I just took a close look at a calendar and realized that it's time once again - Time to start training for my next marathon!!! The party's over! Let the games begin! High mileage, shoe-demolition weeks, hill repeats, speed intervals, trails, dark roads, frozen sweat-encrusted running hat, tempo runs, weekly camelbak-armed long runs with Gu's and Endurolytes, bloody nipples, Bodyglide galore! Blind, raw determination! Bring it!!!
Can you tell I've had my morning caffeine?
So here it is: on April 11, 2009, I'll be running in the inaugural Illinois Marathon (www.illinoismarathon.com) which will be held on the campus of my alma mater, University of Illinois, covering sections of Champaign and Urbana. It's sure to be a flat and fast course, and the finish is on the 50-yard line of Memorial Stadium!
The stars and planets have really aligned for me on this one. I haven't been back to the campus in about 15 years, and only get back to Chicago maybe once a year, but our family had already planned our next trip back to be during my kids' spring break. Spring break just happens to cover the weekend of April 11. And on top of that I have a niece going to school there and therefore should have someone to watch kids so Andrea can run the 1/2 or the 5K there. And just maybe Lincoln will run his first 5K!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Stopping By Dollar Store on a Snowy Evening...
A friend was recently looking for a little poetry help for her son, who was tasked with writing a poem about the Dollar Store. With apologies to Robert Frost, here's my contribution:
Stopping By Dollar Store on a Snowy Evening
Whose aisles these are I think I know,
With Gummi Bears and fuchsia bow.
I hope none see me stopping here
To watch this store fill up with dough.
My little purse must think it queer
To stop without a Macy’s near.
Between the goods of China’s make
The cheapest shopping – have no fear!
It gives its empty pouch a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the clink
That pennies, nickels, dimes do make!
Dollar Stores are lowly, rank, and cheap,
But I have promises to keep,
And crap to buy before I sleep,
And crap to buy before I sleep.
Stopping By Dollar Store on a Snowy Evening
Whose aisles these are I think I know,
With Gummi Bears and fuchsia bow.
I hope none see me stopping here
To watch this store fill up with dough.
My little purse must think it queer
To stop without a Macy’s near.
Between the goods of China’s make
The cheapest shopping – have no fear!
It gives its empty pouch a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the clink
That pennies, nickels, dimes do make!
Dollar Stores are lowly, rank, and cheap,
But I have promises to keep,
And crap to buy before I sleep,
And crap to buy before I sleep.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wineglass Marathon - October 5, 2008
I’m not sure if visiting my in-laws was an excuse to run a marathon or if running a marathon was an excuse to visit my in-laws, but however that works out we found ourselves at Steve and Polly’s doorstep in Campbell, New York, late last Friday evening. Their home is strategically located at the half-way point of the Wineglass Marathon, a point-to-point marathon running from Bath to Corning, primarily along the Cohocton River valley.
After a lazy Saturday morning, Andrea and I grabbed the kids and drove the course from start to finish. As we crossed the town center of Bath, I came to realize that this marathon was a symbolic representation of “This Is Your Life, Andrea!” The hospital where she was born was located about a ½ mile down the road from the start line. Her very first job as an office clerk was in Bath along the course. Later the race would pass by her school from kindergarten through high school, her first boyfriend’s house, and a few blocks from the home where she grew up. Twenty-six point two miles of Memory Lane!
After a lazy Saturday morning, Andrea and I grabbed the kids and drove the course from start to finish. As we crossed the town center of Bath, I came to realize that this marathon was a symbolic representation of “This Is Your Life, Andrea!” The hospital where she was born was located about a ½ mile down the road from the start line. Her very first job as an office clerk was in Bath along the course. Later the race would pass by her school from kindergarten through high school, her first boyfriend’s house, and a few blocks from the home where she grew up. Twenty-six point two miles of Memory Lane!
I, of course, mainly focused on the course elevation changes, which were almost non-existent! I noted one hill in mile 5 after a left turn, and then another hill after passing through Campbell. Neither hill looked bad, and everything else was blissfully flat!
Completing the course drive-through left us in downtown Corning right next to the race expo. I picked up my bib, shirt (long sleeve Podium technical shirt from Brooks), and gift bag and quickly looked through the goods on sale. Not a huge spread, but then this is not a huge race. If you needed something, it was probably there, and the prices looked good.
Next stop: Sorge’s Restaurant (great pasta!) and getting to meet my online friends from the Marine Corps Marathon Forum, Kevin and Gwen (aka cobweb and CTD – Crash Test Dummy). We all had a great time getting to know each other; we talked lots about running, kids, how to feed lizards, and of course, The Accident. Last February Gwen was in a horrible head-on car accident on icy roads. She was left with two fractured vertebra in her neck, along with numerous other injuries. Her presence at dinner Saturday night alone is remarkable, and the fact that she was also ready to toe the line the next morning for another marathon is…well, I don’t think I know a strong enough adjective for it. Jaw-dropping? Miraculous?
On Sunday morning Andrea and I were up by 6am and at the Phillips Lighting factory getting ready for the race start by a little after 7. We let the kids sleep in; Andrea would return and pick them up after I started. The weather was quite chilly – around 38 F – and very foggy. We soon hooked up with Gwen and Kevin and got in a quick “before” photo of the 3 of us. As we dressed down to our racing shirts and bibs, I looked at their numbers in surprise: Kevin 167, Gwen 168. I looked down at my own shirt: 691. What’s so remarkable about that? Well, I was looking at my number upside down. Right side up my number was 169. Over 500 runners there that morning and somehow the 3 of us ended up with sequential numbers! How wild is that?
Soon enough it was time to start running! And good thing, too, because we were all getting pretty cold outside! We gathered at the start line and Gwen and Kevin moved a little further back in the pack. They were figuring on running 10 or 11 minute miles. My goals were to 1) Finish healthy, 2) get under 4 hours for a PR, 3) go sub 9 minutes per mile pace (meaning just under 3hrs 56 minutes), and 4) go faster than that to whatever extent my body would allow. With those goals in mind I was shooting for running mainly in the 8:40s throughout most of the race, if all went well. I assumed the start would be a little slow so I was thinking of about 9 minute miles for the first two.
I waved to Andrea as I crossed the starting line and we were off! It didn’t take long for me to be pleasantly surprised that I was feeling pretty decent that morning, and I quickly settled into a very comfortable, steady pace. It usually takes me a few miles to feel like that. Mile 1 brought a mild surprise. I checked my watch expecting to see 9 or 9:30, and found 8:34 instead. Cool! For Mile 2 I tried to remain relaxed and ran an 8:35 split. Ok, that settled it. 8:30s are a bit faster than I expected, but based on my level of effort, I decided that I would try to stay right there, at least for the early stages of the race.
After the first couple of miles I was no longer very cold, and temperature was a non-issue for me the rest of the way. We weaved our way back and forth through the center of Bath and then headed southeast out of Bath toward the next town, Savona. I remember crossing an intersection and hearing a lady squeezing a loud squeak toy from a car. Made me think my dog was coming!
Then we were soon running down country roads that were completely immersed in a dense, dense fog. I chatted a bit with a couple of other runners. One, a fellow mechanical engineer, was running the first leg of a relay. The other, a guy a couple of years older than me named Matt, was running in his first marathon. We were all feeling decent at this point. Running in a fog was kind of cool, and it didn’t allow us to dwell too much on the long, seemingly endless straight-aways because we simply couldn’t see more than a few hundred feet ahead! However, I looked forward to the sun burning through so that we could get a good view of the yellow and orange forested hillsides that I knew would surround us all along the course. Mile 3: 8:33. Mile 4: 8.37. Very steady!
The first hill was after a left hand turn during the fifth mile. It was nothing major, but enough to slow my Mile 5 split to 8:48. Miles 6 through 9 were flat and there was nothing to change my strategy. I still felt fine and I was still turning in splits in the 8:30s. Repeated checks of my overall race pace showed a consistent 8:38. We arrived to cheering crowds lining the streets in Savona around Mile 9. This would be typical for the race: long stretches with relatively few fans, but then many more fans in each town. Right there in downtown Savona was the squeaky lady again! It was actually a bicycle horn that she was squeaking, and I thought it was really a good, uplifting noisemaker! Mile 6: 8:40. Mile 7: 8:33. Mile 8: 8:39. Mile 9: 8:37.
Miles 10, 11 and 12 continued through peaceful, country roads and the sun was finally starting to burn through the fog at times. I noticed that one of the women running near me was being paced by friends of hers that were doing the relay. Now that’s a cool way to provide a friend some support! Mile 10: 8:39. Mile 11: 8:34. Mile 12: 8:40. Race pace still 8:38.
Mile 13 lead us into the small town of Campbell, Andrea’s home town and the first point at which I expected to see my fans. Sure enough, right after the mile 13 point and another water/Gatorade station there they were cheering me on! What a huge uplift to see family in a marathon! I high five’d all of them (Andrea, the kids, and my in-laws), and then some other lady who apparently thought I was out to high five anyone I could (I guess I probably was!), and then I was off for more miles! My pace definitely picked up for a few minutes thanks to the emotional boost. My 20K split was about a 4 minute PR at 1 hour, 47 minutes and change! Mile 13: 8:30. ½ Marathon: 1:53:19. Mile 14: 8:38. Race pace still 8:38.
Behind Campbell, we soon ran up our second hill in Mile 15: ~8:50. Then we went flying down the back side and returned to the flats, heading for the tiny town of Erwyn Mile 16: ~8:31. During the 17th mile I caught up to Matt once again, and met his wife Michelle who was briefly riding alongside Matt on a bike. We ran together for a short while before I moved ahead. Mile 17: 8:31. Race pace 8:38. I start having delusions of grandeur!
In the next few miles, as we passed through the towns of Coopers Plains and Painted Post and I saw my family once again, my effort remained steady, but I found my pace fading a bit. Mile 18: 8:47. Mile 19: 8:49. Mile 20: 8:53. Finally, my race pace was moving into the 8:40s.
It’s often said that the marathon consists of 2 separate races: the first 20 miles and then the final 6.2. I’ll vouch for that! The miles now had become very painful. No injury, just increasing pain from the waist on down. The next couple of miles were probably the low point of my race, as I knew any hope of finishing as strong as I began was gone. My slowdown continued, and even when my family drove by me and cheered me on from the van, I could do little to acknowledge them. At some point along here Matt caught me and passed me for good. Mile 21: 9:25. Mile 22: 9:51.
When I saw that last split, nearing a 10 minute pace, I became a bit alarmed. I could accept that any hope of going sub 3:50 was fading, but I really didn’t want to be flirting with that 3:56 (9 min pace). I doubled my efforts and surged as much as possible as we entered Corning. Mile 23: 9:29. Mile 24: 9:37.
In the last couple of miles, I walked briefly at the aid stations. My familiarity with Corning helped me pace myself a bit for the finish, as I had a very good feel for when I was just a ½ mile out. Mile 25: 9:35. Mile 26: 9:43.
I waved to Andrea as I crossed the starting line and we were off! It didn’t take long for me to be pleasantly surprised that I was feeling pretty decent that morning, and I quickly settled into a very comfortable, steady pace. It usually takes me a few miles to feel like that. Mile 1 brought a mild surprise. I checked my watch expecting to see 9 or 9:30, and found 8:34 instead. Cool! For Mile 2 I tried to remain relaxed and ran an 8:35 split. Ok, that settled it. 8:30s are a bit faster than I expected, but based on my level of effort, I decided that I would try to stay right there, at least for the early stages of the race.
