Two Januarys ago

Was sorting through pictures for no particular reason. These photographs were taken a couple of Januarys ago with my Olympus camera, the one that seemed to give me fits. But this day, it was doing a good job.

Taken in Sapulpa at an old forgotten cemetery--it's cold quietness seemed to call to me. I listened, but all I could do is breathe and admire. Russell and I revisited this spot a month or so ago, and plundered 2 or 3 geocaches.

I'd like to say this is from an old abandoned farmhouse through the remnants of a fence set by early settlers, but it's from my parking lot at work--a shot of the canvas of a mid-winter sky.

This was from the Botanical gardens on one of our Tuesday Night Secret Society runs. I miss those days.

changes

I've had a change of direction in my running--for the fall season anyway. My desire to run long is there, but it is not the intense run-til-you-drop sort of desire. I am not ready to stop running 100s, but I am putting it off for a few months. A lot of things are on the front burner, and all night training runs have taken a back seat.

What I DO have planned for the next few months is:
1. Paying a bit more attention to my job. My job is as good as I make it, and by being more diligent, the rewards would facilitate more running, vacations, and relax time in the coming months and years.
2. Moving. If all goes well, we will close on our new(er) house which is CLOSER to Turkey Mountain in a couple of weeks, and the long process of moving will begin.
3. Plotting and marking courses for Keep It Wild, Purple Stride, Terrifying Turkey Trailz, Turkey and TATURs, and the Half and Half Marathon.
4. Running each of the above races. And enjoying shorter distances.
5. Finishing my 11th FlatRock 50K within the time limit.
6. RDing Pumpkin Holler and having the best ultra event in Oklahoma.
7. Get through the holidays with minimal issues.

I do have a 100 miler in March in the cross hairs.

Feast your eyes on these pics.

It is time to get serious and get off the fence if your thinking about about the 2nd Pumpkin Holler Hunnerd. This stroll through the hills of eastern Oklahoma, and along the shores of the beautiful Illinois River is a virtual art gallery, with miles of well maintained gravel roads.

There are a few changes for this year--fine tuning a great race into an even better one. We are adding a 25K option. The hunnerd mile, hunnerd K, and 50K will all start at 8:00 am, with the hunnerd milers getting their extra out-and-back out of the way early. At 10:00 am, the 25Kers will be turned loose. The staggered start will help the start/finish aid station traffic. The 25Kers will enjoy the secret "Waffle Stop " aid station that only the hunnerd milers got to see last year. They will also see another aid stop at the Nickel Nature Preserve before turning back for home.

Another addition is to the ultra distances is the Great Gourd Challenge. This is an "elective mile" you can choose to skip, or do. At the East of Eden aid station, you can turn and head east, and up a nice hill to a table where you will be awarded a special pin/medallion you can wear with pride--station that you conquered theGREAT GOURD CHALLENGE. Remember--this adds a mile to your race. You do not HAVE to do this detour--it will add to your race time--and you can skip it if you wish. If you're in the 50K, and you accept the challenge, you will finish with 32 miles. But you'll have some extra bling to show off!

We are adding one aid station for the ultra distances, and moving another. There will be an aid stop at Bathtub Rocks, and another ~3 miles later on the banks of the river. This allows more aid in the later miles of the race--when it was getting a bit warm last year in the afternoon.

Finally--the best advertisement for this race is pictures. Enjoy.
Enjoy the bridge crossing. There is a sad possibility that this bridge may be removed next year. It's possible that it might remain as a pedestrian bridge--we're working on making that happen.
You'll run along the shores of the Illinois in several places.
Approaching Savannah Corner.
The party here never ends.
Bathtub rocks is a major landmark. I recommend a foot soaking here.
There's some good crowd support along the way.
The above pic is the site of the newly relocated Last gasp aid station.Seeing this bridge means you're finishing a lap--or starting another.

The healing waters of the Illinois. It'll take the ouchies right off of your feet.

I hope you join us this October 20th, 21st. We will be posting more details via email, Facebook, and here as the date arrives. We will probablu have another training run in the upcoming weeks. Click here register.

Tikee's Storyy

I had a rough weekend. Sold a pool table on Craig,s List, but it was more like an eBay transaction. While it was being loaded, Tikee got out, and was GONE!

She was strictly an inside kitty, although every once and a while we would let her into the garage. She never ventured more than a few feet from the garage door. She was a rescue cat--rescued from the jaws of none other than Jake, who viewed her as a chew toy.

Tikee was not phased by her near-death from a dog. Her and Jake became best buddies, and she frequently bathed his ears and snuggled up to him. Jake has his own private yard with multiple water buckets and his awn swimming pool. Tikee would wait for him by the door all day for him to be let into the house.

