State 34 Virginia

For Spring break me and Richelle took off and went to Virginia Beach to do the Yuengling Shamrock Half Marathon. It was the St Patrick's day event and while it went really well, there was not a lot of anything exceptional about the trip. Maybe I'm just getting used to all the travel and they are starting to blur together. I have been blessed by the fact that I have had a long secession of trips that have gone about as well as can be expected.  The race was well organized and went off without a hitch. It was a little cool and overcast but great running weather.

While we was there, I got to catch up with my Navy buddy Doug.

State 33 Massachusetts

We Just got back from the trip to Massachusetts, and what a trip it was. When I started this 4 years ago, it was a Pie-in-the-Sky idea, that I never expected to accomplish, now I'm 33 states in and 17 to go, and I absolutely expect to finish. I am truly amazed at the way each trip continues to inspire, validate, and fulfill me. Each one does this, yet in a different way. I continue to be Humbled by the bounty of the Blessings I have received.

I have been treated to amazing weather on the majority of my trips, and those which were less than optimal, I prefer to think that they could have been so much worse. There was a tornado in Georgia, and Monsoon like rains in New Hampshire and Oregon, yet everything always seems to work out for the best. This past weekend, the temperature went form the 30's last week, to up in the 50's for Saturday and Sunday, with clear and sunny skies. Sunday evening, as were leaving the new cold front was rolling in and the high for today was expected to be 32. All along the race course Sunday, the volunteers told me how wonderful we were being treated, last year it was miserable with gusting wind and freezing rain mixed with snow. The weather warmed up just for me.

On the trip back, our flight from Boston was due to leave at 6:05, we were in good shape til we hit the tunnel in Boston and was at a stand still for an hour. We barely made the flight gate with minutes to spare, and when I told the guy at the desk about the tunnel traffic, he said the tunnel had been completely closed. We were one of the last cars through. we we're detained in Boston for 10 minutes, and when we landed in St Louis, our connecting flight to Houston was being "last called". I had to sprint (if you can do that after running 13.1 that morning) down the terminal and catch the guy closing the door. Richelle was coming up behind. I figured that if I could reach the door before they closed it, I would trip and fall in it so they couldn't close it till Richelle arrived. She made it and once again we were the last ones to board. But we made it by the Grace of God, He smiled upon us, and allowed us passage. It was meant to be.

Saturday, at the packet pick up, there were two running legends, Bill Rodgers and Dick Beardsley. They were signing their books, and other things. they were taking time to chat with each person who came up. It wasn't a buy a book, a quick autograph and keep moving. I stood in line and had them sign my race bib. They were both happy to do it and they even both posed for a photo with me (which they did with everyone) They both told me that they looked forward to running in the race with me the following morning. To have them both consider me as one of their peers, was quite humbling.

Sunday morning, as we were getting ready for the race, "Team Hoyt" was there and was participating. I walked up and spoke to Dick Hoyt, the father. I told him I had read about him and Rick and seen them on the internet, and what an inspiration they were. Dick was very Humble, it wasn't a big deal for him. He was happy to pose for a picture with me. Later, on the course, I was passed by "Team Hoyt" around mile 10 of my half marathon. They were on their 2nd loop at mile 23. I felt a sense of pride at being passed by them, a little moment of my own history.

My fiance Richelle, has also been a blessing upon me. She is not a runner herself, but she is the Greatest Roadie, Equipment manager, Personal Assistant, Photographer, and Cheer Leader available. She is amazing. We have two more trips planned this year. In June, we have a 3 state swing planned. Connecticut, W Virginia, and Colorado in 3 weekends. It should be a great time.

In August, we are getting Married. I told her that we could go on a Honeymoon that didn't involve Gatorade or Goo or those funny looking Stretchy shorts I use to run in. But she would have none of it. I am so lucky to have some one so supportive. She wanted to go and do a race on our Honeymoon. We're headed to Alaska.

