Hot Run, October 3rd

My run today was hot and tiring. I guess, in part, because I have been getting up when Rick leaves (5:15am) to keep our new kitty from getting out of the garage at that hour. Ugh. She is very scared of the garage door noise. It takes half of the day before she settles back down and lets me pet her. I never thought it would be an issue...Scooter and Runner grew up there so it was their normal. I'm sure she'll adjust. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sleep deprived; I still go to bed at my normal 1 a.m.

The weather was hotter and more humid than I expected and, of course, there is no shade in the fields. I felt like I'd run much longer than eight miles. Again when I transfered the data from the Garmin it said the date was October 3rd. It got my distance right, but said I ran it in 18 minutes. Very weird.

"And the Legs All Dangling Down-o..."

Normally I would have run in Gorham today, but I decided to hit Whole Foods instead. I was low on lots of stuff I get there. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't have many samples.

I ran when we got home in the very wet fields. My feet were wet to start since I had left my Inov8's out to dry. Oops! That's fine, they would have been wet in the first 10 steps any way AND the little stream was mid-calf deep. At first I thought the humidity was going to make it a bit unpleasant, but I found myself running pretty well. My foot wasn't very sore either!

Crossing the street to run the hill and fields over there, Burl Ives's rendition of "The Fox Went Out" started running through my head...."they never had such a supper in their lives and the little ones chewed on the bones-o..." That's, of course, because my turn around point is a pair of turkey carcasses. Burl Ives made me think of the snowman, Sam, on "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer", which made me think of Scooter Kitty...I have a picture of him that looks exactly like Sam. I love running. I love how the brain runs, too.

I got in nearly six miles at 9:45's. Unfortunately, my software said I did 2:04's and that it was Oct. 3rd. I guess I ran so fast, I ran into next week! Gotta figure out what's going on.

Blazing Speed

I ran the fields today. What a refreshing change from yesterday's heat! The Garmin took a long time to capture the satellites, but then seemed to work fine. However, when I later transferred the data to the computer, it showed up that I ran my five miles in 10:21. Very strange, especially since the Garmin showed my 50:01 at the end of the run.

WTMH?!

Wow! Was not expecting it to feel like mid-July when I woke up this morning. The dew point was the same as the temperature and I needed to keep my intermittent wipers on to keep my windshield clear on the way to Bradbury. I knew enough to have plenty of fluids with me.

I started with mostly the Breaker course. I left out South Ridge, but added the girl-named trail off of the Tote and came down Terrace. By the time I got to the parking lot, I'd gone 4.8. I was surprised to see Karen and Disa there. They'd just finished up their run. I was just supposed to refill my Gatorade and get out to the East side, but gabbed for a while first.

On the east side, I started out doing the Scuffle backwards. A few miles in I realized just how drippy I was and starting to drag. I made sure to drink more. Heading back on the Snowmobile Trail, I came to the big puddles. Startled by a frog jumping in, I twisted my ankle (of the sore foot, of course). I decided it was a good time for a break; it'd been a long time since I caught a frog and felt I owed this one a little drama. He was tricky and it took me longer to catch him than I thought, but the break did me good and I set out much stronger after releasing the little amphibian.

I turned off the Snowmobile Trail as if I was doing the Breaker. Then I noticed my mileage and decided I wanted to be done sooner than if I ran the end of the Breaker so I abandoned that where the Ginn meets Fox West and headed back down the Snowmobile Trail, even took the Link back. Still got in 10.75 miles. Good thing I brought a change of clothes!

Almost forgot to add that Friday I got in a 10k run in the fields. Surprised at the amount of water in my little brook.

Ice Is Good

Back when Rick was training for his BQ marathon in '05, he'd make sure to ice his feet after most runs, but especially after long runs. This shot shows him taking advantage of a warm March day to ice his feet in the snow. I never knew how he could keep his feet in ice that long. I always bail; I find it intensely painful.

My recent foot pain and the upcoming higher mileage of marathon training has made me try icing once again. Last night I toughed it out. I stretched out the time my foot was in the ice bucket and then put it back in as soon as I could tolerate it again. I did that for almost a half an hour.

I almost opted to run on the Gorham x-country course today rather than on the more technical, hillier trails behind USM; I knew it would be easier on my foot, but I couldn't make myself abandon the run I'd find more fun.

