Saturday, November 29, 2008

Some ramblings




A little catching up is in order today, this cold gray Saturday afternoon. Thursday morning, I ran a fun run, a 4.4 mile jaunt around Zink Lake.This run is held every year Thanksgiving morning and the entry fee is a couple of cans of food which is donated to those less fortunate. It's a noble cause, except these folks probably could use some help all year round, as well as some job assistance. But, a nice 4 mile run makes room for an extra piece of pie later in the day.It was a perfect morning....around 40 degrees with a very slight north breeze.There was a huge crowd out. I am not the best at estimating the size of a crowd, but I'd guess about 500 people. My friend Brian said that they determine the size of a crowd by aerial photos, and then they count how many people in a small square area, and do the math for a total. Darn, I forgot my helicopter!I was a little late getting there and couldn't find anyone from our running group. Not like I've never ran alone before.But I finally caught up with Lida and her sister Sonna who was visiting for the holidays. Behind them is Sandra, one of my blogging buddies.A nice surprise...Roman was manning a water station on the west bank. I needed a drink as I was not running with a water bottle and had only gulped a double espresso upon waking up.I caught up with Lisa, and ran the last mile or so with her. Hot chocolate and snacks awaited us at the finish. I must say, the hot chocolate was hot but watery. Most of the munchies were gone. Of course with Thanksgiving dinner later in the day, I was far from worrying about malnourishment.

Channel Two chief meteorologist Dan Threlkeld manned the bullhorn and drew for door prizes.
As usual, no post is complete without a shot of my best friend Kathy Hoover. Still working on a "normal" looking picture. Maybe this IS normal for her!

####################################################################################

Then it was north to Skiatook to eat dinner with my parents.My younger brothers and one of my sisters were with us. (I am the oldest of six kids. Two brothers and three sisters.)My brother Kevin, my Dad, and Kevin's wife Susan.

My Mom, and a nice spread of desserts.

You might have seen pictures on the Internet of a turkey like this. My dad brought it to life.

As you can see, good looks run in my family. These are two of my nieces Kristeen and Katy.

Strutting around with confidence. Good thing they're not turkeys!

Everyone ate well including the 40 cats that hang around my Mom's house.

Ok, I know I post many less than flattering pics of other people. But I am also fair. Here's a couple of shots of yours truly from years past.This is me at 17 years old. Below is me at 7 years old.Like I said....good looks.....

Friday, November 28, 2008

As promised....



I am not the biggest fan of road running but view it as a necessary evil. And sometimes, the camaraderie enjoyed in a marathon more than make up for the pounding my dogs get. Sunday was the 3rd running of the Route 66 Marathon right here in my hometown of Tulsa. I run with a group at RunnersWorld-Tulsa, many of whom were training for their first marathon or half marathon. I have made quite a few great friends from this group. In fact, most of my crew for the Mother Road 100 were friends from this group. Bobby who paced me 12 miles at Mother Road was running his first 26.2 this week and I was running the whole distance today with him as a payback. It was also my insurance that I would get to the finish line myself.

It was a little cols at the start, but cold temps mean ya better be running lest ya get the chills. It's all good.Our plan was to just run a comfortable pace, and see how the day went. In our experimentation in our long runs, going out slow usually did not save us enough energy for late in the run. We slowed down in the later miles anyway, so we decided to run medium and bank a little time.This seemed to be a good indication that we were right on pace. Not in a crowd, and the math seemed like we would reach our goal time.The above two pics are actually on the original Route 66. 25 miles of this marathon are on other roads and streets. Last week I had complained that a 5% of the miles of the Mother Road were off Route 66, but in this race, Route 66 made up less than 5% of the race.

I felt I needed to keep Bobby's spirits up, as the nasty monster that lurks around mile 22 might rear it's ugly head, so I made a sign that said CLAP FOR BOBBY and carried it all during the race. I usually try to entice the crowd into cheering. Why do people come out and stand around like bumps on a log anyway? The sign really worked--most of the bystanders applauded and gave Bobby kudos and attaboys. Seven miles of the course are out-and-back with a loop on the end, so all the way out the returning runners called his name out and shouted words of encouragement. Bobby was definitely the celebrity runner.

