We headed out on Friday for a short trip to Grand Rivers, KY for the Land Between the Lakes Trail Runs.  I opted for the marathon, even tho the 50M, and 60K were quite tempting.  They also offer a 23K.

Local ultra running legend, Christine Crawford holds the course record for women for the 60K.  They pay $200 per year for setting a new course record.  Each year that a new record is not set, they carry over the $200.

 

This year, they began also awarding $200 for new course records in all 4 events.  (They used to only do it for the 60K.)

 

I thoroughly enjoyed telling people that I know the woman who holds the course record in the 60K.  And Christine, BTW, you still hold the course record.

 

Grand Rivers is a charming recreation/resort area.  Local shops and restaurants greet travelers in a land where people talk with lots of extra syllables.

 

Packet pickup was at the Grand Rivers Tourist Information Center.  This was a room large enough to comfortably hold 5 people.  We picked up my packet of cool swag (t-shirt, hat, draw string bag, HEED sample), and headed to Mr BBQ for a spaghetti dinner.

 

Mr BBQ offered a special $5.25 for spaghetti, bread and a salad.  We opted for that, and sat at one of about 10 tables in the quaint hang-out.  You could definitely tell the locals from those that traveled for the event.

 

All events started at the Lighthouse Landing Marina and Resort at 6am.  We start with a 1.7 mile run down Highway 453 to the Canal Loop Trail which is in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation area.  The loop is 11.3 miles.  The 23K does one loop, marathoners do 2, 60K gets 3 times around, and the 50 milers get 4. After your loops, head back to downtown Grand Rivers, and finish in front of the Tourism Center.  At any point, you can drop down to a lower event.

 

There are 4 aid stations on the loop, which translates to about every 3 to 4 miles.  The course is a single track, with a few hills in the second half of the loop.  Footing was great, some roots, not rocky, a few creek jumps, a few muddy areas.  Conditions were ideal - 40s, low wind, overcast.  (In case you are wondering why overcast is ideal - with no shadows, overcast gives the best visibility of your footing.)

 

The first loop I was often near other runners, but not close enough proximity for chatting.  On my second loop, I rarely saw other runners.  So, it was me and my iPod and my thoughts.  It was a pleasant trail run, but nothing particularly amusing to report.  Saw a guy barf while on my first loop, but that's about it.

 

New course records were set for both the men and women in the marathon.  John Nay of Columbus, IN ran a 2:56, and Amanda Stickel of Stoutsville, OH ran 3:31.

 

A new course record was set in the 60K for the men.  Steve Vesbach of Muncie, IN gets to take home $1000, with a 4:26, breaking the previous course record of 4:46 set in 2004.

 

Christine Crawford's 5:07 in the 60K, from 2007 still stands.

 

New course records were also set for the men, in both the 50M and 23K.

 

After I finished, we had a quick snack at the community center, then back to the hotel to clean up, then we headed back to Wisconsin.  We stopped at a TGI Fridays for a Jack Daniels burger.  I swear, that was the yummiest burger I have had in my life.  Had to make humming noises while enjoying it.  Very happy tummy.  Topped that off with a stop at a quick mart for candy circus peanuts.  Downed those, and took a nap in the car.  Good thing Bill was driving.

 

I would definitely recommend this event.  This would be a perfect race for trail newbies.  The gentle course, plenty of aid, and the option to drop down to a shorter event after any loop makes it a great introduction to trail running.

Several of my Armelian friends traveled from Wisconsin to South Carolina for the Myrtle Beach Marathon, which was canceled just hours before the start.

 

Here is the recap, written by Don Scott:

 

The South really blows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we arrived at the expo Friday afternoon we were told that as the result of us being on the verge of THE STORM OF THE CENTURY (2-3 inches), the start time would be 7am instead of 6:30.  No big deal since it was going to be windy and 32 deg.  Well, we went to the pasta fest (not too bad), watched the Olympics until 9:30 and turned out the lights to dream of marathon success.  Boota and Chuck both woke up at midnight and noticed the snow had stopped (it had started about 6:30).  We woke up at 5am, opened the drapes and looked outside.  Yeah!!!  There was an inch or two of snow on the grass and trees but the streets were just wet (a little slush on the sidewalks.  We starting wolfing down our bananas, bagels and coffee as we got ready to run.  I turned on the news and noticed in disbelief that the news people were talking about the marathon having been canceled at 11:30pm!!   We couldn't believe it.  We had never heard of a marathon being canceled 8 hours before it was to start.  Not even Kevin has that kind of luck . . . .  We were really devastated.  We were in denial. What to do?  We noticed a lot of guys outside running anyways.  Actually, the news reporter was talking to several people who had come to the start not knowing the race was canceled.   Obviously, they were very pissed.  To those of you who think we went outside and ran the marathon anyways, hold that thought.  It is a great story.  Keep believing it.  Everyone else, please read on.

