Western States Video Inspiratons

Having been at Squaw Valley, hiking on the western states trail and driving around Placer High School in Auburn, my desire to do this dream race has increased even more. I have years of work ahead to even have a chance at qualifying but I now have a feel for what it might be like. In order to help further my inspiration I found these videos on YouTube and thought that they were worth stringing together to help keep the motivation going.

VFF, my next race, great XC story and our vacation

A couple things to comment on.

For my birthday, my wife got me a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. I have wanted pair but could never rationalize them in my mind. Thank you, Karyn. I ran in them tonight and even held back by only going 1 mile and then stretching out afterward. I plan to use them to build up the foot strength and to help motivate me on a day when I need it. She got me a pair of TrekSports from REI.

Second thing, I just signed up for Surf the Murph 50k.

I had been debating whether to do the 25k or 50k and I decided I just had to do a longer race this year. Having been injured all year and missing all of the events, it seemed like the right thing to do. Although, I probably should have checked the number of weeks to the race, just 5 so I will be ramping up my long run from 10 miles to at least 20+ miles over the next few weeks. I have committed to myself to run this race slowly, I mean very slowly and to enjoy myself, the volunteers and the course. I will not race it and injure myself, let me repeat that I will not be stupid but will make good decisions and soak it all in.

A really neat story from a local cross country meet. Our daughter had run her race ahead of this one and hadn't heard about it.

or you can read the story from the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper

Last thing, my wife and I just returned from a vacation out in Lake Tahoe. We stayed in Squaw Valley and really enjoyed ourselves. We hiked, biked, boated and just really had a good time. The weather was great and the views were unbelievable. I won't bore you with all of the details or pictures (at least in this post :-) but here are a few pictures that will give you a flavor of what we experienced.

 Pacific Crest Trail heading from Donner Pass towards Anderson Peak

 Looking down towards Emerald Bay

Another look into Emerald Bay 

Shirley Lake Trail coming down from High Camp at Squaw

Lebanon Hills Trail Series Ground Rules

On tonight's run in Lebanon Hills it all became clear. I started the run feeling stressed about things. I told myself give it a mile and see what happens.

Well, the magic happened, I started processing things and got to thinking about the Southern Minnesota Trail Club sponsored Lebanon Hills Trail Series. 

I thought about how should I get this virtual group going and it became clear. I will post courses for folks to run, when 3 people post a comment/time that they completed the course on the post then it's an official race in the series. The time limit to post that you completed the course will be the calendar year so take your time but get the courses run. 

So I plan to post a lot of courses and we can see if 2 other people take up the series. I say 2 as I count as 1 and yes I will rerun the course after it is posted. So the plan is to do it as a test case this fall with a full series to begin in January. Who knows if I get three people we may have to go for T-shirts and prizes to participants in the series. One thing about the courses, in the summer I plan to avoid the horse trails and in the winter we will avoid the XC trails. I thought I should be a good citizen and honor the park rules. One other thing, I will occasionally post other course sites, the rule is that they need to be south of the Mississippi/Minnesota Rivers or 94/494 and in MN. 

The goal of this series is simple, motivation and something to do for those of us that live south of the river. So look for future courses to appear over the next few weeks. 

UltraRunning Podcasts

As any who follow this blog know, I listen to podcasts almost exclusively. I generally have anywhere from 50 to 125 podcasts waiting for me to listen on my Ipod. Some are sermons, some are about finances, some on fitness but the vast majority have been on running. One thing that has changed over the past year is that it seems there has been a huge growth in the ultrarunning podcasts.

Here are a few that I enjoy, check them out if you get a minute.

Ultra Runner Podcast
Great interviews - recent examples - Julie Fingar, Sunny Blende, Marshal Ulrich, Don Freeman, Ellie Greenwood, Jimmie Dean Freeman, Mike Wardian plus quite a few more.

3 Non Joggers - 2 runners, 1 mailman, 3 microphones, all discussing the crazy-ass sport of long distance running. A very entertaining podcast and they occasionally talk about running and ultras. Also you can find them on Facebook.

100MileUltraRunning Listen to the TrailSlammer's reflections as he works through the Grand Slam, the Barkley and other runs from the trails. It was very interesting to hear how he prepared for the events. I also enjoyed hearing how his day went, he is a good runner who had some struggles which make his podcast even more interesting to listen to. Also you can find him on Facebook.


Running Stupid Coach Ken is a back of the packer so I can definitely relate to his podcast. He lives out in California and he has attempted many ultras over the years. His challenge is making the cut-offs. His show has a kazoo occaisionally and always if he mentions Dean Karnaze. Also you can find him on Facebook.

Running in the Center of the Universe
Join Ashland Dave as he runs in the center of the universe, which happens where he lives, Ashland, VA. He is an average everyday runner who does marathons and ultras and his podcast always ends with the National Anthem. I think is a bit like me, a larger runner who does it simply because he enjoys it and he likes the challenge.

I love that podcasts on ultrarunning are appearing although I would like to say this is good, the truth is I am not sure I want more ultrarunners. I like the solitude of my trails, where else can I listen to all of these podcasts. I even left off a couple more ultradad and ultramarathinrunning that you might check out too. Oh well, time to share what I love and these podcasts may inspire you or motivate you to check out the trail running and ultra scene.

If you want to listen to runs on running in general there is a blog that has a great list of running podcasts, if you get a chance check them out as well.