Well, 2 weeks from today we start out journey. I am basically in cruise mode now, the training is done, just running minimal 30 to 40 miles a week to keep the cobwebs knocked off. Ran 50 miles last weekend in Leadville, Co. with my buddy Rick Mayo, he finished the Leadville 100 and I just paced back the last 50. I feel like I am ready, the temps are low 90's high 80's right now which is doable, low 80's high 70's would be a lot better though.
As for the fundraising, we are just a hair above $16,000, still about $9000 short but I have faith in people, we will pull out that $25,000, I know it! The drivers are set and tons of people are asking to run a few miles here and there with me. Tony Brown our route coordinator made final arrangements with law enforcement this week and other than a couple of construction areas we have to be careful in, we are good to go. Thank you everyone and Semper Fi
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Winding Down fast!
As I write this blog entry we are closing in on 21 days exactly till the start of my portion of this fundraiser. Tonight we sit at $15,203 raised so far. The goal we set was $25,000, is this still attainable, absolutely!!! Regardless of the final amount I know without a doubt there are thousands of people in the last couple of months that we have reached who never knew what the Wounded Warrior Project was. Now they do. From our fundraiser I have been contacted by 3 other individuals, two on the east coast and one in the Washington State area, all inquiring about how we went about our fundraiser. The first thing I tell them is that you have to have a group who believes in what they are doing, my wife has spent countless hours on this fundraiser. Dan Elsener was the reason we even got this ball rolling, without those two and there hard work this summer, I say without hesitation, this fundraiser would be no where near what it is today.
The territory manager for Mizuno USA, Sophia Wharton and her fiance Ben Holmes have literally clothed me to do this run. Sophia and her company provided me with ample amounts of new Mizuno Precisions and to top that her and Ben paid for extra pairs out of there pockets to ensure I had enough brand new pairs to change every 50 miles, thats 5 pairs of brand new shoes. Mizuno donated so much apparel for this, It would take me an hour to type it all! Thank you both, I am truly in your debt.
Brent Welch with Resort Promo Wear is still selling event shirts and donating a portion of the sales to us. Eric Steele the RD of FlatRock 25/50k is donating a portion of race entries to us, up till Aug 25th and Phil and Stacy Sheridan are doing the same with the Horse Thief Canyon 10k. Darin S. whom is running the Leadville100 this weekend is taking per mile donations and giving that to the fundraiser. People have been so giving it is unreal.
The American Legion Riders will be escorting me through most major towns along the route. Tony Brown our route coordinator has put his fair share of hours into this and will be with us as well for the duration. The post event party is at HOOTERS Wichita, they will be giving away visors, hats and shirts, plus other specials. That will be from 2-5pm Sunday Sept 12th, at the completion of the fundraiser.
As for me, this weekend will be my last long training run before the fundraiser. I will pace Rick Mayo back the last 50 miles of the Leadville 100. After that I am basically shutting it down for two weeks, with minimal running, just enough to stay loose. I am confident I have prepared myself the best I can, many 130 - 140 mile weeks this summer.The only concern I have at this point is the weather, if we get into the 90's it will definitely affect my body on day two. Other than that things are great and I am ready to get started and get this over with, so I can take at least a month off from running!!! Thanks everyone, Semper Fi, Tony
The territory manager for Mizuno USA, Sophia Wharton and her fiance Ben Holmes have literally clothed me to do this run. Sophia and her company provided me with ample amounts of new Mizuno Precisions and to top that her and Ben paid for extra pairs out of there pockets to ensure I had enough brand new pairs to change every 50 miles, thats 5 pairs of brand new shoes. Mizuno donated so much apparel for this, It would take me an hour to type it all! Thank you both, I am truly in your debt.
Brent Welch with Resort Promo Wear is still selling event shirts and donating a portion of the sales to us. Eric Steele the RD of FlatRock 25/50k is donating a portion of race entries to us, up till Aug 25th and Phil and Stacy Sheridan are doing the same with the Horse Thief Canyon 10k. Darin S. whom is running the Leadville100 this weekend is taking per mile donations and giving that to the fundraiser. People have been so giving it is unreal.
The American Legion Riders will be escorting me through most major towns along the route. Tony Brown our route coordinator has put his fair share of hours into this and will be with us as well for the duration. The post event party is at HOOTERS Wichita, they will be giving away visors, hats and shirts, plus other specials. That will be from 2-5pm Sunday Sept 12th, at the completion of the fundraiser.
