Brew to Brew

Come my friends and let me tell you about a little running adventure aptly named Brew to Brew. B2B is a long running race (over 20 years) put on by the Kansas City Track Club. They are a great group of runners out of some town (can't seem to remember exactly which one). The event is most commonly run as a relay, where a team splits up the duties of making a trek on foot from Boulevard Brewery in KC to Free State Brewery in Lawrence. Well that is the idea, really the run goes from The Roasterie (an awesome coffee shop right next to Boulevard) to a brew pub in Lawrence near Free State. But, all of that is beside the point. The event is awesome and even better, if you are dumb enough you can tackle the entire 45 miles solo. And you are in luck for this blog, because I am dumb as hell. So you know I ran it, and the mad man of NWA (Northwest Arkansas) Shannon was with me. So let me tell you about this great running event, that despite selling out almost every year for the 20+ years of its existence I had never heard of.

Nice Logo, it is now a little different but I still like it

A place to visit for sure

Don't worry we went here too.

First there is the issue of Kansas City being like 4 hours away, and I would need to get there. You know me, I like to take a group with me wherever I go. But the weekend of the race was getting very close to the wedding so Brynna decided that she better not make the journey. In steps the Executive Club, even though they were not running I was able to convince Wes and Pip to make the trip over. This was good for two reasons. First, they are awesome and second this being a point-to-point race I really didn't have a plan to get back to my car. I am sure that since Shannon and Jody would be there they would have helped me out, but my crew meant that I didn't have anything to worry about. To take his generosity over the top, Wes not only agreed to come to this race that he was not running but also offered up his car and driving for the trip. Total Win! So after our Saturday morning run and of course a solid brunch, the three stooges loaded up in Wes' Subaru and we headed to KC. The plan was to meet Shannon and Jody at packet pickup near the start line. Now the trip down was pretty uneventful but I did have something weighting on my mind. See the original plan was to just crash with Shannon and Jody who being much better planners than I already had secured a hotel room. But now we had too many people for one room and as I soon learned the opening game of the Kansas City Royals was this same weekend. So there were not really any rooms to be had. So a was pretty nervous about what we would do come bed time. But I was not going to get too spun up, things usually work out in the end. So off to KC we went and before too long and without much drama we pulled up in front of The Roasterie.

Where most plans are hatched

Now going in, I didn't really know what The Roasterie was. I just assumed it was some kind of coffee shop, but as we came up on the spot I was blown away. The store has a full size WWII era plane in the roof, looking like it was about to take off. The place was massive. And I guess calling it a coffee shop is a misnomer as they process and package their own beans there as well. So walking in a was pretty jazzed up, the inside of the building was not left out on the over the top treatment for this place either. They kept the aeronautical theme going and pulled it off really well. In the back of the shop they had a whole room set up for packet pick-up for the race. Now most weird races like this that I have been to, don't really do that much in way of race bags. You usually just get your number (maybe a timing chip) and are told where to be for the race start. Not this race, not only did they have printed instructions for the crew complete with maps, but all kinds of cool bonus swag for running, including some of that coffee I was talking about (which I knew Brynna would enjoy) and a pint glass. In addition, they had all kinds of jackets, shirts, hats, and whatnots with the race logo on it. So before I left I grabbed a nice Nike running jacket with the race logo embroidered in the front. I really like the jacket and the logo so it has become a pretty regular part of my wardrobe. Plus, I had to be happy with it as Pip bought the running vest I was wanting.

I mean how cool is that?

