Seven Continents, Seven Marathons, Twenty-Four Days

Back in 2007, I made two attempts at setting the world record for running marathons on all seven continents.  The previous record had been 99 days, and I thought 35 days would be almost unbeatable.  Scheduling all those marathons around the Antarctica Marathon was a challenge, and in the end, I blew away the record....only to find that Richard Takata (who I ran 4 marathons with during that time) had finished in just under 30 days while I had two marathons to go yet.  So, no world record.

After about 5 minutes of being aggravated, it occurred to me that maybe I could schedule something later that year around the Antarctic Ice Marathon.  That schedule was even easier--and could be done in 25 days.  Unfortunately, after completing six marathons, we were stuck in Punta Arenas, Chile, for eight additional days, so my second attempt of the year was in 33 days.  No world record.  Oh--the world record for running all seven continents twice?  307 days.  That was me in 2007.  You can read about both attempts at www.cooladventures.net/sevencontinents.htm.

So, now, after having that stuck in my brain for 4 years, I'm off to try it again.  Here's the plan:

6 November 2011  Soweto, South Africa (Africa)
13 November 2011  Ticino, Switzerland  (Europe)
20 November 2011  Curitiba, Brazil  (South America)
23 November 2011  Fukuchiyama, Japan (Asia)
26 November 2011  Auckland, New Zealand (Oceania)
27 November 2011  Space Coast Marathon, Cocoa, FL, USA  (North America)
30 November 2011  Antarctic Ice Marathon near Union Glacier (Antarctica)

If successful, and everything happens on time, the new world record will be set at approximately 24 days, 12 hours.

I'm writing this from Dulles Airport, where I'm waiting to check in for the flight to South Africa. I'll try and keep up to date with my entries along the way.

Moments That Change Our Lives!

I always get a little nostalgic when the River Bank Run comes around.  Granted, it's only 25K.  Many of us refer to that distance as a "warmup."  But it was only 16 years ago, in 1995, that I experienced that distance for the first time.  Joe Hulsebus, from down the street, had been the guy who told me about the race and got my brain going in that direction. Now, here I was, never having even run 10 miles before. (Not my best training strategy!)  But somewhere out there at the end of Indian Mounds Road, around six miles into the run, I overheard some guys talking about marathon training. (#1) Something in my brain something went "Whoa!"

So, in spite of finishing VERY SLOWLY, I came away from the experience with the belief that training for a marathon that fall was NOT UNREASONABLE!

I made a plan.  After all, I could barely walk, I might as well sit around and think, eh?  I picked Columbus on November 12 as my target.  Originally, I wanted to run Chicago, but had other things going on.

Things were going well as I lengthened my long run a little every couple weeks.  Then Runner's World came and I found out about the Boston Marathon lottery for the 100th in 1996.  (#2)  I sent in my application, hoping to get lucky.

Another month, another Runner's World.  An upside-down article talking about "The Last Marathon" which was held in Antarctica in 1995.  The next one would be in 1997.  (#3)  I called Marathon Tours.  "Where do I send my money?"

My schedule freed up, and now Chicago could work for me. Plus, I had a free place to stay with my short college buddy, Mike Schwartz.  (#4)

Hey.  I guess I was a marathon runner.  Signed up for four marathons before I ran my first one.

The big moment was here in Grand Rapids though, out on Indian Mounds Road, as I was working to finish my first River Bank Run.

There's lots more to the story--but there'll be another newsletter soon.  Or you can go to cooladventures.net and read a bunch of my other stories, if you wish.  You never know where this running stuff will take you! (The numbers are what I refer to as "marathon minutes" -- the times that have a way of changing your life in a very short time!)

Roanoke, Virginia Marathon

It started to just be a marathon in Virginia--check off my third time
in that state, and get a marathon in for April.  I didn't realize what
the day would bring!

