Back from an amazing experience crewing for Scott Jacaway at Badwater 135. I'll write a longer report soon but Scott finished in 51hr 33mins. All Illinois runners finished the 135 mile journey from Badwater (lowest point in western hemisphere) to Mt Whitney portals (trail head for the highest point in lower 48). Congrats to Scott, Nikki, Jerry, Brian and Tracy plus Bonnie from nearby IA (proud to say I know them all) and big congrats to female winner and friend Lisa Bliss of WA, formerly IL.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Double Day
Last Sunday (15th) I did my first double work out day in many many years. In the morning I went to Knoch Knolls park in Naperville and did 5 miles of trail running then later in the afternoon after running errands (well shopping at REI) I stopped at MT Hoy in Blackwell Forest preserve and meet up with Scott Jacaway and his wife Caryn who were doing hill repeats. They were already repeats ahead of me so I just joined in and got in a quick 10 I think. Scott finished up his 20 climbs in fine shape. Normally I hike up and down but training with Scott this time I started running down the steep hill and have decided even after Badwater I'll be back at Mt Hoy for hill training to get ready for the HOBO 25k.
Saturday was a no running no training day. Laura does volunteer work for the local chapter of First Book. These organization raise funds and supply book for children in less well off areas (Fox Valley and Aurora for this chapter). Jewel was hosting a NASCAR event due to the race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet so First Book and Cheerios tied that event into a Speed Read to raise book donations. Celebrity and a YMCA kids took turns to read. In total over 10,000 book donation were "won" on the day and then at the race the next day another 11,000 books via laps doe by the Cheerios racer
Saturday was a no running no training day. Laura does volunteer work for the local chapter of First Book. These organization raise funds and supply book for children in less well off areas (Fox Valley and Aurora for this chapter). Jewel was hosting a NASCAR event due to the race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet so First Book and Cheerios tied that event into a Speed Read to raise book donations. Celebrity and a YMCA kids took turns to read. In total over 10,000 book donation were "won" on the day and then at the race the next day another 11,000 books via laps doe by the Cheerios racer
Thursday, July 12, 2007
In the heat of the day
This past weekend (July 7 and 8) was hotter than it had been so I decided to take good advantage of the sunny skies and rise in temperature. Saturday I headed out to nearby Herrick and Danada Forest Preserves in Wheaton. There are about 10 miles of wide limestone trails at these two connected preserves and is also home to the Windrunner 10k held in August (26th) . Around 75% if the trails are unshaded and exposed on a sunny day, the rest travels through wooded areas.
Setting out from the car park around 10am I decided to run the shaded sections and hike the exposed sections to maximum my time in the sun and heat. The run/hike went well and I felt strong for the 9 miles I did despite the sun. I made sure I drank regularly from my Camelbak Rogue, what a great purchase, and took in a couple Hammer gels and some Succeed! caps at varies points. In all it was a great run/hike.
Sunday I got to sleep in more than normal. Laura and I went grocery shopping in the morning, watched Le Tour de France London to Canterbury although didn’t see my sister or my uncle who both live in that part of England. After lunch I headed to Blackwell forest preserve, just north of Herrick (linked by a trail and road crossing). I arrived around 1.45 and went to the Mt Hoy car park. The temperature was 97F in the city and even hotter in the burbs and I was about to start some hill repeats on the biggest hill in Du Page county. It is approximately 100 feet of elevation gain from the base of the hill on the grassy slope to the summit and some sections are fairly steep. After a number of treks up and day with the sun blazing on me Scott (the Badwater runner I am crewing for) and his wife Caryn showed up. Scott had planned to do a total of 20 return trips which he did with easy. I completed my planned 10 and was pleased with the effort. Caryn I think did 10 or more and then hung out with me to chat while Scott finished up. A lot of water and energy drink was drunk by the 3 of us. I was surprised to see others out there on the hill, most only did one trip to the summit and right back to their cars, while one chap was doing multiple loops and a high school football team was doing some training in preparation for the season. Often than that compared to July 4th Blackwell was fairly peaceful.
