A Week of Hills

So here we are, another week of running in the books and we tried to keep this week vertical for the most part. During the week I was able to get my runs in but I had my first college test in 11 years, so I was understandably distracted for most of the week. I did however have a great run at the Botanical Gardens with Philip, Sarah, Brynna, and Kathy Hoover. Kathy would be running the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler in Texas that weekend, and I have to admit I was super jealous. Rocky Raccoon is one of my favorite races and the people down there are just the best. Kathy looked very strong and unsurprisingly killed it at Rocky. But she was not alone, we had a whole group from Oklahoma and Arkansas down there and for the most part everyone did great. A good old running buddy Russell the Iron Horse even came through with a crushing sub-24 run. Great job Iron Horse, I don’t know what magic training program you are using, but you need to share that stuff. All the excitement around Rocky helped to really boost my spirits about my upcoming race, which is just what I needed this week.

Kathy on the Rocky Course

Oh, and running legend Gordy was on course

I would have killed someone for one of these cookies

The Iron Horse with the coveted Painted Sub-24 buckle

As the week wrapped up, on Friday my plan was to already have my Calculus test done and just leave work to get my run in. However, things got in the way and I really felt like I needed the extra day to prepare for the test so I used Thursday as an extra study day and left work on Friday for the test center downtown. Man I was nervous, this is my first ever online class so I was not sure what to expect. Plus this would be a big weekend for me so I didn’t want to start it off with a bust. I walked into the test center and started the exam, of course I found that the test was nothing like the practice exams and most of the notes I had worked up were of no use to me. The test was on a computer so it was a little nerve racking, with that system there is no credit from the work out of the problem it is all about the answer here. So, after checking everything a dozen times I pressed the button to submit my exam and to my surprise got the results back immediately, 100%. BOOM! What a weight off my chest. I know this was the first exam and the others would be much harder but I walked out of the test center on cloud nine. I was in knots over this test, which on the good side really provided a good distraction from the crazy 50k trail run I had signed up for on Saturday. I hit the house and started my run for the day even getting in a bonus mile before getting to the Executive Club Meeting (FYI the Executive Club is at McNellies each Friday and open to all). And there I found Wes as always ready to discuss the problems of the world.

At the meeting Wes, Jenn, Allyson, and I needed to discuss our plan for the trip to the White Rock Classic 50k in Arkansas the next morning. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive, and the race start is 9am so we selected to make it a day trip. Well I say we, it was Wes and I because Allyson and Jenn were no shows. From there we made it over to Chimera for dinner (guys this is one of the best food spots downtown and if you haven’t made it over remedy that problem immediately). After dinner we tried to hit Antoinette Bakery for pie day, only to find they had sold out of all the pies. Which begs the questions: why are they sold out of pies at 7pm and if they are sold out why are they still open. “Forget it” I said and decided to head back home to get some sleep before the race tomorrow. I needed to use this race as a training run, but decided I did want to push it a little bit to see where I am at. Also this course with it’s almost 5.5k of climbing and 5.5k of descending offers something that I can’t easily get in our area, very long downhill sections.

Sweet Salad From Chimera

I woke up that morning feeling really good, but got some bad news right away. In a text from Wes, he woke up with a fever and sore throat so he was out for the race. What a bummer, at this point I was just hoping that Jenn and Allyson would show. They did and Allyson even agreed to drive us, which was awesome. We made our way to the race, and left in plenty of time to not be in a rush. I tried a little different pre-race plan for this as opposed to Switchback and ate a lot more food which seemed to work out but I was nervous about it at the time. A wrong move with your stomach can end a race faster than almost anything. There are not a lot of sights on the drive in the dark to Arkansas but the moon was out and we could see Venus which was cool, and of course there was plenty of pointless conversation about race plans (other races, not strategy), what we would eat, and a lot of talk about music from the 90s. When we got close to the race start we stopped at a little gas station that was being swarmed with the runners and bikers about to take part in the race (there is a 50k mountain bike race on the same course that starts 30 minutes after the runners) this was a great deal for us as we had never been to the race and they gave us the final directions on how to get to the start. It seemed really cold out at that point (and it was 25 degrees) but somehow it magically got a lot warmer before the start.

A shot from the White Rock course

When we got to the race we heard from our good friend (and the a-hole that talked us into this race) Shannon, he and his wife Jody (the Queen of the Road) would be taking on the mountain as well. I was very excited about the whole start and felt cautiously optimistic that I was in for a good day. These free races on crazy courses are some of the best around. Everyone out there is just in it for the love of running and could care less about who wins or whatever; they are just out there with one goal “Good Times Running”.  The race (if you are not familiar) starts with a two and a half mile climb of 1000 feet, you know to get the lungs warmed up, and then you descend back down the other side go over a smaller climb and then turn yourself in for the major climb up White Rock. This whole race takes place on very good condition forest service roads, and let me tell you it has some of the most beautiful views that you can see on a race. With the exception of the controlled burn that they were doing at the very start (which even that was not that bad) there was nothing to complain about. The temp was just about right, it was sunny, and the aid station at the top of the mountain had homemade hummus pre loaded in tortillas, it doesn’t get better than that folks.