I was traveling with Dave Thierjung (one of our GR Marathon Lifetime
Entrants #105) on a weekend road trip.  On the way down, we heard
about all the tornadoes that were happening and the weather map
started looking pretty ominous.  On Saturday morning, we looked out
the window--RAIN.  Nice and steady.  It was going to be a wet day!
The Blue Ridge Marathon is billed as America's Toughest Road Marathon,
while that may just be their opinion, I'm sure they can make a great
argument for it!  The easy first mile was followed by the first hill.
We followed the course basically uphill for quite a while, then turned
onto a 4 mile scenic drive which got even steeper!  Of course, the
downhill was pretty stiff too, and I knew that my quads were going to
be sorry the next day!
It was a 26-mile-long wet t-shirt contest.  (I think I was winning?)
As we started up the next hill I worked my way up it with Nancy
Wentink, who, it turns out is one of our greatest fans!  We had some
fun running up hill and through a park with some beautiful views.  She
went on ahead of me as we headed back down the hill.
Did I mention it was still raining?  Around 18 or 19 we started up
hill again.  Through a beautiful neighborhood and up hill a long way,
I caught up with Brian.  He was doing his 3rd marathon, and it turns
out that he had family only a mile or so away.  We topped the hill and
went down for a bit and there they were.  He sent his brother-in-law
into the house for a couple beers, which helped us make it up the next
hill.  Finally, the turnaround and back down STEEP for a mile or so.
The weather was getting a little worse. Thunder and lightning! Just
before 23 miles, a cop came around the corner with his lights on.  He
pulled up and rolled down the window.  "They're calling it.  There's a
truck around the corner you can get a ride back."  "Thanks."  Like
that's gonna happen.  I went around the corner where another runner
was talking to a guy who had a pickup truck.  "You want a ride?"
"Nope."  The other runner there saw that I was going on, and followed
me down the street.  The rain had turned into a downpour.  Only 3 to
go, what the heck.  Brave volunteers were still at the next aid
station, and they were encouraging us to keep going before we got
pulled off the course.  At a couple turns, I could look back and see
my good friend Mary Ritz, plugging right along behind me.

Almost to mile 25, we crossed a bridge on one side, looped down around
under it and back up on the other side.  Rivers were running down the
side of the bridge where the course used to go, so we were up on the
sidewalk.  As I looped under the bridge, a group of runners and
volunteers were waiting for a bus to come get them.  "Maybe you
noticed the weather was bad."  Hmmm... I always enjoy sarcasm late in
a race.  "Yup.  Which way does the course go?" I asked.  One of them
pointed and I went on.  Back across the bridge and a couple turns and
another cop pulled up.  "I can give you a ride or I can give you
directions."  I like this guy.  "I'll take the directions."  Past mile
25.  Down an well-crowned industrial street, with only about 10 feet
of street showing in the middle, a mini-bus approached.  I tried to
motion for them to go over a little bit so I could get through.  They
stopped and opened the door.  "You have to get on the bus sir, you
can't continue." a well-meaning volunteer told me.  "Watch me!" I said
and went off down the street.  Now the streets are barely visible.
Moving over a couple more streets, there was nothing but standing
water as I waded over to the street where the finish line was.  I was
having a blast!  Finally to the Finish Line and I heard the timer
beep!  Hey--you didn't turn the clock off.  Thanks!  Ronny, the race
director was there, so I met him and told him how much I enjoyed it.
Dave had been finished for a while and looked pretty waterlogged.
Mary finished right behind me.  The rain continued for about 15 more
minutes, and the sky suddenly cleared and the sun was out!

For years I've used marathons as a road to adventure.  Guess got what
I paid for last weekend!

What I did this weekend!

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Sunday, April 17, 2011

Mike Dixon weathers rain, hills to win the Blue Ridge Marathon

Mike Dixon overtakes defending champ Tim Sykes in the last three miles to win the marathon in 2:41.27.

Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

As seen through the rainy window of a pedestrian overpass, a lone runner makes his way down Norfolk Avenue during the Blue Ridge Marathon.

By Mark Taylor | The Roanoke Times

Though he led the Blue Ridge Marathon for most of the race Saturday, Tim Sykes never felt comfortable.

And not because of the hard hills or brutal weather that forced race organizers to eventually call the race with about 100 runners still on the course.

For 23 miles, Sykes had a shadow.

"I noticed that he was always about 30 seconds behind me," Sykes, the defending champion, said of Mike Dixon. "He was stalking me."

Dixon, a 28-year-old from Fanwood, N.J., pounced with about three miles to go in the 26.2-mile race, using the speed he honed as a college track runner and the endurance he's building as a budding marathoner to win relatively comfortably.

"Today it was all about place," said Dixon, whose time of 2:41:27 was about 14 minutes slower than his previous marathon best.

Sykes, who lives in Lexington, ran a 2:42:17. Despite the course being more difficult this year, the time was just 39 seconds slower than his winning time last year.

Blacksburg's George Probst, runner-up last year, was third in 2:54:22.

Nicki Terry of Arlington won the women's race, outdueling Emily McGregor of Tucson, Ariz.

Terry, a 26-year-old who ran for the University of Utah, finished in 3:19:49, more than 10 minutes faster than last year's winning time.

McGregor, also 26 and a former collegiate runner at the University of Arizona, ran 3:25:44.

Rachel Clattenburg of Washington, D.C., was third in 3:38:05.

Terry, who was ninth overall, was beaming after crossing the line.

"It was gorgeous," she said. "I run a lot of courses and this was probably the most beautiful."

The racers didn't seem to mind the weather conditions, at least while running. The rain kept them comfortably cool.

"I wasn't cold at all," McGregor said.

