50 miles for 50 years

This blog is called "miles to go before I sleep" but in this case, I needed hours to sleep before writing about the miles. Over the past weekend, I ran with a very good friend of mine who turned 50 years old. Dang....that is old. All of my life, I thought 50 was simply old, and now I am right on the cusp of 50 myself!

Ken Saveth, an accomplished marathoner and ultra runner wanted to get a 50 mile all-nighter in to celebrate his 50th birthday....just like something I might do, huh?So Friday night at 7:00 pm, Ken aka K2, myself aka K1 for this expedition, and Lenice (pictured in the back right) departed from my house to run an even half hundred. The plan was to head across the Arkansas River, and then south through Jenks, across the Creek Turnpike trail to Broken Arrow, and then on to NSU east of BA, and then back and north to Downtown Tulsa all on the paved bike path. This would total around 45 miles +/-. Then, we would run the Poker Run with our friends at RunnersWorld to finish out our 50. Temps when we left were right at the century mark with the heat index at 108. Perfect night for a run!

We met Kathy, Bobby, Roman, and Russell (all pictured above) at the QT after about 4 miles. Brian, Craig, and Marvin also had joined us and left us in the dust, preferring to run a more scorching pace. We actually had a steady breeze for much of the night and despite heat warnings, we had a pretty good run early on.Cooking along the Creek Turnpike trail.We walked most of the steeper hills like good ultra runners should.K2 poses in front of a much longer race sign. Not sure what the Tiger 100 was.

Dana crewed us for about half of the night, and then after catching a catnap back home came back out to help when the sun came up. Truly, crewing is just as hard and taxing as actually running these long distances. Staying awake, jumping up to fill water bottles and put up with grumpy runners all through the night especially when it is so hot and miserable deserves some sort of sainthood!After she retired for a few winks, we still enjoyed her services by these water caches along the way. Cold water, Gatorade, cookies, chips, and ice awaited us about every 3-4 miles.I got quite a few phone calls during the night which slowed our already slow pace. But the calls were good calls. Some were wishing us well, checking our progress, some were from Dana asking where the best place would be for the next aid stop, and some were from friends who wanted to join us! Candice, Curtis, Ed, and Ken's friend Damien joined us during the night for a few miles.We met a couple of the fast guys on their way back. Craig (between the Kens) ran 26.5 miles, and this was his first time to run this much at night. Craig is an amazing triathlete, and has his sights on a full Ironman. Marvin (to the far right) is no stranger to night running, having paced me at Heartland last year.

Brian ended up with around 17 miles and stopped at NSU. Kathy and Roman made it to NSU and added 5 more miles. Curtis, Bobby, Russell, and Candice stopped at NSU having ran 8, 15, 15, and 5.53 miles respectively. K2's friend Lenice stopped at 4.5 miles, and K2's friend Damien ran 2 miles. Sorry for the lack of pictures, although I would imagine Curtis might damage may camera.

After about 20 miles, K2 and I were on our own. 30 more miles to go, and soon after hitting the turn-around, the wind just stopped and it felt like someone turned the crock pot up.But we kept plugging along. Ken is a fast walker, and his walk breaks actually were more taxing on me than the running. My zombie shuffle was faster than his walk pace, so it seemed that we played cat and mouse for much of the return trip.We just ran from aid stop to aid stop. Clicking of the miles.

I never thought about not finishing this. There was no prize, no medal, no special recognition. (Actually, all of our friends at the Poker Run made a huge deal out of it, and we received many attaboys which was so cool.)

We did see a few signs which seemed to cast some gloom and doom.Now you know I never read the signs, or at least heed their warning. That being said, you cannot prove I took the following few pics.Suffice to say, the newly improved trail between 58th and 71st will be awesome when they finish it.

Finally, the day began to break. But we still had about 9 miles to go!

