SimpleSoleProject

Some days you have it, some days you don’t. Whenever you have a bad race, there are always plenty of excuses.  If you pay close enough attention, you will likely hear a lot of these before the start of an event:  “I’ve been feeling down lately.”  “Legs have been shot all week.”  “I had a hard workout two days ago.”  “I am just using this as a training run.”  “Had a cough last night.”  Etc, etc, etc.  But really it comes down to the fact that on race day you NEED to race.  Not just run, but run hard.  Like that event means something.  It means something to you and the people who organized the event.  You give the best effort that you have on that particular day.  Which is exactly what I tried to do on Saturday morning.

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I promised my boy Ryan I would put this online.

But as usual there is a bigger picture here.  One of the biggest changes in running over the last two decades has been the increase in  charity runners.  Some people hate on charity runners.  They have slowed down the average time of finishers is one of the biggest arguments.  That’s a bunch of malarkey (always wanted to use that).  Any reason that people begin to run, continue to run, stay motivated is a great reason to run.  Not my thing at this stage of my running life, but someday it might be.  If it brings people to the sport and promotes healthy, good living, well who I am to criticize.  The video below is coverage of a race at Lincoln Southwest, organized by their students as fundraiser for a classmate that was killed last year.  If you want to contribute, please do so.

Lasses 2, Lads o.

I will do my best to write this with as little bias as possible. PREDICTION CONTEST WINNERS BELOW.

The 2011 Leprechaun Chase 10k moved to a new venue this year.  After its debut year at the Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in Lincoln, NE, race director Ben Cohoon moved the event to SAC Museum/Mahoney State Park outside of Ashland, NE.  Having a course between Lincoln and Omaha, the use of the hangar as a staging area, the park, the volunteers, and a new more “open” course created a huge upgrade from the year before.  I think most participants would agree.

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SimpleSole first here today.  Ben Cohoon emailed me recently with an idea for an entry (good thing too, I am at a block right now) for the site.  Anyways, nine days from now will be the second annual Leprechaun Chase 10k put on by Cohoon Race Management, or whatever he is calling himself now.  You can read about the race here.

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On Saturday, February 26th David Adams will defend his Conference Indoor 3k title at the Devaney Center in Lincoln. People who are really into distance running in Nebraska, will know his name.  For those that don’t I hope this gives you some insight into who this young man is.

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Holy s%#@!  That tree almost stabbed me in the chest, but quickly the thought was decimated by the wretched sound that only a person gasping for air can make and what felt like my heart approaching 300 beats per minute and an injection of lactic acid into my aching quads and calves.  I was also only halfway through this snow covered uphill at mile 4 of a 20 miler.

4pm, Brenda and I had coffee in hand after a long school day and had just picked up Gus Jacobson and were off to Kansas City for the Psycho Wyco Run Toto Run Trail Race.  The Trail Nerds of Kansas City were putting on their second race of a long trail calendar in 2011.  Distances of 10mi+, 20mi+, and 50k were offered.  I had been wanting to do this race for awhile, and putting it in on my calendar got me through some tough days this winter.

After an easy trip down, we grabbed dinner at the YardHouse and met up with two of Gus’s friends, Scott Schwartz and Brit Ehlers.  Great meal and great beers, 117 on tap to be exact.  That does not suck. Though my beer, Intervale, was not featured.  But whatevs.

Alarm was at 6am.  Not too bad as most races these days seem to require a minimum 445am buzzer for me.  Hotel breakfast was the usual; waffles, eggs, sausage.  Just about right for an event like this.  We hopped in Scott’s stylin’ minivan and headed over to Wyandotte County Lake Park (pdf).

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