Weekly Log 24-Dec to 30-Dec-2018: Ending the Year on a High Mileage Note

Monday:  6
Christmas Eve run with Brady in Burlingame.  There was a light coating of snow, but really more run mud than snow on this run.  Put an orange vest on him as we were going in hunting areas; he hated it and pulled at it.  On Sammy C's, he would stop at the bottom of rocks, until I went past him and up the rocks and he finally figured out to just go up and over the rocks each time.

On a rock bridge crossing a swollen river, he fell off right into the river waist deep!  It was my turn next on a low-lying puddle that he impressively leaped over, while I tried to cross on a snow-covered log and went into the drink.  Ankle-deep, no big deal, but my feet were now soaked and it's 32 degrees.

He did not like the orange I put on him.

Tuesday:  7
Christmas Day

Christmas tree 2018:

A 8' concolor fir

Christmas tree 2017:
the majesty of a 16' tree required a lot
of back-breaking work behind the scenes

Christmas Day run with Matthew and Brady.  Road/trail/field mixer, including trails in Champlin, and fields in Winnapaug Farm Preserve.  Brady would take off like a bat out of hell for the first mile or two, but was tiring towards the end.  He did a lot of sprints to get ahead of us on the trail, then wait for the slowpokes (especially me) to catch up to him, and then repeat, so I guess no surprise that he finally tired out.  We'll have to work out some pace training for him.

Christmas loot is much about the running for me:
new pair of road shoes, trail shoes, running shorts, and gloves

Brady's first Christmas, so glad he came up to RI

At my Mom's house later Christmas Day.
Christmas to me is not about the gifts and money spent,
but rather the festivities and decorations and lights of the season and getting together with family and friends.
(l-r:  my sister-in-law Tina, my two nieces, my Mom [seated upright in black],
my sister-in-law Caroline [on carpet], my brother Kurt, Matthew, Mark)

Wednesday:  12
Boxing day in Newport and Middletown with Matthew.  After a mile warm-up from Newport County Y to Easton's Beach, ran the Cliff Walk as a tempo.  Was running about 6:40 pace until the terrain turned to rocks, jagged rocks, ice patches, and soft sand.  22 degrees, but bright sunshine warmed me about 1.5 miles in.  Inside the first tunnel, my eyes had trouble adjusting, and then I completely missed the hard right turn for the 2nd tunnel and had to backtrack.  This was actually the first time that I traversed the entire length of the Cliff Walk (3.4 miles).

After the Cliff Walk tempo, we ran easy on Bellevue Ave past the mansions, and then out on the Pie Run course.  After a temporary break at Purgatory Cliffs, we ran repeats on the Paradise Road Pie Run hill, before finishing back at the Y, shower and change, and coffee and a scone at Custom House.  Legs a little sore.

Thursday:  13
AM:  8 miles with Matthew, Sam, and Tom at Ninigret Park.  Mix of roads and easy trails.
PM:  5 miles with Matthew and Brady at Bradford Preserve.  Ran the Pumpkins 8K trails, with me lagging behind them pretty much the whole way.

Friday:  18
Solo run from Richmond (Arcadia Y) into Exeter and Hopkinton on very quiet, very rural roads, including at least five miles on dirt roads.  1,500+ elevation gain on rolling terrain.  Cold, soaking rain the whole way.  As it was 42 degrees at start, I wore just shorts and a long sleeve shirt (no outerwear, hat, or gloves).  I was debating on the gloves, as my hands never really warmed up until I got into the hot shower back at the Arcadia Y, but also didn't want to wear soaked gloves.

It was hard to even get out the door, and I was making up all sorts of abbreviated courses even from the start.  After a while I got into a groove and was committed to finishing the eighteen I had planned.  On Blitzkrieg Trail deep in the woods, there were actually a few slick spots with fresh snow that must have fallen overnight there, but the rest of the terrain was just wet.  Shoes, socks, everything soaked to the skin.  No other fools outside during my run.  Glad to have gotten this in.

Saturday:  6

Arcadia recovery run with Jonathan Short.  Brady joined us and was very well behaved, save for stopping in the middle of the trail.  Parked at Midway parking lot; ran up Mt Tom.

Sunday:  15
Road / trail mix with Matthew.  From Meadowbrook Pond in Richmond, through Carter Preserve out to Route 112 in Charlestown, through Shannock, Shannock Hill to Pine Hill, and then back North-South Trail.  I figured four miles on trails, but it ended up being eight!

