Congratulations! And thank you for all your support!

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

A little over a week ago, I participated in the Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultra-Marathon in support of the 100 Mile Club. It was a great day! Long, with ups and downs and at the end a little painful ... But I got to know some super nice and inspiring people, like Ed Ettinghausen who ran four marathons that day and who ran another two the next morning to break the (Guinness) world record for the most marathons in one year (112) ... .

Congratulations to all the Ultra-Runners who gave their personal best during these 24 hours! And to the kids of the 100 Mile Club who joined us for their event during the day! One 10 year old boy who never did more than a 5 mile run in his life before, ran 18 miles together with Ed ... .

The end result for me was also very positive. Since I have never officially completed a 50 Miler, my minimum goal for the day was 50 miles (80 km). Once I reached this, I went for the next higher goal of running a double marathon (52.4 mi./ 84.3 km). Then, the 100K was suddenly in reach and once I hit the 100 km (62 mi.), I pushed it and went for a triple marathon (78.6 mi./126.5 km) which I was able to complete about 30 seconds (!) before the end of the 24 hours! Round and around and around for 315 laps ... .

In an attempt to provide you with some impressions of that remarkable day and to say thank you for your help and support, I put together a slide show which you can watch online by clicking the following link:

Play slide show

Thanks to all my friends who came out to support me and to run/walk a few laps and everyone who followed me online throughout the 24 hours. It made all the difference! Thanks to the race directors and the founder of the 100 Mile Club for coming up with such a great idea. And thanks to all the volunteers who helped to make this event happen!

Last but not least: Thank you to all who donated on my fundraising page for this great cause. With your donations, you helped to raise enough money to support 88 kids (!) and provide them the opportunity to experience the powerful feeling of fitness and true personal success by accepting the challenge of running or walking 100 miles during one school year! This will probably have a positive effect on them for the rest of their life.

Again, I am deeply grateful for each one of you and your contribution. I had a wonderful experience and look forward to doing it again next year!

Björn

In the news: Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultra-Marathon

 

 

 

 

 24-hour run aids students, quake victims

By JERRY SOIFER
Special to The Press-Enterprise  

Mieko Morita was trying to send a message of help halfway around the world from Corona to her native Japan. Ed Ettinghausen of Wildomar was trying to set a world record. 

Morita, 47, of Santa Monica, and Ettinghausen, 48, were two of a group of men and women who recently set out to run and walk 24 hours around the quarter-mile dirt track at Auburndale Intermediate School in Corona to benefit the school's 100-mile club, which teaches life skills and fitness to children striving to run and walk 100 miles at school during the year. 

Morita, who was born in the small town of Ashiya, near Kobe, also wanted to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  

She covered more than 60 miles to raise more than $1,200.

Ettinghausen traversed four 26.2 mile marathons in 24 hours. He then intended to take part in the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday.

The other 24-hour participants included Steve Hernandez, 43, of Temple City; Laurel Kahn, 55, of Chatsworth; Mikey Lopez, 43, of Riverside; Rose Meiri, 29, of Reseda; Joe Nakamura, 32, of Upland; Erik Schnautz, 43, of Alhambra; Sol Shapiro, 49, of Corona; Christina Sorensen, 39, of San Francisco; Allessandro Struppa, 25, of Irvine; Daniel Struppa, 55, of Irvine; Bjoern Kampmann, 38, of Brea; and Darren Van Soye, 49, of Anaheim.

The run started Friday at 9 p.m. with the track barely illuminated by a pair of lights. Each participant carried a computer chip that was counted as it passed the start-finish line. Participants were allowed to stop for naps. They also were fed through the course of the day. It finished Saturday at 9 p.m.
The men, women and children who participated in the 24-hour run raised about $12,000.

