Hell Hath No Hurry and other stuff report

     Ran a nice little event by the Pittsburgh Airport at Settler's Cabin Park called Hell Hath No Hurry this past weekend. Offered 12, 8 and 4 hour option with a 6 mile trail race thrown in. 6 mile loops on almost all single track trails with lots of hills similar to the monkey hills at Mill Creek. Sparse attendance but really a super event.
     No need for long drawn out race report. Pretty much ran 4-1/2 good loops followed by crappy, suffering until loop 7. Perked up with some company from a Pittsburgh college student originally from Spokane, Washington. Walked loop 8 and called it a day. Hot day!
      Plan was to try straight maltodextrin mixed with water as fuel on advice from some savvy trail masters. Car was after the aid station and through some poor planning never tried it. Hit aid station after loop 2 and there were doughnuts everywhere. It was glorious! Decision time. Malto or doughnuts. Savvy trail masters or Homer Simpson. Didn't Homer run a Nuclear power plant? Went with Homer and doughnuts. Stomach issues all day but probably more due to the heat than doughnuts.
     Interesting sidebar. On loop 2, as I passed through a picnic area, a big group was having self defense training. Come back through over an hour later and they are still going at it. Now though, they are hiding behind trees in this picnic area. One student is going through the gauntlet as banditos jump from behind the trees and fake attack. I must have watched for ten minutes. NEOTRAIL needs to offer this training! Many times I have run through the woods wondering if lurking behind the next tree is a masked ninja waiting to attack and steal my handheld. Awesome sight!
     Post race cookout and beer looked great but couldn't eat. Gary Sexton and Suzanne Weightman were there to chat with.
     Post-post race headed to IKEA to pick up a desk. I never realized Pittsburgh was such a culturally diverse city. There must be every nationality known to man in IKEA. There are Swedish people shopping in the Swedish furniture store in Pittsburgh. Ate Swedish meatball dinner, which was awesome.
      Post-post-post race, as in next day. Buddy has free tickets to Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson in fricking Pittsburgh. Back I go. Partied like a rock star. Manson was awesome, Alice was Alice. Pre and post concert party with Alice drummer and guitar player. What a night! Home at 2am Monday morning and up for work at 4:30am. If weekend fun is inversely proportional to how one feels Monday morning then I had an epic weekend.
       In summary, try out Hell Hath No Hurry next year. Cool little event on some trails you've probably never seen. Enjoy what Pittsburgh has to offer. Get home before 2am and don't drink too much if workday starts a couple hours later.

Ryan Roxie(Alice guitar player) and Coach pre-blotto

Weekend Race Results

A busy trail weekend.

Bighorn Mountain Bill Losey finished the tough 100 mile race in 33.18. This is held in Sheridan, Wyoming.

Highlands Sky

Congratulations to Nick Billock, for finishing the beautiful and tough Highlands Sky Race in West Virginia, finishing in 10.25



The Towpath Ten Ten

Matt Hanks finished first in his age group for the 10 mile race, running a 1.04.08



Mohican

Marathon:
 Cyrus and his bride of 25 years, Elizabeth, celebrated their 25 wedding anniversary by running the Mohican Marathon together, finishing in 113.42

From Cyrus: "Me (a few months ago): What would you like to do for our 25th anniversary? Elizabeth: "do a marathon together. A mile for each year with a pinch to grow on." A few hours ago, just after dark: Mohican marathon done! Elizabeth's first marathon. Her first trail race. Indeed her first race! And my garmin suggests it is her first ultramarathon (we went off course a bit at one point)"

 

Shannon Fisher finished in 5,47
Des Cowie finished the marathon in 6.18
Tim Simenc in 6.27

50 Mile

Tara Schwietzer finished the 50 mile race in 13.30


100 Mile

Paul Lefelhocz

Mark Anson

Mark gets points for wearing his YUTC shirt!!!

Old Man Heger finishing Mo # 113 or so

Dave Peterman was 10th overall, in 22.22
Paul Lefelhocz time was 28.12
Roy Heger completed Mo again in 28.46
Mark Anson finished his first Mohican 100 in 30.28

Cortland 10 Miler Entry Form

Race Results

There were a few NEO TC running races this past weekend.

Gary Sexton travelled south to Salt Fork State Park, where he ran a 6.10.30 at the Buckeye Buster, good enough for 3rd Masters.

Dave Peterman went north and ran a fast 21.36 at Kettle Moraine in Wisconsin.

Nice work.

Cortland 10 Miler on June 22nd

Saturday morning at the Lakeview High School in Cortland, Ohio.

Race starts at 9:00 AM.

Old School event, with a tour of Cortland and the surrounding country side.