About halfway through the run, my legs were getting really tired and I knew I was holding Matthew back, but glad to have gotten this in.

Weekly mileage:  77!

Weekly synopsis:  My highest weekly mileage since September 2014!  Back then, I was between jobs, had a month off, and ran 102 miles in one week. Somewhat similar conditions in that I had the past week off from work, affording me more mileage opportunities.

Weekly highlight:  The 18 mile solo run.  I can't say it was really enjoyable in the cold rain, but it was the satisfaction of getting it done and a successful return to long runs.  Looking back to this summer when I was unable to run at all, I feel I've come along way and am pretty happy about that.

Weekly lowlight:  It's hard to have a lowlight when I got in 77 miles and ran all 7 days.  Nope, it was just a great week!

Weekly 17-Dec to 23-Dec-2018: Indoor Track Running (no, seriously)

Monday:  6
After picking up Matthew from UNH for Christmas break, we stopped at Noanet Woodlands to run on the way back.  Wetter than normal, from recent rains, but still completely runnable.

Tuesday:  8
Chilly hill workout with Matthew before work.  It was 24 degrees, so the temperature wasn't the issue, but man, was that wind whipping.  From the Y, a 2-mile warmup, followed by hill repeats on Park, then Narragansett including fingers, and a 1/2 mile hill ascent on Oak (Route 91).

I don't do many hill workouts, but I really should as 1) it's good strength training, and 2) at least some prep for spring/summer mountain running.  Worked most of the day before driving back up to NH again, this time with Mark and his friend Lucas.

Wednesday:  7 run, 17 ski
Rented a 3-bedroom townhouse for five of us (the aforementioned, plus my cousin and his son).  Rented from a Bostonian that is starting his prep work for his twelfth straight Boston.  He gave me some suggestions on running routes.  I took his first option of running from the condo (across the Kancamangus Highway from Loon Mountain), down the "Kanc" to the Lincoln Woods trailhead, a little on the trail, and then back.  I was leery of traffic on the Kanc, but for naught, as this section was just plain deserted.  So cool to get on the snow-covered trail, albeit for only a mile, and it whet my appetite for more.  16 degrees.

Nobody here at 7am.

Hard packed by snow-shoers and XC skiers

Spent the rest of the day alpine skiing at Loon.  It was comfortable in the low 20s, but the only disappointment to me was that there was no glades skiing (those trails seemed to have cover, but were closed) and no moguls.  So really just a lot of cruising runs, which are not nearly as fun to me.  Kind of like running down Atlantic Avenue versus the trails at Yawgoog; the former has awesome scenery, but after a few repeat runs gets old, whereas the latter pales in scenery, but has a higher fun factor.  Post-skiing, it was back to the condo for drinks and appetizers (I love the apres-ski environment), then the hot tub, then out for Mexican grub before coming "home" to the condo completely wiped out.

My love of outdoor fires attracted me to this deserted fire outside a lodge
mid-mountain, and caused me to get separated from the rest of our group

I know I'm simple and easily impressed,
but I did enjoy this steam train ferrying us skiers from one lodge to another

The view are not too shabby today.

Thursday:  10
AM:  Between being exhausted, having to check out at 10am, lacking the mogul and glades terrain I sought, and lift tickets costing a ridiculous $90 ($98 on weekends), I opted to forego skiing today, and run trails and snowshoe instead.  After dropping Mark and Lucas off for skiing, I drove to the Lincoln Woods trailhead this time in order to get more trail time (as in 100% trails today).  Looked at the map, and opted for a roughly 7-mile OAB run up to Franconia Falls.  More than a foot of snow the whole way; packed hard and double-track for the most-part, but the closer I got to the falls, it really was single-track that had not seen as much packing down.

I played this game, but there was no explanation of any outcome.
Just a diversion to keep things interesting?

Trail intersections very well marked

A little softer here on Franconia Falls Trail, but no post-holing

And finally, Franconia Falls, still flowing, but completely iced over

PM:  After having lunch at Loon Octagon Lodge with Mark and Lucas, I contemplated renting XC skis and going out, but the time by now was just to tight with a 1.5 hour window.  Took another of Paul's (the Bostonian landlord) suggestion and opted for some hill running (with snowshoes) at Greeley Ponds trails.  This trail was tighter, twistier, and hillier than the morning's run, and my legs were talking to me for much of the way, but sure glad I got this in!

Starting off hilly right away

Beautiful, and so cool in the deep woods here.