We made it to the Poker Run, socialized a little, and then headed out to run out final 5.5 miles. Ken had brought a huge cake and it really hit the spot. Of course, the Starbucks that Dana had delivered a couple of miles back was kicking in nicely as well. we ran a 4.4 mile loop around Zink Lake, and then added some bridge repeats which were awesome at this late stage of the run. 1/4 miles on an elevated wooden bridge with the south wind blowing up the river made i seem like running in air conditioning. Finally, the run was over. Bobby, Sandra, and Dana joined us for the last 2 miles. Finishing with friends is the BEST!From left to right, Dana, ME, K2, Roman, Sandra hiding behind the penguin, Brian, Bobby, and Rock Star Ed.I think Ken had a great birthday celebration. He had a nice birthday blister, and I have a pretty good one as well. Ken made these nice tech shirts, which will get a lot of night running duty. Thanks, Brother! And thanks to everyone who ran with us, called to check on us and wish us well, and who raved about doing something like this. A for me, I should try to hang around much younger people who won't put the hurt on me when they ask me to run their age in miles. :-)

Fixing problems

My life is one problem right after another. I have the uncanny knack of tearing up lawn mowers. I have bent blades, broke shafts, had my dog chew the pull rope off, and managed to destroy the self-propel mechanism on 2 mowers. Once, when I was a kid growing up in Turley, I drove my grandpas riding mower right into a barn door, while the mower was in high gear. I was not paying attention to notice there was a barn just ahead. I was showing off to a neighborhood kid how the riding mower could pop a wheelie when Craftsman mower met barn door. It hit is hard, bounce back, and did a series of bounces lunging back again and again ramming the barn door. It through me forward, and my knee broke of the ignition key so I could not turn it off. I bailed immediately and my grandpa came running and jumped on the mower like a runaway bronco, and put the mower in neutral (doh!) and then raised the motor cover and pulled the plug wire. All of my life, I never heard my grandpa cuss, and this time, he showed great restraint. Oh, I knew he was pissed and asked me what in "tarnation" was I doing? (Is "tarnation" a bad word?) I got the chore of fixing the barn door, and my grandpa replaced the broken headlights on the mower and straightened the bent parts.

But back to the present day....right now, I have 5 push mowers. Two cheapies (129.00 Wal-mart specials) that have bent shafts and will not work. A used Murray that has the push handle bent (I bought it that way), and a Troy-Bilt with the self propel feature messed up and the front wheels will not turn at all, and a Lawn Boy that just won't start at all. Also, an old Craftsman riding mower that is wore out although I have put some excessive wear on it, and a new Sears riding mower that I have messed a blade and shaft up. A neighbor driving down the street stopped after seeing all the mowers and asked if I worked on mowers and had any good ones for sale. I just laughed....maniacally...and then offered him a beer.

The awesome idea to have goats to keep the back yard at bay did not work all that well. They ate the grass that they liked, and then decided trees tasted better. Then they got to looking at the neighbors garden and I am sure it must have tasted better than the weeds I was asking them to eat.People probably thought I was kidding about eating them, but hey....I grew up in Turley and goat was dinner on many a Sunday after church.Goat problem solved.

And, I finally have a great idea for my bionic grass that I so slothfully have let get out of hand. This idea will keep me from running a badly tuned lawn mower on these Ozone Alert days, and who knows....might even bring in some tourism dollars into the Tulsa economy. The answer? This sign is going right in my front yard!!Of course, there is the small issue of me having concreted all of my front yard. My snooty neighbor to the east made a call to the city inspector, and I got to visit with him last night. Turns out, he is an ex Turley native himself, and after a cold one and some excellent barbecue, he decided he could probably make this little permit violation disappear if I could send him home with another rack of those great ribs.I was happy to oblige. After feeding the goats nothing but weeds for 4 weeks, I thought the meat had a gamy taste and was a little on the tough side.

Life on the 4th

(copied and pasted www.newson6.com)
Tulsa Fireworks Show Fizzles
Posted: Jul 05, 2009 7:33 AM CDT Updated: Jul 05, 2009 2:05 PM CDT
A disappointed crowd was informed that the Tulsa fireworks show had been canceled.
TULSA, OK -- Thousands of area residents expecting to "ooh and ah" over the Tulsa Freedom Fest fireworks display on Riverside Drive Saturday night went home disappointed due to a misfiring mortar. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident that caused an early end to the 4th of July festivities.
Captain Michael Baker with the Tulsa Fire Department told The News On 6 that it is believed a mortar misfiring in the tube was the source of an explosion that caught two equipment trailers on fire.
The blaze melted the electronics needed for operating the massive show.
"We were all waiting and couldn't figure out what happened," said Debbie Barrick, a Tulsa resident who walked down to the show with friends and family.
"Finally, police cars drove down the street explaining over their loudspeakers that there were problems at the shack and the show was canceled."
The Tulsa Freedom Fest was started about 30 minutes earlier due to threat of thunderstorm. The 21st Street Bridge was closed til 2 a.m. as crews dismantled the remaining fireworks.
#####################################################################################

Well damn! Aside from parking 6 blocks away and walking (I know, we're ultra runners and should never complain about that) we carried ice chests and lawn chairs, all the while rubbing elbows with fellow Okie-types with Marlboros hanging out their mouth, setting up, popping a top on a cold one, and then seeing thousands of people walking back the other way??? Finally, a nice lady told us someone had set himself on fire and had to be hauled away to the hospital and the show was canceled. The above newscast stated that no one was injured, so who knows?

