Stay Strong - Run Long

I have always said that you can have a great race, but there is no such things as "perfect" race, but this one was DAM close. I've written in length in the past how much I love the Dam to Dam. The 5k was my first ever race and the 20k was my first ever long distance race so there will always be a special place in my heart for it. Whenever I get the opportunity to speak to anyone about long distance racing, this is the place that I direct them. There are hundreds of races within 2 hours of Des Moines that are over the 10k distance but all of them pale in comparison (on the roads) to the Dam To Dam. Enough gushing about how much I love this race, on to the race report. This race has gotten so popular in the last couple of years that the window of opportunity to register is becoming slimmer and slimmer every year. Because I am just a person that needs to get signed up, the registration opened at 8:00 and I was registered by 9:00. No questions. Just did it. Now, Mrs. ...

"What a freaking day". These are the words I kept uttering to myself and to my pacer Byron as we very slowly approached the finish line of the Free State Trail Run 100k . It was an incredible day and an awful day mixed into one 14 hour and 45 minute stretch. One with dramatic highs and traumatic lows, but one that I won't soon forget, nonetheless. The decision to do the 100k started just days after the 2012 12 hour Equalizer . I missed my goal of 100k (or 62 miles) by 5 miles in the 12 hour event. I was obviously elated to have completed the 57 miles and had a great time with friends and family that were able to join me, but something was missing. The 5 miles has haunted me ever since that day in October. 5 miles. What if I would have drank more? Could I have done it? 5 miles equals one extra hour on the course. In the grand scheme of things, one hour doesn't seem like that much, but on that day it did. 5 miles and I would have been able to coin myself as a "...

I sit here at my desk the morning after one of the biggest tragedies in marathon history with a heavy heart. Just to be clear, I was not there but I have "lived" it through Facebook, news articles, and my friends first hand accounts. My heart is heavy and I'm conflicted. On one hand I am ecstatic that all of the people that I know who were there are accounted for and OK physically. One friend of mine finished, literally, 3 minutes before the bomb went off. I had been watching her times on the feed all morning. She was having a rough day. I could tell from the times. When I saw her time come up as 4:06 I was relieved and filled with joy for what she had endured. Her times over the 26.2 miles were steadily getting slower so I was just happy she was able to finish. At that moment, I sent her a text message congratulating her as a "BOSTON FINISHER". She is our running club president and one to always return a text, always picks up the phone (even during a run) a...

Wow!!!! What an incredible weekend filled with fear, anxiety, nervousness, giddiness, more fear, new friendship, hope, joy, upset stomach, incredible cramps, some more anxiety, apologies, hunger, some more joy, pain, thankfulness, gratefulness, some more pain and encouragement. You may ask yourself, how does go through so many emotions over the course of a weekend? My answer, running a 12 hour race around Gray's Lake in Des Moines, IA called The Equalizer. The race is described as "This event is designed for three purposes. First, it will provide an opportunity for new and veteran runners to test themselves at an ultra distance. Second, performances will be scored using an age/sex 'equalizer', providing the possibility of an overall victory to anyone who is normally competitive in their age group. Equalizers are determined based on age and gender. Overall awards will be distributed based on the total of actual distance plus the appropriate equalizer. Third,...

With the pressures of life, sometimes things have to be shifted in your schedule to make sure that you are still actively participating in the things that you love. As a husband, dad, employee, coach, friend, son, brother, board member, member of my church and the whole host of other hats that I wear, sometimes I do have to put my silly hobby to the side and shift when I participate.  Lately, just due to life, I have had to make some changes in my schedule to when/where I do my running. Not to say that I have downgraded the amount that I am running (I have 2 straight months of 200 mile months) but I do have to be creative when I am going to do it.  I am insanely lucky to have a wife that understands the fact that I have to do this in order to be in a good mood. I go through tremendous lows when I haven't run for a few days. It is like a drug addict coming off of a bender. I get cranky, moody, irritable and freak out for no reason. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not vio...

So I am fully prepared for the backlash that I'm about to get by the following commentary but I've gotten to the point that I can't take it anymore. I know that I am going to make a lot of people mad/uncomfortable with my next statement, but that just means that the conversation is working. We are ridiculously fat. There...I said it. Like it or not. Agree with it or not. I am done sitting on the sidelines with my opinion about it. If the statement makes you mad or uncomfortable....look what is in your refrigerator or cupboards. Examine your life. Examine the lives of your children. You may be asking yourself where this all of a sudden came from. Well, let me explain. 8 years ago this month, I made a commitment to not be fat anymore. I know that some of you have read or heard my story numerous times but 8 years later I am still on a crusade. Now, don't think that I am preaching on the fact that I am the healthiest person of all time. I am an addict. My addiction is...