As for me, this weekend will be my last long training run before the fundraiser. I will pace Rick Mayo back the last 50 miles of the Leadville 100. After that I am basically shutting it down for two weeks, with minimal running, just enough to stay loose. I am confident I have prepared myself the best I can, many 130 - 140 mile weeks this summer.The only concern I have at this point is the weather, if we get into the 90's it will definitely affect my body on day two. Other than that things are great and I am ready to get started and get this over with, so I can take at least a month off from running!!! Thanks everyone, Semper Fi, Tony
Friday, August 6, 2010
Post event party!!!!
You cannot do a fundraiser of this size and not have a post event party. So, Hooters of America, who by the way is a huge supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and the US Military in general has offered to do the following. Start September 1st, we will have a Wounded Warrior advertisement on the marquee here in Wichita. There will be a post event party from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday September 12th, following our fundraiser run. This should give me time to get cleaned up, go to MASS, sleep an hour or two and then go party! They are donating the following.
- First 50 men and women in the door get visors and t-shirts.
- 15% discount on food
- Whatever amount you donate to the fundraiser they will match with a gift card for your next visit.
- Kids under 10 eat for free
- Finally, Hooters of America will donate $1000.00 on top of all this to our fundraiser!!!
Needless to say we are very happy about this event. Please come by and eat, have a beer or 10 and hang out with me and the others.
Please remember if you are a runner that Eric Steele RD of FlatRock25/50k is donating $5 per entry and $10 if we get 100 entries by Aug 25th. I will be there running as well and would love to chat with any of you who show up. Getting close, only about a month out, lets get this done for the Wounded Warriors!!!! Semper Fi
- First 50 men and women in the door get visors and t-shirts.
- 15% discount on food
- Whatever amount you donate to the fundraiser they will match with a gift card for your next visit.
- Kids under 10 eat for free
- Finally, Hooters of America will donate $1000.00 on top of all this to our fundraiser!!!
Needless to say we are very happy about this event. Please come by and eat, have a beer or 10 and hang out with me and the others.
Please remember if you are a runner that Eric Steele RD of FlatRock25/50k is donating $5 per entry and $10 if we get 100 entries by Aug 25th. I will be there running as well and would love to chat with any of you who show up. Getting close, only about a month out, lets get this done for the Wounded Warriors!!!! Semper Fi
Monday, August 2, 2010
Heating up!!!
Well today was pretty darn hot in Wichita, hit about 106 I think with a 115 or so heat index. So what did I do, yep, went for a run. No telling what the temps will be like a month from now, so I am pushing hard in this heat and the great thing is I truly feel like I am climatized about the best I can to it. Lots of water, endurolyte caps and a gel every now and then and it's all good. Now to touch on some more topics.
- Mizuno USA!!!! Sophia Wharton the mid-west rep for Mizuno has far exceeded what I would call stepping up and helping. Basically Mizuno has me set for the entire run and I mean everything. So I should be a running/walking Mizuno poster boy during the fundraiser. She has not only offered assistance but went out of her way to do it, so for all you runners or just people that wear shoes, shorts, shirts any type of athletic apparel, please look into buying Mizuno and supporting them. They have stepped up in a HUGE way. Just to be fair I will let all of you know that I contacted every major shoe brand out there a couple months ago, explained what we are doing for the Wounded Warriors and asked if they would kindly kick in a pair or two of shoes. All of them told me NO, except Mizuno.
- A Topeka, Kansas area runner named Darin Schneidewind will be running the Leadville 100 in a couple of weeks. The Leadville 100 starts in Leadville, Colorado and twist and turns through the mountains until you make it to Winfield, which is the 50 mile turn around. Then you get to do it in reverse! During this little jaunt, you go over the infamous HOPES PASS, not once but twice, basically climbing 5 miles straight up switchbacks getting up above 12,000 feet. The entire 100miles you are above 10,000 feet for the most part, piece of cake for a Kansan who lives at about 800 feet!! Well Darin is using this race to help raise money for our fundraiser, he is taking per mile donations. So far he has 4 or 5 people I think kicking in .50cents per mile. So, if you have any interest in motivating Darin to get through the pain, either email me and I will get you in contact with him or contact him through facebook. Oh by the way, Darin won the Kettle Moraine 100 mile this year in June, so if your gonna pledge, plan on paying, the dude is an AWESOME RUNNER!
