HOW TO EMAIL US ON THE ROAD...

While we are on the road PLEASE use this email to get a hold of us:

nolantaylor@pocketmail.com

This will be the only access Brendan and I will have to email for the majority of the trip. If you send an email to this account we will be able to recieve and send email from anywhere along our route. The only thing is is that this email machine cannot receive pictures or attachments.

On that note, I am going to put in my beg and plead now! EMAIL US, TALK TO US, SEND JOKES, SEND STORIES, SEND ANYTHING VIA EMAIL THAT YOU THINK WILL HELP US GET THROUGH 500 MILES OF RUNNING! EMAIL US!

There will be nothing like finishing another 30-35 mile day and checking our email and having a funny message from home, an encouraging word from a stranger, or a motivational note from a friend. EMAIL US ON THE ROAD!

Run long and EMAIL US!

Nolan

On The Phone And On The Road!

Wow, yesterday was a crazy day in the Chemo Is Harder world!

We got word from a friend who is helping us find lodging sponsors that it looks like we can count on a lodging sponsor EVERY NIGHT for the first week. Combine that with the 2nd week we already had commitments from and it looks like we may have a roof over our head more than we planned on! We can rest a little easier now knowing this ( both literally and figuratively).

I spent a good part of last night talking to folks who will be housing us the first night and I tell what, I am amazed and humbled by the kindness of strangers! One of my favorite books of all time is a book called, "The Kindness Of Strangers, Penniless Across America". It's about a road-trip of self-discovery; to discover himself and America all over again! Without any cash, credit cards, or checks he sets out from San Fransisco with the task of walking across the country to North Carolina, accepting only the "kindness from strangers" in the form of rides, a place to stay, and a meal to eat. The book chronicles the "ordinary people" every mile of the way that turn his trip into an extraordinary experience.

THIS BOOK IS BECOMING OUR STORY! THANKS EVERYONE!

Run long,

Nolan

A Snowy 20 Miler...may be a preview of what's to come

It does seem that at times Nolan and I are up to what may be one of the biggest challenges we may face in our lifetime. A year has passed since our inaugural run, and we are 3 weeks away from what will prove to be a monumental run and the beginning of our quest to help find a cure for cancer. Needless to say, we are excited and we are ready to hit the road!! We hope you follow us---for our journey and for what is to come for Chemo Is Harder.

As our packing list is getting finalized, we continue to run a ton of miles. It is necessary considering the amount of road we will be traveling on.

I just looked at my Garmin that I will be running with on our journey across South Dakota and I wanted to share with you an interesting figure that may blow you away(a bit of a test here)... My last 450 miles logged and guess how many calories I expended?
A) 10,000
B) 20,000
C) 50,000
D) 99,294

You guessed right if you chose D).

So, if you saw Nolan's last posting, he mentions string cheeses, and well, that would mean we would have to eat about 1103 individual string cheeses!!! We will have to keep up our intake of calories or we may just waste away to nothing...and we definitely do not want to do that.

I went on a 20 miler today and it felt pretty good, and guess what? It snowed!! Yesterday I went 13 and I fought 50 mile-an-hour winds and that pretty much stunk!!! I did not enjoy that run, but what I did gain from the last two days is this... Nolan and I may be faced with similar conditions while on the road, and we will have to grin and bear it. I look for such opportunities to train because I will have a mental edge over those type of days---cause I've been there!

I hope you have a great running week yourself-
...and remember,

"The Journey is the Reward"


Brendan~

Food and Rest...

Food and rest, 2 things it seems like you never get enough of when you add running so many training miles into an already full work week.

This week my goal is to get all of my food lists made, food list items purchased, and food items packed for the trip across the state.

Some folks might get a kick out of what fuels you to run 500 miles in 2 weeks so when I get a concrete list I will post it here...it should probably look something like: 23 gallons of lemonade, 541 Pop-Tarts, and 239 string cheeses.

