Mick’s Miscellaneous Meanderings

Went down to Maryland today with some friends of one of the members of our running group to run a trail race. The website said that there were two choices for race distance – a 30K and a 50K. I was planning to run the 30K with secret intentions of doing the 50K if I was still feeling good. Somehow I got the wrong info and there were actually 4 distances – 11K, 20K, 42K, and 50K. Darn. The first two were too short to determine whether I’d want to run one of the 2 longer distances. So I decided on the 20K since I hadn’t eaten hardly anything the day before and would be running on 2 really crappy nights of sleep.

Turned out to be a really awesome run – one of those rare runs where it’s just effortless, you forget you’re running, and feel like you could go forever. The trail was excellent – very tame as far as elevation, much less rocky than the PA trails, and with lots of open meadow running with some great views. And while I wasn’t feeling top notch physically, mentally I desperately needed a long run – a run where I could completely zone out and think. I got it.

We started off to someone yelling “Get ready, get set, go!”. No air horn, no music, nothing. It was a “Fat-ass” race – a no-frills race format where there’s no registration fee, no finish medals, no awards, and no t-shirt. Just get your fat ass off the couch and go run. It was an organized training run, really.

So we headed out and I quickly got into the groove, running alone and setting my own pace. I wasn’t trying to keep up with anyone and wasn’t holding back either. It was wonderful. As soon as my toes thawed out by mile 3, I was deep in thought and oblivious to everything around me except for an occasional view and the pink ribbons that marked our route. About 15 minutes later I reached the turn-off point for the 20K. OK, maybe it was more like 2 hours. But it felt like 15 minutes. I contemplated continuing on for the 42K. I still had plenty to think about but I was still having trouble getting food down from a nervous stomach the day before and so was barely staving off hunger by nibbling on electrolyte gummy fish. I knew it wouldn’t be long before my body rebelled at the lack of fuel and I started bonking. Plus I really didn’t want to have a long recovery time from the run because there are 2 races in January that I’d like to PR on (set a personal record). So I headed back to the start. Got to the parking lot and there were 3 people there making some soup for the finishers. They clapped and I did a happy dance. Quite the opposite of the big Philly marathon, but it fit my mood. I thanked them and continued to the car to get my coat, stretch, change, and nap until the other 3 finished.

With the other 3 finished and changed, we headed home. I was still very much distracted by my thoughts so I was in and out of their conversations rehashing the race. I did pick up a few funny stories though. Despite my more subdued participation in the group, I did have a great day of running. Thanks a bunch Don, Carol, and Lauren. I’m looking forward to more runs at Stoney and especially the Buzzard run.

Forget this long-winded account. Just take me to the pictures already.

Run a marathon. It seemed like a good idea 3 months ago. How hard could it be? Do the training, get the miles in, and then run the race. I wanted to do it just to see if I could (and for the magnet!) and it was one of Jen’s goals before she turned 40. We sat down together with a training schedule at the annual summer H.A.R.D. picnic and mapped out our 12 week training schedule. In order to get the majority of the training in before the last marathon of the season in the area, we had to jump right into week 7 of a 16 week schedule. No big deal. We’d been running all summer and had a good base. We committed by registering for the Philly Marathon just before the price jumped from $102 to $132. Surprisingly Nicole registered at the very last minute. After her first experience with a marathon – getting a stress fracture during the race – I didn’t think she’d ever do one again. Woohoo. Then there were three.

So the training began. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Up at 4:30am. Drive into Annville and meet at Shawn’s at 5:00 am. The rest of the running group adjusted to our schedule. Whatever we were supposed to run, they ran. As the midweek long runs on Tuesday got longer, we moved the starting time back to 4:45, and then to 4:30. Members of the group still showed up to run. Then the weekend long runs started building the mileage. A few of the group members were still hanging in there with us. We worked on Bonnie. “Come on Bonnie, you’re getting in all the mileage, you might as well get something to show for it. Run your first marathon with us.” She caved and then there were four. Nydia was such a steam engine of our long runs, I felt sure we’d be able to crack her. But nope. She remained sane as did Michelle and Janelle.