Setting out from the car park around 10am I decided to run the shaded sections and hike the exposed sections to maximum my time in the sun and heat. The run/hike went well and I felt strong for the 9 miles I did despite the sun. I made sure I drank regularly from my Camelbak Rogue, what a great purchase, and took in a couple Hammer gels and some Succeed! caps at varies points. In all it was a great run/hike.
Sunday I got to sleep in more than normal. Laura and I went grocery shopping in the morning, watched Le Tour de France London to Canterbury although didn’t see my sister or my uncle who both live in that part of England. After lunch I headed to Blackwell forest preserve, just north of Herrick (linked by a trail and road crossing). I arrived around 1.45 and went to the Mt Hoy car park. The temperature was 97F in the city and even hotter in the burbs and I was about to start some hill repeats on the biggest hill in Du Page county. It is approximately 100 feet of elevation gain from the base of the hill on the grassy slope to the summit and some sections are fairly steep. After a number of treks up and day with the sun blazing on me Scott (the Badwater runner I am crewing for) and his wife Caryn showed up. Scott had planned to do a total of 20 return trips which he did with easy. I completed my planned 10 and was pleased with the effort. Caryn I think did 10 or more and then hung out with me to chat while Scott finished up. A lot of water and energy drink was drunk by the 3 of us. I was surprised to see others out there on the hill, most only did one trip to the summit and right back to their cars, while one chap was doing multiple loops and a high school football team was doing some training in preparation for the season. Often than that compared to July 4th Blackwell was fairly peaceful.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Catching Up
WOW, little behind on my blog entries so let's play catch up and post something about last week.
It'll include a little something from:
June 30 ChiAdead Run at Poplar Creek
July 1 trail run at Knoch Knolls, Naperville
July 3 and 4 runs at Springbrook, Naperville
The ChiAdead monthly runs was "created" recently by Brian Gaines and what a great idea. I missed the first venture out to Water Fall Glen end of month but was very happy to make the end of June run which was being held at Poplar Creek Forest Preserve near Bartlett IL, http://www.fpdcc.com/downloads/pc_trailmap.pdf. I made he short drive up Rt59 and was greeted by Michael, Debbie and Paul. Soon after Kelly arrived and we then discussed the route to take. Kelly had ran here before so in Brian's absence took the lead role. She suggested starting on the 2.6 mile dirt/grass trail loop and then do the large 8.9 paved trail. This was to my liking although I think for most the others, except Kelly, it might have been their first time on a dirt trail. For the most part it is mowed grass, some dirt almost single track and a few rock, roots and rutted section with barely a hill amongst it not to say it is flat. Some of the trail is in the woods and at other points there are some great meadow views. We all ran as a group for this loop although near the end Michael who was running extra distance disappeared of into the distance. Back at the cars Paul and Kelly were ready to do the big loop and Debbie intended to do part of it and turn around. I wanted to do a total of around 8 miles that day so rather than doing the big paved loop opted to do 2 more dirt loops. For my second loop I headed out in the opposite direction and then the original direction for the third. On the third I decided to explore an off shoot and discovered a nice little hill plus a mini lake with an egret on the waters edge. Start of the 2nd loop a deer crossed my path then stopped to stare at me. Meet up with Debbie and Michael who had both finished their various mileage and shortly after Paul and Kelly came running in. Breakfast plans were made but sadly I didn't have time to join them so set of for home with the heater on in the car!!!
Sunday it was off to one of my favourite dirt trails, Knock Knolls on Naperville's southside. Although most of the trails here are flat there is a great mix of single and wide trails. The single trails are really twisty but have a fair share of rocks, roots, logs and deers. It takes a few trips in KK to get used to the trails and where they go but I've "designed" a few different courses to run and sometimes reverse them for a different view. Total mileage was around 5 miles (there are no real maps or mileage posted)
Tuesday I had an extra day off work so what better than to go for a run. It was forecast to be a sunny day with increasing temperature so I got to Springbrook forest preserve http://www.dupageforest.com/maps/springbrook.pdf around 11am. Was surprised to see a fair number of cars parked at the trail head. There are a basically two loops at SB, the big 5.5 main west loop and around 4 miles on the other side of Plainfield road. The 5.5 mile loop is limestone and totally exposed, barely a tree on the trail. I wore my Camelbak pack and headed out clockwise. It was a fun trail to be on with views across meadows galore, but of course box retailers were also visible at times. After I went through the tunnel under Plainfield Rd I turned right onto a dirt trail to explore at least part of the east side. A wrong turn at an intersection lead me to the end of a trail with another meadow view but this was surrounded by trees and no cars could be heard. Went back to the correct trail and continued for a mile or so before turning around to go back and finishing the big west loop. It wasn't long before I reached the car after around 8 miles with plenty of sun and heat. Couple things sort of surprised me: most runners were not carrying water despite none on the trail and it being sunny/hot and the number of bikers without helmets but also wearing iPods/MP3 players while cycling - neither are smart IMO.
