This day brings back many special memories for me. For one thing, it was the idea of changing my running environment and running with different characters. The other thing was reconnecting with friends that I tend to go months without seeing.
The idea to run the Art Moore FA 50 was Mike Keller's. As I was looking through the Mohican group's messages, I saw the details from Colleen with regards to the event. Colleen is one of the powerful players who tirelessly assists with the Mohican 100 Mile event in Loudonville, OH. I met her in the summer of 2007 on the Sunday of the event, when the runners were starting to finish. I was in Mohican with my running gang to offer support to Helen who was attempting to finish the 100M. I paced her for the last 7 miles before she declared that she was starting to hurt and wanted to call it quits at the 52 mile mark. The next morning, Angie and I were at the finish line trying to find out the status of another one of our runners. We were in our pyjamas at point as it was 6h30. Colleen approached us and commented on how we looked like we were wide awake. She was looking for someone to assist with the data entry in the trailer as the race director, Ryan ODell, was starting to burn out. I immediately agreed to help out and spent the rest of the morning entering data, and compiling race results and reports. It was an interesting morning to say the least. It took a lot of thinking, improvising, and feedback seeking to get the job done. Knowing that Colleen was organising the dinner, I was immediately gung ho on the idea of making the drive to Cleveland Ohio to participate in this event. I really wanted to see Colleen again. In fact, I ended up running errands to pick up some last minute stuff, including a purple Pashmina scarf for Colleen.
The original plan was to drive down on New Year's Day and spend time with Mike before we were to arrive at Fred and Flo's place. New Years Eve was really busy for me. I was busy baking cookies for all my special friends, and packing my gear. New Year's Day, I woke up bleary eyed thinking that I only had a couple hours to get ready and hit the road so that I wouldn't arrive in the dark. Upon checking my phone, I found a message from Mike indicating that he was ill. As a result of that, I decided that I would leave on Friday instead and go straight to Fred's place.
The drive down to Cleveland was uneventful. Other than the usual deal with lunch stops, gas, and customs, I made it there. Once I got into Cleveland, I visited the Lululemon Athletica showroom. I was able to score a really neat pair of tights, and a tank top at a really good clearance price. After leaving the showroom, I went over to Fred and Flo's to drop my stuff off, and say hello. I was there for a half hour before heading back out to do a class at Cleveland Yoga where Parker Bean really made us sweat Baptiste style. Upon returning to Fred and Flo's, I had a light supper and we started catching up on all the comings and goings. We also watched Russell Peters' stand up comedy DVD "Red, White, and Brown" and had quite a laugh before turning in for the night.
The next morning, I was awoken by Fred knocking on the door. Oops... didn't set the alarm properly so it didn't go off. Oh well... All I could do at this point was get ready. I had organised everything I needed the night before so I had no problems from that point on. It was dark when we set out for the west side of Cleveland over to the Metro Park where we were to meet the rest of the gang.
When we arrived, Fred and I organised our gear and got ready to run. We elected to do the 50K because Fred would be running the Bandera 100K the next weekend, followed by HURT 100M the following weekend in Hawaii. He even mentioned to me that if it wasn't for those two races, he would have had us up at 4h00 so that we could attempt the 50 miler. It was quite a frigid start when we started at 7h30 but once the sun came out we warmed up and had tons of fun. We chatted about a wide variety of stuff - everything from training and racing stories, to religion and philosophy. Flo and Fred's mother Irma drove around and met us at different points along the out and back. The run surprisingly felt really easy. Other than some minor cramping, we did really well, finishing the run in six and a half hours.
After the run, we all drove over to Colleen's place where she had a nice spread laid out to keep us in check before the hot food was ready. Anything you needed or wanted was there. The rest of the runners showed up after. Mike was feeling better so he stopped by and brought his daughters with him. They were all dressed in purple and it added a special touch to the atmosphere as Colleen's favourite colour is purple. Just for the fun of it, Flo and I would occasionally break out a couple of Russell Peters' lines just to show Mike how much fun he missed on Friday night... haha... There was a lot of bantering between us as we discussed races and of course the Mohican 100. I also discovered how small the world is with ultrarunning. I was the only Canadian in the crowd but I found myself connecting with the crowd because of the people we mutually knew. I came home with plenty of greetings to pass along for some of the Ontario crowd. I can honestly say that while I missed my folks, I had a really great time out there and I am thinking of making this run an annual event. In fact, I may even invite a few friends along for the fun :)
After the party concluded, we all headed back. On the ride back Fred, Flo, and I were constantly chatting and remembering the day quite well. I prepped my stuff for the ride back home the next morning.
The next morning, I made a trip over to Cleveland Yoga to get a workout by Tami Schneider - prior to stopping for gas and P.F. Chang's take out - before hitting the road homeward bound. At the studio, I managed to score another set of clothing from Lululemon that were on sale, as well as a book. The drive home was uneventful. I listened to the Amadou and Miriam CD that Mike had given to me and had some fun trying to grasp the meaning from the French that was spoken. I also listened to tunes from my MP3 player to keep it lively. On the way home, I had to stop at Kula Yoga for the launch of the 40 Days to Personal Revolution programme.