After the first couple of miles I was no longer very cold, and temperature was a non-issue for me the rest of the way. We weaved our way back and forth through the center of Bath and then headed southeast out of Bath toward the next town, Savona. I remember crossing an intersection and hearing a lady squeezing a loud squeak toy from a car. Made me think my dog was coming!
Then we were soon running down country roads that were completely immersed in a dense, dense fog. I chatted a bit with a couple of other runners. One, a fellow mechanical engineer, was running the first leg of a relay. The other, a guy a couple of years older than me named Matt, was running in his first marathon. We were all feeling decent at this point. Running in a fog was kind of cool, and it didn’t allow us to dwell too much on the long, seemingly endless straight-aways because we simply couldn’t see more than a few hundred feet ahead! However, I looked forward to the sun burning through so that we could get a good view of the yellow and orange forested hillsides that I knew would surround us all along the course. Mile 3: 8:33. Mile 4: 8.37. Very steady!
The first hill was after a left hand turn during the fifth mile. It was nothing major, but enough to slow my Mile 5 split to 8:48. Miles 6 through 9 were flat and there was nothing to change my strategy. I still felt fine and I was still turning in splits in the 8:30s. Repeated checks of my overall race pace showed a consistent 8:38. We arrived to cheering crowds lining the streets in Savona around Mile 9. This would be typical for the race: long stretches with relatively few fans, but then many more fans in each town. Right there in downtown Savona was the squeaky lady again! It was actually a bicycle horn that she was squeaking, and I thought it was really a good, uplifting noisemaker! Mile 6: 8:40. Mile 7: 8:33. Mile 8: 8:39. Mile 9: 8:37.
Miles 10, 11 and 12 continued through peaceful, country roads and the sun was finally starting to burn through the fog at times. I noticed that one of the women running near me was being paced by friends of hers that were doing the relay. Now that’s a cool way to provide a friend some support! Mile 10: 8:39. Mile 11: 8:34. Mile 12: 8:40. Race pace still 8:38.
Mile 13 lead us into the small town of Campbell, Andrea’s home town and the first point at which I expected to see my fans. Sure enough, right after the mile 13 point and another water/Gatorade station there they were cheering me on! What a huge uplift to see family in a marathon! I high five’d all of them (Andrea, the kids, and my in-laws), and then some other lady who apparently thought I was out to high five anyone I could (I guess I probably was!), and then I was off for more miles! My pace definitely picked up for a few minutes thanks to the emotional boost. My 20K split was about a 4 minute PR at 1 hour, 47 minutes and change! Mile 13: 8:30. ½ Marathon: 1:53:19. Mile 14: 8:38. Race pace still 8:38.
Behind Campbell, we soon ran up our second hill in Mile 15: ~8:50. Then we went flying down the back side and returned to the flats, heading for the tiny town of Erwyn Mile 16: ~8:31. During the 17th mile I caught up to Matt once again, and met his wife Michelle who was briefly riding alongside Matt on a bike. We ran together for a short while before I moved ahead. Mile 17: 8:31. Race pace 8:38. I start having delusions of grandeur!
In the next few miles, as we passed through the towns of Coopers Plains and Painted Post and I saw my family once again, my effort remained steady, but I found my pace fading a bit. Mile 18: 8:47. Mile 19: 8:49. Mile 20: 8:53. Finally, my race pace was moving into the 8:40s.
It’s often said that the marathon consists of 2 separate races: the first 20 miles and then the final 6.2. I’ll vouch for that! The miles now had become very painful. No injury, just increasing pain from the waist on down. The next couple of miles were probably the low point of my race, as I knew any hope of finishing as strong as I began was gone. My slowdown continued, and even when my family drove by me and cheered me on from the van, I could do little to acknowledge them. At some point along here Matt caught me and passed me for good. Mile 21: 9:25. Mile 22: 9:51.
When I saw that last split, nearing a 10 minute pace, I became a bit alarmed. I could accept that any hope of going sub 3:50 was fading, but I really didn’t want to be flirting with that 3:56 (9 min pace). I doubled my efforts and surged as much as possible as we entered Corning. Mile 23: 9:29. Mile 24: 9:37.
In the last couple of miles, I walked briefly at the aid stations. My familiarity with Corning helped me pace myself a bit for the finish, as I had a very good feel for when I was just a ½ mile out. Mile 25: 9:35. Mile 26: 9:43.
The course finished by crossing the Chemung River over a foot bridge which is slightly downhill. I, um, sprinted, sort of, to the finish, with various leg muscles beginning to give me some funky twinges. Somehow I managed to see Andrea and the kids once again along the bridge. Crossing the finish line I hit my GPS for a 3:53:15 a PR of about 7 ½ minutes!
Post race I was in bad, bad shape for a while. My legs and hips were screaming at me and I walked a bit like a 13 month old! I passed on pizza. I passed on bagels. I attempted some good chicken noodle soup, but I really couldn’t take it in. I drank lots of water as my son Lincoln tried to help me by messaging my calves!
Eventually, I checked the time and decided to try and get myself back to the finish line to cheer on Gwen and Kevin, if I could find them. I staggered over toward the finishing chute. Looking up, I was fortunate to catch a momentary glimpse of an image that – after all the miles of country roads, changing leaves, and cheering fans are left behind; after the pain of pounding exertion has long since faded from memory – will remain permanently etched in my mind. Standing there a few yards past the finish line were Gwen and Kevin, locked in an embrace. I have to believe that in that one moment was the release of a flood of emotions built up over a period of time much greater than the 4 hours and 20 minutes or so that it took for them to run the Wineglass.
Gwen’s real marathon began 8 months ago on a cold, icy day in February. I can’t even begin to imagine what it has been like for Gwen and Kevin, but I’m willing to bet that this last 26.2 miles of her marathon, painful as I know they were, may actually have been the easiest.
I’m not sure who placed first in this year’s Wineglass Marathon, but I know that the winner was the one who finished in a chip time of 4:20:41!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
My almost 9 year old son Lincoln just finished a two-week stint at a horseback riding day camp. They have a ton of things to do there besides ride horses, but they pretty much do some riding every day. Well, on Friday morning - the last day of camp - parents were invited to attend to watch their kids do some riding in the ring. Andrea and I both played hooky from work for a bit so that we could see it. Lincoln was in a group of about 7 kids his age or a little younger, all of them pretty new to horseback riding. Three of them were riding ponies.
So the kids and their mounts are riding in line around the ring for a bit. Then they take turns doing a lap, some kids doing a little posting and trotting, others content to simply walk. On Lincoln's 2nd day at camp he was bucked from his horse, so he was understandably in the latter group.
Near the end of the session things got interesting. One poor boy was trotting with his horse and then I think the horse started to canter. As they took a turn they unfortunately travelled in paths of dissimilar turning radii; ie, the horse turned, the boy didn't. He hit the ground very hard on his side.
Now I don't think he was seriously injured in any way, but for the next five minutes or so he screamed like mad. He was hurting and quite scared, and he just screamed and screamed inconsolably. He wasn't answering any questions about where he was hurt or if he understand what they were saying, he just screamed. Amidst it all the poor guy even peed his pants because he couldn't hold it.
While the trainers and camp councillors tended to the poor boy, the rest of the kids sat on their horses, all more or less in line still, but without any of the camp handlers nearby. They were right in front of us, though, and we could hear their dialogue crystal clear. Group panic was setting in. It went something like this:
"I don't think I wanna ride anymore."
"Me neither!"
"I wanna get off. I wanna get off my horse!"
"I don't even want to be a cowboy!"
"Why does anyone even live in Texas anyway?"
One child's on the ground screaming bloody murder, and I was ready to bust a gut laughing at that last remark! All I could think of was my friend Nita from the Marine Corps Marathon forum, who is from Texas!
So the kids and their mounts are riding in line around the ring for a bit. Then they take turns doing a lap, some kids doing a little posting and trotting, others content to simply walk. On Lincoln's 2nd day at camp he was bucked from his horse, so he was understandably in the latter group.
Near the end of the session things got interesting. One poor boy was trotting with his horse and then I think the horse started to canter. As they took a turn they unfortunately travelled in paths of dissimilar turning radii; ie, the horse turned, the boy didn't. He hit the ground very hard on his side.
Now I don't think he was seriously injured in any way, but for the next five minutes or so he screamed like mad. He was hurting and quite scared, and he just screamed and screamed inconsolably. He wasn't answering any questions about where he was hurt or if he understand what they were saying, he just screamed. Amidst it all the poor guy even peed his pants because he couldn't hold it.
While the trainers and camp councillors tended to the poor boy, the rest of the kids sat on their horses, all more or less in line still, but without any of the camp handlers nearby. They were right in front of us, though, and we could hear their dialogue crystal clear. Group panic was setting in. It went something like this:
"I don't think I wanna ride anymore."
"Me neither!"
"I wanna get off. I wanna get off my horse!"
"I don't even want to be a cowboy!"
"Why does anyone even live in Texas anyway?"
One child's on the ground screaming bloody murder, and I was ready to bust a gut laughing at that last remark! All I could think of was my friend Nita from the Marine Corps Marathon forum, who is from Texas!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Autism Speaks 5K - Race Day Report
July 4th was a fantastic morning for us! Things were quite frenetic as soon as we arrived at the Potomac Library - my wife and I had family members to get signed up, donations to turn in, race numbers to pickup, race shirts to pick up, about 20 team members to find, about 25 team t-shirts to hand out, race numbers to pin on, including helping kids (although I totally forgot to pin my own bib on!), and some team pictures to arrange. We also did a quick video interview with Diana Hosford, the woman in charge of media contacts for Autism Speaks. We had about 30 minutes to do all that!
As luck would have it, we parked real close to the Frederick Steeplechaser contingent and also Chris (CWCastelli from the Marine Corps Marathon forum), who promptly stepped up and introduced himself. Chris was running for his best friend's daughter. We made our way over to the registration tables and started greeting team members as they arrived. This included Holly (mybleweyedgurl), Jerry (X_39_and_holding_X), Kelly (Run4Cookies), and an MCM forum lurker that has come out of the woodwork, Steve (now JeromeBettis). It was great to see you again, Holly and Jerry, and a pleasure to meet you, Kelly, Steve and Chris!
We had a huge team there to support Raeann and help the cause (raising money to fund Autism research, increasing autism awareness, advocacy for families with autism, and other family services). It was so wonderful so have such a show of support! I'll have many pictures and video links to post soon, but I'm still gathering those.
The official race warm-ups started at 7:30, and we moved our group closer to the announcer's table so we'd have a good view. Just a few minutes later and Raeann was doing her thing! She stood up in front of roughly 2000 people and proceeded to sing our anthem beautifully! As a parent, it just doesn't get any better than this! It was hard for me to see clearly because of the tears in my eyes! Raeann has had the opportunity to do several events like this now, but this was easily the best I'd ever heard her sing! Later in the day I asked Raeann if she was nervous when she was up there. She said, "Not really." She simply loves to sing!
Well, after that I was emotionally and physically drained, and there was a race yet to run! I got in a quick hug with Rae and then we were all off toward the starting line. I lost track of almost everyone in the process, except my co-worker Tony, and Kelly. By the time I got the end of the starting line crowd, the race had apparantly already started; I could see folks way up ahead already running!