When Shannon got to the spot I think he and Jody were a little surprised to see Wes and Pip with me. In all the running around and last minute planning I guess I never really bothered to tell them that I was bringing a bunch of people. And right away I could see the concern on their faces. They knew the hotel situation and were also worried about how we would find spots for everyone to sleep. We talked for a little while and Shannon got his packet, then we decided we could not solve these concerning issues without beer, so we made our way over to the Boulevard Tap Room. Before you get to the Tap Room there is a gift shop out front. We were instantly distracted by this and started shopping around, until someone came out of the Tap Room and said it was last call. So we rushed the bar and got a round before we missed out. We tried a couple of cool beers that were only available in the tap room (I think) and after wrapping up there went back to the gift shop. There we found some cool shirts and I got some treats for my pups, some barley dog snacks that I kind of got as a goof but the dogs went crazy for. Even dogs love beer. So it was getting late (really only 5pm) and we still needed to find some food so before we headed to the outskirts of town where the hotel was I talked everyone into checking out a cool little spot that I found a few years back when I came to KC for the Hospital Hill half marathon. It is called Westside Local, and they have a cool atmosphere and really good food and beer selections. I was particularly interested in a veggie burger that they are known and my enthusiasm got everyone else on board. So we headed that way. We were able to get in as we kind of beat the dinner rush and everyone ordered food and drinks. After a while of waiting for our food, and crushing an appetizer, the server came with some very bad news. They were out of the veggie patties so no burger for me. I was a little perplexed by this, as it was very early in the evening to already be 86ing food. But they were nice about it and I just ordered something else. When it came time to check out they ended up not even charging me for the food and I thought that was a classy move in their part. So needless to say all was forgiven. Everyone seemed to enjoy the place and it is in a cool part of town. A lot of neat little houses that have been redone. I would highly recommend checking out this area of Kansas City. Well with the beer and food handled it was time to face the music and figure out what we were going to do about the sleeping situation.

Westside Local

So the room that Jody and Shannon got was in the nearby town of Overland Park, KS. I figured we would just roll up there (as it was a little outside of Kansas City) and be able to grab an extra room at their hotel. But, oh boy, I was wrong. They did not have anything available and when we got into their room it was pretty clear that the 5 of us were not going to be able to reasonably share one room. So I hit the internet and found one lone suite even further out of town. So without giving it a chance to disappear I booked the room and we all headed over there to see what that situation looked like. It was a nice big suite and the guy at the desk was super helpful but also only a single bed. I guess like every kids sporting event in the universe was also going on for that weekend, the hotel was just buzzing with kids in matching shirts and talking a million miles an hour. But in a last minute save they brought us a blow up mattress that was really nice and Wes said it looked good enough for him, so we called it a success and headed to Sam’s Club for last minute supplies. I was into the walking around Sam’s Club and grabbing snacks and whatnot. Plus, they had my favorite Cottonelle flushable wipes. You can only get the big box of them at Sam’s Club so I grab them. I don’t mean to overstate it, but I am pretty sure that finding these wipes a few years ago changed my life, LOL. Despite my excitement it was getting late and Shannon was ready to crash so we decided to pack it in with a plan that I would be to their hotel in the morning and Shannon and I would ride in his car to the start line. Then Jody would catch a ride with Wes and Pip later after they got sleep and breakfast and all that good stuff. So finally a very long day came to an end.

The massive air bed they brought Wes

Sam's Club for the Win!

Well I guess we should talk about the race at some point. Now this race is a point to point as I said and Shannon had run it several years back, describing it as almost all road with a very short gravel section. At the start line it looked like there would be some pretty serious competition. I was not really planning on doing anything big at the race, but having just won the very cool and low key race in Stillwater OK the Land Run 50k I was unsure how it might go. But standing at the starting line with a former Badwater winner and a really solid looking sponsored runner from Colorado I felt the pressure was off. There is no way I was doing anything big for this race. So Shannon and I did our normal not taking anything seriously and jacking around at the start and before we knew it the gun went off and we raced into the dark of the morning with two or three runners taking a big lead right out of the gate. I love running at night and early in the race we crossed a big bridge over the Kansas river, it was awesome and really peaceful. Well of me anyways, I don’t think Shannon enjoyed it that much. On the other side we had to descend some steep stairs and then run under the bridge. As I headed for that area I was kind of wishing that I had some kind of light, but then I saw an unbelievable site. A line of volunteers with flashlights signaling our way. I would soon find that volunteers were something this race had in spades and let me tell you, it made all the difference. This could have been a fairly mundane race, as it was mostly just following highways, but the volunteers really went all out and took this race over the top for me.

Race Course

Finish of the Land Run 50k. I know the sign says 100 but that was for the bikes

This dude at the Finish of the Land Run was awesome, flipped out for every runner and rider.