And the training continued. Friday night/Saturday morning long runs, mostly in the dark. Wearing reflective vests, red blinking lights, and head lamps. Adding a few tenths of a mile to every run because of all the weaving back and forth to the opposite side of the road to get away from the traffic. There was the brutal 14 miler…possibly the most difficult time I’ve ever had during a run. Then the 16 mile run on a Friday night when it should have been starting to get cool out but was still 80 degrees when we finished at 9pm. And we’ll never forget the hilly 19 miler where we were almost charged by a bull, startled by a groundhog only a couple feet away, got freaked out by 2 cats fighting in a cornfield, looked at the beautiful sky full of bright stars well outside the town limits, listened to rustlings of other living creatures as we passed by the woods (quickly), and then invited ourselves over to the hot tub of one of the HARD Runner members. (Thanks for the towels, sweat shirts, and hot tub Steve and Brenda!!!) There was the 22 miler on a Saturday morning where we finished feeling great and knowing we’d be able to complete the marathon.

During all these runs, there was the AWESOME support crew showing up when we needed them most with Gatorade, water, gloves, energy beans, Vaseline, and anything else we could possibly need – Shawn, Nydia, Nydia’s husband, Bonnie and Dennis, and Kathy J.! At one point Kathy J. (there’s no other Kathys that we need to differentiate between, we just call her Kathy J.) literally gave me the socks off of her feet when my socks wore through, causing blisters on a long run. And during one support stop, we got some poor guy out of bed with our whooping and hollering because he thought there was a car accident out in front of his house. Sorry about that mister!

We ran through ups and downs: hurting feet, bladder infections, pee stops in corn fields (and in the middle of the road – it was dark!), setting new mileage records together, second winds, chafing, blisters, blips, cramps, and a COLD, WINDY, 10-miler (BRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!). I discovered that all modesty, inhibitions, and self-consciousness go out the door sometime between mile 16 and 19. I’m not sure you ever fully recover them.

And then came race weekend. I rode down to Philly with Shawn on the Saturday before the race. We arrived before 8am to get the keys from her son for his apartment before he left for the weekend for a wedding. We were all (all 7 of us, that is – the 4 of us newbie marathoners, Shawn, our matriarch, and Al and Ann, lovebirds and experienced marathoners) staying there for the race the next morning. When the running expo opened, we headed down to the convention center to check things out and pick up the race packets. We got back early afternoon and napped while waiting for the others to show up. They arrived, unloaded and we all piled into Jen’s van to take a spin around the race route. 1.5 miles and 1.5 hours of Jen’s expert maneuvering through a gridlocked city later, we gave up on that quest and parked and headed into the expo. Then it was back to the apartment and Shawn’s awesome spaghetti with meatballs supper.

Lights out at 9. Then the problems began. Jen was battling a head cold and was having trouble sleeping. I was sleeping on a borrowed air mattress that leaked. Either I got up every half hour and reinflated it, slept on the floor, or figured something else out. Bonnie had a smaller matress that I put on top that did the trick. Off to counting sheep. Until the chainsaws arrived. I woke up at midnight to both Shawn and Bonnie sawing logs. Oh. My. Word. I turned over, double checked that my ear plugs were still in, pulled the pillow over my head and laid there until 1:30 when I couldn’t take it anymore. I jarred Bonnie’s mattress a little hoping she’d wake up enough to turn over. No such luck. I gathered up my sleeping bag and pillow and headed upstairs to a little 5X7 storage room off the hallway. I headed back downstairs to grab my mattress pad and found out Jen was still awake. She says, “I thought I could sleep through anything, “ and follows me up the steps. We were dying of laughter at the situation as quietly as possible. I burrowed into my new digs by the light of my cell phone while Jen set off the jet engine of a bathroom fan by flipping on the light. She came out blinded and we stood in the hallway laughing our heads off some more. I checked my email and finally fell back to sleep around 2.