If you need more details, ask.

Musick Sighting

Several NEO Trailers were volunteering at a water stop at the Mosquito Lake Chase.

Much to our surprise we saw a Musick Participating in the 5K.

Jeff Musick not only ran the 5K, he also won his age group.

Men 20 - 29

   20    1  Jeff Musick, 26, Akron, Ohio               20:33.6    6:38

Congrats on a job well done.

Complete results here.

MMT

Rocks. There were rocks. Lots of them. Many of us were kicking them around for the nth time, and some were kicking them around for the first time.

First time MMT Finisher Desiree Cowie, finishing in 33.46:

Slim finished in 27.26

Climb out of Veach Gap, photo by Aaron Schwartbard

 Kimba PR'd her run in 30.37

Bob Combs finished MMT # 11 in 34.25 

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Old Man Roy Heger came in  32.47

Paul Lefelhocz finished in 31.27

Billy quit but this sure was a cute photo:

Wild Bill, Glen Cowie, Moose, and Allison Holko of NEO TC were also out supporting the runners to get them to the finish line:

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Massanutten

It is the usual suspects for the 2013 Massanutten Run.

Bib Numbers:

#43 Bob Combs
#88 Jim Harris
#92 Roy Heger
#120 Paul Lefelhocz
#127 Bill Losey
#128 Kimba Love*Ottobre

In addition, there are more NEO TC members coming down to crew and volunteer: Wild Bill Wagner, Allison Holko, Moose.

There could be live updates during the run. Click here for that access.

Whatever occurs, it is sure that Massanutten Rocks!!!

5/3/2013 - Friday Night In China

Tonight was day 18 in a row.  5.1 miles was nothing miraculous, but I felt like a runner again.  Here is why.  I got to the front door of the building and it was raining a steady medium rain.  That didn't phase me a bit.  In fact, I thought it might make my run easier and just keep me cooled off, and rinse of the sweat.

Niiiiice mental state Keller.  

I was very quickly reminded again of how I cherish the Chinese people (Zhongguoren.)  My friend Zhengyan, the gate guard, who always opens the gate for me as I approach leaving and returning so I can keep right on running, sees me and waves me into the guard shack.  Cool, I haven't talked to him for awhile, and my Chinese is improving...AND, I am not shooting for any pace or time tonight, so a tiny break at the very start hurts nothing.  Well, yes he wanted to say "Hi," but he also wanted to loan me his rain coat.  I thought it would never fit, and even protested saying "Tai xiao le!" (too small) but he insisted I try it on, and wouldn't you know, he has a much larger coat than he needs, I guess to fit over uniforms, or whatever.  I have worn much LESS comfortable coats to run in (the Dirty Dog 10K Trail race way below zero C comes to mind)  So the gesture was touching and I would guess I floated through the first mile or two just on good will alone.

The thing is, I have a term I use for these random acts of kindness I witness (and try to emulate) here in China, and I call it Zhongguo Xin, or China heart.  People really care for one another over here in a genuine way.  It's refreshing.

Oh, the run?  It was cool.  It rained every step of the way, and my mind slipped a little back into ultra runner mentality as I reveled in the fact that all the normal people I see out almost every night running at the same hour, were nowhere to be found.  I was the only one looney (sane?) enough to go out into the rain and enjoy the conditions.  When you give up detouring around the puddles, because your feet are going to get any wetter...and you just groove through the weather like it couldn't touch you.

I felt GOOD.

Coach Hanks 024 Race Report

His words:

   Cruised through marathon distance in 4:12 and 50k in just over 5. Felt pretty rough at that point and walked a couple laps while drinking mixture of water and Nuun and pounding salt pills. Came out of it.

 

   Pounded laps from there until just before 50 when brother showed up and ran a few. He thought I was nuts running that fast but easy course and I like to run. Finished 50 in 8:48 and 1 lap behind leader in second place.

 

  Wheels came off and walked next 5 laps trying to perk back up. Got worse and worse. Gary Sexton had suggested nap so I went for it. Napped in car for 45 minutes and got back to running laps. Ran to mile 64 and friend showed up. Walked a lap with her. She went to get ice cream while I walked another. Ate as much ice cream as could, took 800mg ibuprofen, and walked another. Ready to puke and wobbling by end of lap. Back to the car to nap at 67.

 

  Woke up to Jim and Heath’s texts. Got out of car and crushed laps until 85 telling myself to not be a pussy the whole way. By 85 the burst was gone. 86 was another wobbling walk. Decision time. Nap worked twice but only 14 to go and 5 hours left. Went for the nap.

 

   Alarm didn’t go off and ended up in car until just after 4. Super stiff. Need to run. Worked out stiffness during 87 and then ran from there until 99. Walked 100 and called it a day. Brother with me for last 4.

