20% Done for 100 by 100!

Hello from St. George, Utah!

Well, this picture says it all in the completing of the Zion 50K on April 11, 2015 with my great Ultrarunning bud, BJ Haeck from San Diego!  I am now 20% completed in my 100 by 100 Quest!  

It was so awesome having BJ by my side for the entire way, experiencing the astounding views right outside of Zion National Park.   The far mesa in the background is Gooseberry Mesa in this B/W picture which we ran around the entire edge of.  A 360 degree view of the entire area awaited us up on the 12 mile mesa.  The views up here are really indescribable!  We had absolutely perfect weather, and BJ had me entertained, and encouraged me the entire way all the way to the finish.  BJ was in much better shape than me on this day, so he had LOTS of energy, to say the very least.  Throughout our adventure we talked about everything under the sun and caught up on our lives, sang songs, gave each other small quizzes on songs of the 80's and movie lines, gave each other and other runners pep talks, talked loud and laughed a hell of a lot!  BJ had me in stitches so many times that many times I had to stop and laugh it out!  No one would EVER say we didn't have fun! For some odd reason half way in the run I got a new name of "Norbalishious" !  Ok, I won't go into it now for the sake of some of my viewers!   This is a PG rated blog, of course.  

Let me say right now, WE HAD FUN!  We finished hand in hand with big smiles on our faces.  We finished in 7:42:52 - which was almost the same time as last year too!  Bj used this race as just a long workout and I used it as just getting through my first ultra of the year.  I didn't have a lot of time preparing for this race as I would liked, so I just wanted to have fun and enjoy the adventure!  We could've cared less about time.  This was a day to remember.  My wife Lori and Shady met us near the last aid station and took all these pictures - giving us lots of encouragement as well.  Thank you so much Lori!  You are the best!  You know it girl!

The hot tub and cold beers were awaiting us at our St. George condo afterwards.  Oh, that was so sweet!  Within a few hours we were gorging on ribs, steaks, appetizers, salads, and huge burgers and fries at the Players restaurant.  I was falling asleep within 20 minutes of coming home.  Hammer down and Bingo!  Done!  What a day!  Thank you BJ!  

Here are some shots of the day.  

Another $100.00 donated to Alzheimer's on 4/12/15