Upper Greeley Pond, where I turned around.

Friday:  5
Back home in RI, went from the snow yesterday to the rains today.  Winter solstice with the highs approaching 60 degrees.  Some might revel at this; I cringe.  What to do in this warmer weather?  Head to the beach.  It was just getting dark as I parked in Watch Hill.  Ran a few short roads past the the Ocean House and onto the beach, then down to the lighthouse and back.  Back at the car, I had only gotten two miles in, but my shirt was drenched and clinging to me, and it was pitch dark.  Considered throwing the towel, but instead, ditched the shirt at the car, and headed out to Napatree.  It was pitch dark now, and without a headlamp, it was both cool and eerie as I got further out on Napatree with the surf pounding next to me (in fact, waves crashed over my legs twice) and distant roving lights at the Watch Hill Lighthouse occasionally appearing.

Saturday:  6
BU Mini Meet #3, Boston University.  Felt totally out of my element here, but I've always said I wanted to at least try indoor track, and with Matthew (and Keith) running here today, this was my perfect opportunity.  Based on my recent 5K time at Avondale (18:13), I converted that to 10:55 for 3K, and thought that's where I should seed myself.  Matthew correctly advised me that my pace should be faster in the shorter 3K distance, plus on an indoor banked track as compared to road, so I ended up seeding myself at 10:30.  After checking in, I immediately wanted to go outside for a warm-up, but having never in my life even set foot on an indoor track, it seemed more prudent (boring, but prudent) to run on the actual track I'd be racing on.  Ran into Scott Grandfield and ran a few warm-up laps with him while we caught up.  (He's a regular at these events and loves track; cross-country not so much.)

I watched Matthew run his 3K (8:56).  The time seemed to go by quickly - good!  I'm such a newbie at this that I had absolutely no idea when, where, or how to pick up my lane assignment stickers to affix to me pre-race, nor what the rules were when I could cut in to lanes 1-3 (I had a staggered start forward from the main group on lanes 4-6).  Fortunately, Matthew gave me pointers after his race and before my heat (5th heat). 

Banked track at BU that I was about to run on

Getting some pre-race advice from Matthew.

1st half:  The gun went off and it seemed chaotic to me to figure out how to get into position.  I probably screwed that up and in hindsight, should have pushed myself to get higher up.  I ran the first two laps mostly in lane 2, until I settled in towards the pack of a single-file pack.  I was seeded 14th of 18 in this heat, and that's about where I was for at least the first five laps.  Shortly after that, the guy in front of me went around a woman and as she came back to me, I decided to go around her and try to stick with the guy as well.  We repeated the same process another lap later.  I remember feeling tired, hot, and my throat really dry.  Around and around and around the track we go.  Didn't we just do this?!  I remember looking up when passing the start/finish and seeing 8 laps to go.  ANOTHER 8 LAPS?  Just shoot me; I felt like pulling off to the side and taking a DNF.

Nervously awaiting the start. 
What the heck am I doing here?

Towards the back of my heat and awkwardly close to other runners,
 after one or two laps.
(just about to cross white line behind guy in white singlet)

Tight pack

2nd half:  Scott was giving me some encouragement to stay with the pack I was in, so that helped me to hang in.  Somehow the laps passed by, and by the time we got down to 3 laps, we were seeing some more separation and I was passing people again.   With two laps to go, I passed one or two more, and then at the gun lap, picked up my pace to finish strong.

My final lap; stride is longer as I pick it up a little

Final results:  10:18.  Exceeded my goal, so I guess that's good.  Full results here.

The results show me as 71st out of 79th, which sounds horrible, until I learned that the entire 6th and final heat of 18 runners didn't receive their times at all due to some sort of timing company issue.  Man, I would've been furious if that had happened to me.  It's not about the $15 entry fee, but my time driving to and from BU (about four hours right there) and basically taking up the day, racing, and not getting any results at all.  Don't know why they didn't have any backup timing.

200m Splits (huge thank-you to Matthew for getting these):

• Kilometer 1:  41, 41, 41, 40, 40
• Kilometer 2:  40, 41, 41, 40, 42
• Kilometer 3:  42, 42, 41, 42, 37

Pros:

• Crossed one off my bucket list by running an indoor track race.
• Exceeded my guestimate of 10:30.
• Running in a rather tight pack definitely helped to pull me along and keep splits consistent.