I'm not sure that I would openly encourage some one to take up this challenge that I have, unless you have both a love of running and travel. It's certainly not for everyone, It is both expensive and time consuming. I do know that I this right for me, and I have reaped much more than I ever expected to sow

States 31 and 32 Ohio and Oregon

Shortly before Arizona and Cowtown #5 I had a problem with pain in my ankle. About a year before I was at work, and had a heavy gate from a postcon (used to transport mail) fall and clip me on the outside part of my ankle. It just clipped the ball or protrusion that sticks out from either side. It hurt like hell for a few minutes, kind of like hitting the funny bone in your elbow. I walked it off, and didn't think much more about it. Afterwards, whenever I would go running, I would experience a slight discomfort there, not a Pain, just a slight sensation like a bruise feeling. I put it off thinking it would eventually go away. When you are training, you always have something achy. Well it never went away, and just before going to do Arizona, I was again at work, and step wrong and slightly rolled that ankle and felt a "Pop". This time it really hurt. It was about 2 weeks before Arizona, and I went to y sports medicine Dr to have it checked out. Dr Vargo was on maternity leave and I saw Dr Chris instead. He said it was probably a strain, and wanted me to wear a boot for 4 weeks and thought it would improve after that. I didn't want t6o miss the run in Arizona since I had already paid for it and had made my arraignments, and I especially didn't want to miss the last Cowtown and mess up my 5 year plan to get the Finisher's star. So I did both runs and then went into the boot. Afterward I was to go easy and only run 1 minute and walk a minute for a total of 20. That went ok for the first week, but when I went to 2min run and 1 min walk the next week, the problem flared up again. I went to a foot Dr and he informed me I had a ruptured tendon, which required surgery. The tendon was intact on both ends but was split down the middle and would never heal on its own. So, I had the surgery at the end of May and was out of commission for 7 weeks, 3 of those in a cast. I had signed up to do Nebraska and Colorado in June, but had to back out of those. I was able to get to switch to the next year on them, as well as the same deal on Rivercities in Shreveport. So I already have The Buffalo Stmped3e in Nebraska and Estes Park in Colorado for next year.

Which brings me to Ohio and Oregon both in September. I signed up for the Air Force half marathon in Dayton Ohio early in 2013 because Me and Andrea Kessel had collaborated on doing some states together. Her and her husband have decided to embark on the 50 states half marathon odyssey as well. We had agreed to do the runs in Colorado and Nebraska and the one in Ohio. BAF, which is my running group, had a number of members going to do Air Force. I had wanted to do the Flying Pig In Cincinnati as my race for Ohio, but got talked into Air Force instead. No regrets, though I may still go back for Flying Pig at some time in the future.

This was a 2 week trip that went exceptionally well. The only down side of it , was that Richelle was not able to go with me. I had originally signed up for the Trifecta triathlon in Graham again and was doing the 2 half marathons the following weeks. 3 races 3 weekends. I did a sprint on Labor Day, and knew that the 3 straight weekends thing was not a good idea. I was thinking that Trifecta was going to be the one I dropped, when I found out my sister was getting a surprise 50th birthday party in Biloxi the same night as the Triathlon. That sealed it we went to Mississippi and missed trifecta. Again a good decision. The surgically altered part of my ankle had recovered nicely, but after being laid up for 7 weeks, I was still having swelling issues in the foot in General. This was normal I was told and I would have a while before I was completely back to 100%

State 31 Ohio

 



I started off the trip by meeting up with my friend Tony, from when I was in the Navy. Tony lives just south of Indianapolis, which is where I already had plans to fly to before driving to Dayton. It worked out perfect, I met Tony and his wife and stayed Thursday night with them and then proceeded to Ohio Friday for the race on Saturday.

Air Force was a Great Race. My friend Luis, who had been in the Air Force and was stationed at Wright-Patterson Base where the race was held, had been saying Great things about it for several years. He had been encouraging us to come and experience it, and I'm glad I finally did. It was a medium sized race which was run mostly through the base. We did venture outside of the base for a mile or so but returned back to the Start/Finish line which was in front of the Air Force Museum. It started out raining, and a little cool. There were not many spectators, mostly because of the weather. I was not up to running shape and knew I would be mostly walking. I had my Garmon with me but as soon as I started, it began blinking "Low Power", so I turned it off and enjoyed the walk through the Base. It was a little hilly, and I did run some, but mostly just wanted to get in the 13 miles and still be able to repeat it the next weekend in Oregon. I really enjoyed the finish line, where we looped the tarmac next tot he Museum, and got to run under and around a variety of planes. Pretty cool. The medal they gave us  was one of the most impressive I have received. It ranks in the top 3 or 4 of the 32 finisher medals I presently have        

State 32 Oregon

 

I stayed Sunday and Monday in Ohio and flew into Portland Oregon on Tuesday, for the inaugural Oregon Half marathon, in Banks Oregon. Interestingly enough, they plan to move the site of the race each year to a new venue. I had found another buddy from the Navy living just outside Portland and was invited to stay with him and his family. I had a Great visit with them. I ate a lot of Dungeness crabs, and saw a of of Oregon's breath taking landscape. 