Wednesday because I enjoyed my brief venture onto the dirt east trail at Springbrook I decided to go back and do the full 4 mile loop. Actually half the loop is limestone. Getting parked at the other SB trailhead was fun, I got there at 8am and every spot was taken. Luckily a runner had just finished her run so I patiently waited for her to finish stretching and then was able to park. The first part of the trial was on the west trail down a hill, through the tunnel and then onto the dirt trail. This time I didn't go left at the intersection but straight on the dirt and mowed grass trail. The dirt trail is around 2 miles and wide,. mostly flat but with a couple inclines that pass through meadows and wooded areas full of birds, dragonflies and even a deer. After 2 miles the dirt trail joins up with a near 2 mile limestone trail that heads back to the main west loop. This trail was much busier than the dirt trail where I saw maybe 4 people walking dogs one runner and no bikes (which are banned on that section although it is not posted as such). Back to the main loop and I venture off to another limestone loop that circles a model airplane field with a few planes buzzing around but includes a nice view of what would have been Dragon Lake if nature had not changed the FP's plans (see FP website). It was a good end to four days (over 5) of running and hiking totalling close to 25 miles. None of it was fast but I was happy with the mileage total and more importantly how I felt after great.
Thanks for reading.
It'll include a little something from:
June 30 ChiAdead Run at Poplar Creek
July 1 trail run at Knoch Knolls, Naperville
July 3 and 4 runs at Springbrook, Naperville
The ChiAdead monthly runs was "created" recently by Brian Gaines and what a great idea. I missed the first venture out to Water Fall Glen end of month but was very happy to make the end of June run which was being held at Poplar Creek Forest Preserve near Bartlett IL, http://www.fpdcc.com/downloads/pc_trailmap.pdf. I made he short drive up Rt59 and was greeted by Michael, Debbie and Paul. Soon after Kelly arrived and we then discussed the route to take. Kelly had ran here before so in Brian's absence took the lead role. She suggested starting on the 2.6 mile dirt/grass trail loop and then do the large 8.9 paved trail. This was to my liking although I think for most the others, except Kelly, it might have been their first time on a dirt trail. For the most part it is mowed grass, some dirt almost single track and a few rock, roots and rutted section with barely a hill amongst it not to say it is flat. Some of the trail is in the woods and at other points there are some great meadow views. We all ran as a group for this loop although near the end Michael who was running extra distance disappeared of into the distance. Back at the cars Paul and Kelly were ready to do the big loop and Debbie intended to do part of it and turn around. I wanted to do a total of around 8 miles that day so rather than doing the big paved loop opted to do 2 more dirt loops. For my second loop I headed out in the opposite direction and then the original direction for the third. On the third I decided to explore an off shoot and discovered a nice little hill plus a mini lake with an egret on the waters edge. Start of the 2nd loop a deer crossed my path then stopped to stare at me. Meet up with Debbie and Michael who had both finished their various mileage and shortly after Paul and Kelly came running in. Breakfast plans were made but sadly I didn't have time to join them so set of for home with the heater on in the car!!!