I was surprised to find very little discomfort at the start. One loop down, still feeling okay. I noticed that my little dead mouse on the trail Tuesday was still there. It was starting to stink. I'm amazed that such a little thing could put out that much smell. I thought about taking it off the trail, but now it was one of my things I look for each lap. I finally remembered to jump onto the middle part of the rickety bridge that, each lap before, I'd been scared by the sound of breaking wood because I always landed on the rotten edge of the bridge. It took me a few more laps to finally break off the twig that kept trying to get me in the eye. It wasn't till my 4th lap of this run that my foot started to be sore again and then just moderately so.

So I got in another 7 miles on pretty difficult terrain. My foot was tender, but not super sore. Still, I bought frozen peas again for the ride home. I'm a convert. There's lots of ice in my future.

Carcasses

I wasn't sure how my foot would like the fields, but that's what I set out to run. The hay is growing back fairly quickly so the off-path sections of my course have gotten to be strength training. My foot was pretty good (this is relative to yesterday's run), mostly because my path doesn't have a lot of sharp turns or steep hills.

An interesting wild-life note: When I run across the street, I have my turn-around spot marked by a turkey carcass. Today, there were two carcasses. The coyote (or whatever predator) must like that spot for dining.

By the end of the 6.5 mile run, the foot was burning in the spots it normally hurts. I made sure to ice it.

Rough Running

I like running at USM, but it really is hard. I'd like to see what my pace would look like if I didn't have to climb over so many downed trees. There is a lot of up and a lot of down. The up is taxing, but the down is painful because of my stupid left foot (a movie title?).

I try to convince myself to hurdle some of the lower trees. I'm glad no one was with me today; I really made some non-athletic moves. At least I had some laughs. If I could ever convince myself not to run, I'd like to work on the trails a bit.

I got in 7.1 miles. My foot was not happy at the end and I drove to Hannaford for a bag of frozen peas. Since Sam was driving home, I got to ice (pea?) all the way home.

Mission Accomplished

Headed to Bradbury this morning for 18 miles. I was disappointed to find I'd forgotten my Fuel Belt. I had the bottles and GUs, but not the actual belt; I've been leaving it in the car and just assumed it was there. Oh well, just would have to stop back at the car periodically.

There were still lots of bikers camped out from the previous day's 12 hr race. At first I was worried that the race was actually today. I wasn't in the parking lot long when Blaine and Erin pulled in. Erin was planning on running on her own to do her own pace. Blaine was letting me call the shots, since there's no way I'd be able to run his normal pace.

We headed out on the Bruiser course, but planned on skipping the Island loop and the O (mainly because that type of running is what really aggravates my sore foot). The bike course was not picked up. It took me twice ducking under the tape they had across the trails realize I should just bust through.

Blaine volunteered to put my keys in his Nathan pack that he just won at the Bruiser. When the conversation lulled we could hear them jingling, but not to worry; There was very little time when either Blaine or I weren't talking!

Our first loop showed on both our Garmins as right about 7.5 miles. I was happy to get to my GU and Gatorade and the outhouse. Didn't take long and we headed back out on the same course. This time my Garmin said 15.25 miles when we got back while Blaines said 15.4. Hmmmm....

Erin had finished up and was in the car waiting. She got in 9 miles. Nice. So I said bye to them. Thanks, Blaine! The miles just zoomed by.

Before heading back out I pretty much downed an entire 24 oz of Gatorade with another GU. I had gotten a little dehydrated. I also changed into a fresh sports bra and shirt. All that felt really good, but gave my foot time to get stiff (oh, I'd forgotten to mention that I twisted it pretty good early into the 2nd lap). So the next miles (I went by what my Garmin read to make sure I got in 18, but probably did a good amount more since I think the first loop was short) were pretty slow. When I finally got the ankle working, I realized my stomach was unhappy with that much Gatorade all at once.

It may sound like it didn't end well, but, in some ways I like the stretches of discomfort. Well, I like working through them. I was happy to get back to the car. I was even happy to stick my foot into a bucket of ice water - something I usually hate.

A Little Worried

For a few months now, I've had a painful foot. It starts in the arch of my foot and wraps around to the inside of my ankle. I think it showed up after a particularly bad twist. Unfortunately, it seems to be getting worse. I've been taking the "just ignore it" tactic, hoping it would eventually go away. I think running harder than I usually do (ie racing) has aggravated it. I'm going to do a short run today and evaluate. I'm still hoping to be able to run the miles of my marathon training plan without taking days

Tall Trees ARE Laying Down

Back to the trails behind USM today. I have a couple loops figured out. One makes my minutes/mile look really bad; I have to climb over lots of trees. In fact, there's one clump of big trees down where I'm pretty high off the ground. That's the one that made me wish I had my cell phone with me on my Tuesday run. The loop I'll probably stick with from now on has some obstacles, but is mostly runnable.