And soon we were off. The first mile was difficult because of all the navigation required. I had started way in the back which, of course, made it worse. After about 1/2 a mile I caught up to my wife Andrea, her friend Renee, and my niece Lexi, who at 13 was running her first 5K. I said a quick hello and kept going, along with Tony. I hit Mile 1 at 7:48, right about where I was hoping to. On a warm, humid day, on a hilly course, and after having taken the past 13 days off (well, except for running the 200 meters on Wednesday) due to a mild calf strain, all I really was hoping for was stay below an 8 minute per mile pace. So, so far so good!
By mile 2 the runners had thinned out enough so that we no longer had to hesitate and then surge to get through. Mile 2 has more downhills than ups, so I kept my pace up pretty well. My Mile 2 split was 7:43. Tony fell back off the pace in the 3rd mile as the course become hillier, with a few good climbs tossed in. I finished in 24:14 for a 7:48 pace and 251st place out of 1393 (top 20%). I FINALLY ran a 5K at a steady pace! Not a great 5K time for me, but it did beat my time from last year by about 20 seconds.
In checking the official race results, there were 1393 5k finishers, and here's what I've got for our MCM forum friends:
Jerry 219th place 23:47 (7:40 pace) (Jerry, I'm sure you started way ahead of me or else I might have found you and ran with you some!)
Ron 251st place 24:14 (7:48 pace)
Kelly 501st place 27:40 (8:55) Excellent job!! I think I heard this was a PR for you?
Andrea 548th place 28:14 (9:06) Not a PR, but respectable!
Steve 838th place 31:18 (10:05)
Chris 946th place 32:44 (10:33)
Holly 1309th place 43:12 (13:55) A respectable, on the road back 5K. And I must note that Holly's generocity is inversely proportional to her place!
Our family had a wonderful time and I'd like to thank everyone for their long-distance well wishes and support! And a special thanks to you MCM forum and Frederick Steeplechaser friends who were able to join us yesterday in Potomac, especially on a holiday when I know many of you have other family obligations to attend! I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for us and Raeann! It was also a real pleasure meeting Kelly, Chris and Steve.
Finally, thanks for all the donations to help those that are coping with autism! Raeann's Runners has now topped the $2000 amount for the 2nd year in a row! (For anyone interested, donations can still be placed via the web for the next couple of weeks - see my original autism race 5k thread for info, or send me a note.)
Thank you and I hope you all had a great Independence Day!
As luck would have it, we parked real close to the Frederick Steeplechaser contingent and also Chris (CWCastelli from the Marine Corps Marathon forum), who promptly stepped up and introduced himself. Chris was running for his best friend's daughter. We made our way over to the registration tables and started greeting team members as they arrived. This included Holly (mybleweyedgurl), Jerry (X_39_and_holding_X), Kelly (Run4Cookies), and an MCM forum lurker that has come out of the woodwork, Steve (now JeromeBettis). It was great to see you again, Holly and Jerry, and a pleasure to meet you, Kelly, Steve and Chris!
We had a huge team there to support Raeann and help the cause (raising money to fund Autism research, increasing autism awareness, advocacy for families with autism, and other family services). It was so wonderful so have such a show of support! I'll have many pictures and video links to post soon, but I'm still gathering those.
The official race warm-ups started at 7:30, and we moved our group closer to the announcer's table so we'd have a good view. Just a few minutes later and Raeann was doing her thing! She stood up in front of roughly 2000 people and proceeded to sing our anthem beautifully! As a parent, it just doesn't get any better than this! It was hard for me to see clearly because of the tears in my eyes! Raeann has had the opportunity to do several events like this now, but this was easily the best I'd ever heard her sing! Later in the day I asked Raeann if she was nervous when she was up there. She said, "Not really." She simply loves to sing!
Well, after that I was emotionally and physically drained, and there was a race yet to run! I got in a quick hug with Rae and then we were all off toward the starting line. I lost track of almost everyone in the process, except my co-worker Tony, and Kelly. By the time I got the end of the starting line crowd, the race had apparantly already started; I could see folks way up ahead already running!
And soon we were off. The first mile was difficult because of all the navigation required. I had started way in the back which, of course, made it worse. After about 1/2 a mile I caught up to my wife Andrea, her friend Renee, and my niece Lexi, who at 13 was running her first 5K. I said a quick hello and kept going, along with Tony. I hit Mile 1 at 7:48, right about where I was hoping to. On a warm, humid day, on a hilly course, and after having taken the past 13 days off (well, except for running the 200 meters on Wednesday) due to a mild calf strain, all I really was hoping for was stay below an 8 minute per mile pace. So, so far so good!
By mile 2 the runners had thinned out enough so that we no longer had to hesitate and then surge to get through. Mile 2 has more downhills than ups, so I kept my pace up pretty well. My Mile 2 split was 7:43. Tony fell back off the pace in the 3rd mile as the course become hillier, with a few good climbs tossed in. I finished in 24:14 for a 7:48 pace and 251st place out of 1393 (top 20%). I FINALLY ran a 5K at a steady pace! Not a great 5K time for me, but it did beat my time from last year by about 20 seconds.
In checking the official race results, there were 1393 5k finishers, and here's what I've got for our MCM forum friends:
Jerry 219th place 23:47 (7:40 pace) (Jerry, I'm sure you started way ahead of me or else I might have found you and ran with you some!)
Ron 251st place 24:14 (7:48 pace)
Kelly 501st place 27:40 (8:55) Excellent job!! I think I heard this was a PR for you?
Andrea 548th place 28:14 (9:06) Not a PR, but respectable!
Steve 838th place 31:18 (10:05)
Chris 946th place 32:44 (10:33)
Holly 1309th place 43:12 (13:55) A respectable, on the road back 5K. And I must note that Holly's generocity is inversely proportional to her place!
Our family had a wonderful time and I'd like to thank everyone for their long-distance well wishes and support! And a special thanks to you MCM forum and Frederick Steeplechaser friends who were able to join us yesterday in Potomac, especially on a holiday when I know many of you have other family obligations to attend! I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for us and Raeann! It was also a real pleasure meeting Kelly, Chris and Steve.
Finally, thanks for all the donations to help those that are coping with autism! Raeann's Runners has now topped the $2000 amount for the 2nd year in a row! (For anyone interested, donations can still be placed via the web for the next couple of weeks - see my original autism race 5k thread for info, or send me a note.)
Thank you and I hope you all had a great Independence Day!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Autism 5K in Potomac on July 4
Well, I've posted or sent this out just about everywhere else, so...
Hi all,
As you may know, our oldest daughter, Raeann, has autism. It is a developmental disorder that pervades all aspects of her life, making what most people consider simple tasks challenging. It effects her language comprehension & expression, visual/spatial processing, social interactions, fine and gross motor skills, sensory integration, and more.
Yet Raeann is one of the lucky ones. Despite her disability, she can communicate, form relationships, and participate in many activities that she loves, such as singing with the Frederick Children�s Chorus. Autism affects about 1 in 150 children, and most of those cases are much more severe than Raeann�s.
The Autism Speaks 5K raises money to fund autism research, advocacy, family services and to raise awareness about autism. Our family will not only be participating in the race, but we are once again forming a team: Raeann's Runners! Raeann led our fundraising efforts last year and our 12-person team of runners and walkers raised over $2100! We're hoping to blow that figure away this year!
You probably know where I'm going with this. I am writing to ask for your support for Raeann and her team of runners! It's a fun and inspiring event, a great race, and super cause!
If you would like to run or walk with us...
you can sign up here: www.autismspeaks.org/potomac5k (You may need to cut & paste that address in your internet browser's address window. Click on the "Register Here" button in the middle, then click "I Agree", then select the bullet to "Join a Team", then select "Raeann's Runners" from the drop-down list that appears, and follow the directions)
If you would like place a donation...
you can do so in a couple of ways: online with a credit card on Raeann's Race Web Page, or you can get your payment (make checks out to Autism Speaks) to me and I'll turn it in for Raeann. To access Raeann's Race Web Page, click on the link at the bottom of this email.
Last year Andrea and I purchased T-shirts for all members of Raeann's Runners. We are doing that again this year. (And YES, this shirt would be in addition to the shirts they give you for running the race!)
Please consider joining us for a wonderful morning on the 4th! To top it all off, RAEANN WILL BE SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM FOR ALL THE RUNNERS BEFORE THE RACE STARTS!!! She did this last year and they've asked her back!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks for reading and thanks for your support!
Love,
Ron and Andrea
Ron Robisch & Andrea Morley
4990 Linganore View Drive
Monrovia, MD
21770
301 865-1660
Hi all,
As you may know, our oldest daughter, Raeann, has autism. It is a developmental disorder that pervades all aspects of her life, making what most people consider simple tasks challenging. It effects her language comprehension & expression, visual/spatial processing, social interactions, fine and gross motor skills, sensory integration, and more.
Yet Raeann is one of the lucky ones. Despite her disability, she can communicate, form relationships, and participate in many activities that she loves, such as singing with the Frederick Children�s Chorus. Autism affects about 1 in 150 children, and most of those cases are much more severe than Raeann�s.
The Autism Speaks 5K raises money to fund autism research, advocacy, family services and to raise awareness about autism. Our family will not only be participating in the race, but we are once again forming a team: Raeann's Runners! Raeann led our fundraising efforts last year and our 12-person team of runners and walkers raised over $2100! We're hoping to blow that figure away this year!
You probably know where I'm going with this. I am writing to ask for your support for Raeann and her team of runners! It's a fun and inspiring event, a great race, and super cause!
If you would like to run or walk with us...
you can sign up here: www.autismspeaks.org/potomac5k (You may need to cut & paste that address in your internet browser's address window. Click on the "Register Here" button in the middle, then click "I Agree", then select the bullet to "Join a Team", then select "Raeann's Runners" from the drop-down list that appears, and follow the directions)
If you would like place a donation...
you can do so in a couple of ways: online with a credit card on Raeann's Race Web Page, or you can get your payment (make checks out to Autism Speaks) to me and I'll turn it in for Raeann. To access Raeann's Race Web Page, click on the link at the bottom of this email.
Last year Andrea and I purchased T-shirts for all members of Raeann's Runners. We are doing that again this year. (And YES, this shirt would be in addition to the shirts they give you for running the race!)
Please consider joining us for a wonderful morning on the 4th! To top it all off, RAEANN WILL BE SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM FOR ALL THE RUNNERS BEFORE THE RACE STARTS!!! She did this last year and they've asked her back!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks for reading and thanks for your support!
Love,
Ron and Andrea
Ron Robisch & Andrea Morley
4990 Linganore View Drive
Monrovia, MD
21770
301 865-1660
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
NSWC "5K" Fun Run
Just did our "5K" Fun Run in conjunction with the President's Challenge. Sunny, breezy and fairly cool for a mid-June day (70s).
The course was 3 laps, mainly around one of the huge water tanks. About 30 people were there, including several walkers. Still a little sore from Sunday's trail run, I planned to run this hard but not totally kill myself either. I basically had no warm up and had already eaten plenty today. Figured I'd shoot for a 7 minute first mile and then try to hold that as best as I could.
