Itinerary for Crowning the Capitol

Crowning the Capitol

6/1/2010 – 6/5/2010

150 miles from the Missouri State Capitol to the Hospital Hill Run at Crown Center in Kansas City

The itinerary:
Tuesday 6/1 1:00 PM leave Jeff City go 62.9 miles in 25 hours
Wednesday 6/2 3:00 PM arrive at Super 8
Thursday 6/3 5:00 AM go 28 miles in 10 hours.

3:00 PM arrive at Murdock Banner Financial Group, Warrensburg
Friday 6/4 7:00 AM leave Warrensburg go 55 miles in 24 hours
Saturday 6/5 7 AM arrive on Hospital Hill Run 1/2 marathon race course.


The challenge - "Crowning the Capitol." The plan is to run from the State Capitol building along 50 highway to the finish line of the Hospital Hill Run at Crown Center. That is 150 miles. The run will be like two 100k's with a 50k in the middle.

The opportunity - “Vote for the dyeing.” I have grown a Hulk Hogan style set of whiskers and they are mostly white. I want you to help decide what color these whiskers will be as I run down the side of 50 highway between Jefferson City and Kansas City. Red - White - Blue. You choose.

The vote - for each one dollar donation to the Don Linville Memorial Fund you get one vote.

Picture it now, you see, I built the crown from a milk jug and painted it florescent yellow. I embellished it with UCM Mules and bling. I'll wear that crown and the color of whiskers that draw the most votes for four days up 50 highway to the Hospital Hill Run.

Vote today - Vote on ACTIVE.com here or Mail a check to Don Linville Event Fund, PO Box 30554, Columbia, MO 65205 - make a note of your vote, or write on the wall of my Facebook event page.

Please, vote early and often. You can vote as much as you want. I'll keep you posted how the vote is going.

You can still sign up to run the Hospital Hill Run on the Don Linville Memorial Fund team and get a discount. Just drop me a line or give me a call and I'll give you the discount code.

A great opportunity for fans of the Don Linville Scholarship to help a student athlete carry on Don's dream.

The Freak Wins All!

by Jim Linville

March 29, 2010

I thought it was suppose to be sunny. Yeah, isn't that always the plan. Ultra running is such a time consuming hobby that you really need to run whenever you get a chance. But still, I may end up putting the Saturday run off to until Sunday, if it is suppose to be sunny. Of course, you really can't afford to do that and still burn the candle at both ends. Some days you have to decide if you're a runner or a race director. A husband or a father. A man or a freak. The freak often wins all.

The 150 mile Crowing the Capitol adventure trek is not the craziest idea I've had. It is just the one I am currently trying to master. There are a couple of other treks that are the same distance I am planning on experiencing. This event should tell me that I can do that distance and open the door to the others. This last weekend I made 20 miles on my long run. It felt really good on the way out. I would like to be running twice that far by now. But it seems, at least for me, that half of battle of ultra distance adventure running is pain management. We solved the problem of my little toe next to the littlest toe. That was good. But the chafing,.. man,.. that's got to stop. I would hate to DNF for chafing.

I went to my favorite ultra running web site and I'm told to try a farm product called utter butter or bag balm. I did go to our local farm supply store and of course there was a girl I know there to help me. "Excuse me. Can you tell me where the utter balm is?" "You mean the bag balm? You just past it. Are you serious? What are you going to do with bag balm?"

Let's just hope it does the trick. The problem is the 10 pounds I put on every winter. You would think my body would know I'm going to be running that off. You would think that between my thighs is the last place my body would try to store 10 extra pounds of fat. But noOOoooo! "Let's put it right here where we can remember where we put it."

I never really get out of shape or in shape for that matter, it's all a matter of conditioning. I've got a picture here for you of a hill that is just four miles from my home. Going out it is a long slow hill. Not bad at all to climb. Coming back home it is tall and steep. I always think of that one song, this hill tells me "what condition my condition is in". If I can run all the way up that hill, I didn't go too far. If I have to walk up this hill, it is going to be a long four miles home.

I made a friend climbing that hill one time. She was conditioning for a trek in the Rockies. I see her most weekends. We are usually going opposite directions. "Hi Tina!" "Hi Jim" "going to rain?" "Looks like it." But sometimes we get a couple of miles to share. She has good stories.

I added two miles this week. They were miles I had not seen before on foot. The creek bottoms were pretty cool. After I got up the hill on the other side there was this sign, "dangerous hill". Don't you think they could of told me that before I climbed it?

What I learned from the Middle Of the Road: I know from the miles that I've seen that I can go as far as I can see. I know from the people I've met that I'll like the people I meet.