5:30 came quickly. I headed back downstairs and we harassed Shawn and Bonnie about their snoring. In the middle of it my phone rang. What?? Who would be calling me at 5:30 on a Sunday morning. It was none other than Kelly from work to wish me luck. We chatted for a little and then I got ready for the big day. We headed over to the starting line in fashion. Running clothes with plastic bags with a hole cut out of the bottom for our head. They played the Rocky song for each wave of runners and then count down. 3-2-1-bang. We were the 7th and final wave to be set free.

Anyone that’s done any amount of running knows that on occasion you have a really good day and running is just effortless. And once in a while, you have a really bad day and running is just drudgery. Most days though, things are middle of the road. By mile 3, I knew that today was going to be a drudgery day. Ugh. Sometimes, nature just doesn’t cooperate and things happen when you don’t expect them. That was today. All I could do was the best I could. So I knew the time would come when I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with our little group. I hung in there until the halfway point, perking up briefly when we passed other members of our group who came down to cheer us on and help run us in. Then I started falling back, running mostly on my own until mile 21 when who do I see ahead but Jen coming back to me. She started running with me. I asked her what the hell she thought she was doing. She had become the steam engine of the four of us over the past three months and was still running strong. She had no business coming back to drag me along. I tried my best to make her see reason. She gave me some drivel about not caring about the finishing time, but just wanting us to finish together. Shortly afterward Kathy J. jumped in with us. These two were awesome. I almost cried, I was so happy to have them with me even though I felt guilty for holding Jen back. Finally the end was in sight. Everyone from our group that came down to watch and help us was there at the finish line (Shawn, Erin, Marc, Kathy, Kris, Nydia, Dennis, Wendy, Sandy). Jen and I crossed the line and hugged and I burst into tears. We did it.

We followed through the corralled area and got our finisher medals and space blankets and then went through the food tent. Then we met up with our group in the designated area. I was doing my best to hold back the tears. Growing up I’d rarely ever had anyone come to watch my events – college saxophone recitals, concerts, marching band tournaments, basketball games, etc. So it really meant a lot to me that this group of friends were taking time out of their busy schedules and away from their families to drive all the way down to Philly to cheer us on and run us in and share in this achievement. I was touched.

We got pictures and then walked back to the apartment for showers. We loaded up and headed down the street to an Irish pub for good food and awesome company. It was the best ending to the weekend to sit and laugh over stories from the past few days (Are you going to wear THAT to run in?) and hear new stories from Bonnie. Just when you think you know someone…

Thanks for the great memories, H.A.R.D.!!! Don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for all you do.

Now on to the next adventure. A triathlon maybe? Shhh. Don’t tell Wendy yet though. I’m not 100% sure of that yet.

The Awesome HARD Runners crew

Marc getting Al pumped up

Erin helps run Nicole and Bonnie in

Jen and I happy as clams to be finished

You can stop running now Bonnie. You’ve finished!

One of my favorite pictures – the four of us marathoners with our matriarch, Shawn, before the race

Did you see what Mickey’s wearing? Can you believe she’s wearing THAT?

Oh my gosh, she really is wearing that?

She is. I can’t believe it either.

Walking back to the apartment after the race

Stretching, Bonnie-style

What in the world are you guys doing down there?

We got Jen to join us. Sucker…

At the restaurant

At the restaurant

Statue with marathon shirt ready to run

Hanging around

Lots of activity here – Nicole chugging some energy, Kathy forcing her fleece sweatshirt over my head (THANK YOU!!!), and who knows what Marc’s checking out.

More activity – Kathy still playing mom and tucking my space blanket around me and I’m scared of knowing what Marc has on his mind with that look

Bonnie, Nicole, and Sandy

Bonnie, didn’t you just call everyone while you were running?

Cute video of the 2008 Mudfest. I’m even in one of the scenes. There’s a short clip of “flailing legs guy” at the end.