I started off well and settled into 4th, then 5th place. Taking the lead were two young women, maintaining a 6 minute pace. A young guy came up from behind swiftly and gave chase. Another young guy and I kept an even pace, but eventually I fell back. By about 1 mile I gave up on the hope that the pair of women went out too fast. They were for real! Mile 1 was right where it was supposed to be timewise: 6:59. However, by that time I had already finished the first lap, so I knew the course would be a little short.
Lap 2 involved a slight decline in pace; Mile 2 was 7:30. I passed some ladies walking their first lap and one of them said, "Hey, here come's another runner!" which made me feel like I was one of the few out of front. That was neat!
At the beginning of Mile 3 one more young guy passed me, like I was standing still! Apparently someone had cheered him on, and he took it to heart! I didn't even try to stay with him and just tried to continue my own pace. Well, his burst didn't last that long and he ended up settling in at about 100' in front of me. As I ran through the final few turns I put in a decent enough kick, but I was too far back at this time to catch the guy. I came in at 20:41 for a distance of 2.83 miles per my GPS (7:18 pace).
I was 6th overall, which was pretty cool. No awards, though, as this was just a fun run. My friend Rick from the Steeplechasers came in shortly after me, and my friend Tony from my office came in shortly after that.
Although I'd like to be running sub 7 for a 5K, given the time of day and the recent tough trail run, I think I'm satisfied with my time. Coolest thing was that, for the first time ever, I beat everyone older than me!!! :-)
The course was 3 laps, mainly around one of the huge water tanks. About 30 people were there, including several walkers. Still a little sore from Sunday's trail run, I planned to run this hard but not totally kill myself either. I basically had no warm up and had already eaten plenty today. Figured I'd shoot for a 7 minute first mile and then try to hold that as best as I could.
I started off well and settled into 4th, then 5th place. Taking the lead were two young women, maintaining a 6 minute pace. A young guy came up from behind swiftly and gave chase. Another young guy and I kept an even pace, but eventually I fell back. By about 1 mile I gave up on the hope that the pair of women went out too fast. They were for real! Mile 1 was right where it was supposed to be timewise: 6:59. However, by that time I had already finished the first lap, so I knew the course would be a little short.
Lap 2 involved a slight decline in pace; Mile 2 was 7:30. I passed some ladies walking their first lap and one of them said, "Hey, here come's another runner!" which made me feel like I was one of the few out of front. That was neat!
At the beginning of Mile 3 one more young guy passed me, like I was standing still! Apparently someone had cheered him on, and he took it to heart! I didn't even try to stay with him and just tried to continue my own pace. Well, his burst didn't last that long and he ended up settling in at about 100' in front of me. As I ran through the final few turns I put in a decent enough kick, but I was too far back at this time to catch the guy. I came in at 20:41 for a distance of 2.83 miles per my GPS (7:18 pace).
I was 6th overall, which was pretty cool. No awards, though, as this was just a fun run. My friend Rick from the Steeplechasers came in shortly after me, and my friend Tony from my office came in shortly after that.
Although I'd like to be running sub 7 for a 5K, given the time of day and the recent tough trail run, I think I'm satisfied with my time. Coolest thing was that, for the first time ever, I beat everyone older than me!!! :-)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Here a race, there a race, everywhere a race, race!
I ran a race tonight! Our club runs a series of track races on Wednesdays through the summer at a local high school - they call it the Summer Decathlon. Tonight we ran the 800M.
I haven't raced that distance in...well, maybe I've never raced that distance before. So it was tough for me to decide what time goal I should have. I figure I can probably run about a 6 minute mile, so for 1/2 a mile I guessed maybe a 5:30 pace, or 2:45 for the 800M. That sounds slow from what I remember of high school track, so maybe I could go a little faster...
The weather was absolutely wonderful, and our whole family came out for the evening. After a group warmup of about 1 mile, the 800 heats were ready to begin. We had a large turnout, so there ended up being four heats total, slowest first. My two oldest kids, Raeann and Lincoln, ran in the first heat. Neither of them runs much (I"m hoping that changes a bit this summer, thanks largely to the Summer Decathlon!) so I didn't expect them to be too fast. I was thinking Lincoln might break 6 minutes, and Raeann, who knows? She really prefers to walk. It's hard to get her to run steadily for any distance, she always defaults to a walk.
Well soon they were off and they grabbed a strangle hold on the last two places early. But that's ok, there was only one other kid running, and all the others were grownups who ran regularly. Frankly, I was just hoping that they wouldn't get lapped! For the first lap they both ran steadily, much to my surprise! Lincoln paced himself very well and stayed a good 10 yards or so ahead of Raeann. What thrilled me was that Raeann ran the entire first lap without stopping! Meanwhile, I'm running like a nut inside the track from was side to the other to cheer them both on.
Lincoln kept his steady pace all the way around to the final straightaway and then picked it up a bit for a final kick! He finished in 5:01 which I thought was great. Raeann took a couple of short walk breaks on her 2nd lap, but also finished well and came in at 5:36. I think they both were proud of their accomplishments and hopefully will want to do this again!
Two heats later it was my turn. There were a TON of runners in it, maybe a 14 or so, probably because most of us were too chicken to run in the fast heat with the burners! I picked a spot 2/3 of the way out on the arc and in the second row. I was far enough out to have a little daylight at the start and accelerated comfortably into the first turn in roughly 6th or 7th spot, but then had to navigate a bit until coming out of the turn I was hitting my stride again and moved up to around 4th. After 100M, I was mildly surprised to have gotten there that easily, and tried to open up for an easy stride. By about 300M the speed was no longer coming so easily! I started losing a place or two here and there, and with 200M to go I was running right in the middle of the pack. I was running alongside my friend Mark, who I thought I could beat in a 5K, and who I thought I could outkick, but gosh, he was running a strong race! Well, I let everything loose and kicked. During the final 100M I moved up about 5 places, and finished in 2:42 and something like 4th place in my heat. I'm satisfied with that result, and particularly happy about getting that kick in. That was fun!
Next were the speedsters! The final heat had maybe 8 runners, and the leaders were flying! Chad went out fast and came through the first lap with a slight lead over Victor. That's when Victor made his move and he overtook Chad in an allout sprint along the back straightaway. Both of them were just smokin'! Coming out the final turn Chad dug down for everything he had, and with a slightly longer stride and slightly stronger kick was able to re-capture the lead and cross the finish line first in 2:11. It's been quite a while since I've been to a track meet, and I'll tell you what. It was exciting and inspiring!
Jay, if your injuries are doing better you should come out sometime. Next Wednesday night they're doing the 3200M.
And as far my subject title, next Tuesday the center where I work is holding a 5K race at lunchtime! Then the next day is the 3200M. Then a week later the 600M, followed by the Baltimore 10 Miler that weekend. This is getting good!!!
I haven't raced that distance in...well, maybe I've never raced that distance before. So it was tough for me to decide what time goal I should have. I figure I can probably run about a 6 minute mile, so for 1/2 a mile I guessed maybe a 5:30 pace, or 2:45 for the 800M. That sounds slow from what I remember of high school track, so maybe I could go a little faster...
The weather was absolutely wonderful, and our whole family came out for the evening. After a group warmup of about 1 mile, the 800 heats were ready to begin. We had a large turnout, so there ended up being four heats total, slowest first. My two oldest kids, Raeann and Lincoln, ran in the first heat. Neither of them runs much (I"m hoping that changes a bit this summer, thanks largely to the Summer Decathlon!) so I didn't expect them to be too fast. I was thinking Lincoln might break 6 minutes, and Raeann, who knows? She really prefers to walk. It's hard to get her to run steadily for any distance, she always defaults to a walk.
Well soon they were off and they grabbed a strangle hold on the last two places early. But that's ok, there was only one other kid running, and all the others were grownups who ran regularly. Frankly, I was just hoping that they wouldn't get lapped! For the first lap they both ran steadily, much to my surprise! Lincoln paced himself very well and stayed a good 10 yards or so ahead of Raeann. What thrilled me was that Raeann ran the entire first lap without stopping! Meanwhile, I'm running like a nut inside the track from was side to the other to cheer them both on.
Lincoln kept his steady pace all the way around to the final straightaway and then picked it up a bit for a final kick! He finished in 5:01 which I thought was great. Raeann took a couple of short walk breaks on her 2nd lap, but also finished well and came in at 5:36. I think they both were proud of their accomplishments and hopefully will want to do this again!
Two heats later it was my turn. There were a TON of runners in it, maybe a 14 or so, probably because most of us were too chicken to run in the fast heat with the burners! I picked a spot 2/3 of the way out on the arc and in the second row. I was far enough out to have a little daylight at the start and accelerated comfortably into the first turn in roughly 6th or 7th spot, but then had to navigate a bit until coming out of the turn I was hitting my stride again and moved up to around 4th. After 100M, I was mildly surprised to have gotten there that easily, and tried to open up for an easy stride. By about 300M the speed was no longer coming so easily! I started losing a place or two here and there, and with 200M to go I was running right in the middle of the pack. I was running alongside my friend Mark, who I thought I could beat in a 5K, and who I thought I could outkick, but gosh, he was running a strong race! Well, I let everything loose and kicked. During the final 100M I moved up about 5 places, and finished in 2:42 and something like 4th place in my heat. I'm satisfied with that result, and particularly happy about getting that kick in. That was fun!
Next were the speedsters! The final heat had maybe 8 runners, and the leaders were flying! Chad went out fast and came through the first lap with a slight lead over Victor. That's when Victor made his move and he overtook Chad in an allout sprint along the back straightaway. Both of them were just smokin'! Coming out the final turn Chad dug down for everything he had, and with a slightly longer stride and slightly stronger kick was able to re-capture the lead and cross the finish line first in 2:11. It's been quite a while since I've been to a track meet, and I'll tell you what. It was exciting and inspiring!
Jay, if your injuries are doing better you should come out sometime. Next Wednesday night they're doing the 3200M.
And as far my subject title, next Tuesday the center where I work is holding a 5K race at lunchtime! Then the next day is the 3200M. Then a week later the 600M, followed by the Baltimore 10 Miler that weekend. This is getting good!!!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Inaugural Deer Dash 5K
This morning my kids and I participated in the Deer Dash 5K and 1 mile fun run at Deer Crossing Elementary School in New Market (MD). This was a little tricky with Andrea in Las Vegas, but all in all it worked out pretty well. Temps were around 70 with high humidity under thickening clouds.Upon arrival I was expecting to have to push Skylar in her stroller for the race, but I soon found the Lincoln actually WANTED to keep Skylar! With a lot of other kids present, a nearby playground, and several people milling around that knew me, I wasn't too worried about leaving Skylar with Rae and Linc, so I was free to run all out! Yeah!
Shortly after signing up (a little disappointed that they were out of T-shirts - more for the kids than for me), we bumped into Jay Silvio. It was great to finally meet someone from the MCM Forum in 3D! Still on the mend from hamstring and calf issues, Jay was planning on taking this race conservatively (which meant maybe he wouldn't win).
Lincoln and Raeann signed up for the 1 mile fun run. Lincoln's funny when you get him to one of these things. He takes his event seriously. He joined me for part of my warm up, and later on he ran some more on his own before his race started.
But the 5K was first. I planned out my target splits based on my most previous 5K earlier this month, although I expected this to be the hillier course. At the Mission of Mercy 5K, I simply went out a bit too fast (6:40 the first mile) and faded to the 7:20s for the last 2 miles, for a 22:08. I wanted to run a more even race this time, and especially take it easy early since I knew hills were coming. As for the hills, I drove part of the course yesterday and knew the start was mainly downhill, hills were plentiful along that drive, but didn't seem too bad. Nothing I shouldn't be ready for. There were a couple of segments of the course which I could not drive because they were on bike paths. I assumed those parts were fairly flat. (Idiot!)