50k Profile

View at Turn Around

At the start of the race Shannon and I ran together for a while, but somewhere along the way got separated. At this point I feel I should tell you that Shannon was a little under the weather, and by little under that weather I mean that he was in the minor emergency room the day before due to some sinus issues. But, Shannon is an incredible runner and very strong on the downhill running (and area where I am very weak) so I figured it was just a matter of time before he passed me. The race for the most part was lonely, which was fine and gave me plenty of opportunity to check out my surroundings and think about how lucky I was to be having such a great day out here. Also it was warm enough to rock my Runner’s World Tulsa trucker’s hat, rather than the beanie I had to use at the Switchbacks. To think I almost skipped this race, thank God for Shannon twisting my arm about it and Jenn and Allyson signing up right away. When I reached the turnaround I was surprised to find myself in 5^th place overall, I didn’t plan to do anything about it but it was nice to know that the training was paying off. After the turn I crossed paths with Shannon who was coming into the turnaround, he yelled to me that he was coming to catch me and I yelled to him that they have hummus at the top. We all have our priorities. The trip back would be a lot of downhill running, until the final major climb, so I tried to just keep an easy pace and not blow myself up. During this section I found myself move into third by the bottom of the finial climb. As I made my way up the climb I got within sight of Chris in Second place but the second the road turned back down he was gone and that was ok by me. I came into the finish feeling great, with a PR 50k time of 4:42:40 (beating my 2010 Lake McMurtry time of 4:48 on a much easier course) and third place overall. I didn’t have to wait long for Shannon to come in, and he swore revenge at Western. It was good times for sure and it is always nice to run on a course with enough climbing that you can beat most of the mountain bikes while running, lol.

The white on my hat is salt.

The fast ladies

Allyson had opted for the 25k, but I think she has her eye on the 50 for next year, and Jenn was signed up for the 25k but was shamed into the 50k and had a great race despite getting into a fight with a thorn bush while trying to use the bathroom in the woods; the bush won. Right before we needed to leave to get to Scott’s house for a painting party for Erin’s birthday we got to see Jody finish, so the whole thing worked out just perfect. Upon leaving we decided that we would all die if we did not get food soon, with the only issue being that we were in the middle of nowhere. I told the ladies that the only highly rated place on Yelp that was within an hour (and not a BBQ joint, not good for no-meat options) was a place called Kountry Xpress an Indian food place. When we got there, it was a gas station with a sign out front that said “India Food”, not sure what that means but at this point we were committed and needed to get something. Amazingly, either because of level of hunger, low expectations, or just sheer luck, the food was great. I mean some legit India Food and we were fueled up to hit Scott’s party. The gas station also had 35 flavors of Soft Serve ice-cream which the girls got in on, but I said no way I will save my treats for the cake at Erin’s party. When we got to the party (after showers and what not) we found Bob Ross painting fun, way too much pizza, and no cake! It was still a great time and I am happy that Scott let us ruin his house with paint.

India Food complete with Gambling

Really pretty good

He makes it look easy

The next morning we met for a shakeout run at Chandler Park with the dogs, and ran into several other running buddies on that trails which is always a welcome surprise. The legs felt good and even if the pace was slow I was happy to be out there. After the run we went our separate ways only to have a group of us descend on my parent’s home to watch the Super Bowl that night. I always enjoy having people out to my parent’s house, not just because my mom is one of the best people in the world, but it is so peaceful out there; and a fantastic place for some gravel road running by the way. It was fun and we brought way too much food as a result of a miscommunication between my mother and I. One would think that if she says that she is worried they might not have enough food for everyone that bringing food would be a good idea. But, when they cook for an army all the time there is always enough food. Jeff, Ame, Sarah, Pip, Wes, Brynna, and I lasted until about half-time before we decided that we did not know anything about football and we had work in the morning, so we went ahead and called the weekend a wrap; a pretty successful few days, if you ask me.

This is hockey right?

This last weekend was just what I needed to recharge my running. I got to see so many of my friends complete their first or whatever number 100 miler. I could really see White Rock fire up both Jenn and Allyson about trail running again, and I even got to run with Rush the wonder dog out on the trails. These moments out there running have to be held on to. It is easy to get down on your running this time of year, with it still being dark in the mornings or after work which can make getting runs done depressing. And the weather is so all over the place you can hardly know how to dress or even what temp you will encounter after the run starts. But good friends and a positive attitude can lead you right to where you need to be, “Good Times Running” have fun my friends and GO RUN. 

P.S. Foster pup Zoë joins the herd as an offical member of the house. 

Better Late than Never

Well I have just been buried at work, and because I have so much free time I decided why not go back to school. So I am taking some classes and my first big test is this Friday. So the blog has been on the back burner. But I did have some thoughts I wanted to share about last week.