Sunday it was off to one of my favourite dirt trails, Knock Knolls on Naperville's southside. Although most of the trails here are flat there is a great mix of single and wide trails. The single trails are really twisty but have a fair share of rocks, roots, logs and deers. It takes a few trips in KK to get used to the trails and where they go but I've "designed" a few different courses to run and sometimes reverse them for a different view. Total mileage was around 5 miles (there are no real maps or mileage posted)
Tuesday I had an extra day off work so what better than to go for a run. It was forecast to be a sunny day with increasing temperature so I got to Springbrook forest preserve http://www.dupageforest.com/maps/springbrook.pdf around 11am. Was surprised to see a fair number of cars parked at the trail head. There are a basically two loops at SB, the big 5.5 main west loop and around 4 miles on the other side of Plainfield road. The 5.5 mile loop is limestone and totally exposed, barely a tree on the trail. I wore my Camelbak pack and headed out clockwise. It was a fun trail to be on with views across meadows galore, but of course box retailers were also visible at times. After I went through the tunnel under Plainfield Rd I turned right onto a dirt trail to explore at least part of the east side. A wrong turn at an intersection lead me to the end of a trail with another meadow view but this was surrounded by trees and no cars could be heard. Went back to the correct trail and continued for a mile or so before turning around to go back and finishing the big west loop. It wasn't long before I reached the car after around 8 miles with plenty of sun and heat. Couple things sort of surprised me: most runners were not carrying water despite none on the trail and it being sunny/hot and the number of bikers without helmets but also wearing iPods/MP3 players while cycling - neither are smart IMO.
Wednesday because I enjoyed my brief venture onto the dirt east trail at Springbrook I decided to go back and do the full 4 mile loop. Actually half the loop is limestone. Getting parked at the other SB trailhead was fun, I got there at 8am and every spot was taken. Luckily a runner had just finished her run so I patiently waited for her to finish stretching and then was able to park. The first part of the trial was on the west trail down a hill, through the tunnel and then onto the dirt trail. This time I didn't go left at the intersection but straight on the dirt and mowed grass trail. The dirt trail is around 2 miles and wide,. mostly flat but with a couple inclines that pass through meadows and wooded areas full of birds, dragonflies and even a deer. After 2 miles the dirt trail joins up with a near 2 mile limestone trail that heads back to the main west loop. This trail was much busier than the dirt trail where I saw maybe 4 people walking dogs one runner and no bikes (which are banned on that section although it is not posted as such). Back to the main loop and I venture off to another limestone loop that circles a model airplane field with a few planes buzzing around but includes a nice view of what would have been Dragon Lake if nature had not changed the FP's plans (see FP website). It was a good end to four days (over 5) of running and hiking totalling close to 25 miles. None of it was fast but I was happy with the mileage total and more importantly how I felt after great.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Running some hills
Time to post about last weekend's hill training.
Saturday I headed to the Palos Forest Preserve in Cook County to run and hike on the yellow trail at Palos Sag Valley http://www.fpdcc.com/downloads/sv_trailmap.pdf which is south of Rt 83 and locals know it for the "closed" toboggan hill with the big stair climb to the side. I've only been to this part of Palo FP once before generally opting for the north section by Bullfrog Lake. I love the north section; full of fine single track and wider trails created and maintained by www.cambr.org and home to the DeTonty 50k but Saturday was time to go back to Sag Valley. SV has plenty of single track but bikes are banned from riding them (wide trails are legal) and so the single track is not mapped. I stuck to the wide yellow trail which has plenty of hills. The trails I believe are supposed to be covered in limestone but due to lack of maintenance are more dirt and gravel now, perfect for me. Also last time here was after a big rain storm so the trials that time where a tad muddy with swollen stream crossings; this weekend they were dry and hot. Parking at the base of the toboggan hill I strapped on my Camelbak and set of eastward (clockwise) where I promptly got attacked by a swarm of cicadas when walking to the tail head by a big tree. Just has I got to the trail I see a runner heading away from me and a biker passes by; it's only 7am so I know it is going to be busier than most Palos trips. Without going into to much detail of the trail, mainly because I can never recall where all the hills, streams, ridges,flat bits come along the way by the time I am done (how do people write such detailed training and race reports!) the yellow trail has plenty of hills, some stretches of flat and many cicadas. Part I do remember is the first stream crossing that was a swollen river last time was basically bone dry and the park people are building a bridge over it (marked ford on some maps). Within a few miles of this section is also the biggest hill in the area known per Brenda Barrera's book as Big Bertha. This hill just goes up at a steep incline, or decline if you come from the other direction, oh and it is not the first hill you encounter after the current ford soon to be bridge crossing. It is near Palos Park Woods (south) on the map. As you go along the trail there are more hills and some of the trail reminds me of Kettle Moraine although not as hilly and they don't have cicadas. I made it back to the car in one piece, cicadas are really nice bugs and they only attacked me that one time. Saw one deer on the first part of the trial which crossed the trail in front of me then stopped and just starred at me. If I had my camera it would have been a great photo. I'd recommend this 8.1 mile loop for anyone wanting some serious Chicaogoland hills training (bring dry shoes/socks if wet).