I figured I'd try to run a 7 min first mile and then slow a bit through more uphills to the 7:20s for the second 2 miles. If all went well, maybe I could repeat that 22:08.
So we start and I refrain from getting caught up in the sprinters off of the starting line. I consciously take it easy, letting several more people get ahead of me than in that last 5K race. Through that early downhill and just ran easy and felt decent, confident that I was running a smarter race this time.
My first mile split? 6:35. WTF! I actually went out faster than last time! And again I paid for it. Although I attacked the hills steadily, I soon learned that those bike trail sections were the worst parts!!! Down down down up up up! I'm at 14:30 after 2 miles. I'm not far into the 3rd mile, trudging along more bike path, cursing the course planners and the word "sadistic" pops into my head!
During the race there were a couple of cul-de-sac out and backs which allowed us to see runners in front of and behind us. The first time I saw Jay I think he was in about 4th place. Later I think I saw him again, but don't know what hisplace was. Tim O'Keefe, who I tried to shadow in the MOM 5K, was again well ahead of me, as were many of the same runners that I knew from the Steeplechasers: Steve Dobson, Steve Pilarcik, Chad Connors, the Blacks (Ron and Beverly). Beverly finished one place ahead of me at the MOM 5K, probably 30 seconds faster.
Today I keyed on Beverly as much as anyone else, and I was actually staying with her a little better this time than last. I think the hills might have been hurting her just a tiny bit more.
Another runner I have to mention is a little kid; a middle schooler! I recalled passing him around mile 1 thinking here's another of these kids that sprinted at the start and used everything up. Well, he proved me wrong a mile later by passing me again! He and Beverly were the next runners ahead of me during the last mile, along with another guy that I saw Beverly pass.
With a 1/4 mile to go we turn into the driveway for the school. I notice Jay doing a cooldown and he cheers me on. A couple seconds later I hear the MCM Forum Battle Cry, "Suck it up, Ron, suck it up!" Aw, shit, so I do. With a quick burst I pass the guy that Beverly had passed. Then things get a little interesting.
The course at the finish does a double zig-zag (it goes zig-zag-zig). Entering the first zig, one could also bear left (cutting through a phalanx of cones) and start down the final zig. As I'm picking it up, I see that both the kid and Beverly had done this! Having driven the course previously and studied the finish, I knew I had to stay right and I did. (Chalk that up to experience - it ain't always bad to be in your 40s!) They both get back on track, but by this time I've caught right up to them and had passed the kid. Beverly is still maybe 30 feet ahead of me. So we get to the zag. At the zag, one could also take a wider turn and go to the final zig, but in reverse, to the finish line. To my shock Beverly is doing just that! I'm seeing her head to the finish in one direction and I see someone else coming from the opposite (correct) direction! They're on a collision course! I put my head down and go down the zag. Beverly had done herself in.
My kick is not particularly strong at this stage and, wouldn't you know it, the kid comes flying by me on the left! He had my respect at mile 2, but now I was downright impressed! I pick it up and stay with him around the bend for the final zig, but I'm thinking that unless he totally burns out, I can't pass this kid. He's ran a great race and earned his place. I shadow him to the finish line and I finish in 23:09, maybe 2 seconds back of The Kid, Billy Czajkowski. I end up in 29th place out of 263 finishers (top 11%). That percentile is really skewed, though, because there were a TON of middle and even elementary school kids running.
Given the hills, I'll take the 23:09. I'd like to be at the point where I go sub 23 no matter what, but I guess I'm not too far from that. I'm curious what I could do on a flat course.
'Raeann is ready to run her mile!
The 1 mile fun run goes well for Raeann and Lincoln, and I pushed Skylar along the course as well. Lincoln finished in around 7:39 and says he finished somewhere between 5th and 8th, but I suspect that the distance was a bit less than a full mile. I end up running along with Raeann most of the way. She's not particularly intense when it comes to races, nor particularly coordinated, but she'd run and walk her way steadily. She finished with a kick and came in at about 13 minutes. All 3 kids got finisher's ribbons!
We stuck around for the awards - Jay took 2nd Overall - and grabbed some food. Chatted with several people and took a couple pictures. The band that played the whole time was surprisingly good, if you ask me. I don't expect bands playing in Frederick County to be playing music that I'll like, but they did!
A fun, challenging, and educational race!
Jay Silvio and I after the raceMonday, May 19, 2008
Less than Brilliant
Most people have these little moments of brilliance, like when they’re looking all over the place for their glasses, and the glasses are actually sitting on top of their head. I sort of did that one a notch or two better on Saturday.
Our family went shopping at Target. When the 5 of us shop, the important thing is to keep track of Skylar, our youngest, who is closing in on 3 years old and knows quite well what SHE would like to shop for, thank you very much! We can ask Raeann or Lincoln to watch over Skylar for a couple seconds at a time, but in a busy department store I’d rather not rely on kids that are easily distracted themselves. So, while Andrea does most of the shopping, I do most of the Skylar-tracking. Every now and then she wants a ride on my shoulders, too, which is nice.
So we’re in Target for, like, an hour. We checked out clothes for Raeann and Andrea, socks for me, and had slowly passed through the toy section. All pretty much without a hitch.
Then we came to the Nintendo DS aisle. Raeann has decided she wants to buy High School Musical for the DS, so she was really checking this area out. Skylar and I were with her, and Andrea and Lincoln were an aisle over. I was amazed by one of the games they had on display. It was one of these new basketball games where, I swear, it looked just like live action NBA! The player movement was amazing. If you only glanced quickly at the screen, you’d think it was a real game on tv! Unbelievable!
Noticing that Skylar was not with us anymore, I backed out of the aisle and over to the intersection where Andrea and Lincoln now were. Looking around, there was no sign of Skylar!
“Hey! Where’s Skylar?” Andrea looked at me. Her brow furrowed just a bit. The sense of urgency that a parent should feel when their 2-year-old is missing didn’t seem to be there, though. That angered me a bit.
“Where’s Skylar? IS SHE WITH YOU???”
Andrea’s mouth dropped open. Then I happened to notice my hands. They were firmly grasping ankles. Tiny, 2-year-old, pink-socked ankles. Uh-oh.
I can imagine how this looked to Andrea. There’s her loving, frantic husband, standing there demanding to know where his precious daughter had gone, while said daughter sat patiently perched upon his shoulders all the while! Andrea later told me that she thought I was kidding around at first. It wasn’t until she saw the panic in my eyes that she knew I wasn’t.
My shoulders slumped. I was relieved, but thoroughly beaten. Not sure how I’ll ever live this one down.
Our family went shopping at Target. When the 5 of us shop, the important thing is to keep track of Skylar, our youngest, who is closing in on 3 years old and knows quite well what SHE would like to shop for, thank you very much! We can ask Raeann or Lincoln to watch over Skylar for a couple seconds at a time, but in a busy department store I’d rather not rely on kids that are easily distracted themselves. So, while Andrea does most of the shopping, I do most of the Skylar-tracking. Every now and then she wants a ride on my shoulders, too, which is nice.
So we’re in Target for, like, an hour. We checked out clothes for Raeann and Andrea, socks for me, and had slowly passed through the toy section. All pretty much without a hitch.
Then we came to the Nintendo DS aisle. Raeann has decided she wants to buy High School Musical for the DS, so she was really checking this area out. Skylar and I were with her, and Andrea and Lincoln were an aisle over. I was amazed by one of the games they had on display. It was one of these new basketball games where, I swear, it looked just like live action NBA! The player movement was amazing. If you only glanced quickly at the screen, you’d think it was a real game on tv! Unbelievable!
Noticing that Skylar was not with us anymore, I backed out of the aisle and over to the intersection where Andrea and Lincoln now were. Looking around, there was no sign of Skylar!
“Hey! Where’s Skylar?” Andrea looked at me. Her brow furrowed just a bit. The sense of urgency that a parent should feel when their 2-year-old is missing didn’t seem to be there, though. That angered me a bit.
“Where’s Skylar? IS SHE WITH YOU???”
Andrea’s mouth dropped open. Then I happened to notice my hands. They were firmly grasping ankles. Tiny, 2-year-old, pink-socked ankles. Uh-oh.
I can imagine how this looked to Andrea. There’s her loving, frantic husband, standing there demanding to know where his precious daughter had gone, while said daughter sat patiently perched upon his shoulders all the while! Andrea later told me that she thought I was kidding around at first. It wasn’t until she saw the panic in my eyes that she knew I wasn’t.
My shoulders slumped. I was relieved, but thoroughly beaten. Not sure how I’ll ever live this one down.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Into the Heart of Darkness...
Friday night at 10pm 4 other runners from the Frederick Steeplechasers and I met at the Brunswick Train Station along the Potomac River for our headlamp run. Despite rain earlier in the day, forboding clouds all evening, and a vicious breeze in the parking lot when we pulled up, the weather actually cooperated very well. I was shivering in the parking lot in my shorts and long-sleeve tee, even though it didn't seem all that cold (low 50s), while we waited for the last runner to show up. Once we hit the trail we were out of the main breeze and I quickly got comfortable. And a short while later the moon and stars were out.
It was a great run; we had a blast! Thanks to the rains of the last week, there were puddles EVERYWHERE! Between the 5 of us, I think we only had 2 headlamps that were kicking out significant wattage, so spotting oncoming puddles became a full-time job for the 2 runners that happened to be in the lead. Throughout the night there'd be calls of "Puddle left!", "Puddle right!", "Stay in the middle! "Oh, squishy here!", or "Oh, Shit! That was a puddle!" Try as we might, none of us could evade the small ponds very consistently, and after just a few miles we all had pretty wet feet.
But so what? The company was great and running at night along the towpath was really cool! We only had one instance of primal fear - while still near the railroad tracks, a LOUD shot rang out into the night. We're still not sure what it was, but it sound like a cross between a rifle shot and some really good fireworks being launched very nearby. Or maybe something impacting steel very hard. We all jumped and then froze when it happened - I think we all immediately thought gunshot. After a few seconds, Andrea said, "What the hell are we just standing here for? Let's get out of here!" Good thinking. We scrammed!
The rest of the night was peaceful. But the Potomac was raging! The water level was way beyond anywhere I'd ever seen it before. 10, 20, 30 feet out into the water there were still trees sticking up out of the water that obviously should have been on land. Very impressive display by Mother Nature!
Our pace was fairly relaxed, usually a little sub-10 minute per mile pace, and we took several breaks to walk, eat, or take care of more urgent matters. Three of my four companions (Mary, John, and Andrea) were in training for a 100-mile race in Ohio this coming August! Only Uli and I have never gone farther than 26.2. I no longer felt like my 16-mile long run for the week was so significant! For such a long race as that 100-miler, you've really got to tone down the pace so that you've got something left at the end. I think our pace tonight was faster than what they'll do, but the walking mixed in will probably be similar to what they end up doing. The running style was the same.
So it took a while. We did 16.7 miles in about 3:20. Got home around 2:30am .
