Weekly Log 20-Sep to 26-Sep-2021: Mile Swim

Miscellaneous Rambling:

• In addition to my own fall marathon (VCM) being cancelled, New Jersey Marathon, Marine Corps Marathon, Mount Desert Island Marathon, and Steamtown Marathon are now cancelled as well, all due to COVID.  It makes it tough to plan.
• Deerfoot 5K (Charlestown) became the 2nd "local" casualty to cancel their race this fall.  Similar to Trails to a Cure, they cited low registration numbers and that so many races have rescheduled to this time frame due to COVID.  Not that either race is well promoted, but it will be interesting to see if they come back.  (Deerfoot is now looking at a Spring 2022 date; Trails to a Cure next up Sep 2022.)
• Speaking of small local races, anyone know how the Charlestown Land Trust's "Try It, You'll Love It" 10K Trail Run went last weekend?  I searched diligently for results but could not find any.  While the race date has never worked for me, I do hope it doesn't disappear.  There are so few local trail races!
• This does give me some concern on the WTAC Fall Races.  We are fully aware we got more participants last year as we were the "only game in town" (and even had to turn away runners due to state-imposed COVID capacity limits at the time), but this year the numbers are coming in slowly due to aforementioned factors.

Monday:  2 run, 1 swim, 1 walk

Run:  Wasn't planning on running at all today, but wanted to get a look at the condition of the XC course at Bradford Preserve in advance of tomorrow's WHS XC meet, especially the middle school section which will have to be used this year and was overgrown last time I saw it.  (The course is in great shape, and the coaches had already taken care of.)

Swim:  Ever since getting the "all clear" on my head wound last week, I wanted to get a swim in, if for no other reason than a mental boost and vindication of sorts.  Since I did fine last week with a 1/2 mile swim, with the only effect being tired arms, I thought today I'd try for a full mile.  Swam from the beach 400 yards out to the buoy, took a very short break (a few seconds), and then picked a point on the coast to sight just west of Camp Watchaug, swim that 600 yards, and then 400 back to the beach.  Now being at 1,400 yards, swam double 100-yard OABs to get to 1,800 and complete the mile (1,760 yards).  I got it done, but perhaps not surprisingly felt pretty tired the last few hundred yards.  Still a great feeling of accomplishment!

Walk:  Evening walk with Jana and Brady on the gravel (temporary) roads and grass trails at Avondale.

Tuesday:  13 run, 3 walk

AM:  Solo run (5 miles) on the Clamdigger course on the last full day of summer.  Parked and ran from Westerly Town Beach.  Temps were in the mid-50s!  Wonderful.  Finished the run, grabbed my towel, and went straight to the ocean.  For the first time this year, I ran and jumped headfirst into a wave.  Felt marvelous and refreshing.

AM:  Each of my Tuesdays mornings over the past five months were all booked at the Westerly Hospital's Wound Care Center.  I joked with the hospital staff last week when discharged and asked, "Now what I will do with my Tuesdays?", to which the reply was, "Anything you would like.".  Well, OK, then.  I would like to return to the Coffee & Clearing Club ("CCC") arm of the Westerly Land Trust.  It was great to catch up with the gang.  After being gone for five months, there were a number of new faces I didn't recognize, but most of the "old gang" was still there.  I was asked to lead one of two chainsaw teams to tackle the blowdowns which I had mapped a few weeks back in the aftermath of Hurricane Henri.  Absolutely.  Happy to.  We got a lot of work done today, but lugging a chainsaw around for three miles definitely tired out the arms that were already tired out from a mile of swimming yesterday.

PM:  (8 miles) Ran and marked WHS XC course with Kevin M.  This would be the modified course, as we'll have to do with Run for the Pumpkins 8K course as well this year, as at least temporarily part of the course is off limits due to a wetland violation filed by a neighbor.  One of the school teams was an hour late in arriving, so since I had loppers in my car, I used the time to snip some overgrowth in a few places on the Pumpkins course.  Good to go.

Wednesday:  8

Ran most of the Grills 10 Mile course with Brady.  The blowdowns cleared yesterday, plus mowing along the west side of the cleared field, made the trails much more accessible, but I noted areas to be weed-whacked and/or lopped (is that a word?) at next week's CCC session.  There are a few areas needing some love on the Hopkinton side as well, and since I was asked to attend next week's Hopkinton Land Trust meeting to discuss the race, I'll bring up those trail conditions then.

This was my last run of the summer (fall arrives this afternoon) and the summer humidity was evident.

Thursday:  12

Burlingame trail run with Brady.  From Kettle Pond Visitor Center, around the pond on Burlingame Trail, Vin Gormley, and a side trip down to North Camp Beach.  Sticky, humid first full day of fall, and we made sure to stop at the pond twice to go in the water.

The only other creatures we saw out there were whitetails, which reminds me to bring orange for Brady.

Friday:  4 run, 3 walk

AM:  Had thought about doing a long run today.  That is, until we learned that Matthew's race got moved up three hours, and we needed to leave by 10am.  Just too tight to get everything done in time.  It worked out for the better anyway, as the weather would've been terrible for a long run and I would have had a high probability of bailing.  Woke up to an overnight low of 73° (20° higher than normal) and 98% humidity.  Actually felt tough breathing first couple of miles in the soup.  Brady was dragging as well, so we just cut it short and returned home.  Another day ...

PM:  Franklin Park, Boston.  3 miles walking / spectating Matthew's Coast to Coast Beantown race.

Saturday:  9

Yawgoog and Green Falls trails with Brady.  Made a fun, technical loop covering four ponds:  Yawgoog, Wincheck, Green Falls, and Hidden [Lake].  Stopped and swam for a bit at Green Falls beach.  Yes, I know the sign at the beach says "No Pets", but there was no one around, so I broke the rules.  Scofflaw!  