 

We took showers. got dressed and went to the all you can breakfast pig out where we met many other disgruntled marathoners from around the country.  No one could believe this crap.  We thought of going downtown to smash windows, set fires and turn over police cars. We all thought we'd skip the turning over cars bit as marathoners have the upper body strength of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Afterward we walked up to the starting line in a tourist trap area called Broadway at the Beach.  It was about a half mile from our hotel.  As we walked we just got more pissed as the running conditions were fine, the snow melting and the sun peaking out.  Several groups of people passed us as we walked.  We cheered them on, clapping and yelling "looking good" or "you can do it"  We could have used Karen's cow bells.   They all waved back and smiled.

 

At Broadway at the Beach we stopped and watched the workers clearing snow with coal shovels and pressure washers.  How sad!  We also got yelled at for walking in the dangerous slush.  We could fall and get injured!  As it was only about 10:30 at this point, and the bars didn't open until 11, we decided to visit the cigar store.  The clerk told us the mayor was an idiot and the citizens were trying to recall him.  I guess canceling the marathon wasn't his only bonehead idea. 

 

At 11am sharp we ran over to the Liberty Bar.  They had ten different micro brews.  We decided to go through the list twice and throw in a few bloody Marys, too.  We met a lot of interesting people including a nice late 30's couple (Chuck and Karen) from Georgia and two brothers that were rabid Yankee fans, and our wonderful barmaid, Nicole.  Around 4 we went to Victoria's Secret to do some serious shopping.  It's all kind of a fog but I don't think we embarrassed ourselves too much.  We got back to the hotel around 5 and decided to go to the post marathon party at the House of Blues.  Free food, music and beer. What more could you want?  Oh, forgot to tell you . . .  . the taxi ride was $35 each way.  I guess it REALLY wasn't free.  Plus a guy next to us decided to jet puke all over the floor, hitting two people in their backs.  Boota helped him to the mens room (he can tell that story).  We got back to the room around 9 and some of us drank more beer and consumed mass quantities of cashews.  We watched the Olympics and at some point passed out . . . .

I opted to run the John Dick as a training run, just to get in the miles, and to spend time with friends.

 

Temps were good - 20s.  Wind was present but we were mostly sheltered from it.  Trail conditions were tough.  Though it wasn't the hidden ice we had last week, we had grainy loose snow, it was like running on the beach.

 

The John Dick is a 10K loop course.  Feel free to do as many loops as you want.  Very low key, relaxed event.  This year, like the last 2 years, was run on the Moraine Ridge horse/snowmobile trail.  Start and finish at the John Mackay picnic area.  Run down to the trail.  And out and back to the west/northwest, and a shorter out-and-back with a loop to the east.  Manned aid station at the east end, unmanned aid station at the northwest end.

 

By loop 2, I was ready to be done, and didn't know if I could finish.  Just plain tired.  My running friend Dennis really wanted to do the whole thing.  If he weren't there, I am sure I would have bailed.  But when the 2 of us run together, often we are like a couple of silly giggling schoolgirl BFFs, and this was definitely one of those days.  So, I opted to keep going.

 

We ran a bit with fellow Armelian, Neighbor Jim, but couldn't keep up with him.  He did great.  His first ultra and he looked strong the whole time!

 

We saw lots of familiar faces many times, which is also lots of fun, including local ultra legends: Mary Gorski, Tom Bunk, Robert Wehner, Paul Gionfriddo, Christine Crawford and Kathy Rytman.

 

Loop 3 was definitely the biggest stuggle for me.  Once you get that one down, mentally, it gets a little easier, and I started to feel a little better. 

 

As we finished loop 4, I could have definitely called it a day.  But Dennis was determined to do all 5.  He iterated "I am pretty sure I could find my way by myself."  Uh, yeah.  After doing this loop 4 times, and seeing all the footprints that the course has gathered over the last few hours, most folks would be able to do this.  But Dennis' ability to navigate a trail is just about as good as my ability to talk about football.  Prbably even worse, God bless him.  Last year, we did the Scuppernong green loop about 100 times, and he still didn't know which way to go at the Ice Age crossing.  So, figuring that runnning the last loop with him would be much easier than leading a search party for him, I opted for that last loop.

 

I only looked down at my watch occassionally, and did make note of the fact that we were nearly last.  At our last trip to the manned aid stations, there were only 2 lonely bags left at the bag drop.  The volunteers seemed in good spirits, which seemed to be directly related to the beers in hand.

 

We got done in just over 7 hours.  When we arrived at the hut, we received a very warm welcome as the whole place cheered.  Think they were drinkin too.  Keep in mind, the finish line is the doorway.  You open the door, and every one cheers like you are walking into a surprise party.

 

Shortly after we arrived, 2 more folks finished, and we were able to do the cheering.  And those were the only 2 after us.

 

We enjoyed some food and beverages and chatted with Jim.  Ashley Kumlien, the young woman who will be running across America starting next month, joined us also.

 

As fatigued as I felt, this is going into the books as one of my favorite runs.  Seven hours of running with Dennis included many silly conversations.  Several times laughing so hard I had to break stride.  As we neared the end, lots of high school humor at how slow we were running, and speculating at what the headlines could be for the recap.  I will let you figure them out.