6 miles and a coyote

Managed to sleep in til 7am this morning. Thanks Forrest!!! Fed the dogs and cat, while the rest of the family continued to sleep. I changed clothes for a run and as I was lacing up my shoes, Abby came downstairs. Chatted with her for a while and then I departed for a 6 miles of Twinsburg trails. I ventured up to the new trail and blazed a set of foot-prints in the newly fallen snow. A nice sunny morning and very quiet with no one else out.

I returned home and as I was eating breakfast, Denise said, "There goes that coyote again!" I looked out our patio door and a coyote was just strolling through our back yard! He was very healthy looking with a thick coat of hair. The other coyotes that I have seen have all looked shaggy, maybe because it was summer and their coat was shedding?... He continued to meander down the hill through the neighborhood backyards.

Tomorrow is another run in the valley with JP. We are planning on 15-20 miles. It is raining as I type this and starting to turn to snow... Tomorrow is supposed to be windy and possible snow flurries. At least it was sunny this morning!

Valentine's Day

...heavy breathing...giggling....sweat....more giggling.... over 2 hours of joy running with Denise in the Cuyahoga Valley! An awesome way to start our valentines day. We started from Station Road and headed towards the Carriage Trail since Denise has never ventured there. We happened to meet the VR group at the base of the climb and watched them quickly pull away from our relaxed pace. We finished the climb out of the valley and started the winding trail.

As I was approaching the first of the three bridges, I stepped on what I thought was hard-pack snow and quickly realized that it was ice! I told Denise to 'watch out for the ice' as I found myself sliding and realized that I was going down, and hard! I landed on my butt, (lots of padding) and right shoulder. (Not so much padding) It was a strange kind of fall in that I felt as if everything was in slow motion. I slid a bit down the hill, jumped back up and checked for any damage. Just my pride was hurt a bit and I realized that my shoulder would be sore tomorrow...

We completed the loop back to Station road and then decided to venture into Brecksville Reservation for another 6 miles. Neither of us liked the fact that a light covering of snow had fallen, making it difficult to see any ice on the asphalt trail. We turned around and went back to the towpath and headed towards Frazee House. We then retraced our path back to Station road and completed a nice 12 miles.

I cooked dinner and we watched Mama Mia to close out the evening... Fun and relaxing day.

Registration

I sent my race application in today for the "Forget the PR 50K" race at Mohican. My back is feeling much better and I have been able to get some consistent 4-5 mile runs w/o any discomfort. (At least from my back!) Now it is time to get back into shape...

The current thaw is really helping to lift my spirits. Although the snow is pretty, I was getting tired of looking at it and driving through it. I know that more is coming but this week will be a good chance for things to clear out and get ready for the next batch.

I was able to get the Christmas decorations put away last weekend! I have also started Phase II of the basement project. Phase I was finishing a corner and moving the laundry room downstairs. Phase II involves finishing the rest of the basement. This will probably take a while to complete, but will provide another means of stress relief! Hammering nails and hammering trails are both good ways to forget about work!

Denise's marathon training is going well and we choose a good winter to invest in a treadmill. Denise, Abby, and even Gina have all been using it.

We have decide to run the Lake Placid Marathon as a family in June. They have a 4-person relay option and Denise and I will each run the 4 mile legs with the girls, and then run our own legs. I will take the 11 mile finishing leg and run up the hill to the Oval where we will all finish together. The course will cover the Iron Man run course along with a lap around Mirror Lake. A beautiful course and just the excuse we need to get back up to the Adirondacks again. We also plan on tackling another 46'r this summer. We are thinking that Giant Mountain would be a good one...

The economy is still crazy and probably will be for a while...It took a while to get into this mess, and will take longer to get out. I am going to stop listening to the news. I mean, how many times do we have to hear about layoffs and how bad everything is... Let's hear some good news for a change, or even better, let's make our own good news!

Spring is coming! Daylight savings time is coming!!

Healing....

My back is feeling better each and every day... I am still a bit sore but since I have been working on core strength and flexibility, the aches are from that.

I managed an easy 4 miles sunday and the screw shoes did the trick on the icy bike path. It was nice being able to run w/o worry about sliding. I am getting really antsy to run on a trail but with the snowfall we have now, I'll wait a day or so and let some others pack down a path.

I want to make sure I start back slowly and ramp up in a sane manner towards the Mohican 50K run in April. Time to register for that race to get committed. Time to also get some friends to tag along for the extra peer-pressure!