As for the race I was completely lied to about the amount of gravel. Large sections of the beginning of the race were on the levy of the river, which was packed gravel. This would not have been much of an issue, but the shoe choice was not ideal for this terrain. Shannon and I ran together for a little while, but our paces on this day were not meshing up well. Also, there was the slight issue that I really overhydrated for the race so in the first 6 miles I must have stopped at least a dozen times to pee. So when all was said and done, by the time I hit the first crew aid station at mile 10 I was running by myself and really had no idea where I was in the field. But, I did get to meet some cool other runners on the course. For a while I ran next to a young lady named Jaclyn Long and we talked about gross running stuff. It turns out she would go on to win the race on the female side of things. I knew she looked strong when I saw her. At that aid station I got to see Pip and Wes, they looked to be having a much better time than me, LOL. But it is always up lifting to see familiar faces on the course. I blew through the aid station and let them know that Shannon should be right behind me. Just past the aid station I saw the former Badwater winner talking on his phone and slowly walking back to the aid station, not a good sign. I asked him if everything was ok, but he said that he was having some medical issues and dropping out of the race. What a bummer, with the way he took off he surely would have had a great day on the course. Hopefully everything worked out. As the race was a point to point style event I found quickly that I was not going to see many people on the course so it was going to get pretty lonely. Luckily there were plenty of interesting sites along the way to entertain me.

Besides all the volunteers and getting to see Jody, Wes, and Pip every now and again, which made for excitement. Other wonders revealed themselves on the journey. As anyone who spends any amount of time running down the side of the road can attest to, you are going to see your fair share of dead animals. That is nothing new, but as I was crossing a bridge I saw a very large bird on the side of the road. It was laying in such a way that I could not possibly still be alive, but it looked very strange. As I go closer I realized that it was a pheasant. But this was a big nice looking pheasant that did not look like it might if say, it had been hit by a car. Seemed to be in good shape, only when I got right up on it did I see that it was a fully mounted taxidermy pheasant. It must have fallen off someone’s truck or something but clearly a strange site for the side of the road. Later I was coming up a long slow climb that we would turn at the top of. I could see a group of volunteers at the intersection waiting to guide runners. So I was plugging along towards the intersection when suddenly I felt my foot get pushed forward from behind. I immediately thought, oh man I am getting hit by a car, but that was not the case. It turns out a very large dog had run up behind me and was trying to bite at my shoe. It scared the crap out of me. But with some hollering the dog ran off back home and I started to try and get my heart rate back down. At the top of the hill I told the volunteers that they might want to watch out as there was a dog that just took a snap at me. One of them looked at me and said, “yeah we saw that” so I was like “oh, well I guess I will be going then” it was a pretty strange interaction but did not really deter from the race.

This was not the bird clearly, but you get the idea. 

At this point I was heading down a long road and running low on water and food. I had been doing a really good job on this race of staying on top of my nutrition but I realized that I had not seen the crew in a while. Times like that always make me nervous, because even though there was almost nowhere to get off course when you are out there by yourself for a long time and you haven’t seen your people you start to question if you are on the right track. Just then as if they had heard me Wes’ car came flying down the road. I would later find out that they went back to KC to get Shannon’s car and move it to the finish line. What a pro move by the crew, these guys are the best. So at the next aid station I was able to get more food from them and settle into the last half of the race. Coming into one of the aid stations one of the workers took my bottle to fill it and said that the leaders were only about 5 minutes ahead of me. Which I didn’t think much of as five minutes is an eternity when you are running. I was looking at the table they had set up while he was filling my bottle and a lady behind the table was making peanut butter and jelly tortillas. She asked me if I wanted anything, and I asked if I could have the big tortilla that she just spread peanut butter all over. I think this caught her a little off guard as she was in making mode. So she had to think about it for a minute and then was like, of course. But, she still didn’t really know what I was asking so it told her to just roll up what she had. She was like, “the whole thing?” Which I nodded in the affirmative to. Man did it really hit the spot and worked well as a handheld for moving on down the road.

 

Some of the awesome volunteers from the race. 