Later in the race....around mile 20, fatigue began to take it's toll. Bobby had little energy left to run, and he was having occasional muscle spasms in his calf.I also had a calf muscle that was tied in a granny knot. Not painful, but enough to get my attention. Dana met us at 71st Street with some chips and candy bars., and later at 36th Street with some warm potato soup. YUM! Both times, that breathed a little life into our tired bodies. We ran some walked some, and kept making forward motion. This marathon is pancake flat for the first 22 miles, and then has some hills and one short nasty climb at mile 23.I like hills. I really don't mind hills like this late in a marathon since I am far from fast anyway. But I am betting most people must think the course designers are EVIL for putting hills at the end of an otherwise flat marathon course. But we made it through, and enjoyed the nice mile long downhill down Cherry Street towards the finish line. 30-40 of our friends were waiting for us, and ran us in the last 200 yards. Bobby was spent, but well spent. For a guy who 2 years ago never even thought about running, he ran a great first marathon. And I got #53 out of the way.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

two days for the price of one


Yesterday was a day to tie up loose ends. My job is all too slow this time of year, and there was no work to do. How bout a extra long holiday weekend? So, I did a few errands and then went for a run on Turkey Mountain.Some trail angels have cut some new trails....actually making an extension of a trail that we call the bunny trail. Nice fast single track with minimal rocks.A few nice ups and downs as well.Better pick up the pace. The sun sets early in November.

There was a walking club (The Tulsa Walking Club) that had an outing about a week ago. They marked the route they wanted to go with orange paint. Often, they painted fallen leaves which is ok...it just looks like orange litter on the ground, but the leaves will decompose. Other places they painted on the grass.Again, no biggie. Not all that good for the grass or for the environment, but in a few months no one will even know it was done.

But I do have a real problem with this....The orange spray paint on the rocks will be something we have to look at for years. I am contacting this group and will ask them to do whatever it takes to remove the paint before I turn them into the River Parks authority. Sounds petty on my part, but I don't want to have to look at that every time I run on my mountain.

After that, I hurried across the river to run with RunnersWorld. Check the RunnersWorld blog for some tidbits about that.

Today, I played a quick round of Frisbee golf with my son. More on that on a later blog post.

Then it was pie baking time. David Ray, you can start drooling now. My specialty is a coconut meringue that is from a recipe handed down from my grandmother. I have tweaked it a little here and there thanks to Google and have what is maybe the perfect pie. Not necessarily the prettiest, but quite possibly the yummiest.It all starts from the crust. A good pie needs a good foundation. I make mine from scratch. Yes, it is a little messy. Yes, I have flour on my shirt.I have improved my technique on my crusts, and find it therapeutic to make them. My mental health depends on simple things like pie making and running.Five more crusts and then I pop them in the oven to pre-bake for about 12 minutes. Then it's time to make the filling.Now I do use a cook-and-serve pie filling mix, but I do add a lot of other ingredients, some of which are top secret. If I told you, I'd have to marry you, adopt you, kill you, or find some really good dirt on you.Yes, a Zombie can separate egg whites! Making the meringue is a very tricky thing. Meringue can be so temperamental, and I do not always nail it. But even when it weeps a little, it still tastes good. I do have a few little tricks that help insure a perfect meringue, but sometimes all the tricks still fall short. I did not get a pic of this process, since it requires a lot of multitasking, and my hands were sticky enough I did not want to touch my camera.

Four coconut pies in the oven, two lemon pies already out.Now when Dana makes her famous potato casserole, all will be well!

Have a great Thanksgiving everybody!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Crazy Eights!




Crazy Eights

I have been tagged in the Crazy Eights game. This is a test that I may fail miserably since I really don't have a life, but here goes.