There were a few hikers out there, but pretty empty on the trails for the most part.  Until I got to Camp Yawgoog, that is.  I stayed out of there during the summer scout camp season, but was surprised to see at least three different campsites along the trail being used by big scout groups.  I have no idea if dogs are even allowed through there, but I put Brady on the leash, and nobody seemed to have an issue.  Some of the leaders and scouts clearly seemed happy to see him actually.

In the afternoon, went to a birthday celebration for a friend and had a great time catching up.

Sunday:  13 miles

Charlestown Beach, with Matthew, who was home for a short weekend, before taking the train at Noon from Westerly back to NH.  Other than a mile of dirt, this was an asphalt road run.  This was at what should be a comfortable pace for me (average pace 7:12, pretty consistently 7:05 - 7:20), but for some reason I kept dropping back.  Not sure why; hopefully just a one day thing.

Our run ended literally on Charlestown Beach, as in at water's edge.  The ocean temperature here is still right about 70°F, so it was very comfortable to go right in.  So nice just to dive under the water!  Finished up the morning by stopping at The Bakery for treats.

Weekly mileage:  61 run, 7 walk, 1 swim

Weekly synopsis:  Mileage-wise, it was a good week.  The mile swim was a huge confidence booster as well.  But as another friend noted to me this weekend, "I haven't seen recent long runs from you on Strava."  Yeah, that's what's missing.  This was the second consecutive week in which I didn't run a long run.  Last week, I can kind of excuse myself as I ran Jamestown Half, but no good explanation this week.  The reality is with my marathon reduced to a half, while I ponder a replacement marathon, I let my training regimen drop.  Two weeks with no long run isn't the end of the world, but time to put it back together again.

Weekly highlight:  The mile swim.  Not pretty, not fast, but accomplished!

Weekly lowlight:  Lack of a long run and training breaking down.  Get it together!

Jamestown Half Marathon

 

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Jamestown, RI

First time running this race.  That I ran it at all was kind of a byproduct and silver lining of COVID.  With almost no races this past January, I had signed up the Hangover Classic on New Year's Day in Bristol, only to have it cancelled a few days before due to COVID.  There were no refunds, but the race organizer gave a full credit to be applied to any of their races.

The timing of the Jamestown Half fit well for a tune-up half marathon race for my Vermont City Marathon (which of course, subsequently was also cancelled due to COVID).  So by using my credit from the Hangover Classic, I was able to sign up for the Jamestown Half for only an additional $26.25 instead of paying the $70 fee.

Race start:  The race start was an early 7am, so it was an early 5am rise and shine in the Walker household, breakfast, and out the door by 5:30am.  In the dark.  (For some people, this may be their daily routine, but those days for me in the rear view mirror.)

We arrived at Fort Getty, Jamestown just at sunrise.  There was already a long line for the loo, but fortunately it moved quickly.  There was no line at all for bib pickup, maybe because they had pickup in Providence and Jamestown the prior days, so I had plenty of time for a warm-up.  A Def Leppard tune was playing as I checked in, which was pretty cool, but unfortunately the music after that was all ... well, I know taste in music is subjective, so let me stay positive and just say it was not my kind of music.  Went for just under two miles on the course, which was good for me.

Out (Start to Mile 7):  After the national anthem and a few words from the RD, we were quickly on our way.  My Strava post shows a start time of 7:01am, so I would call that a pretty punctual start!  As I took off, I heard someone crying loudly.  I recognized the voice, but I turned my head to look anyway.  Yep, sure enough, it was Brady and he was not happy at all that he wasn't coming all on the run.  He appeared to be pulling on the leash Jana was holding, and I heard him yelping for quite a while until I was out of sight.  Sorry, Brady!

Just a couple of minutes before race start.
Someone is very excited
(and soon disappointed that he isn't in the race).

National anthem.  My face is obscured by the
flag; I'm in blue singlet, black shorts, and
yellow racing flats.

We're off!  I'm on right (look for the yellow shoes).

I won't give a mile-by-mile account, but some of the highlights follow.  About a mile in, near Mackerel Cove, a guy goes past me and I'm thinking he could be in his 50s.  There are cones lining the entire course, but only giving you a 2-3' shoulder and often with sand on the side on the road, so except in busy spots, I run next to the cones but not necessarily inside them.  A couple miles in, a guy in a black singlet comes up next to me and says, "It is [effing] humid!".  That it is.  He and a guy in a gray singlet go past me, putting me in 7th place.  The first guy (in black) is quite young and definitely not in my age group, but the second guy has all gray hair, so he could be?  Why can't their ages be marked on the backs of their legs like in triathlons?!

Mile 1, at Mackerel Cove.
(You can see the young guy in black
singlet who will soon pass me.)
Neat that this race provides free photos!

Looking very serious.

For the next two miles, we run in a group of four (the original guy that passed me at Mile 1, young black singlet, and gray singlet).  We are running rolling hills, and on downhills I pass and go to the front of the pack, and on uphills I get dropped to the back of the pack.

At Mile 4 (toll booths for Newport Bridge), the dynamics change.  We turn onto North Road, run along the water, and will be on this straight road with undulating hills for the next three miles.  We will also be in a headwind for the next three miles, with the wind out of the North at about 10mph.  Our pack splits up here, with original guy dropping back and black and gray singlets going out together ahead of me.  I can see them but their gap increases on me over the next two miles.  At one point, I look at my watch and see a depressing 6:47 pace (lap pace for current mile thus far).  I'm fearing I will run a 1:28.  Or maybe slower?

Miles 3 to 7 are mostly unprotected, near the
water, in a headwind heading north.

Coming into Mile 7, we descend a 75' hill and I surprise myself by actually catching and passing both of them.  I know this won't last, and on the next uphill, sure enough, the young guy in the black singlet passes me back again.  But gray singlet doesn't.  Interesting.  And after a while, I can no longer hear the latter's footsteps.

