Rails to Trails Marathon. Norwalk, WI, Nov 6, 2011. 3 LPTR’s ran this race this past Sunday. Ron Bero, Dave Neitzel & Loraine Bunk ran it.
I know – it’s only a marathon. Doesn’t really belong on the blog. On the other hand – this is LPTR. LP Trail R remember. And technically, the Elroy Sparta TRAIL is a Trail. Established in 1965 it is the first of it’s kind to be designated a National Recreation Trail.
This was going to be an adventure. Mr. Grabowski was going to bring his Gypsy Camper to the Norwalk Town Park and set up camp. The Bero’s were to stay at the posh Kickapoo Valley Ranch, 30 minutes away. A rendezvous was to occur at Wild Cat State Park, located between La Farge and Norwalk. The Grabowski’s did not make the trip leaving the Bero’s to spend the day shopping for bonnet’s, quilts, bakery and (thankfully) cheese and furniture at various Amish Farms located on Hwy D between Cashton and La Farge.
Right, forgot, this is a running blog. The Rails to Trails marathon is great ! it starts Sunday at 9:00 except it’s really 10:00 since it’s the day after we fall back. It runs on a flat crushed sandstone (maybe limestone except it’s brown) rail bed. It actually is fairly curvy and it goes through a ¾ mile tunnel that 100 (or 38 mile fun run) mile runners have an advantage in since you can’t see ANYTHING (if you are 50 and your eye sight is going). i.e., this marathon is MUCH better than the trail breaker.
I highly recommend this race since, after all, it’s only a marathon and you can be done in 3 and a half or so hours. – oh, it’s 1.5 out and back then 11.5 out and back so you can have a Frank Marino concert for the run back to the barn (except it’s not a barn, it’s a park and there are lots of friendly people there barbequing chicken parts and serving beer).
I’ll be back next year and I hope we can fill up the Kickapoo Valley Ranch (I would NOT recommend camping in the park – you need quarters for the showers – just try to visualize showers that take quarters – you’ll get the idea).
Tom Bunk has some pictures on his Face Book page.
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| Ron and Lorraine |
Ron, You call this a race report? How many GUs did you consume? Did you fall, puke, cramp up or do anything like that? Did you crave a chew or a beer at mile 20? No pictures of blisters or bloody knees? Tom Bunk has a Face Book page?
ReplyDeleteYeah, like did you poop? Did your feet get wet? Did you bonk or go off-course? Any chaffing to speak of?
ReplyDelete@ Joel...even my dad has a FB page.
Congratulations on the first-ever Frank Marino reference in a race report!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the photo with Lorraine would be much more adorable if you were wearing the bonnet you found at the Amish store.
That's a great race, Congratulations for a great job well done. Looking forward always, I like the race shirt and the pics.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out, love the free press, glad you enjoyed yourself! Would love to have you and your whole club again next year!
ReplyDeleteKelly
Rails to Trails Marathon
www.railstotrailsrace.com
Also there is a pretty cool video available on youtube that a guy shot while running the race, it's on our facebook wall as well!
ReplyDelete