Tikee loved being the lapcat. A major much, she always slipped in a lick during the petting strokes.

I noticed she was gone later in the afternoon, when I fell asleep in the easy chair watching a golf tournament. I looked around the house, looking in each room in case she had slipped in to snoop and got shut in. No luck. I searched the garage, and called to her several times, again with no luck I hoped she just had a wild hair to explore the neighborhood and would be back in the garage in the morning. Nope. The next day, I walked the neighborhoods asking if anyone had seen here. The neighbor kids across the street said they saw her with the neighbor kids around the corner. The kids dad was a meth-head, and made it clear he did not appreciate me knocking on his door. The second night without Tikee seemed to cement the fact that she was probably either killed by a mean dog, or being held by some neighbor who thought she was a nice cat and intended to keep her.

This afternoon, I got a call from the guy who bought our pool table. He said this was an odd question, but were we missing a cat? I told him that in fact we were. He said that as he was leaving to get his oil changed in his car, he saw a cat run across his garage and jump into the pool table. A white cat with tabby patches? Yes. He said he would be gone for around an hour, and would call. I eagerly awaited his call. An hour and a half later he called and I made the short drive to his house. He opened the garage door and I called to her. I guess I thought she would hear my voice and come running to me jumping into my arms. No such luck. I looked in the couple of places where possibly a small cat could have squeezed in to the inner chambers underneath. No kitty. I looked into the holes with a flash light, and reached in as far as I could. Nothing. Then, I looked all around the garage but still nothing. The guy mentioned that his kids had came home from school and would have came in through the garage, and maybe she had ran out. I just had no idea where she might have went. While she is a sweet cat, she was most likely too dumb to find her way home. I thanked him for calling, and asked him to keep an eye out for her. Then I left and slowly drove the neighborhood calling to her. Just a few minutes later, they called me back saying she WAS in the pool table and to come back. Good news.

When I got back, she was poking her head out of the opening where the coin slot mechanism was in the side of the table. I petted her, but it did not seem like she could squeeze through. Then, she disappeared. On the end of the table, there was another opening. The other side of the table had a large hollow inner chamber. I could not see in there with the flashlight, but an iPhone pic showed me her spacious hiding place.

I tried calling her, coaxing her with tuna, enticing her with a string, and the new pool table owner tried spraying a small stream of water on her, jacking the table up to 45°, pounding on the sides, blowing a leaf blower down the corner pocket--all with no luck. After a while, Tikee came back over to the coin slot hole, and I had her by the nap of the neck, but could not pull her through. Finally, we took the metal trim off the edge of the table, and then unscrewed the bumpers. That enabled us to lift off the slate top. but it was OMG so heavy. Once off, and slid over, we retrieved Miss Tikee. She was whisked off to my car (running and air conditioned.) I helped get the mega-heavy slate top put back in place, and Tikee and I headed for home.

Sassy and Scooter were indifferent about her return. Jake seemed glad to see her. Now that she has been home, Tikee seems a little more like herself. I am sure she was quite dehydrated, and overheated, since she mostly sits around and enjoys the air conditioning.

But she may be a little pissed because we sold her private playground.

Things that are bothering me

I am selling a few things that I no longer need. Craig's List was good for selling my pool table. I had several calls. I got what I was asking, but the second caller insisted I sell it to him, and he would pay a LOT more than what I was asking. (Was I selling it too cheap? Maybe.) So, I entertained selling it to him, and he did not show but did call after he was late to say he wasn't coming. He said he'd call the next day, and called as the original caller showed up. I just told him it was too late. I should have put it on eBay.

The pool table was a HEAVY piece, and 5 guys came over to lug it out of the house and load it on a trailer. Tikee, our white cat with tabby patches, evidently ran outside and I did not notice. Later in the afternoon when I crashed on the couch, I eventually noticed it odd that she was not in my lap. I looked in all of her usual hiding places, and made sure she had not got shut into a spare bedroom. Nothing. She rarely goes outside, and when she does, the garage is her safe place. Not there. This morning, I walked the neighborhood, and the neighbors across the street thought they might have saw her, and that they thought some neighbor kids around the corner had her. The dad there looks seriously like a meth-head, a slob who should always wear a shirt but wasn't, and acted deranged. This same dude burned rubber in his van passing some bicycles on Elwood a few months ago and swerved hard as he passed to scare them, and then turned down his street to go home. What a douche. If these people have Tikee, they probably have fed her to their pit bull chained up in the front yard. Worried sick.