- Runners here is one for you. The founder and race director of the FlatRock 25/50k races in September has given you an opportunity to not only run one of the toughest races in the midwest but help us by doing so. If you sign up for his race he is kicking us $5 per entry until August 25th, but wait there's more!!! If we get 100 people to sign up by the 25th he will give us $10 per entry, that is $1000!!! So, if you want to help and run a great race please check out http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1802433
Sign up ASAP!!!
Well that will be it for tonight, I will get a little more info on here in a day or two. If you have any intentions of coming out and running any of this, please give me a heads up here pretty quick. Tony Brown our route guru and point of contact with all law enforcement needs to give them a heads up to what kind of numbers to expect. Thanks and Semper Fi, Tony
- Mizuno USA!!!! Sophia Wharton the mid-west rep for Mizuno has far exceeded what I would call stepping up and helping. Basically Mizuno has me set for the entire run and I mean everything. So I should be a running/walking Mizuno poster boy during the fundraiser. She has not only offered assistance but went out of her way to do it, so for all you runners or just people that wear shoes, shorts, shirts any type of athletic apparel, please look into buying Mizuno and supporting them. They have stepped up in a HUGE way. Just to be fair I will let all of you know that I contacted every major shoe brand out there a couple months ago, explained what we are doing for the Wounded Warriors and asked if they would kindly kick in a pair or two of shoes. All of them told me NO, except Mizuno.
- A Topeka, Kansas area runner named Darin Schneidewind will be running the Leadville 100 in a couple of weeks. The Leadville 100 starts in Leadville, Colorado and twist and turns through the mountains until you make it to Winfield, which is the 50 mile turn around. Then you get to do it in reverse! During this little jaunt, you go over the infamous HOPES PASS, not once but twice, basically climbing 5 miles straight up switchbacks getting up above 12,000 feet. The entire 100miles you are above 10,000 feet for the most part, piece of cake for a Kansan who lives at about 800 feet!! Well Darin is using this race to help raise money for our fundraiser, he is taking per mile donations. So far he has 4 or 5 people I think kicking in .50cents per mile. So, if you have any interest in motivating Darin to get through the pain, either email me and I will get you in contact with him or contact him through facebook. Oh by the way, Darin won the Kettle Moraine 100 mile this year in June, so if your gonna pledge, plan on paying, the dude is an AWESOME RUNNER!
- Runners here is one for you. The founder and race director of the FlatRock 25/50k races in September has given you an opportunity to not only run one of the toughest races in the midwest but help us by doing so. If you sign up for his race he is kicking us $5 per entry until August 25th, but wait there's more!!! If we get 100 people to sign up by the 25th he will give us $10 per entry, that is $1000!!! So, if you want to help and run a great race please check out http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1802433
Sign up ASAP!!!
Well that will be it for tonight, I will get a little more info on here in a day or two. If you have any intentions of coming out and running any of this, please give me a heads up here pretty quick. Tony Brown our route guru and point of contact with all law enforcement needs to give them a heads up to what kind of numbers to expect. Thanks and Semper Fi, Tony
Saturday, July 31, 2010
40 days to go!
Sorry I have slacked on posting here! I will cover some now and some later, alot has happened here recently. First of all, we broke the halfway mark on donations and are just shy of $13,000 right now. For all of you that do not use "facebook" you can still access our fanpage on the right side of this blog without being a member, just click on the link and you will go to the page. You cannot post anything unless you are a facebook member, but atleast you can read all the comments, we have over 1100 fans and new stuff pops up everyday.
-We had a bit of an RV situation a few weeks and really freaked me out for a day or two. Our original RV plan, excuse my language "went to hell" and I had no idea what we were gonna do. I called around and it was no less than $1000 to rent one for the weekend plus a $500 deposit. I called every RV place in Wichita and surrounding areas but no one was willing to assist us or donate one. So using the awesome tool that Facebook is, I sent out a plea for help basically. The next day I received a message from Julie Toft a friend of Angel and I's and an ultrarunner in the KC area. Julie spoke with a friend of her's named Mike Peek of the KC area. This next part is truly amazing, Mike e-mails me and has never even spoken to me before and said we have 100% commitment from him to use his RV the entire weekend. Need I say more about how awesome this guy is, I finally spoke with him over the phone the other night and he really is a great guy, saying things like "he is truly blessed and looks for ways to help others". He is now a friend for life!
-We are still going to need a few people who would like to help with driving duties on the RV, Mike and I would both prefer someone who has driven one before or isnt scared to drive it. I believe he said its a 32'foot RV. We basically have the first day covered with no problem at all, but going into friday night Sept 10th and Saturday Sept 11th, we may need some relief drivers. By that time we will be well south of Salina, Kansas and on our way to Wichita. Please contact me if you would like to help, I will get you in contact with Kyle Amos who is our "route" navigator.