 

 This was going to a Trail run and the Half was going to be mostly downhill. The full marathon went up the far side and came back down. Being all down hill, I was anticipating a better time than AF. When I arrived on Tuesday, the weekend forecast was for exceptional sunny and wonderful weather for the race. But that soon changed. The exceptional weather was on Wednesday and Thursday, with the rain moving in late Friday and Monsoon season during the run. Race day morning was heavy rain, gusting wind and 51 degrees. The race was a big one to start with, and the weather caused quite a few to stay inside that morning. I started to run, but the swelling in my foot quickly caused me to change that thought. Not sure if it was the weather, or just that I had done the race 6 days before but the foot wasn't having any of it and I ended up walking the whole thing. I think the scenery would have been spectacular if we could have seen it, but the rain clouds prevented that. It was a good race, just a miserable day. The after party would have been a good one, but at that point, I was cold and tired and soaking wet. All I wanted to do was get dry and find a place where it wasn't raining and escape the wind.

 

About a week after the race, they announced that because of all the no shows, they were offering a make up Typhoonathoner. For 10 dollars, you could register, and receive a tech shirt, bib, and finisher's medal, mailed to you. you were then on your honor to run the required distance, send a picture taken after the run, and you would be include3d as a finisher of the 2013 Oregon Marathon, no asterisk or nothing. You didn't even have to be registered for the original run, it was open to anyone. Not sure how I feel about that, after all the ones on Saturday the 28th were those who braved the elements, we were the Crazy ones. We deserve recognition.  

State 30 Arizona

The Lost Dutchman Marathon is in Apache Junction Arizona which is in the Phoenix area. It is a Great Race. Small, Well Organized, and a Scenic course. Cowtown in Ft Worth was the weekend after Lost Dutchman and I was able to get the week off to do them both. There was another much Larger Marathon the same day in the Phoenix area. It was the IMS Marathon in Glendale, it may have been good, but it would have been hard to Top Lost Dutchman.

This was another driving trip. I keep thinking that I have driven to all the states I can and the rest will be via Air Plane, but some how I keep finding myself driving. The GPS showed a 16 hour drive to Phoenix. We left Friday night after I got off work and drove straight through. We manged to turn the 16 hours into 20.5 and just made it to the expo 20 minutes before they closed. (There was NO packet pickup race morning).

The race weather was again optimal. The course was very scenic and had a feww rolling hills. There were quite a few onlookers along the course, as it ran through several neighborhooods. We left the Sports Complex in Apache Junction and ran an Out and Back toward Superstition Mountain. It was actually the last 6.5 of the marathon course.

My Girlfriend went with me, and she has got to be the Greatest Roadie/Equipment Manager/Cheerleader in the World. She is awesome. Any way she is also a Teacher, and had a visiting "Flat Stanley" from Oklahoma. (Flat Stanley is a civics project, where someone  will send a Paper Character named Flat Stanley to some one else. Who ever Flat Stanley is visiting will carry him along on their daily routine, and take pictures of him to  document his adventures) I had never heard of him either, but he has been around since the 60's. Well Stanley made the trip to Arizona with us and I decided to tale him on the run with me. We pinned him into my race belt and he made it the entire course. Richelle even made him his own Bib and Finisher's Medal. While I was running with him, I had a lot of comments about him. It was pretty much equal between people who recognized him and those who had no Idea who he was.

After the race, I had to drop Richelle off at the airport so she could be at work the next day. I took my time driving back, stopping to see the Grand Canyon on Monday, and spent the night at my Mom's in Graham Texas on Tuesday. When I got back home Wednesday afternoon, I had driven 2944 miles in 5 days. I had Thursday off, and then Richelle went back to Ft Worth on Friday for Cowtown.

