Busy Beavers

Completed a good week with a total of 35 miles! Yesterday's 12.5 miles were tough on the snowy trails. I was going to do a few laps of the Old Hickory trail but there was only one other set of tracks through the snow. (Probably mine from last week!) I was not looking forward to 4 laps of this until I completed my first lap and saw the Twinsburg Hiking club gathered at the top of the hill. Great! They would pack down the snow for me! I completed a loop down in the park and then headed back up to Old Hickory. Yes indeed, the snow was knocked down, but packed? Not really... It was like mashed potatoes and each footstep was more of a foot-slip! I just kept moving the best that I could and ended up with a great 2.5 hours on the trails. Slow moving, but moving...

Today's 8 miles went much better! The snow had a chance to solidify overnight and the Old Hickory trail was in much better shape. Still a bit sloppy in places but over-all pretty good. I will take it.

As I left our garage at the start of my run, a hawk let out a screech that nearly made me jump out of my skin. It was about 20 feet up in the tree next to the house... Good thing I was not a mouse! Down by the creek, the local beaver family had chewed through a tree last night and it had fallen across the trail. It was pretty neat to see the pile of wood-chips at the base of the tree and to see the tracks of the beavers as they removed branches and pulled them down to the creek. They were pretty busy...

Looks like another week of winter weather ahead. Snow early in the week and then cold for the weekend. At least the snow should be hard for the weekend long run...

Spring is coming...right?

Not the sharpest tool in the shed...

Last friday I was feeling a cold coming on and decided saturday morning that I would skip my planned run for the day since I was feeling pretty crappy. I thought that common sense should prevail for a change and I would rest in an effort to reduce the effects of the cold. Then my friend Paul called and asked "Do you want to run this afternoon?" Of course, I said "Yes!" So much for common sense...

We left from Shelter House in South Chagrin metro park and headed towards the Polo Fields. The snow was anywhere from 6-12 inches deep and there was 'mostly' a path formed in the snow from hikers, XC skiers, and show-shoes. The temperature was warm enough to keep the snow soft, but the wind kept the chill factor low. It was a slow go but a great chance to catch up with Paul and enjoy the day. I was feeling pretty beat but started to feel a bit better after an hour of slogging. We managed to get 1.5 hours of movement in. (It was sort-of running, but movement may be a better description.) A stop at Caribou for coffee on the way home and it was a good day!

I crashed early saturday evening and woke up at 10:30pm in a crazy wet sweat! My shirt was totally soaked through but I felt much better... I am feeling better each day and now, I just need to rid of this lingering cough. I hate being sick, but now maybe I am done with the colds for the winter??

I am now off a week for my Laurel Highlands training, but at this early stage, one week is not really going to matter much. I have to always keep the big picture in mind. Don't worry about numbers on a printout or schedule, those are just guidelines. Listen to your body and keep healthy.

I need to keep working on that "keep healthy" part...

2010/2011

2010 went by much too fast! However I have lots of things to be thankful for. First, my Dad's Multiple Myeloma is in remission after 5 of 8 chemo treatments. The doctors evidently had the wrong dosage and 5 treatments instead of the 8 scheduled cleared things up. However, the side-effects were pretty harsh to Dad. Next, the sale of the Keithley Instruments to Danaher is complete and we are now part of the Tektronics group. There was much speculation about what would happen but things appear to be good and 2011 will be an interesting year for sure.

I completed my second Burning River 100-Mile run in July with my goal finish time of sub 24-hours achieved! (23 hours and 31 minutes) It was an incredible experience and one of those days were almost everything went as planned. I tallied my miles for the year and ended up with 1495 miles! Too bad I did not do this a couple of days sooner since I am sure that I would have managed to get another 5 miles....

Goals for this year? Complete the Laurel Highlands Ultra. (77-miles) This race contains a lot more hills and will be a great challenge to complete. Someone said that it is a 100-mile race disguised as a 77-miler... Should be "fun"... I also want to complete the "Run with Scissors" double marathon in the fall again.

My parents will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this summer along with Denise and I having our 20th! Should be lots of reasons to celebrate! Denise and I hope to get the family back to the ADK again for some great hiking! Mt Marcy is calling our name this summer...