-I have had many people ask about running with me. I will ofcourse never turn down a running partner but after speaking with my crew, they asked me to make a few things clear. We will not logistically be able to aid all the runners that come out, please bring your own food and water. Make sure you have a vehicle to drop you off and pick you up and the thing Kyle wanted me to stress the most is do not try to alter whatever pace I am at. I could go 10 to 15 min stretches where I have to walk or jog very slow. As much as I appreciate all the help we have to take those kind of precautions to make sure we make it to the end of the 224 miles. No matter how hard I have trained over the summer this will not be easy, I will hurt and by the end it I will mostly likely be the saddest excuse for a runner you have ever seen! I keep telling myself that my pain is temporary and I have planned and asked for it, the men and women we are fundraising for did not ask for the daily pain they endure. So I tell you ALL right now, if you catch me whining or feeling sorry for myself, tell me to shut up and move! I do not understand what words like quit or defeat mean, so I can assure you, that will not be heard.
Like I said before, I have about a month worth of stuff to tell you so I will stop here and tell you more in the next post. We have a shoe and apparel sponsor, among other things I would like you to know. Thank you for your continued support, I will either update this blog daily or every other day for the next 40 days until our event. There is not much time left but I know we can reach our goal! Semper Fi, Tony
-We had a bit of an RV situation a few weeks and really freaked me out for a day or two. Our original RV plan, excuse my language "went to hell" and I had no idea what we were gonna do. I called around and it was no less than $1000 to rent one for the weekend plus a $500 deposit. I called every RV place in Wichita and surrounding areas but no one was willing to assist us or donate one. So using the awesome tool that Facebook is, I sent out a plea for help basically. The next day I received a message from Julie Toft a friend of Angel and I's and an ultrarunner in the KC area. Julie spoke with a friend of her's named Mike Peek of the KC area. This next part is truly amazing, Mike e-mails me and has never even spoken to me before and said we have 100% commitment from him to use his RV the entire weekend. Need I say more about how awesome this guy is, I finally spoke with him over the phone the other night and he really is a great guy, saying things like "he is truly blessed and looks for ways to help others". He is now a friend for life!
-We are still going to need a few people who would like to help with driving duties on the RV, Mike and I would both prefer someone who has driven one before or isnt scared to drive it. I believe he said its a 32'foot RV. We basically have the first day covered with no problem at all, but going into friday night Sept 10th and Saturday Sept 11th, we may need some relief drivers. By that time we will be well south of Salina, Kansas and on our way to Wichita. Please contact me if you would like to help, I will get you in contact with Kyle Amos who is our "route" navigator.
-I have had many people ask about running with me. I will ofcourse never turn down a running partner but after speaking with my crew, they asked me to make a few things clear. We will not logistically be able to aid all the runners that come out, please bring your own food and water. Make sure you have a vehicle to drop you off and pick you up and the thing Kyle wanted me to stress the most is do not try to alter whatever pace I am at. I could go 10 to 15 min stretches where I have to walk or jog very slow. As much as I appreciate all the help we have to take those kind of precautions to make sure we make it to the end of the 224 miles. No matter how hard I have trained over the summer this will not be easy, I will hurt and by the end it I will mostly likely be the saddest excuse for a runner you have ever seen! I keep telling myself that my pain is temporary and I have planned and asked for it, the men and women we are fundraising for did not ask for the daily pain they endure. So I tell you ALL right now, if you catch me whining or feeling sorry for myself, tell me to shut up and move! I do not understand what words like quit or defeat mean, so I can assure you, that will not be heard.
Like I said before, I have about a month worth of stuff to tell you so I will stop here and tell you more in the next post. We have a shoe and apparel sponsor, among other things I would like you to know. Thank you for your continued support, I will either update this blog daily or every other day for the next 40 days until our event. There is not much time left but I know we can reach our goal! Semper Fi, Tony
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Another Great Training Run
As many of you already know, we did a track fundraiser last weekend in the heat that proved to be successful for a couple of reasons. The first being we raised nearly $1000 and the second being I found out I could push my body at pretty extreme temps and still be OK. Well Friday night I went a different route. During the course of my "cross Kansas" run, I will be moving for multiple days, meaning a lot of fatigue. So this weekend I got in some fatigue training!
