Nothing left but to R-U-N!

There's nothing left to do to get ready for Pinhoti except to run the darn race.

I finished spelling PINHOTI TRAIL.
I lost some weight.
I Did a few night runs.
I hung with A2 as he nearly won Arkansas.
I put up with Dean's "Wisdom."
I purchased flashlights
I purchased back up flashlights
I purchased batteries
I purchased back up batteries
I purchased a new MP3 player
I purchased a back up MP3 Player
(darn but these 100 milers stimulate the economy!)
I made by Pinhoti playlist
I made a Pinhoti playlist for my guys.

Well, now I'll just pack and be on my way I reckon.

BTW, here's the playlist for those who want to spend 19.99 on Rhapsody or want to wait for me to send them a CD (I only charge 9.95 s & h!)
Song Reason included:
✓ Sweet Home Alabama 4:45 Lynyrd Skynyrd Forrest Gump [Disc 2] Soundtrack Included for obvious reasons
✓ The Boys Are Back In Town 4:25 Thin Lizzy Badwater Mix Rock Since it's a bunch of Dude's running
✓ Miserlou 2:14 Dick Dale Guitar Legend: The Very Best of Dick Dale Rock 2 Just a wicked cool song
✓ How Will You Shine 5:11 The Gourds Noble Creatures (2007) Country How? Dunno, but brightly I hope!
✓ Hot Hot Hot 4:11 Buster Poindexter Buster Poindexter Spoken & Audio Because it starts with my signature line, YES SIR!
✓ Mambo No. 5 3:41 Lou Bega A Little Bit Of Mambo Latin 2 A Guilty Pleasure.
✓ 14 Twist And Shout 2:33 The Beatles 1 Dunno. Always liked it since FBDO
✓ Ground On Down 5:40 Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals Live From Mars [Disc 1] Alternative & Punk Me Trying to be hip
✓ Against The Wind 5:36 Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band Forrest Gump [Disc 2] Soundtrack 1 Running against the Wind
✓ It Keeps You Runnin' 4:22 The Doobie Brothers Forrest Gump [Disc 2] Soundtrack Runnin' in the title
✓ Break On Through (To The Other Side) 2:30 The Doors Forrest Gump [Disc 1] Soundtrack 1 Awesome song
✓ Pay The Alligator 3:32 The Flatlanders Now Again Country 1 Didn't think you'd already have it, and I like it!
✓ Fox On The Run 2:05 Tom T. Hall Storyteller, Poet, Philosopher [Disc 1] Folk 1 Oh, we'll see a fox on this run! Sandra's coming!
✓ On The Run 5:33 Stevie Ray Vaughan Solos, Sessions & Encores Blues 1 SRV! And Run, had to do it!
✓ Blue Side Of The Mountain 3:29 Steeldrivers The Steeldrivers Country 1 I like this one, and it has Mountain in the title
✓ Flash 2:48 Queen Greatest Hits I Rock In honor of Andy B, Flash, he's so fast (ask the invisible man!)
✓ Hammer & Nail 3:20 Paul Thorn Hammer & Nail Rock Paul's cooler than the other side of the pillow!
✓ I'm A King Bee 3:53 Muddy Waters The Johnny Winter Sessions 1976-1981 Blues I actually am a king Bee!
✓ This Time 3:31 Los Lobos This Time Rock Los Lobos, Muy Caliente!
✓ Born To Be Wild 4:26 The Knitters The Modern Sounds Of The Knitters Country 1 Tough song, Tough Course, Tough Group of MFers!

My Letters are all gone, My belly isn't

A recent comments from our good buddy Dean Karnazes (hey Dean, love the hair!) prompted this post.

Dean's right, I've just got to get in shape. I'm just heavier than I was a few years ago. Hey, I'm happy with my progress in the last three months, down from gigantic to a little large. Big Milestone for me the other day at the Doctor, I actually weighed under 180 with some clothes on on a doctor's scale. (I would have done the normal strip down routine, but I didn't think the other people in the lobby would appreciate it!)

Anyway I have taken drastic steps in the direction of reduction. Until after Pinhoti, NO BEER. Until after Pinhoti, NO SWEETS. Until after Pinhoti, NO WINGS. Aw, these are a few of my favorite things. Hey, I may even save a few ducats. On Tuesday when our little Dark Runners running club met at the House of Brews, my tab for my water and lettuce with no dressing was a fiver. I flipped her a ten-spot and said, "Keep the Change!" It was still cheaper than a night with the sauce.

After Pinhoti, just be healthy.

My goal, next time I see Mike Melton he won't say, "Body By Budwiser," He won't even say, "Body by Bud Lite," He'll say, "Hey, Body by Crystal Lite, now I know how you broke 24 hours at Pinhoti."

O I got N L!

Love
Laugh
Lunch
Lasso
Liberty
Pinhoti TraiL.

Are they filled with Ell's?
OSAR! Oh Ese A Are!
Where'd I get my Final Pre-Race Letter? Well, I got my L at the T!