 

  Here’s what I ate:

 

Pre-race- bowl of cereal and 2 sausage biscuits

 

Race- 1 cookie, ¼ PB&J sandwich, 2 Gus, 2 handfuls of nuts/trail mix, 2 orange slices, 2 cantaloupe slices, 4-5 slices watermelon, ½ grilled cheese sandwich, 4-5 styrofoam cups of ramen heavy on juice, some ice cream(say McDs kiddie cone size)

 

From the time I ate ice cream around mile 67 until end of race I might have had one cup of ramen. Drank mixture of Nuun and water until could only take water. Hydration wise did OK. Stomach upset and hard to eat for most of race. Tried some upset stomach pills but didn’t help. Be nice to find something that works. Dumb that haven’t tried yet but need to do something long and go with straight liquid fuel.

 

Think I win this race if I knew how to fuel myself. That’s part of the deal. Everybody going through similar thing.

 

Overall had a great time. 50 mile PR by over an hour. Met Tom Jennings and had good time with him. Got to talk to the “King” and get the Vol state scoop. Got to run with Gary S and Suzanne W quite a bit and really enjoyed their company. Wish I could just drop this in the bucket and move to shorter distances, but guess I’m hooked. Time for some stupid solo stuff.

 

Double Laurel Highlands Run Report

 Cam Baker's Run Report of his Double Laurel Highlands Trail can be found here:  http://talesofthetrailturkey.blogspot.com/

These pics, and more, are also linked onto his race report.

Great job, Cam!!!

Double Laurel

Cam Baker completes a Double Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail in 50:21.

Not much to say to that effort.

Forget the PR 25K and 50K

The Admiral - 6:03:37

Rich Vrboncic - 6:38:27

Tim Simenec - 7:35:32

Tara Schweitzer - 8:12:29

Kelli Rushton - 8:53:35

Wild Bill Wagner - 9:26:24

Bradford Williams - 9:32:16

Results here.



 25K Results

Lloyd Thomas (8th) 2.48.35
Teresa McCombs 4.25.42
Gale Connor 7.04.21

Weekend FIRSTS!!

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Congratulations to some firsts this racing weekend. Coach Todd Hanks earned his first 100 buckle, completing the O24 race in 23 hours and change, running 100 miles in less than 24 hours!

 

Kelli and her husband John

Farther south in Ohio, Kelli Rushton ran her first 50K at "Forget the PR" 50K Race, in Loudonville Ohio, finishing in 8.53.35.

AWESOME achievements!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

O24

Roy Heger - 104 laps

Todd Hanks - 100 laps

Gary Sexton - 81 laps

Paul Lefelhocz - 70 laps

Elizabeth Sosan - 67 laps

Cyrus Taylor - 57 laps

Complete Results here.

Coach Hanks running too fast

Cyrus Taylor running just right

Elizabeth Sosan

Gary Sexton

Old Man Roy Heger

The King Paul Lefelhocz

Pyma-Laker Dan Dunlap Memorial 5K July 13th 2013

The Harris Family has this on the calendar.

More details will be up soon.

Or ask for more info.

runharrisrun AT gmail DOT com

On My Own Two Feet Marathon and Half-Marathon

Saturday was the 2nd annual "On My Own Two Feet"  Marathon and Half-Marathon, held in Kent, Ohio.

Congratulations to Nick Billock, who finished 6th overall, in a time of 3.41.11!!

Teresa McCombs and Marjie Billock ran the half-marathon, finishing in 2.32.34 and 2.38.33 respectively.

Racing Results

Glacier Ridge Trail Ultras

50 Mile:
Coach Hanks 9:54:14
Rich Vriboncic 11:09:06
Doc Winkle 13:43:10

50K

Kimba Love*Ottobre 7:20  Her race report is here


Spring Classic 5K & 10 Mile

5K:
Julie Curtis 38:18  Julie's race report is here

10 Mile:

Heidi Finiff 1:15:46
Gale Connor 1:54:39


Black Squirrel 5K

Mrs Admiral 33:43

Boston Marathon Finisher

Congratulation to Kellie Maheu on many levels...Kellie finished her first Boston Marathon in 3 hours 46 minutes, which is a PR for her, AND met her BQ time again.

Kellie's time was also fast enough to be away from the finish line when the explosions occurred.  She was able to find Lenny and get the word out that they were okay.

Although many of us like to run on dirt rather than roads, we're all still runners.  Prayers and thoughts out to all the people affected by this calculated act of violence.

Many articles and posts are out today about all the kind acts that were occurring on Monday afternoon. Alot of helping was occurring.