The training during the week was pretty uneventful, and with the exception of Tuesday’s run I did most of my training solo. On Tuesday I had a great run with Philip and Sarah out at the Botanical Gardens. This is becoming a regular part of my training rotation and I am really happy about that. The course is shortish (3 miles) but challenging enough to make it not boring for the 6-9 miles I get out there during the week. And everyone that I have taken out there seems to have the same feeling. There is an extra bonus too when running out there this time of year. At the top of the big climb every lap, because the sun is always already down, you get this awesome view of downtown Tulsa. Very cool, and it is super quite out there too. In fact that night we were running and these coyotes started barking all around us, which understandably is something you just don’t get running in town.

While doing some of my solo runs this past week I was thinking about how individual a sport running is. This is an activity that you have to battle with all on your own. When you are out there, you have to rely on whatever you can pull out of yourself to complete each run either training or racing. And, while we tend to do it in group it is a profoundly personal effort every time. And that is what makes it so amazing. You get this solo triumph each run but at the same time you get to share that with a group of people that have an understanding about what you are going though that no one else can, or even wants to, compute. And this deep connection is what brings us together and while running is far from a team sport I feel a stronger connection to many runners than I ever felt in more traditional sports.

Proper Pre-trip Parking

That brings me to the weekend and an adventure with my running family. This past weekend we spent Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday running and running-around in one of the most magical places on earth, Eureka Springs Arkansas. If you have not been to this sleepy mountain town you need to go there right now. And if you live in Tulsa, what are you waiting for it is only like 2 and a half hours away. On this occasion we made the trip to celebrate Jenny and Chris’ birthdays. We ended up with a crew of 13 people, in two different houses, and we all got a chance to do what we love the most, run! Well except Jonathan he rode his mountain bike (BTW Eureka is a mountain bike Mecca as well) but the rest of us ran. We came in Friday night after a dinner stop in Rogers Arkansas to eat with Shannon and Jody. They would be coming out to ES Saturday afternoon, but we could wait and need to see them right away. In my car we had seven peeps, so Shannon made reservations at a cool spot called Hammontree’s Grilled Cheese, a place all cheese lovers should check out. After we all ate too much we made it into Eureka to drop some of the folks (Wes, Jenn O, and Allyson) off at the downtown house and talk with Jenny, Chris, Rachel, and Jonathan who were all already there, then we (Brynna, Pip, Sarah, and I) made our way out to the Lake Leatherwood cabin with the plan that we would all meet out there at day break for running on the Leatherwood trails.

Some Wisdom

Not a Local brew but a good one

Food shot from Pip

Lake Leatherwood is one of the best trail running spots around and almost no one has ever heard of it. There was in the past a great race out there (a 15k called the Freakin Eurekaen) but it has long since disappeared. The trails are magnificent and there is some very serious climbing. When everyone arrived we made our way out. It was quickly decided that staying together as one big group would not be a good plan so we broke up. Which at the time seemed like a good idea, but ended up meaning that Chris and I were the only ones to make the full loop around the lake, plus some bonus to make a 10 miles day, Pip and his group ended up doing the hardest climb twice and never making it to the far side of the lake getting 8 miles, and Brynna and Allyson ended up taking the trail to Eureka before heading back to the cabin. You would think that all this misdirection would lead to some annoyance, but everyone had a blast and no major drama came out of it. So we decided to wrap this thing up and everyone shower then meet at the bigger house in town for breakfast. We had a plan for breakfast but it turned into a lot of grazing on various fruits and veggies then sweet potatoes (with some eating bacon) and finally huevos rancheros. But the time our 100 hour breakfast was done Shannon and Jody showed up and we decided to quite literally descend on Downtown Eureka.

The Lake

Trail Shot

Runners Coming in

The main town of Eureka is mainly an artist community (with some bikers, cowboys, and bars you know like you do) so the place is full of cool little shops. We spent too much time and money in the hat store and a store specializing in crazy spices, but before we knew it the group had congregated at a little bar on the far side of Eureka called the Cathouse and we knew that if we were going to drop all of our spoils off at the house before the Mardi Gras parade, and whatever shenanigans we were going to get into that night, we needed to get a move on. Did I forget to mention that it was Mardi Gras in Eureka? Well it was and the place was busier and crazier than usual. So highlights from that night included a Mardi Gras parade that is exactly what you would expect from this town with the mayor looking like the wizard of Oz and this old guy dressed in all white just dancing up a storm down the street, then a crazy old west photo shoot (which is all Jenny wanted for her birthday) and a great dinner at Local Flavor (one of the best places to eat in town and if you go you need to eat here). The night ended with a little too much drinking and more drama than we would have liked but as we would see in the morning it did not dampen our spirits.

The Cathouse and Brynna with a new hat

Red 11s Must be a running store, right?