Further down the road, about 10 miles from the finish I was on a series of rolling gravel roads when I noticed a guy way up ahead of me with a SUV not too far in front of him. I thought this was a little weird, he would go for a while and about the time he would get up to the SUV it would take off again. I didn’t think much of it, but thought it was a little lame if that was his crew and they were giving him assistance. But as I caught up to him the SUV just drove on. I would later find it was a course marshal. Just as I was about to catch up to the shirtless guy he turned and spit on me. I guess he was rocking out on his headphones and did not hear me coming. I think I scared the crap out of him and he was super apologetic. Turns out that it was the guy from Colorado and the heat and wind were making it a tough day for him. We only talked for a moment, mostly about how he wished he had worn road shoes and I was wishing I had worn trail shoes. Then I was off again, I knew that I had little chance of catching whoever was in front of me, but at least it gave me something to work for.

How my crew preps for my arrival into an aid station.

I came up to the next to last aid station and Wes, Jody, and Pip were all jumping around and excited to see me, or at least excited that this day would be done soon. I just motored right through the aid station with Pip even running my bottle back up to me. I was in a grove and wanted to keep it going. At the last aid station, you run up to the top of this levy. Here I did the same thing, with only 5 more miles to go I was ready to get this thing in the bag. I stopped for just a second so Jody could bring me my bottle and then I was off into the wind. At this point the levy skirts this big open field and the wind was howling. I had to pull my hat down just to keep from losing it. With all the pain in my legs I felt like I was barely moving, and my Garmin would later reveal that these were some of my slowest miles. I also kind of lost some motivation, as I could see way in front of me and had no sign of the leaders. But I did my best to stay in it and in the last few miles I was given a little bit of a break from the wind and was able to start moving better again. About 1 mile from the finish I heard someone coming up from behind me, and moving really fast. Man that was a bummer to get past right at the finish after all that work, but as he came up he started yelling, “don’t worry man I am a relay runner”. That was cool of him, and turns out he was part of the winning team. So I kept my head down and pushed to the finish.

And then there it was, after 5 hours and 55 minutes I was crossing the finish line. The 45 miles was done and all I could muster when Pip ran up to me was, “how far were the leaders in front of me?” He looked at me weird and said, “dude you won the race”. That didn’t make sense to me, the aid station guy clearly said that the leaders were in front of me, but turns out that I broke the tape. I was pretty stoked about it, and I guess my team’s strategy of not letting me know that I was in the lead worked. I was pushing so hard to catch the non-existent leaders that I ended up winning by 30 minutes. After me the young guy from Colorado came in and we talked about his race. Turns out this was by far the longest race that he had ever run, and he did awesome. Then after that look who came down the trail but good ole Shannon for third. What a great day, and after Shannon came in we made or way to the after party to find some quality brews before the long drive back home.

Coming into the finish

Top three

Look at that sneaky guy

This was the place that held the after party. Really nice.

I almost didn’t tell you guys this story because I hate to seem like I am bragging. But let me tell you this run and the success that I had on it had very little to do with me. As always the first shout out goes to Shannon, because as always I would not have even known about this race if it had not been for him. Then Wes, Pip, and Jody took amazing care of me and knew just what I needed to have a great finish. Then my wife Brynna for always letting me run off on the weekend, despite me always being gone during the week for work, to do these crazy events. The race and the volunteers were amazing and kept me on track, and kept the cars off me. And of course Runner’s World Tulsa for giving me the gear and support for run this race. I also want to shout out to the Land Run 50k the week before. That race was awesome as well and really picked up my confidence before this run. Guys, weekends like this are great, but it helps that the weekend would have been great no matter what place I came in at. I encourage everyone to look up this race, and make a team for next year. Seems like the relay team would be the way to go for less running and more drinking, LOL. I am just saying if you come out to this event you are going to have a great time. And if you spend a weekend somewhere with friends who love to run like you do it will make for memories that you want to hold onto. Most of these running groups, this is what it is really about, jamming people in a hotel room, packing small dive restaurants, and just cutting loose doing what we love. You have heard this line a thousand times from me, but get on board with a running group. The people are what make our sport what it is, because lord knows it is not the running. LOL.

This was the cool local running spot that sponsored the race. Ad Astra Running in Lawrence  

I know that was a long one, but thanks for sticking it out. Now get your butt away from this computer and Go Run Tulsa. See you next time for more stupid running adventures. 

