november already?
i headed out this morning with temps in the upper thirties. since i got a bit of a late start, i headed out on a five mile loop. about half way through my run i spotted a little christmas tree lit up in the front of a house. admittedly, it was a bewildering moment as we haven’t even made it to thanksgiving yet! regardless, i made it home with an average pace just under 8:30 per mile. after a shower, i mentioned the christmas tree sighting to my wife. she asked what color the lights were, to which i replied orange/yellowish. it was then astutely pointed out to me that it was likely a "halloween tree"…what will folks think of next?
Smokey Bear Kids Run – October 6th
my oldest daughters (Jade & Alia) participated in a fun run at lapham peak state park about a month back. they had done the run in 2006 and had a great time. we had registered on the day of the event and they didn’t get a t-shirt. fast forward to 2007 and dad got on the internet to pre-register the two youths so they were ensured a souvenir for their efforts.
the day was hot and the 5k/10k runners started late and took much longer on the course than was expected. the kids run follows the 5k/10k and was subsequently delayed. they said hello to smokey the bear and finally the race directors began lining the kids up. here’s a shot of my two at the starting line…ready to roll.
the race started and a stampede of blue shirted kids came streaming down the hill. jade & alia got separated in the melee and as jade was passing me her shoe slipped off her foot. the course wound around the clearing and i jogged to a vantage point near the finish. first came alia running with an adult…crying. i figured she fell and hurt herself but she said she missed jade. i jogged with her into the finish and got her calmed down. jade came in shortly thereafter and said her shoe came off three times during the run.
after they got some water, we piled in the minivan and headed home. hopefully their next fun run will be a bit more fun for the both of them.
happy halloween
here’s a neat picture of my daughters dressed for trick-or-treating this past weekend. no scary costumes this year for the cameron sisters.
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L to R: Alia (Princess Jasmine), Dana (Holly Hobby) and Jade (Hannah Montana)
no ghost or goblins were encountered on my morning constitutional but i did spot three racoons scampering across the street. temps were in the mid-50’s, which is a treat this time of the year. i ran a slow and easy six miles and hit the shower.
mileage-wise, the month was rather anemic with a total less than 100 miles. for the year, i’m just shy of 1700 and will have to average a little more than 150 miles per month to hit my goal of 2000 miles for the year.
racing a train & crewing
I rolled out of bed this morning and hit the road with temps in the mid 40’s and clear skies. I hadn’t run since last friday so i had a bit of spring in my step. My route took me down the glacial drumlin trail toward town, which was lit nicely by the light of the moon. I turned around after 3 miles and headed back the way i had traveled. As i stepped back on the trail, i jumped over a railroad track and noticed the lights from a locomotive a quarter mile to the east of me. As i was headed west, i figured i’d see how long i could stay ahead of the train as we both crested a large hill. I did my best but as we passed the city limits, the train could put the pedal down and it slowly pulled away. I made the turn back into my subdivision and stopped the clock shortly after 50 minutes for six miles.
Crewing at the Chicago 50/50 ultramarathon
This past Saturday I road tripped with Dana to crew for Ryan at his ultramarathon debut at the Chicago 50K. He ran great for two of the three loops and was in striking distance of the leaders when the wheels came off. You can read his reflections on his effort at his web site – hillrunner.com. After the finish, we got to chat with veteran WI ultra runner Mary Gorski.
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rise-n-shine
the alarm went off at 4:40 this morning and after making a few futile swipes at the clock i found the off button. temps were in the low 50’s and it was "misting" for lack of a better word. i headed out and ran a five mile loop in 8:30 pace. my guess is that by the start of the 4th mile i may have woken up. ![":-)"]("http://jerrycameron.com/blog/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png")
back in sixty minutes
it doesn’t have the ring of "gone in sixty seconds" but it describes my morning. temps were in the low 40’s and the sky was clear. my wife was up making chili to bring to her work. ah…the smell of browning hamburger wafted in the house as i walked upstairs. honestly, chili didn’t seem appetizing at 5AM. my wife wished me well and i headed out the door for my morning constitutional.
i checked it out online and what i had thought was the "big dipper" was actually part of "orion". (orion…great tune by metallica…off the album "master of puppets") the "big dipper" is indeed in the eastern sky at the moment. without sounding uber geek…i did learn that it’s actually part of a larger constellation (Ursa Major – "Great Bear"). it’s still perplexes me how people dreamed up the names/shapes of constellations.
regardless, i headed out and back on the glacial drumlin trail with the midpoint of bethesda park. i was a bit under 30 minutes on the way out and a bit under 29 minutes on the way back. overall, i covered 7 miles in 59 minutes and change which translates to a little faster than 8:30 pace.
Here’s linkage to the star charts…http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp