Saturday, June 28th

Congrats to all who braved the heat last Saturday at the Laufenfest 5k, looked like a few took advantage of the new age group trophies after the race, and great race to a couple of the BOR’s youngest members Evelyn and Ethan!  And great runs to those who took on and survived the Jackal Trail Marathons!

 

    She’s Back! She took a couple of years off from the marathon but she went big for her return, Congrats to Renee Sills on a great run out West in the Seattle Marathon, can’t wait to hear about this bucket list race.

  Speaking of sharing a story, if you haven’t had a chance yet, be sure to check out Martha’s recap of Rim to Rim below.

Good Luck and safe travels to Dave Nichols and Craig Lubke, as Dave sets out for the Western States 100 miler with pacer (and racer) Craig by his side, should be fun to track this one all weekend. Best of Luck also to Michelle Walker as she takes on another continent, and sounds like plenty of wildlife, at the Victoria Falls Marathon in South Africa.

 

And on the Home front, Good Luck this weekend to those toeing the line on Franklin Street Friday night and Downtown Saturday morning in the Franklin Street Marathon/Half Marathon and the Colon Run.

On to this week, rumors seem to have been correct, the Evansville ½ Marathon course will change this for 2014,this Saturday there will be a preview run at 7:00 am starting at Four Freedoms Monument with that said I am planning a preview of the preview run at 6:00 am for those interested in beating a little of the heat. The route is below as well as details for the 7:00 start, for those starting at 6:00 we may need to have a couple water stops.


See you Saturday!

Don't Forget, After the Run........

Saturday, June 28^th

The First Stop on the 2014 Southern Indiana BOR Wine Tour
Mystique Winery in Lynnville, IN
1:00 – 5:00 on the Deck (weather permitting)
Live Music and Refreshments
More Info to Come!



Water Stops:

Third & Mulberry - 3 mi.

Entrance to Garvin Park-6 mi.

Grove St. & Louisiana -9 mi.

Four Freedoms Monument - 6:00 am

·         Start at Four Freedoms Monument

·         L on Shawnee (turns into Adams)

·         L on Judson

·         R on Washington

·         L on Kentucky

·         L on E. Powell

·         R on S. Bedford

·         L on Bayard Park

·         R on S. Morton

·         L on Bellemeade (turns into Mulberry)

·         R on Third

**Aid Station at 3^rd and Mulberry** about 3.5 miles

·         R on Main

·         L on MLK

·         R on Vine (turns into N. Main)

·         Follow N. Main into Garvin Park

·         Veer right at fountain and follow outer loop of Garvin Park

**Aid Station inside park** about 6.3 miles

·         Enter on Greenway at back of park near restrooms

·         L (west) on Greenway to Ohio St.

**Aid Station at Grove & Louisiana near Fliegeltaub** about 9 miles

·         Proceed thru RR turnstile at Ohio St.

·         L on Greenway at Ohio St.

·         R on Fulton/Riverside

·         L on Court

·         R on Third

**Aid Station at 3^rd and Mulberry** about 11.5 miles

·         R on Chandler

·         L on Riverside

·         R right on Adams/Shawnee

·         Cross Veterans to Greenway

·         Finish at Vine

Link to Map:  Evansville 1/2 Route

7:00 Start

It’s finally time for the Evansville Half Marathon preview run! Thank you to all of the volunteers and participants!

The run:

-7am start

-Attached are turn-by-turn maps (I will have some maps printed, but you might bring your own just in case)

-For our purposes and safety sake, we’re going to start at the Four Freedoms Monument (vs. Riverside Dr. where the Evansville Half will start in October)

-There will be four aid stations and they are marked on the turn-by-turn map

-Stations 1 and 4 will have water and Gatorade, Station 2 will have water/Gatorade/and limited Gu, Station 3 will have water/Gatorade/limited Gu/cold sponges or towels (if the weather is extreme).

-Be prepared with your own nutrition/hydration if these stops don’t suit your needs

-There will be a finishers tent on Riverside at Vine. The finishers tent will have water/Gatorade/cookies/chocolate milk.

-There will be three people on bike support

First Aid:

-There will be limited first aid essentials with bike support and at the finishers tent

Parking:

-The start is at Four Freedoms Monument and the end is at Riverside and Vine (on the river side). Parking suggestions include: Sunset Park near tennis courts, Kids Kingdom, museum, the Y, or Vectren.