Cons:

• Running in circles (or ovals) isn't very exciting.
• Had absolutely no idea how to pace.  Left to my own devices, my splits and times would likely have been much more erratic.
• My final lap of 37 seconds (versus 40/41/42 for the rest of race) suggests I left too much out there.  Rookie mistake.
• Didn't know when to make my move to pass runners or when to try to pick it up.
• Felt like I was going to trip over the metal divider separating lane 1 from the infield.  The part where it was not connected and jutted out a couple of inches into lane 1 caused further concerns for me.
• My mouth got progressively drier the whole race (I had dry coughs post-race as well).
• Post-race cool down got me into some really sketchy areas.  In one undesirable neighborhood across the tracks, some guy yelled something at me but I couldn't understand and just looked away from him and trekked on uncomfortably.
• The distances are just so much shorter than what I normally race, which gives the dilemma of I can't imagine running a shorter distance, yet I can't imagine racing more than the 15 laps I already did.

Sunday:  12
AM:  6 mile run at Bluff Point with Brady.  Easy pace on trails, and very enjoyable.  After Brady's encounter with deer last week, Beth had advised to the effect of "Wait 'til he sees a horse!".  Well, she was right on the mark, as he was really spooked by that huge "dog" on the trail.  The horse's rider mentioned that Brady seemed scared.  He just cowered, and I basically had to pull him to get around the horse.  Fortunately, this was on the fire road section headed out to the point, so there was plenty of room to maneuver.  Once we got around the horse, Brady picked up the pace and uncharacteristically pulled hard on the leash to get away from that thing.  On the way back, I went into the single-track trails, and that always is more enjoyable to me and he seemed to be enjoying himself more as well, pulling ahead and then looking back to see if the old man was still keeping up or not (barely!).

Love this shot I took of Brady with the ocean in background.
Fun trail run, and I'd like to think he enjoyed it as well.

PM:  6 mile Christmas Light Run with Tommy and Matthew.  My poorest planned in the seven years to date, as it was just two days to Christmas, and I figured out and invited a few others at the last minute.  It's fun to run in bigger groups, as the currently-injured Mikey had arranged last year, but still enjoyable as Tommy also remarked how the run went by quickly.

Weekly mileage:  55

Weekly synopsis:  Fun week of running, and glad I could fit in 55 amidst a week of winding down work for the year, as well as a lot of driving (two trips to NH and one to Boston).  While I have yet to pick a spring marathon, that's a goal / New Year's resolution of mine, and so far happy that five out of six of my past weeks have been north of fifty.

Weekly highlight:  By all rights, it should be my foray to indoor track racing.  Nope.  Snowy trails trump indoor tracks for me, even if a workout or sufferfest.  The highlight for me was my double on deep snow trails, 10 miles on Thursday.

Weekly lowlight:  Only my lack of forethought and planning for the Christmas Light Run.  Time is flying by, and I'm enjoying the holidays with both boys (and Brady) home, but I'm kind of a scatterbrain lately in terms of planning anything out ahead of time.

Weekly Log 10-Dec to 16-Dec-2018: Returning to High Mileage

Monday:  0 run, 650 yard swim
Man, are my legs sore from yesterday's race.  No pain, but definitely sore

Tuesday:   7 run
6:30am, 17 degrees.  4 miles on neighborhood roads, and then 3 roads/trails with Brady.  Brady got some icicles on his whiskers, but otherwise seemed fine.  We were running the trails of Champlin, and all of a sudden he froze in his tracks and crouched down, just as two deer bounded across the trail right in front of us.  Apparently this was his first time ever seeing deer.  Maybe he thought, "Those dogs are HUGE."?

Wednesday:   7
Trail run in Bradford Preserve / Woody Hill with Brady.  Except for one hunter, we had the 1,000+ combined acres to ourselves.  At one point, I was rock-hopping at a technical section across a swollen stream, and I was really curious to see what Brady would do.  He went full speed ahead through the water!  My kind of approach; he can run with me anytime!

Thursday:  13
AM:  5 miles. Blue Heron Trail, Cutler Park, Dedham, MA.  For my final working day in MA of the year, I planned out an 8-mile loop on the Blue Heron Trail.  Unfortunately, as soon as I parked, I saw a big sign warning that a portion of the trail was closed temporarily due to construction.  Argh.  The best laid plans of mice and men.  Made the best of it and got in 5 miles, but only with two and out-and-backs.
PM:  8 miles.  Jingle Bell Run at our club's annual holiday party.  Thanks to Jonathan Short for helping me setup and break down the course (Chris had some lousy excuse of being out of the country).  The course is all trails, and we mark the major intersections with LED-lighted trail directional signs.  We had 15 people sign up for tonight's run, and about 30 at the party itself.  Fun get together.  This year we added a slideshow of pictures of the year's running events, which was a little blurry against the textured background of the wall, but we'll continue to try to improve upon.