Jen, Nicole, Me, and Bonnie

Ran the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon on Sunday with the HARD runners group. What an awesome day!!! It started out a little teary when we all assembled at Shawn’s at 5:45 am for pictures and car pooling only to find out that our matriarch, Shawn, wouldn’t be attending due to dog problems. I was bummed! Without Shawn HARD wouldn’t even exist. She had to go! Unfortunately, all the persuading was fruitless. She couldn’t go. So we broke up into groups and piled into cars. I picked up my backpack and computer book and headed over to the last group to form. It was five of us…Jen, Gail, Nicole, me, and….Marc. Hmmm. I looked at my book. I’ve been spending every spare minute with my nose in it to learn a new programming language. I looked at Marc. Then I walked over to my car and threw the book in the back seat. No need for that. Marc would be providing non-stop entertainment on this trip. Guaranteed.

We jumped in the car and headed out. Sure enough, Marc didn’t disappoint us. He had us in stitches the whole way up to Allentown, telling us about the 5K he ran the day before. He was such a softy…letting some little kid beat him at the finish line. And then we got to know the true Nicole…who revealed she would have taught that kid a life lesson and kicked his butt.

We got there in just enough time for potty stops at a McDonald’s (at Dunkin Donuts for Marc!), to get our packets from Stevie, to attach our race chips to our shoes, and to get to the starting line with a few minutes to spare. We took our spots at our respective pace groups. I attached myself to Bonnie, the epitome of a steady pace. The gun went off.

It was Bonnie, Nicole, Jen, Krumy, and me in a group, constantly getting boxed in by others, then breaking free to get back in stride. About every mile or so there was a live band playing – everything from rock to violin trios to bagpipes. The most memorable was the all women pop band called the “Menopausal Maniacs”. Appropriate since almost everyone in our group is in their 40′s and 50′s (except me…just wanted to clear that right up!).

During our run, I became increasingly sure that Shawn had just been messing with us in the morning and she actually came to the race to cheer us on. What made me think this?

• We ran around several piles of what could have been Sampson’s pooh
• There was side walk chalk all over the place
• There were rumors of beer at water stations

But, no. She really wasn’t there.

As we got tired, our little group started crumbling. People were hitting the wall. It was down to Nicole and me. We got into the final stretch. I looked over at her…was she about to teach me a life lesson? We put it in high gear and crossed the finish line at exactly the same time.

We hung around, stretched, and cheered the remaining H.A.R.D. Runners in and then headed to an Italian restaurant for the post race festivities. We rehashed the race for another couple hours over pizza (some with hot peppers!) and sodas/beer before jumping in the car and heading back to Annville. What an absolutely wonderful day! I think my sides are more sore from laughing than my legs are from running. Thanks H.A.R.D.!!! We missed you Shawn!!!

Some of the group

The Smith family

Nicole and Bonnie

And what did Gail say that shocked Dave some much? Hmmm…

Marc, ???, Nydia, Ann, Al

Jen and Mike

Krumy, Gail, Dave

I think I’m getting numb to these Ron Horn (wacky race director) trail runs. What used to seem like a really wild time just seems to be an average, normal trail run…even with the blizzard conditions at the beginning and the 4 calf-deep creek crossings. But then, I wasn’t one of the few chosen for the raw egg carry…carry a raw egg all 9+ miles of the race without breaking it and win a prize. And this time I was expecting the egg hunt, marshmallow peeps, the sneaker-sucking mud holes, and the “beverage” stations.

I did still have a good time though…especially running with Dave. He had me cracking up with his dances as we waited for an opening on the trail to pass other runners. Don’t know if it’s because we talked the whole time and I didn’t pay much attention to the trail or if the course really was much easier (although longer) than Chilly Cheeks and Ugly Mudder. Seemed to be much less uphill.

But hey…I got the t-shirt!!!! And that’s what matters.

Ran the Ugly Mudder trail race over the weekend. Definitely an easier course than Chilly Cheeks. I actually felt like I was running more downhill and level trail than uphill on this one. Although it did have it’s share of doozy uphills. Not much to speak of in terms of ice this year. A few slippery spots but not many. We did have a “situation” though. Let me explain….

