The Start of ???????

In 2004 I started running, entering my first race (a 5k) and completing my first marathon, the Twin Cities Marathon. I started running........and still haven't stopped. I suppose I'm not completely sure why - maybe I'm running from the 4 women I live with (the wife, 18 year old au pair, and daughters ages 5 and 6). Or, maybe it is because that running has opened up the door to an entire new world, a world of new challenges and many new friends.

Soon after my first marathon, with the help of the extraordinary Lisa Smith-Batchen, my marathon PR dropped by nearly 30 minutes (from 4:08 at Twin Cities, to 3:40 at the Long Island Marathon), and 5ks and marathons became 50ks, 50-milers and 100-milers. Running became ultra-running.

Now, in the course of getting into the sport of ultra-running, there seem to me to be a few constants.

First, 99.9% of the people you meet at an ultra event are amazing. I have made so many friends over the course of the last few years. That's not to say the same doesn't hold true at a non-ultra event (and by no means do I mean to diminish non-ultra events - I still run plenty of them), but, I have found that there is a certain camaraderie among runners of all levels in the ultra-running community that I simply haven't seen elsewhere, to the point were many of the elite runners that I have had the pleasure of meeting (such as Andy Jones-Wilkins and Bryon Powell) are eager and happy to offer encouragement and advice to the rest of us, even long after the events are over.

Case in point - at the 2007 Grand Teton Races, Bryon Powell (a/k/a Trail Goat) paced Andy Jones-Wilkins for 25 miles through the night in route to AJW's course record 19:35:20 first place finish (shattering the old course record of 24:12:32 held by Mike Wolf). 25 miles not being enough for the Trail Goat, he followed up his overnight pacing duties by, only 8 hours later, pacing me an additional 20 miles to my 33:19:36 finish (complete GTR 100 results and splits). Without Bryon's help, I may not have finished GTR 100.

A second constant that I have discovered among ultra-runners and runners alike - all of you seem to HAVE A BLOG. I admit, at 36 years old, with 5 and 6 (going on 7) year olds, maybe I should have known what a blog was - but I didn't. Wasn't there a 1958 movie with Steve McQueen in it called "The Blog" ? Well, these blogs are great. There are several that I visit daily in an effort to read up on the activities and events of a variety of people in the running community. Besides, some of these folks have become my friends, so, I feel somewhat obligated to read what they post.

So, after constant pressure from certain bloggers (who shall remain nameless - for now), I have decided to give in and join the blogging community. I have absolutely no idea what I am going to post here (maybe some race reports, reflections on life, etc...), no idea where to start, but hey, I made it through this post.

So, feel free to check back, read a little, comment and enjoy !!