It’s not everyday a major Detroit newspaper covers ultra-running.  With this past weekend’s Dances with Dirt race on tap, the Detroit Free Press ran a nice introductory piece.

A special kudos for covering Bill Moyer.  Bill and Jan are a huge part of the Leadville 100 family.  I met Bill at the medical checkin for my first race at Leadville.  Bill started some small talk asking where I was from.

“I’m from Michigan.”

“Where in Michigan?”

“The Detroit area.”

“Where in the Detroit area?”

“Royal Oak.”

As it turned out, Bill was from Berkley and lived just a couple miles from me.

You’ve probably met or at least seen Bill.  He’s one of the areas more prolific volunteers for running events, and for that we owe him some great appreciation.

Looking thrilled just minutes before the start

You know you’re going to be in a death march when bad weather prevents you from driving the posted speed limit on the way to a race start.

Running 100 miles at high elevation in the Rockies is tough as it is. Driving through freezing rain with the occasional lightning hitting the nearby mountaintops makes it surreal.

Fortunately there was only an occasional drizzle in Downtown Leadville prior to the 4 AM start. And unlike the Leadville bike race, there was no jockeying for a good starting position among the 466 runners. Everyone basically stands around nervously making small talk and waiting for Race Promoter Ken Chlouber to fire the shotgun. (more…)

It’s official. Snow is now in the forecast for tomorrow’s Leadville Trail 100 running race.

Snow showers likely and slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning…then rain showers likely and slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Snow accumulation around 1 inch. Highs 45 to 53. Southwest winds up to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.

Because there will be a mix of snow and rain, it’s going to be very tough keeping my clothing dry, especially critical items like gloves.

Also, racing in cold weather makes me want food with higher fat content. Typically I would do this race with just Hammer Gel and a protein-supplement. Now I plan on having raw cookie dough on hand.

The Race Medical check in is underway now. The race starts with an early morning shotgun blast at 4 AM.

Leadville's weekend weather forecast

It’s just a couple days away from the start of the Leadville Trail 100 running race.  Running 100 miles at altitude in the mountains is epic in its own right.  The race doesn’t need to be made tougher with lousy weather.

It appears Mother Nature wasn’t made aware of that.

This weekend’s weather looks wet and cold.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw snow.  I’m glad I packed some winter running gear.  It’s going to be interesting!

From Wikipedia: An American Badger

Rifle River is a great state recreation. It’s relatively large and very scenic with camping and some great trails for running. If you don’t mind the occasional sand, the trails are fun for mountain biking as well.

And it’s only a 2.5 hour drive from the Metro Detroit area.

Unfortunately the flies were bad yesterday in many spots. It really made me pickup my running pace to try and “drop” the flies.

Any one who hikes, runs or bikes trails is familiar with the sounds of scurrying critters. Normally in Michigan this has been deer, chipmunks, squirrels, or the occasional skunk. I have been fortunate to see a couple porcupines at times. Last week I came across a small possum at night that stared me down and refused to yield the trail.

But yesterday at Rifle River I came across a badger about 5 feet off the trail. His fur was more brownish than the Wikipedia photo on the right, but his face markings were unmistakable.

Oddly enough, he wasn’t fierce or apparently too worried about me as he slowly waddled away. It made me wonder what the University of Wisconsin was thinking when choosing mascots.

I should mention that a half marathon will be run on these trails September 13th. It’s the Ken Willard Memorial River Trail Half Marathon. The registration form notes the challenging hill and I will back them up on that. You can register for the event on-line.