Live updates from the R4K24 Ultra

It was a great day! Long, with ups and downs and at the end a little painful ... But I got to know some super nice and inspiring people, like Ed Ettinghausen who ran 4 marathons today and who will run tomorrow from the finish line to the start of the LA Marathon to then do the race. With his final marathon tomorrow, he will break the (Guinness) world record for the most marathons in one year (112) ... .
The kids of the 100 Mile Club who joined us for their event during the day were just amazing! One 10 year old boy who never did more than a 5 miles run in his life before, ran 18 miles together with Ed ... .
The end result for me was also very positive. Since I have never officially completed a 50 Miler, my minimum goal for the day was 50 miles (80 km). Once I reached this, I went for the next higher goal of running a double marathon (52.4 mi./ 84.3 km). Then, the 100K was suddenly in reach and once I hit the 100 km (62 mi.), I pushed it and went for a triple marathon (78.6 mi./126.5 km) which I was able to complete about 30 seconds (!) before the end of the 24 hours! Round and around and around for 315 laps ... .
Thanks to all my friends who came out to support me and to  run/walk a few laps with me. It made all the difference! And thanks to all who donated for this great cause and who were following me online throughout the 24 hours.

What a great day!

 Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: Done! 78.6 miles in 24 hours! Triple Marathon!

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: 69 miles!

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: 2 x 26.2 (2 x marathon distance).

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: Ed on his mission to break the world record for the most marathons.

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: 50 miles (in 12:53 hrs).

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: The kids are here. Nice to have some company :-)

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: This one is for Aviva. Btw - 41 miles.

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: National anthem.

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: After a nice little nap, I am back on (the) track ...

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: 26.2 miles - first marathon!

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: First official results published - 59 laps at midnight.

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: 15 miles - still feeling good.

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live updates from the R4K24 Ultra

Found the perfect spot for my tent. Just in case I'll feel like taking a quick nap.

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

Live update from the R4K24 Ultra: Getting all my equipment together ...

To donate, please visit: http://tiny.cc/6krre

The Ten Commandments of Endurance

Weather forecast for our Run 4 Kids Ultra-Marathon on March 18/19

Latest weather forecast for our Run 4 Kids Ultra-Marathon on March 18/19: Dry but cold during the night and perfect temperatures during the day with a chance of some rain showers (30%) on Saturday between 10AM and 3PM. This might be the right time for a nap then ;-) http://tiny.cc/6krre 

Super "Perigee Full Moon" - the biggest in almost 20 years!

Tomorrow evening (3/19) you will be able to observe a natural spectacular: A full moon of rare size and beauty which will rise in the East at Sunset (around 7PM). The last time that the moon appeared so big and close to earth was almost 20 years ago.

 

What a great coincidence that we will get to observe this during the last 2 hours of our Run 4 Kids 24-Hours Ultra-Marathon.

Whatch the YouTube video by Science @ Nasa for more information: 

Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultra-Marathon in 24 hours - Thank you for your support!

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

In exactly 24 hours, I will participate in the Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultra-Marathon in support of the 100 Mile Club - a non profit organization with over 30,000 members whose focus is addressing childhood obesity one school at a time.

Thank you so much for all your positive feedback and your help! It really means a lot to me that so many people stand behind my endeavor. So far, you helped with your donations to raise enough money to support 67 kids (!) and provide them the opportunity to experience the powerful feeling of fitness and true personal success by accepting the challenge of running or walking 100 miles during one school year! This will probably have a positive effect on them for the rest of their life.

The Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultra-Marathon starts tomorrow at 9PM (Friday, 3/18) at the Auburndale Intermediate School in Corona (1255 River Rd., Corona, CA 92880) and ends 24 hours later. While we will start running on Friday, the 100 Mile Club kids will have their glorious day the next morning when they and their parents will join us for a few laps or just come out to enjoy the Run 4 Kids and PTA Health & Safety Fair. After the kids and parents leave at 2PM, we will continue running for another 7 hours to complete our full 24 hours. 
.

In order to prepare for this race, I ran over 250 miles since the beginning of this year or - in other words - about the distance of a Marathon every weekend. To learn more about why I trained so hard in order to support this cause, please read my runner's spotlight on the official Run 4 Kids Ultra-Marathon website. 
.

If you have time and would like to come out to see me run around a track, I would be very honored. In total, we will only be 17 runners, but you will be able to see some very interesting people, like Ed Ettinghausen, an athlete poised to break the world record for the most marathons in a single year, or Daniele Struppa, the Chancellor of Chapman University who has climbed the highest mountains on three of the seven continents. 
.
If you can't make it, you will still be able to follow me online on my homepage www.AmericanGerman.com or on Facebook where I will be posting pictures and short updates literally "around the clock".