State 29 New Mexico

State 29 was New Mexico. It was a Spur of the Moment trip. My friends Liz and Henk Roelant who live in Las Cruces New Mexico invited me to come out and do the Half Marathon there. My girlfriend and I drove and we left on Saturday morning. I had to work and we left at 10:30 when I got off. It was a long drive and we got to Las Cruces about 1:00 on Sunday morning. Liz and Henk were able to get my packet so all I had to do was get up and run at 7:00. Simple enough huh? Well, as it seems with most of my events , it wasn't that easy.I didn't sleep real well during the drive in the car, and only about 4.5 hours at Liz's. Las Cruces is at about 4000 ft so I wasn't used to the elevation either. This was a "Just get it In" run. The weather was perfect for it and the course was a fairly Flat Out and Back. It was a very small race and as such there was not a lot of spectators out that morning. We didn't stay in Las Cruces long. We left after shortly after the race and got to see the White Sands Missile area which is just North of Las Cruces.

States 27 and 28 South and North Carolina

After I the most active September in History, I didn't rest for long. After I had signed up for all the races in September, I had intended to ease off a little and recover both physically and financially. However, I discovered that I had a bunch of Old Continental Miles that were going to expire at the end of the year. It was a use them or lose them kind of deal. When I choose vacation at the beginning of the year, I had taken the last month of October, and had a eye on the Myrtle Beach marathon on Oct 21st. At the time there wasn't a good race to pair it with and I made the initial plans for September. figuring that I would end up not taking that week. When I figured out that I had to use the miles, I begin looking at Myrtle beach again. It was a Great race from the reviews I had read and from several people I had talked to about it. It was voted "Best Half Marathon" on the East Coast by Runners Magazine, or so they claimed.  While looking for a suitable matching race (one on the following weekend, within driving distance of Myrtle Beach) I found the "Run for Victory" race in Randleman North Carolina.  Since it was on Saturday the 27th, it fit Perfectly into my schedule, and I registered for both races. I got a flight into Raleigh North Carolina, and planned on driving to Myrtle Beach. I planned on staying a couple of days in SC and then going to North Carolina before doing the run in Randelman. At first I thought about staying at the Outer Bank Islands, but after reading up on NC, I booked a couple nights in Asheville NC. I wanted to see some fall colors and Asheville was supposed to be one of the HOT SPOTS to do so.

I have been blessed with Great Choices all this year. The races I have picked to participate in have all been Outstanding Decisions. I was hoping to keep the streak alive. If Myrtle Beach lived up to its billing, and "Run for Victory" was anything over mediocre, then I expected to have a Good Trip. I wasn't disappointed at all.

State 27 South Carolina

 

The start of this trip was a little hectic, maybe even stressful. After I had made my plans, my girl friend decided to come with me. She couldn't get off the whole week, so she went to South Carolina with me and I was to drop her off Tuesday and spend the remainder of the week there by myself. She wasn't able to get the same flight out as me, and had to get one that was 2 hours earlier than mine. She had a plane change in Charleston and my flight was nonstop, so we arrived at the same time. When I set the alarm the night before leaving, I got the time right but dint actually tun it on. We over slept and had to make a normally hour plus drive in about 35 minutes. I dropped her off and parked the car, and she caught her flight with no time to spare.  Luckily she had checked in via the Internet and got to the gate just as they called her boarding group. It all worked out. The only bad thing was that in the confusion of getting out of the apartment I forgot my Hoodie jacket, and had to get one in Myrtle Beach. It was cold enough to need one at night. 

 

Once we got to Myrtle Beach went about as well as could be expected. The weather was perfect.and we had a nice room in one of the ocean side resorts. I have to add that Myrtle Beach has to be the miniature golf capital of the world. There were courses everywhere. I lost count, we must have seen at least 50 of them.

 

The Myrtle Beach mini Marathon was a good race. It was a medium sized one, I think a little over a 1000 runners. The course was nice, we started at a big shopping mall and ran a point to point run down to the beach and finished on the "Boardwalk". There was only a very short stretch of Boardwalk and most of it was a concrete hike and bike path. There were quite a few spectators out and it had the feel of a BIG TIME race. There was a Beer Garden at the finish, and they gave out HUGE finishers Medals. They were surfboards that were about 8 inches long, and also doubled as Refrigerator Magnets, and just happened to have a Bottle Opener on them. They were nice medals, but it is so big, I am going to have to make special arrangements on my medal board. It is easily 3 times bigger than any other medal I have to date.