Just an everyday scene in Eureka

Ridiculous 

The next morning we decided to run the 10k course from the Victorian Classic. This little race holds a special place in my heart and is one that I am finally coming back to run this year. But since the house we rented in town was on the course we decided that it would be fun to do our own invitational version to close out our weekend. The course starts high in the town and the first 5k runs mostly downhill, and then the next 5k is almost all uphill. So not the easiest run but this time we all stayed together for the most part. About 2 miles into the run Chris and Pip were a little in front of the group when we saw Pip go down on this little downhill. We all had a little laugh at his expense, as it did not look like a serious fall, and we talked about how it was that we could run all day on the trails and not go down but we couldn’t handle the roads. It was assumed that he slipped on some gravel, but as I soon found out that was not the case. As I approached the little downhill I took the high side to avoid the spot where Pip fell only to find that it was oil, not gravel, which he slipped on. At that point I thought it would be a good idea to show Pip how you really fall on a road. So I went rolling down the hill and got my knee good and bloody for the rest of the run. Have to love those roads. After I pealed myself off the ground we continued the run and down the road found some cool caves on the side of the road, some of the group took some time out to explore them. As we got to the bottom of the hill we found a cool little musical park. Not sure what else to call it, just a lot of large random chimes and things to bang on as we went by. Then we reached the turning point and it was a long climb out of the hole we were in. On the way back up the hill Pip decided to show his mastery of the falling skills I demonstrated for him earlier and this time lost a good amount of skin from his hand. Basically we cannot handle the road at all. We eventually made it back to the house without everyone dying and agreed that we would clean up and find a place for breakfast. So we cleaned up, packed everything up, and I called around to see who could handle a party of 13 with no notice. It turns out that one of our favorite places that closed down a few years back (Pancakes) reopened with a new name The Filling Station. So we made our way over there, to find an amazing breakfast buffet that changed as we continued eating and basically we ate way too much.

Going up through Town

Good times and great Pancakes

At this point we all knew that we needed to start heading back to T-Town, but we didn’t want the weekend to be over so we made a last second decision to add the Turpentine Creek big cat rescue to our trip. This is a very large site just outside of town in which they take in old or injured exotic cats to live out their lives. It was a very cool place and to see these animals up close it is a site to behold. If you are in the area this is worth your time. And all the money goes to keeping the rescue open, so you can feel good about handing over the $10 a head. There is a half mile walking tour that is guided by one of the rangers working out there (they made sure to ask us to let them know if the walk was too far and they would bring a car down to get us LOL) and there is a bunch of pens in the top part to walk around. All it all a great end to the weekend. I will try not to blow up this whole blog with all the photos from the rescue but I took a bunch, and I have the feeling that if you go there you will too. It is amazing sometimes when you look back at it, but running can take you some pretty amazing places with some people that I am so grateful to have in my life. I can truly say straight-faced that I love all of this running family. Till the next adventure, go out there and run!

Showoff

Western States is mocking me

Just watching planes go by

Sarah needs that Fish and Shannon will not help

The Big Easy and Pie Day!

Well I have a hard time believe that anyone is still reading this, but according to the blog counter someone is. So, I guess I will keep with it. So this week was another on the road. I got up Sunday, feeling surprisingly good after the Switchbacks and boarded a plane for the Big Easy. Now I have been to New Orleans one other time, and I have to be honest I was not a big fan. Don’t get me wrong the food is incredible and the sites are cool, but for the most part it seemed like a very dirty town and I dislike walking down the street and having people hassle me. But, I needed to be there for work so like it or not I was going back.

Right off, I knew this trip was going to be a little better. First, I was staying at the JW Marriot right off the French Quarter in a nice room with a very nice view. Second, a lot of cool people were in town so a good time was going to be had. So I went to bed the first night sure that even though my flights in were super delayed and I got to the hotel 3 hours after I was supposed to be there, this was going to be a great week.

View from my room

Monday morning I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat and that didn’t seem good, but I shook it off and found out that my meetings for that morning had been cancelled (or at least they didn’t need me there). So itching from not running Sunday I decided to hit the roads of New Orleans and get some miles in. I talked with the clerk down at the front desk and he told me that I would have to run on the side walk about a half of a mile to the southwest of the hotel, but then I could just run on the trolley tracks. I asked him if that was something I should do? It did not seem like the best idea if I wanted to avoid getting hit by a trolley, but he told me the trolleys are very slow and most runners in the area do this. It also had the bonus of cutting way down on the street crossings and traffic. So I took his advice and when I reached the trolley tracks found they consisted of a grassy median in the road with the tracks buried in the sides. So it was really just a well worn grass trail. Pretty sweet, oh and the trolley were super slow, in fact the one going in the same direction as me took more than 3 miles before it passed and stayed ahead of me. The view was very neat too; I guess the street I was on (St Charles Ave) is on the parade route for Mardi Gras and they were already setting things up as it was only a few weeks away. On the sides of the street there were all these crazy old trees (to go with the old buildings I guess) that were covered in this cool ivy with beads from parades of the past grown into them. It was really something to see; plus it was warm, which was a nice change from the freezing cold of the past few weeks and there were quite a few other runners out there so I guess the clerk at the hotel knew what he was talking about. When I got to the far end of my run I was at Tulane University and so I made a loop around Audubon Park that is right in front of it, the park was full of people and had this cool lake right in the center. All in all it made for a nice ten mile run and I felt good the whole time. When I walked into the hotel I was met with a welcome surprise, my friend Jeremiah had his afternoon meetings cancelled and wanted to go to lunch. Jeremiah is the clone of Anthony Bourdain and always knows the best spots in any town. I have learned over many travels with him to not question his suggestions.

