Li'l Rhody Week! Week of 11-11 to 11-17

Well!  Now that we've gotten the long run out of the way, it's time to focus on some shorter races and trail time, and specifically the 22nd Annual Li'l Rhody Runaround, hosted by the incredibly talented crew of the Westerly Track & Athletic Club...

Monday, 11-11 - 0 Miles.

Tuesday, 11-12 - 0 Miles.

Wednesday, 11-13 - 0 Miles...but I was able to get an hour of karate in, and install under the cabinet lighting in the kitchen, which looks awesome.  I also received an early birthday present from the girls...

Holy crap!!!

...and I'm speechless.  Well, not quite...so this is the newest, baddest-assed Garmin out there, and isn't supposed to even be released for at least another week or more...seriously, my wife said it wasn't due to be here until the second week of December!  So somebody at Amazon jumped the gun and shipped my gear out early, and thanks!!!  It even has Bluetooth, full wi-fi, and a synched heart rate monitor, and all kinds of other shit I'll have to try out.  And it's thin and light, and awesome.  I'm just really thrilled that I won't have that monstrous phone/armband tumor strapped to my arm anymore!!!  I hated that thing so much, you have no idea...get to try the space watch out tomorrow :)

Thursday, 11-14 - 3 Miles (Trail) - Lantern Hill 1st Space Watch run.  I.LOVE.IT.  Picked up a signal in five seconds, didn't drop once, and held its charge and was still almost 100% by the time I was done...oh yes, it's a very good thing to not have to deal with the phone, armband, etc...I was able to enjoy Lantern Hill today, take it fairly easy as it's my first run since the ultra, and get a good technical session in without the need for pushing...good stuff!  Easy data upload, too!  And a bonus, the new shoes I ordered came in this afternoon :)

1010v2 Trail - the fifth set of 1010s I've owned...

Ready to rock on Sunday!

Friday, 11-15 - 3 Miles (Trail) - Green Falls Pond loop.  Small window for a short run, and I wanted to try out the heart monitor for the Garmin.  I've never worn one, never checked to see what my heart rate is when I'm running, so I thought it'd be cool to try it out.  They pair the monitor with the watch at the factory, so I didn't have to do anything more than dampen the contact points and put it on.  Of course I chose a technical trail to try it out on!  It worked flawlessly, and my average heart rate during the run was 176, with a max of 191.  So although I averaged a 12 minute mile, I suppose I was working pretty good?  Great stats, and I love numbers, but I'm going to bank several runs before I really know how hard I'm working.  Like a flat run, flat trail run, hilly run, hilly trail run, etc., and at my max pace.  The monitor also measures cadence, vertical oscillation, and ground contact time?  TMI?  Or, if you love numbers and could review stats all day, total math porn...

Lots of hunters out, by the way...saw cars everywhere and I could hear a couple of them talking at one point near the trail, but never saw them.  Wear a crapload of orange if you're running in CT or RI, people!  Don't get mistaken for a deer...



Saturday, 11-16 - 1.5 Miles (Trail) - Hidden Lake/Yawgoog White Trails.  Scouts everywhere, camping, hiking, and it was great to see.  Unfortunately, it didn't translate to my designs on posting a good run at Hidden Lake.  I was moving along nicely, and got blocked by a small group at one point, and then 25 scouts on a hike shortly thereafter.  By the time the scoutmaster had them move aside to let me through, which was much appreciated, I was screwed for getting some good numbers.  No problem, though, I just wanted to get some trail time in, and I got my fix...

Sunday, 11-17 - 10+ Miles (Trail/Road) - 22nd Annual Li'l Rhody Runaround Trail Race (and Cooldown).  As I'm a part of pulling off a successful race with this, I loaded up the truck with wood and my gear, and headed down to Burlingame for the 22nd installment of this Rhody staple, and the first Triple Crown race in the new series.  Once we were set up, it was a solid stream of entries and we kept up, but just barely!  I already knew this would be the biggest and best Li'l Rhody ever, but damn!  Did we ever exceed our expectations...

I was working pre-registration until 5 minutes to the race, do the quick change, no warmup, and the large coffee I'd been nursing was doing its magic so I had to hit the portable, no matter what.  Jeff runs by and says, "They're not going to start until you're done...", no pressure, right?

I take care of business, and chug up the hill to 400+ runners chomping at the bit to get going.  High five some fast Hammetts, a Galoob, and maybe a Walker and other front line dudes, and I take my place about mid pack?  Talk to Beth and Mrs. "Action" and we're off!

I was chillin' at the beginning of the race, and looking to get a comfortable rhythm going.  I knew there'd be a bottleneck at the first trail, but no problem.  Chatted with John Hammett for a while, good stuff.  I got boxed in quite a bit, but was able to burst past people on wider sections of the trail when it allowed.  I was pretty much just looking to beat my time from last year, and I knew at halfway that I had that locked.  I kept passing people when it was practical, and passed a LOT of people on the hills, which I was pretty stoked about.  I'm lucky that I do hills enough on trails that I can pick up the pace on them, where most people slow down...hills are where it's at, y'all!

When we hit the roads for the final 3/4 mile to the finish, I kicked in what I had left, and had a sub-7 minute kick to the end!  Good enough for 141st of 440 runners at a 1:07, which is 5 minutes off last year's time.  I'll take it!  Decided to go back out and cheer all the runners still coming in and high-five everyone, and find Beth L. to run the last leg of her race with her.  Found her and we ran the final mile-ish to the finish, and had a great time getting there!  And icing on the cake, found out that Nicole finished her first marathon in Philly in 5:23!!!  Awesome!!!

Great day, and a great day for RI trail running and the WTAC!