Catch up

This is going to be a challenge; keeping up with posting.... I followed up Saturday's "Gut Check" run with 9.5 miles yesterday. I went exploring a bit from the established trails in the park near our home. They opened a new connector street this summer in Twinsburg that comes close to some existing trails. There have been rumors of connecting these trails with the community gardens and the Liberty Park trail system. This would provide some great options for running or biking in the area. Anyways, I thought that I would see if I could find the "Northwest Passage".

Some ATV riders had already been back there some time ago and I followed the path they made. Very pretty area and I came across an old stone culvert that was pretty beat up. Very large stones were used to create it and I could imagine the road that used to go through there lots of years ago.

Found my way back to the trail and completed a very fun and encouraging run.

Gut Check! You ready?

My daughter's swim team, University Swim Club, has the title of this post as their motivational slogan for the year. Essentially, at the end of every practice, they swim a 50 yard set as hard and fast as they can, to see what they have left.

What does this have to do with running 100 miles? Nothing and everything...

Today's run was a gut check of sorts. My family has been passing around the stomach flu for the past week. It was bound to a happen, and it was my turn. I am fortunate in that I had a very mild case. I was originally planning on running with the Vertical Runner group at 6:30am but with my stomach still a bit on edge, I thought that being in the middle of the woods would not be the best place to be in case I had a relapse. So I slept in and then decided to run 3x7mile laps on the streets/paths close to home. My wife Denise agreed to run the first lap with me and it was nice to have some company to help pass the miles.

The second lap went a bit tougher since the legs were starting to feel the effort and I was just a bit chilled in the exposed sections of the path. The third lap was my "Gut check". I really was ready to end this, my legs were tired, and my hands were cold. But, I knew that next August, I would not be able to quit because "I was tired", or because my "legs hurt!" whaa whaa whaa. I just needed to 'suck it up and run'. So that is what I did.

My run was eventually over and of course, I felt very very good about completing the distance. Tired, sweaty, cold, but content in a strange sort of way. Long runs have a way of doing that. They sometimes stink during the process, but it always feels good at the end.

One of my answers for people when they ask me why I like to run is "Because it feels so good to stop!" It is a silly answer, but the real answer is an abbreviated version: "Because it feels so good to..."

We have started!

Well, the first steps have been taken. I have filled out my application, written the check, and mailed it in!

I am starting this blog to track my progress as I attempt to complete my first 100 mile ultra run. I have registered for the Burning River 100 race in northeast Ohio, August 2-3, 2008. That's right, two days. Actually, there is a 30 hour time limit. I hope to finish before that, but you never know...