then you probably want to pay attention to your odometer. I had planned on changing my chain around 2K miles. However, I didn't quite make it. Luckily my chain only almost snapped. However, due to my lack of care and maintenance (hey, I'm tired after a ride, who has time to clean a chain?), I needed both a new chain and cassette. The plan for the future is to change the chain every 1K miles and the cassette every few chains. You don't want to get stuck out on one of your rides, so pay attention to your chain. Most of us carry a spare tube, but few a spare chain...

Speaking of bikes, I have been having a bit of knee pain with the increased mileage over the last couple months. After having the chain replaced, I asked Charlie at Bike Cycles to take a look at my positioning on the trainer. A few minutes, a couple of shims under my cleats, a centimeter here, a few millimeters there, and bang I was "adjusted". It is amazing what a few millimeters can do! I was more comfortable on the trainer, but the real test would come on the road...

Lucky for me, that test came the very next day with the Hot 100. A century should be a good test, right? Well, I had a great time and felt very comfortable (including the aforementioned knee). It was great to see everyone out there and lucky for us, the weather gave us the Cool, Temperate 100 instead of the Hot 100.

Thanks again to Charlie George for helping get me situated on my bike!!!

Be safe out there and have fun. Days are getting shorter :(