But after the race she huddled under a large propane heater, her lips a shade of blue that matched the ribbon on her finisher's medal.

The weather became a more serious factor about five-and-a-half hours after the 7:30 a.m. starting gun, when lightning was spotted in the area.

Although approximately 100 runners were still on the course, race director Ronnie Angell made the decision to end the race at that point.

"When you have lightning strikes, you have to shut it down," Angell said.

Those who had passed the final aid station were allowed to finish.

When runners farther back reached aid stations they were told the race had been shut down and they were offered rides back to the finish area.

Some accepted the offer, but others plodded on even as streets were flooding as the rain turned from a steady downpour into a deluge.

"I didn't come all this way to let a little rain stop me," Mary Ritz of Wyoming said as she walked briskly toward the finish-line area near the Taubman Museum of Art.

Ritz, 56, has run marathons in 35 states and every continent, and needed to check Virginia off her list.

"I'm stubborn," she said.

Though the race was officially over, the course reopened to traffic and the timing clock removed, many runners elected to finish.

Don Kern of Grand Rapids, Mich., was completing his 213th marathon. He's run at least one marathon 98 months straight.

"People were telling us to quit," said Kern, race director for the Grand Rapids Marathon. "I don't quit."

Kern was one of the last of the 199 official finishers, finishing in 5:45:58.

The race had more than 300 entrants, though there were some no-shows.

All runners, even those who didn't get an official time, got medals.

Angell stayed in the finish area, greeting them just as he did those who had officially finished hours earlier.

Sykes said the altered course made a difference.

"I was more fit coming in to this year's race," he said. "I was confident so I pushed it a little harder."

Unlike last year, when he felt pretty good most of the race, Sykes said his hamstrings started to tighten up during the descent down Prospect Road from the Mill Mountain Star.

"Then we hit Peakwood," Sykes, a physical education professor at VMI, said.

Dixon said he was surprised that Sykes wasn't able to hang on.

"He was so strong going up the hills," said Dixon, who has been ramping up his training and marathon racing in an effort to qualify for the Olympic marathon trial race next winter. "I knew he had won last year, and he looked great."

A hilly marathon was nothing new to McGregor.

Last fall she won Arizona's Mount Lemmon Marathon, and accepted an invitation to run in Roanoke to compare the events.

Immediately after Saturday's race she wasn't ready to give a nod to either event.

"I definitely had to stop more on this one," said McGregor, who took a few short stretching breaks. "I felt like if I didn't my hamstrings were going to lock up."

She said Terry pulled away on the downhills.

"She was just so smooth," she said. "We'd get down one and I'd look at her and think, 'Dude, how did you get all the way up there?' "

Ed Dickenson, 47, of Roanoke was the top male master, finishing fourth overall in 2:57:19.

The top women's master was Beni Thompson, 40, of Roanoke. She finished in 4:02:08.

In the half marathon, which had 368 finishers, Sarah Glenn of Roanoke was the top woman. Her time of 1:32:55 was good for sixth overall.

Andrew Kirk of Spotsylvania won the men's race in 1:24:25.

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© 2011

Are You Taking That With You?

You Taking That With You?

I finished my workout and was enjoying the warmth of the sauna at the Y when a new Y member came in.  Seemed like a nice guy, and we introduced ourselves and started getting acquainted.  I happened to mention to him that I was headed for Mobile, Alabama to run the race that weekend. 

Since we were both sitting there with just our towels, he looked over, gestured toward my stomach and said, "You taking that with you?" 

Apparently he read me well enough to know that I wasn't the kind of person who would sock someone who I had just met.  Actually, I thought it was kinda funny.  Also, a nice wake-up call.

Yeah, the holidays are over and it's time to get those extra couple of holiday pounds back under control.  So, here I am, back on the program, running, cross training.  I've even been in the pool a few times this year so far. 

And the marathon in Mobile, incidentally, felt pretty good.  Still not as fast as I used to be, but getting better and making things happen.  Only 91 more marathons before I can retire.  Or at least reevaluate. 

My Grandma's Rhubarb Pie Recipe

A long time ago, Grandma 'Lene was at my house and taught my brother-in-law Brian and me how to make rhubarb pie.  She used to have a big rhubarb patch down behind the house that her mother had before her.

The pie is yummy.  Especially with a big scoop of ice cream on it.  I make it a couple times a year.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour         3/4 cup Crisco

1 teaspoon salt      1/4 cup ice water + 1 tablespoon

Use pastry blender, blend Crisco, flour, salt

Add water & mix

Rhubarb filling

4 cups rhubarb

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

6 rounded tablespoons flour

(two eggs)

(a splash of half & half)

Stir all this together and put into pie shell.  Dots of butter (about 1 tablespoon) on top of filling

Wet the crust around the edge, put the top on, cut around the edge.