Weather:

-WE WILL RUN IN RAIN, but not a downpour or lightning

Rim to Rim Challenge

By Martha Klueh

The quest to do Rim to Rim began as a challenge then a goal. I had a group of friends that set off on this adventure a year ago. I was not invited because they questioned my ability to do this trek with a titanium leg and hip. Any of you that know me know that I like a challenge. I would still be laying in bed eating Bon bons if I had listened to my doctor after my bike accident in 2010. "Your leg is going to be hard to rehab. Probably won't run a marathon again". So glad I have such a hard head and mental toughness to prove him wrong.

I had Laura and Lori by my side every day in the hospital and Kendra by my side 7 months later when I was learning how to run again. (I first had to learn to walk). Countless Band of Runner members visited me in the hospital and at home and encouraged me along. Six marathons after the accident I figured that I was ready for another challenge. So hiking the Grand Canyon down the North Rim across the canyon and back up the South Rim? 23.9 miles. Hell yes I can do this.

Planning and more planning is the key to making this venture successful. Lodges book up a year in advance so this is a critical point. Also what city to fly into is important for timing your trip. We decided to fly into Phoenix, Arizona. This is about 4 hours from the South Rim. We landed about 1:30 pm and drove to Williams, Arizona. This is the last town on Route 66 that got bypassed by interstate 40. It is a small historical town with lots of quaint little shops and a gun fight in the street in the evening!

We stayed at The Red Garter Inn. It was formally a brothel in its heyday. Definitely a diamond in the rough. We had 3 of the 4 rooms in the Inn. I feel sorry for the German couple in the 4th room. We were a bit loud at times! The Red Garter is said to be inhabited by ghosts. So we paid a "friendly" visit to one of our rooms all dressed up in a white curtain and humming "Oooooo". Kendra was the friendly ghost. I have never laughed so hard in my life! That night in our room (we stayed in the Madams room) our bed did vibrate during the night. I accused Kendra of shaking the bed but I reached over to touch her and she was laying very still. Haunted bed and breakfast....yes! It was listed in the USA Today as one of the top ten places to sleep with a g-g-ghost! The main floor of the Inn housed a bakery where we ate homemade cookies at night and fresh baked pastries in the morning. Delicious!!!

The next morning we went out for a run. We had to cross a dam to get to the trails in the Forest. I am sure there was a sign somewhere that said not to walk across the dam. It was scary and we screamed all the way across! The Forest was beautiful with pines reaching up to the sky! Before leaving Williams we ate at an outdoor family style BBQ with live music then headed off to the South Rim.

The first night we stayed at Kachina Lodge. After checking in Laura and I walked out the back door to view the Grand Canyon. We had tears in our eyes and goose bumps! This was the most amazing sight that I have ever seen. Words cannot explain the beauty and vastness. Months and months of planning and we are finally looking at the massive canyon that we had yet to conquer. We started the evening with a Sunset Tour of the South Rim and ended with dinner at the famous El Tovar Hotel.The next morning was preparation to travel to the North Rim. It is important to note that whatever you take with you to the North Rim will be carried in your back pack or thrown away. It is a 5 hour trans canyon shuttle ride to the North Rim...too far to go back and get something if you forgot it. There is nothing at the North Rim but a lodge and cabins. So pack wisely. My biggest recommendation is Brooks Cascadia Trail shoes with Smart Wool PhD running socks. I had absolutely no feet problems and no blisters. You can walk through the creek and be dry in 5 minutes. They were my new best friend. The only people that had feet problems were those that wore hiking shoes!

Our trip in the Trans Canyon shuttle went surprisingly fast. Our driver was a plethora of knowledge as we traversed for miles across the Navajo Indian Reservation. It is 215 miles around the canyon. The height of the canyon at the South Rim is about 5000ft(one vertical mile). The height of the canyon on the North Rim is about 8000ft with approximately 10 miles across from the North to South Rims. Yes breathing is more difficult so keep this in mind as an adjustment to your cardio output.

 

We arrived at the North Rim an hour before sunset. Our cabin was positioned within 15 yards of the rim. No sleep walking tonight! I was very anxious about the next morning. There was no turning back. We were gonna do this R2R thing! We arranged for the trans canyon shuttle guide to take us to the North Kaibab trail head at 4:30am. It was about 2 miles down a winding dark road.

We set off the first 141/2 miles with our head lamps on only to meet a family of hikers that had been on the trail for 24 hours from the South Rim. They were delirious, dehydrated and out of food and water. I can't state preparedness enough. We continued on and soon the sun began to come up through the canyon. Incredibly beautiful to be inside such a grandiosity of Mother Nature. Everywhere you look there is another sight to behold. It was surreal. About half way down we took a side trail to Ribbon Falls.