Let me just say this; anyone that can run 4 x 4 mile beautiful hilly, sandy loops, and then go out on the road and run 4 mile on the road as his buddies are hanging by the truck and basking in the sun while enjoying some frosty suds, well that dude deserves a letter.

On Saturday that dude was me. I got my letter. It was an ELL of a time!

The Second No L!

The first No L came last weekend. I went up to S. Carolina to be best man at SuperDave's wedding, and what a wedding it was. It was a happy affair. It felt right. It was much better than another wedding I recently attended. Two Antenna got married and the wedding was just ok (but, the reception was GREAT!)

Anyway, I wanted to use the trip to SC as a chance to run some hills and enjoy some cooler weather, alas, I was under the weather, and with a little coaxing, I even went to the doctor. I was stoked because this Doc is a former National Champion Triathlete. He trained with and beat the likes of Scott Tinely, Dave Scott and Mark Allen. I knew he was going to tell me running was the perfect cure for my Sinusitis. Sadly, Dr. Sports Medicine tells me, you NEED to take 3 days off. Do NOT train until you are clear of this infection, or else you will keep the infection and Andy Barrett will beat you by 3 hours in Alabama. What? Three hours? Hey, Doc, What's up? Andy B just ran a 100 in Arkansas, he won't beat me by more than 1.5 hours! Well, says doc, if you run 30 miles in South Carolina he will.

Darn, I still got no L. That's ok, I'm going to be at Croom this weekend with the hunters. I will either leave there with an L or an arse full of buckshot (or both).

Here's a little tribute to my struggle with the second No L:

I dIdn't say It, but I got an I!

I Didn't say it, but I picked up a Letter in Arkansas. Yep I, got my last I.

As of now, I'm at Pinhoti Trai_. It's like Christmas around here No L! Get it, No L (noel, get it!) har har.

Why should I get a Letter because Andy Barrett is a beast? Hey, 36 miles at night and I had to use a few motivational methods. (Move it sh*t head, I have a life to lead! Nurturing stuff like that :)

Anway, now that I'm tapering, letters are going to be tough to get, but I figure to pick them up through diet and exercise. I only need the L, the 100 will come from the number of miles I finish in Alabama. If I run 72 it's Pinhoti Trail 72, if I make it all the way it Pinhoti Trail 100. If I run extra, well, that'd be ok too!

Almost there, yep, almost there.

Ark-CAN and DID- Saw!

Images from Arkansas. Shoot let's not call it Ar-Can-Saw, let's call it Ar-DID-Saw.

Ok, anybody that's been hanging out with the FU Runners lately knows a few things:

1- Andy Barrett is running out of his mind (and he's getting married by a prime number above 1, so he's plain out of his mind!)
2- Andrea is tough as a two-dollar steak!
3- Woody is fast, tough, and ageless

4. If June and Trudy had a generosity contest, it would be called a draw in extra-innings as they kept trying to give the award to each other.

I don't know what there is to say about the race. It was an honor to run with Andy Barrett. We are so very proud of Andrea and her gutsy effort. A 2-Hour PR, but I didn't run with her, so I can't really speak on her race. Happily, she'll write a race report about it, and it will be poetic! But running with Andy was a personal highlight in my running career. I wish we could bottle the effort he put into that race, because it was incredible. My boy had to be tired! My boy's legs had to be screaming. Yet he never complained, not once. He did; however, darn near drop me several times, even though I ran only 36% of the race with him. It got to where we just ran. Up hill, down hill, flats, rocks (ok, maybe not so much on rocks), we ran, then we ran some more.
We also took a little time to turn off our lights and enjoy some AMAZING stars. What a clear beautiful night!

How did my boy run so fast? I don't know. I picked him up at mile 66 and he was in eighth place out of 100 starters. We quickly passed one guy, only 6 more in front of us. Coming out of Powerline, we passed two more, only 4 more in front of us. We spent the next 25 miles trying to track the guy in fourth down. Funny, Andy never even seemed to be thinking about those behind (turns out the next finisher after him was more than an hour back), he was dead focused on the guys in front of us. We kept checking the progerss of #4, and we were gaining on him. 15 minutes, 13 minutes, 9 minutes, then 5 and then 3 separated Andy and the other dude. Finally at the last aid station, Pumpkin Patch, we had whittled the lead down to 1 minute, and I got my first glimpse of the fella, and it was really just a glance, because when he saw our lights and heard the aid station workers cheer us, he took off like a scalded hound, and we didn't see him again until we were recovering in the finish area. That guy had some giddy-up.

Any way, I was really impressed. Andy held 5th place and a 2-hour PR.

Andrea finished 2.5 hours under the cut-off and a 2-hour PR.

Woody was running so smoothly and on 24 hour pace, when his stomach sabotaged him at mile 58, and he was pulled from the race.

June and Trudy once again showed their incredible generosity in crewing and driving all over EBF-Arkansas. June, picked me up and dropped me off at the airport. Trudy took Woody and I back to pick up the cars in more Easterly BF-Arkansas after the race.

I am so privileged to know you all and run with you. It was truly incredible. Way to go, way to go!