5:46:02

The John Dick 50k was a couple weeks ago. It was -5F at the start. Trails were decent for this event. I signed up for the regular time which asked for a 6 hour or less finish time. It was a 5 looper and I carried little, opting to hit the truck every loop and then check in. I was hoping for about 1:10 on the first loop and that's what I hit. I started mixing it up with a couple guys. Kept trash talk to minimum for obvious reasons. The second loop was 1:06 and feeling okay I went with it. The third loop was another 1:06 so I kept on trucking big momma style. Started bone chipping a bit on the 4th loop and hit 1:11:30. Legs were sore and I was gassing a bit as the trails suffered up top from some snow mobile action. Shotgunned a coke and grabbed a touch of grub before setting out. There is no one near me. Started feeling well again on this last loop, but the sands of time meant nothing at this point so I twinkle toed the last loop in 1:12:30ish. Enjoyed some chili and talking to a few regulars. The course was slower than last year, but all in all not a bad day. Not sure what is next. For now it is good to get out most everyday and take what I am given. Have no confidence Ice Age 50 miler will go off in May, so maybe an evaluation is needed.

Forget it Jake

2020 was a year of firsts. I finished with 3,528.7 miles, ran 451.7 miles in February, had a 120 mile week, and had my longest training run of 43 miles. The reason was because I was signed up for a last man standing event. That never happened. Now I don't know a lot about how metrics work today. I know I have a watch I selected for my 35th anniversary in 2019 that keeps track of everything. I like it because it tracks distance and time. It also has an extremely long battery life. As one can imagen it tracks sleep, heart rate, steps, stress, etc. I just found it tracks fitness level of which mine is 29.7 out of 100. When I hit the Major Tom control panel for age equivalence it says I'm 79. So I have that going for me. I am capable of carrying a 200+ heart rate for a very long time, so I'm going to grab my Dolphin race shorts from '77 and see if I can break 14:00 in the 5k around the lake here. It just all seems plausible now. I mean I also do toe crunches, so on a good day without snow maybe I could achieve a mid-pack 5000 time from the '72 Olympics. We are all so better than that now. I am so close to the end of the tunnel I can reach my hand out into the light. Curious as to what is out there. I know music from The Band won't be playing. Probably tough to find a decent chili dog. I might chuck my phone. The wife will have one. "You going huntin'." "Only if'n I lose somethin'." Maybe those cool tunes from the Charlie Brown days will be around. "What's your dogs name." "Gene or Steve."

I don’t feel tardy

I will write more about 2020 in the near future. It was a good year in many ways and I learned a ton about keeping the big momma rolling down the highway. My log shows who I ran with during the year. This sounds cut and dry, but there are variables. Just one of the dozens of examples of achieving a run credit goes like this. If a group starts out on a run, how long do you need to be with me before you go in the log? Good question. The 2020 results show the highest totals in decades. It also shows a real thinning of the crowd at the lower numbers. Without further ado I want to acknowledge the Dew Master for regaining the title this year. It was real close and there was a bit of controversy, but these numbers are true and legit. 1. Dew Master - 73 2. State Champ - 71 3. Robert of Hubertus - 48 4. Crawford Women's IA Legend - 12 5. Grubby - 4 Straight up Tina - 4 7. I am Angela - 3 Bartz - 3 9. Lammers - 2 Mallach - 2 Andrea - 2 Clem Men's IA Legend - 2 That is a good bunch of people right there. It was an honor sharing the road, trail, and many a laugh with you. The biggest take away is State Champ informed me he is 67 and not 68 as I keep claiming. Million times bowing.