Rants, Reviews and Run-dezvous

TUNA RUN 200 Hey, let's run a 200 mile relay race from Raleigh, NC down to Atlantic Beach, NC... And we'll take turns doing it with 6 people, we'll be an ultra team! (we would later find out that this would make all of us " super-cool ") These are the words I spoke to my friend and running coach Andy one morning during a training run and next thing you know we were putting a team together. Rachel and Kathy  The team, now named "OBX Ultra" was Andy, our friends Rachel, Kathy, Tim, Pete and myself. All of us completing an ultra distance race of 31 miles (50k) 1 or more times,  except Pete, who was perfect for the team and ended up being the fastest runner during our 30 hour event on October 19th and 20th, 2012, running an average pace of all 6 legs at 8 minutes and 6 seconds per mile, shaving 13 minutes off his his estimated total time. So basically what happens in a relay like this is each runner runs a pre assigned series of legs based o...

"I'll be fasting for 60 days on nothing but juice and I'm going to do it on the fattest place on earth, the United States!" said Australian native Joe Cross, maker and main character in his documentary " Fat, sick and nearly dead ". My wife I first saw this film about 6 months ago and were very inspired. So much that the thought of getting a juice machine was great idea.. and it was.. for about a week, until the motivation of the show fizzled out. Isn't this true about so much in our lives? We get motivated, even inspired to make a change, make difference, to do something great, and then, if we jump in at all, most of the time it just doesn't last, right? It's too much work, I don't have the time, the time isn't right, etc, etc. You know what I mean, you have said it, I have said it, we have all spoken these words at one time or another.. Well, the other day my wife and I watched the documentary again, and low and behold, just as the...

"It's a nice flat course..." The Stonewall Jackson 20 Mile Ambulance Run is an annual event that takes place in beautiful Spotsylvania, Virginia. I had only recently heard about this race as a good friend of mine had run it the last couple of years and mentioned it in a conversation. Later, looking at my race calendar I decided maybe this would be a good one to run. 20 Miles is a different kind of distance race. I have trained with 20 milers, but never raced one. I thought, this might not be so bad... Half Marathon distances of 13.1 are fairly challenging and somewhat easy in the off season. Full Marathons are always challenging at 26.2 miles, so 20 should be right there in the middle. Challenging, but over about the time I am ready for a Marathon to be over... right about mile 19 or 20! Thomas Jonathon "Stonewall" Jackson was a Confederate General during the Civil War and was one of the best-known Commanders after General Robert E. Lee. The night b...