Got what I asked for!

While sitting around the dinner table last night after the run I finally told all my friends something that probably would have gotten me beat down earlier in the day. Since we were in the AC with cold drinks and all showered up I let them know for the last week "I have prayed that it be HOT on Saturday". After some laughs and dirty looks I didn't bring that up again.
Rick Mayo and I arrived at the track around 5:30, with Angel, Kristi and Adrian Mayo following close behind. When 6am snuck up on us there were already a couple of runners there. Peter Euler and a guy who read about us in the paper Friday probably ran the first 5 or 6 miles with me and then we eased into our own paces. By around 10am we must have had around 150 people on the track and somewhere close 200 all together just hanging out and supporting. The Air Force were the first of the military to arrive, some where between 20 and 30 men and women from McConnell Air Force Base. Next we had the US Army show up with about the same amount of "future soldier" and I think 6 or 7 actual Soldiers out there leading them through about 30 to 45 mins of exercises on the football field and then they did a formation run around the track. Nothing more motivating that hearing the sound of cadence being yelled by 30 kids about ready to go to bootcamp. Shortly there after the Navy showed with probably pretty close to 30 as well. They did a full physical fitness test and by this time we were well in the mid 90's for temps. Hooters of Wichita also sent out a couple "Hooters Girls" to assist and motivate. Well that leaves one branch of service, my boys the Marines! I say this with my head hung low, they no showed! That is all I will say about that for fear I will cuss on this blog and tell you I really feel!!!
Nonetheless, even though the Marines no showed we had alot of tough men and women who were not in the military show up as well. My Aunt Mary and her friends from Curves Health Club came out and knocked out 5 miles I think, they were getting pledges from people at Curves. Tunie a great women from Wellington, Kansas and her husband came out, Tunie walked well into the heat of the day. After running 16 miles in the hills of Kingman, Randy, Winston and Zach drove back and knocked out 4 more with me in the heat, then Winston went home and did yard work and came back at 2pm when it was REALLY hot and helped me trudge through the last hour. Fernando Martinez came out for the last two hot hours of the day and ran with Rick and I. Karla Gregg and her daughter joined us for a few miles, there were so many others please forgive me for not mentioning all the names, these are just the ones my fried brain can remember.
We made just under $1000 at the track and still have people collecting pledges for a days. Peter Euler donated another $300 when he got home, he has already donated $500!!
The showing of support was awesome, it is great to know that so many people really care about our nations Wounded Warriors! I really needed the heat training yesterday but I got alot more, I was starting to fall into a rut and lose motivation. All of you who showed relit my fire for this great fundraiser and I will be full throttle once again. For me, I hit my 50 mile goal for the day in under 9 hours, the last couple of hours when the temps were around 100 and the heat index and heat off the track just seemed to cook you got a little tough, but hey, I asked for it literally. I would like to give a special thanks to Lee Crane who due to injury could not run Western States 100 yesterday but came down and did just about everything including knocking out miles with me. Rick and Kristi Mayo for the hundreds of pics they took and a video to come. Most of all my wife Angel, who always knows what I need when I need it and made sure my nutrition did not slack at all.
All in all a very productive day, great heat, hit my goal, feel great today and motivated to train. Again thank you for the support and Semper Fi!!!!

This Saturdays Track Run

Well, looking at the extended forecast this week it looks like we may be close to 100 degrees on Saturday. Obviously I would love a huge turnout to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, but not at the expense of someones health and safety. If you plan on coming out, come out prepared! We will have water there about 7:30 or so, On the Border is going to let us fill jugs with ice and water but they do not open until 7am on Saturday. So the first hour you will need to be self sufficient. I have had many questions about the direction we will be going on the track. For those of you running any long distance I strongly advise you to change up directions at some point. I will be running one mile clockwise and then one mile counter clockwise. Running in circles for multiple hours the same direction is a receipt for an over use injury.
We will have a couple of white pop up shelters, the restrooms will be open and we will try to utilize what shade there is out there. Take into consideration that this is a track and will be wide open! If you are not an experienced runner or have not trained for multiple hours in the heat, please come out early for your own safety. I will be starting at 6am sharp and ending at exactly 3pm. As I have said before this is going to be a heat training run for me, so please forgive me if I do not have a long conversation with any of you during the 9 hours, before and after I will chat all you want. After the first 3 hours or so I will be focusing on what a lot of ultrarunners call runwalking. I will run for 20mins or so and then powerwalk for a minute or two. It is not going to be possible for me to run the entire 224 miles across Kansas, there will be quite a bit of power walking towards the end I am sure. It may sound funny to some of you but practicing your powerwalking is actually very beneficial. For people who do not powerwalk regularly it can be just as challenging as running, you walk at such a pace you do not allow your body to completely cool down or relax. This is usually utilized in the later stages of most ultramarathons by those of us humans who cannot physically run the entire 100miles. I used this strategy at the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile run this past February and it turned out to be the best thing I ever did!!!
Please if you have any questions call me or e-mail me. Thanks