Closing Thoughts

We all have that one year.

So, some of you might know that this has been a big year for me. Full of big runs and quite a few PRs. So every now and again you see where your life is and you wonder how you got here. Anyone who knew me in let’s say 2007 would never have expected for me to end up where I am today. So? How does one go from spending every weekend at car shows, being way overweight, and having very little direction in their life end up here? How do you end up married, spending almost every free moment running, and on a very upward tract in your career? I know that the answer that you are expecting me to give would be “go run”, right? That is something I would say. But rather I think it is more complex than that, or maybe simpler. My life took a radically different turn in one year, and that year would change the course of my life and lead me to where I am today. While running was a big part of it that was not the only factor. And a quick recap of some of the highlights show it is amazing how much can change in just one year. So for this blog take a trip down memory lane as I take you through the year that changed my life the most (so far) 2010.

So I have to set this up a little, for it to make any kind of sense. So coming into 2009 I had fairly recently moved back to Tulsa (Glenpool really) and away from my family in Bristow. Now I did not grow up in Bristow I spend the majority of my formative years in Jenks. But my family moved to Bristow after I left for college, and I moved there for work after I left Stillwater in 2007. But the small town life of Bristow was just not working well for me, so I thought moving back to more familiar surroundings would be good for me. So obviously I was not super happy with my home situation. Then to add to that I was in a new role at work but was not meeting that role with a whole lot of success. And to top it all off I had fallen into the trap of overeating, and spending way more money than I had to things I did not need or most of the time even want. It was just a constant shuffle of things in and out of my life like I was searching for something. And anyone who has known me for a long time knows that this is something that I was known to do. I was always getting into different hobbies and whatnot, just moving the pieces of my life around to try and fill some void.

Early in the year I had been seeing someone, but that relationship fell apart (and for the better as we were not good together at all). So here I was spending a lot of time alone in this new big house and not really knowing what to do with myself. Mostly I spend my time watching HBO and falling asleep on the couch. Then my mother gave me a book, and that book was “Born to Run”. She told me that this book meant a lot to her and had affected her pretty powerfully. Now my mother has always been a runner, so just being a kid of course I was totally against running. You know how stupid we are growing up, anything that your parent likes is stupid. So I am not even really sure why I agreed to read the book, but I had a lot of free time on my hands so I figured what the heck. And if I am honest this book hit me hard. It really made me question what I was doing and what was important to me and it seemed to me that the people in this book had the same problem I did. They all had a void in their life that needed to be filled, so maybe this was a way to do it. Now remember at this time I am not running. So there I was sitting on my couch in Glenpool and thinking I have to do something with my life so I decide that I need to start eating better and get into shape if I want anything in my life to move in the right direction. So I hatched a plan to run from my house to the local Arby’s (honestly I thought of this a healthy food option at the time) one mile away according the magic of Google Maps. Digging through my closet I found some old mesh basketball shorts, a plain white cotton undershirt, and some crappy old tennis shoes that I used to mow the lawn and headed out the door. About 15 minutes later I was at Arby’s and sure that I was going to die. I sat there and ate something a caught my breath before making the trip back to the house. That little run would greatly affect my life, but I promise I am getting back to 2010. So that run took place in October of 2009, I ran my first 5k at the Tulsa Run at the end of that month. The Tulsa Run was the best race I could have selected for my first not only because it is a blast and one of the biggest in Tulsa, but because I remember often sitting at the finish line as a kid waiting for my mother to finish. So there was a lot of personal connection to the race. Soon after though I stupidly decided that I would run my first Half Marathon at the Williams Route 66 in November. The hunger for running was growing but going into the new year I needed to do something big. I mean I was losing weight and feeling better, but I was still doing this mostly by myself and just felt like I needed to move the needle in a big way. It would take something big.