So Jeremiah said we have to go to Cochon, which is a cool spot near the National WWII Museum. When we got there the lunch crowd had already set in, but we were able to get a spot at the kitchen bar. Kind of like sitting at the sushi bar but with these guys cook in the giant wood burning oven that was way cool, and they also passed us over some samples of what they were cooking which was much cooler. The food was incredible. I mean really incredible, everything I tried was awesome but the whole time we sat there I kept seeing these little cast iron skillets that they were taking in and out of the oven. So when we finished up and started to leave I finally had to ask one of the cooks, “What is with the skillets?” He told me that was the rabbit stew and dumplings. I felt I had been cheated (or would have but the meal I had was incredible) and swore that the next time I came in it would be rabbit stew for sure.

On our walk back to the hotel I was talking with Jeremiah (who is also a History Major) about how I had never seen the WWII Museum, but heard it was very well done. He told me that he and his father had visited almost every major European site from WWII in their travels, but the museum was very well done and they have this crazy 4D movie that we very interesting. Then he insisted that we go check it out. We got there just as a showing of the movie was starting, so we had an hour to kill before the next showing. We bought tickets and started to check out other parts of the museum. This was good and bad; don’t get me wrong if you get the chance to go to the WWII museum do it for sure. But don’t just give yourself an hour like I did. This is a whole day activity. We were about halfway through the “Road to Berlin” exhibit (which is one floor of one of the five buildings that make up the museum) when we realized that we only had about 10 minutes until our movie started. So we rushed through the end of that part and made it to the movie. Just like everything else at the museum the movie was well done, powerful, and it snowed in the theater (I guess that is what makes it 4D). So long story short go to this place. Even though we needed to get back to the hotel and get some work done we ran through one more building before we left, and agreed we would have to come back when we had more time (unfortunately that time did not come this trip). 

Inside one of the buildings

After we got back and got some things done a group of us decided we would meet for dinner. Well the first place we had planned on going was booked up. So the other guys we had in our group said “how about Cochon?” Well you can guess my answer, and in a diet destroying move we headed back to Cochon. As I set down Jeremiah asked what I would be having, I promptly slapped him in the face and yell rabbit stew and dumplings of course. It was spicy and wonderful, a great end to a cool day.

The dish in question

The next day I had meetings for most of the day, and I felt like crap (the sickness was upon me). But at the end of the meetings I talked my boss into going for a run with me, which was cool. How many people work for someone that would be willing to run in a strange city with you? We did a short four miles and then went to dinner with a good group in the French Quarter.

On Wednesday was the start of a conference that I was attending in the same hotel that my meetings had been at earlier in the week. As I knew the conference and the obligatory after party would destroy any chance of running, but I had backup and my good friend Stephen from Denver agree to meet me at 5am in the lobby for a 6 mile run. It was so nice to be able to go run in the dark and not freeze to death. I almost didn’t know how to handle it but managed to refrain from way overdressing. The conference was pretty good, and after the first day wrapped we headed with a group to a place called Jacques-Imo’s. This place was also amazing and I had some good local beer as we waited for the other of the five taxis to arrive (not sure what secret way our driver knew but we were the last to leave and got to the restaurant way before the others). I got a fresh fish dish with the hopes I could pretend that it would somehow make up for the day before, but everyone said I should have got the fried chicken. The fish was great, but when I left I texted Brynna a photo of the sign outside (pretty funny) and immediately I got a text back saying “you have to try the fried chicken there” guess I missed the boat again. 

The sign out front

Local Brew

Upon getting back to the hotel I was trying to find a group to go out. Most everyone was going out Thursday night, but I was flying back that night so this would be my only chance. Luckily I was with a group that doesn’t take a lot of convincing to push them out the door so we hit the French Quarter in search of live music and good times. After a while of trying to stay away from Bourbon Street we ended up at the back entrance of Pat O’Brien’s, I mean it is a famous Bourbon Street bar but since we did not go through the Bourbon Street entrance we decided we were in the clear. It was a good time with dueling pianos and some old guy playing a tray (don’t ask), but before I could leave I was told I had to have a hurricane. Now I do not drink hard liquor, or soda. I am a beer guy, but I figured when in Rome. So I got this drink and felt like I poured an entire pack of Fun-Dip in my mouth. Well that was enough to call it a night (reminder I was getting sick this whole time) and I returned to the hotel room with every intention of getting up at 5 for more miles with Stephen. The night ended up being horrible, and the creeping crud had me hacking up all night. So when I got a text from Stephen at 4:50 saying he was out for the run, I decided Thursdays are supposed to be off days anyways and went back to bed. I think it was a good call.