Thank you again for your support!

Björn

To donate, please visit my fundraising page: http://www.active.com/donate/r4k2411/americangerman

One of my co-runners at the Run 4 Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon: Mieko Morita

"Mieko Morita, who was born in the small Japanese town of Ashiya, near Kobe, will run 24 continuous hours for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan today and ending Saturday at the 100 Mile Club's annual Run for Kids in Corona. ..."

Read the full article

Two of my co-runners at the Run 4 Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon: Daniele and Alex Struppa

Two of my co-runners at the Run 4 Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon: Daniele Struppa - the Chancellor of Chapman University - and his son Alex. Come see us run in support of the 100 Mile Club at the Run 4 Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon on March 18/19 in Corona.

Read the runner's spotlight on the official Run 4 Kids Ultramarathon website

(Picture courtesy of McKenzi / Taylored Photo Memories)

Runner’s Spotlight published on the official Run 4 Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon Website

Runners Spotlight: Björn Kampmann

This week McKenzi of www.TayloredPhotoMemories.com interviews Björn Kampmann, Ultra-Runner and Ironman, and a registrant for the Run 4 Kids Ultramarathon in support of the 100 Mile Club!

Question: Have you always been so fit?
I was not very much into sports until I moved in 2006 from Germany to the US. Before, I would complain about having to walk if someone would park the car too far away from a restaurant. Don’t get me wrong; sometimes when I was a kid I used to go hiking, but running in a rigorous sense was never part of the program for me as a young person. The fact that I now live in California has a lot to do with how I got into running and triathlons, and my progress over the years. It is just a lot easier to train in an environment where you have over 300 days of sunshine and lots of opportunities to train outdoors. This helped me to get started.
At the beginning, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know much about proper training, injury prevention or nutrition. So it’s no wonder that when I signed up for my first Half-Marathon, I wasn’t prepared properly. As a result, I hurt myself and wasn’t able to walk for about 2 weeks. Then, I applied for the New York City Marathon and won one of the spots in the lottery. This was in 2008 and was the beginning of my starting to train in a more systematic way. Having the New York City Marathon as my first marathon inspired me so much that I got hooked. Since then, I have done 6 Marathons, 2 Ultra-Marathons, 2 Half-Ironmans, 1 Full Ironman and several other races.

Question: How many miles do you put in per week?
I don’t have much time to train during the week, so I have to put in most of my miles on the weekend. During the last couple of months, I’ve done one long run every Saturday and another one on Sunday. Combined, these runs total between 30 and 50 miles. Since I also have a very strong passion for trail running, normally my shorter run on Sunday is in the mountains with lots of elevation gain. For me, this back-to-back training seems to work, even though I will have to include some runs during the week in order to further improve in the future.

Question: Why is 100 Mile Club® important and why do you support it?
In order to keep me motivated, I always create my race schedule at the beginning of the year. Also signing up for these races early on helps me to stay committed and focused on my training. This is similar to what the 100 Mile Club does. One of the greatest strengths of this club is to encourage children to be active from an early age, which we hope will have an effect on them for the rest of their life. Our goal as Ultra-Runners is to serve as role models for these kids, to inspire them and additionally to raise necessary funds to help support this program. This will hopefully give these kids the necessary motivation to start training and possibly become the next generation of Ultra-Runners.

Published in March 2011 on the official Run 4 Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon website.


Please help us with your donation and by giving these kids the necessary motivation to start training and possibly become the next generation of Ultra-Runners. Every dollar counts! To donate for this great cause, please visit my Fundraising Page.

One of my co-runners at the Run 4 Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon: Ed Ettinghausen

Ed Ettinghausen is poised to break the World Record for the most marathons in a single year. Come see him run 4 back-to-back marathons at the Run 4 Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon on March 18/19 in Corona.

Read his runner's spotlight on the official Run 4 Kids Ultramarathon website

 

(Picture courtesy of McKenzi / Taylored Photo Memories)