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. 
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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. 
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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. 
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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)

How to make the most out of a 8K race (the Brea 8K)?

Run the route twice before, do the race and run it again afterwards for a total of 20 miles! Nice training run for the Run4Kids 24 Hour Ultramarathon ;-) Of course, your time for the race won't be really that good ...

 Before the race ...

During the race ...

Brea 8K (4.97 mi)
Time: 0:48:37 [hrs]
Pace: 9:46 min/mile
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Total run (20.04 mi/ 32.25 km):
Time: 3:53:10 [hrs]
Pace: 11:37 min/mile

24 days until Run4Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

In exactly 24 days from today, I will participate in the Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon. Yes, that's right, we will be running literally "around the clock" to raise awareness and funds for the 100 Mile Club - a non profit organization whose focus is addressing childhood obesity one school at a time. 100% of the proceeds from the Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon will directly sponsor students in new and currently-participating schools. The mission of of the 100 Mile Club is to provide to all children the opportunity to experience the powerful feeling of fitness and true personal success by accepting the challenge of running or walking 100 miles during a single school year. The 100 Mile Club has grown to serve over 30,000 individuals in pre-K through 12th grade in over 85 schools.

The Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon starts at 9 PM on March 18 at the Auburndale Intermediate School in Corona (1255 River Rd., Corona, CA 92880) and ends 24 hours later. While we will start running the night before, the 100 Mile Club kids will have their glorious day the next morning (Saturday, 3/19/2011 from 8 AM till 2 PM) when they and their parents will join us for a few laps or just come out to enjoy a gorgeous day in celebration of fitness and wellness. After the kids and parents leave at 2 PM, we will continue running for another 7 hours to complete our full 24 hours.

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 support this program. Please help us by donating on my fundraising page 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, please visit my fundraising page:
http://www.active.com/donate/r4k2411/americangerman

Finally, I would also appreciate your support by coming out sometime during our 24-Hour Ultramarathon to run a few laps with us or to cheer us on. If you will not be able to make it, please join me on Facebook where I will keep posting updates throughout the 24 hour race.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Björn


More information about the 100 Mile Club can be found at http://www.100mileclub.com/. More information about the Run 4 Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon can be found at http://www.r4k24.org/. Active.com is a secure, US-based website that many organizations use to collect donations for charity events.

Danaher to buy Beckman Coulter for $5.8 billion

By Nick Zieminski

NEW YORK | Mon Feb 7, 2011 2:33pm EST
 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Danaher Corp has struck a deal to buy medical diagnostics company Beckman Coulter Inc for $5.8 billion in cash, its biggest bet yet on the medical technology business.
The deal, which would pit the combined company against 3M and General Electric, values Beckman at $83.50 a share. That's 11 percent more than its closing price on Friday and roughly 45 percent above the company's price in December before rumors of a takeover entered the marketplace.
Beckman shares jumped 9.8 percent to $82.51 in morning trading, a bit below the offer price -- suggesting investors do not expect a higher bidder to emerge. Danaher was up 3.2 percent at $49.51 after rising to $50.29, a lifetime high.
The transaction is valued at about $6.8 billion including assumed debt, the companies said. They expect the deal to close in the first half of the year. ...
An aging population and more emphasis on preventive medical care, along with growth of medical technology in markets like China, make clinical diagnostics an attractive $25 billion market, Danaher Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp said.
Danaher outbid at least two private equity consortia -- one made up of Blackstone Group and TPG Capital, the second made up of Apollo Management and Carlyle Group -- that also submitted final offers for Beckman last week, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. ...

About:
Beckman Coulter, Inc. (Wikipedia)
Danaher Corp. (Wikipedia)

A Marathon and a Half-Marathon within 30 hours as training for the Run4Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon

This weekend, I accomplished my goal of running a Marathon and a Half-Marathon (a total of 40 miles / 65 km) within only 30 hours! Not as part of a race, but as training for the Run4Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon.

Yes, that's right, I will be running literally "around the clock" to raise awareness and funds for the 100 Mile Club - a non profit organization whose focus is addressing childhood obesity one school at a time.
 

My Fundraising Page:

 http://www.active.com/donate/r4k2411/americangerman

The event starts at 9pm on March 18 and ends 24 hours later. This event will be held at the Auburndale Intermediate School in Corona (CA) to raise awareness and funds for the 100 Mile Club.

