Sunflower close-up shot from a field near Lawrence, KS yesterday...

Before I begin, I need to congratulate Jessie of the blog, Run to the Border for knocking out a 100 mile race this weekend. If you haven't seen his blog, it is an interesting read. He posted updates of his latest race as he was doing it. It was an impressive feat. Congrats again.

I had crap news about my knee, as usual. Recovery will take about 12 weeks once I have the surgery. I plan to schedule it just before or after Thanksgiving. That way, the 3 months I will take off will be Dec-Feb, rather than months that are more fun to run. I live on top of an Olympic-size pool (literally 100 yds from my house), so I will be taking up swimming/drowning this Winter. My knee has held up pretty well. I got in about 30 miles this week.

My running week culminated with me and my running buddy, Eric heading out at 4:30 on Saturday morning to tear down spider webs from a 5 mile stretch of the inaugural Hawk 100 mile race that the Trail Hawks are putting on at Clinton this weekend. It was, at the same time, eerie and super fun to clean the course. I have never run on those trails in pitch black conditions. Eric mainly stayed in front, gamely dispatching the webs with a long stick, while I played the role of sweeper, dealing with the overlooked and obstreperous hangers-on.

Our duties completed, we headed for the main shelter that served as race HQ. We chowed down on a bagel or two. The shelter had been the site of an elaborate race picnic and potluck the night before. Now it was sparse (save for bags of bagels) and ready for action, with drop bags lining its main bench area. As a reward for spider wrangling, we were given long-sleeve race tech shirts. But that put Eric in a quandry. He won't wear a race shirt of a race in which he did not compete. I think little of that. I only won't wear race shirts when I'm competing in a race (it always seems tacky). But I don't care what I wear when I'm training. But, since this race is a 100 miler, I will follow Eric's lead and Sharpie in the word 'Volunteer,' so that there will be no confusion.

Finally, my friends and next door neighbors, Jim and Ann Jessie, called me and offered me 4 tickets to a lux Executive Suite at Livestrong for Sporting KC's game against the Houston Dynamo yesterday. So some hours after the spider run, I drove over to KCK with my friends Marisa and Chris Ford, and Jordan Yochim. Eric, who works with Ann, was also there with his wife (and my friend), Rebecca, and their daughter, Helen. We, along with the Jessie family, all enjoyed a tremendous victory from a nice vantage point. I'm now so spoiled that I don't believe I can ever go back to general admission.

Hasta pronto.