This has been a long winter already but at least it has stayed cold. Maybe there will be fewer bugs this summer...

BT50K Race report: "Dead Last to First!"

Well, my back was feeling better and I decided to give the race a try. Common sense would say to skip it, but I have never been accused of having much of that...

My plan was to hike/run/walk or whatever the first 5 mile out-n-back to Brandywine Falls. If things felt good, then maybe, maybe try the 1/2 marathon...

Beautiful morning with a slight relief in temperature at a balmy 20-something degrees; a few inches of fresh snow, and slight wind. We all gathered outside the Boston Store and with a blast from Tanya's whistle, we were off. We all stopped suddenly as the group had to form into a single-file line for the towpath. There was only a small packed-down trail and no one wanted to break a new trail through the 10-12 inches of snow... I let everyone go in front of me and started walking. There was a small group of us at the back and I was the last person in line... DEAD LAST! I have not been dead last since I stopped racing my Hobie Cat sailboat... I did not mind since this was my plan.

I was almost within earshot of the last pack and tried to jog back up to connect. I was able to do so and the slow jogging felt pretty good. The snow was not too bad and I had pretty good traction. The screws I installed on the soles of my shoes seemed to be doing the trick. The woods were very quiet and the contrast of the dark tree bark against the fresh white snow was very pretty to look at. We we arrived at the first hill, seeing the 'conga-line' of brightly-colored runners snaking their way up the hill contrasted against the black and white of the woods, was definitely a Kodak moment.

I passed a few people when the trail split into two paths as we followed tracks of the people ahead of us. The front-runners soon started coming back at us and we all played "Chicken" to see who would bail out into the snow first. I usually gave way since I was not in a hurry, except when they were coming down-hill. It was faster for them to basically slide down the edge of the trail than to go down the steps!

I shouted out hellos to Kirk and JP as they returned and I arrived at the aid station at Brandywine Falls. Quickly passed through since I did not need/want anything and started back to Boston Store. My back was feeling ok, and I was starting to entertain serious thoughts of going on to Pine Lane for the 1/2 marathon distance. A mile later, things started to tighten up again. I flipped and I flopped in my mind about what to do: Stop at 5 miles or try for 13...

Finally, common sense did prevail and I stopped at Boston Store after 1 hour and 10 minutes in the woods. A good decision and it gave me the distinction of being the FIRST finisher!! Not exactly the way that I wanted to be first, but a first is a first right??!!

Went inside, picked up my jacket, ate a bowl of chili and went back outside. I wanted to thank the volunteers out there. They will be there all day long in the cold. At least the runners can generate heat but the volunteers stay in one place. The snow was still falling as I made my way to the car for the drive home.

Great morning! Not what I had expected last October when I registered for this event, but a great day nonetheless. Thanks to Tanya and all of the volunteers for another great 50k!

Down and out!

Last week I was fighting a cold. It was not too bad and then friday morning, I felt a slight twinge in my back as I stood up from tying my shoes. I did not think much about it until later in the day when it became more and more difficult to stand straight.

Saturday morning it felt ok until I coughed! Something happened and I was down. I like to think that I have a fairly good tolerance for pain, but this was different. As long as I sit, or stand with a bend at my waist, I am ok.

Urgent care visit sunday after no relief and I have an "Acute sprain of the lower back". geesh,I knew I needed to do more core work, but this is rediculous... The meds are working pretty good but it is questionable if I am going to be able to run the BT50K this weekend. I am bummed... We finally have the weather that I was hoping for this race and I may not be able to enjoy it!

I've got to start carrying a camera!

Monday evening, I met up with "The King" again. He is this awesome 10-point buck that hangs around the parks in Twinsburg where I run. I was running near the treatment plant and I noticed him ~10yds away on the grassy rise. I stopped running and my headlamp illuminated him pretty good and he froze in the light. We looked at each other for about 30 seconds before I clapped my hands together and he bounded away in a flash! Very majestic and beautiful...

I resorted to the dreadmill last night and tonight after work since I don't like ice... It is a different kind of running/workout and I guess that I could get used to it, but I prefer the outdoors much more.

I will probably stay indoors this week in an effort to get over this cold... It figures, the week before the race and I get sick. Oh well, I just consider it a forced taper... If I only had the training to taper from... :)

I have no expectations for the 50k next weekend: I just want to enjoy the time in the woods and have fun, at least as much fun as 6-7 hours of running can be! The weather looks to be cool next week so the mud should freeze and the trails may be in good shape.