I still marvel at the wonderful weekend that I had and I look forward to many more...
The idea to run the Art Moore FA 50 was Mike Keller's. As I was looking through the Mohican group's messages, I saw the details from Colleen with regards to the event. Colleen is one of the powerful players who tirelessly assists with the Mohican 100 Mile event in Loudonville, OH. I met her in the summer of 2007 on the Sunday of the event, when the runners were starting to finish. I was in Mohican with my running gang to offer support to Helen who was attempting to finish the 100M. I paced her for the last 7 miles before she declared that she was starting to hurt and wanted to call it quits at the 52 mile mark. The next morning, Angie and I were at the finish line trying to find out the status of another one of our runners. We were in our pyjamas at point as it was 6h30. Colleen approached us and commented on how we looked like we were wide awake. She was looking for someone to assist with the data entry in the trailer as the race director, Ryan ODell, was starting to burn out. I immediately agreed to help out and spent the rest of the morning entering data, and compiling race results and reports. It was an interesting morning to say the least. It took a lot of thinking, improvising, and feedback seeking to get the job done. Knowing that Colleen was organising the dinner, I was immediately gung ho on the idea of making the drive to Cleveland Ohio to participate in this event. I really wanted to see Colleen again. In fact, I ended up running errands to pick up some last minute stuff, including a purple Pashmina scarf for Colleen.
The original plan was to drive down on New Year's Day and spend time with Mike before we were to arrive at Fred and Flo's place. New Years Eve was really busy for me. I was busy baking cookies for all my special friends, and packing my gear. New Year's Day, I woke up bleary eyed thinking that I only had a couple hours to get ready and hit the road so that I wouldn't arrive in the dark. Upon checking my phone, I found a message from Mike indicating that he was ill. As a result of that, I decided that I would leave on Friday instead and go straight to Fred's place.
The drive down to Cleveland was uneventful. Other than the usual deal with lunch stops, gas, and customs, I made it there. Once I got into Cleveland, I visited the Lululemon Athletica showroom. I was able to score a really neat pair of tights, and a tank top at a really good clearance price. After leaving the showroom, I went over to Fred and Flo's to drop my stuff off, and say hello. I was there for a half hour before heading back out to do a class at Cleveland Yoga where Parker Bean really made us sweat Baptiste style. Upon returning to Fred and Flo's, I had a light supper and we started catching up on all the comings and goings. We also watched Russell Peters' stand up comedy DVD "Red, White, and Brown" and had quite a laugh before turning in for the night.
The next morning, I was awoken by Fred knocking on the door. Oops... didn't set the alarm properly so it didn't go off. Oh well... All I could do at this point was get ready. I had organised everything I needed the night before so I had no problems from that point on. It was dark when we set out for the west side of Cleveland over to the Metro Park where we were to meet the rest of the gang.
When we arrived, Fred and I organised our gear and got ready to run. We elected to do the 50K because Fred would be running the Bandera 100K the next weekend, followed by HURT 100M the following weekend in Hawaii. He even mentioned to me that if it wasn't for those two races, he would have had us up at 4h00 so that we could attempt the 50 miler. It was quite a frigid start when we started at 7h30 but once the sun came out we warmed up and had tons of fun. We chatted about a wide variety of stuff - everything from training and racing stories, to religion and philosophy. Flo and Fred's mother Irma drove around and met us at different points along the out and back. The run surprisingly felt really easy. Other than some minor cramping, we did really well, finishing the run in six and a half hours.
After the run, we all drove over to Colleen's place where she had a nice spread laid out to keep us in check before the hot food was ready. Anything you needed or wanted was there. The rest of the runners showed up after. Mike was feeling better so he stopped by and brought his daughters with him. They were all dressed in purple and it added a special touch to the atmosphere as Colleen's favourite colour is purple. Just for the fun of it, Flo and I would occasionally break out a couple of Russell Peters' lines just to show Mike how much fun he missed on Friday night... haha... There was a lot of bantering between us as we discussed races and of course the Mohican 100. I also discovered how small the world is with ultrarunning. I was the only Canadian in the crowd but I found myself connecting with the crowd because of the people we mutually knew. I came home with plenty of greetings to pass along for some of the Ontario crowd. I can honestly say that while I missed my folks, I had a really great time out there and I am thinking of making this run an annual event. In fact, I may even invite a few friends along for the fun :)
After the party concluded, we all headed back. On the ride back Fred, Flo, and I were constantly chatting and remembering the day quite well. I prepped my stuff for the ride back home the next morning.
The next morning, I made a trip over to Cleveland Yoga to get a workout by Tami Schneider - prior to stopping for gas and P.F. Chang's take out - before hitting the road homeward bound. At the studio, I managed to score another set of clothing from Lululemon that were on sale, as well as a book. The drive home was uneventful. I listened to the Amadou and Miriam CD that Mike had given to me and had some fun trying to grasp the meaning from the French that was spoken. I also listened to tunes from my MP3 player to keep it lively. On the way home, I had to stop at Kula Yoga for the launch of the 40 Days to Personal Revolution programme.
I still marvel at the wonderful weekend that I had and I look forward to many more...
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