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...

Snow run

What a beautiful sunny morning! The snow has stopped falling, at least for a day, and I needed to get outside for a few miles of running. I was not sure how deep the snow would be in the woods and not sure if anyone had ventured out this week to pack the trails down. Much to my surprise, the trail was mostly packed with only the Old Hickory trail covered with virgin snow.

I love being the first to track through a snow-covered trail! Yes, it is a lot of work, and you do not move too fast, but the return trip is easier! I did stop short at the last of the two long bridges at the gardens however. The knee-deep snow was getting the best of me! It was a great high-stepping session though...

They are forecasting the arrival of a large storm tomorrow with more snow on the way! I am really happy that I like running in the snow, unless I want to use the treadmill, that will be my only other option.

I am just thankful that I can get outside...

Night Run Haiku

Running in the dark

Feels like I am very fast

My watch does not lie...

Nice run in the dark and snow after work tonight. Sloppy trails but it was nice to clear my head. Funny how the night time makes the run feel so fast, but actually it is a lot slower. I also noticed that no one else was out tonight! hmmm....

I am over my cold, finally, and it feels good to not be coughing so much. Now, it is time to get a race scheduled for next summer. So far, Laurel Highlands for early summer and Run with Scissors for the fall are the leading candidates...

Consistency? What is that?

We all know that consistent training will allow for the best improvement verses haphazard activity. Unfortunately, trying to get life to cooperate to allow for the consistency is the biggest obstacle. Another common tidbit of information is that we always seem to be able to squeeze the activities that we *really* want to do into our schedule, no matter what... So what am I saying?

I guess that it took a crazy week at work to make me realize how much I have missed the consistent running that training for an event provides. (or forces you to do) I was feeling very very stressed and needed that release that running provides. Now that daylight savings time has ended, I and my headlamp will become one again... I have managed to actually run back-to-back days this weekend! It has been a while since that has happened!

I am struggling with trying to choose an event to train for for next summer. I always do better when I have a target to aim for. It is harder for me to 'just go run' and the motivation, or fear, of a looming event helps to get me out the door, especially now that winter is fast approaching!

I am on the fence regarding Burning River for 2011. Advantages are: is it is local, I know the course, logistics are easy for my crew. Disadvantages are: I know the course. A 100-mile race is never easy and I feel myself wanting to try a different venue. More importantly, I am not sure if I want to commit to the training for a 100 mile race. A spring and fall 50-mile race is sounding pretty good right now. (Two 50s make for a 100 right?? Ha!)

Options I am considering are: Glacier Ridge Trail 50K or 50 mile (April 9)
Nite-owl 50 mile (FA race late May)
Mohican 50 miles (if they have it) (June)
Run with Scissors double marathon (October)

Or do I choose a marathon and try to run faster? That means training on asphalt.... yuk!

I have time to get this figured out. For now, I will work on getting back to at least 4 runs a week and start to build my long run back up to 20 miles. This will get me through the early winter until I choose a race or two.

Sorry, it has been a while...

Wow! Time flies when, well, you know the rest...

I have been busy trying to catch up on all of the "projects" that were neglected while I was training for the Burning River 100 race. So far the deck has been stained, window trim painted, shutters painted, and office closet cleaned out. There are still lots of things on the list remaining and we are slowly getting them checked off.

Fall has arrived with the flurry of school activities. Abby's XC season will complete next week and since the football team is doing well, Marching Band will probably stretch long into the post-season. Denise will participate in her 5th Columbus Marathon this weekend and we are all looking forward to cheering her on and to see how the day unfolds for her.

I am in a maintenance-mode of running with a few random bouts of 'stress-relief' running thrown in. Speaking of stress relief, the company that I work for has been acquired and the close of the deal should occur in December. Merry Christmas... I think it is a good thing. At least the indications and statements made so far seem positive for our engineering group. But of course, the devil is in the details... I just have to keep remembering the end section of my last post regarding things I can control, and things that I cannot control... It seems that I have to keep relearning this lesson...