June 26th Track Run Fundraiser

Next Saturday June 26th from 6am to 3pm we will doing a 9 hour track run at the Maize South Track, which is located at the corner of 37th and Tyler for those of you that do not know. You do not have to run all 9 hours!!!! I will be using this as a 9 hour training run and i am trying to get people out there not only to keep me company but also to raise some more money for the Wounded Warrior Project. If you can afford to make a donation of any size it would be appreciated greatly or we had the idea of a dollar for every lap you complete, totally up to you. This is a public track for all to use so we cannot make anyone pay, if you cannot donate come out and participate anyway, its gonna be a blast. The principal of Maize South Middle School, Jess Herbig is kind enough to allow us to use the bathrooms this day also. So yes for those of you that have e-mailed and asked me, we will have bathrooms!
Some members of Curves health club are getting sponsored per lap they do, employees from On the Border will be there. We will also have a few HOOTERS girls out there to pass out water. It saddens me to say but the only branch of service that has given me a solid commitment on being there and at what time is the US ARMY. They will be there at 10am with some of there future soldiers. So if you want to meet some kick ass warriors and future warriors please come on out around 10am.
We have runners coming from as far south as Texas and a handful from Topeka and the Kansas City area. You DO NOT have to run, this is a walk, jog, run or whatever you choose to do. There will also be a flag present at the track that was presented to me by the American Legion Riders and I ask that you do not leave without signing the flag. We will have water there after 7am, "On the Border" in New market Square is going to supply us with ice and water for our jugs but they will not be there till 7am, so wait till about 7:30 if your not bringing water.
Rick and Kristi Mayo with "Mile 90" productions will be there as well, making the trip all the way from Kearney, Missouri taking pictures and doing a video of the run which we will post on facebook, the blog and YouTube. I truly hope we have a large turnout and raise an enormous amount of money for the Wounded Warriors! Semper Fi, Tony

GREAT NIGHT! Thank you "On the Border"

Tonight was a great reminder to me that there are a TON of people out there who support our nations Wounded Warriors! At one point people were waiting to be seated, I met people tonight I had never met before that just came up there to eat and say hi, and tell us that they love our fundraiser. Angel made contact with a local radio station today and I am pretty sure they got the word out as well.

We will not know till tomorrow what we made tonight, but I am sure it will be great. To my family, friends and people I had never met, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Not only was this a great night for us but also the reassurance people still care for our troops was displayed tonight. Captain Peter Euler, US ARMY stopped by in uniform to eat and say hello, we had never met until tonight and Peter donated a substainal amount of money to us last month. While waiting two different people offered to pay for his meal, AS IT SHOULD BE! So what does Peter do, he gives our fundraiser $40 more dollars!!! What a great guy and I am a better person for finally being able to meet him tonight. A ton of the local Wichita Runners and Kansas Ultrarunners Society members showed up to support us, as well as people from Newton, Belle Plain, Derby and Mulvane made the trip.

The American Legion Riders planned on having 40 or so riders there tonight but mother nature decided to screw that up and bring in a bunch of thunderstorms. Little did she know that a handful of them are more hardcore than she is and showed up anyway on the BIKES with American Flags for all to see. One of them being Cregg Hansen (Bronco 6), who is the Dept ALR Chairman and has been a complete blessing to know, he and the ALR's have helped us spread the word about our event like crazy. They will also be escorting me through many towns the day of the event. I had the opportunity to sit down and eat supper with the Riders that did show up and needless to say, they are probably one of the greatest groups of Americans I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Not to mention two of the founding members of the Patriot Guard were there tonight, Cregg and Steve, They told me the story of how the Patriot Guard was founded, I would tell you but then I would have to kill you, super top secret scoop there!

Once again to all that unselfishly came out and spent money to support the Wounded Warriors, thank you. Our next fundraiser will be Saturday June 26th at the Maize South Track, more info to come in the next couple of weeks, if you didn't participate tonight, please consider coming by the track June 26th. Thank you and Semper Fi, Tony