Ohio Trip Day 1: Hourly Photos

As I'm writing this post, the snow is gently falling outside so it's appropriate to get to work on some posts I've been meaning to provide; the first of which was filled with constant cold and snow.

I spent a the four days before Thanksgiving 2013 enjoying the west.  "West" in this instance is simply anything within a few days driving distance while being sure to hit Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.

Rather than simply taking photos of interesting things along the way, during my drive westward on day 1, I decided to take a tip from a PCT Blog I followed this year and take a photo on the hour, every hour, throughout the day, no matter where I am (interesting or not!).

So here you have it!

PA Turnpike tunnel, 10AM

PA back roads, 11AM...snow beginning to fall.

Johnstown Flood Memorial, looking out on the former dammed lake.

Johnstown, PA

Geocache stop.  GC47CY5

Just entering Ohio, I-76, 3PM

Still moving westward in OH, I-76

Almost to the destination, day 1, near Akron, OH, 5PM

At the bar, Winking Lizard

Still at the bar

I found a different bar...in the same restaurant!

Shamrock Marathon Weekend

It's amazing how less than an hour can dictate the feelings, and subsequent memories of an entire weekend.  When thinking back on my Virginia Beach and Yuengling Shamrock Marathon last weekend, the only thing that comes to mind is final part of the race: mile 21 - 26.  But I'll get to that in a moment...

The weekend started out extremely positive, hitting some specific geocaches on the way down, filling in some Counties, Cities and Delorme pages for VA that I've yet to find, and visiting an expo at the Virginia Beach Convention Center on a sunny Saturday afternoon with plenty of vendors.

Expo Entrance

Yup...looks like an expo

After getting our fill of cheap and free stuff, I decided to go for a short shake out run the evening before the race, down the boardwalk and snagging some "highly favorited" geocaches along the shore in the process.  Our hotel was right on the beach and extremely close to the start and finish of the marathon...an absolutely ideal spot for all things shamrock this weekend.

Nice trident!

Enough bananas in the finishing chute to feed a small army

Here's a look at this nice biking path that goes along the boardwalk for quite a few miles

Pier view #1

Self shot (necessary for logging the virtual geocache)

Pier view #2

We had our pre-race dinner at a nice Italian joint and interestingly enough, our waiter had run two editions of the Shamrock Half Marathon a few years back.

Breakfast of (leprechaun) champions, green bagel and all.

Race morning started off great, although the weather could have been better: forecasted to stay in the 40's all day with a chance of rain.  I have to reiterate here how key our hotel location was.  I literally stepped out of my room 10 minutes before the gun was supposed to go off.  The race started a couple of minutes behind, so it worked out perfectly not having to brave the chilly morning temps.

I got lined up right where I wanted, between the 3:25 pace group and the 3:35

At least 10% of these people were shivering

The race started off great.  I didn't follow the "plan" of just going for a 155-160 BPM HR, but maintaining a 7:55/mi pace felt perfect, and even by mile 13, I felt like I'd have enough in the tank to push it down to a 7:30 or even a 7:00 during the final 10K.  Well, of course, that didn't happen...

Right at mile 21, like clockwork during the lonely stretch through Fort Story, I came face to face with "the wall".  I don't think it had anything to do with nutrition, rather, my lack of proper training over the past four weeks.  I hadn't run over 18 miles during a single run since the 50K back in January, and it really showed.  On this ridiculously flat course, my legs just quit and after a little research it looks like something to do with my IT band, but honestly I'm not sure.  It's sort of the same strained muscle feeling on the outside of my hips I get after a long day of backpacking.

Anyhow...I slugged through those final few miles continuing to run, but at the slowest pace imaginable, even though I'm pretty sure I saw a 79 year old lady in a walker pass me by at around mile 24.

I must have picked it up for the final .2 knowing about the enormous beer tent waiting after the finish.  It was a disappointing final time, but we got changed at the hotel and then made it over to enjoy the Yuengling brews and mass produced Irish stew on the beach.