Back (Mile 7 to Finish):  Finally, we're done with the long straight stretch of North Road, as we turn into a residential neighborhood.  (As opposed to what other kind of neighborhood?)  I take advantage of the 90° turn to glance back, and I can't see the guy in the gray singlet or anyone else for that matter.  Yes!  I can see the black singlet ahead of me, but his gap on me is growing.

Leaving the neighborhood, we have another 4 mile section of straight road before returning to Mackerel Cove and the final mile into the park at Fort Getty.  Along that 4-mile stretch, we will have three more 50' hill climbs, and I've memorized them and their placement, so while tiring me, they're at least not a surprise.

With about two miles left in the race, I go past Scott Mason taking pics at Zeke's Creek.  Not sure why none of his pics are posted yet (6 days post race).  At a downtown crossing, I hear a policeman say, "Nice job, guys".  Guys, as is plural form?!  Is someone catching me?  Or is just urban Rhode Islandese, as in "youse guys"?  I'm obviously hoping the latter.  

Finally, Mackerel Cove is in sight.  There are surprisingly a number of spectators here, as most of the course has been uncharacteristically devoid of any cheering of all.  One woman shouts out, "Good job, guys!".  Oh, no.  There it is again.  As we turn off onto Fort Getty Road, I glance and see it's the guy in the gray singlet, the one with gray hair that could be in my age group.  He's only about ten yards behind me.  Ugh.  3/4 mile to go and a 40' climb, which is not my strength.  I pick it up the best I can, as I'm running scared now.  He didn't pass me on the uphill, and now we have 1/2 mile left with a 40' drop in elevation.  This is my kind of territory now, but I take nothing for granted, and I dip in the high 5s pace with whatever fumes I have left, and finish my final and fastest mile in an average 6:03 pace.   

Finish line!

Impressive finish line setup for field of 440.

Final results:  1:23:43, average pace 6:23.  5th out of 440 overall; 1st out of 36 in age group.  Full results here.

I ended up finishing 16 seconds ahead of the guy in the gray singlet, and it turns out he's 18 years my junior, so not even close to my age group!  Oh well, if that was the impetus for me to push hard at the finish, it was worth it.

Changed out of my sopping wet race clothes
(even my socks were drenched!),
and went to pick up my award.
---
As a side note, I find the award distribution at races
where you can pick up your award soon after you finish
 to be more efficient than those
that you have to wait a long time for an
awards ceremony.

Pretty area.  Right near the start,
with Narragansett Bay in the background.

Age group award was the cutting board you
see here.  I don't really need another finishers
medal, but it is nice.

Now that's a bright orange shirt!
I guess this one will see some trail action
(once it gets cold enough to switch to
short sleeve shirts, that is).

Looking back at race stats (which is always fun), I'm initially disappointed.  If I throw out the first and final mile pace extremes, the range is 25 seconds (fastest mile 6:08, slowest 6:37).  But that's not entirely a fair comparison, given that this is a course of rolling hills.  So if I perform the same exercise using GAP (Grade Adjusted Pace - not perfect, but does factor in elevation changes), the range now is only 13 seconds (6:14 to 6:27).  That makes me feel better that I ran a fairly consistent race.

I find it interesting that I ran a negative split (by about a minute) as I almost never do it.  But factoring in that much of the first half of the course was into the wind, this becomes less impressive.

The final stat that caught my attention was when sorting the field of 440 by "Age Percentage" (how you performed based on your age), I was second overall, bested by a 60-year old woman from Westport, MA whose 1:37 finish not only destroyed everyone else in her age group, but also every female in the 40s and 50s as well!  (A quick Google search shows she's quite legit.)

Overall, I'm happy with my race performance here.  I certainly wasn't happy with my paces halfway through, but I'm glad I didn't give up and powered home to a pretty strong finish overall, especially given the rolling course.  Never give up!

Weekly Log 13-Sep to 19-Sep-2021: Healed!

Monday:  0

Full rest day.

Tuesday:  Run 5, Swim 0.5

AM:  Ran Champlin Glacier Park for the first time in months.  Ran from home with Brady.  Trails in great shape.  I was nervous the whole run about my upcoming Wound Care visit, as I know my wound is really, really close to being fully healed, but don't want to get my hopes up.

Final Wound Care visit at the hospital!!!

• Two surgeries on my head to remove cancer (melanoma) back in April.
• Five months of weekly treatments at the Wound Care Center.
• 23 visits, to be exact!
• $4,000 out of pocket (I can't imagine being without health insurance, as they in turn picked up over $20K of my costs)

The doctor said the new growth skin is really fragile and I should protect my head for one more week (band aids, daily compression, swim cap, shower cap, etc).  I need to be cautious with the sun for some time.   He also cautioned no hammers to my head for at least the next week, which is good to know.  But otherwise, all restrictions are off and I can also swim.

The head nurse told me (unsolicited) in June that she estimated I'd be healed by
the 4th of July.  Based on the precipitous drop in wound size between May and June,
you might understand her prognostication.  I started to make plans for swimming,
family vacations, and triathlons, only to be very disappointed and even depressed.
---
The wound care doctor (Dr Narula) said I shouldn't have been given that estimate,
because the healing typically does not take a linear progression.  This chart of actual
data illustrates that quite well in hindsight!  The wound healing stalled completely
and even regressed twice, and it was only Dr Narula's research and thinking "outside
the box" to try different therapies each time that got my healing back on track.  Very
grateful to him and the time he spent with me.

Noon:  After letting my Mom and two sons know the good news, I took the rest of the day off, declined my work meetings, and went for a swim!  Why would I go for a swim midday in September?  Because I can!  Don't take little things for granted, like not being able to swim all summer.  Headed to Watchaug Pond, where I swam the 1/4 mile out to the buoy, took a short breather at the buoy (but not long, as I had to tread water there), and swam back.  Not surprisingly, my weak arms were tired, but otherwise felt really good, both physically and mentally.   Now can I find a triathlon before the season closes imminently?

Swim at Watchaug Pond,
from the beach at Burlingame picnic area.  You could see
the buoy with the naked eye, but not in this picture.