It started Thursday night. I stayed up till midnight and then made sure I was out of bed by 5am and moving. Went into work early, kept moving all day. Once I got off work I packed for the race and then got in my truck and drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma. About a two and a half hour drive. Arrived about 11pm and the 50mile run started at 12:01am. After checking in and getting my gear ready the pre-race brief started and WHAM!!! I started yawning uncontrollably. Usually this would freak me out right before a race, but its what I wanted. The first 20 miles I was moving way to quick as usual, although I was practicing my run/walking, run 20mins walk 1 min. By the end of the 2nd 10 mile loop the people told me I was in like 4th place. This is not what I wanted believe it or not. Running hard and racing is not going to get me to my goal of running across Kansas, I need steady forward motion and not breath taking speed. So I did what most runners at races would NEVER do. I sat down for 5 minutes. The people at the aide station were freaking out at first, telling me how great I was doing and keep pushing. I finally explained my situation to them and what I was training for and they all changed their tune. Most of them being ultrarunning vets understood exactly why I was doing what I was doing and why resting was of the utmost importance.
The final 30 miles I would go all the way down to 5min running and 1min walking. I decided to go to that extreme because I was testing new nutritional items and if i was going to have any adverse effects I could manage 5 mins of running on a bad stomach. To my surprise I had no issues with the new stuff and had a very enjoyable run to say the least. It was actually about a 52 mile race due to not being able to make it an exact 10mile loop. I think my 50 mile time was like 8:35 and my overall time was 8:53.
Throughout this fundraiser and the massive amount of miles I am putting in, my goal is not to get hurt or workout to the point it takes multiple days to recover. This run was perfect, no pain afterwards, no swelling and built a ton of mental toughness. Will possibly run the Summer Psycho 50k this weekend coming up and then ease back into my regular training for a few weeks.My final long training run will be pacing Rick Mayo back 50 miles at Leadville this year. Closing in on two months till the fundraiser run I feel my fitness is where it needs to be and it seems weekly I steadily progress, most of that due to my wife Angel talking sense into me about my speed I am running or when I am pushing myself to hard. Thanks sweetie!
On a money note, we broke $10,000 this week and hopefully as the event gets closer in the next two months the donations flow in!!! Semper Fi
It started Thursday night. I stayed up till midnight and then made sure I was out of bed by 5am and moving. Went into work early, kept moving all day. Once I got off work I packed for the race and then got in my truck and drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma. About a two and a half hour drive. Arrived about 11pm and the 50mile run started at 12:01am. After checking in and getting my gear ready the pre-race brief started and WHAM!!! I started yawning uncontrollably. Usually this would freak me out right before a race, but its what I wanted. The first 20 miles I was moving way to quick as usual, although I was practicing my run/walking, run 20mins walk 1 min. By the end of the 2nd 10 mile loop the people told me I was in like 4th place. This is not what I wanted believe it or not. Running hard and racing is not going to get me to my goal of running across Kansas, I need steady forward motion and not breath taking speed. So I did what most runners at races would NEVER do. I sat down for 5 minutes. The people at the aide station were freaking out at first, telling me how great I was doing and keep pushing. I finally explained my situation to them and what I was training for and they all changed their tune. Most of them being ultrarunning vets understood exactly why I was doing what I was doing and why resting was of the utmost importance.
The final 30 miles I would go all the way down to 5min running and 1min walking. I decided to go to that extreme because I was testing new nutritional items and if i was going to have any adverse effects I could manage 5 mins of running on a bad stomach. To my surprise I had no issues with the new stuff and had a very enjoyable run to say the least. It was actually about a 52 mile race due to not being able to make it an exact 10mile loop. I think my 50 mile time was like 8:35 and my overall time was 8:53.
Throughout this fundraiser and the massive amount of miles I am putting in, my goal is not to get hurt or workout to the point it takes multiple days to recover. This run was perfect, no pain afterwards, no swelling and built a ton of mental toughness. Will possibly run the Summer Psycho 50k this weekend coming up and then ease back into my regular training for a few weeks.My final long training run will be pacing Rick Mayo back 50 miles at Leadville this year. Closing in on two months till the fundraiser run I feel my fitness is where it needs to be and it seems weekly I steadily progress, most of that due to my wife Angel talking sense into me about my speed I am running or when I am pushing myself to hard. Thanks sweetie!
On a money note, we broke $10,000 this week and hopefully as the event gets closer in the next two months the donations flow in!!! Semper Fi
Sunday, June 27, 2010
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!!!!
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!!!!
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