8 shows I love to watch
1. Biggest Loser
2. Criminal Minds
3. Wheel of Fortune
4. Boston Legal
5. Survivor Man
6. Lost
7. 24
8. Any late night talk show with Steven Wright, Carrot Top, Emo Phillips, or Jim Gaffigan

8 places I love to eat

1. Fuji
2. Outback
3. Wild Oats (now Whole Foods)
4. Los Cabos
5. Andy's Hamburger Stand in Barnsdall OK
6. Shogun's
7. Subway (my diet food)
8. Coney Islander (my fat food)

8 things I did yesterday
1. Slept til 9:30
2. went to the 11:00 service at church
3. ate at Taco Cabana
4. went to Lowe's
5. helped clean carpet
6. unlike Erin, I did not do "it"
7. blogged
8. ate nasty Tacos from Taco Bell and burped them up all night

8 things I look forward to
1. holidays being over
2. Sunmart
3. my new job getting busier
4. working at RunnersWorld on Friday
5. checking out new trails on Turkey Mountain in the morning!!
6. cold leftover turkey sandwiches
7. the new Newbies group (I still love the old one!!!)
8. figuring out what I want to be when I grow up

8 things I love about fall
1. cool crisp air
2. running through crunchy leaves
3. soups and chili tastes better
4. good college football games
5. fall races
6. cold nights and snuggling
7. hiking boots and flannel shirts
8. I usually write well in November

8 things on my wish list
1. another year of injury free running
2. someone to help train for their goal race
3. a magazine gig with Trail Runner or Ultra Running
4. some big outrageous race or series of races to do
5. for Erin's dog to behave
6. resolved issues with my oldest son
7. to find 8 people to send this to
8. lose 15 lbs

I now tag...

1. Susan
2. Sandra
3. Rachael
4. Chrissy
5. my dog
6. Elmo
7. George W Bush
8. Carrot Top

Sunday, November 23, 2008

critters and bugs



Things have been coming in two's lately. Today I had two quality runs, one with Rocky my chocolate lab on Turkey Mountain.Rocky is a duathlete. He runs and swims. We ran 5.4 miles, taking in some of the blue trail, and then north to sitting rock, then west for some seldom used trails along Mooser Creek.We found our way over to the YMCA, then headed straight south along the area where the #@**!#! developers want to put buildings in our playground. From there, we ran a small part of the Snake trail and headed home. Along the way, I picked up two ticks! I thought surely my tick count was stopped at 114 for the year, but it now is at 116! Sorry, the tick-pics did not turn out. :-(

Then I ran again, this time with the Wednesday night trail running group made up of Taturs Kurt and Shelley, Glenn, Vicky, and Darryl. Usually I cannot keep up with their pace, but they were going a little easier tonight. I took a couple of falls when I kicked rocks or roots. With all the recent road running I have done, I am not picking up my feet.

Last night, I caught two possums! We evidently have had a family of possums living in our garage. They tear things up, mostly shredding dog food and cat food bags. Our outside cat feeder has been drained daily by these ravenous creatures. So I have had a trap set to catch them. It's a cage with a trap door, and it has not been working all that well. But yesterday, I caught a big one.Later, My son Jason heard noise in the garage, and another possum had turned over a trash can and was rummaging around inside of it. So, we placed the open cage in front of the trash can, and the large rodent ran right into it.These two critters have been relocated to upper Turkey Mountain.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

a sneak peak

A quick pic, with the promise of a more detailed post tomorrow.A lot can be told from the race bib. Elite???? No, I am not. This "status" is reserved for the first 250 to have registered 3 years ago. I'll always have 109 as my number. It's also cool to have your name on your bib, although whilst running, no one can read them anyway. Notice the 2 "free beer" tabs still on my bib. That's because there WAS NO BEER LEFT when I finished! I did get a fairly tasty burger and some nice bling to take home. I also helped my great friend Bobby finish his first marathon. Bobby ran strong and steady and showed a lot of heart all through the run. As I said, more....much more later.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Pics that should NEVER be seen, from the MR2 100



A lady in dark glasses stares in amazement as Kathy crams the 3rd of 4 bagels down the hatch.

Innocent enough picture....right? The time is 8:45--15 minutes before race time. Steve is hydrating with a post-race beverage none other than Bud Light.

Speaking of beer, this lady was not in the race, not pacing, or crewing, but came into the TATUR aid station because some friends had bet her $5.00 she would not show up to ask for a beer. She did, was given a beer, and I assume collected her $5.00. I need a job like that!

Brian works on cleaning the bugs off the windshield. (Someone tell him they're on the outside of the glass.)

Roman does his best windmill imitation. America's Got Talent has been avoiding your call, dude.

