Welcome BIGHORN Runners

Published June 15, 2018

6 months ago packed my iPad for Hawaii – sole reason: Bighorn sign-up, opening day January 5^th.

Winter turned Spring, Spring to early Summer. Negative temps/snow replaced with sunshine & 80’s. Slowly increased my miles, marathoning much of the Northeast & Mid-Atlantic while training. Saturday’s the day. Bighorn reality.

One-way flight to Gillette. How many people can say that? Boarded 10:20pm, touched down an hour later. Red state. Rode behind a bold Trump lid, ‘Make America Great Again’. Lucky for me I live in Colorado. Pretty great there.

[Already secured a return ride home. Runner friends travelled early, acclimatizing this week.]

Surprisingly, whole lotta hotel options in Gillette. Coal mining, oil, natural gas & antelope – town’s claim to fame. Sleeps at the Arbuckle Lodge. Nice hotel, hearty cowboy breakfast. Cowboys still live & die in Wyoming. Boots, hat, crazy good manners.

Hour-half commute to Sheridan. Hotel check-in, tenth-mile from tomorrow’s 2:45am school bus pick-up. Booked early, GREAT digs, PERFECT location. Last-minute food reconnaissance. Added a pound of microwaved turkey bacon to tomorrow’s drop bags.

Fresh shoes, dry socks, 2 half-bottles of Imodium & a pound of turkey bacon – ready, ready for Bighorn.

Trail race registration, barrage of stressed-out texts messaged to Sis, bed by 8. Tomorrow we run.

: wide open spaces

: Wyoming!

: Red State wrong

: deer & the antelope play ♫

: Wild Wild West

: hearty cowboy breakfast

: oil derricks & mining

: “Change inspires Creativity”

: drop bag prep

: Welcome Trail Runners

: tomorrow we run

UK Run Challenge – FINISH

Published June 11, 2018

16 marathons, 2 DNFs (both ultras: Huff 50K & Golden Gate Dirty 30).

1083 miles – virtually ran from England to Scotland, entire length of the island.

AWESOME motivator these past 6 months as I trained for my 52 mile goal race.

The COMEBACK is always stronger than the Setback.

Congratulations Keenan, you’ve done it – here you are at John o’ Groats, at the northernmost tip of the Scottish mainland. Dunnet Head is further north, of course, but there’s not much there except for a rather essential lighthouse. With Land’s End to the southwest, together they form the two most extreme inhabited towns on the British mainland.

John o’ Groats might sound like a fine Scotsman, but he was actually a Dutch settler – Jan de Groot – who came to the area in around 1489, and ran the ferry from the mainland to Orkney at the end of the 15th century, after the island had been returned to Scotland from Norwegian control in 1472.

Modern day John o’ Groats is something of a draw – in 2005, Lonely Planet described it as a ‘seedy tourist trap’, and you even needed to pay to have your photograph taken at the famous ‘Journey’s End’ signpost, which has its counterpart in Land’s End. Since 2013, the town has undergone considerable refurbishment, the hotel has re-opened, and photographs are now free. Keenan, you’ve done it – what an achievement!

Tally:

121 marathons (including 6 ultras)

113 US, 4 Canada, 1 Brazil, 1 Ireland, 1 New Zealand, 1 Russia
All 50 States, 34 States x2 (gonna circle the US again by 2019 year-end)
4 continents (depending where you place NZ) – marathoning all 7 by mid-2020 (including Antarctica)
Streak: 55 consecutive months

Think my journey ends in Scotland? No way.

More miles per day, HUGE distance GOAL, longer time commitment 🙂

Route 66 Virtual Challenge
- FINISH: Memorial Day 2019
- 2280 miles, length of the mother road from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles, CA

: GOAL!

: my postcard journey

: checkered FLAG FINISH

: not defined by Cancer past

Teamwork

by Paul McGowan, CEO PS Audio

Companies are groups of people coming together for a common purpose. We call this collection a team—a term also used by sports and horses. PS Audio’s team now numbers 42, quite large from the original 2 of me and Stan.

Teams aren’t faceless. Each person within the team brings a lifetime of experience and stories; family and memories; love and dedication; purpose and determination. It is the rich and cumulative experience of the team that defines any company, for better or for worse. In our case, the better. We have an extraordinary group that design, build, package, and account for all things PS Audio.

Take for example our CFO, Keenan Haga, who runs a marathon every week. He’s run so many of these 26-mile races that after completing his first 50 (one in each state), he’s decided to go for his second. And early next year he’ll run a marathon in Antarctica.

Or, senior software developer Tyera Eulberg, captain of the USA Women’s Underwater Hockey Team. Yes, indeed, you have that right. Check out this NHL video of Tyera.

Or, senior programmer Barry Solway, an author, engineer, software developer, writer, dancer, martial artist and a former Marine. His latest book, Gladiator, is a sci-fi thriller that is a real page-turner.

And these are only part of a great team that come together 5 days a week to build the best audio products on the planet and take care of our greatest asset, our customers.