Best I can guess this is 100% sugar

Thursday after Stephen gave his presentation at the conference we decided to sneak out before the break and go to Café Du Monde, this is a happening little (not little) place just on the boarder of the French Quarter that only serves Coffee (with Chicory) and Beignets (kind of a French Donut with tons of powdered sugar). We no more than sat down and Stephen tells the waiter we need a dozen beignets and two coffees (they normally sell the beignets in orders of three for a table). So they brought all of this stuff to the table and Stephen looks at me, then all of this food, and then back to me and said “I might have got a little over zealous with that order”. We did some damage though and put down 5 a piece before the called it good, and spent the entire walk back to the hotel trying to get all the powdered sugar off of us. On the way back we walked through Jackson Square and checked out the statue of Andrew Jackson that they were about to remove. I guess it went to a public vote and it was decided that they didn’t want it around anymore. Seems kind of strange to me, but glad I got to check it out before it was gone. The rest of the day went smooth until we got to the airport and then had the normal last flight of the day drama getting home, ending up with me getting in after midnight but I got there and was grateful to be back home.

All that remained of our battle with beignets

Even the horses are crazy in NOLA

Before Removal

Cool view on the other side of Jackson Square

Friday I got my run in and headed to the Executive Club to discuss the weekend running plans. The decision was made to meet Jeff at 96^th and Riverside for our 16 miles on the Creek Turnpike trail. But got a call from the “Cat Master” that morning that he was having a pet emergency and couldn’t make it for the run. So Sarah, Pip, and I regrouped and decided to change our plans to meet with the Runner’s World group out at the fairground. The group was only running 11 so I hoped to get out there early and get 5 in so we could be done when the group wrapped up. Pip did not like this plan as he wanted more sleep but when I pulled up in front of his house and laid on the horn, he finally conceded to my way of thinking. We had a nice easy 5 mile run and finished up just about right so that we only had to stand around for a minute before taking off again with the Runner’s World gang. With the group this time I got to share some miles with Troy and Kathy Moore. These guys are great and have been running with Runner’s World for a while, but the last few years have been really getting into Triathlons. They have already done some Ironmans and have just been looking incredibly fit lately. So it was cool to get to talk with them about their plans for the year and of course getting to talk about bikes is always fun. When we wrapped up Pip, Sarah, and I grabbed Brynna from the house and hit Dilly Diner for breakfast with Bowie. Then we went our separate ways to prepare for Pie Day.

The photo in our booth at Breakfast

Around dinner time I was still not feeling 100% with this stupid head cold, but everyone was meeting at Pip and Sarah’s for a pie party and I was not going to miss that. It was a blast watch what everyone came up with for their dream pies; I of course went overboard with this vegetarian shepherd pie idea. So I took a bread baking tin and wrapped pie crust around it, filled it with sweet potatoes, black beans, and a bunch of other veggies, then topped it with this crazy mash potato and broccoli concoction that I made. It sounds crazy, and it was, but it came out alright and I ate way too much. On Sunday I was still feeling out of it, so I put my run off till in the afternoon but I finally got out there and did my 11 miles. Maybe not the best plan but I actually felt pretty good the whole run, so that was nice. All in all I felt like it was a good way to close out the week, and I am looking forward to the next week of staying in town.

Pie a la Stormy

Over the past few months I have been focusing on my diet. People tell me all the time that with how much I run it must be nice to be able to eat whatever I want. Well that is just not true (believe me I wish it was). Running, or any working out for that matter, is great for being healthy but the only way to control your weight is to focus on your diet. Years ago a friend of mine Kurt Egli turning me on to a calorie tracking app “My Fitness Pal” and while I am sure that there is a million apps like this out there the point is the same. If you think about everything you put in your body throughout the day, and keep track of that where you can look back on it you will be amazed at how it will affect your eating. I find myself drinking a lot less of my calories, and eating a lot more fruits and veggies just for the sake of getting to eat more. If you haven’t taken a good look at your diet I suggest you consider it. Now think about what I am saying here, not go on a diet. A “diet” is often a temporary thing; your diet is a whole approach to food. While we tend to get side tracked and sometimes end up in New Orleans for a week, continuing to make small changes in the way we eat can really get you to where you want to be for whatever event you are getting ready for. Since October when I weighed in at 206 this past week I got below 180 for the first time I a while. And not surprisingly I have already seen my ankle issues go away and my shin that has been bugging me since the beginning of the year now feels great. But most importantly I feel a lot better. It is crazy how much we get stuck on eating thinks that for the most part make us feel like crap after we eat it. Anyways, I will get off my soap box and say “Go Run” and have fun.

Frosted Trails and SnowyPeaks

Another week of running is in the books. This last week I was in Farmington, New Mexico for work, so not many funny stories of running with friends but I still have a few things to think about, and “oh boy” wait till we get to the weekend.

Landing Monday for a week in the field, no I did not get to hang in Colorado the whole time.