Ewww! NO SPOONING!

You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose!

1. Can you identify whose toes belong to?
2. Vote for the worst looking toe.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Mother Road 100, 2008 Edition

I remember a few years ago when reading anything and everything I could about ultra-marathons seeing a link for a 100 mile race in Oklahoma. The Mother Road 100. Right here in my home state. How could I not do this? I immediately tried to register for it, but the site was still under construction. I Googled and emailed every day or so, and finally the time came that they were accepting application. I was the 3rd to register, and got bib #3. I later found out that #s 1 and 2 went to the race director and co-race director.



The race ran from Arcadia, Oklahoma where the big red round barn is, to Tulsa to another significant Route 66 landmark: the Carl's Jr by the Turner Turnpike gate in west Tulsa. 

The race was supposed to be a one-time running, but later they decided to run it again on another part of Route 66, this time from Elk City where the largest free standing oil derrick in the world is, to Ft Reno near El Reno Oklahoma, a nice place for a finish line. I felt so beat up after the first MR 100 that I SWORE I would never run another 100 mile race on pavement. (Route 66 is 99% concrete, and 82 year old concrete at that and continually gets harder as it ages.) So I was rather late in signing up for this race. Every now and then, someone would ask me if I was doing it....they had not seen my name on the entrants list....and the kicker was when it was announced that if you signed up by a certain deadline, you would get your same race number, in my case #3. So Last Saturday, I once again towed the line for 100 miles of running on cement.

It was fun at the starting line to see old friends and catch up on what was going on with other people's lives, but as always is the case, most of the chatter was centered around ultras and who was doing what next.Pictured above: me, Jenn, her husband Earl Blewett, and John Hargrove.

The race this year started at 9:00 am instead of the usual early morning start. This allowed for a more relaxed morning routine, time to eat, time to get the bathroom duties done, etc. Still with this extra time, I forgot to get my electrolytes and my Garmin. But my crew babe Dana came to the rescue and got me what I had forgotten at about the 2 mile mark.

And to correct a statement above, some of the road had been repaved as a lot of old Route 66 in western Oklahoma serves as the service road for interstate 40. So slight good news, a little less cement, but road noise all the way. The traffic on the road we ran on was not as bad as MR 1, but I did have a close call with an A$$ who wanted to play chicken with his pick-up truck. (Sorry I did not get his tag #.)

I started out at a very easy pace, chatting with Kathy and enjoying the day. But after a few miles, I remembered the task at hand--to beat Kathy, so I pulled away.My last two 100s. I have pushed the pace early, knowing full well that I would slow down later in the race. My thoughts were that if I went easy at first, I would STILL slow down later, so why not put some time in the bank. This approach has netted me 2 PRs in my last two races. SO I pushed, maintaining a 9:40 pace for over 20 miles.I did not use the aid stations along the way. I am very picky about what I eat, and relied heavily on my crew for my hydration and nutritional needs. I drank water, an occasional Gatorade, Coke, Sierra Mist, Ensure, and Double Shot coffee drinks. For food, I ate my fair share of salt and vinegar potato chips, ham and cheese sandwiches, 1 PBJ, s few chocolate covered pretzels, a Reeces peanut butter cup, and several powdered sugar mini donuts (thank you Roman!) I also had a couple cups of chicken noodle soup from Dana and her magic cup heaters, and some awesome TATUR soup at mile 72.5

One of the aid stations was at the Route 66 Museum in Clinton. I would have liked to stayed to look around, but I had a race to run.

