Thank God it's over!!

   I love Christmas as much as anyone, and I am so glad its over.  Now I can settle in for what this time of year is really all about.   COLLEGE FOOTBALL !!!  Also need to jump start my body from  its near hibernation.  I ran for an hour yesterday and it wasn't pretty, I'm glad I had three friends to push me,  actually I think we were all pushing each other a little.  Three months from yesterday I need to be ready to run the Clinton Lake 30 mile.  I'm ready for spring.

Winter sucks!!

     I really, really hate this weather.  The trails are rough, the roads are full of slush, it gets dark at 3 in the afternoon, and it take 15 minutes to get dressed to run.  How is a person supposed to train for an ultra in this crap!  Almost sound like a whiner don't I?  I'm kidding. I actually love this time of year.  Christmas, (yes I still call it Christmas),  New Years Day, The Rose Bowl, college football overload, and eating and drinking way too much.  But I also love this time of year because it gives a runner living in Central Illinois something to look forward to.  SPRING!!!!  I know it is still a few months away but it only takes a few mornings of single digit temps and you remember to appreciate a 90 degree, 90 percent humidity day running the roads between the corn fields in the middle of July.  I love this time of year, and I am so glad I have a great family and an ex wife/girlfriend that will put up with all my running crap. 

Muddy Good Fun! 7.5 Miles of Heaven

     Well Pere Marquette is in the books and it was one to remember.  I have never run a muddier course, probably the most fun I have ever had during a race.  40 degrees, raining, and windy!  What fun!  There were a lot of hardcore runners there, and the three of us were right in the middle of it.  No whimps no whiners is Team Godzilla's club motto, anybody that started that race would never be called a whimp, and all I heard was lots of  laughing and good natured ribbing.  Not a whiner to be found. Much fun was had by all.  

Oh yea, ran 5 miles this morning in the blizzard.

Pere Marquette

  Heading to Grafton, IL this Saturday with two great friends to run the Pere Marquette Endurance Trail Run.  Not exactly an ultra, barely 7 miles, but probably the most difficult trail run I have ever done,  it is still my all time favorite race.  Check out the elevation map. http://74.220.215.204/~teamgodz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=11  The trail is very rocky and rough,  it's been 18 years since I ran there.  I can't wait to see the reactions of  my friends  after they finish.

PS,  wimped out and ran on the treadmill today.

Not Alone

 This morning I read an article in the local paper about an ultra runner that dnfed the Ozark Trail 100 mile.  The Ozark Trail is one of the toughest trail ultras in the mid-west, maybe the country.  How difficult is it to train for a run like that?   I have completed two 30 mile trail runs but both times I was training for marathons so the jump from 26.2 to 32 and  33 miles was not much of a leap.  Lots to learn.

What the hell am I thinking?

   I've been running for nearly 25 years now.  I've run 12 marathons and just about every type and distance of race you can think of.  You would think that all of my competitive juices would be drained.  Then I discovered my love for running  trail ultras.  My first attempt at an ultra was short lived, 20 miles into a 30 miles run.  Done!  I had never ever dnfed a race before.  After that it was on.