I talked to an old friend this morning at a race, and we caught up with the goings on of our family. He asked if I had heard that Carl Wilson had died. No, I had not heard. He died of lung cancer--he had been a heavy smoker for much of his life, and had turned his life to God and was an amazing transformation. Gone was the drugs, the drinking, the smoking, and he became a father to children he fathered and a husband to a woman he had treated so badly for years. I had lost contact with him years ago. It was sad news, albeit it late news.

He then asked if I had heard that David Thompson had died. A brain tumor. No, I had not heard that either, but this is something I should have known. David was my ex-brother-in-law. There was a time after my divorce that we were not civil, but later, all the bad vibes in the ex-family were soothed, and I considered him a friend. It seemed so weird that no one told me. Even my son did not know about it.

The thing that bothers me the most is my loyalty being questioned.

7 races in the fall at Turkey Mountain!!!

For years, despite there being miles of amazing single-track trailz on Turkey mountain, there were no trail races. In recent years, thanks to TATUR and a few other clubs, there are many. Between September 3rd and December 16th this year, there are SEVEN races on the slate at the Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area!!!


The first is Escape from Turkey Mountain. This is the longest running trail race in Tulsa--the first running was in 2004. I think it was also ran in 2005, although I do not find any results online from that year. The race has grown a little each year, and the course has never been the same from year to year, which makes it interesting. Fast times are the norm, with the speedsters coming out of the woodwork for this one, risking skinned knees, sprained ankles, cracked teeth and split skulls for a record finish time. Online signup has closed, but you can still sign up at the race. Things kick off at 7:30 am. I will be volunteering here, and can be found NEAR the beer tent. ;-)



On September 16th, it's Tulsa's first and only adventure race.

This is the 4th year for the Mud Sweat + Tears Adventure Race This race involves some mountain biking, some trail running, some orienteering, some problem solving, and of course some tears, sweat, and mud. In years past, there has been some canoeing in the mix, but not this year. Despite this being promoted in part by TATUR, I have never done this race, but am considering it this year, if I can find a teammate who is willing enough to endure my pokiness on the bike.



The next week, there is another great event that has mountain biking and trail running.

The Keep It Wild event has Mountain biking races of 10, 15, and 20 miles, and trail races of 5K, 10%, and half marathon. This race raises money for the movement to preserve out urban wilderness playground--a worthy cause for sure. I personally know the person responsible for the trail running course, and it has a couple of hills--per loop. Hill repeats would be a good thing to add to your training! I plan on doing the half marathon option here, and am focused on being next to last place.



Next, on October 6th, we have an EASY trail run. The Purple Stride is a 5K, and it will be on mostly EASY trailz.

Again, I have good information on this course, and other than getting up to the top of the hill and then getting back down, it will be fairly flat and on easy trailz. This could be a good trail 5K PR course.

Celebrate with ghosts and goblins on October 28th at theWitch and Moan 5K/One Mile Zombie Chase. This is a super fun event put on by RunnersWorld-Tulsa. For a $5.00 donation, you get your choice of doing a 5K out-and-back course where trick-or-treating is in full swing, or doing the 1 mile Zombie Chase on the blood-red trail where a horde of zombies in various stages of fleshy decay lie in wait for you. Some overachievers will choose to do both, and that is permitted with the proper ante.

There is a dark devious rumor of another journey later in the deep of night, reserved only for the brave of heart--those not afraid of the things that slither and creep, those not phased by things that lurk in the deep woods just out of sight. In considering a tour of this magnitude and the grave risk of returning less than unscathed or never returning at all, the company will be restricted to less than 35. Visit this website for more details, or if you think you know someone who might have some guarded knowledge of this endeavor, prod them for more information.

Tulsa's oldest ultra is next on the calendar. Turkey and TATURs is Tulsa's premier trail race, and is one of the toughest 50Ks anywhere. A 50K, a 25K, and a 10K offering gives any trail runner or aspiring trail runner something they can do. This race helped put TATUR on the map, and will always be one of my favorites. Beginning and ending at the West Side YMCA, the race covers almost every trail in the wilderness area, and only briefly crosses itself in one place. Want to see what all Turkey Mountain has to offer? Sign up for the 25K or 50K. TATUR is also famous for superb aid stations, and it is because of these all-you-can-eat buffet aid stops that many runners despite sweating, come away gaining a few extra pounds. The post race feed is also amazing.



Finally, on December 16th, we have a very unique event coming to Turkey Mountain.

The Half and Half Marathon/Double Half Marathon offers a trail-half marathon, AND a paved-half marathon. Both races start at the same time, and both are out-and-back courses. For those wanting 26.2, this is doable. You will run the trail portion first, and then get your negative split by blazing the paved portion.



I think it's awesome that there are so many great races coming up. For me, practically living at the trail-head, I can walk out my front door and go race right into the New Year. (And do that race too!)