Friday:  16!
Longest run I've done in 14 months.  Local roads down to Weekapaug, through Misquamicut, and back, with a few hills added in on purpose.  Ran the first 12 miles by myself, and then came back to the house to get Brady to finish up.  (I tried to keep his mileage lower, as he had already run earlier in the morning with Jana, so this was a double for him.)  The last few miles I was really feeling it, and again thinking there's no way I could add another 10 miles to make a marathon.  But that's why you train and build up to it.

Saturday:  9
Take 1:  3 mile road run home from Midas, after dropping off the Volvo wagon for an oil change.  This is the one that Mark took down to Florida in May.  200,000 miles and still going.  I hope it lasts Mark for a while.
Take 2:  6 miles on campground trails with Brady.  Never saw a soul out there, although it looks like I just missed Muddy and Jonny running a near identical route, as well as Kevin Adams out there for a ride.

Sunday:  10
Run While You Can run in Avondale / Watch Hill.  One mile with Tommy, JV, and Erin Hub, then Tommy and I ran the rest together.  Was surprised to see our overall pace sub-7, considering a slower start and then quite windy.

Weekly mileage:  63!

Weekly synopsis:  Super happy with this week.  Longest run in 14 months, and highest mileage week in 14 months.  No pain, no issues.  Life is good again.

Weekly highlight:  The 16-miler on Friday.  While I was definitely feel it, if was great to get this in.

Weekly lowlight:  Construction debacle blocking the Blue Heron Trail.  Heresy!

Christmas 10K 2018

Newport, RI
Sunday, December 9, 2018

Headed out to the city by the sea to join 13 of my WTAC comrades for the annual 10K.  This would be my 9th time running the race.  I like the course and the location, and getting together for lunch post-race is an added attraction.  Having run the Christmas 10K so many times, and with it being held in December with long stretches right along the ocean, it was inevitable that I met some nasty conditions along the way, including frigid temperatures, driving rain, slippery spots, wind-driven gusts of water coming over the seawall, and even one year where seaweed covered the road!

Fortunately this year was great running weather:  about 28F at the start, dry roads, partly cloudy, almost no wind!  Warmed up with Kevin Murphy and Allyson Cole.  Besides the obvious choice of short shorts and a singlet, I opted for a hat and gloves.  Jana asked me when I thought I would finish, and I thought, and said "38 minutes +".  Chilly waiting for the start in shorts and a singlet, but not downright frigid as some years were.

Mile 1:  For some reason, Dave Schaad made some brief opening remarks, and shortly thereafter we were off.  There was the usual shuffling for the first half mile or so, with Bob Jackman and Fred Campagna right alongside me, and after that, Steve Brightman was running ahead, followed by a pretty tight pack of five:  Bronson (out for a jog), Principe, Blue Guy, Muddy, and me.  The pack was so tight that when we took corners, it was sometimes awkward for me to not bump into others.  Not sure if others have that awkwardness or if they're just more acclimated and better at pack running. In past years, I have tended to drop off the lead pack about 1/2 mile in, but I was feeling it was sustainable for now.  We went through the mile in 5:46.

Team WTAC (or most of us that ran at Christmas 10K)

Getting in some strides

It'll take a little while for positions to shake out, but here is how we started off

Mile 2:  About half-way though the mile, I saw I was dropping back from the pack.  There was a voice inside me of telling me to just let them go, and drop back to a more comfortable pace.  Fortunately, this was on a downhill (my strength) section to the water, so I picked it up to catch up and fall back in with pack.  Mile split 5:54.

Mile 3:  Stayed with the pack along the water, but towards the end of the mile, after we rounded the point at Brenton Point State Park, I once again dropped back and this time on a flat surface rationalized that it would just be tough to pick up the pace yet again to catch up.  Mile split 5:51.

Mile 4:  The pack is separating, but not by a lot.  I can still see Brightman (as he's been running in the low 5:40s), next is Blue Guy, followed by Muddy, and then between Muddy and I is Bronson and Principe.  Bronson is talking with ease trying to coach Principe to maximize the tangent utilization, while I'm gasping like a dinosaur and envisioning my mile splits dropping to 6:25, now that the pack split apart and there is no one on my heels.  Mile split 5:59!  I'll take it, assuming that's my last sub-6 split.