 

State 28 North Carolina

 

When I selected the "Run for Victory" race, it was an after thought. I only did it because it fit in with South Carolina. It is a somewhat new race, this was the 5 year that they had it, and it didn't pop up on the race calendar until late. I am really glad I found it. This race turned out being a truly Awesome experience. In terms of Meaningfulness it is right up there with the Breast Cancer run I did in Florida. It was very Humbling, and was a Great life Lesson. Not only that there people among us with staggering problems, but infinite Goodness as well. The Pettys and Victory Junction are a Heartfelt Feel Good Story, that everyone needs to hear. Once again, I was only going to get in a run in North Carolina, and ended up getting so much more. This is a run everyone should do, even if their not doing all 50 states. Even if you are not a Half Marathoner, they have a 5k which I am sure is equally powerful in the experience you will encounter. This is another Race that Validates my reasons for the whole 13.1 in 50 idea. This was a Wonderful Chapter in my Journey, and something I would never have experienced if I were not a runner.

 

Run for Victory is put on by the Petty family. Kyle Petty, son of the NASCAR legend Richard Petty. had a son (Adam) who passed away from some illness. In memory of Adam, Kyle and his wife built a summer camp (Victory Junction) for children who suffer from diseases and injuries. The camp is free of charge and is a very worthy cause. When I signed up, I was given a personal web site in order to raise contributions for Victory Junction. After reading about it, I decided it was something I would like to help with and I took on the challenge of raising money for it. Any one who got at least 500.00 dollars, was named a Top Fundraiser and was invited to a Special Pasta Diner in Petty's Garage. That's where the Petty's stored and worked on all their cars.  I was able to collect 660.00, and got to attend to the dinner. Several of the Top Fundraisers were Physically Challenged, yet they refused to let it affect them. It was very inspiring.

 

While there, I was hoping to get to meet either Richard or Kyle. While neither was at the dinner, Richard was at the start of the race  the next morning. I got to meet him and he signed my bib, and a little plastic piggy bank that was in my race packet. He was very down to Earth and very sincere. Totally Cool There was about 140 runners in both the half and the 5k, and Richard took time to sign things, pose for pictures, and took time to speak to everyone. I expected the signature on my bib to fade while I ran, but it held up with no problems at all.

 

The race itself, was very well organized and very participant friendly. It was my kind of race. It was very small, there were only 61 finishers. The course was 1 loop through the back roads around Victory Junction, and very Hilly. They did say Challenging, and they weren't kidding. Along the way the the tress were Ablaze with Autumn colors. It was breath taking, almost as much as the hills were. Especially the Matterhorn at mile 10. It was a very small quite race. Most of it I ran by myself. The course was marked well, and there were volunteer to to make sure you took the correct turns, but for the most part, there was just me and the run. I only remember 2 spectators who weren't volunteers. hey were an elderly couple sitting in lawn chairs in their drive way as I ran by. To be fair it was over cast, windy, and appeared like it could begin a down pour at any moment (which never materialized). But like I have said before, I do not mind little or no crowd support. I enjoyed the colors and serenity, and was in awe of the wonderful things that were taking place because of the race.

 

After the run, the post race food was Chili and Corn bread, and was some really good stuff. Normally I reserve my highest rating for a run, to those who have post race beer. Run for Victory didn't have beer, but I feel compelled to give them a waver and assign them the coveted 5 star rating anyway.

 

As much praised as I have heaped upon this race, I know that I can not really do it justice. It is something you simply must experience for your self to completely appreciate the wonderful things that they are accomplishing there at Victory Junction. I still have 22 more states to go to finish 13.1 in 50,  but this one is at the top of my list to repeat, and I can only hope that any of my remaining state can come close to or equal North Carolina

 



September 2012 States 24, 25 ,26 and 2 triathlons

September is a busy month this year. I signed up for the Hy-Vee 5150 Championship on Labor day weekend, a Long sprint tri at Possum Kingdom lake , and 3 state Half marathons for the last two weekends. Quad Cities half Marathon in Moline Illinois, Sept 23rd...Fort4Fit in Ft Wayne Indiana the 29th and Brooksie Way half marathon in Rochester Michigan Sept 30th

After qualifying for the Hy-Vee race in New Orleans in June, I arranged to be off, registered for the race, hired a coach, and began training in earnest so as not to completely suck at the US Championships. I hit it pretty hard for the 8 weeks before Labor day weekend. I decided to rent a bicycle for 40.00 instead of pay close to 400.00 to ship mine to Iowa and back. Even though I had gotten approval to be off, at the last minute I was told I would have to work and there was quite a controversy over that. I did go to Iowa, had a great experience, took a little over 40 minutes off the final time I had in New Orleans, and still was last in my age group. I expected that so it wasn't a big deal. I did however NOT come in the very last, and I was happy about that.