Celebratory seafood dinner that evening dockside at Dog Watch Cafe!
---
Reminded me of the "good ol' days" having a drink on the
dock and and catching up with running friends after the
now-defunct Stonington Fun Runs.

Wednesday:  3

Easy run with Brady at Avondale Preserve.  Got going too late before a scheduled work interview, and that's all I got in.

Thursday:  8 run, 10 bike

Morning loop on the Vin Gormley Trail around Watchaug Pond, from the picnic area CCW.  Started out in the rain and running through lots of puddles, but the rain stopped after a couple of miles and the trails drained nicely.  A few superlative moments for me from today's run:

• Most entertaining:  At the covered bridge, Brady jumped into the Perry Healey Brook (as he always does).  He went under the bridge, put his head under the water, and fished out his prize, which he then proudly balanced and carried for almost a mile:  a branch that was longer than him!  (You had to see it.)
• Most scary:  Several miles in, with Brady just behind me, I heard him let out a loud yelp.  I stopped, turned around, and saw him propping one paw up.  Momentary panic went through me (he can't walk, I didn't bring a cell phone, we're a long way from a road, etc).  I checked his paw, and a found a thorn/stick wedged into the fleshy part between his pads.  I pulled that out, and fortunately he was good to go.  Whew.
• Most exciting:  Resuming last year's ritual of running and jumping off the dock at the boat launch.  As soon as we lined up on the dock, he looked so excited and took off in a sprint and then leapt into the water.  I followed suit, but couldn't keep up with him.  I hadn't been able to do this in a year due to the head wound.  I landed in water shoulder deep, and it was so much fun, we did it again.  Again, don't ever take the small things in life for granted!

Late afternoon went for an easy 10-mile coastal ride.  Lots of clanking noises on the bike.  Every year lately I contemplate buying a new bike.  This year I almost pulled the trigger until I naively learned in 2021 you can't just walk into a bike shop and buy a bike on the spot as the supply chain is severely disrupted from COVID and at least at my local bike shop, orders are backed up by one year.

Friday:  5 run, 3 walk

Easy morning run at Ninigret with Brady.  Mix of asphalt and grass fields.  Humid.

Today was volunteer day, at least for Jana and me.  Spent the rest of the morning at Napatree cleaning up the beach as part of a work volunteer effort.  My employer is very community focused on giving back, and that meshes with my ideals.  Besides, do I want to sit in front of a computer working or walk barefoot on a beautiful barrier beach?  Yeah, easy choice!

In the evening, Jana and I continued our local volunteerism by donating our services to the YMCA for the annual Roger Schonning 5K.  Fortunately we got to watch the start and at least early finishers of the race before being called into action to help put things away and then serve food at the buffet (with COVID, no one allowed to serve themselves).  That wouldn't have been the activity I chose, but I'm happy to help in any capacity, and my station was pretty easy with serving salad.  It was a pretty awesome loaded salad from the Andrea, and I made sure to save some for myself and Jana.

I was happy to see a WTAC singlet on the first person across the finish line.  Eric Ciocca won in 19:38.  After he finished, he came up to me and said, "You would have won this.".  To which I replied, "Maybe, but you never know, and you race who shows up."  What was disappointing to see was that there were only 50 finishers, but I don't know whether to attribute this to over-saturation of races this fall, especially with so many deferred from spring, or just not the best promoted race.  Probably a combination of both.

Saturday:  15

Jamestown Half Marathon.  Separate write-up shortly.

Post-race, we headed up to a "Paws in the Park" event, which my employer sponsored:

Small, but nice, state park "Rosa Larisa Park",
right around Mile 10 on the Providence Marathon course
as I remember.

I'm not usually into cutesy photos,
but this one came out neat.

Brady (left) was much more interested in all the new
balls he got than in other dogs, even if they looked like him.

Sunday:  7

Local dirt road and trail mix at Burlingame.  I had originally contemplated running more, but the legs were more sore than I had expected.  Highlight once again was jumping off the dock into the pond.  Brady seemed very excited about this.

Actually, I had seriously contemplated participating in one of two triathlons in the region today, just as the triathlon season is closing out for the year.  In the end, and with some input from those closest to me, I decided against it, with I think pretty good reasons:

• I just ran a half-marathon yesterday and certainly haven't recovered from that.
• I haven't actually done any triathlon training!
• While probably low risk, I do still need to protect my head for a while, and during tri swims, I've certainly been kicked in the head and punched in the head more than just a few times.
• As mentioned earlier, my bike has seen better days.  At 15 years old now and an entry level road bike bought new for $600, it certainly doesn't owe me anything, but it's time for a new one.  It's past time, actually.

Weekly mileage:  42 run, 10 bike, 3 walk, 0.5 swim

Weekly synopsis:  While it was a good smorgasbord of healthy outdoor activity this week, the running mileage certainly fell off.  I attribute that to two factors:  1) it was race week, so I backed on mileage before and after the half marathon, and 2) no longer having a fixed marathon date on my calendar has killed any training plans.

Weekly highlight:  That's an easy one!  Getting the all clear from the doctor that my wound is now sealed.  I should say sealed, and not necessarily fully healed, as the fragile new skin growth will need time to strengthen, but that's fine, as other than protecting my head, all restrictions are off.  

With full recognition and appreciation that many had and have it much worse than my situation, it was still scary and worrisome for me with my cancer diagnosis (malignant melanoma), two surgeries, and five months of wound care therapy with an open wound on my head.  It may sound trite, but this experience has truly given me a fresh perspective on life.  I am increasingly cognizant of what's important in my life (e.g., time with family, catching up with friends, physical and mental health, vacation, travel, volunteering, exploring, etc), what's not important (work meetings, material collections, minor disagreements, etc), and will endeavor to focus my priorities and goals accordingly.

Weekly lowlight:  Again, minor in the scheme of things, but still disappointed in Vermont City Marathon being downgraded to a half.  I've been researching other fall marathon options, and just need to make a decision and get on with it.