Me finishing my first 5k phone in hand for music

The Medal from 2010

Notice the Styling white cotton Tee-shirt

At the beginning of the year I found what that would be, the 50k at Post Oak in February. I talked a little about that race last post, but at the time I signed up I did it because I basically thought it would be impossible. I have often been quoted as saying that goals are not goals if you know that you can do them. That just makes it something you can do. I honestly at this point assumed that I would try this, fail, and have to reset with something else. I mean really how could it be possible to run ten 5ks in a row, on trails, in the woods. Forget that I was reading about people running 100 miles, that was just in a book. This was for real and me that we are talking about. I was never going to survive the race. But I had a more fundamental problem right out of the gate, how does one train for a 50k? So like anyone who doesn’t know where to start I turned to Google. Even though it was just a few years ago, back in 2010 it was hard to find anything about training for an ultra. But I eventually found a plan for a 50 mile run. I figured, well if I do that I should be able to do a 50k no problem. But the program was full strange language that I did not understand, like 4x1600 to TMP. I reached out to the only place I could think of Runner’s World Tulsa. As a non-runner I had been there several times over the years to get my mother shoes for a birthday or Christmas or whatever. I was in luck when I call as Kathy the owner of Runner’s World Tulsa answered and she took pity on me (or was excited about sharing the suffering) and explain speed work. So I hung up the phone pretending like I knew what she was talking about only thinking to myself, how do you run at a certain pace? I mean at this point I had no gear, I was just keeping track of my distance by running the same loops that I had mapped out on the internet. So I did the only thing that I could think of and wrote all the parts of this work out on a big legal pad and went to the YMCA to jump on a treadmill to do the workout as prescribed. So basically I was being a big idiot but I was lucky that I had good people all around who were eager to help me out, because I am sure I looked like a professional running at my 11 minute pace and checking things off on this pad. So finally a longtime friend of the family Steve Lee (an amazing all-around athlete) came up to me and said, “what in the hell are you doing?” After explaining my stupid plan, he told me that there was a group that training on Turkey Mountain on Saturday mornings. He said this group would be able to help me out and that they would be doing some training runs out at Post Oak as well. It was clear I should hook up with them and see what I they could teach me. And just like that TATUR (Tulsa Area Trail and Ultra Runners) became part of my life. On the first run out there it was cold and dark (7am in December) and I showed up late. Having no idea where they would be running I just took off on the only marked trail I saw (great ultra-running tactic) and hoped for the best. And when I somehow amazingly caught up to the back of the group I ran into one Mr. Randy Ellis, one of the best runners and for sure one of the best people you could ever meet on the trail. This running legend made me feel welcome in the group and assured me that my dreams of the Post Oak 50k were not stupid. It was just what a scared new runner needed to hear. To this day I still look up to Randy as one of my running idols, and just an amazing human being.

Randy During A Race

His book about running across the country. Oh did I forget to mention that?

Meeting the TATUR group was one of the best things that could have happened. The whole group was all over my plan of running this first 50k, and many of them had already done that kind of distance or further. So they became not only big supporters, but a wealth of knowledge. So with this group behind me I completed my first 50k, and then soon after I was in all kinds of ultras. The 6-hour Snake Run, Lake McMurty, and then what would become a big goal for me that year the Midnight Madness 50 mile run. In preparation for this I was doing all kinds of races and any other running event I could find. One such event was taking part in Lisa Smith-Batchen’s quest to run 50 miles in every state in the US. I ended up running the entire 50 miles with her while she was in Tulsa. Not only did I learn lessons from her that I still quote to this day, but I also ended up with my photo in Runner’s World magazine when they did a story on the run. So here I am only a few months into 2010 and I have gone from a new runner to that ultra-guy who is at every local race. I really came out of nowhere, but most of the people who knew me before just figured this was the latest fad for Stormy and soon enough I would move onto something else. Surprisingly it seems that they would be wrong on this one.

This is actually the flier from when she was in Tulsa

That is me in the Green Shirt (without beard)

So here we are into this story a little ways and still all we have talked about is running. I promise that this year being important was not just about running, there were so many other little things that happened that year that seem like not a big deal and would turn into major events. For example, early in the year while running a little 15k trail race in Eureka Springs AR, a place that I visited as a kid but had not though much about since, I meet a man named Shannon McFarland. We finished the race right next to each other he burned me on a big downhill right before the finish line and came in 10^th and I came in 11^th. I don’t know why but at that time finishing in the top ten was a big deal to me. Anyways we talked for a while after the event, he kept blabbing on about this half marathon in Bentonville that I had to come up and run. I didn’t ever follow up with him even though he seemed like a nice guy, and then it turned out we ran a bunch of events through the next year without realizing the other was at the same event. In fact, we would run our first 100-mile race together without even knowing it. But eventually we got on the same page and now Shannon is one of my best friends. This reintroduction to Eureka would also be important, but more on that later.