Two weeks after Hy-Vee I continued my September trip. I went to PK lake where my Mom lives and did the Trifecta triathlon. Knowing I was going to be running 3 half marathons in the following 2 weekends I decided to only do the sprint instead of the Olympic distance. Then I found out the sprint was 500 meter swim/17 miles bike/5 mile run. That is a Long Sprint, I might as well have did the Oly, which I probably will do next year. The Trifecta race was a Great event. It was the first time they put it on, but they did real well with it. There were only about 200 total racers in both the sprint and Olympic, but that will change. It is a beautiful course. It is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but once word gets around, I'm sure they will get a lot more participants in the coming years.

After Trifecta, I began the three halves in two weekends. I flew into Detroit Mi, and drove to Illinois.

State 24 Illinois (or maybe Iowa)

The first race was in Moline Illinois, Quad Cities. Even though it starts in Illinois, we crossed the bridge over the Mississippi River and ran through Bettendorf and Davenport Iowa, before returning to Moline. So this race could actually be counted as Illinois or Iowa. I will have to see which one I will use it as. It was a great race and I highly recommend it. It was a fairly large race, was well managed, great crowd support, and great after party. Couldn't ask for more.The SWAG was Top Notch with a long sleeve tech shirt, nice finisher medal and a great pair of running gloves in the goodie bag. The race day weather was optimal. The forecast said 37-63 degrees, but I think it was a little warmer than that. No wind and a perfectly cloudless blue sky, made for an awesome run. About half the run was along the Mississippi Rivers. and another section was through the Rock Island Arsenal, which was a Govt facility normally closed to the public.

I had not been able to break 3 hours since before I had the stress fracture. With the ideal conditions, I felt I had a good chance to do so at Quad Cities. I discussed it with my coach, and she advised me to take it a little easy, and save something for the back-to-back weekend that coming up next. Her strategy was to go easy the first 19 miles and then turn it on for the last 5k. I had a Good run and ended up finishing at 2:46, which was considerably better than I hoped. I didn''t even feel as though I went that hard.

After Quad Cities, I went and visited the Mississippi River Aquarium and Museum in Dubuque Ia and the Field of Dreams  baseball field in Dyersville Ia. Kind of cool. I have been staying with a friend who lives in Janesville Wisconsin, and am heading to Ft Wayne Indiana on Friday for the race there on Saturday. After the race I have to immediately head to Michigan to run Sunday and then head back to Houston Sunday evening.

State 25 Indiana

Indiana was the half way point of this whole thing. I had email the race director, and asked if I could have bib number 25. I have been saving all the bib numbers, but I especially wanted to save numbers 25 and 50 (which ever state that may be). In the email to the RD i expressed my desire to to possibly frame the 25 and 50 bibs along with the medals I have been collecting.. A few weeks before the race, I received a reply saying that they could indeed give me the #25 bib, which was Great news. When I got to packet pickup, it turns out they made a special gesture for me. The bibs started at 1000 and went up from there, so 25 was the only bib less then 4 numbers long. They also made an extra bib and personalized it with "1/2WAY2GOAL". A Very Cool thing, not only was it a Nice Touch with the special acknowledgement. but I didn't have to worry about wrecking the bib as I usually do with every other bib during a run.

The run itself was  another Great race. The mostly Flat course was nice, but a little plain. We started outside the minor league baseball field, ran through Ft Wayne, around a pretty Golf Course and back to the Stadium where we entered it and ran along the outfield warning track and then turned down the First base line toward Home Plate. Running through the Stadium was fun. The race was very well supported, the weather was perfect and I had a Great time at Fort4Fitness. There were plenty of spectators out supporting and there was a festival atmosphere. The last aid station had a beer shot table...Naturally, I couldn't resist.