Stavros Beach Run 2021

Friday, September 10, 2021

Westerly, RI

I used the auto assign bib number feature in RunSignup,
and since I apparently registered first,
I got this assignment, which I'll keep as a momento.

34th annual Charlie Stavros Memorial On the Beach Run.  This was my 19th straight year running this race.  Besides being unique in that I don't know of a single other beach race around here, it is one of my annual favorites.

I just love the event from start to finish, including the post-race festivities, which we were allowed to resume this year!  Unfortunately, the downside of wearing my two hats of both Race Director and race participant keeps me so busy the entire time that it just seems to be over in a flash, and with it, the end of the summer evening racing events.

After helping with start/finish line setup, I got about a 3/4 mile warm-up on the beach before it was time to get runners to the start and give quick pre-race instructions to those gathered. With SNERRO's downsizing and departure from the RI race scene, this would be our 3rd race that we were on our own to time.  By now, we had more familiarity with the timing, bib tear-off collection, and the timing clock we would bought early in the summer.  It all went like clockwork (yeah, terrible pun).  Well almost.  With everyone lined up and ready to go, I was alerted that the timer didn't have the timing machine needed to start.  Oops.  I embarrassingly kept everyone waiting while I ran to my car to get the timing machine.

Giving some brief pre-race remarks before the start.
Nice to revert to a mass start after 2020!
(All pics courtesy of Jana,
unless otherwise noted)

Start:   With a wide starting line I had made by dragging my heel on the sand, there was plenty of room for me to line up in the first row.  I asked Nick Bottone if he would take the honor of starting the race, which he was happy to do.  

Finish line chute, including our new clock,
just before the start of race

Mile 1:  I was waiting for a number of high schoolers to blast past me at the start, but it didn't happen this year like it did in so many of the past.  A more disciplined group?  Once positions quickly settled, it was three high schoolers, then teammate Dave just ahead of me (in 5th) and teammate Nick alongside me or just slightly behind.  I knew the top two guys (Jake Serra, Nick Cozzolino) were legit, but I didn't recognize the 3rd high schooler in a blue and yellow singlet.  The 3rd high schooler and Dave were both wearing shoes, but that didn't stop Dave from running a straight line right through the water!  Mile 1 split was 5:40!  Very fast for me running barefoot on the sand, although to be fair slightly aided by a 10mph wind out of the NW.

And we're off

A group of 63 of us head out towards Weekapaug
on a beautiful evening

Mile 2:  About this time, I could no longer hear Nick's footsteps behind me, but I was gaining slowly on Dave and "Blue & Yellow" as I approached the turnaround (Weekapaug Breachway).  As I rounded the cone and thanked Eric (probably more of an incoherent mumble) for manning the turnaround, Dave was just ahead of me.  I quickly caught up to Dave and went past him as he said, "Good job" and gave me a thumbs up.  I generally tried to pick a straight line tangent right along the shore where the sand was hard, but as the mid-packers were coming directly at me, sometimes I had to skew slightly into the water or slightly higher up on the beach.  Towards the end of Mile 2, I caught up to Blue & Yellow, but he was much higher up on the beach, presumably because he got tired of having to run up on the beach each time a wave broke?  Mile 2 pace 6:05.

Mile 3:  The finish line was in sight, but I knew not to fall for that false apparition that it is right in front of me.  I also didn't want to keep looking at my watch to see the distance, so I relied on other factors to gauge remaining distance.  For example, when I heard my watch beep, I knew I had a mile to go (obviously) and when I got to the iconic A-frame house, I knew there was "only" a half-mile to go.  My pace felt fine despite my heavy panting, and this was not the time to be complacent as I had no idea where my competitors were, so I picked it up ever so slightly.

I watched in the distance in front of me as Jake crossed into the finishing chute and then Nick C, albeit they were both way ahead of me.  As I came up close to the chute myself and the clock came into focus, I was very surprised to see it showing "17:41" and ticking away.    Is it possible to get under 18?!!  I hugged the shoreline as long as possible before heading into the softer sand at the chute.  Turns out I had plenty of time to make it under 18.

Pic courtesy of Bob Kerwin

Sub-18!

Final result:  17:54, 5:58 average pace!  3rd out of 63.  Full results here.

I looked up my past results, and found that not only was this the first time I had broken 18 minutes in this 3-mile race in 5 years, but even the first time I had gone sub-18:15 in five years!  (I ran 17:46 in 2016, and my fastest time on the course was way back at the tender age of 50 when I won the race in 17:26.)  Very happy with a sub-6 pace tonight in the sand!

Watching the finishers come in after me, it turns out that neither Dave nor Blue & Yellow were chasing me down (30 seconds and 1 minute behind me, respectively), but Nick was just ten seconds behind me!

Some of the Team WTAC runners out there today

I finished my 19th consecutive Stavros Beach Run, but for perhaps the first time in the 19 years, did not dive into the ocean.  That's OK.  I'm able to run and that's most important.  Caught up with a number of runners and volunteers alike post-run, and for the first WTAC race since before the pandemic, we were able to have real food!  Enjoyed some pizza and an orange while mingling and listening to Nick and then Jeanne Stavros speak.

Always fun mingling on the deck post-race.

Nick Bottone handing Jeanne Stavros a hand-carved
piece of driftwood as a race memento

And then I turned my attention to starting to clean things up, and there was so little to do because our awesome volunteers had already cleaned up pretty much everything and stacked a number of the supplies right next to my car.  Awesome!  I locked up the beach pavilion and was just about ready to leave when the town recreation director (who also ran in the race) stopped by and asked if I needed anything else.  Just a great group of people at the race, from the always polite and appreciative group of runners, to the awesome volunteers we get, and the town rec staff that allow us to use the pavilion each year for this event.

I love and now look forward to my favorite season of running (fall), but there is something sad about the end of the summer fun run races.  Sigh.