Posted in Run Challenges | Leave a comment

Runoff Runoff Marathon

Published June 9, 2018

6 days ago hadn’t heard of Creede. Spirit broken after failing to finish last Saturday. It’s not that I didn’t finish, it’s that I quit. Let conditions of the day – heat, altitude, nausea, crowd – break me. Additionally, opened the door/the possibility of ending my streak, 54 months marathoning. Bright side: Dirty 30 highlighted holes in my training, tweaks I could make before Bighorn.

15 marathons past 5 months, 1000 miles complete. Stronger than 2015, the year I went Maniac ‘Platinum’. HUGE miss in this year’s Bighorn quest? Failed to run BIGGER in my own backyard. Knocked off a lotta East Coast targets but only ONE trail – and nothing over 7000ft, even in training. Insert: Creede. Small mining town 6 hours from my front door stoop.

Marathon field < 50, mix of dirt & Colorado asphalt. High altitude [9000ft+] without the technical bouldering of Dirty 30. Thanks 50 Stater-Beth for sharing your race calendar (post-run Vermont). Wasn’t looking for a BONUS race then. No crystal ball, didn’t know.

Direct from work, journeyed solo outta Boulder. 3 hours tonite, 3 hours predawn – too fatigued for a drive straight-shot. Bedded in Salida, up again at 2:45am. Race dressed, key on the dresser, door locked behind. Rolled into Creede 5:35am, 10 minutes to spare (bib pick-up/registration). 99. Same EXACT bib # as last Saturday. What are the chances? Cursed or redemption?

mining town past

School bus boarded at 6. Cold morning shiver, mercury would soar 40+ degrees by race end. Stopped 20 minutes outside of Silverton. Out-n-back course. Dawn burst o’er the surrounding peaks, bright & blinding. Beautiful part of Colorado enveloped by canyon.

7am Mountain time. Start Line drawn in the dirt, headwaters of the Rio Grande (same Rio Grande, Texas to Mexico). Sported an ultra-vest (no cup event): bottle of water, bottle of electrolytes. Slight grade first couple miles, remainder of the day flat – ultimately descending into town, 8800ft elevation. Mountain time 😊

Popped on Highway 149 [Mile 5]. Notta fan of running highway; that said, notta lotta early morning traffic Silverton-Creede either. Perspective. Added an extra .75 (third-quarters mile) – ARGH – went left, later righted by a race cyclist. But, not my first rodeo. Would drop back on dirt mile 18, joined by Halfers bussed to marker 13.

5^th overall at the Half. Aided by cool temps/steady pace, led the middle pack.

Good portion of the day ran with last year’s women’s winner (she’d finish 3^rd today). Both of us fueled at 18. Despite her encouragement, walked most the next mile. Hot sun overhead, expended lotta energy first Half. Nice gal. …and I was sixth.

No water again ‘til 25. Empty. Guy in a truck honked encouragement – I yelled WATER. Vehicle stopped, guy handed over his open bottle. Random act of human kindness. Shared half-bottle with a college gal I’d chatted up miles 21/22.

Joined Runoff’s 6k event at their turnaround (mile-half from Finish). Appeared having been lost in a desert (I looked a hot mess – HA!), family jogging with their dog (mom/dad/3 boys) shared a Nalgene bottle. Again, thankful for the kindness of strangers ❤

Stop, start. Stop, start. 90 degrees, summer ablaze even on the Western Slope. Long 20 minute mile, drug the last one out. Dusty path littered with mine rock & sage led to Creede Ballpark. Finished in an irrigated field of green. June marathon complete, tag.

Laid back & over-sunned listening to a folk band. Veggie burger & a soda, small town festival. Good energy, happy vibe.

Not the greatest of courses – lotta highway, lack of race support/water – but the people here are good. Pure hearts. Just carry a full [backpack] bladder if visiting on a hot day 😊 Tick, tick, tick. 7 days, Bighorn.

RUNOFF RUNOFF

Rio Grande Restoration Project

and Headwaters Alliance

CREEDE, CO

Saturday, June 9, 2018

MARATHON OVERALL RESULTS

PLACE       NAME          GEN AGE BIB   CITY/STATE            TIME   PACE

1 JACKSON COLE           M 22    43 ALAMOSA CO           3:27:29 7:56

2 KYLE CLARK             M 35     2 MORRISON CO          3:39:16 8:23

3 GRANTLEY SHOWALTER     M 24     8 ALAMOSA CO           3:52:00 8:52

4 NOEL PRANDONI          F 22    89 SANTA FE NM          3:57:23 9:04

5 KATELYN SNYDER         F 26    16 FORT DEFIANCE AZ     4:44:59 10:53

6 SHAUNA GUTIERREZ       F 27   124 ALAMOSA CO           5:03:36 11:36

7 ASHLEY MCCARTY         F 39    67 DIBOLL TX            5:07:40 11:45

8 K R HAGA               M 51    99 LOUISVILLE CO        5:17:38 12:08