The part of the trails REALLY close to USM has evidence of students. At least there's not much litter....

















I got in seven miles.

I don't know yet how to put a YouTube video here, but...I'll try to link to some good, appropriate 70's music.

Fall in the Fields

No, I didn't fall. I liked the alliteration. It didn't occur to me till I started writing that it might seem like I fell. "Autumn in the Fields" just doesn't have the same sound. ANY how... The fields become so much more pleasant now; the sun feels good, not oppressive.

I didn't get out till late. I was chilly to start. Yay! The plan was to do a couple of miles in my VFFs and then switch to my Inov8s for the rest. When I switched back, my feet were happier. I think I'll stick to just using the VFFs for everyday shoes not running.

Got in just over 5 miles. That was all I had time for.

Hard Fun

Today's run was a hard one. I ran on the trails behind the USM campus in Gorham. It's been quite a while since I've run there. I remembered they were hilly and sometimes hard to follow, but I didn't anticipate the adventure I'd have from the downed trees. I realized that I didn't bring my cell or tell anyone where I'd be running. Next time I run there (Thursday and I'm bringing my camera if it's not raining), I'll do both.

Just over five miles took me 1:08:12. Had a great time!

Bad-ass Doin's

Saturday, I joined Ian and Jim in finishing marking the Bruiser course (a large portion had been done the day before by Ian, Emma, and Ryan). I shamed Jim into running between flag and arrow planting, telling him multiple times that's what Snowman and I had done when marking the Scuffle course. I didn't even feel bad that he was hauling the arrows and I just had the flags.

When we had finished our assigned portion, Jim headed over to the O trail to help Ian and I went to run the Island loop to see if it needed any flags. It didn't really, but I put a couple out where the trail was less obvious if the sun wasn't shining and propped up some flags that were left from another time. Then ran back to the parking lot to find Jim and Ian still out. So I ran out to the O to find them, of course starting from the end. They didn't have much left to do. Jim asked me if I would run up to where the Ginn meets Fox West to retrieve his hand held that he left when putting an arrow in. Since I was still looking for some mileage, I said sure.

Unfortunately, I didn't wear the Garmin, but, having run the Bruiser course in various parts for lots of weeks now, I feel fairly confident saying I ran a bit over 6 miles.

RACE DAY:

Sunday, Rick and I packed what seemed like far too much stuff into the car; you'd think we were heading out to drive 12 hours to Canada and win the Haliburton 100 (will link this to Jame's results once they're up)!!! After the required Dunkin' Donuts stop, we were off to Bradbury to help with registration.

It's always fun to be there early to get to chat with the Monsters we don't see regularly. Mindy and Pete were there to volunteer (Happy Birthday, Mindy!). When George checked in to get his number and shirt, he told us Ann was home recovering from a migraine : (

It was a huge (relatively) group that lined up to race, making it a little more important to place yourself wisely in the pack. I wanted to get to the single track with only people faster than me ahead; I didn't want to hold anyone up or be too held back. Maybe that should have been my first clue that some part of me had intended to really race. Based on all my training, which included no speed work of any type, I didn't expect to come close to my PR set last year (2:03:09). In fact, I thought 2:10 would be about as good as I could expect. Still, I placed myself carefully.

As I ran the first mile, I felt really good. The weather was perfect, cool and cloudy. The clouds were important because sunshine coming through the trees make the roots even harder to navigate. The further I ran, still feeling good, the more my plan came together; I was going to run hard. I would just go for it. If I bonked, I could always recover enough to finish.

I'm sure it's obvious how familiar I am with the course. It's a big advantage to know the terrain in detail. It's good to know where to push, where there'll be recovery if necessary, where things will hard. There were just a few times that my pace had me worrying about keeping it up; mostly I felt strong.

A bit after mile five, I noticed my left shoe was sloppier than usual. Crap! My shoelace was untied. They rarely come untied since Blaine taught me a special knot to combat just that. About 1/2 mile later, a guy coming up behind warned me my shoe was untied. Thanks, just waiting for a good spot. That wouldn't be till the snowmobile trail. I figured I'd be able to be out of the way easily. I'd planned to take my first GU then and have my first drink, but was too anxious to get running again after tying the lace. I think six to eight people passed me during that time.