Beach scene near the end of the finishing chute, outside the beer tent

Quality architecture inside the tent

"The Deloreans" rocking out some 80's classics

Though I didn't qualify for Boston this weekend (or even hit my secondary goal of 3:30), it was a fun time of geocaches and running.  The race experience was put together perfectly by J&A Racing, including the live race timing updates, and the post race party.  Thanks for a fun time this weekend, with the exception of that final hour of the race (totally not their fault, but not fun nonetheless).

If you're interested, here's a link to my race in detail.

Finishing off St. Patty's day right, with an amazing stout!

Blood, Sweat and Beers Trail Half Marathon Race Report

I don't travel for work often, but when the opportunity came up to attend a conference in Vegas within days of a trail race in the desert, I had to jump on it.  After 3 days of Data Warehousing classes, my wife and I played around in Red Rock Canyon on Friday and made it to another Canyon (Bootleg), near Boulder City on Saturday for this year's edition of Blood, Sweat, and Beers.

Interesting Nevada History during the prohibition days

Sweet medal lineup.  Yes...they're bottle openers!

It was our first race in Nevada, yet alone in the desert.  We weren't sure what to wear, but knowing the sun would be out and temps in the 40s and 50s, I opted for shorts and a short sleeve shirt.  Coming from PA and growing accustomed to winter runs in the teens and 20s, this felt like summer (or at least spring).  We were definitely in the minority, as most folks showed up in long sleeves and pants.

Who wears short shorts?

The race started about 20 minutes late, due to some last minute registration and head counts.  The 30K and Half Marathon runners started off at 9:20am, and the 10K'ers (including the wife) around 5 minutes later.

Having some recent shin splint issues, I hadn't run all week but felt surprisingly good throughout the entire race.  There were some decent short climbs around mile 6 that left the quads burning, but overall it was just a great time to be roaming around the hills east of Vegas.  There was one particularly playful section around mile 9, hugging the hillside and winding through various small canyons that I really, really enjoyed.  The view above the golf course was an interesting green canvas among the sea of brown (why do races always bring me alongside golf courses?!?).

Aid stations were well stocked and staffed, I didn't really take any nutrition at any of the 3 I passed, only stopping briefly at the second for some HEED.  My water bottle and stash of Powerbar Energy Blasts were enough for 2 or so hours on the trail.

Killer bike jumps

The only issue came in at around mile 12 where the orange flags marking the course disappeared.  I took a left turn which in hindsight was correct, but ended up turning around after about a half mile of not spying any flags.  Several others followed me and we eventually made our way back to the finishing area, adding about a half mile on to the course via the wrong direction.

Admittedly, I came through the finish line a little frustrated and I apologize to the race organizers that I bitched at a bit.  But some great fellowship with other runners, and (unattended) coolers full of cold local craft beer from Joseph James Brewing Company made up for it pretty quickly.  What more could a guy ask for after running for two hours!?!?

Post race smiles

After the race we made it over into Arizona for a geocache, then a quick visit the nearby Hoover Dam, and lunch at The Dillinger in Boulder City.  I highly recommend the Dillinger Burger.  A Burger, Bacon, and Brisket...yep, it was awesome.

On a geeky note, I found it interesting when I uploaded the activity to Strava and Garmin Connect that the distances were vastly different, around 0.6 miles.  Based the mileage recorded on my watch, Garmin is more accurate.  I believe Strava only takes most of the data points recorded on the GPX/FIT file, making several of the short twists and turns not read on that application.

The activities can be found at the links below if you're curious:

Strava
Garmin Connect

Even with the SNAFU towards the end, I would totally run this race again.  I can't express how much fun it was to experience a completely different trail run than I'm used to.  Some individuals got a chance to do just that, as the race offered a night time option for all day distances, plus a 5K.  We didn't have time for a second run though, Anthony Jeselnik's comedy show at the Mirage was calling...and we were ready to be offended.

Thank you to all the volunteers and organizers for putting on the event.  It was great to snatch up the opportunity to do a little work and a little play in sin city.