Bake 425 degrees 45-50 minutes.  What Grandma does is cut a strip off a pillowcase, wet it, put it around the edges to keep it from browning too much or boiling out all over the place

Obesogens?

Obesogens?

The word is so new that my spell checker flags it.  I heard about it on the radio yesterday.  They're chemicals that upset your metabolism and tend to make you fat.  (The Wiki definition has a lot more big words in it--look it up.)  The first reference to the word I can find is Sept. 2009. 

Leave it to our society to come up with yet another scientific thing to study.  Carcinogens cause cancer.  Obesogens cause obesity.  Seems like we can't get away with anything lately. 

Well, I found the timing of such a report interesting--given that my kitchen is literally full of what I'd call obesogens--chocolate covered cherries, peanut brittle, cookies, .....

Time for some New Year's Exercizogens. (Yeah--spell checker got that one too.  Probably because I just made it up.)

Some of my favorite cookies!

Oatmeal Date Cookies

3 cups quick oatmeal

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup brown sugar   

1 cup shortening

Mix as for pastry - moisten with 1/3 cup water, 1 teaspoon soda stirred in, soft enough to roll..

Roll them out fairly thin and use a cookie cutter to cut circles.  (Or get more efficient and get a hexagonal cookie cutter)

Filling

Chopped dates,  a bit of sugar, mixed with a little water to soften.   Sometimes add a little lemon juice for a zippier flavor.   Heat it up on the stove.  Spread the filling into the cookies while they're still warm.  

These get even better in a day or so as they get softer.  If they last that long, that is.

Some of my favorite cookies

350 for 10 minutes

Coffee Interface?

The little box kept popping up--"New Device Found" along with it's little pop sound letting me know the computer is trying to configure something.  The only problem was that I hadn't plugged anything new into it.  "Unable to configure device"  it told me.  I hit cancel.  Again--same thing.  Cancel.  Unable.  Cancel.  

What's the deal here?

While rearranging things on my desk a few minutes earlier, I had accidentally dropped the end of my iPhone charger cable into my coffee cup.

Apparently, there's no app for that.

The Life of a Race Director

From Thursday, 12 August

 

Dave Sheble and I have been playing phone tag for a day or so and finally hooked up this afternoon.  "How you doing Dave?"  I asked.  He laughed at me.  "You know EXACTLY how I'm doing!"

He was right.  Dave is a new race director of the new Fox Valley Marathon.  He's just over a month out from his first marathon.  And I DO know exactly how he's doing!  

He's in what I refer to the "constant motion" time of planning a race.  It's not necessarily a crazy time (Dave might disagree), but it is a time when you get up in the morning and pretty much keep going until you hit the sack about 18 hours later.  I find it REAL enjoyable.  It's about that time for me right now too.  LOTS of little projects to do, and most of them are fun.  Today was a "normal" day for me.  Boot Camp at 5:30 a.m.  Work on new maps for the Milford 30K I measured on Sunday.  Answer emails.  Order staff jackets.  Pick up kids marathon flyers and deliver them to staffer Pat Carey to distribute.  Pick up some paperwork from Gazelle.  Meet Dan Droski back at my place to loan him some coolers and stuff for his Fallsburg Marathon this weekend.  Meet withHighland Group to approve artwork for shirts, Pepsi truck backs, and Kids Marathon posters.  Work on a few things back at home for a couple hours, then go meet up with the No Surrender Running Club for a 4-mile run with some inner-city kids who are doing their first half-marathon right here at home on October 17th.  Relax and work on my newsletter that I really would like to have gotten out yesterday.  Then the lovely Francine walks in wearing (CUT TO COMMERCIAL)

IN STORE REGISTRATION IN GRAND RAPIDS!

We'll be at Gazelle Sports in Grand Rapids this Saturday from 10 - 1.  In-store registration discount, and lots of great merchandise to check out while you're there. 

 

(RETURN TO SHOW)

 

The staff keeps copying me on stuff they're doing.  Lynne is working on getting all the volunteer groups into the mix.  George and Andy are working the Start/Finish "village" to make it even better than before.  Ann's looking for expo exhibitors & goody bag stuffers.  There's stuff going on ALL THE TIME!

Fox Valley--Now, back to Dave.  One of the cool things they're doing down there is doing a 20 mile race along with their full and half.  In fact, for those of you in the Illinois area, it's our official 20 mile training run for all of you.  Check 'em out!

 

Friday morning is coming.  Can't wait!

 

'Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon 28 July 2010'

Our latest newsletter!!

'Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon 28 July 2010'

200 And Counting

My 200th marathon was on the 24th of July  in Salt Lake City.  


Other than the heat, the altitude, the mountains, and the relentless quad-busting downhills, it was a pretty easy marathon.  (Insert that little smiley emoticon thing here.) 