I was feeling a bit tired pushing on the slight up of the long stretch of double-track, but knew my favorite part of the course awaited when we turned onto the Ginn. I think it was here that I took my first sip of Gatorade from my Fuel Belt - good thing it wasn't hot!

I was pretty much by myself for miles 7 and 8. I still tried to push; it's such a runnable stretch of trail! When I was just cresting the hill of Knights Woods, I decided I really should have a GU. I washed it down with the rest of my first 8 oz of Gatorade. I checked my time for pretty much the first time during the run. Whoa! I had a chance to PR. Good to have motivation heading into the O : )

Just a few steps into the O, Yana announced her presence! I told her to tell me when she was ready to pass, knowing from group runs that she's the faster runner. Nope, she was happy to have me leading the way through the O. We had company; Martin, who I'd run with just a couple of weeks ago (even introduced him to the O), was right with us.

It was great to have Yana along for the O. It really helped having such an upbeat person for those crazy miles. I'm sure we chatted most of the way. I tried to point out all my mile markers as I recognized them. After the eternity that is the O, we heard Lily announcing we just had 1/4 mile left! Around the last crazy clump of rocks and we were off! When we turned off the O, I again encouraged Yana to take the lead and go for it. She'd have none of it and we finished together : ) Big happy high-fives, but then I spotted a Great Pyrenees and....I meant to catch up with Yana again, but, didn't.

Oh! I did PR: 2:01:07. Did my shoe lace cost me a sub-two hour performance? Or did it just give me a real reason to work on next year's time?!

Lots of Monster had amazing races. The series was a huge success. Ian surprised us bad asses with hoodies instead of the usual T's! It just keeps getting better.

PS. sorry again, but I'm not proofing this.

Thursday Means Gorham

Practically a repeat of Tuesday. Got in seven miles on the x-country course in Gorham...or at least what was the x-country course in Gorham. It's funny, I'd hate doing 1 mile loops on roads, but so far have no trouble with them on a chewed-up, ugly off-road loop. Gonna check out the trails behind the college again next week. I wonder if I still have that map Ian gave me... Although the trails aren't really well enough traveled to follow the map.

Cut Short

Bethany and I headed to Bradbury late in the morning hoping to run an O-less Bruiser. We found it surprisingly humid. A few miles in the sun came out making the roots play hide-and-seek in the mottled sunlight. Somewhere before the end of the Fox East portion of the run, it clouded back up and the sky spit a little rain. Heading up the Snow Mobile Trail, we were surprised by a fairly loud rumble of thunder. All of a sudden it was very dark.

I apologized to Beth, but said that was where I drew the line - no running needlessly in a T-storm. She was happy enough to head back. When we realized it was almost 2:30, we were both glad to have been stopped. Somehow the day had gotten away.

Still good to be on the trails!

Twisted

Sam is still a few hours away from having all the necessary driving time to go for a license; I'm still required for the Gorham commute. So I planned on running the Gorham X-country team's course that Dora had introduced me to. As I headed onto the trail, I was stunned; the woods had been devastated. It looked like a very bad job at logging or perhaps they were going to develop the property. It was so sad running there, but I could sort of figure out where to run following a bulldozed path.

On my second lap, I ran into a woman walking a huge, off-leash pit bull/staffordshire terrier type dog. She called to him, but he kept coming my way. She yelled that he was friendly. After a timid beginning, he warmed up very quickly. What a happy boy! I asked her if she knew what was going on with the land. As soon as she mentioned a storm, I remembered hearing about a twister in Gorham. I was much happier that it was a natural disaster rather than a man-made one.

I got in about 7 miles.

Split Personality

Saturday I headed to Bradbury for my long run. The expectation was it would be a very wet run due to Earl. I hoped for good puddles and a nice rain to stay cool (a treat after this past week's heat and humidity).

A fairly large group of Monsters assembled: Jamie, Julia, Nathan, Ian, James, Jeremy, Jeff, Erik and his pup, Christine, Alan, Karen, Mary and myself (I hope I didn't forget anyone). Karen, Christine, and Mary were going to run the last half of the Bruiser. The rest of us headed out on the beginning. I was towards the back, knowing my pace would be slower than the rest. After getting rear-ended by Django, I dropped right to the back. Django seemed to stay ahead of Erik, so, if I was behind, no more dog run ins! It was really where I belonged. Normally I would stick with that group for a few miles, but, planning on 18, I wanted to be slower the entire run.