Sunday morning, I slept in a little but still made it to the trail head at 8:00 to run with a few trail-running buddies.The zombie sits on the left with a grin so goofy that photo-shop cannot fix it....pictured in front center is Janeen, to the far right Jason, then Janeen's brother Chris (nice matching shirts), Ray, his daughter Squirrel (she told me she prefers Elizabeth) Julianne, and Bob.

We trekked up the big hill, then ran a modified Snake loop, using part of the Snake Trail. After a jaunt through Rock City and stopping for the above pic, we rocketed down the Jelly Legs Trail, buzzed around Pepsi Pond, then hit the sitting rock, ran through the Aquarium, and took the Bunny Trail backwards before heading for the parking lot.
My buddy Bob and his wife Julianne were at the back of the pack and missed a turn at around the 2 mile point. Chris and I backtracked and neither of us located them. Turns out Bob was scoping out a new course for a future Barkley Book Fair, and blazed a trail right through a brier patch into Mooser Creek. A nice albeit brief adventure, and Bob sported some nice battle scars to boot.

Part two of the day was yet to come. Dana had her running duds on and shoes laced up and was waiting at the door when I got home. Plantar Faciitis and a heel spur had kept her sidelined long enough and she was ready to kick some dirt. So, away we went....back for seconds at Turkey.We took the yellow trail....no adventures or misadventures today.....just trail-running 101.These black ants were having a little snack time on this deceased dragon fly. Had to work or my camera technique here, and one out of the 4 shots I took turned out ok.
I have ran on Turkey Mountain for years and have seen lots of spiders, but this one is a new one to me, and I saw him and his brother. About one inch in diameter, and was very fast, ran in a darting motion. Maybe it was a young tarantula?


Now....blogging is done. It's 4:30. Mow grass? Or ride bikes?

Barkley Book Fair Race Director's Report

Last Saturday was the 4th running of the Barkley Book Fair. This run is a club run, a very relaxed event. You can just sense the energy in the air. Observe the runners and fans below.Susan and Sandra were part of the cheering section, and Bobby awaited his 1st Barkley day race.Russell also was running his 1st Barkley, and not only did he do the day race, but stepped up and did the insanely hard night run as well.

As always, the day race was about 4.5 miles, all on trails, with one nasty climb about 1.5 miles into the ordeal. There were 6 books to find, and all of the 10 runners made their way through the course and found all the books.Brian did a great job marking the course and evidently hid the books in plain sight. Would the night run be so easy?Brian scarfs down some cold juicy watermelon, compliments of Vicky!Ed scarfs down some moonshine whiskey compliments of Ken aka K2. I believe you could run your car on that concoction.

Vicky is ready to tackle another edition of the Barkley Night Run. She ran with the lead pack for all of the night.

16 runners ran the night run.From the left, Jason, Wade, and Ed were BBF Night Run Virgins. Jeff, in the green shirt, ran (and won) the night run last year. Lori, Ken aka K2 were newbies. That's me in the middle, without a light. Bee Sting Bob is just behind me. Bob brought 3 guys with him....relatives I believe. Travis was one, Kirk was another. The 3rd, I don't remember. They are the 3 guys in the back behind me...white shirt, yellow shirt, black shirt with black hat. In the back right both with Tatur shirts are Russell and Scott. In the pea green shorts is Vicky, then Nikki, and Desiree. The ugly mug taking a squat is Brian.

Once is was good and dark....about 9:30, I lit the fuse on the starting cannon. The fuse was a dud, and so I just said GO. The night runners headed around a modified loop on the Red Trail, and I headed down another trail to intercept them. I caught the lead group just as they were making their way up a creek wash.Vicky had just ripped the page out of book one, and was making haste to get out of what might have been a snake infested area.