What hit me as I started though, wasn't the toughness of the course.  It was the amazing journey that started at the high school track one day back in 1994, doing two miles with my Tater Kater and finding out that if I ran slowly, I could get through two miles without stopping.  It continued, through my first 10K, my first River Bank Run, and my first marathon in Chicago in October 1995.  

Running marathons has opened up the world for me.  It has taken me to every state, to every continent, to places that many people will never visit.  Marathons aren't just about running.  It's more than that.  It's the ability to set a goal, make a plan, and follow it through to completion.   

If you're training for your first marathon, you're on the way to an amazing life!  If you've done one already, you already know.  You can do ANYTHING!

20000 Miles! 

I was just updating my website at cooladventures.net a little bit ago when I realized that sometime in June I went over 20,000 LIFETIME MILES!  WOW!  I know that some people do that in only a few years, but for a kid who grew up with asthma and didn't really start running until only about 17 years ago, I'm pretty geeked about that.  My big goal is to run the circumferenc of the earth, which is 24,902 miles.  About 3 more years I'll have that DONE! 

Don't forget to set some goals, make some plans, and SIGN UP FOR SOMETHING! 

My Short Career as a Professional Nude Model

An encore posting from 22 February 2006  Interesting day yesterday.  Went to renew my license plate and get the renewal date moved to my birthday rather than my (soon to be ex-) wife's birthday.  Decided to renew my drivers license while I was there too.  "Oh... we can't do that because your license is suspended...in Arizona."  OK, in 2001 I got a speeding ticket there, but try to locate a cancelled check from 5 years ago.  Called Arizona and waited on hold for 35 minutes, only to find out I needed to call the county court where I got the ticket.  Only on hold for 10 minutes there.  Found out that it was cleared up long ago and they just needed to notify the state people.  Still, I have to send $10 to Arizona to fix the problem.  Pretty cheap.
So, a couple hours later I get a call--from an Arizona area code!  What now?  It was Michelle Donati from Rose & Allyn Public Relations.  She had also just sent me an e-mail, which I pulled up and read while we were talking.  Seems they're doing an ad campaign and wanted to use a picture from my website.  Yes, you guessed it--the picture of me naked at the South Pole!
Excerpt from Michelle's e-mail:

"Our intern, Haley, stumbled across your website late
last week and our boss is interested in using one of
your photographs for an upcoming company
advertisement.

We are willing to monetarily compensate/sponsor you
for permission to use this image.

We will show you the final ad before it goes to print
and will send you the published ad once complete.
We've looked for stock photos that convey the same
message, but unfortunately, we didn't find any that
worked as well.

The clincher is...our boss is a procrastinator and our
ad is due tomorrow (Wednesday, February 22)...so we'd
need your permission by then. I can overnight you a
check or money order.
I assure you that this is real and that we're a legit
company."  

"Just what the hell kind of message are you trying to convey here?"  I asked her.  Seems they're targeting lobbyists or something, with the idea "There's no such thing as too much exposure." 
So, Michelle offers to pay me $250 to use my picture, and I send her the high-resolution copy I have on my computer.    You probably know I have a "Life List" in my computer.  Being a professional nude model wasn't on it.  But what the heck.
Really.  I don't make this stuff up.

My 200th Marathon?

Leave it to old friends to get you involved in stuff.  My Saturday morning started out with an 8 mile run.  I went short that morning, because at 12:30, I was off to the First Centennial Vytautas Aid Society Marathon.  Yes, the shirt said 26.2 on it.  It conveniently omitted, however, the unit of measurement.  Which was "blocks."  Now, the good news was there were four air-conditioned aid stations.  The bad news--you had to pay for your own aid.  The good news--it was beer.

 

The Vytautas Hall is one of the "West Side" halls in Grand Rapids.  Lithuanian Catholics for the most part.  We have quite a few halls on the West Side--several Polish halls (Kosciuszko Hall served as race HQ for the first GR Marthon back in 2004, incidentally)  One of my best friends, Mary Kamsickas, invited me to their "marathon."  "Having you there would help legitimize the event."  Maybe I'm flattered.  Maybe some people have an interesting definition of "legitimate." 

 

Barto Funeral Home ("See you at the End") provided sandwiches and water.  It was a good time.  Oh--and I won!  Mary was the women's winner.  And her brother John won the wheel chair division.  Not bad for a sunny July Saturday.  Hope I'm around for the Second Centenial in another 100 years.

"Stand Up" Comedy

Yeah, you know I like to drink a beer once in a while.  I met my son at HopCat the other day for lunch.  I like that place--decent beer, BIG selection, in-house brewery.

Sooner or later, you have to get rid of some of it.  At HopCat, they have some of the greatest wallpaper I've ever seen.  Pinup Girls!  I was standing there, doing my thing, as my eyes wandered over the very entertaining scenery all over the walls.

