No Guts, No Glory. Leadville!

What is it that challenges you?
What goal have you set that you are willing to lay down everything to achieve?

This past weekend I saw over 500 men and women come together

to start a journey of a hundred miles. A journey that would take them over mountains and through icy streams, a journey that started in the dark, at 4am on Saturday August 22nd, and for the majority of the 274 finishers would end sometime between 4am and 10am on Sunday August 23rd.

My husband has competed in this journey many times over the 26 years of its existence. This year it was our daughter, Coleen Voeks, who set the goal of being a victor in the Leadville Trail 100 mile run, known as The Race Across the Sky.

With the support of her husband Erik, she put aside comfort and sleep to train endlessly for this race. There could be no mornings where she chose sleep over running. She knew the mountains of Leadville, Colorado would eat her up if she slacked off; she lives in the flatlands of Kansas.

She became a victor on Sunday August 23rd with a time of 29 hours 48 minutes 07 seconds, just 12 minutes shy of the 30 hour cut off time. For those who are not familiar with this type of race, the runners keep moving during this whole time, running and walking in light and darkness. There is no time for sleep. Keeping your body fueled for this type of calorie burning event involves eating large amounts of food, which means eating at every aid station and carrying food with you.

This is a grueling race physically and mentally. At times the mind tells you that you can’t go on, and your body will very happily agree with your mind. This is where you rely on the crew of family and friends you have brought with you. They step in and evaluate your physical condition, give you something to eat, change your socks, get you dressed warmly and tell you to “get your butt in gear, you're not quitting.”

Along with training, having the right people around you when you are going toward your goals is critical. The wrong people will let you quit. The ones who share your vision will feed you, warm you, and push you forward.

There is a saying printed on the shirts given to the participants of the Leadville 100 that says:
“Don’t be fooled by her beauty, Deep within is the grit, guts and determination to move mountains.”

What mountainous goals do you have for your life?
Do you have the guts and determination to achieve them?
Do you have the right people with you to push you and pull you across the finish line?

"It's not the mountain we conqueror but ourselves." Sir Edmund Hillary

The race at Leadville had a 30 hr. limit, your time limit is your lifetime.

Coleen Voeks, finisher of Leadville 100, The Race Across the Sky

Road Trip Part II

Yesterday I posted about the road trip I am on. I wrote about number one of the two reasons Marietta and I took this trip. Today is about the second reason.

Marietta and I both have children living in Kansas. Marietta’s son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter live in Paola, Kansas. My daughter and son-in-law live in Kansas City.

Our first stop was Paola to Kimberly and Tim’s recently opened coffee shop “The Country Bean.” What a great looking coffee shop. Tim built all the counters, and the furniture. He did such a great job on the furniture that people asked him to build furniture for them so he started a business from it, “The Country Bean Woodworking Co.” The coffee products and food that are served are top notch. The macaroni and cheese is to write home about. Their daughter Ella, who is less than three months old is part of the business, she goes to work daily with her mom and dad. Customers come in looking for her and even give them money for diapers for Ella. Their shop is located close to the high school and the students come in regularly and are very welcomed. The shop holds Wii tournaments on Friday nights to give the young people a place to go. For $5.00 they are entered into the tournament and they receive a small drink. The winner receives half the money taken in. They really have a heart for young people.

The next day my daughter Coleen and son-in-law Erik drove to Paola and all of us went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. We had a great meal and the young folks had a good time sharing business stories. My son-in-law and daughter also own their own successful business. We were having such a nice time together that we didn’t notice that we were the last people there and they were waiting for us to leave so that they could close. I said goodbye to Marietta as she returned to her son’s home and I headed to Kansas City to spend a few days with Coleen and Erik, their three cats and one very large dog, Otis, a black Great Dane.