The sun sets on another great summer racing season,
literally and figuratively.
(Pic by Paul Gray)

Weekly Log 6-Sep to 12-Sep-2021: Marathon Upended

Monday:  5

Legs are still beat up from yesterday's 19 mile rolling hills run, but it's a holiday (Labor Day) today, so might as well get out and do something to stretch the legs out.  I figured Ninigret would be perfect for a recovery run, with flat surface and grass fields, but unfortunately (for me at least, and it's about me) the annual Rhythm & Roots Festival was going on and taking over much of main area.

Parked across the highway at the US Fish & Wildlife's Kettle Pond Visitor Center, and ran easy on the Burlingame and Kimball trails.  Campground was in full swing, but the trails were very quiet.  Humidity was an awful 97%, and Brady sure seemed to appreciate the stop at Watchaug Pond and went right in to soak.

Tuesday:  10

Solo 'round-the-pond road run.  Ran in new shoes.  Was looking for a pair of road trainers, and while not exactly what I was looking for, found a clearance pair of NB FuelCell Speedrift ($180 retail, sold for $50).  The initial feel was uncomfortable, but I often have that wearing a new pair of shoes, so I'll need a couple more runs in them before I can assess.  Lacing was different and tightened up much easier.  The run itself was great on a beautiful day.

Today's weekly hospital visit went really well.  As in fantastic.  The wound continues to shrink dramatically, and in fact is 74% smaller than just last week!  I hesitate to get too excited, because I've seen rapid wound size decreases all of a sudden stall and reverse twice now.

Vermont City Marathon, my planned marathon for the fall, just announced today that they are changing the distance to Half Marathon for 2021, reportedly due to COVID spikes of the Delta variant in the Burlington area.  Ugh.  This is the second time in as many years that I was signed up for a full marathon and well into my training regimen only to have the marathon canceled due to COVID.  I only registered for VCM because the original and typical Memorial Day weekend race got moved to the fall in the first place.  Memorial Day seems too late in the season to me and can be quite warm (they had to close the course and shut down the race due to heat in 2016).

Options provided by VCM (and my initial thoughts in parentheses):

• Select a virtual option (Yeah, right)
• Switch to the half (but I'm training for the full!)
• Defer to Memorial Day weekend 2022 (see above heat comment)
• Switch to the Mad Marathon on 9/12 (that's FIVE days from now!  No taper?)
• Switch to the Adirondack Marathon on 10/3 (have an RD commitment that day)
• Switch to the Hartford Marathon on 10/9 (have a conflict that date, and that would be a compromise on training)

Another marathon training season interrupted by COVID.  Now what?  Another option is to run the half, but then run another marathon later this season (like Philly)?  No need to make a rash decision.

Here are what some other registered VCM'ers had to say:

Oh yeah, I already have hotel reservations in Vermont as well.
Plus the next two days after that.  Not refundable.

People are upset.  Luke is funny.

I get the frustration here, but I'm trying to take a deep
breath and not get myself upset over something I cannot change.

That is a very good point (the first part about training)

Well, Philly is 4 weeks later, not "a couple", but point taken.  Just
makes a very busy fall race schedule for me and might mean I
couldn't race Grills or Rhody.  (I could tell myself to run
easy at both events, but would I really?)
---
As to MCM, I ran the half last year (first half of full course)
and just revisited my Strava comments of "relentless hills"
and fatigued from hills.  No thanks.

Wednesday:  10

We were originally scheduled to return to the office this week, albeit part time.  I'm glad that didn't happen!  It's a silver lining of COVID that working from home or at least a hybrid work environment will be the way of the office for a long time.

Went to a much safer place than the office:  Arcadia Management Area!  There is no COVID out there in the woods and even when people show up, we know it's much safer outdoors than inside.  Ran my usual loop, but took the "Penny Cutoff" to reduce mileage just a bit.  Someone, presumably DEM, cut and cleared an awful lot of blowdowns on the Escoheag Trail.  Much appreciated!  In fact, there was only one blowdown (not counting the ones you just jump over) on the entire route today, and that's a blowdown on Mt Tom that has been there since the summer.

Cold wade into the water at the swimming hole at Frosty Hollow.  Brady was in before I even got my shoes off.

Thursday:  6

Short and slow run in the rain at Woody Hill with Brady.  Not another soul out there.

Friday:  7

AM:  Three miles solo at Barn Island.  Easy shakeout mostly on dirt roads.

PM:  Four, including warm-up and 34th annual Charlie Stavros Memorial On the Beach Run.  Separate post to follow.

Saturday:  8

Today was supposed to be my 3rd annual Trails to a Cure, one of my all time favorite races, in Cockaponsett State Forest, Chester, CT.  However, much to my disappointment, it was cancelled.  I decided to do the next best thing and run the course anyway.  Sure, it's not as fun as racing it, but it's still a really fun and challenging course.

Even during the race with adequate (not exemplary) course markers, I find myself at several points questioning whether I am still on course or have gone awry.  Thus, running on my own (plus Brady, who seems to remember courses, but this was his inaugural run), I stood zero chance of running the course accurately.  To solve that foreboding issue, last night I mapped out the course route on Strava using my race GPS from last year, and had that loaded onto my phone to use the navigation feature.  I did go off course three times, but was immediately alerted and got back on track.  It works quite well!

I caused two falls on my run today, only one of which was my own:

1. A couple of miles in, I tripped on something and fell.  But because I was on the edge of an embankment down to a river bank, I rolled down the embankment!  It was a short embankment, and it was more funny than anything else.
2. Heading uphill on a somewhat technical section ("Rocks & Sh!t" segment), we encountered two hikers ahead of us going in our direction.  So as we got closer, I yelled out "Behind you".  The woman in the back turned briefly, saw Brady and I behind her, and in an apparent haste to get off the trail, she went tumbling down off the trail.  I felt bad and stopped as I came upon her.  She was laughing, which was a good sign.  Whew.  She was totally fine with it, and we talked for a moment as she got up.

