Journey to Leadville - Byrne - June 12, 2012

67 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Superman Dave Jessen - Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run 2007 finisher - 29:09:51 (I am in the background in the grey shirt behind Dave's wife Deb in the light blue shirt)

This photo is of my buddy Dave in 2007 - completing the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run with more than 50 minutes to spare! (I'm envious - just kidding - I'm proud of him). I had the honor and pleasure of pacing Dave the last 27 miles of this race. I was tired, but that was nothing compared to what he was going through - having run 73 miles prior to me joining him.

On Saturday morning, Rick and I were the beneficiaries of Dave's generosity - he is the ring leader of the Happy Joe's 8 am Running Club and we were excited to see the beautiful orange jugs of water and gatorade at approximately mile 20 - good time for some refreshment.

I've seen Dave mentor people on the track and working with people at all levels of running (beginners, novices, jackrabbits). He encourages others, builds self-esteem, develops camaraderie and friendships, organizes out of town marathon bus trips, and serves others (e.g. setting up and tearing down water stations) - awesome stuff. At church I think about how God wants us to love, serve, and take care of others. I think Dave is doing exactly what God wants us to do. Dave is an accomplished runner but I believe he derives more satisfaction from helping someone run their first 5K then notching a PR on a marathon. He is a great guy and my life is blessed for knowing him! Thanks Dave!
 

Cheech, Curtis, Lindsay, Gordon, and Larry- fyi ...Lindsay is in the pink shorts

Met around 4:45 am for a stair workout at Bettendorf High School football stadium. Rick was training for work in Waterloo so we missed seeing him today. Lesson learned - don't take picture with sun in the background - you just have to trust me that these people were there - I didn't photoshop them in.Ran 40 sets of stairs and then headed off to play basketball. It was especially fun since my son Daniel played with us.

Dave Jessen's track group

As we were running, we saw a whole slew of people descending down the hill on to the track. They were led by Dave Jessen, who was carrying a cone. As the others were getting warmed up, Dave ran 150 meters around the track to place the cone there. I never quite figured out what the workout was but it looked like they were alternating between running and jogging between 400 - 600 meters.

Until my next post, have a great day!  DIG DEEP!