Stay Strong - Run Long

This post won't be my usual ramblings about races or my weight loss. This post is something that may or may not strike to the heart of some people. I'm not shy about it when I say that my wife is my best friend. Having been together for nearly 20 years of our lives, I feel that I know everything about her. She knows everything about me. I can tell her everything...except for running stuff because she's tired of hearing about it...but she is the one I know that I can always count on when it comes to our lives here on earth. I love her more than any person that walks this earth. I love to hug her. I love to hold her. I love just being in the same room as her. I love all of her quirks and everything about her. She is my love. I would be lying if I didn't say that tragedy is something that is always in the back of my mind. What would I do if she weren't here? Would I be angry at God for taking her away? How would I raise our kids by myself?........I'm not that g...

The Rocky Raccoon 100 mile race is one that's been on my radar for many years. Living in Iowa, I've always heard about how "flat" and "runnable" the race is and for a guy who doesn't have the opportunity to train in the mountains, the terrain was something that really intrigued me. When I got the word that my good friend Byron, who is also a really great runner, was moving to Texas in early 2015 and was thinking about throwing his name into the hat for the 100 miler, I knew the decision had been made. 2016 was going to be the year that I took on the race. My training coming out of the 2015 Equalizer was...we'll call it...less than great. I took a couple of weeks off from serious training just to rest some injuries that had manifested from running on concrete for 24 hours. My hips were really wrecked for about a month after. In fact, I didn't do a single run over 7 miles for nearly 6 weeks. With the pressure of not disappointing myself and tho...