The water in the Cockaponsett Reservoir was beautiful and
"calling" us.  I cleaned up some of the mud off me while
Brady swam a bit and put his head underwater.
This was a good way to wrap up today's run!
(As was the pumpkin scone and iced latte I got in Deep River 
on the way back)

Sunday:  16

So until I figure out my marathon replacement (which nothing is jumping out at me as an obvious solution), I want to at least keep up my current fitness by running a long run on weekends.  I suppose "long run" is relative and subjective, but to me it means 16 miles or longer.  I knew the Newport Tri was today, so I figured, well, if I can't do a tri myself, the next best thing would be to go and watch a tri.  So last night I planned out a 16-mile route from Second Beach (Sachuest Point Road, Middletown) and figured I'd watch the swim and start of the bike and then go out for my own run.  Until I did the math:  tri starts at 7am, so I'd want to be there and parked by 6:45, then back off an hour for driving and another 15 minutes for contingency, and I'd have to get up at 5am.  Kudos to those that get up and get going regularly at 5am these days, but that's not me anymore.

Plan B.  Jana said, "well, you could always go and run and watch Surftown".  Oh yeah.  That's right.  That's happening on Sunday also.  And I can wake up at 6:30am for that.  Much more palatable.  So that's what I did!  I had an incident with the PM chasing me in early miles and thought this was going to be an issue, but fortunately there was a porta-jon on some rich person's lawn oceanside in Weekapaug, so I ducked in there and came out a much happier man.  Fun watching the start of the half marathon come at me (I just ran up on the sidewalk) and then I ran out to Watch Hill, where I saw runners coming at me again, although obviously now much more spread out.  I stopped and caught up with a few spectators I know, including Nick out in Watch Hill, and gave shout outs to runners I recognized on the course.  

Ran in the Speedrifts for the second time.  They felt very uncomfortable for the few miles, and the toebox very tight.  Took them off completely in Weekapaug, took my time putting them back on and adjusting tongue and laces, and they seemed fine after that.  Jury still out.

Weekly mileage:  62

Weekly synopsis:  Mixed week.  A good running week, a great healing week (the most important measure), and a poor week for marathon planning and work issues (the third candidate to accept a position with me this summer became the third candidate to subsequently back out).

Weekly highlight:  Stavros Beach Run!  More to come.

Weekly lowlight:  The Vermont news.  Small in the scheme of life, and I'll figure it out and move forward.

Weekly Log 30-Aug to 5-Sep-2021: Canonchet and Conanicut

Monday:  1 walk

Easy afternoon in Avondale with Jana and Brady.  Legs very tight; break from running today.

Tuesday:  3

A whopping three miles!  Impressive!  Not.   Had limited time before my weekly hospital visit, so I figured I'd get something short and easy in (which I did) and then run later (which I did not).  Yeah, that seldom works for me.

Two personal disappointments today:

• Learned that the Trails to a Cure 2021 race is cancelled.  Really bummed out about this one.  Besides having planned to come back to defend my back-to-back 2019/2020 title, it's just such a fun race!  And unique with the water crossing.
• The second candidate to accept one of my open work positions just became the second person to come back and subsequently decline it, both because their current employer counter-offered.  This was after a lot of work and time invested on multiple rounds of interviews, traveling to meet them in person for lunch / coffee, salary negotiations, etc.  Frustrating; this is a really good time for job candidates, not so much for hiring managers.

On a very positive note, after two weeks of regression, my Tuesday wound care session showed improvement.  The wound is now shrinking again and let's hope this time it keeps on this course until the end.  I'm not sure which of the three new therapies is responsible, or maybe more than one, so I will continue all three (Medi-honey, Juven wound-specific supplement, compression on head wound daily) for now.

On a related note, I was pleasantly surprised while reading the paper to just happen to come across an article written by medical doctors extolling the virtues and proven efficacy of medical grade honey for wound care.  Who knew?!  Certainly not I.

Wednesday:  10

Burlingame romp with Brady.  I really like how this route came out pretty much exactly to ten miles, and I may use this again in the future:  From the Kings Factory trailhead:  Sammy C's => Vin Gormley => Burlingame North dirt road loop => North Camp beach => Vin Gormley.

While down at North Camp Beach, I took off my shoes and socks to at least wade into the refreshing water while Brady swam.

Thursday:  7

Haley Farm.  I had planned a road / trail mix with Brady.  That is, until Brady got out of the car and I noticed he didn't have his collar on, realizing it was back at home.  No, this isn't the first time.  No roads today or even crossing roads; just not worth it without a leash.  Modified the run and made it up as we went along, keeping to lesser known trails.

Friday:  10

Friday afternoon before Labor Day long weekend.  Deferred a few tasks until Tuesday, shut down the computer, and headed to Canonchet trail head at Route 3, Hopkinton.  Brady was up for the run, even though this was a double for him (he ran in the morning with Jana).

Temps were low 70s, but humidity was low, and finally the bugs were gone!  Not a single mosquito or deerfly bite the whole run, so that was a nice change of pace.  I know we're still likely to have some hot and sticky days, but I look forward to more fall-ish weather like this on the way.

Anyway, I had mapped out a 10-mile run on pretty technical trails, plus a mile or two tops of roads.  Both the trails and roads were nearly deserted.  On the main Canonchet yellow trail, about a mile in, we spooked a woman out for a solo hike.  I try to yell something like "behind you" before I arrive to avoid the "spooking", but it doesn't always work.  A couple of miles in, we ran through a pretty long flooded section where the trail must have been 8" submerged and there was really no other way around.  I don't know why I hesitated initially; Brady sure didn't!

