50 Registered

I just received the 50th entry for the race. That puts the registration pace slightly ahead of last year. We now have 9 states represented (still no Wisconsin): IL, IN, IA, MI, WY, GA, MO, CO, NE.

Unintended PR

We had a great group run at Clinton Lake trail this morning. A bunch of ChiADeads came down and were joined by a bunch of buffalo. And the combined "dead buffalo" herd ran well...even in the cold and rainy conditions. We started in overcast and cool weather, but as the run went on it got cooler and started to sleet. Maybe it was hail. All I know is it was wet and cold! I started to pick up the pace around half-way so I would stay warm and relatively dry. Finished in 1:23:13--an unexpected and unintended PR by about 30 seconds. I escaped the worst of the rain and wet leaves--see my fine Teva X-1 shoes above--they aren't that bad. After a crazy week of running (5 tough trail runs in 4 days), and eating more than I should, I still felt great on the trail today. I hope all the newbies had a good time. Everyone finished and seemed to be smiling at the end. Hmmm...maybe it was "the end" that made them smile? Anyway, then it was off to breakfast at the Farmer City Cafe. We drank lots of coffee, shared a few running stories, planned out some future races, and then headed on our respective paths home. The Irish-Australian-English guy (Ian) didn't even embarrass us too much--although tickling the waitress at the end was close! It'll be nice when the ChiADeads come back for some more Clinton Lake training. We'll post an official training run schedule on the Second Wind web site in late December or January--runs will likely start in mid-January. Those registered for the most awesome race in the universe (that's the Clinton Lake 30-Mile Trail Run) will receive a note from the almost equally awesome race director (that would be me) about training run opportunities. If anyone can't make those runs, feel free to contact me and I'll give you a personal tour of the course.

After this week's runs, I'm finally feeling like a real trail runner...and I think I'll run well at Da Deer Run 8K in 2 weeks. Hurdles or not, that cross country race won't get the better of me. Can "Injury Prone" Pat say the same?

Double Helping of Trail Running

Instead of extra Tofurky today, I had extra trail. In the morning I ran with Kennekuk Road Runners (they are actually mostly trail runners) at their members-only "meet the backpack trail" run on the 11-mile Forest Glen loop. Pat and Kevin pushed me hard and we finished in under 1:45. After some socializing at the barn, I drive home, eat, shower, and watch Tennessee take out Kentucky in the 4th OT. Check the watch...it's time for full moon run #93 at Mahomet trails! Get there just before 6pm and I'm the only one there. Thoughts of going home to a warm bed enter my mind...then Ken shows up with Cayenne. We run 5 easy miles under one of the brightest full moons ever and return to the parking lot to find another car and two runners hanging out. Jack and Shanin (new runners to our area) had just finished about 4 miles. We chat until we're all too cold from just standing around. Back home, shower, eat, (blog), into bed, and off to Clinton Lake trail Sunday morning. It's been a great Thanksgiving.

Post Thanksgiving at Clinton

What better way to work off some post Thanksgiving calories than running the 10 mile Clinton Lake trail? Only the "Mahomet boys" made it to the trail at 8am (Jeff, Gregg, and me). The other buffalo must have been sleeping, eating, or shopping. Perfect weather and great trail conditions made it a fantastic run. Gregg and I took it easy and finished in just under 1:45. Jeff walked with his hiking sticks and did a shorter out & back. Even a slow pace gives you a good hilly workout--Clinton trail has a lot of small hills! (The elevation profile is a bit deceiving. There are a ton of hills, but they are almost all very short and not too steep.) We will be back on Sunday morning at 10am to run with the Chicago Area Dead Runners...and hopefully a bunch of buffalo. Start and end at the official race start (boat access area--see the photo above). Directions available on the race web site.

I guess with all this running I can have some extra left over Tofurky...and apple pie, and mashed potatoes, and stuffing, and...I better keep running.

Thanksgiving on Clinton trail

Jeff and I just got back from running (well, run/walking) the Clinton Lake trail. It was cold and windy, but still very nice to be out on the trails for Thanksgiving. The recent rains made the course soft, but not muddy. Almost all the leaves have fallen and they cover most of the trail. You can't see the actual dirt path, but with all the white markings on the trees, it's still easy to follow the trail. A group of buffalo will be out there tomorrow (8am) and Sunday it will be buffalo and Chicago Area Dead Runners (10am).