Another interesting stretch of the run was in the miles before Weatherford. You could see these windmills for 12 miles before actually passing them.There were 100s of them, and the blades alone were as long as 2 semi-trucks.As the sun was going down, I tried to pick up my pace. I had slowed to around a 12 minute per mile pace due in part to my regular stops with my crew, but also to general fatigue. I had a goal of beating the sun to the finish line, but the race officials had given the sun a 3 hour head start with the later start. I would have to run a sub 22 hour time to finish before sun-up. My 50 mile split was 10:15:39. My nephew Jeff had paced me from mile 33 and stayed with me until mile 56. After that I ran alone for a few miles. It was during that time that Kathy, being paced by Tatur Dave, caught me. I thought we might run together, but they pulled away. Shortly after, I got my next pacer Lisa. Lisa is running her first marathon this next weekend, and was excited to do a little night running. She and I chatted the night away, and the miles quickly passed. Lisa and I ran together for 12 miles and after crossing a very narrow and very long steel railed bridge, we reached the TATUR aid station.
Lisa then passed the pacer's bib over to my good friend Bobby. Bobby is also running his first marathon this next weekend, and got his first taste of ultra-pacing this night. I did also have another form of re-hydration. Ed, another marathoner-to-be had some of the best beer I have ever tasted. I entertained about half a bottle before leaving for the final 27.5 miles.Now to be fair, I must say that even though Ed had ran in the McNellies Pub run earlier in the day, he was not as sockered as he looks here. He paced for Kathy from around 78 to 90 and did not fall in the ditch even once.

Finally after hanging with friends at Tatur, Bobby and I headed out into the night. The next section was not pavement, but an old dirt/gravel road. Now you might think that would be just my ticket, but after being in a road rhythm for 72 miles, the loose powdery dust on the road and the golf ball sized gravel just did not work for me. the road was uphill all the was at a gradual grade, and a long jog was just not in the cards. We walked for a while, and then tried to mic in some short runs. The temperature kept dropping, and sleep began to creep in. After over 90 minutes, we reached Geary where we got back onto pavement. This little diversion was off of Route 66, and the next several miles were on a good smooth asphalt highway, and we picked up the pace a little. Still the cold and lack of sleep were taking their toll on me. I had almost stopped eating, but still had a warm Double Shot every 3 miles, so I was getting in some calories.

At about mile 86, my trail running buddy Vicky took over pacing duties. Vicky is fast....almost to a fault. I have nicknamed her Vicky Afterburn since all I see when running with her is a cloud of dust when she is off like a shot. She was a wonderful closer for me in this race. While waiting for me, she had done her homework, and had taken mental notes of all the runners who were ahead of me who she thought we could pick off. I had thought I was all alone on this dark starry night, but she said there were a whole slew of runners we could pick off. Dana took her aside and told her she needed to kick me in the butt, and Vicky told her she was just the girl to do it. So, with a sub 24 hour run still in the cards, we took off into the darkness. True to her word, Vicky helped me overtake 4 runners in the first 30 minutes of our running. I did not know I could pick it up like I did, and honestly, it may have not been all that much of an increase in speed, but it was enough. As the sun came up we went through the last aid station at Calmet where I grabbed a bag of Keebler fudge striped cookies. The extra sugar helped, and I felt even more ready to finish strong.We managed to pass 11 runners I think. (I am pretty sure 4 of them were pacers.) From looking at the first runner we passed, I am sure we finished 30-35 minutes ahead of where I would have trudged in had I been myself. I doubt I would have broken 24 hours were it not for Vicky.I was thrilled to be through, I was hungry, and I was exhausted. Truly, I had given 100%. I finished in 23:35:32. While I did not PR for the distance, maybe I did. I am fairly certain the course was 1.5 to 2 miles longer than 100 miles according to my Garmin. I am not at all upset by this though. Every race is different. I am happy to be a finisher.Bobby, Vicky, Jeff, and Lisa (not pictured) were immense help in this journey!Notice the awesome looking babe in pink on the front row. That is my wife Dana, who stayed awake all night and put up with my grumpiness, made sure I ate and drank, and kicked me in the butt when I needed it. She then drove me 130 miles home after the race. Show me a better crew babe anywhere in the world. There is none.

The only damage other than the expected sore legs was the toe on my left foot. For the 3rd 100 in a row, I have blistered badly on the side and top of it. It does not hinder my running or my pace, but it looks awful.

Kathy finished in 22:48:26. Second place woman, and she ran most of the way in a sling.So I lost the "smackdown" but hey, she is younger, and I carry around 60 extra pounds. Go figure.As good of a friend as she is, she deserves and gets my congrats. The competition will resume after the wounds heal.

Kathy and I had at least 15 people helping us in this run....pacers, people crewing us, and people helping in small ways wherever they could. Brian and TATUR had by far the best aid station in the race. No other stop was even close.

And I suppose when Mother Road 3 comes around, I'll probably be there.