Monday, February 22, 2010

Two Wheeled Wonders

It has been pretty quiet since Rocky. I have been traveling and the weather hasn't allowed many outdoor activities. Earlier in the month was Sam's birthday. I got her a cake from the local bakery and we had an interesting night out listening to Al at the cigar box.
I finally broke down and bought a new bike to replace my 15 year old mountain bike. With how much snow we have this year it might be may before I get it outside.
The CT 70 motor blew up the day I left Ames a couple years ago. I am getting around to replacing it. I picked up a brand new Honda motor for it, should run like a top.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

2010 Rocky Raccoon 50 Miler

Last weekend Sam and I traveled to Huntsville, TX so I could run the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile trail race. There were 5 or so Trail Nerds running the 100 mile race and a couple of us on the short course. Sam was planning on pacing a friend from 60-80 in the 100 miler. Due to some unfortunate circumstances only a couple of our runners finished the 100 mile race. Bad Ben had several shelters reserved and made home base for everyone.
The 50 mile race was three 16.67 mile loops. The sun was out and the 58 degree weather was a welcome change of pace. My original goal was to set the 28 yr old age group record at 8:32 (that's 8 hours). I went out really fast and ended up doing the first lap at sub 9:00 miles and 10 minutes faster than I hoped. I was on pace during my second lap until I got a bottle full of banana flavored HEED, which is really sweet. That pretty much shut my system down. I had trouble eating or drinking for about 30 miles and my pace really fell off the last 20 miles or so.
Huntsville State Park is sandy soil and lots of pine trees. With pine trees come roots and since I don't pick up my feet, I ended up eating some dirt on the last lap. My toes all had bruises on the top from stubbing them. My knees were pretty banged up too.
Pulling into the finish. I ended up finishing in 8:45, not too far from my goal for a 27 minute PR.
I am a salty sweater and with the stomach problems ended up eating salt caps like they were candy. It took me a day or so before I got rehydrated. Sam had run and picked up a mushroom and swiss roast beef sandwich for after the race. It is probably in my top 3 best foods ever, I was so hungry.
What's the difference between a smoking room and a non-smoking room?
Smoking
Oh, non-smoking.
Overall it was a successful outing. This weekend the Trail Nerds have our 50k Psycho Wyco Run Toto Run so stop out if you want to see how all the Rocky people are doing.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

More Organization

In an attempt to make the garage more sane, the organizing process continues. Last weekend I used the rubbermaid fasttrack to hang the bikes. This is the same system I used to organize the garden tools. Bikes take up lots of floor space so it is good to get those up.