Give thanks that you can run, walk, and hike.

NCAA XC Championships

Pat, Jeff, and I drove over to Terre Haute, IN for the NCAA Cross Country Championships today. What an event! On the men's side, Oregon won the team title. Individually, it was a battle from start to end with Josh McDougal (from Liberty University) edging out Galen Rupp (Oregon) at the finish. It was awesome watching them on several spots on the course. Fans are allowed to run across the race course and watch the runners wherever they want. I caught the men in 6-7 spots including the straightaway to the finish line. The Illinois men only had one qualifier (Trent Hoerr). He ended up 16th overall and made All American!

On the womens' side, Stanford took the team title and Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech) easily beat out everyone to take the individual crown. She was more than 15 seconds ahead of the pack. The Illinois women were ranked 10th in the nation coming into the championships. They ran well, taking 6th overall as a team! Angela Bizzarri led the Illini and finished 14th overall. Another All American for the Illini.

I hope Indiana State hosts the championships again next year. I've enjoyed going over there the last few years. The race course is one of the few dedicated to only cross country races. Very spectator friendly and an easy drive from Champaign, IL.

Mahomet "Run for the Library" 5K

This morning I ran my first 5K in about 3 years. Finished in 19:20 (6:13 pace)--good enough for 14th place overall and 3rd in age group (40-49). I tried to keep in contact with fellow buffalo Ken, but he kept 10-20 seconds ahead of me for the whole race. Ken finished in 19:01. I'm sure he'll break 19 at Jingle Bell 5K next month. I was very happy with breaking 20:00. I guess treadmills are OK--maybe even good--for short fast speed work. Now I have the Deer Run 8K trail run on December 8. I hope to break 35:00. Maybe I can do 34:00? No matter. That'll be my last race of the year. Short, long, road, trail...I'm ready for some good old fashioned trail running for the rest of the year...not racing. Thanksgiving break should see me back at Clinton Lake trail 2-3 times in a week. Some ChiADeads are coming down on Sunday, Nov 25 to run the trail. Should be fun!

Registered Runners

We have 45 currently registered for the Clinton Lake ultra. I keep getting questions from my friends about who registered..."How many are back from last year?"..."Any famous people?"..."How many women?"..."Lots from out of state?"

Well, here are some answers. See the basic name, city, state, age, gender info on our race page.

• Female: 15, Male: 30
• Inside IL: 29, Outside IL: 16 (IN, MO, IA, CO, MI, GA, WY)
• Clinton Veteran: 19, Newbie: 26
• Open (under 40): 18, Master (40-49): 20, Grand Master (50+): 7
• Online: 32, Mail-In: 13

Famous people? I don't know. Does Cuz Don Frichtl count? Our champions from last year haven't signed up...yet. Both have tentatively agreed to come back. Come on Joel and Christine!

Race entries at 33% full

We now have 41 registered for the Clinton Lake ultra. That's 33% full. I expect we'll reach 50% by the end of this month. The first listing in UltraRunning magazine will occur in the November issue (should be out any time). We had a nice ad in Marathon & Beyond for the Nov-Dec issue (see page 170!). My goal is to be full by January 1, 2008--that's only a week later than we filled up last year. The registration deadline is March 1 so I may be too optimistic. Since we have added 50 more race spots compared to last year, we may not reach capacity until late February. I'm starting to think we should have capped the race at 100 instead of 125. It's really comforting knowing the race is full and you can start buying all the goodies well in advance of race day.

States represented so far: IL, IN, MI, MO, GA, CO, WY.
Where is Wisconsin?

Treadmills are OK

So a week ago I post that "treadmills suck." Well, it's been a week on the road in Baltimore and the hotel treadmill...and I think they are OK. The streets of my hometown (maybe not hometown, but I was born there) are not conducive to running. It's a gritty city. Cold, windy, misty and full of street construction and homeless. Sirens screaming around every corner. Ambulance. Fire truck. Police car. So I stuck to the treadmill and did short speed workouts almost every morning. Nice and peaceful at the hotel gym around 5:30am. I may be an ultra runner, but I'm starting to enjoy these fast paced (and short) running sessions. I think I'm getting faster too. First test is the upcoming road 5K in Mahomet on November 17. It's good to be back in Illinois and my local trails. If I had a chance to really investigate Baltimore, maybe attend a Ravens game, I would have enjoyed my stay more. The inner harbor is nice. Trails abound on the outskirts of town. Next time I'll rent a car and hit some trails. And maybe catch an Orioles game...or Ravens. Two of the best teams around. Hey, you gotta root for your home teams!