Saturday afternoon I got in some time in the heat and sun when Laura and I went to Fullersberg Preserve, Oak Brook mall and La Grange (for Elephants on Parade - think Chicago Cows on Parade).
Sunday I slept in and then went to the nearby Blackwell FP to do hill repeats on My Hoy. This is a former rubbish dump now owned by Du Page FP and part of a good forest preserve that I like running in. According to gmap and Du Page website the hills is 105 feet in gain and a round trip from the road edge along the gravel service road to the 836 foot summit is 0.5 miles approximately. There is also a teepier but tad short grassy side that is used for tubing in the winter and both sides are very exposed to the sun. More great heat training for Badwater plus maybe the hill repeats would be good for climbing Mt Whitney (14497 feet) after the Badwater race!! Not sure how many repeats I completed but I did 30 minutes on the gravely road and then 30 minutes on the grassy slope. It was a great tough work out and I think more of the sme will be very beneficial not just for Badwater but my fittest level and towards my 2007 goal race, HOBO 25k. I did drink a lot of water at Mt Hoy, maybe more than I did the day before - might have been due to the sun, Palos is all shaded. From the summit of Mt Hoy there is a great view of Du Page, so many trees and water towers plus good view of Fermilab's office towers. A number of egrets and herons flew over plus I saw a deer running along the base of the hill past the archery range and into the wooded area. Guess the deer was speed training passed the archery range!
Got home in time to shower then watch Englishman Lewis Hamilton win the USA Formula One Grand Prix then Real Madrid clinch the Spanish league title
Saturday I headed to the Palos Forest Preserve in Cook County to run and hike on the yellow trail at Palos Sag Valley http://www.fpdcc.com/downloads/sv_trailmap.pdf which is south of Rt 83 and locals know it for the "closed" toboggan hill with the big stair climb to the side. I've only been to this part of Palo FP once before generally opting for the north section by Bullfrog Lake. I love the north section; full of fine single track and wider trails created and maintained by www.cambr.org and home to the DeTonty 50k but Saturday was time to go back to Sag Valley. SV has plenty of single track but bikes are banned from riding them (wide trails are legal) and so the single track is not mapped. I stuck to the wide yellow trail which has plenty of hills. The trails I believe are supposed to be covered in limestone but due to lack of maintenance are more dirt and gravel now, perfect for me. Also last time here was after a big rain storm so the trials that time where a tad muddy with swollen stream crossings; this weekend they were dry and hot. Parking at the base of the toboggan hill I strapped on my Camelbak and set of eastward (clockwise) where I promptly got attacked by a swarm of cicadas when walking to the tail head by a big tree. Just has I got to the trail I see a runner heading away from me and a biker passes by; it's only 7am so I know it is going to be busier than most Palos trips. Without going into to much detail of the trail, mainly because I can never recall where all the hills, streams, ridges,flat bits come along the way by the time I am done (how do people write such detailed training and race reports!) the yellow trail has plenty of hills, some stretches of flat and many cicadas. Part I do remember is the first stream crossing that was a swollen river last time was basically bone dry and the park people are building a bridge over it (marked ford on some maps). Within a few miles of this section is also the biggest hill in the area known per Brenda Barrera's book as Big Bertha. This hill just goes up at a steep incline, or decline if you come from the other direction, oh and it is not the first hill you encounter after the current ford soon to be bridge crossing. It is near Palos Park Woods (south) on the map. As you go along the trail there are more hills and some of the trail reminds me of Kettle Moraine although not as hilly and they don't have cicadas. I made it back to the car in one piece, cicadas are really nice bugs and they only attacked me that one time. Saw one deer on the first part of the trial which crossed the trail in front of me then stopped and just starred at me. If I had my camera it would have been a great photo. I'd recommend this 8.1 mile loop for anyone wanting some serious Chicaogoland hills training (bring dry shoes/socks if wet).