The other goal this week is to get all of our first week lodging figured out. Were taking tents, sleeping bags, etc. but after so many miles we are hoping for a roof over our head nearly every night! It sounds like everything after Mobridge is almost covered, but besides Capitol, MT, all of our lodging in the first week of the run still needs to be planned! So...........SPREAD THE WORD to everyone you know in northern SD!

Pack lots of food and run long,

Nolan

More than 1 way...

There's more than one way to skin a cat...errr...opps...wrong blog!

This morning I woke up early and ran 15 miles to work. After work I will have another 15 miles to go to get back home. I ran in that dead piece of time between night and day, when the moon and the sun are on the horizon at the same time, just different horizons and if you are running north or south, you can look way 1 and think night fall is coming and look the other way and get excited for a new day! which brings me to my point...

There's more than one way to run 30 miles in a day!

As our cross state run gets closer now is the time to start experimenting with different foods, drinks, run/rest schedules, hydration systems, electrolyte replenishment, etc. I feel pretty good about my one the run food and drink options. I also feel pretty good about my hydration systems, and electrolyte options. However, one thing I am still toying with is what is the best way to get in an average of 30 miles for 14 days.

There's two runs of 15 miles, three runs of 10, or one big ol' run of 30. There's run 5 walk 1 and run 8 walk 2 or...

Or maybe we'll just have to wait and see what the day brings us. Roll with the punches and see how we feel. It might be smartest to let our bodies tell us which plan is right for the day rather than our watches. As long as we keep putting 1 foot in front of the other we will get to where we need to be!

Now if I could just come up with an easy way to explain to my boss why I showed up to work in running tights, worn out running shoes, and a stretched out sweaty running shirt!

Wake up early and run long,

Nolan

A day in the life...

Seems like I can't find enough hours in the day to enjoy things other then running like kayaking, geocaching, goofing arounsd with the dogs, unicycling, etc. so I thought I would break it down and see where all my day is going. I thought this might be interesting to folks who are wondering what it takes to get ready for something like this.

A day in the life of this Ultra-runner lately looks something like this...

5:15 - Wake and go for 3-8 miles.
6:00 - 7:30 - Get ready for work.
8:00 - 1:30 - Work
1:30 -2:30 - Go for lunch run. There will be more of these starting next week. 3-8 miles.
2:30 - 6:00 - Work and go home.
6:00 - 7:00 - Go for night run. 5-8 miles.
7:00 - 9:00 - Shower, EAT (and I mean SCARF!), and go to bed.

Fridays are different because those are an optional day, and Sundays are different because those are LONG RUN days, like this weekend is a 20 miler.

AH HA...now I see where all my day is going!

Run long (REALLY LONG) and strong,

Nolan

Braving the COLD!

Hard to believe the Chemo Is Harder run is right around the corner. Seems like yesterday I was thinking, "Our run date will be here in 10 months!", now I am thinking, "Wow, our run date will be here in 3 months!"

As my mileage starts to add up I have been having to brave some pretty cold morning runs, and with the weather man saying the temperature won't break 10 degrees for the next few day it looks like there is little relief on the horizon. On a positive note though we have gotten lots of snow in the last few days which is is always fun for XC skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, etc.

I am proud to say we have added a couple more sponsors to our adventure!

Newton Shoes has stepped up as our shoe sponsor for our run. I was really excited when I got home from work last week and found a box sitting on my doorstep. When I opened it up, I noticed that these shoes really ARE different from any other shoe on the market! These shoes are designed by runners to mimic barefoot running. Because of how they are built, they encourage you to land on your forefoot and not be a heel-striker. Not only is landing on your forefoot a more healthy way to run, but also more efficient! Check out our sponsors page and click on their link. When you get to their site read the portion that says, "RUN BETTER" and "HOW THEY WORK". We are really excited to have newton teaming up with us and I can't wait to fill my log book full of Newton miles.

Thanks for all the encouraging words about our journey so far, they are so nice to receive as it reaffirms our believe in what we are doing every time we read them.

Run long and strong,

Nolan