Hope to do this again sometime!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mother's Day Weekend
Hope any mothers reading this had a great day! No running for me today (Sunday). Instead we did some hiking up to the top of Maryland's Sugarloaf Mt. Skylar rode in the backpack most of the way (see above). Here's our journey in pictures:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v377/robisch/Mothers%20Day%2008/?albumview=slideshow
Yesterday, I ran a local 5K, the Mission of Mercy Run for MOM in Frederick. The morning here in Maryland was quite rainy, but I decided that I didn't care about a little rain. I figured anything that might lower the turnout might give me a better shot at placing in my age group!
Well, fortunately, the rain started to let up right as we were starting. There were 89 runners, and for the first time in a long while, a very long while, I stepped up near the start line for a race. I was hoping to take a legitimate stab at a very old PR of mine for the 5K. I believe that's from the 1987 Bastille Day 5K in Chicago, where I managed a 6:59 pace for roughly a 21:38 time. However, based on training runs, I didn't think that I was quite back to running a 7 min pace for 3 miles. My more reasonable goal was breaking 22 minutes, which I haven't done in probably about..., well, since that Bastille Day!
I knew many of the other runners, and my strategy was to try to shadow my friend Tim, who runs between 20 and 21 minute 5Ks almost like clockwork, for as long as possible. I figured I'd rather start too fast than too slow. I was thinking I'd shoot for a 6:50 or so first mile.
Well, the horn blows and we're off! I took off fairly fast and quickly found myself in the unusual position ( for me ) of being fairly near the front, like AHEAD of the bell curve, not TRAILING it! After the first few hundred yards - and no sign of Tim yet - I become alarmed. OMG what if Tim's taking it easy for some reason? He was my pacer! The alarm was short lived, however, as Tim soon came up and passed me. Whew! So I tucked in behind him.
I think I stayed with Tim for the first mile. 6:37. Faster than I wanted, but during that mile the couple of times I checked my GPS I was going faster than expected. I felt okay so I tried to maintain that pace. A half mile later I was beginning to drop off of that pace, and Tim was pulling away. The rest of the way was simply a struggle to keep my pace as fast as possible. Mile 2 was about 7:28. Mile 3 was 7:26. My kick at the finish was fairly weak, for me, and I finished at 22:08. That got me 5th in my age group, and 17th overall out of 89 (top 20%). And a stat that I've notice Jerry (from the MCM forum) frequently notes: one woman finished ahead of me (in 16th) place. Top 20% is really good for me! It was cool to actually be ahead of most of the other runners for a change. An odd thing, that.
Not a PR, but this was a solid 5K time for me that I haven't seen in many years, so I'll take it! Next 5K, look for me to challenge that old PR!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A Taxing Day
Ah, Tuesday. I remember it well...
Went to bed at 3am after working on taxes. Got up at 6:30. Called off work to keep doing taxes (NOT the way I like to use my leave time!). Spent pretty much all day doing taxes. Raeann home at 3:25pm. Left house at 3:30pm to take her to Speech Therapy at 4pm. Left speech by 5pm. Drove to downtown Frederick and got Rae a sandwich at a little Italian place down the street from the church where chorus would be. 6pm Musicianship class for Rae across the street from chorus practice. I drop her off, hang out for a minute or two, then cross street and change into running gear in the bathroom at the church where she has chorus rehearsal starting at 7pm, immediately following musicianship. Drop stuff off at my car and begin warm up. By 6:30 I'm at Baker Park and ready to run!
Actual time of running was just under 50 minutes for the 6 miles, but that includes a 5 minute break. Finished by about 7:40. Run to car (.21 miles). Change shirt to a dry long sleeve. Run to Olde Town Tavern (.4 miles). Meet two other runners there and go in for a cheeseburger and fries. Bacon and mushrooms on the burger. Steak fries. Important note for future reference, OTT has ping-pong. People show up to play doubles there on Tuesday nights.
Food takes a while though. Get burger at 8:20pm. Down it and leave by 8:30pm.
Run .4 to church to get Raeann who finishes around 8:30pm. Drive home.
Doing taxes by 9:30pm, finishing State. Done and efiled shortly after 10pm. Beautiful choreography for the night!
Went to bed at 3am after working on taxes. Got up at 6:30. Called off work to keep doing taxes (NOT the way I like to use my leave time!). Spent pretty much all day doing taxes. Raeann home at 3:25pm. Left house at 3:30pm to take her to Speech Therapy at 4pm. Left speech by 5pm. Drove to downtown Frederick and got Rae a sandwich at a little Italian place down the street from the church where chorus would be. 6pm Musicianship class for Rae across the street from chorus practice. I drop her off, hang out for a minute or two, then cross street and change into running gear in the bathroom at the church where she has chorus rehearsal starting at 7pm, immediately following musicianship. Drop stuff off at my car and begin warm up. By 6:30 I'm at Baker Park and ready to run!
Actual time of running was just under 50 minutes for the 6 miles, but that includes a 5 minute break. Finished by about 7:40. Run to car (.21 miles). Change shirt to a dry long sleeve. Run to Olde Town Tavern (.4 miles). Meet two other runners there and go in for a cheeseburger and fries. Bacon and mushrooms on the burger. Steak fries. Important note for future reference, OTT has ping-pong. People show up to play doubles there on Tuesday nights.
Food takes a while though. Get burger at 8:20pm. Down it and leave by 8:30pm.
Run .4 to church to get Raeann who finishes around 8:30pm. Drive home.
Doing taxes by 9:30pm, finishing State. Done and efiled shortly after 10pm. Beautiful choreography for the night!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Trail Run from '06
Just ran across this on my hard drive. From 2 years ago, but I figured I might as well post...
March 19, 2006
Little Bennett Regional Park, Clarksburg, MD
4 to 4.5 miles; trails; somewhat hilly
I have run chronically for many years without keeping a journal, but now as I have begun to run steadily for a prolonged period, it occurs to me that perhaps keeping a log of some of my runs might someday prove worthwhile to me, or perhaps even to someone else. The way I see it, I’ve been keeping a journal of my stargazing observations for some time and, if writing about sleepless nights of sitting quietly and staring at smudges of dark grey superimposed over a black background can be done interestingly enough for me to keep doing it, then perhaps recording my running adventures (ok, “adventures” overstates it, but you catch my drift) might also prove worthwhile at some point.
So I begin with a Sunday morning trail run at Little Bennett Regional Park. Accompanying me on this run was my avid running companion, Red, our golden retriever / yellow lab mix. Little Bennett has many accesses to the local roadways; our destination was about a 15 minute drive, down Clarksburg Road to a small gravel parking lot located at a couple of trail heads right alongside the road. Although Red loves to go running and loves to go for rides, he’s a bit of a car-retard. Upon opening the car door he’ll partially enter the car by sticking his head and front paws in the car while he continues standing on his hind legs outside the car. As athletic as he is at less than 2 years old, this is not a position from which he can jump and thus he ends up stuck and gumming up the works. I coax him back out and try to give him a running start to encourage him to actually leave the ground, but again he ends up half in, half out. If I ever want to get in the car, I’ve actually got pick up all 75 lbs of retriever and toss his ass on the seat. But then, of course, he doesn’t go right over to the passenger’s seat because, Oh-my-God! there’s a parking brake handle in the way! After some spirited shoving, whereby my forceful action is equally and oppositely counteracted by Red’s claw’s fabric-shredding grip upon the upholstered driver’s side seat, his body’s center of gravity is finally leveraged over the parking brake and he’s forced to actually move his paws to the passenger seat.
Thus begins this trip and now I realize this journal may end up being more about my dog than my running. Oh well. The drive over to Little Bennett is otherwise uneventful, though Red never really seemed to get quite comfortable in the small bucket seat. (There’s plenty of room in the back of my Suburu, but he wouldn’t jump in there either!)
We arrive at Little Bennett and I tie my car key to my shoe and have a look at the large sign showing the Little Bennett trail system map. Plenty of options here! I decide to head uphill on Kingsley Trail, mainly because it was really the only trail that I was familiar with. Our run would take us to the end of Kingsley Trail, then left onto Purdum Trail for about eight tenths of a mile. From Purdum Trail we’d take the 2nd left onto Browning Run Trail. This would lead back across Clarksburg Road and eventually to the gravel service road which runs perpendicularly from Clarksburg Road on the opposite side from our parking lot. Roughly 4 miles or so. After a bit more stretching, Red and I were off!
The sky was blue and the temp was a chilly 32 F, but there was little wind and I wore plenty of fleece so I was never cold. Kingsley Trail is wide and not nearly as uphill as I had originally thought, but I soon discovered that part of what I thought was still Kingsley Trail was actually already Purdum Trail. Kingsley Trail ends at the Froggy Hollow Schoolhouse; what I had thought was the continuation of Kingsley was actually the beginning of Purdum Trail. This is where the steeper uphill begins. Red ran happily alongside or a half-stride ahead of me.
Purdum quickly departs from the main trail and becomes a true hiker’s trail in the woods. The grade was steep and the trail wound back and forth for a bit like a strand of freshly boiled spaghetti. The path came quite close, at one point, to the original wide service trail that I was no longer certain which I should be on. We stuck to the smaller trail, however, and that turned out to be the right decision. Although early in the run, between the steepness and my path uncertainty, I actually switched to walking for a minute.
Soon we topped the rise and were running again on Purdum Trail which had turned leftward and became much broader again (Most of the trails in this part of the park are suitable for horses or bikes.) The trail also leveled off and Red and I settled into a nice rhythm. We passed through a fairly isolate campground and said hello to one of the early risers. Once past this campground we were back in the woods and here the Browning Run Trail became quite enjoyable as we began a series of gradual descents. Our pace quickened while we actually exerted less effort, and the activity transformed from a typical run to more of a Pole Position-like game involving more steering and breaking than actual running. Stumps and larger rocks serve not as obstacles, but rather as convenient decelerators. The path eventually leveled off again and soon crossed over Clarksburg Road.
The trail continued on for about another mile along Browning Run. In some places the footing was a little tricky due to horse-trodden sun-hardened dirt that felt like you were running over billiard balls. Keeping to the side we soon passed this area and resumed at a good pace. The trail was only mildly hilly, with really the only memorable uphill section occurring just before the trail passed across the gravel service road that headed back to the parking lot. We turned left onto this road for the final ¾ of a mile of our run on very level, even surface. All the while Red quietly and happily kept pace on my left.
We arrived back at the car after about 45 minutes of a wonderful early spring run!
March 19, 2006
Little Bennett Regional Park, Clarksburg, MD
4 to 4.5 miles; trails; somewhat hilly
I have run chronically for many years without keeping a journal, but now as I
So I begin with a Sunday morning trail run at Little Bennett Regional Park. Accompanying me on this run was my avid running companion, Red, our golden retriever / yellow lab mix. Little Bennett has many accesses to the local roadways; our destination was about a 15 minute drive, down Clarksburg Road to a small gravel parking lot located at a couple of trail heads right alongside the road. Although Red loves to go running and loves to go for rides, he’s a bit of a car-retard. Upon opening the car door he’ll partially enter the car by sticking his head and front paws in the car while he continues standing on his hind legs outside the car. As athletic as he is at less than 2 years old, this is not a position from which he can jump and thus he ends up stuck and gumming up the works. I coax him back out and try to give him a running start to encourage him to actually leave the ground, but again he ends up half in, half out. If I ever want to get in the car, I’ve actually got pick up all 75 lbs of retriever and toss his ass on the seat. But then, of course, he doesn’t go right over to the passenger’s seat because, Oh-my-God! there’s a parking brake handle in the way! After some spirited shoving, whereby my forceful action is equally and oppositely counteracted by Red’s claw’s fabric-shredding grip upon the upholstered driver’s side seat, his body’s center of gravity is finally leveraged over the parking brake and he’s forced to actually move his paws to the passenger seat.