Saturday afternoon I got in some time in the heat and sun when Laura and I went to Fullersberg Preserve, Oak Brook mall and La Grange (for Elephants on Parade - think Chicago Cows on Parade).
Sunday I slept in and then went to the nearby Blackwell FP to do hill repeats on My Hoy. This is a former rubbish dump now owned by Du Page FP and part of a good forest preserve that I like running in. According to gmap and Du Page website the hills is 105 feet in gain and a round trip from the road edge along the gravel service road to the 836 foot summit is 0.5 miles approximately. There is also a teepier but tad short grassy side that is used for tubing in the winter and both sides are very exposed to the sun. More great heat training for Badwater plus maybe the hill repeats would be good for climbing Mt Whitney (14497 feet) after the Badwater race!! Not sure how many repeats I completed but I did 30 minutes on the gravely road and then 30 minutes on the grassy slope. It was a great tough work out and I think more of the sme will be very beneficial not just for Badwater but my fittest level and towards my 2007 goal race, HOBO 25k. I did drink a lot of water at Mt Hoy, maybe more than I did the day before - might have been due to the sun, Palos is all shaded. From the summit of Mt Hoy there is a great view of Du Page, so many trees and water towers plus good view of Fermilab's office towers. A number of egrets and herons flew over plus I saw a deer running along the base of the hill past the archery range and into the wooded area. Guess the deer was speed training passed the archery range!
Got home in time to shower then watch Englishman Lewis Hamilton win the USA Formula One Grand Prix then Real Madrid clinch the Spanish league title
Sunday, June 10, 2007
First posting
Well this is my first posting to my first blog, let's hope I get it right. Going to use it to record my running and hopefully one day the biking I do.
I ran a little in school back in England but mainly cross country and the once a year track and field event that everyone in school was supposed to partake in. When I went to college my accounting professor, George, ran the first London Marathon which I watched on the TV, BBC I think. I didn't see George on TV during the live broadcast but later that evening on the BBC news poor George got his 15 seconds on fame on The Mall, around 1 mile from the finish, as he collapsed in front of the camera. George wasn't at college for a few days but when he returned and told the class his story I was inspired.
In 1990 I moved to Chicago. Proud to say I am married to my lovely Laura who grew up in Chicago and just two weekends ago we celebrate 17 years of marriage. We lived for 12 years a few blocks from the Chicago lakefront which includes an 18 mile stretch of running and biking paths (paved or limestone). This was more inspiration for me and I sort of followed in George's footsteps and did my first marathon in 1993. I also took up biking with the hope of doing a triathlon one day but realized swimming is not for me. I've done one triathlon, a super sprint but the swim was a struggle. Think I was last out of the water in my wave of 50 but powered by most on the bike and run. Duathlons worked for me so I've done a few of those in the past.
Not sure when but I found a copy of Ultra Running magazine in a store and became hooked on ultra running, at least reading about them. Of course I started to meet Ultra Runners and after oh 5 marathons I was "talked" into the Danville Howl at the Moon 8 hour ultra by my friend Nikki Seger. I completed my first Ultra distance event there then a few months later ran a 50k race on the trail of northern Wisconsin Kettle Moraine. I was hooked on trail running although trails on the Chicago Lakefront are hard to find.
Well after 8 marathons and 4 50ks I took a break from running and even biking.
Laura and I moved west 5 years ago to Naperville and after a few false starts and a medical issues and injuries I finally got back into running. Most of my running is done in the Du Page Forest Preserves which has an amazing trail system in most of their preserves. My only issue is close to 100% is limestone but I have also discovered a few jewels of dirt multi and single track trails in other Preserves such as Naperville's Knoch Knolls and the brilliant trial system of Palos.