Then we ran for miles without seeing anyone, including out to Southwest Marker on RI/CT line, where I have never in my life seen another person out there.  It might be the boulder field you have to go through before getting there?  From there, we ran the seldom used and slightly overgrown green trail out to Yawgoog Pond, before running Narragansett Trail all the way to Ashville Pond, then a road/trail mix back to the start.  Near Ell Pond, we came up on a friendly and very fit young black couple hiking, and it reminded me that I wish we had more diversity in our running club, especially these days with all the racist crap in the world.  But I digress.  This was a technical and really fun run and while not intentional, was surprised to see that on the very technical Narragansett Trail:  North Road to Canonchet segment, with the exception of Border Patrol Challenge, this was my fastest time today ever.

Saturday:  7

Fun group run with a bunch of WTAC regulars.  Ran Wahaneeta course as a preview, and then led a loop around Woody Hill targeting Justin's request for about seven total.  I came pretty close to seven for making it up on the fly, better than I usually do as I'm known for underestimating the distance of group runs!

Blocking the blue trail,
not far from the cabin.

Thanks to Nick for helping me
clear this one!

Today's smaller group (less me and
Kevin somewhere out lost in the woods!)
but always a good time.

Sunday:  19

Jamestown.  Planned out a straight-forward route, which was basically the Jamestown Half Marathon course (which I'll be running in 13 days), plus an OAB to Beavertail State Park tacked on to the beginning.  I lazily slept in, and then made my way over to Fort Getty, which is the start/finish of the course and where I would also park today.  The entry was manned and attendants came out of the little station as I pulled up to the stop sign.  OK.  What gives?  Then I saw it:  "Entrance fee:  $20".  Twenty dollars?  Seriously?  (I just internalized that, and didn't verbalize that, but as my father often said to me, I wear my emotions on my sleeve, so I'm sure I had some type of off-putting gesture on my face.)  When asked, "Can I help you?", I just responded calmly that I didn't realize there was a $20 entry fee.  He said, "Yes, this is a town park.  What were you looking to do?".  When I explained that I was only looking to park my car in the park and then run the Jamestown Half Marathon course as a preview, he said, "Oh, well in that case, why don't you just enter and then park in the overflow parking lot", which he then explained to me where it was.  Awesome!  No $20 charge for me, and thus no need to come up with a Plan B.

As to the run itself, honestly, I suffered.  Not in the beginning or even in the middle, but the last few miles and the few hours after the run for sure.  Ran the first five miles at a comfortable pace of 7:20, took in the beautiful Beavertail State Park sweeping ocean vistas, and then the plan was to push it harder for eight miles.  How hard?  Well, just accordingly to feel, as in I was breathing pretty hard.  Post-run I see the actual pace range was 6:15 to 6:55 which doesn't sound very consistent, until you take into account that my fastest miles were on downhills and slowest on uphills.  What I hadn't anticipated was all the hills!  I was pretty dehydrated, and several times throughout the eight mile "fast" section I had to fight an internal battle of sticking with the eight hard, or cutting it down to five or even four.  Fortunately, I made it through all eight reasonably hard.  Then I erroneously thought, here is the easy part!  Six miles at an easier pace.  It was fine at first, but by Mile 16/17 I was really having a tough time and feeling quite weak.  

Finally, with just a mile and a half to go, I stopped for an extended break at Village Hearth (bakery & coffee shop), went in the bathroom just to rinse my face and mouth (I was very dehydrated by then), and then sat down at an outdoor table to catch my breath.  The public dog water bowl that they had set out was very close to me now and I actually thought about going and drinking that water.  Then I figured if they were kind enough to set out water bowls for dogs, they would probably give me free water as well.  Fortunately, I was right.  When I got up from the wooden table and chair, I noticed I had left the chair with a puddle where I sat.  No, I did not pee my shorts, but pretty gross with my sweat nonetheless.  

The last mile and a half was a struggle to finish.  I felt like I was running twelve-minute pace, but in actuality it was about eight-minute pace.  Changed my drenched hat and singlet (only my shorts were still drenched now) and drove the mile and a half back to Village Hearth as I was really weak now and desperately needed some sustenance and protein.   Had a smoked salmon, pickled onions, dill cream cheese, and capers sandwich, a yogurt and berries parfait, and a large iced latte.  Scarfed those down quickly, and on the drive back, quickly finished my liter or so of ice water and was parched AGAIN.  Just so dehydrated and didn't urinate for hours (TMI).  Stopped in SK on the way back for yet another large iced latte, and as soon as I got home, had another 20 ounces or so or ice water and a bowl of cut watermelon.  I guess one good thing about long runs in the summer is that I crave healthy foods post-run.

What went wrong / lessons learned:

• Have a healthy "regular" meal with carbs the night before a long run.  (Was out at a neighbor's party much of the day before, and just sampled so many different foods, appetizers, and desserts that I don't normally have, and slept terribly.  The neighbor is awesome, so not a reflection on them.)
• It's still summer, so on long runs, set out at least one drink somewhere on the course to minimize dehydration.
• Stuff a $10 bill in my shorts pocket so if needed, I can stop at a local store / bakery / coffee shop and get a drink and/or snack.
  
• Bring an extra bottle of water, dummy!
• In addition to a towel and dry shirt, bring a dry pair of shorts.  Sitting around for an hour and a half in soaking wet shorts post-run is not good.
• Rehydrate post-run with Gatorade or PowerAde or something that replenishes lost electrolytes and sodium.

Weekly mileage:  56

Weekly synopsis:  I got my weekly mileage in, but kind of in a scattershot way.  I need to plan better, as there was just no reason to run only three miles on Tuesday, especially after taking a complete rest day on Monday.

Weekly highlight:  Friday Canonchet / Yawgoog tech trail run with Brady.  Just felt great on this one, with plenty of energy.  Fun jumping over the many downed tree trunks from recent storm and seeing all the swollen, rushing rivers.

Weekly lowlight:  Sunday solo Jamestown long run.  I was ill prepared, underestimated the hills (there were eight that were 50' or more, and they just gradually did me in), severely dehydrated early on in long run, and felt terrible both in the last few miles of the run and for hours afterwards.  Easy to blame the humidity and the hills, but this one was on me and I should know better.