Memorial Day Weekend, Western States 100,and Cool Ride &Tie

The Memorial Day weekend is here. This is the first day of the Western States 100 training run. I seldom miss the first day of this run scheduled to depart from Robinson Flat to Forest Hill a distance of 30+ miles. However, this year is wet and cold which translates to lots of snow. Often, it is difficult to reach Robinson flat because of snow conditions. So today‘s run is modified. The impossible trail conditions can cause injury today’s crazy runners. Snowshoes work great. Tony and I decided to run  Sunday the second day from Forest Hill to White Oak flat a distance of about 20 miles.

I asked Tony to bring brownies for the ride home after the run. He has to go to the store to buy more chocolate since he didn’t save enough brownies from Thursday’s batch. He isn’t thrilled but he said he would do it. From Tony: Debbie came to my rescue she said she would make them. He’s been spending his time at the computer figuring out how to put together a book trailer. This book trailer is going to be used for book signings. We have videos and pictures from the 25^Th World  Ride and Tie Championship, and the Western states 100 called “Running Madness”. I’m working on using videos from The Tevis Cup and the Na Wahine O Ke Kai Outrigger canoe race. I also hope to have pictures of the magnificent seven: Russ Kiernan, Lew Hollander, Jim Steere, Jack Scholl, Beverly Bentley, Doc Shay, and Sammie Sambro. The scenery of these events is fantastic, the action super, and the people terrific. Tony is the technical expert.

In putting together the blog, he used his favorite picture. Linda didn’t understand the contents of the picture. I knew Tony was tailing his horse but what I didn’t know is that he is approaching Michigan Bluff on his way to his 10^Th Tevis buckle. No wonder it’s his favorite-way to go Tony.

Many of you might not understand or know about the little known sport of ride and tie. Briefly, ride and tie consists of three athletes (two people and a horse). In the event one person runs as the other rides- then they trade off. This trading off of running and riding continue until the entire team reaches the finish line. In the “olden days”, the mileage at the event was roughly 25 to 35 miles. Today, the race is friendlier. For example, the Cool Ride and Tie has a 5 mile and a 13 mile race distance for new and young competitors. Our event is scheduled for October 1, and will take place at the Olmsted trail in Cool. I hope to see you there. Information about the course can be found on this blog or going to the ride and tie website: ride and tie.org.

Just yesterday, I spoke to Steve Shaw a ride and tie and endurance competitor who lives near Santa Cruz. Tony and I are running a half marathon called the San Lorenzo River trail run on June 12 and will see him there. This illustrates prescription number 3 in my book “It Has Nothing To Do With Age - Stories of motivated athletes that excel in challenging and grueling sports”: enrich your life by making friends, sharing interests, learning about others by becoming part of a new group. 
http://wintergoosepublishing.com/authors/frank-lieberman/