Forest Glen

Ran my second favorite trail in the area--the primitive backpack trail at Forest Glen Nature Preserve. It was a brisk and windy day, but dry, and full of colorful leaves. Ran with 9 fellow buffalo. Ended up with a bloody knee and salt crystals on my face--that's good trail running! Afterwards it was off to Two Brothers Restaurant for the traditional post run breakfast. All ten buffs squeezed around one big table...and we tried to entice Marla to chug the 3/4 full syrup tin--apparently her dignity is worth more than $5. I took about 75 pictures of the 11 mile Forest Glen trail. My bloody knee and the other photos are on my Picasa photo site. Pictures from my run at Clinton Lake last week are also there. The two trails look awfully similar. Since Clinton Lake already has an ultra, I think the folks at KRR should start one at Forest Glen. Maybe a 9 loop race (99 miles)? It would be the only 99 mile trail race in Illinois...or the US!

Clinton Trail PR!

Just got back from running the Clinton Lake trail with Jeff & Gregg. I ran a 1:23:50--new PR for me! Jeff & Gregg were a little slower, but still had good runs. Perfect weather and the trail was in great shape. No rain over the last week so there were no slippery spots, no mud, just leaves on the dry trail. The best part about the run is that I'd call it "medium-hard." I'm going to break 1:20 before the end of the year. My new training program is going well. I was also pumped after watching the Olympic marathon trials this morning. Good training combined with some excellent motivation via the live trials coverage makes for a fantastic run.

My predictions didn't turn out too well. Of my top three predictions, only one qualified (Ryan Hall). But I did pick two of the top four. Not terrible. Here are the top four finishers (top three qualify for Olympics, but that fourth could go if one of the others doesn't run):

1. Ryan Hall (2:09:02)
2. Dathan Ritzenhein (2:11:07)
3. Brian Sell (2:11:40)
4. Khalid Khannouchi (2:12:34)

Khalid made me proud--he ran a tough race and may still have a shot at Beijing. Hall, Ritz, and Sell ran great races and all deserve to represent the US. Three guys from three different training camps. America marathoning is back on track! My biggest surprise was Abdi Abdirahman's poor race (DNF). He apparently had a bad hip. Full men's marathon trials results on the USAT&F site.

One very sad note: Ryan Shay collapsed around mile 5 and died. He was 28 years old. My thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was a great distance runner.

Olympic Marathon Trials

The Olympic marathon trials are tomorrow morning in NYC at 6:30am (central time). NBC will cover some on TV, the rest on the web. A lot of people think this year is finally a return to greatness for American marathoners. The qualifying field is pretty darn strong. LetsRun (the best single source for running news on the web) has a contest to pick the top 10 finishers. Grand prize is $100,000 if you alone pick the top 10 in the correct order! If I win, I'll donate a bunch to the Clinton Lake ultra. My top three are:

1. Abdi Abdirahman
2. Khalid Khannouchi
3. Ryan Hall

I have Meb Keflezighi as my 4th--if one of the above drops, he'll swoop in for a top 3 finish. I'll report back tomorrow after the trials. If nothing else, we should get three top notch finishers that can compete in Beijing next year.

Treadmills suck

I've decided that treadmills suck. I signed up for two short races (Run for the Library 5K & Da Deer Run Run 8K) and figured I should do some speedwork. Off to the gym and treadmill. I ran 3 miles at 6:58 pace and it hurt. I suppose that's the idea. Maybe it'll be easier next time. Unfortunately, the 5K is on November 17 and the 8K is on December 8. Not much time to develop that speed! I have reachable goals for both races--break 20:00 for the road 5K (my "coach" Jeff gave me that goal) and break 35:00 for the 8K trail run (I gave myself that goal).

I'm a distance trail runner. Running inside on a treadmill for short distances doesn't seem right. We'll see if it pays off after these two races. Then back to trail ultramarathons. Unless I do really well...