Mile 5:  At about the start of the 5th mile, I start coming up on the walkers, as their route has just rejoined ours.  I've had some years where they can be a nuisance to go around, but fortunately this time around there is only group that is strung three across that I have to run wide around and can't use the tangents.  Many are vocally supportive of the runners.  As I go by, I hear one woman say "That's the Race Director of the last two trail runs I ran.  Awesome job!".  I'm not sure if she's praising my efforts as RD (and by extension the club) or my efforts in the race. Either way, I'll take the compliment!

Somewhere during this mile, still along the water, I hear the loud smacking of feet coming rapidly towards me.  I guess I'm really slowing down now, and I have two fears: 1) it's Martin Tighe coming to overtake and kick me off the 50s podium, or 2) it's Fred Campagna (not that he's in my age group, and not that I don't wish him well, but I don't want him to beat me).  The guy goes by me, and it's some young guy in a RIRR singlet that I don't recognize. No problem, you can go.  We hit the mile marker, and it's time for the moment of truth on how much I have slowed.  Check my watch, and it says 5:59!  Wow.  Ok, so not only am I still hanging on, but it was really that Orange RIRR Guy picked it up.

Mile 6:  Gradual hill climbs, followed by a dip and then re-climb up to the finish at Rogers High School.  I'm in survival mode now panting away, but it really goes by much quicker than I imagined.  Somewhere in the mile I felt better to see that Orange RIRR Guy also passed Principe.  Just before the final turn, Jim Cole gives me a shout-out.  He's out of running commission for a while due to a soccer injury, and out on the course awaiting his 13-year old daughter, Allyson, who is leading the WTAC women's team today.  I follow Principe up the hill, but he's a good 100-plus meters ahead of me now.  Final mile split 6:14.

I like this shot.  Nothing around me, and against the contrast of the barren trees in winter.

Just about done.

Final turn

And we're done.  36:38, thank you very much.

Final results:  36:38, 7th overall, 3rd in age group behind Brightman and Principe.  Tough age group today, considering that 3 of 7 top overall were in their 50s!  Full results here.

$20 gift certificate and a pair of running gloves,
for my efforts

Other than checking my watch at mile splits, I hadn't been obsessing with the time or doing the math, and I was somehow shocked when I came up on the finishing clock and saw not 38:xx, and not 37:xx, but 36:xx!  Ecstatic!  Rather than being the typical several minutes behind Brightman, Muddy, and Principe, they have all just finished up within 75 seconds before me and are still near the end of the chute.  Brightman kindly came up to me and said something to the effect of, "I think you're back from your injury now".  I agree!

Cooled down with Jonathon Short and Cliff Dimon in the trails across from Rogers.  Then headed out to a lunch of eight at Brick Alley Pub to further regale stories of the race.  Fun finish to the day.

Later, I reflected on my strategy to push and stay with the pack for almost 3 miles.  I do believe that paid dividends for me.  It is interesting to contemplate the physical versus mental struggle.  On my own, I was ready to just slow down into a more comfortable pace, but I pushed to stay with the pack.  What about the final separation at Mile 3, where I "let" the pack go?  At the moment, that seemed like all I could do, but was I really at my physical limits, or just my mind telling me so?  Could I have pushed further and harder to stay with the pack a little further?  Again, very happy with my results, but it does give me some food for thought. 

Weekly Log 3-Dec to 9-Dec-2018: A Low Mileage, but Fun Week

Monday:  0
Planned rest day.

Tuesday:  0 run, 2 walk/weed-whack
Volunteered with the Land Trust, clearing overgrowth at Wahaneeta Preserve.

Wednesday:  6
Adams Farm, Walpole, MA.  Twisty fun at sunrise.

Thursday:  0
Between a number of work issues and a vendor visiting for a couple of days of training, just "couldn't" find the time to get out there.  I use the quotes, as there was nothing from stopping me from getting up at 5am and going running, right?

Friday:  8
'Round the pond challenging run.  Challenging from the slickness of black ice (slid right away), compounded with a chase from the PM.  Unlike the seemingly frequent visits to the likes of Muddy, CG, and Matthew, I am rarely bothered by this fiend and don't typically carry TP.  TMI?

