Stay Strong - Run Long

Let me start off by saying that this is one of the coolest races that I have ever been a part of. The KC Trail Nerds are one of the greatest groups of runners/volunteers/RD's I have ever had the fortune of meeting. I will get into specifics throughout the report so lets dive in. We started off our magical weekend Friday. I got to spend the morning just me and the girls. While the Mrs. went off to work for a few hours I got rested, did some work around the house, created my playlists and watched some TV. I really wanted to spend some time just relaxing since it seems like we always have something going on. I took the day off to do just that and it was amazing. I decided that I was going to take my iPod and while on the run and I wanted to just have some playlists so that I wasn't fumbling with the thing while I was running. To give you a little background, my iPod talks. No, not like the voices in my head, but it actually says whatever you are scrolling over. I am assuming that...

So I have really been hitting the training hard lately. Free State is coming up in a few short weeks and want to really make sure that I got my nutrition, trail runs and long runs down. Last Sunday I decided that in order to increase my miles I need to make sure and get a 25 miler in. I decided since it was going to be a nice day that I would grab the backpack, my new kicks (Brooks Adrenaline ASR 6's) and run home from Church and add a few miles at the end. Home is about 15 miles from Church and one of the small towns around is about 10 (out & back) from home so I thought it would be a perfect setting. As I woke up Sunday morning I realized that there was about a 20 mph wind from the NW. Luckily a lot of the run the wind would be at my back. I said a lot. Not all. Not most. But a lot. For the first 10 miles it was a cross wind, which I could deal with. The next 5 was at my back, sweet relief. The rest not so much. It was horrible. I didn't have my wind gauge on me (don'...