I suddenly regained my focus.  I'm not sure how long I had been done peeing by that time.  Couldn't have been more than a couple minutes.  I think.

Leonardo

I went to the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the museum downtown the end of December.

Leonardo was one of the pivotal people in history.  He gave us art, design, many inventions that came out of his brain.  Knowledge way beyond his years. Things that may have take decades, even centuries to discover had he not done them.

In the history of the world, there are only a few people who could be considered great.  He was one.  Maybe a few Biblical guys.  Sir Isaac Newton.  Galileo.  Amundsen. Hillary. Columbus. Yeah, there were a bunch of important guys who brought us discoveries, changed life as we know it, industrialized countries, advanced science.

But what of the rest of us?  Billions of people, yet only hundreds of REALLY memorable ones.  The rest of us get to live out our days in relative anonymity, going from one place to the next, being the "cogs in the wheel," so to speak.  It bothers me a little bit.

Face it.  I'm never going to make an Olympic team.  Probably not be mentioned in a history book anywhere.  The world's population keeps getting bigger, and that means every day I become a smaller and smaller proportion of it.

So what to do? I can't have a big effect on the world.  I can, however, have an effect on my little corner of it. I can help people become healthier through training and exercise.  I can help educate my grandkids. I can inspire other people through my writing.  LOTS and LOTS of good things to accomplish.

It's a rough draft, but what I'm trying to get at here is that we ALL can do positive things to make the world better.  Helping someone who needs it.  Loving someone who needs it.  Counting our own blessings and sharing them with others.

I was constantly in awe, as I read of his life, played with machines he had designed, studied his drawings.  His life and his works inspire us centuries after his death.  If we all just live as if the things we're doing will be having effects on others long after we're gone, I'm pretty sure we'll make the world a better place.

Now, for 2010

Yeah, don't be fooled.  I just finished my 2009 in review thing a couple minutes ago.  I dated it Dec 31, but it's already Ground Hog Day.
The end of 2009, I had run 38 states plus DC on my second time around the US doing marathons.  I had visited the highest points in 37 states.  And I had a collection which includes at least one beer glass from a brewery in 35 different states.  This year is about working toward completing the collections.
I started the year with a trip.  Central Michigan University, my alma mater, was playing Troy in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama on 6 January.  It was the opportunity I was looking for to get out of the cold, collect a few glasses, and go to my first ever bowl game.
The cheapest flights I could find went into Pensacola, FL.  Nice, since I didn't have a Florida beer glass yet.  After landing, I headed straight for McGuire's Irish Pub and Brewery, where I enjoyed some decent beer, hung out with a few guys watching the Orange Bowl.
Off to Mobile the next morning.  I was hoping to collect a glass from a brewery there, which, unfortunately had closed only a week before.  Alabama is proving very elusive in my quest for a microbrewery there.  Oh well.  I went across the street to HopJacks, where they had lots of good stuff on tap.  I got the lowdown on the brewery across the street while enjoying lunch along with some Sweet Georgia Brown (Atlanta Brewing Co.) and some Andy Gator (Abita Brewing in Louisiana).  I stopped on the way out to visit with a few people wearing maroon and gold, one of whom turned out to be our quarterback's father.
The "getting out of the cold" thing wasn't working well.  I had fun anyway.  Seats high up, near the 50 yard line gave me a great view of the game.  I met Chris Turner and his son before the game outside the stadium, then ran into them again on the way to my seat.  Turns out we were right beside each other.  So we enjoyed the game in the near-freezing temperatures, watching a perfectly-scripted 44-41 double-overtime win by our favorite team!  Fire Up Chips!!

I got in the car and headed for Arkansas, alternating between driving and sleeping.  By 11:00 the next day, I pulled into Bosco's Brewery on President Clinton Avenue in Little Rock. Lunch with a "Bosco's Famous Flaming Stone Beer" was just what I needed before heading a little farther west.  By about 4 that afternoon, I reached the summit of Mount Magazine, elevation 2753, and the highest spot in Arkansas.  I headed south to El Dorado, hoping to pop in on my old friend Knox White.  No answer, and the house was dark, so I guess I missed him.  A night sleeping in a bed was quite comfortable for a change, watching the National Championship game and eating a pizza before going to sleep and preparing for the next leg of the trip.
Early Friday--turns out it's only a little over an hour or so to the high point of Louisiana.  I headed south, and by about 8:00 had made the arduous climb to the summit of Driskill Mountain, elevation 535 feet.  OK, maybe not so arduous, but what the heck.  At least you have to walk a mile to the high point.  In the snow.