Saturday:  7
An interesting canine run in northern Virginia, and a short crossover into the District of Columbia at Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island.  I flew down from RI, and Mark and dog (Brady) arrived at about 12:15am by car from Florida en route home to Florida, as I offered to help Mark with driving part of the route.

Sometime during the night, Brady just jumped onto my
hotel bed.  Got to be more comfortable than lying on the floor.

As soon as I got up in the morning for my run, 10-month old Brady came right over to me to see what was going on.  Since he was up and I was going outside anyway (we were staying on the 12th floor of a hotel), I figured I'd take him out for a bathroom break.  Then, as long as we were both outside in the relative cold (27 degrees; that seemed to be cold in VA seeing the way people dressed), I figured I'd see if he wanted to run with me.  The first mile was very spastic, as he'd cut right in front of me, I'd crash into him (or vice versa) on turns, and just couldn't get a rhythm going.  I didn't mind, and it was cool running past Arlington National Cemetery and seeing the rows of bright white graves.

Start of our run.  The wall behind me is the border
of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.

Once we got onto a bike path along a highway, Brady seemed to fall in line better.  Not sure if he was just getting to used to what we were doing, or if the straight line of the bike path forced some discipline.  I really wanted to cross into DC proper and run around the National Mall, but unfortunately as soon as I got close to the Memorial Bridge, a loudspeaker on a nearby cop car announced to me that the bridge was closed.  So much for those plans.  He didn't seem too busy inside his heated car having his coffee and doughnut (or at least that's why I imagined he was doing), so I went up to his car and asked if any other safe places to run.  (Cops are about safety, right?)  Anyway, he was really helpful, and suggested the Mount Vernon "Trail", a paved path just around the corner from us, and extending through Lady Bird Johnson Park and a length of about 15 miles.  Wow!  We saw a lot of runners on this path, and remembering the nervousness I often have when I'm running and encounter dogs I don't know (although I never worry about labs), I made sure to not only keep him on the leash the whole time, but also rein in the leash a little tighter when we got close to other runners.  He stayed right next to me, except for a single hard pull on the leash, and then I noticed his distraction:  squirrel!

Along the Potomac; Washingon Monument in background.

Lady Bird Johnson Park,
Washington, DC
(So patient and well behaved)

Sunday:  8
Christmas 10K!  Separate write-up to follow.

Weekly mileage:  28

Weekly synopsis:  Pretty abysmal mileage this week.  I can only chalk up so much of it to busy work week, and the rest to poor planning and invalid assumptions around time available mid-day.  Anyhow, given three consecutive 50-plus weeks immediately prior, I'm not worried about it.  Time to resume the mileage in the upcoming week.

Weekly highlight:  Two highlights really.  My surprise success at Christmas 10K, which I'll report on shortly, and the fun run in Virginia with Brady.

Weekly lowlight:  My poor planning.

Li'l Rhody Runaround 2018: Wet, but Fun!

Charlestown, RI
Sunday, November 18, 2018

This was the 27th running of the race.  This year we added a new course distance of 4 miles ("half" Runaround) in an attempt to bring in additional runners that we might not get otherwise.  That was fun to design and setup, but in the interest of time (my time, that is; it's all about me!) I am just going to write about this race from the aspect of race participant this time, and not RD.

There was a snow covered field to cross on the 4-mile course!
When is the last time we had any snow on the ground at Rhody?

The first half:  It's time.  I ran into Leslie walking up to the start, and then lined up in the second or third row, and chatted up with my faster compatriots on the front line:  Tommy 5K, Greg, Jonny, Muddy, Chris, etc.  The gun went off, and I followed the decision I had made to let them go, which in hindsight I regret.  The high school XC crew (Sam, Sebastian, Thomas, Colby, Aaron) was just next to me for the first half-mile or so on the puddle-laden dirt road, but unlike last year when I was chasing them, they dropped behind me before entering the single-track session.

Cool viewing angle from Seth

... and we're off
(Pic courtesy of Jana)

Coming into the campground at the mile mark (split 6-flat), I could no longer see Chris or Greg, but there was a group of about five not far in front of me, with Muddy bringing up the rear of that group.  Heading out of the campground and onto the single-track, Muddy and Tommy must've switched positions as it was Tom's derriere that I now saw and followed.  Tommy is cute, and while not quite the same as following a cute chick at the Blessing, it was motivating to follow him through the trails.  When we got to the long series of bog bridges before the covered bridge, I slid right off the rails and just caught myself by grabbing and hugging a tree.  Going through the covered bridge, I saw Matthew filming on the other side and this section quickly brought me out to the Klondike Road intersection.