Like I said above one of the hardest things about traveling is doing all the runs solo. It is true that every now and again you might find an awesome local running group to share some miles with, but in this case it was a series of solo runs, and some interesting workouts on the off days (I am sure people were wondering who was stomping up an down the hotel stairs for 45 mins). Because it was just me, I tried to keep my pace a little stronger for this week, but that is not what I am going to talk about here. What I want to talk about is the amazing adventure that you can (and will) have by busting out of your hotel and hitting the local trails and streets while traveling. It is easy to fall into the rut of just pounding out your training miles on the treadmill in the hotel, the excuses are limitless and for the most part totally justifiable. And I am not going to bag on treadmill running, I have a treadmill and I really like it. Sometimes it is a great option, and I have to admit I seriously considered it last week because let me tell you it was cold as hell in Farmington. But I was lucky to get back to the hotel most nights before it got too late (aka too dark), and I figured you can’t pick the weather on race day so I should just deal with whatever Mother Nature had to throw at me. So how cold was it? Oh what is the word I am looking for? Stupid cold, complete with beard frost, but it was also beyond beautiful. I found out that just down the street from my hotel was a crushed rock path that followed the Animas River. The path was dotted with strange, mostly empty, pads of brick (like they planned to put something there and never got around to it) and sections of the crushed path did not get that much sun light and were still basically packed snow.

Part of the River Trail in Farmington

A couple of things struck me about this trail. First, the number of people that were using it, this trail was not wasted on the people of Farmington. This has not been the case on all of my travels, you would be surprised how many amazing trails I have found that were basically empty, but here despite the cold there was a good number of people out there walking up and down the trail (did a say the trail was beautiful, because it was). Next the trail was quite, despite going under several roadways there was not a great deal of road noise so I was treated to the sound of the river and about 100 million geese that were hanging out in the water. This is a special part about being a traveler and a runner. As a runner we get to experience places in a way that you don’t get if you never leave a car. It is a much deeper look into these towns, and by braving whatever it is that makes you not want to leave the hotel (weather, dark, or the unknown) will allow you to be rewarded with things you get to carry with you the rest of your life. My first run this week got started a little late, so as the run went on I found myself running in the dark. The part of the trail I was on did not have any additional lighting and I was too stupid to pack a headlamp.The moon not much help as it was not bright but the little bit of light that was out was reflecting off the snow which made me relatively sure that I would not slip and die. I was shooting for 11 miles that night and did not want to end up doing loops, so when the trail was coming to an end (despite the growing dark) I shot off on a side trail that was heavy with snow. My decision was almost immediately rewarded with something amazing. As I came around what I assume were camping sites on this side trail I ran right into a herd of mule deer just hanging out on the trail. This must be a safe spot for them because they made no attempt to move and did not seem too worried about me being there. So there I was in the dark, in the woods, with a herd of deer just feet from me. I made my way past them and was having trouble shaking how cool that experience was. So before I knew it, it was time to turn around where I was even more surprised to find they still had not moved. The deer covered the trail and did not care that I was there. Pretty amazing stuff if you ask me. But this was not the end of the surprises that the trail had for me this trip.

This was my view in the field this week, not too shabby! About 6000 ft.

The next night we got back to the hotel a little earlier and I only had 9 miles so I thought here is my chance to knock this run out before the sun went down. It was a little warmer that day so much of the frozen hard pack ground was now soft and squishy in places, but still a great trail. I saw even more people out than the day before. The people seemed  friendly and there was a 5k amount of waving. As the run went on I approached one of those brick sections of the trail and something cool happened. This being a shorter run for the week, I was really trying to push the pace as much as I could while still holding it for the whole run, but as I approached the brick section I noticed that a kid's bike and two of those razor scooters where on the side of the trail. As I got close to the pile of kid transporters, three kids that had to be around 6 or 8 years old jumped out of the woods and mounted their various modes of speedy trail conveyance. So here I am in an obvious race with these kids and they are laughing and having a good time. I will not leave you in suspense, they won but we all left the area with a smile on our faces. I gave them a thumb up and told them that they were awesome. As I left that section of the trail I realized that this what I had just been part of was stranger than the herd of deer from the night before. How often do you see a group of kids just playing by the river? It was pretty cool. Almost right after that I ended up in a fairly weird spot. It was actually an area they called the “All Veterans Memorial” but on first glance I thought I had run into a satanic worship site. Let me explain, this area was similar to the other brick pad sections but much larger. In the center of the section were 5 pillars that had super realistic eagles on the top of them all facing the center. These pillars were connected by a huge upside down star. And, in the center of that star a weird orb fountain, seemed pretty crazy to me particularly as it was getting dark. But when I found a picture of it in the daylight maybe it is less satanic than I thought. As for the non-running parts of the trip itself I was in luck, because one of the guys traveling with me was also on a diet. So we were able to forgo our normal road trip diet of hamburgers and beers, and this time ate fairly reasonably. It is never easy to keep up a diet while on the road, but let me say if you can talk your co-workers into sharing in the misery it really helps. Running is all about sharing and caring, mostly sharing pain and misery and caring that you are not the only one suffering.