Within a drive from home I've also ran trails at Rock Cut, Clinton Lake and some Wisconsin state parks plus recently attended a race on the trails of a park in Portage IN (allegies stopped me racing but I'll return).
I've done probably 8 races since September 2006 when I signed up for my first race in over 6 years -all but one has been on the trails in distances from 5k to 25k. OK I have to admit I am slow, very slow and even have finished last place male in a few of these trail races but I am enjoying myself out there and for me that is what it is all about. BUT as I get back into running I hope to get quicker but still enjoy myself.
I also own a great Gary Fischer mountain bike which I have to admit I have yet to use since purchasing it. Got it pre-winter a few years ago then came down with my medical issues (nerve issue in both legs - now cured). Now I have no excuses and as I enjoyed biking previously all road and love trail running and hiking it is time to get the MTB out there and enjoy the dirt on wheels (but only when trails are not wet)
So that is my brief running and biking story; nothing out of this world but I enjoy it.
Thanks for reading and come back for hopefully more postings down the road, hmmmmm trails.
I ran a little in school back in England but mainly cross country and the once a year track and field event that everyone in school was supposed to partake in. When I went to college my accounting professor, George, ran the first London Marathon which I watched on the TV, BBC I think. I didn't see George on TV during the live broadcast but later that evening on the BBC news poor George got his 15 seconds on fame on The Mall, around 1 mile from the finish, as he collapsed in front of the camera. George wasn't at college for a few days but when he returned and told the class his story I was inspired.
In 1990 I moved to Chicago. Proud to say I am married to my lovely Laura who grew up in Chicago and just two weekends ago we celebrate 17 years of marriage. We lived for 12 years a few blocks from the Chicago lakefront which includes an 18 mile stretch of running and biking paths (paved or limestone). This was more inspiration for me and I sort of followed in George's footsteps and did my first marathon in 1993. I also took up biking with the hope of doing a triathlon one day but realized swimming is not for me. I've done one triathlon, a super sprint but the swim was a struggle. Think I was last out of the water in my wave of 50 but powered by most on the bike and run. Duathlons worked for me so I've done a few of those in the past.
Not sure when but I found a copy of Ultra Running magazine in a store and became hooked on ultra running, at least reading about them. Of course I started to meet Ultra Runners and after oh 5 marathons I was "talked" into the Danville Howl at the Moon 8 hour ultra by my friend Nikki Seger. I completed my first Ultra distance event there then a few months later ran a 50k race on the trail of northern Wisconsin Kettle Moraine. I was hooked on trail running although trails on the Chicago Lakefront are hard to find.
Well after 8 marathons and 4 50ks I took a break from running and even biking.
Laura and I moved west 5 years ago to Naperville and after a few false starts and a medical issues and injuries I finally got back into running. Most of my running is done in the Du Page Forest Preserves which has an amazing trail system in most of their preserves. My only issue is close to 100% is limestone but I have also discovered a few jewels of dirt multi and single track trails in other Preserves such as Naperville's Knoch Knolls and the brilliant trial system of Palos.
Within a drive from home I've also ran trails at Rock Cut, Clinton Lake and some Wisconsin state parks plus recently attended a race on the trails of a park in Portage IN (allegies stopped me racing but I'll return).
I've done probably 8 races since September 2006 when I signed up for my first race in over 6 years -all but one has been on the trails in distances from 5k to 25k. OK I have to admit I am slow, very slow and even have finished last place male in a few of these trail races but I am enjoying myself out there and for me that is what it is all about. BUT as I get back into running I hope to get quicker but still enjoy myself.
I also own a great Gary Fischer mountain bike which I have to admit I have yet to use since purchasing it. Got it pre-winter a few years ago then came down with my medical issues (nerve issue in both legs - now cured). Now I have no excuses and as I enjoyed biking previously all road and love trail running and hiking it is time to get the MTB out there and enjoy the dirt on wheels (but only when trails are not wet)
So that is my brief running and biking story; nothing out of this world but I enjoy it.
Thanks for reading and come back for hopefully more postings down the road, hmmmmm trails.
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