It is hard to see but that is me in the Red and Shannon next to me.

We had not met at this point.

As I said at the beginning 2009 at my work was not going very well, and moving into 2010 I was not doing much better. Running would eventually be a great outlet to allow me to focus in on my work, but it started as a big distraction. But during the year other things would happen that would change my professional path. I was asked by my work to take part in a professional leadership training class that the company (J-W Energy) was holding in Dallas. It would be a four-part class taking place over four weeks throughout the year. Basically you would go for a week of meetings in this hotel near the home office, then we would come back a month later. I have always liked these self-help type of classes, and it was neat but I didn’t really think much would come of it. With the benefit of time on my side I know that in that year I would make business connections that would rocket me through the organization over the next few years. The curriculum itself would not be near as valuable as the people that I was able to learn from. Also, my enthusiasm for the opportunity came through and I made a good impression on group. By the end of that year those business connection, particularly with a man that would become my boss for a large part of the next 6 years Gene Gradick Jr, would be some of the most influential that I would ever have. I continued to work and learn from most of those individuals and we able to see that I was derailing myself from my career path. With their guidance I really changed my work life and have been blessed with a fair amount of success as a result.

Another small event that would become the major driver of my life came from a small race I decided to take part in, on June 6^th 2010. The race is not held any more but was fun and a neat concept. The race was called the TATUR Estim8ur. In this race you would run on an unknown course, any kind of personal timing equipment was not allowed. All you know before the start of the race was the distance, 8 miles. The goal of the race was not to win (or be the first across the finish line) but rather every runner is made to guess what their finishing time will be and at the end whoever comes closest to that time wins. So really it is anyone’s guess who will come out on top. To make it interesting you place your estimated finish time on your back so other can decide if you know what you are doing and run your pace. At the time of this race I was racing a lot, so my running was progressing pretty well. As such I was running much faster than I had planned and the next thing I know I was the first runner to cross the finish line. This would have been my first overall victory (had it been that kind of race) and I was excited about how well the run went, but I was about 2 minutes ahead of my estimated time. Needless to say I lost by a lot. At the end of the race I was hanging around and started talking with the lady that won the race. She finished within two seconds of her estimated time. We had a good laugh about the whole race, and how I crossed first and yet she totally kicked my butt. As we talked I found out that on the course she had ran into my mother and talked with her for a while. Well we kept talked for a while, as I am quite chatty, but the whole time I was trying to figure out if the guy she ran with was a friend or like more than a friend. This question would not get answered that day rather we ran out of time. She told me that her mother was in town and she had to meet her for breakfast. So, before I knew what had happened she was gone and I was just hanging out by myself again thinking about what to do next. I wanted to be able to talk with her again but in all my chatting I never asked for any contact information. I only knew her name, Brynna.