At about mile 1 we came up to this water station. I don’t drink during races unless they’re like half marathon length or more. So I cruised right through along with the 300 people in front of me. When we were about a 1/4 mile past the water station we heard a ruckus and turned around to see what was going on down at the water station. Some people had turned right instead of slightly off to the left past the station and were starting to turn around. They had gone the wrong way. Derrrr. About 5 minutes later some people caught up with us and started yelling that WE were going the wrong way. Yeah, right. All 300+ of us. And the water station people just let us all go by without telling us. Uh huh. So we continued on. Up hill, down hill, over rocks, roots, downed trees, up rock scrambles, down lightly snow covered trail. Passed 2 more water stations. And had about a mile to go. It suddenly occurred to me that we hadn’t seen the Pagoda. Maybe I just had my eyes so focused on the trail and my brain zoned out and I missed it. I mentioned it to the people around me. Nope, they hadn’t seen it either. No matter. Ron had said that the trail was slightly different this year…we wouldn’t be running up the steps of the Pagoda because they’d been condemned. We’d be running around or under it or whatever he said. So we continued along to the last hill scramble. Up I went on all fours and then through the parking lot of cars to the finish line. I saw the clock…1 hour and 10 minutes. Holy $%^&*&(*()_!!!!! I felt like I was flying but that was fast for a 7.25 mile trail run for me. Dang!

I ran through the chute and went over out of the way of finishers and started stretching. Ron Horn called everyone’s attention with his bullhorn, “Those of you coming in right now…the first 400 runners, in fact…did NOT run the full course. You took a wrong turn. You ended up running 6 miles instead of 7.25. No big deal. Just don’t go home feeling all good about yourself because you think you set a PR. You didn’t.” CRAP!!!

Well, it still would have been a PR for me…add on another 1.25 miles and I probably would have finished about 1:25 or so. Still pretty good for a Reading trail run in my book.

Next up is the Mt. Penn Mudfest 15K trail run in late March. Woohoo!

Ran a trail race this past weekend. Similar to the Ugly Mudder I ran last year. But on different trails and without the sheet of ice. Funnily enough, there were times during this race – during the really rocky sections – I was almost wishing for that ice again.

Caught a ride to the Chilly Cheeks race with Erin (member of the running group) and a friend of hers (Katie) since my car is acting funky. This would be the longest Katie had ever run and the first time on a trail. What a way to initiate her.

When we were pulling in to the parking area of the race we saw this old(er) guy running down the hill, stiff-legged and with his head leaning to his right. Erin made the comment, “Well if he can run this race, I certainly can do it.” We all agreed.

At the start of the race I got behind a guy I recognized from last year. I ran behind him for a little while in the Mt. Penn Mudfest. How did I recognize him from behind? Let’s just say he had a unique running gait. When I saw him last year, it was at the end of the 9-mile race so I figured he was just tired. Not so. I was behind him at the beginning of this race and he ran exactly the same way….legs flailing every which way, no control over where he placed his feet, ankles turning. Holy cow…this guy was going to hurt himself! I passed him as soon as possible before he did a face plant.

The race was a real hoot. Most of the trail was lightly snow covered. Some was just leaf covered. There were two sections of the trail that were so steep we had to crawl up on all fours. And then there was Mt. Whadafug. That’s as in Whadafug was I thinking when I signed up for this race! Part of the time during the run I was imagining Ron Horn (race director) sitting at the bar with a few beers in him, talking with his cronies, saying, “Hey man, let’s create a race that people have to be really stupid or on a lot of drugs to run. Remember that bank that Joe tried to sled down and broke both his legs? Let’s have them run up that. Oh yeah, and you know that three quarters of a mile long area with the rock slides? That’ll be great at about mile 6 when they’re really tired. Yeah. And let’s have the race go uphill the entire time. Ya think anyone will be dumb enough to run it?”

Apparently, there were. 400 of us. I had a comedian following me for a little while. Heading up Mt. Whadafug, he said something about the Sherpas that were supposed to have stashed some oxygen at the top for us. Later he asked us if we saw the “March of the Penquins” and then reminded us that half the penguins die in the movie.

At about mile 6 the old stiff-legged guy with his head leaning to one side passed me. So much for appearances. But I managed to pass him before the end on a rocky downhill section.