Slick bridges with snow and ice
(Courtesy Kellie Armstrong's Strava pics)

Through the covered bridge

Coming out of the bridge,
still shot from Matthew's video

After the short technical section paralleling Klondike, I noticed I was gaining on Tommy, or wait a minute ... is that Tommy after all?  Nope.  Get your eyes checked, buddy.  Orange shirt just like Tommy, so it must be him, right?  Oh yeah, everyone is wearing orange shirts.  Duh.  Tommy must've passed this guy recently.  So who is this mystery character?  He's tugging at his orange shirt, and off comes the shirt.  Faux pas.  MUST WEAR ORANGE.  Now he's tugging at his next layer, and then the next layer, and then ...    What is going on?  You're familiar with Mexican 7-layer dips at parties, right?  (I think I make a decent one myself, but I digress.)  Well, it just so happens that this is 4-Layer Guy.  As 4-Layer Guy slows to an almost stop to shed his unnecessary extra layers, I go past him and mutter to him that he needs to be wearing orange.  He nods and agrees.  Ok, then.  By the way, this guy is the same as "Person Kid Guy Thing" in Muddy's race report.

Pic courtesy of Beth

While I'm happy to pass 4-Layer Guy, who I'm sure is a great young guy, the downside is I'm running as an island for the first time in the race.  I don't end up seeing 4-Layer Guy again until the finish, when he crosses carrying his extra costume remnants in a giant ball.  The time to the water stop seems to go by quickly, and I'm happy to take a water gulp.  Thanks to Justin Pearce, his dad Rusty, and crew for being out there!

The second half:  Turning onto Buckeye Brook Road, I once again see Tommy!  Way ahead of him, just about to turn back into the trail, is a small gaggle of orange clad trail runners.  I later find out that was Muddy, Jonny, and Brightman.  I'm surprised that I'm not as far behind as I thought, but when I finally make it to the trail entrance myself, that was the last of the runners that I'll see on the course today.  (Well, other than an orange clad female runner that appeared out of nowhere and then stopped to let me pass.)  I spy Matthew again as he films my ascent up the rock scramble.

Heading up to the rock scramble,
so far so good
(From Matthew's video shot)

Summiting the rock scramble

What is my friend T5K doing at the rock scramble?
Kneeling?  Praying?

Shortly after that, it's Rhody Seth on the trail as he follows and films me splashing through the soaked trail, and then taking a digger sliding on wet leaves.  Seth often seems to catch me in trail carnage!

Following T5K's fall at the rock scramble, it's my turn:
Frame 1 (from Seth): My left foot is sliding out from underneath me.

Frame 2:  down we go

Frame 3:  and down! 
This is no way to run a race.  Get up, and get going!

The back half of the course featured some really wet and flooded sections.  During pre-race remarks as RD, I had given fair warning to the 8-mile runners that their feet would NOT stay dry.  I had more than one person come up to me post-race and say at the halfway mark, they were thinking, what is this guy thinking about, and when they hit the second half, reality hit!

Yes, the orange flag is marking the course; it's somewhere under
this large flooded section.
By this point in the race, just best to run straight through this, as I did.

More slick bridges to traverse

One of the final streams we crossed;
usually this isn't even flowing in November

Just before crossing Cool Spring Road onto the very short and final section of trail, I tripped and fell hard on my knee.  I'd like to tell you that it was a slippery, gnarly, rock garden that did it, but the reality is this was a dry leaf-free section of trail and I tripped over seemingly nothing.  I can only guess my legs were getting tired and sloppy in lifting them up and I tripped over a small root or something.  That one hurt, and I limped off before regaining my composure.

Onto the road for the final mile - ugh.  I had hoped to see visions of Tommy here, but he was no where to be found and had put a minute on me.  I'm sure my two falls didn't help.

Matthew's finishing shot,
from Seth's combined video

Final results:  51:58, 7th place out 151, 1st in age group.  Full results here.

While I'm sure I wouldn't have kept up with Tom for the race duration, I was kicking myself for not going out with the second pack of runners (Brightman, Jonny, Muddy, Tom, 4-Layer Guy), as they didn't go out that much faster than me.  Would I have been able to hang for a while and post a better time?

Battle scars!

While my time was a far cry from my 2015 PR of 49:10, it actually wasn't too far off the mark from the past two years (51:07 and 51:27).  Factor in the slower wet course, and I'll take it!  Another fun Rhody race in the books.