Back to the Knob..2nd Highest Point in Iowa

Pilot Knob State Park claims the second highest point in Iowa as well as trails that include hills that are not available in Mason City.  I used the Knob to help prepare for the Black Hills 50 and now we're using the terrain for NIACC's cross country team.  Saturday I was on the trails to mark the major intersections in order to keep the teams from getting lost today.

It was plenty warm out and the major complaint for the workout was lack of water...the men ran around 9 miles followed by 10 hill repeats; the women ran 6 miles with 6 hill repeats at the conclusion.  Curtis and I ran the 6 mile out and back.  All in all the trip was worth it and a great workout resulted.

Using the sledding hill rather than the Knob because of the available shade difference.

I had been out to Lime Creek before noon for a 4 miler and with my evening workout, I'll have better mileage today than I've been keeping recently. Most likely, I'll be heading to Colorado next week to help crew and pace a runner in the Leadville 100 so I'm becoming more motivated again...ain't life grand!

13 miles for the day

2nd Day NJCAA Region XI T&F

Today was the bulk of the meet with most of our athletes getting a last chance to perform for the year...or to gain qualifying for outdoor nationals.  As the dust settled, NIACC now has at least 20 individuals headed for Texas in a couple weeks.  Some winning performances and some season and personal bests today.

Because of the meet, Curtis and I got out for an early morning run and used a nearby bike path to get to the flood wall of the Missouri River and then ran along the gravel path there.  For me it was a bit of a tempo run compared to most of my workouts and I was very pleased to hold the pace for 7 miles without needing a walk break. I did a brief hike later for a couple more miles. 

1st Day Region XI Outdoor T&F

Bus leaves before lunch to head to Council Bluffs for regionals so I got out early this morning to get some miles.  At one point, I felt I was being watched.

The morning lent itself to peaceful, easy running and I hit the back trails while listening to podcasts.  I also took a few moments to scout for morel mushrooms and lucked out with more than yesterday in about a quarter of the time!

I wish I had thought to take a photo of the prairie yesterday while the county crew was performing a controlled burn in order to promote the proper growth of native prairie grasses.  I took a couple shots of that prairie today.

10 miles.

Eye of the Tiger...Competition

Absolutely perfect running day today.  At one point, I had a Tiger Swallowtail flit by and land on nearby bush.  

As I ran this morning, I was acutely aware of competition in the woods...others looking for the elusive morel mushrooms.

Although I, like most mushroom hunters, get protective of "their" hunting grounds, I tolerated with full knowledge that I could cover more ground and get out to my secret places before they could!

There was a change in the dates of the Junior College Regional meet so they can compete without worry of weather that threatens to cancel.  So instead of this Friday and Saturday, it'll be tomorrow and Thursday.  So because I'll either ride along on the charter or maybe drive the NIACC bus if needed, this is important to  how I plan my own workouts this week.  Instead of the very long run tomorrow, I'll likely switch back to this weekend.  So that meant I wanted a bit more mileage out of today's run.  The extra was accomplished but I did, successfully, take some time in the middle to finally find a hat-full of morels that will become part of our evening meal tonight.

15 miles and recovery hiking later.

Final Day Kansas Relays

Today's the big day with more finals and invitational events.  I was able to visit briefly with former world record holder in the mile, Jim Ryan, yesterday and get his autograph.  In the early 80's, Jim had been in Mason City and raced at one of our local races.  I had the pleasure at that time to have a photo taken with him for the Globe-Gazette's coverage of his appearance.

The plan is to run early this morning...another outing with Curtis and Anna, however, I'm really feeling the fascia in my right foot complaining so will probably opt out.  I have stopped wearing my orthotics, partially due to all I've been listening to about the advantage of "minimalist running" and this old body is saying.."Wait a minute, I still need that support I've been used to for the past 10 years!"

PM -- OK, so I didn't follow my own recommendation to opt out of the run.  Instead we took advantage of the chance for more hill running and took off across towards the KU West Campus.  Really another good run and the only grief for me was my left knee on the downhills.

RJ Harris and McKenna Wragge meeting some members of Team Nike

The relays organizers were awarded a Guinness world record for largest serving of nachos,  an 80-foot long portion that was prepared then immediately given away (for a donation to a feed the homeless charity).  We were able to be a part of the record by accepting some nachos...most of the servings ended up in trash barrels around the stadium as the serving size was too large for most people's tastes!

6 miles and another 2 miles hiking later. 

2nd Day Kansas Relays

Great day, other than the wind, the weather was fantastic for a day at the track.  Some great performances by our athletes, however, not all achieved their best times at this meet.

I was able to begin the day with a very good run with Curtis Vais and one of our women runners , Anna Buenneke.  Anna was disappointed with her 10K run last night but was able to humor two old coaches by staying at their pace today.  We explored some trails along the river and even had some sort of obstacle course at times because the trail reduced to basically a deer path through the river bottom.  We changed direction in order to find better running and hooked up with a bike trail on the opposite side of the river.  This led us to a mountain bike course and it was a real hoot to run the ups and downs and curves of this trail.   I was happy to not have to ask for any walking breaks and we put in an hour and 5 minutes of running!  I'll be able to add some photos when I get back to my home computer.

Tomorrow will be the final day for the relays and then we have the 6 hour drive home.

7.5 miles running and an additional 2 miles hiking later in the day.

1st Day Kansas Relays

Beautiful start to this day with a run with Coach Vais...but there was a little too much pavement for my tastes.  Especially since my legs haven't fully recovered from Tuesday's long run.  We, eventually, did discover a trail that runs along the river so we'll be able to explore that in the next couple morning runs.  

The bonus of today's location was a chance to work many more hills than available at Lime Creek.  There were some good ones including the middle of campus and up to the campanile that overlooks the stadium!  Even broke up the rhythm with some stairs for a drop-down to the street beside the stadium.  I didn't feel much argument from my left knee today as much as from the right knee...on the downhills.

Following the run, we hiked a couple extra mile to get the registration packet and athlete numbers.  It is much warmer this morning than what I've typically been faced with, but that is probably good as I feel it will be good to be acclimated to more heat for the Black Hills event in June.  Regarding Black Hills 50, I took the jump and actually entered before this trip.  So I'm more committed than I was last week!

5 miles with 5 miles additional hiking.  Also did a very quick amend to an earlier post that I promised to get back to.

Recognition

The NIACC XC teams were recognized for their achievements at last fall's regional and national tournaments during half time at this afternoon's basketball game.  The men won regionals with a perfect score (in fact they had the top 8 overall finishers). Then they finished fourth at nationals with a best-placed finisher at 11th overall.  The women's team finished 15th at nationals with a best-placed finisher at 2nd overall.  Likely the best combined finishes since the program began...but with more to come...stay tuned.

My time on the trails went very well this morning as I listened to the latest Talk Ultra podcast.  Still good footing and weather not too bad so a comfortable workout the whole way.

10 miles