I stole this photo off the internet, but you get the idea.

On Friday I got up early (4am) to get to the airport and fly back to Tulsa, I had to get back for my annual check-up at 1:30pm with the doctors. There I found out I had officially lost 20 lbs since October so that was a big win. I celebrated with a 10 mile run before hitting the pub to meet with the Executive Club. Much of the discussion this week focused on the race the next day. My hope was to get a quick dinner and hit the road before too late to get to my hotel in Poteau for the Switchcbacks 50k 8am Saturday morning. Sleep be damned. Around 8pm Pip, Sarah, and I loaded up in the hot rod Fiesta to get to the hotel. It was a fairly uneventful trip but we were surprised as we pulled up to the hotel to find my cycling team’s van out front. Turns out their winter training camp was in the same area (I am currently taking a break from cycling till after Western States). So we were greeted by many familiar faces and said some quick "hi" and "what are you doing here" talk before we rushed to bed. Luckily the race had a fairly late start so we got some sleep in our room that shared a wall with the elevators. We could have complained, but the beds were soft and we were two hours closer to the start line than if we had left from Tulsa, so it was a win.

Turnoff for the Race start line.

When we showed up to the race we found a spot in the ditch along the dirt road right by our buddies Jenn, Jenny, Scott, Allyson, Rachel, and Wes. Victor and John found spots much closer to the start line because they got there the night before and camped out. Friday was a beautiful day in the 60s but the morning of the race was plenty cold and the rain/sleet started right before the gun went off. We stayed warm however because we had the warm smiles of Shannon and Jody (our friends from NWA) to keep us warm, lol. We all had a good laugh and a spirited discussion about how stupid this activity was.

A bad photo Clint took at the start line.

Photo of the race course I stole from TZ

That is me crossing the River

If you are unfamiliar with the switchbacks, I encourage you to look it up. It is a rough and beautiful course with lots of climbing and river crossings to ensure you get your "cost of race" to "time in the woods" formula to the max benefits (dollar per hours on the trail one of the cheapest races around). I wanted to make sure I kept this as a training run. Not meaning that I would not run hard, but I did not want to "race" this course. I needed to not trash my running for the next week or worse injure myself and be down for a few weeks. To keep this promise to myself I started towards the back of the field, and as this is all trails there was a lot of log jamming at the start of the race. This forced me to ease into the race and by the time I broke free from the mid pack I was far enough from the lead group to not worry about them. There are plenty of places to trip and fall, or slip and crack your head on this course. So I took every tricky spot very carefully and made it to the first out and back without much drama. The course is set up with an out and back in one direction with the 25k runners and then back through the start finish line and on to an out and back in the other direction for the second 25k. Because of this layout no matter where you are in the field you get to see all the runners. It is pretty awesome. I got to see John having a blast in his crazy outfit and Rachel crushing the course on her first time at this race. Shannon was not too far ahead of me at the first turn around so after getting a tortilla filled with peanut butter from Kate at the top of Winding Stair, I was able to catch up to Shannon and we ran together for a while. For some reason anytime I got around Shannon I started tripping on everything my feet could find. This must have distracted Shannon because he ended up turning an ankle and had to drop to the 25k. It sucked, I was having fun running with him and the rest of the course was devoid of people for the most part. But I ran with a smile on my face, the rain had stopped and I was making fairly good time on the climbs. I am in general a very weak downhill runner, but I was able to really limit my time walking on the climbs and kept it at a jog for most of the climbing sections. About 200 ft from the second turnaround you have the biggest river crossing of the race. This seemed a little unnecessary but all part of the fun. The water was high, very cold, and moving fast. So I tried to look for the positives and decided it was just a free vasectomy, lol as no one would be able to have kids after freezing to death in that river. On the other side I was treated to awesome volunteers and some cheese quesadillas. Then it was time to turn back and get right back into the river. I finished strong and got to hang around with everyone for several hours at the finish before heading to Jenn O’s house for a post-run homemade pizza party. At the finish I got to talk with the man behind the race Tommy for a while. I also found out that Rachel had won the 25k as first overall female and Victor had come in Second overall in the 50k. Later when Sarah came in and she was the 3rd overall female in the 50k. So it was a great race for team TATUR or the OK Dirtbaggers or the Executive Club or whatever stupid name we have come up with for this week.

Aid Station at top with Kate making tasty snacks

Rachel on her way to victory

Sarah picks her way through the river

Jody, Me, Sarah, and Pip at the finish

The ride back was entertaining with some laughs and snacks. And the pizza was just what the doctor ordered for post race recovery. I had to leave early unfortunately and get back to the house to pack for my next work trip. I was on a plane for New Orleans Sunday afternoon, but that adventure is for next week. Run hard my friends and remember to enjoy all the stupidity we share on these adventures.

A special thanks to Tommy who not only put on the race, but hauled water to the out and back aid station which had no road access. Think about that guys, this man is so dedicated to his race that he hand hauled water for 200 runners to the top of a mountain. You have to love that.