On Thursday, Flat Stanley accompanied me to my friend’s house in Tiffin, OH.
Day 2 travel
Each thursday, I gather with a small group of friends to play games and enjoy other activities after work. Today, we played Disc golf (golf with special Frisbees) before playing a few board games.
Stanley is ready to play.
Stanley enjoyed playing 7 Wonders with us.
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Flat Stanley has stopped by to visit me for the next week. For those not yet familiar with Flat Stanley, more information can be found at FlatStanleyProject.com or on Wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley. I will try to post updates about our adventures each day.
On Wednesday, Flat Stanley joined me at work. I am a mechanical engineer at GROB Systems in Bluffton, Ohio.
Day 1 Travel
GROB has manufacturing plants around the world
GROB in Bluffton, OH
At GROB, we design and manufacture machines that make engines for cars and trucks. Flat Stanley saw how I used several different tools including my computer, calculator and pencil and paper while I worked on designing a new piece of equipment.
On our way home from work, we decided to stop and put some gas in the car. Stanley does not often have to stop for gas, so he enjoyed seeing how the gas pump worked.
Tomorrow, Flat Stanley and I will travel Northeast to Tiffin, OH to meet up with some friends after work.
The 2014 River of No Return 50k was my first adventure into trail ultras in the mountains. And it was an AMAZING weekend!
Not sure if this car can do that?
I flew into Boise on Friday morning and then had a nice little drive the rest of the afternoon along the scenic Salmon River. I stopped a few places to stretch my legs and break up the 5 hour drive. I stopped for lunch at a nice little place about an hour into the drive and then continued on my way.
After I finally arrived in Challis and checked into the Village Inn, I checked the race web site again, since this was my first time with WiFi (I didn’t have cell service outside of Boise at any point). I jogged down to the high school for the pre-race instructions and packet pickup.
The pre-race meeting was long and very informative. Some things only applied to 100k’ers, but overall it was good to have a better understanding of what I was getting myself into, since my preparation in the past few months had consisted of looking at the daunting elevation profile 
and not even attempting to replicate that in my training. I was a little excited about the fact that there were several water crossings on the course and that we were going to get “knee to mid-thigh deep” at some of the crossings, since it was June and was in the mid-80’s Friday afternoon. I was a little less excited that we were going to be high enough that we “shouldn’t have to run through any snow”. I mean I realized I was running up a mountain. That had fully hit me prior to registering on Ultrasignup, but I hadn’t thought about snow in months, and it kind of brought back memories of a traumatic winter dealing with massive amounts of snow. But it was good to know there wasn’t too much snow on the course.
Beautiful morning for a race.
After a quick night of sleep and waking up way early due to a combination of nerves and a couple time zone changes, I grabbed some breakfast while watching the start of the 100k race go past the Village Inn. I gathered my things, checked out and drove down to the high school track to get ready for the start.
I ran a lot of the first half of the race. I walked up a lot of the steep stuff, but if I walked every uphill, I would have starved before making it to the first aid station. I knew pushing too hard early was not a good idea, so I kept it relaxed and enjoyed the views. I could run hard later if I was feeling good and had the energy, but I definitely kept moving. There is an aid station at the top of the mountain and then the course does a 4 mile out and back to the Bayhorse aid station AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MOUNTAIN. This was great going down, I free-wheeled and pretty well ran as fast as I could while still maintaining some control over my direction. I passed a lot of people, knowing that I was going to have to walk back up a lot of the terrain when I got to the bottom. I decided that I didn’t want to waste a lot of energy putting the brakes on the whole way down, just to have to walk back up the mountain anyway. The trek back up was not as much fun. I got passed by a lot of people. Granted, most of them I had talked to when I had passed them just 30-40 minutes earlier going down the hill. They knew I was from Ohio and encouraged me as I struggled to run more than 100 meters at a time. It was a long uphill climb, which seemed to go on forever. I knew I was losing ground, but I also knew that the course was pretty much downhill to the finish, and I was OK with getting back to the aid station with relatively fresh legs after my extended uphill walk. I was super-hungry at the top of the mountain and mentally ready to start clicking off some faster miles on the decent. I may have eaten a little too much, as I felt pretty full of food after a 3-4 minute stop at the aid station. I was well-hydrated again and set off downhill with a group of guys. I ran the downhill hard and only started walking some the last 10k as I battled back and forth with another guy on the flat pavement. It was hot, I was tired, but the end was near. From the top of the mountain, only one person near me beat me to the finish. Unfortunately, he was the last person under 6 hours and I finished just a minute and a half over 6 hours. I didn’t really have a time goal heading in, but as I got closer to the finish, I knew I was going to be close to 6 hours, so I tried to pick it up and finish hard. I came in strong and had a very good time pushing my limits in the mountains of Idaho.
