lapham peak
there’s just something wrong about waking up before six on a saturday morning without an alarm clock. i rolled out of bed to gather my gear and drove out to Lapham Peak State Park for some quality time on the trail. i opted to start with the Moraine Ridge (AKA “black”) trail which is rated “Advanced” and is seven miles long. one fun thing about these trails is that certain sections of the trail have names such as “Magic Carpet Ride”, “Stairway to Heaven” or “The Wall.”
“The Wall” refers to a nasty hill that goes nearly vertical on the black trail. there is a trail spur to avoid it running up it but i chose to climb it anyways. i rolled through the trail in about 66 minutes then stopped back at my car to refill the water bottle i was carrying and grab two packets of Gu. heading back onto the black trail, i headed out for my second loop.
shortly after climbing “The Wall” for the second time, i opened a packet of (chocolate flavored) Gu and glupped it down with a chaser of water. for the uninitiated, Gu is a rather necessary item as it provides calories to avoid your blood sugar from getting too low. Gu has the consistency of toothpaste and tastes like the richest brownie you can imagine. regardless, i continued on my way and rolled into Homestead Hollow which hosts the Colorama 10k/5k as well as the Smokey Bear kids runs in a few weeks.
rounding a corner on my way back to the parking lot, i came upon a group of 20 or so folks out on a hike wearing full camouflage. as i approached i figured that the group was likely a ROTC or Reserve group out for PT. i announced myself with a clearing of the throat and their leader shouted “make a hole” so i could pass unimpeded. i said thanks and kept moving along down the trail, downing Gu #2 around 2 hours after starting the effort.
i made it back to the parking lot with fourteen miles covered in 2:12. after refilling my water bottle, i headed back to the trail head and this time opted for the two mile Meadow (AKA green) trail, which was rated “Easy.” by this time, the sun was warming things up and my legs were feeling the effort of the previous fourteen miles. i rolled myself through the green trail in a bit over 18 minutes and proceeded to dump what little water i had left in my bottle over my head to cool off a bit.
in all, i mustered 16 trail miles in a few ticks past 150 minutes. trail running is a bit different than running on the roads in that the terrain is never consistent and you’ve always got to be looking to see where your next footstep should land. the grade of the hills isn’t anything like you’d encounter on the roads and there’s times you’ve got to dodge folks to give their dogs a bit too much leash. all in all, it was alot of fun but i’m looking forward to some cooler temps this fall as it’ll make it much more comfortable to run in.
MTD – 73.5 miles
YTD – 1000.3 miles
Odometer – 29,108 miles
double down
my morning constitutional began at about 5AM today. the sky was still dark and it was pretty humid with temps in the upper sixties. my route kept me in town with a 180 near the police station then back on my outbound route. honestly, the most interesting thing i encountered was a lawn sprinkler that i had to time just right to avoid being pelted with a stream of water. regardless, i mustered 7.5 miles in a few ticks less than 65 minutes and hit the shower.
i opted for an evening constitutional today as well so i could “sleep in” tomorrow morning and rest up for some longer runs this weekend. after dinner and tucking the girls in bed, i geared up and stood at the foot of my driveway at about 8pm waiting for my GPS watch to sync up. i headed down to the glacial drumlin trail and headed east into town. i then headed south on the fox river trail past the water treatment plant and city dump. just before turning around, my friend jamie approached on his way home for an evening run himself. we ran together for about a half mile before i turned back onto the glacial drumlin and he headed home. heading back up commanche through my subdivision, i was treated to a spectacular view of the big dipper in the sky. i returned home with seven miles recorded on my GPS watch and opted to improvise one more mile to make it eight, which i finished in 66:30. after stopping my watch, i cooled down a bit by walking around the block which cause a number of the neighborhood dogs to bark in my general direction. with that effort complete, i’m headed for the shower then off to bed i go.
MTD – 57.5 miles
YTD – 984.3 miles
Odometer- 29,092 miles
socially running
my morning constitutional started out like many others. however, instead of making a 180 for home at the west side of bethesda park i kept running through the park for another quarter mile so i’d be able to roll an extra half mile for the day. just before turning around i noticed another runner approaching whose stride i recognized. turns out it was my buddy dave who was on his way to meet up with jamie, who lives near the park. they were kind enough to run back along the glacial drumlin with me so we got to catch up on family, friends and politics. dave regaled us with a recap of his fishing efforts at jamie’s favorite fishing location, which didn’t seem quite as successful as jamie’s. as we neared my house i said good bye with 7.5 miles recorded on my GPS watch and hit the shower.
easing back into it
9/6 – OFF (way too sore – – especially the quads)
9/7 – 6 miles easy
Badgerland Striders Half Marathon
long time no race. i woke up this morning and decided to run the local half marathon instead of running solo. i didn’t make much time for a warm up but i did see a friend of mine (Kurt) who was running his first race at the event. i wished him well and eventually made my way to the starting line.
the start was a rather informal “GO!” shouted by the race director and we headed north on the parkway. after a half mile, the race turned onto sidewalks so i surged ahead into a pocket where there would be less folks in front of me as we wound our way through Estabrook Park. i rolled through the first mile in a spirited 6:35 and realized that i had inadvertently “jackrabbitted” my start. oh well, too late now.
we did a loop around the park then headed south onto the bike trail. i passed the five mile marker in a few ticks more than thirty three minutes and rolled my way downhill toward the lakefront. i purposefully tried to ease back slightly during this section to catch my breath a bit.
after 3.5 miles of downhill running, we did a 180 back north and headed back uphill on our way back to the park. i grabbed a cup of water from an aid station and after i was finished i was able to throw it (on the run) into the garbage can. two points!! honestly, you’ve got to entertain yourself a bit when you’re facing an uphill climb and your quads are shot.
running uphill back to the park from 8.5 miles to just past 12 miles, i got passed by maybe 8 or 10 other folks who were likely much smarter with their pacing strategy. i kept mustering slightly over seven minute pace and began doing the math for what i’d need to carry in order to finish under ninety minutes.
as we re-entered Estabrook park, i picked up the pace with what little i had left in my legs. the last mile was run on a hilly & curvy path and i slowly began to reel in a guy who had been in front of me. i passed the thirteen mile marker and could see the finish line clock counting. tick. tick. tick. i picked up the pace one last time and flung myself to the finish line in…1:30:01.
you’ve got to be kidding me. the dreaded :01. it would sound so much better to be able to say “i ran one twenty nine blah blah blah” but instead a 1:30. ugh.
after some water/gatorade i began shuffling my way out for a cool down so i could cheer on Kurt as he finished. i saw him about a half mile from the finish and yelled at him to “finish it off.” he had a big grin on his face and seemed to be enjoying himself. after a one mile cool-down shuffle, i took a look at the results posting and noticed i swiped 2nd in the 35-39 age group. 1st place was a long way in front of me but 3rd was right on my heels. i brought home a medal on a ribbon that will likely get passed from daughter to daughter (to daughter to daughter) to wear.
looking back at my race results, today’s effort is my 8th fastest half marathon and is almost three and a half minutes slower than my best. for 2009, this was (by far) my best race effort and gives me some hope that i’ll be running faster this october.
42/308 Overall
2/20 M35-39 Age Group