What lies ahead

I don't believe in new years resolutions.  I mean: who says you have to wait until January 1st to make a change or create personal goals?  In my case for 2013, I don't have time to wait for the new year to establish some goals and plan for new heights in personal achievement.  Next year is going to be jam packed with weekends of pushing myself to places (and paces) I never thought possible.

So what are the goals?

#1: Qualify for the Boston Marathon
yep, it's in writing...now it's official...no turning back now.

It's going to be hard, but I wouldn't set the goal if I thought it was unachievable.  Being a 4:53 marathoner at my first (and only) marathon back in May of 2011 might lead you to believe that I have absolutely no shot at attaining the required 3:05:00 for the Boston Athletic Association's standard for my gender and age group.  But hard training (and 20+ pounds lost) this past year has worked magic on the fitness of this formerly fat runner and I'm confident that if I continue on this path, it's within reach.

#2: Run an ultramarathon
I just want to get my feet wet in the sport of long distance trail running with no particular pace or finishing time in mind.  It's an entirely different animal than road running and I'm looking forward to challenging myself at these greater distances.

#3: Complete the Appalachian Trail in NJ and NY
This section is roughly 160 miles and while that may not seem like a whole lot to cover in an entire year, I'm going to have to carefully plan backpacking weekends into my running schedule.


So what's the plan?

Well, #2 is only a month away: The Frozen Sasquatch 50K in West Virginia on January 5th.  I haven't had a training run over 10 miles since November 3rd...so we'll see how this goes!

As for the Boston Qualifier, the obvious choice for me is the Harrisburg Marathon with its extremely fast course and starting line less than 10 miles from my front door, but the timing doesn't work out the way that I'd prefer.  If I run a qualifying time in Harrisburg in November of next year, I'm looking at running Boston in 2015...and quite frankly that's a long way off.  I'd rather do a spring marathon and try to get in to the 2014 race; that's why I registered for the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach in March.  While it's not listed on any of the "Top Boston Qualifying Race" lists put out there on the web, it's flat and as long as my training is solid, I should be able to achieve my goals.

The schedule for the rest of 2013 will sort of depend on how my race goes in Virginia Beach.  If I qualify, then the doors are wide open for some even crazier adventures like the JFK 50 Mile in November.  If not, then there are many options for fast fall marathons.


I've also got some secondary goals that are listed below in no particular order.  These are just some fun things I've been thinking about or working on already, and would be great if I could get them accomplished in the coming year.

Running:

• Run at least a half marathon distance in 3 new states
• Travel (run) as far as I possibly can one day (just for fun, not in a race)

Hiking:

• "Thru Hike" the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail in Western PA

Geocaching:

• Find the remainder of the virtual caches in PA that I haven't yet found.  There are only 13 left out of 99, but a few require long hikes or special equipment (e.g. kayak)
• Finish MD/DE Delorme and County Challenges
• Visit Remaining Webcams in DE, MD, and DC (there are only 4, and 3 of them are on the coast so I should probably go in winter or spring to avoid crowds and traffic)

Misc:

• Take better pictures

The FOCUS for the next 4 months will be the Ultra, then Boston Qualifying.  We'll see how it all plays out after I cross the finish line on March 17th, but the journey's going to be fun and I'm very much looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.

Chilly Philly Run

While we were in town for Thanksgiving, my wife and I had the opportunity for a little sight seeing / running around the City of Brotherly Love: Philadelphia.  We were staying in University City, right in the heart of University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University so we had a good warm up before we made it over to downtown Philly.  It was a nice 5 mile jaunt around the city, with the route planned around some virtual geocaches.  The weather was breezy and in the low 30's, but we really enjoyed exploring the city as "running tourists".

Over the Schuylkill River looking towards downtown

The big kitty wants in!

Dry fountains in Rittenhouse Square

LOVE Park

Giant noodle in LOVE Park

"Rocky Steps" way down in the distance

Quaker Memorial

Ben Franklin metal sculpture over the Vine St Expressway

Almost home