I didn’t get any pictures on the course myself, so I can’t show you the pickup truck aid station atop a mountain (I still don’t know how they got up there?), the snow-melt, scenic mountain passes, the ravine I was sure I was going to fall into while sprinting down the rocky side of a mountain early in the race. I can’t illustrate how awesome the pine forest was at the mountain top with cool snow-melt water running across the trail. There are very few pictures from along the racecourse, which I am perfectly fine with. It was an experience. It was amazing, and you really had to be there. Below are some pictures from the few places the photographers could access.
First place in my age division.
I relaxed on the track infield and re-re-hydrated thoroughly and enjoyed the post-race food. I gathered my belongings, picked up my award and finisher’s rock before heading out of town to make the lovely trip back to Boise. I couldn’t help but stop to take a few pictures at some of the excellent scenic overlooks on the drive back.
I stopped in the large metropolis of Clayton to get some pictures, stayed in Boise on Sunday and started the long trip back on Monday afternoon.
If you are wondering how the race got its name, when I have failed to mention a river, you may be interested in reading about the larger wilderness area that encompasses a large portion of Idaho, the River of No Return Wilderness.
Back in June, I had the chance to return to Columbia City, IN to run one of my favorite trail 5k’s. Not only does the $20 registration fee get you entered into the race, the standard race T-shirt and post-race refreshments, but you also get a full pancake, sausage and eggs breakfast with your entry fee. They always have plenty of door prizes to give away after the race, and if you happen to win the race or your age group, you get a piece of clothing or other valuable prize, not necessarily another trophy to share your living space with.
The “5k” course in almost certainly longer, but the course goes through a hilly woods, along gravel drives and through grass ways around and between fields. Portions of the course are in low, shaded areas and always seem to be wet, no matter the weather. In short, no one is setting any speed records on this course, so what does it matter if it is a little longer than 5k?
I got a solid 10 miles run in the morning of the race, going about 9 miles with my sister, before we packed up and made the mile drive over to the camp. I think I was singled out in the pre-race instructions when the race director advised people that there was always that one guy that got away from the rest of the race, so they would need to follow the course markings and not rely on being close to the lead ATV.
Having trouble finding results online, but I did win the race. By a minute or so.
I have found made time to expand my small garden this year and am slowly returning to my previous avocation as a potato farmer. I also have some corn (although the rabbits have other ideas about my plan to grow corn), green beans, radishes, watermelon, zucchini and tomatoes (lots and lots of volunteers this year) started.
Things are looking good, except the things that disappeared after I planted them.
With the removal of my giant maple tree over the winter, I took the opportunity to move my garden away from the garage and expose it to more sunlight. I also needed to move it to give my peach trees the room they want to be their own peach grove.
I have some new friends helping monitor my garden this year. Watson and Webster have been entertaining me while I work in my new plot of land. Watson likes to chase Webster around the pen, but I get the feeling she enjoys the attention from the only other duck in sight. I even learned how to tell a male duck from a female duck.
Watson & Webster
This weekend, I ventured south down I-75 to visit some friends in Lebanon and run a half marathon with a friend and former college teammate. On Saturday, we walked around downtown Lebanon and loaded up on some pre-race calories at Whit’s Frozen Custard. Sunday, the half-marathon and marathon races were to start at 8:30 am, so we made the half hour trip and picked up our race packets inside the YMCA. After a mile warm up, we changed clothes and headed to the start line. It was still a little chilly at start time, but was perfect racing weather. After standing behind the start line for a few minutes, a canon went off behind us. No one had spoken to us or indicated that the race was about to begin or even that a canon would signal the start of the race. A few guys ran out, but most of us just stood there, wondering if that was really supposed to be the start. The race was chip timed, so it didn’t necessarily matter, as long as the timing system was running when we crossed the start line. A minute or so later, shouts from behind us, indicated that we should just go, but without having heard anything from anyone who claimed to be officially involved with the race organization, it was hard to tell what the origin of that information might have been. We finally got started when a man, seemingly a bystander until this point, walked over to the starting line and gave us a “Ready, Set, Go!”, which was official enough for us, and we were off.
Ohio River Road Runners Club Logo
The course started through some residential streets and eventually looped back past the start and cut through some alleys before a stretch on some country roads. The course rolled up and down some hills on the road, but then continued onto the bike path that we would follow to the turn around and back into town. We were cruising at a pretty good pace and passed the 6 mile mark just under our goal pace. We had a few guys to run with, but as we worked towards the front, there were fewer guys to work with.
I fell off the pace the last 4-5 miles just a bit, not enough to give up 10th place, but I lost about 44 seconds over those miles on the slight downhill back into town.
Finisher’s Medal
My friend and I finished 9th and 10th and got 1st and 2nd in our age group, respectively. We were both pleased with our races and walked away having run faster than we were expecting to. It was a beautiful day, and despite some starting line quirks, the race was very well staffed with a lot of friendly volunteers and was well marked and directed.
Post-race amenities included an assortment of, oddly enough, 16+ different canned beverages ranging from Dr. Pepper to Fanta but also included a buffet of food inside the YMCA, with a variety of soup, fruit and snacks.
Post race.
I received this fancy plaque in the mail today.
I think there is a typo here.