Thus begins this trip and now I realize this journal may end up being more about my dog than my running. Oh well. The drive over to Little Bennett is otherwise uneventful, though Red never really seemed to get quite comfortable in the small bucket seat. (There’s plenty of room in the back of my Suburu, but he wouldn’t jump in there either!)
We arrive at Little Bennett and I tie my car key to my shoe and have a look at the large sign showing the Little Bennett trail system map. Plenty of options here! I decide to head uphill on Kingsley Trail, mainly because it was really the only trail that I was familiar with. Our run would take us to the end of Kingsley Trail, then left onto Purdum Trail for about eight tenths of a mile. From Purdum Trail we’d take the 2nd left onto Browning Run Trail. This would lead back across Clarksburg Road and eventually to the gravel service road which runs perpendicularly from Clarksburg Road on the opposite side from our parking lot. Roughly 4 miles or so. After a bit more stretching, Red and I were off!
The sky was blue and the temp was a chilly 32 F, but there was little wind and I wore plenty of fleece so I was never cold. Kingsley Trail is wide and not nearly as uphill as I had originally thought, but I soon discovered that part of what I thought was still Kingsley Trail was actually already Purdum Trail. Kingsley Trail ends at the Froggy Hollow Schoolhouse; what I had thought was the continuation of Kingsley was actually the beginning of Purdum Trail. This is where the steeper uphill begins. Red ran happily alongside or a half-stride ahead of me.
Purdum quickly departs from the main trail and becomes a true hiker’s trail in the woods. The grade was steep and the trail wound back and forth for a bit like a strand of freshly boiled spaghetti. The path came quite close, at one point, to the original wide service trail that I was no longer certain which I should be on. We stuck to the smaller trail, however, and that turned out to be the right decision. Although early in the run, between the steepness and my path uncertainty, I actually switched to walking for a minute.
Soon we topped the rise and were running again on Purdum Trail which had turned leftward and became much broader again (Most of the trails in this part of the park are suitable for horses or bikes.) The trail also leveled off and Red and I settled into a nice rhythm. We passed through a fairly isolate campground and said hello to one of the early risers. Once past this campground we were back in the woods and here the Browning Run Trail became quite enjoyable as we began a series of gradual descents. Our pace quickened while we actually exerted less effort, and the activity transformed from a typical run to more of a Pole Position-like game involving more steering and breaking than actual running. Stumps and larger rocks serve not as obstacles, but rather as convenient decelerators. The path eventually leveled off again and soon crossed over Clarksburg Road.
The trail continued on for about another mile along Browning Run. In some places the footing was a little tricky due to horse-trodden sun-hardened dirt that felt like you were running over billiard balls. Keeping to the side we soon passed this area and resumed at a good pace. The trail was only mildly hilly, with really the only memorable uphill section occurring just before the trail passed across the gravel service road that headed back to the parking lot. We turned left onto this road for the final ¾ of a mile of our run on very level, even surface. All the while Red quietly and happily kept pace on my left.
We arrived back at the car after about 45 minutes of a wonderful early spring run!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday February 24, 1:17am...
...I awoke in a pool of my own blood.
No, this isn’t opening for an episode of CSI: Maryland. This is how my race day began. On Sunday I was to run in the RRCA Club Challenge 10-Miler.
I had gone to bed early Saturday night, hoping to get a good night’s sleep in before the race. Earlier in the evening we had gone to my son’s pizza party for his basketball team. I had eaten plenty cheesy pizza and drank some pop. Not sure if I’m becoming lactose intolerant or what, but by 1am I had woken up with…issues…that led me to the bathroom. My blood pressure must have been low, and after a while I found myself suddenly getting dizzy and thinking, “Oh, man, I’d better lay down”, but I never got that far, consciously. I awoke in a pool of my own blood. Uh-oh. Now “pool” maybe be overstating it a bit. My “pool” was more like what you’d see if you knocked my daughter’s leaky sippy cup over for about 20 seconds. But I’ll tell ya, in low light levels blood sure does look black on our ceramic tile floor!
My neck was a little sore and I had cut open my head just above my right eyebrow, but otherwise I was feeling a little better. I got myself cleaned up and bandaged up, and tried to go back to sleep. I probably could have used a couple of stitches, but I had a race to run in just under 7 hours! It took a long time for me to finally get back to sleep.
I was out of the house and on my way to Columbia by 6:30am. No one in the house knew what had happened – if Andrea had seen my eye she probably wouldn’t have let me go.
Well, the race went great! Although temps in the upper 20s might seem a bit cold, with little wind and the sun out it was really just perfect. I ran the whole race with my friend, Crista, who also ran MCM with me. The course was fairly hilly, but not too bad.
My original plan was to shoot for going 8 or sub 8 for the first 5 miles, which are somewhat downhill, and then push hard to stay close to 8s on the way back. Crista had planned on going a little slower than that. In light of the circumstances, I chose to run with Crista for at least the first few miles and not worry too much about the time. As it turned out, she was the stronger runner on this day anyway.
We finished in 1:21:22, around an 8:08 pace. Here’s the data from my GPS:
Mile 1 – 8:05
2 – 8:04
3 – 7:53
4 – 8:03
5 – 7:47
6 – 8:33
7 – 8:16
8 – 8:37
9 – 8:16
10 – 7:46
No, this isn’t opening for an episode of CSI: Maryland. This is how my race day began. On Sunday I was to run in the RRCA Club Challenge 10-Miler.
I had gone to bed early Saturday night, hoping to get a good night’s sleep in before the race. Earlier in the evening we had gone to my son’s pizza party for his basketball team. I had eaten plenty cheesy pizza and drank some pop. Not sure if I’m becoming lactose intolerant or what, but by 1am I had woken up with…issues…that led me to the bathroom. My blood pressure must have been low, and after a while I found myself suddenly getting dizzy and thinking, “Oh, man, I’d better lay down”, but I never got that far, consciously. I awoke in a pool of my own blood. Uh-oh. Now “pool” maybe be overstating it a bit. My “pool” was more like what you’d see if you knocked my daughter’s leaky sippy cup over for about 20 seconds. But I’ll tell ya, in low light levels blood sure does look black on our ceramic tile floor!
My neck was a little sore and I had cut open my head just above my right eyebrow, but otherwise I was feeling a little better. I got myself cleaned up and bandaged up, and tried to go back to sleep. I probably could have used a couple of stitches, but I had a race to run in just under 7 hours! It took a long time for me to finally get back to sleep.
I was out of the house and on my way to Columbia by 6:30am. No one in the house knew what had happened – if Andrea had seen my eye she probably wouldn’t have let me go.
Well, the race went great! Although temps in the upper 20s might seem a bit cold, with little wind and the sun out it was really just perfect. I ran the whole race with my friend, Crista, who also ran MCM with me. The course was fairly hilly, but not too bad.
My original plan was to shoot for going 8 or sub 8 for the first 5 miles, which are somewhat downhill, and then push hard to stay close to 8s on the way back. Crista had planned on going a little slower than that. In light of the circumstances, I chose to run with Crista for at least the first few miles and not worry too much about the time. As it turned out, she was the stronger runner on this day anyway.
We finished in 1:21:22, around an 8:08 pace. Here’s the data from my GPS:
Mile 1 – 8:05
2 – 8:04
3 – 7:53
4 – 8:03
5 – 7:47
6 – 8:33
7 – 8:16
8 – 8:37
9 – 8:16
10 – 7:46
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Lewis Memorial 10-Miler
Well, it's 10:30pm and although my race was done by 10:00am, I haven't stopped running until now! Andrea's out of town and I was left reverse-bacheloring it. Two meals, one load of dishes, a violin lesson, 4 or so loads of laundry, ice cream, and a one-point last second nail-biter of a victory basketball game later and I'm finallly ready to catch my breath and assess.
What an awesome race! The weather was upper 20s but little to no wind, and sunny. Really quite nice for a long race once you got going. The field was about 30 or 40 strong, consistingly mainly of members of the Frederick Steeplechasers. This was my first time running it, and several people said that they though it was their largest turnout ever. It was very informal and inexpensive: no shirts, no bibs, no money (for Steeps members). And no watches. This was a predict your finish time race, with top prize going to whoever came closest to the time they predicted.
The course was reputed to be very hilly and from the starting line that's exactly how it looked. About 50 feet from the start line was the first, very steep (although brief), hill. Tyring to account for some hills, I optimistically predicted a time of 82:15 which would have been just under an 8:20 pace/mile.
To put it simply, this was not my day. My right calf has been nagging me with tightness for a couple of weeks, especially after last weekend's long run, and today it quickly got worse. It didn't help that the first 3 miles were nothing but incessant, up-and-down, grueling hills. And it didn't help that I actually went out fast. Yeah, dumb a$$ second weekend in a row. After a mile I was in about 12th place and running well. After about 3 miles my calf was hurting significantly and the unrelenting hills were starting to really concern me. Were all 10 miles going to be like this? The calf gradually slowed me down because to run faster meant pushing off more off the right foot and that's what hurt. During the course of the next 7 miles I had the wonderful opportunity to meet most of the runners in the race, as one-by-one they each passed me by! I just kept gimping along though, and mentally adjusted my goal to finish without worsening things.
The middle miles of the race were not all that hilly, thankfully! But around miles 6 and 7 they got pretty nasty again and stayed that way til the end. I managed to steadily make my way to the finish, and gritted my teeth for that last steep downhill at the end while I tried to keep my legs under control.
But here's the kicker: I PR'd! Despite all the hills and a bum leg, I was maybe a second or two faster than the '06 ATM. Finish was about 1:29:55. Just under a 9-minute pace. Maybe that doesn't say much for my old PR, but I had considered myself in decent shape when I ran it. I think what this race tells me is that I'm in WAY better shape now than in '06. Very encouraging, that!
The course was beautifull! A lot of it was on country roads and there was almost no traffic to be concerned with. On another day I would have found the hills to be a fun challenge. After the race, there was plenty of food brought in by other runners. Plenty of baked goods, chili, soup, oranges, cookies, etc. Tons left over!
I'll be taking the next few days or so off. I want my leg fully healed, and I have no need to push the training at the moment.
What an awesome race! The weather was upper 20s but little to no wind, and sunny. Really quite nice for a long race once you got going. The field was about 30 or 40 strong, consistingly mainly of members of the Frederick Steeplechasers. This was my first time running it, and several people said that they though it was their largest turnout ever. It was very informal and inexpensive: no shirts, no bibs, no money (for Steeps members). And no watches. This was a predict your finish time race, with top prize going to whoever came closest to the time they predicted.
The course was reputed to be very hilly and from the starting line that's exactly how it looked. About 50 feet from the start line was the first, very steep (although brief), hill. Tyring to account for some hills, I optimistically predicted a time of 82:15 which would have been just under an 8:20 pace/mile.
