Saturday, July 6, 2024 – 9am I was so pumped for the Freedhem race. No real expectations except to push my body hard, explore some new terrain I really haven’t seen before and have fun. I drove down with Ryan on race morning after a pretty unpleasant 4am wakeup call. I felt confident in my […]
Read MoreRace Day: Saturday, September 9, 2023 – 5:15am With my pre-race routine perfectly completed, me and 150 friends shuffled through the muggy, pitch-dark early morning air towards the starting flags on County Road 7 in the outskirts of Finland, MN to start a 50 mile journey to Lutsen. I was so excited. 9 months prior, […]
Read MoreRace Date: Saturday, June 17, 2023 – 7:45am My path to Grandma’s Marathon started in a painful state on the ride home from Twin Cities Marathon 8 months prior. I finished with a personal worst of 3:47 at the marathon, unless you include winter trail versions of the race distance… in which case I finished […]
Read MoreRace Date: Saturday, May 27, 2023 – 8am What a race! I have rarely felt so underprepared in all ways, but the outcome was the opposite of my expectations. When the go-ahead was announced for the “casual roll” to begin, I expected my chain to fall off my bike. Instead, I cranked up the hill […]
Read MoreThe Lament of a Bad Dog Owner ~a poetry series~ Diamond took a dump today; I had no bags, to my dismay. She popped a squat in the neighbor’s lawn; they called the cops but we were gone. We had to dip, so we skipped out quick; after I flicked the shit up with a […]
Read MoreIn the aftermath of the Krueger-Waddell Challenge, I made a pretty easy recovery. My body and mind bounced back almost immediately except my hands. On the final day, easily the hardest day while slowly trudging down the Pigeon River, I told myself that the trip was stupid and not fun. Even later that day, I […]
Read MoreGPS Data: I woke up to rain on my last day. I closed my eyes for just a minute more. Couple minutes. 10 minutes and I jolted awake, not fully understanding how I could take my needed next steps while I could hear the rain. First step, unplug the air mattress, I told myself. Then, […]
Read MoreAfter a very bright moon glared directly into my tent all night, my phone alarm went off at 5:15 and I immediately checked the weather. On my phone app, meteorologist Hunter said a storm was rolling in and it’d be rain on Friday into Saturday. Then he wished the viewers a happy Friday. Happy Friday […]
Read MoreGPS Data: My watch’s alarm went off early – 5am. The moon was bright all night. My sleeping bag was pretty moist. I could tell it was a little wet towards my feet. Ahhhh crap. Not good. I laid back down and shut my eyes just for a moment. I checked my phone – yep, […]
Read MoreGPS Data: I woke up to the sound of wind on the lake and my watch’s alarm beeping. I could tell it was pitch dark out so slept in a little more. I was mad when I roused a bit later – I gotta get my ass in gear here!! I figured that I could […]
Read MoreGarmin Data: I had set my alarm for an early time for day 2 at 5:15am or so. When my watch started beeping, I realized immediately that I made a big mistake waking up that early because it was completely dark out. Without a rain fly on my tent, I could tell I was in […]
Read MoreGarmin Data: We woke up early at the Rainy Lake RV Park outside of Ranier/International Falls, MN in dewey conditions. Me, Em and the dogs roused awake to the 5am alarm and started slowly packing up our sleeping bags, tent, random junk and hit the road. Every surface was covered in a light dew. It […]
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