It was obvious from the first step that the humidity had not left. I think the dew point was 70 and the temperature about 74. Yuck! We did have puddles at least, but the weather was a big disappointment and would make the miles much harder.

Erik soon had dropped to my pace and I enjoyed his company for about 5 miles before he headed back. He skipped the Bat Cave loop so I did, too. I was going for miles, not the Bruiser course; I'd already planned on skipping the O. By not running the Bat Cave, it put us just ahead of the faster group. They caught us and stayed with us till the snowmobile trail where Erik peeled off to head back. The group was out of my sight pretty quickly. Now it was just me and the trail.

Not long after this point, I realized the elastic in my shorts had finally given out (my favorite shorts, they'd been with me through 3 Pinelands and most of the Bradbury races). I was witness to a battle of forces; they were totally drenched and,thus, clinging to me, but gravity was working on them and though seemily saturated, they were getting heavier. Something to keep me amused and focused on! I was very happy I'd packed an entire change of running clothes. I had figured that I'd be soaked from rain and would change around half way through my miles. My feet seemed to be getting heavier, too. Though I didn't side step any puddles, I think the sweat dripping into them was keeping them wet and heavy.

As I headed past the O trail I saw Ian and Jamie somewhere in its grasp. I happily went by its head. When I pulled into the parking lot, several Monsters were there. I'm not sure if some ran really fast or just skipped the O or if it was a mixture. At any rate, it was nice to have chatter as I refilled my Fuel Belt. Checking the Garmin, I found I'd gone almost exactly 9 miles! A change of clothes (Yay, yay YAY!!!!!) and I was back out.

After already running nine, sweltering miles, it might seem like it would be hard to go out, but it felt like a completely different day. The humidity had been waning in the last mile or so of my first leg. Now, it felt like a totally different day even though the temperature was rising. My clothes were dry and my shorts were staying up without help!

I decided not to do any crazy looping. I ran the Scuffle course backwards till I got to the Snowmobile trail from Fox East and then headed up, like I was finishing the Bruiser. By the time I got to the part where Fox West is close to the Snowmobile trail again, I was starting to have to concentrate to not walk. I think I should have had some more fuel. My big toe joints were both very angry with any down sections. But, I was close to my mile goal. When I got back to the parking lot, I was 1/2 mile short. No way! I went out on the Northern Loop trail till I was sure I would have my 18 miles for the day. Done!

Sunday was a day off, mainly because we were hosting a small cookout and I had prepping to do. My college roommate had come up Saturday evening.

Monday I hit the fields shortly before noon. I hope I don't end up with poison ivy; a lot was growing back after being mowed. I didn't realize I was in it till it was too late. Besides that, I ran an enjoyable 6 miles.

Stinky Run

No, really. I needed to do the fields again today. Heading into the neighboring farmer's field I was hit with the stench of garbage - garbage that has been hanging out in 95 degree weather. Whoa! I wasn't prepared for that. I couldn't imagine where the smell would be coming from; there aren't houses close by. By the time I reached the manure pile in the next field, the smell had improved. Yup, a manure pile in this heat was an improvement.

When it was time to head back, I'd almost forgotten about the smell till it hit me in the face again. Running this way, I did see the source. There was a new pile of something probably ready to be spread in that field. It was better than all the things that I was thinking. My top theory was that there'd been a fish kill in the river due to the high temps. If they spread that crap, I won't be running on that field any time soon.

The bright spot on the run was a bird encounter. I think I know where the Hollywood people came up for the sound of pterodactyls; king fishers make that sound and, in some way, resemble them.

Not Pretty

Linda and I headed to Bradbury early this morning, hoping to beat some of the heat. Relatively speaking we did; it would have been much worse a couple hours later. About 5.5 miles in, Linda decided, wisely, that she should cut it short, but for me to continue. Her back was grumpy to start and the heat and humidity (and probably air quality) all combined to make her feel kinda bad. I told her I would finish, but skip the O. She tried to talk me into running it because she thought I was cutting my run short because of her. Not at all, the O would have been too much for the weather.

I tried to pick up the pace, knowing that I wasn't doing all 12. That went well for about 3 miles, but then I started to drag. I couldn't drink enough to offset all I was losing. If I didn't concentrate, I'd catch myself walking. I'm looking forward to running in the rain!