Nikki was right behind Vicky, pushing the pace, and all smiles. Enjoying the run way too much! Russell is wondering what in the heck he has gotten himself into!
Setting a blazing pace, the Bee Sting Bob Clan takes their time carefully removing their book pages. It was clear they had found the secret of the Barkley Book Fair....have fun at all costs.

After a little single track, a climb up a creek wash, a run downhill on a gravel road, and then actually a tenth of a mile on PAVEMENT?!?!, the BBF turned onto some railroad tracks. This race has it all.

My good friend Ken aka K2 looks a little weary, but he has found 2 books with only 10 more to go.

Book two was under the tracks in a culvert. Lotsa scrambling....that's the way I like it.After another half mile on the tracks, the race turned back onto a paved bike trail. Cushy times. The longest steepest climb in the Tulsa area was soon to follow.A climb of around 180 feet in .3 of a mile slowed the brisk pace of the runners. I am sure there were a few choice words for this trail, and maybe the person who chose it. Thank you. 3/4 mile of fairly flat dirt trails followed and then all the climbing was negated by a long descent back to river level.After an aid stop, the poor night runners had to endure about a tenth of a mile back on the railroad tracks. The destination was some small caves up in the bluffs on the east side of Turkey Mountain.I originally had wanted to reopen a trail along the base of the bluffs, but there have been several tree-falls and a trail that was once barely passable was now completely impossible. The tracks got them from point A to point B without so many ticks, chiggers, and poison ivy. Knowing all the shortcuts, I was there before the front runners to help them up the face of the bluff. I also wanted to get a few pictures.There were a couple of old wooden ladders that helped a 20' ascent, and ropes that assisted the runners in a 30' climb and another 15' straight-up climb. I felt the need to be there to help the runners get up the first 5' of the 15' scramble. A mis-step could be a dangerous thing.Would loved to have had some pictures of the ascent with ropes, but I was spotting the climbers and snapping pics was of a lesser priority.Did manage to get a pic of Jason who scrambled right up the face of the bluffs like it was nothing. The monstrous hill hardly slowed him down at all.

Once the last of the groups were through, I needed to get back to the start/finish, and then over to the west side of the area to orchestrate another twist in the race. The runners went to the end of the mountain overlooking downtown Tulsa, and then northwest all the way down to Mooser Creek. I had planted a book in a pit area....did not look to snaky. There were quite a few ups and downs before the course found its way over by the YMCA camp. Then, they headed south, up a hill, down a hill, and finally over to some newly opened mountain bike trails. I had found a .15 mile loop, and it was my goal to mark the course so as to send one particular runner in circles and to see how many times I could get him to run this circle before he realized he was being had. Brian is so much fun to pick on. The fact that he was running with about 8 other runners just made it more interesting. Ed, who got a little off course, and Kathy, who ran the day race but not the night one, went with me to help pull this off. We blocked the trail where the exit to the loop was, and waited for them to come through. Once they embarked on the short loop, we waited in the darkness to see if they would be fooled into running it again. There was book 11 at the end of the loop, and a sigh with an arrow pointing them back around the loop. Remember, it was pitch dark, and these were new trails that probably none of them had ever been on.They took the bait, and once they were out of sight, we scurried over to move the signs to different trees, and drop off book 12. The changes worked....oh there was a little talk about whether they had been there before, but there was another book, so off they went for a third loop. At the end of the 3rd loop, and now book 13, they were now 99% sure they were going in circles! Too Funny! Kathy, Ed, and I were gritting our teeth to keep from laughing out loud! When making the last changes, we had removed the brush blocking the trail, and jumped out and screamed at them as they approached. Brian and Desiree screamed like little girls. The rest of the race was nice fast single track, and the final pack ran it in. We were a little past the parks curfew, and we quickly picked up our tents, chairs, and ice chests of SODA POP. A few of us invaded IHOP and like last year, they hid us way back in the corner. Sweaty runners must be offensive.

Special thanks to Ken aka K2 for posting some great pics on his Facebook account. I swiped a couple of them for this post.

Will there be a Barkley Book fair next year? I am thinking so. I still may move both runs or at least the night run so we don't have a curfew to deal with. Maybe having it in May would allow us to start the night run earlier and finish earlier. I am thinking of ways to make the night run harder. Maybe having it on a full moon and banning LED lights? Hmmm....