Back in the car, to Jackson, Mississippi, for the Mississippi Blues Marathon.  As soon as I got to the expo, I ran into a couple of friends from the Costa Rica trip last September, Kenneth Williams and John Aikin (aka Big Foot).  Spent a bit of time talking with Bill Rodgers and Dane Rauschenberg at the book signing table.  Lots of friends were there, I found, since there was another opportunity to run a marathon in Mobile on Sunday, so a lot of 50-staters were doing doubles.  I figured I'd have enough by the end of Saturday, so I didn't sign up for Mobile.

The marathon was 18 degrees at the Start.  Nice course, some of the most polite course volunteers I've ever seen, with a few butt-kicking hills in the last few miles.  A half mile from the end I saw my first dead runner on the side of the road.  Chris Brown was running the last leg of the relay.  His team was already out to where he was, along with the EMTs who were working on him.  I paused for a minute, starting to get tears in my eyes, then realizing that I was powerless to help.  I went on.

After taking my stuff to my car, I went to walk through the lobby one more time, and ran into old friend, John Dietrich.  We went out to get some late lunch before going our separate ways.
During the past three days, at least three people had told me about Southern Pecan Beer from the Lazy Magnolia in Kiln, MS.  OK, I needed a glass from Mississippi, and I needed to head south anyway.  I drove to Kiln to the brewery.  Which, I found, isn't a pub.  It's a garage on Stennis Air Force Base.  So I drove back into Kiln and went to the Jourdan River Steamer bar and had a pint of Southern Pecan and some supper while watching my 4th football game of the extra-long weekend. Oh, and a pint of Rebel Ale as well.  (I had to get the Lazy Magnolia glass through the mail a week later, but I HAD been there.)

It was a leisurely drive back to Pensacola along the Gulf Coast, on a sunny morning that was even starting to warm up a little.  I made a cursory drive around Mobile but didn't happen to intersect the marathon course anywhere, so I just went on to Pensacola and back to McGuire's for lunch.

As I turned in my rental car, the Avis attendant looked up at me when I told her the mileage on my car.  "You've driven 1500 miles?"  "Yeah, that's about right."  A short flight and a long layover in Dallas had me watching yet another football game, which ended just a minute before they called us to board the flight.  So in the first week of the 2010, I had a great time.  Collected three beer glasses.  Climbed two state high points.  Ran my 3rd Mississippi marathon.  Watched my team win a bowl game.  Came home to find the lovely Francine.  Life is good.

and the adventure continues....

The Year In Review 2009

Not a bad year.  I started off still hobbling around a bit from the two knee surgeries I had in 2008.  Oh well.  Still had my good attitude, I suppose.  Still, I started the year wondering how long I want to continue doing marathons so frequently.  I decided to keep my at-least-one-per-month streak alive at least until I got to 100 months.  At the beginning of the year, the streak was at 70.

I started the year with a trip to Vegas, running a marathon out in Boulder, seeing the Hoover Dam, discovered that there's a Lappert's Ice Cream shop in Las Vegas--one of my favorites!  Finished the marathon with Yolanda, the woman who set the world record in 2008 for the most marathons in a year.  She let me cross the finish line a step ahead of her, but I edged her out on chip time to finish DFL in the marathon.

Lots more marathons ensued - 17 in all.  Highlights--Bataan Death March in White Sands, NM--maybe one of the most inspirational I've ever done.  A double weekend in June, including Iowa and South Dakota on the same weekend, with a trip to the Iowa state high point thrown in.  Marathons, mountains and microbrews with one of my best friends, Paul, on a weekend that we didn't go to Brazil as a result of a visa issue.  (i.e. neither one of us bothered to see if we needed one in advance.)  Another trip to Vegas and a middle-of-the-night marathon at Area 51.

Paul and I did a "make-up" trip to Costa Rica, since we had to use our airline tickets for something, after all. We ended up running into a few old friends there, and managed to meet a bunch of other fun people, as well as a couple of raccoons.  Zip lines through the jungle canopy were pretty nice.

MY FIRST MAGAZINE COVER!!  I made the cover of Michigan Runner for the September-October issue!!!  My mom and dad are so proud.  Autographed copies are available.  :-)

Francine's daughter Rachel got married in October in Niagara Falls, Canada.  Fun weekend, with a nice Sunday morning run along the river, fireworks over the falls, and an icy plunge into Lake Ontario to complete my diving into all five Great Lakes.

And then, the 2009 Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon.  We grew to over 3800 participants this year.  Approaching critical mass, I think.  The staff was better than ever, giving me a lot of time to really enjoy the weekend.

I'm trying to finish my second time around the states doing marathons, so I'm concentrating on getting to the states I haven't done twice already.  This year I managed to run marathons in 12 different states, collect beer glasses from breweries in six states I didn't have already, and visit the highest points in Texas, Delaware, New Jersey, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, and Virginia.  37 done, only 13 to go.  38 states and DC done on my second time around the states for marathons.  Lots of more fun to be had in 2010.

and the adventure continues....