I didn't run as well in this race, but I did come in under 3 hours, at 2:56:04. There was several reasons for this. I was on vacation, and as such was more in Vacation mode than I was training mode. I went and spent a few days with my friend Mike who lives in Wisconsin, and that state is not not known for its healthy eating. I didn't go overboard, but I did partake. I also went and took a tour of a local brewery that had been in operation since 1845 (before Wisconsin was a State) I sampled several of their quality beers. My goal was to try and run all 3 races under 3 hours and toward the end of Fort4Fitness I saw that I was ahead of pace, so I eased off a little to save a little for Michigan, and the big hills that were due the next day.

After the race was over, I was a little over whelmed by the fact that I was half way through 13.1 in 50. When I first started, I would not have believed I would be so far along this fast. In just over 3 years, I have ran 327.5 miles in 25 states.

 

State 26 Michigan

I didn't have long to luxuriate in the glow of finishing state 25. State 26, Michigan, was the next day. I drove from Ft Wayne to Rochester Michigan right after finishing Fort4Fotness. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive, that turned into about 5 because I had to keep stopping to stretch my legs. Driving through Indiana and Michigan, the fall colors were just starting to emerge. There were isolated pockets of vibrant color but not a lot of good Kodak moments. I was again a few weeks early for the color change.

 

There was race morning pickup but I wanted to get it the evening before. I got to the packet pickup and was able to get everything, and while I was there I talked to a man who had been on the TV show, the "Biggest Loser". He was promoting a book he wrote on weight loss and his new career of  Motivational Speaker, Mentor and Life Coach. He asked me if I was running the Brooksie Way race and I told him about my trip and about 13.1 in 50. He wanted to know if he could interview me following the race, and get my story. I was more than happy to.

 

Race morning came along and when I woke up, running 13 miles was not high on the list of things I wanted to do. My legs were a little stiff, but not to bad. The issues I was having was that I just didn't feel good. I had partook in my usual pre race meal of sushi the night before and my stomach was doing barrel rolls and I was slightly light headed. (Note to self....Refrain from ordering the Spicy Sushi in a Thai restaurant the night before a race) Those Thai places can really bring the HEAT. I had somewhat of a metal taste in my mouth but ate my race breakfast of a banana, granola bar and half a quart of Gatorade. (Pretty much standard stuff). I also take another granola bar and the remainder of the quart of Gatorade for 30 minutes before the start of the race. However at the race I just couldn't bring myself to eat or drink either of them. I was sitting in one of the big tents waiting for the start of the race and feeling like there were about a million things I would rather be doing. It was time to go warm up and I was trying to convince myself not to. I commenced to give myself one of my pep talks. I have  to do that on occasion. In this case it went something like this....GET UP, SHUT UP, SUCK IT UP, and "Let's Gitter Done", it's GO Time.

Once I got out and began warming up, I started to feel a little better. The race started and there was am immediate aid station, which I was able to drink some water and get going. I knew the course was slightly down dill the first 5 miles , and then would begin climbing after that. Still with the idea that I would like to get in under 3 hours I started running at what I thought was an easy pace, preparing myself for the hills late in the course. To my surprise however, I was running really well. I made it to mile 9 well ahead of the pace from Quad Cities where I ran 2:46.At this point I was not only looking to break 3 hours but beat the previous days time as well. The big hills came around Miles 10, and that slowed me down some, but I finished strong with a time of 2:51:04. 5 minutes off the the time at Fort4Fitness. This race was one of those moments that define why athletes do what they do. At the start of the race, I was wondering if I was even going to finish. I ended up turning in a strong performance and will be able in the future to look back on this as a time when I overcame a tough situation and Excelled.

Pete Thomas, the "Biggest Loser" guy was at the finish line and him and his film crew interviewed me for about 10-15 minutes after the race.

Brooksie Way was a Nice Race, the course was a quite and peaceful run through the neighborhoods and along a hike/bike trail. There were isolated spectators, and the support was fantastic. There were more aid stations than I could count, less than a mile between them. I cant say how the after party was, because I had to get going so as to get checked out of my room and head for the airport to catch my flight back home.

 

All three of these races were Great events. I have NOTHING Bad to say about any of them. If you need any of these states, you cant go wrong with these races.