I highly recommend hiking ALL the way up to the falls. It is worth it. You have to scale around a thin ledge of trail along the wall of the canyon and climb over huge boulders and cross a couple streams to get up there but it is truly a wonder. Take your shoes off and walk in the cool water under the moss at the bottom of the falls. Lay in the shade on a rock. Just do it!

Instead of going back to the trail the way we came we followed our shuttle guides instructions to follow the creek for about 100 yards and cross the creek to get back to the trail. He neglected to tell us about the rushing water going down the creek. We also had a little difficulty finding where to cross. I just as soon go down the canyon on foot than rush down it in the rapids and be dumped into the Colorado River. The trail came to a dead end and we obviously were not crossing at this point so we went back a short distance and found the trail marker that we had missed seeing.

Trail markers are small rocks that are stacked up into a small pyramid. Laura pulled the tree limbs back and low and behold there was small boulders lined up across the creek so we could walk behind the rocks to the other side. We were submerged to our knees. Leave your shoes on because the rocks are slippery and the water is going over them at a good rate. Also you don't know what is in the water. It could be a friendly rattle snake.

The next 7 miles down the canyon were very hot. This is the desert part of the hike. Several of us ran out of water because the pipelines on the North Rim were broken so we could not refill our packs. The trail takes you along the creek with lots if cactus everywhere. I accidentally got too friendly with one cactus and took a knee full. It didn't hurt...just had to pick them all out. A little acupuncture does a body good. We arrived in Phantom Ranch and our pre ordered lunches were waiting for us.

One of our group had struggled most of the way down the North Rim and she did not want to continue on;however, the rule of the canyon is if you walk yourself down to the bottom then you walk yourself out. We spent a lot if time hydrating her and fueling her and submerged her in the creek. She was able to get moving again but very slowly.

We took the Bright Angel Trail up the South Rim. The next mile and a half took us across a suspension bridge. It wasn't nearly as daunting as it appears from the distance. We reached the first rest stop and it was obvious that our group of 8 was going to become a group of 6. So six of us continued on. There were several places on the South Rim to refill our water packs so hydration was not an issue going up.

 

Unfortunately, we spent so much time with the girl that was struggling that the last 2 hours were in the dark. We came upon several deer on the trail before dusk and a group behind us watched a herd of sheep go down the mountain. We never saw any rattle snakes but kept our eyes on the deadly squirrels. They have sharp teeth and claws and have been known to bite off the fingers of a hiker that may try to feed them.

All I can say about the last two hours is that it was straight up with a lot of switch backs and a lot of bugs come out at night!!! I also tried not to look down because the trail was very narrow and it dropped off into a dark abyss. Laura was truly a mountain goat leading us to the top and Micki was the ever protector not letting anyone get too close to the edge. Kendra held up the end because I was scared of the dark and was afraid a bear with come up from behind and get me!

The Grand Canyon is definitely a must to put on your bucket list. I am ready to go back and do Rim to Rim to Rim. An experience of a life time.

Mid-Summer’s Night Marathon Relay Race Report

by Ted Barron

This inaugural event took place this weekend along Evansville’s Ohio Riverfront at 7pm. It was part of a weekend of events along the riverfront that included family events, fun bike rides, a professional bike race with $5,000 in cash prizes and the marathon relay. There was also an outdoor fundraising event taking place at the Casino all evening that provided some nice music right along the course.

The course was a 1.09m closed circuit. It started streetside, then quickly took a steepish downhill along the river boat ramp, then flat for a few blocks, then a steepish uphill back up to the street, then circled some city blocks and back to the start. With a 4 person team, each runner ran that loop 3 times or 3.275 miles for each of his/her legs. Here’s a shot of it from the river looking in:

A lot of the members of my informal running group (Band of Runners (BORs) participated, and other BORs came to cheer us on. And this, despite the fact that nearly all of them had either ran their scheduled long runs that morning or participated in a local Sprint Tri. Here are some of the runners from the BOR who ran it:

As you can see from the photo, all of the teams brought chairs, coolers, and tents and set up in the median in order to watch their teammates and others run past and cheer them on. As it grew darker, the course was lit with street lights and the weather was pleasant with a soft breeze. A couple of our BOR friends positioned themselves near the top of that uphill to cheer us on. It was a big boost to have someone cheering you coming up that hill, especially by the 3^rd time you were attempting to sprint up it on each leg.

Our team, Team Blast, consisted of (in order) Michelle, me, Angie and Craig. Our unofficial time was 3:01. Here we are at the finish:

Speaking for everyone who participated, it was really a pleasant evening and fun event, and we're all looking forward to next year!


Better late than never, Thanks Ted for the great report, sorry or the delay!