The 100 Mile Club is a non-profit organization whose focus is addressing childhood obesity one school at a time. 100% of the proceeds from the Run4Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon will directly sponsor students in new and currently-participating schools. Those kids who join accept the goal of running (or walking) 100 miles at school during a single school year.

The 100 Mile Club has grown to serve over 30,000 individuals in pre-K through 12th grade in over 85 schools. More information about the 100 Mile Club can be found at www.100mileclub.com. More information about the Run4Kids 24-Hour Ultramarathon can be found at www.r4k24.org. Active.com is a secure, US-based website that many organizations use to collect donations for charity events.

Malibu International Marathon - New Personal Record

It was a beautiful and sunny day and the course offered nice views of the mountains and the ocean. The wind at parts and the 3 hills between mile 18 and 24 gave me a hard time, but overall it was a great race. I was even able to improve my personal record for the marathon distance by 1:50 minutes. Funny, how it sometimes comes down to just a few seconds after running for 26.2 miles. 

Time: 4:20:26 [hrs]
Overall: 179 of 481 finishers
Pace: 9:56 min/mile

Nutrition: Breakfast (bread, cheese and salami, 2 cups of coffee) and 1 bottle Prolong Energy before the race. Tylenol 8 hrs. half a hour before the race. One, two and three hours into the race 3 capsules of Endurolytes each plus half a Fastpak of Clif Shot Bloks. Took an extra 3 capsules of Endurolytes at 3:30 hrs. Drank only water throughout the entire race.
Notes: Next time, double the intake of Endurolytes to prevent cramps (= 3 capsules every 30 minutes). Cramps started at about mile 18, but went away after doubling the dosage at the end of the race. Bring some Bengay or Muscle Spray (refill into small bag or bottle).

More pictures available in the web album or as a slide show.

Want to leave a comment? Just click on COMMENTS below.

Mountain Madness Ultra-Marathon (50K), Shepherd Lake, NJ

Trail Run 31.20mi+x / 51,82km+x (x=got lost during the race)
Time: 9:34:43 hrs. (includes about 2 hrs trying to find our way back to the finish)

Want to leave a comment? Just click on COMMENTS below.

Trail running

Trail running has become an important part of my life. It combines two passions of mine - hiking and running. So, I frequently go running on trails and participate in races across the country. When I recently moved back to Orange County, I chose my apartment by proximity to one of the state parks where I can train on 65 miles of trails with an elevation from 500 to 1,700 feet.
















Trail running differs from regular running in many aspects. One of them is that one is surrounded by beautiful (almost) untouched nature. Normally, there are not too many two legged species (human beings) around which makes this a very peaceful experience and a nice contrast to the daily city life. On the other hand, one has always to be aware that there are other species out there who share the same nature with us - some with no legs, others with 4, 6 or even 8 legs ... .
As an experienced hiker, I know that I constantly need to watch where I place my next step to avoid stepping on one of them and to make noise when I run through areas with high brush, so that I don't have an unintentional sudden encounter with one of them.
Despite the high population and density of development in California, many wild animals can still be found in this state. During my many hikes and runs, I was lucky enough to see snakes (including rattle snakes), bears, turtles, coyotes, foxes and deer - to just name a few.
Being from Germany and not having grown up with these kinds of animals, it can sometimes be a little scary, but I also value each encounter as a new experience. Today, during another beautiful run on one of my regular trails in the Chino Hills State Park, we spotted something which I haven't seen before (other than in a zoo). We not only saw one, but two pretty large tarantulas!

More pictures available in the web album or as a slide show.

Want to leave a comment? Just click on COMMENTS below.

Los Angeles' Hottest Day On Record

High-pressure aloft is bringing searing heat to Southern California. Los Angeles hit 113 degrees (45 degrees Celsius) on Monday making it their hottest temperature ever recorded since records began in 1877. This also beat the daily record high set in 1963 by seven degrees.

Temperatures have only been 110 degrees or higher three other times in L.A. The record heat comes on the tails of the The Weather Channel naming Los Angeles as having the 5th worst summer of 2010 for being unusually cool.

Read the full article on weather.com