So there were rocks, steep hills, a mountain, snow, tree roots, tripping, falling, sliding, etc., but the biggest obstacle was the cold. It was 16 degrees out with a realfeel temp of 1. The cold itself wasn’t bad. It was the effects of the cold, namely a nose running faster than I was. If I was in danger of dehydration it was from the all the snot and the watering eyes, not from the sweating underneath the 3 layers of clothes. Thankfully I had absorbent gloves on. Gross, I know. But what were we to do? Politely step off the trail, dig out a tissue, blow our nose, and then get back in line? Not. And taking your eyes of the ground for even a second to fish out a tissue while running meant filling your gloves with grit and and getting bloody knees.

So, we finished the race with only slight trail rash on our butts and knees, gobbled down some eggs, pancakes, and bagels at the finisher’s breakfast, and headed back to Annville. We compared snot stories in the car and then sang to the radio the rest of the way home.

It was a cold and windy morning in Lebanon, PA. Nevertheless, there were still people wearing shorts to run the inaugural YMCA 5K/10K. Crazy nuts! And members of the HARD Runners group were among those nuts. There were 14 of us from the group that ran it. Most ran the 10K, a few the 5K. Among the highlights were Mike’s Elf/Turkey costume:

and getting to meet Noah (Marc’s son) who Marc pushed in the stroller for the entire 10K and still came in with an impressive time.

Out of the 14 members of the group that ran, 9 of them placed in the top three in their age groups. Quite a haul this race! Here are some more pics of the event:

Well, we found the start. Let’s hope we see the finish.

All lined up with a 5K or 10K to go.

Mike completes his 5K

I’m coming into the home stretch.

Mother/son duo AJ and Kathy ran the 5K

Cindy on the left and Shawn, looking a little chilly, in the middle, AJ on the right. Emma and Jen in the background on the left.

Marc (the wuss!) hides in his car during the awards ceremony. He said it was to keep Noah warm. Uh huh. Sure!

Hanging out during the awards – Steve, Nicole, Mike, Me

Never got around to writing a blog post about it but I also ran the Ugly Mudder Trail race on Feb. 25, 2007. It was my first race in over 7 years (most of which I hadn’t run much at all). I’ve just started getting back into running consistently in the past few months. This one was a great motivator because it was so much fun. It definitely wasn’t a typical race. It was a race of shuffling, sliding on your butt, pulling yourself from tree to tree, and generally trying to stay vertical on 7.x miles of trail. We had gotten a foot of snow the week before. Then, during the week it got warm enough to melt and rain and then refreeze in time for the race. The trail had turned into a solid sheet of ice.

Most of us had a lot of fun helping each other to the finish. I’m not sure about how the people who left patches of blood on the trail felt about the race. I’ll spare you all the details but if you’re interested you can read a pretty accurate review of the Ugly Mudder on Cool Running.

Race director, Ron Horn, had it right. In his pre-race announcement he said that 10% of the runners in the Mt Penn Mudfest trail race would love it, 10% would hate it and never want to do it again, and 80% would think of it like prostate surgery – hate it during the event but glad they did it. I landed in the sick-o category of the 10% who loved it.

The Mt Penn Mudfest is a 15K (9.3 mile) running race through the woods of Mt Penn, east of Reading, PA. It’s been rated as the top trail race east of the Mississippi by Runner’s World. IMO, that’s definitely a justified review. While the race itself is just just like any other trail race – up and down mountains on a (mostly) single lane path, it’s got a few twists, such as:

• A water stop with marshmallow bunnies
• A “beverage” stop with beer and margaritas.
• A contest to carry a raw egg over the 9+ mile course without smashing it
• 4 (count ‘em – 4!) stream crossings where rock hopping is not an option. You get soaked up to your knees
• An Easter egg hunt along the trail (mostly for the front runners)
• A downed tree scramble that would rival playing Twister
• Climbing steep, wet, muddy banks by having the person behind you give you a boost up.
• Typical PA rocks strewn across the entire length of the trail making it a challenge to finish the course without a twisted ankle

Ok, so maybe it’s a little masochistic. But it’s a lot of fun. And apparently a lot of other people think so too…with runners from 20-25 other states in attendance along with a person from Switzerland.

And it’s definitely a digression from the ho-hum of daily life.