Blog Crown the Capitol

Thoughts about Ultra Running by Jim Linville

SuperBowl Sunday, I should be running. I'm not. Ultra running is such a time consuming hobby I get in a habit of putting stuff off so I can run or sleep, or eat, oh yeah,.. and work. With the holidays in December and the new year's launch of January, I have slipped out of shape and out of the routine drive to get out and get in the street. I gained 10 pounds!

Those of you that know me know that I have a goal of finishing the Bad Water. From that stand point Dean Karnazes is my hero, ww.ultramarathonman.com is one of my favorite sites and Kevin Sayers Ultra Running Resource www.ultrunr.com is where I go for advice. I am an ultra runner. For a 10 to 15 mile run to max me out is depressing. But, that is where I am. Can I get to a point in my conditioning to be able to complete a 150 mile run by June 5th? Yes, I can.

In this blog I'll try to relate to you some of the more minute details of this journey. I'll try to avoid some of the more routine. For instance; I've had an issue with the toe next to my littlest toe on my left foot. It seems as though my foot is rolling over on the toe pad and pinching a blister. I've tried several different things from wrapping the toe to different levels of control shoes. I've decided that the orthodics that I was prescribed 5 years ago are no longer what I need. Running in the standard inserts that came with the shoe is relieving the blistering with no obvious damage to my feet or ankles.

Valentine's Day weekend and between the temperature, the weather front moving in and my feet still adjusting to the absence of prescription orthodics, I turned back at 7 miles out. A 14 mile run in four and half hours, I'm okay with that.

LOL Marathon 2010 - In Other Words

Race report by Jim Linville

The third occasionally annual Laughing Out Loud Marathon went off without a hitch. Xavier Sublime was Master of Ceremonies at the home of Cody and Hayley Garnett. After taking turns at winning hands of chess and consuming some of the most fabulous hot chocolate, Xavier declared "it's time to jelly, ... Let's stone and bisquit!" (in other words, rock and roll).

The Laughing Out Loud Marathon is, in other words, a rare opportunity for good friends to get together and express support and unity. With temperatures stuck in the single digits for days on end, four degrees was almost normal for these guys. With the forcasters warning everyone to stay inside and threatening with the scare tactics of "your skin will freeze," these people seem to be dedicated enthusiests, in other words, insane.

Co-director Andy Emerson, Steve Kullman and Andy Starostka competed for prizes and their places in history. It was 4 degrees at 10:17 and "runners to your mark."

Steve Kullman came in at 1 hour and 38 minutes and took the most unique short cut prize of a $5 chess game. Andy Emerson came in second at 2:02 claiming to have ran a half marathon, (there is no prize for that). Andy Starostka took the covetted Dead Ass Last prize of his own Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker coming in with a 2:03 time on what he claimed to be a half marathon. Mike Denehy owner of Off Track Events the sponsor of the LOL Marathon donated some great door prizes and Off Track memorabilia.

Andy Emerson shared some of his experience in his own words: "The cold weather did not deter us since the 3 of us mentioned before 2 miles we were quite warm. We lost Steve on Paris Rd and the two Andy's ran together from this point. The snow covered part of the course on the Bear Creek Trail was tough to run. We were glad to hit the road again and thankful we were only planning to run 3 more miles. We rounded off to 13.1 to make a half marathon. I beat Andy Starostka up the stairs to race headquarters and our official timer so I officially beat him. After, we enjoyed the hot chocolate provided by the marathon hosts out of their home and collected some great door prizes. Even though I did not finish the entire marathon, I plan to run the rest of the course at a later date and award myself a medal at that time."

That's the spirit of the Laughing Out Loud, everyone is a winner.

Andy Starostka ran the LOL for the first time this year and had this to say, "Maybe next year I will do the entire distance, but the first loop was plenty for me this time. As mentioned, the Bear Creek Trail was snow covered and did a good job of kicking my butt. By the time I made it back to the house, I had more than enough. The ice crem maker was a great "pink elephant" gift and my 6 YO asked about 20 times both Saturday and Sunday when we were going to make some ice cream. I ended up hiding it for reasons of domestic tranquility. I am rather new to the Columbia scene, but have enjoyed the relaxed and friendly atmospere of this group."

Thanks Andy, we'll take that as a compliment. We'll also take Andy's advice of setting "a goal of increasing enteries by 100% for 2011." We'll try talk Mike Denehy into putting the race on next year. What a job that man does of putting on a race. Mike suggested, "Nice, work everyone. Three LOLs in the bag. This was definitely the wackiest of them yet. The days before the event hoovered in the artic sub zero temps. No one in their right minds would ever show up for such madness. The snow and the streets were covered in a nasty black soot."