Well, that's the short version.  Check some of my earlier blog entries for some more stuff

A Tradition Starts

The day after the marathon, we went to Founders for a get-together with our Boot Camp group.  Gary VanDyken (lifetime runner) challenged my memory.

 

"Do you remember back in 2004 getting an email with the 'Top 10 Reasons Sandy should be allowed to run the half-marathon'? "

 

We filled up in 2004.  We were at Millennium Park, so we didn't have the capacity for as many people.  If people asked, I was trying to accommodate them--we even figured out shuttle busses from outlying lots.  I'd usually say yes to any good story, with "You owe me a beer,"  thinking someday we'd get together for a beer somewhere.  When I got that email, same deal. 

 

The next day, as I was working at a coffee shop, Gary walked in with an application, cash, and a bottle of beer.  OK, I'm liking this guy already.  Bringing a bottle of beer wasn't what was on my mind, but it seemed like a really nice idea when it happened. 

 

"I walked in and set a beer down on the counter."

 

DO I REMEMBER?!?!  That moment changed my life!  The start of something big!  I put a note on the Race Day Instruction page to bring a bottle of decent beer along as a gift for the race director.  It worked.  That's where the tradition got started.  Since then, runners from all over have brought beer.  And since then, after every race we've had great micro brew from New Holland Brewery.  It's a tradition.  It's part of the fun. 

 

And now, I know who started the tradition.  Thanks Gary!!

 

My Nobel Prize Nomination

Stuff Sneaks Up on You.

 

So, during the build up to the 2009 Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon, something surprising happens.  President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, I was busy working on the marathon and didn't watch the news, which left me totally in the dark about WHY.  I'm not getting into politics here--maybe it was totally deserved, maybe it wasn't.  There are people who figure out that stuff.  I'm not one of them.  (I did see a pretty interesting theory though.)

 

So, I'm thinking a couple days ago, I'll never win a Nobel prize.  Even in my most testerone-inspired delusional visions of grandeur, I wouldn't imagine such a thing.  Then yesterday I checked my email.

 

 Subject:  Your Nobel Prize Nomination

 

Hi Don!
Thought you'd be interested in seeing this!
Happy running!
CLICK 

 

Yeah, I know.  It's all baloney anyway, but I think I love this girl.  I'm honored, humbled, and thankful.  

Road Racing Jones: Don Kern, Director Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon

Road Racing Jones: Don Kern, Director Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon

Road Racing Jones: Don Kern, Director Metro Health G.R. Marathon

Submitted: Oct 1st, 2009 by Roberta King (Roberta King) under NEWS

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Don Kern

This periodic feature of The Rapidian will reveal the road racing jonesing* of Grand Rapidians.

My record is doing four marathons in a month. Usually it is at least one.

I've run a least one marathon every month for 79 consecutive months.

I never have to do that build up thing. I'm always tapering.

I've run all seven continents three times; 21 countries and all 50 states. This is how I see the world.

Last year I arthroscopic surgery in both knees, so I'm not as fast as I used to be. I need to pay attention to the healing process.

I'm just a kid yet, I'm having a blast,

I don't have any doubt, that on any day I could get out of bed and run 26 miles and be just fine.

I have won my age group a few times, those are usually small races where not a lot of people in my age group showed up. They could have! I'll take it when I can get it.

Started running in 1994, beginning of track season, my daughter was on the team and I went out to run two miles on the track with her. Found I could run two miles without stopping. Started building up a little bit. Ran a 10k on Labor Day for my first race.

Never was in track in high school. I had asthma as a kid, my mom was pretty protective of me.

I earned my high school varisty letter in debate.

It was about 30 degrees in Antarctica, like running a trail run in Michigan in the winter.

Oh my gosh! The Inca trail to Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes. I was up there, looking down into the ancient city of Machu Picchu; there it was, right in front of me! My heart was in my throat, my breath went away.

Every marathon has its own character. Some are better, some are worse. They're all different, there are some I just get through. But they all have their good stories.

There's always something out there to enjoy, be thankful for, cool people to meet.

There's always a memory with every marathon.

I don't ever go to a marathon where I don't see people I don't know. Went to Beruit for a marathon in 2007, ran into four freinds I knew there, didn't know they were going to be there.

Anywhere in the world I run a marathon, I'm going to run into somebody I know.

The biggest criteria for choosing a marathon is going to a place I've never been before.

I'm a master of the speed vacation.

If you're doing it on foot, you can see the mountains, the scenery or the coastline (like Big Sur) and take it all in for 26 miles.

I make a point of visiting microbreweries along the way.

* Jones or jonesing: a strong need, desire or craving for something. An obesession; a burning desire. The undeniable passion or love for someone or something.
Courtesy of Urban Dictionary.