My daughter gave me a wonderful Mother’s Day gift. We both had facials. Ah, that’s the life. After lunch at Panera Bread we went to their business, “Need More Discs” in Shawnee. I purchased five movies from their vast inventory of DVD’s and looked at the music CD’s but didn’t find any that I wanted this time. If my husband had been with me I know he would have found some, we always go home with a stack to add to our growing collection. I have never gone into their store and not purchased something, it is a good thing I don’t live closer.

My son-in-law is cooking stir-fry for dinner on Saturday and Sunday I am being taken out for Mother’s Day brunch. It has been a great visit with them. They always show me so much love and we have a special time together.

This has been a wonderful trip and Marietta and I talked today about planning another one. We may take a cross country train trip; I have never done that before.

Marietta will be driving back to Illinois on Monday or Tuesday. I catch a plane back to Colorado on Sunday evening from Kansas City. I am sure my husband will be glad to have me back and I will be delighted to see him.

Image: Ryan Kramer

Road Trip

I have been on a road trip since Satuday May 2, it started out with a plane ride to Illinois. My step-sister-in-law Marietta and I have been traveling through Illinois, Iowa and Kansas. No we are not “Thelma and Louise”, in fact neither of us has seen the movie but we have been hearing about it all week. We assured everyone that we would not end the trip the way they did, yikes!

We had two goals for this trip. 1. Research for Marietta 2. Visiting our children.

Marietta is a writer of mystery stories that take place in small towns with interesting names. She has been talking about taking a trip to What Cheer, Iowa for about two years.
I volunteered to take the trip with her.

We determined that this would be an unstructured trip. If we saw something we wanted to stop and see—we would. Our time in Illinois was spent visiting family. My mother, sister and brother and their families live there and I spent a day with them. We also visited my husband’s family.

On Tuesday we headed the car to Iowa and our ultimate goal, What Cheer.
What Cheer was a prosperous town of 3,000 through the 60’s and because of the coal industry shutting down and a clay pipe company closing, the population has dwindled down to six hundred. We took some pictures of the Opera House and then went to the library/town hall to do research. We met some great people there. One of the women was an 80 year old American Indian who had some great stories about herself and her town. This woman was full of energy and laughter and did not look her age at all. She has been through some pretty rough times, she was a mother and a widow at the age of 13, her husband was killed in WWII. She has eleven children and has been through six husbands. I forget how many grands and great-grands she said she has. She spends her time and resources helping those who are in need. This lady knows no such thing as retirement.

We took lots of pictures of the town and ate lunch at the lone restaurant; it was a double wide across from the park, good hamburgers.

We took side trips to the Amana colonies and the bridges at Madison County. We arrived at the Amana colonies just after 5pm and all but two stores were closed but it was a peaceful walk we took around the town. One of the stores had an Open sign and we could see that lights were on inside so we tried the door and it was locked. As we walked away the woman inside opened the door and asked us if we would like to come in, even though she was closed, she had forgotten to take down the sign. We accepted; it was a delightful shop with a variety of items. Marietta made a purchase and we continued our walk on the deserted sidewalks.

The same day that we visited What Cheer we went to see the bridges of Madison County. There are five covered bridges, we decided to see three of the five since they were scattered about. After finding two, they were identical except for the length, we headed to the third, hoping it might have a different look. I was the navigator. The map we had been given was not the best, it didn’t have many streets marked on it and I sent us the wrong direction. Since it was getting later in the day we gave up on the bridges. We were heading to Kansas and didn’t want to arrive too late. Marietta forgave me because on the wrong road we keep sighting flocks of Turkey Vultures. Marietta is a bird watcher and photographer of birds. We made several sudden stops along the road so that she could jump out and photograph those birds in flight. We also found a pond with a flock of pelicans. Getting lost may have kept us from a bridge but the bonus we got with the bird sightings was worth it.

I found the people of Iowa to be some of the most friendly I have come across in my many travels. They have a love of life. The scenery in Iowa is beautiful too. If you haven’t been there I will recommend it.

Image: Morguefile.com