To put it simply, this was not my day. My right calf has been nagging me with tightness for a couple of weeks, especially after last weekend's long run, and today it quickly got worse. It didn't help that the first 3 miles were nothing but incessant, up-and-down, grueling hills. And it didn't help that I actually went out fast. Yeah, dumb a$$ second weekend in a row. After a mile I was in about 12th place and running well. After about 3 miles my calf was hurting significantly and the unrelenting hills were starting to really concern me. Were all 10 miles going to be like this? The calf gradually slowed me down because to run faster meant pushing off more off the right foot and that's what hurt. During the course of the next 7 miles I had the wonderful opportunity to meet most of the runners in the race, as one-by-one they each passed me by! I just kept gimping along though, and mentally adjusted my goal to finish without worsening things.
The middle miles of the race were not all that hilly, thankfully! But around miles 6 and 7 they got pretty nasty again and stayed that way til the end. I managed to steadily make my way to the finish, and gritted my teeth for that last steep downhill at the end while I tried to keep my legs under control.
But here's the kicker: I PR'd! Despite all the hills and a bum leg, I was maybe a second or two faster than the '06 ATM. Finish was about 1:29:55. Just under a 9-minute pace. Maybe that doesn't say much for my old PR, but I had considered myself in decent shape when I ran it. I think what this race tells me is that I'm in WAY better shape now than in '06. Very encouraging, that!
The course was beautifull! A lot of it was on country roads and there was almost no traffic to be concerned with. On another day I would have found the hills to be a fun challenge. After the race, there was plenty of food brought in by other runners. Plenty of baked goods, chili, soup, oranges, cookies, etc. Tons left over!
I'll be taking the next few days or so off. I want my leg fully healed, and I have no need to push the training at the moment.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Today's Run
I woke up a 4:50am this morning, was out the door by 5:25am, and proceeded to run 16.36 very hilly miles. If that ain't inherently bad enough, the real idiocy was the 18 degrees F temp when I left my house in the dark. And it was breezy. No, windy. Quite windy! I don't own a gaiter, though I think I know what one is, so I wasn't wearing one. And no scarf. Bareface.
I was fine for about a mile and a half, then it became apparent that I was in for an extended period of time running into the stiff wind. No idea what that wind chill was, but it was bad. That was the first time I contemplated turning around. But I'd touch my face frequently and could tell I really hadn't reached the so-cold-it-hurts stage, much less the more dangerous so-cold-I-no-longer-have-feeling stage, so I trudged on. By mile 3 the battery on my Ipod had conked out (serious bummer), and the stiff headwind changed to a stiff crosswind. I had that for about a mile or two before gaining some tree cover. Wheew! The cover was much appreciated! Without wind, not a bad run when properly dressed. Unfortunately, by this point my Camelbak's water hose was frozen solid. No more water this run!
Around mile 6 I had my last real opportunity to cut the run short (make it just a 11.5 miler), and I seriously considered this, but again didn't. No. Instead, more headwind! Now I was frequently trying to use my gloved hand to shield different parts of my face from the wind. Not real effective, that. This was the first point where I started brief stints of actually running backwards to get my face out of the wind!
Needless to say, this was not a particularly fast run for me. After about 6 miles I was already falling behind a 10 min/mile pace. At least the sky was starting to brighten!
A few more miles of crosswind and then I had a blissful repreive from the wind for about 3 miles. I enjoyed this part! But the worst was yet to come...
Around mile 11 or 12 I turned off of Glissan's Mill Rd and onto Jessie Smith Rd. After a long, steady climb Jessie Smith follows along parts of a ridge, where there are long sections that are utterly exposed to the 20+ mph sustained winds out of the northwest. This was brutal! I knew that in that wind it wouldn't take much to get frostbite. Most of it was blowing against my right cheek. I alternately turned my head left (imploring the newly risen sun to lend me some heat), held up my fleeced hand against my face, and ran backwards. My winter hat, once actually drenched in sweat if you can believe it, had now frozen into something resembling those motorcycle helmets that offer minimal protection to the rider -- you know, the ones the riders seem to be wearing as a protest to being made to wear a helmet. I could feel it bouncing up and down on my head at times. I was a bit worried now.
Well, after what seemed like forever, I made it to another valley and some relative shelter. The last few miles were in and out of the wind, and up and down various hills. In the end, I made it the full 16.36 miles at just under a 10:30 pace. The temp had DROPPED TO 14.7 degrees F! Amazingly, I was without frostbite!
I usually consider myself to be a relatively wise person. I wear my seat belt, don't smoke, don't drink, eat well, and stay fit. But really I'm just another dumb ass. Today proved it.
I was fine for about a mile and a half, then it became apparent that I was in for an extended period of time running into the stiff wind. No idea what that wind chill was, but it was bad. That was the first time I contemplated turning around. But I'd touch my face frequently and could tell I really hadn't reached the so-cold-it-hurts stage, much less the more dangerous so-cold-I-no-longer-have-feeling stage, so I trudged on. By mile 3 the battery on my Ipod had conked out (serious bummer), and the stiff headwind changed to a stiff crosswind. I had that for about a mile or two before gaining some tree cover. Wheew! The cover was much appreciated! Without wind, not a bad run when properly dressed. Unfortunately, by this point my Camelbak's water hose was frozen solid. No more water this run!
Around mile 6 I had my last real opportunity to cut the run short (make it just a 11.5 miler), and I seriously considered this, but again didn't. No. Instead, more headwind! Now I was frequently trying to use my gloved hand to shield different parts of my face from the wind. Not real effective, that. This was the first point where I started brief stints of actually running backwards to get my face out of the wind!
Needless to say, this was not a particularly fast run for me. After about 6 miles I was already falling behind a 10 min/mile pace. At least the sky was starting to brighten!
A few more miles of crosswind and then I had a blissful repreive from the wind for about 3 miles. I enjoyed this part! But the worst was yet to come...
Around mile 11 or 12 I turned off of Glissan's Mill Rd and onto Jessie Smith Rd. After a long, steady climb Jessie Smith follows along parts of a ridge, where there are long sections that are utterly exposed to the 20+ mph sustained winds out of the northwest. This was brutal! I knew that in that wind it wouldn't take much to get frostbite. Most of it was blowing against my right cheek. I alternately turned my head left (imploring the newly risen sun to lend me some heat), held up my fleeced hand against my face, and ran backwards. My winter hat, once actually drenched in sweat if you can believe it, had now frozen into something resembling those motorcycle helmets that offer minimal protection to the rider -- you know, the ones the riders seem to be wearing as a protest to being made to wear a helmet. I could feel it bouncing up and down on my head at times. I was a bit worried now.
Well, after what seemed like forever, I made it to another valley and some relative shelter. The last few miles were in and out of the wind, and up and down various hills. In the end, I made it the full 16.36 miles at just under a 10:30 pace. The temp had DROPPED TO 14.7 degrees F! Amazingly, I was without frostbite!
I usually consider myself to be a relatively wise person. I wear my seat belt, don't smoke, don't drink, eat well, and stay fit. But really I'm just another dumb ass. Today proved it.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Frozen Moose Star Party 2008
On January 11-13 I hosted the 4th annual Frozen Moose Star Party at my in-laws' farm in Potter County, Pennsylvania. Although this year's attendance was a little sparse, we managed a great fun-filled weekend! We arrived Friday afternoon with enough daylight left to get our telescopes set up in spite of the overcast sky.
Bringing the Wii along turned out to be a great idea, what with the cloudy sky socking us in on Friday evening. After a pizza dinner brought back from the Gold General Store, we were ready for some jammin' on the Wii. Bowling was fun, albeit humiliating. (I need to figure out how to change the way they oil the lanes!) But Guitar Hero Rocked! Lots of Foghat, Kiss, and Pat Benatar played to...imperfection! At least we didn't get booed off the stage too often!
Saturday morning brought us more clouds, but the online Clear Sky Clock was starting to give us some hope. We scrambled up some eggs for breakfast and then got ready for geocaching! (If you're not familiar with geocaching, it involves using a portable GPS to search for caches or little treasures hidden away by other geocachers.)
First target: the only triple continental divide east of the Mississippi! Fortunately, this was only about a mile away from the Farm. There are a few signs in maybe a 1 square mile area that mark the starting points for three major rivers: the Allegany, the Genessee, and the Susquehanna. We made a point of taking a picture at each. Our first cache was supposedly right at the official point of the triple divide. We parked about a 1/4 mile away and, using Matt's trusty GPS, hiked our way right to a little sign sticking out of the ground marking the Triple Divide. From there, the actual geocache -- a small ammunition box -- was an easy find in a bramble bush (a clue for finding the cache advised us not get stuck looking for the cache). [Incidentally, I've posted about 40 photos from the weekend on my photobucket site: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v377/robisch/Frozen%20Moose%2008/ .]
Our next geocache was by a small nearby lake called Rose Lake. After parking, we were required to hike our way around to the opposite side of the lake in search of the exact coordinates. Once again, Matt led us right to the spot and we scored another cache! We saw a couple of beaver damns and several trees that beavers had obviously been chomping upon. We returned to the farm in mid-afternoon and took a few minutes to fly an RC helicopter that Lincoln and I got for Christmas. This actually went remarkably well for several flights before an unfortunate landing that involved a wood pile in the backyard. One of the blades hit it, and that was the end of our flying!
Well, it was time for chili anyway! This year we had it spiced up with some Weed Killer sauce that I brought. Mmmmm! And it kept us warm all night!
Speaking of night, as the sun was setting the clouds were departing, as if on queue. By dark, it was ABSOLUTELY CLEAR!!! So Matt and I got to work. We started with Mars in Matt's 10", which showed a fair amount of detail in brief instances of clearer seeing. I began with the wonderful Comet Holmes in Perseus. I initially picked it out naked eye, and it looked reminiscent of the Andromeda Galaxy, only perhaps larger. Moving to my 7x50 binoculars, it was fantastic! Reminded me of a huge beachball. Probably my favorite view of the night!
Next came Comet Tuttle in Cetus. It was not quite a naked eye object, possibly because of a slight glow in that part of the sky from the setting crescent moon. In the binoculars it was pretty easy. Small but fairly bright; diffuse.
At 7:10pm we witnessed an iridium satellite flare of about -2 magnitude. A beautiful, slow event! Maybe THIS was my favorite view of the night! It dropped out of the sky a little to the right of Orion.
NGC 1514 - pn Taurus. The 10th magnitude central star was easily visible in this planetary nebula. Nebulocity was large and faint. My Ultrablock and OIII filters did not help greatly with the view. Best at 50x and unfiltered.
Unfortunately, the cold sometimes discourages one from taking adequate notes, and it was at this point that I neglected to keep up my log book. I made failed attempts at a couple of galaxies in Taurus and Eridanus, I think. I did view the Orion Nebula later, but that was as high humidity in the air, and perhaps a bit of frost on my telescope's corrector plate, were beginning to effect the view.
The other highlight of the night, for me, was taking a break to give my son a little nake eye tour of the sky. We laid on the ground side-by-side and I used Matt's green laser pointer to show various constellations and Comet Holmes to Lincoln. We also searched for what Linc dubbed the Squid constellation last year, but on this night he wasn't sure if he'd found the same squid. I think Lincoln really enjoyed this part of the night, and so did I!
As Matt indicated, we were back inside by about midnight and soon hit the sack. Sunday morning involved mainly packing up to head home, but we also took a second to snap some more pictures outside, including the obligatory Moose group photo!
It was a shame that a few of the Frozen Moose Star Party regulars were unable to make it this year, but we'll be back again next winter! See you then!
-Ron
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