This was actually the banner from the previous year

After the race I actually ended up going out to my parent’s house to spend the day. And I was distracted, I just couldn’t get this girl out of my mind. I really felt like I had missed my chance to see what could have come of us hanging out. So, then I did something I have never done before, Facebook stalking. LOL, ok not really stalking but I looked her name up on Facebook and sent her a message. At this time, I really didn’t know if she was in a relationship or what, and pretty much just felt like a creeper for contacting someone like this. Particularly someone that I had only just kind of met. I am pretty sure this is a textbook runner horror story. You are a girl and finish a race, then you talk to some weirdo just trying to be nice and the next thing you know he is sending you Facebook messages. That was what was going through my mind until to my great surprise she wrote me back. Soon she agreed to meet up with me and go for a run. I know, total shocker, I get a girl to agree to meet up with me and I still want to go for a run. I am basically super romantic. Anyways we went for this run, and I was dragging her all over the Riverside trails, until she finally told me that she was done with the running. So we walked back to our cars, and spent the next hour or so talking in the parking lot until she said she had to get home. She later told me that her sister was waiting for her to call to make sure I didn’t kill her or something. So she was gone again but not before your man got her to agree to plans for a second meeting (still not calling it dates at this point) to not run but go to the lake. And the rest my friends is history. We continued to hang out, and even went on an official date finally to the Philbrook Museum like fancy people. And she was able to slowly find out that I was not a causal runner and that I basically embodied the difference between a runner and a jogger (as Dean Karnazes once said, “The difference between a runner and a jogger is that a jogger still has control of his life.”) and still she did not run away. But rather she took it all like a champ and even went to the magical Eureka Springs with me for a running weekend. And as we all know that is the true sign of love. If you take someone to a weird place that you love for reasons that make no sense and they love it too, then you have a keeper. She agreed to pace me for the final 10 miles of my fifty-mile race, and saw me at my most vulnerable. When you have been running all night it is hard to put up an act. Anyways, the moral of the story is that a few weeks ago I finally married that girl. For reasons that elude me she agreed to all of this. Despite me proposing during the middle of the Victorian Classic 10k in (you guessed it) Eureka Springs, with most of our friends along for the trip.

Brynna Helping me at the end of Midnight Madness

Brynna and I right before the Start of the Mother Road 100

As for the rest of 2010, I would that year run my first 50-mile official race (despite having gone that distance with Lisa during her 50 mile run in Tulsa) the Midnight Madness, and by the end of the year run my first 100-mile race. The Mother Road 100 from Baxter Springs, KS to Catoosa, OK. I only ended up running that race because a good friend of mine and a very gifted runner (and cyclist) Jason McGinnis had to drop out at the last minute due to injury. I had been training to run the Williams Route 66 marathon in Tulsa and had not run longer than 18 miles for a while. But I figured what the heck and gave it a try. I was only able to finish with the help of some amazing people like Kathy Hoover the wonderful owner of Runner’s World Tulsa, Ken and Dana Childress who are masterminds of this kind of distance, Jason who came out and paced me in for the final bit, and of course Brynna who drove around all over creation to crew me for this mess. As of yet I have not bested my finish from that race, crossing the line at 23 hours and 10 mins (maybe Western will be the lucky race to make that time fall, lol). I was down for the count after that race, in case you are wondering 100 miles on pavement is not awesome for the feet. But the next weekend I was still signed up for the Route 66 marathon and I hated to miss out. So I stayed off my feet for the whole week and then jumped into the marathon just hoping not to die. I was somehow able to finish in 3 hours and 38 minutes and received the “my first marathon” medal. Did I mention that it was my first marathon? Yeah with all the jumping straight from 5k’s into ultra-running I had never got around to running a marathon so that was my first. It was a great experience and I have made that race a part of my running calendar every year since.

Jason and Brynna bringing me in at the finish of my first 100

Andy, Aaron and I before Route 66

I know that is whole rambling post has been a little disjointed. If I want to be honest I wrote it over the course of several weeks. I have been meaning to be a lot more punctual about my blog post, but with the wedding and all the travel I just have not made time for it like I had hoped to. But, if you guys will stick with me I am really going to try and keep making an effort to keep this up. Just like this post I think it is very important that we look back on where we came from when we get a chance. Who knows what little things in our everyday life will have ripples that we will feel years down the road. I would have never thought that getting overly excited about running races would not only have given me some of my closest friends, but would also lead me to meet my future wife. And if we don’t take the time to appreciate the little things that happen and keep those stories alive we could lose some great moments. I mean really one of the things that made it take so long to write this post was that I had way too much to talk about. Even just looking at that one year, if I wanted to write down every major event that happened to me, this post would be 100 pages long. I encourage anyone reading this today to look back and think, what was a year that changed your life? I bet if you are like me, you might be able to pick one and talk about a lot of big things that happen on year “x”. But the truth is that these little moments are happening all the time, and even though we might have big accomplishments in any given year (like running your first ultra) the big movers of our lives are not those. Running that big race or buying a new house might seem like a big deal at the time, but it is the chance encounters and happy accidents that your will be talking about 10 years from now.

For the next post I will try and get back on track, but until then Go Run Tulsa, you never know maybe this one will change your life.