Marathon Week! Week of 9-30 to 10-6

Time to toe the line (again), but this Sunday's race will be a bit different than the others this year.  Why?  26.2 miles.  In the woods.  With hills.  Coolest thing?  Jonny and Seth will be there, and will surely document my battered and broken carcass crawling across the finish line.  Both are seasoned trail runners, and of the 180 or so runners expected to attend, I'd expect them to put in a good showing.  I'm looking to shave over an hour off my time from last year, so if I go sub-5:15, I hit the goal.  Lower miles the first few days this week, then no runs at all on Thursday/Friday, and a very short run on Saturday...then it's go time!

Monday, 9-30 - A.M. - 3.5 Miles (Trails) - Pequot Woods, Mystic.  Close, right off 95, and not super hilly but has some very technical sections (i.e. lots of rock gardens), much like Nipmuck.  Good run at the pace I'd like to maintain...

Good day for a short run in the woods...

P.M. - 3.5 Miles (Trail/Roads) - Wheeler Trails and adjoining roads.  Just pokin' around, waiting for Soph's soccer practice to finish up...better than sitting on my ass in the car!

Tuesday, 10-1 - A.M. - 3 Hours (Surfing) - Finally!  Light offshore winds, sunny skies and a waist to chest high swell running at Matunuck...Lot was full when I rolled up, but I quickly ran into a bunch of people I knew, and paddled out at Trestles.  Quickly decided there were too many people on the peak, so I paddled down to Deep Hole and slayed about 20 quality waves, and got some super-long rides on the right there.  Great surf day, great exercise and it kept me from doing a long-ish run...

                         P.M. - 1 Mile (Trail) - Quick Sterling Cross Country trail before Soph's soccer game.  Holy crap, what a gorgeous school in the middle of rural Sterling, CT...I thought I'd pulled into a college campus!  Even their soccer field had a proper pitch?  With 10 minutes before game time, I wondered aloud if there were trails, and this 8 year old kid pipes up and says yes, there's a trail that runs all the way around the school.  Thanks, kid!  Short run, but nice trail.  Good hills in Sterling, too...

Wednesday, 10-2 - 2.5 Miles (Trail) - Green Falls loop (again).  Thankful that my "playground" lies within a State Park, and not a National Park...otherwise I'd have been out of luck, apparently.  Same thing applies to our race course this weekend, which is maintained by volunteers (like me!).  And oddly, 80 degrees on October 2?  Some dude took my Hidden Lake segment (not Muddy), and I'll be taking that back next week, along with my Cossaduck Hill segment, thank you very much!

That said, I'm still keeping my mileage down, but I did get a good technical run in today, slow and steady.  Good prep:



Thursday, 10-3 - 0 Miles - Spent the day chaperoning the Wheeler 6th grade science classes at the Assekonk Brook, looking for macroinvertebrate!  We found tons, including dragonfly nymph, stoneflies, mayflies, backswimmers, water striders, a leech, as well as a green frog and a bunch of crayfish!  I got to tromp around in the middle of a stream and help a bunch of excited kids get muddy and find creepy crawly things in the water, and use this as my reason to taper another day?  A win-win :)

Just hanging out, looking for critters during school hours...

Friday, 10-4 - 1.5 Miles (Trail Hike) - Hidden Lake and more, hike with my wife and the dog.  I finally got her out on a trail, and she loved it!!!  So stoked, and she wants to go for more hikes...Great day for it, too, and I thought the foliage would be great at Hidden Lake (it was), so we made the 10 minute trip out.  Looped the lake, and then went down the Narragansett Trail just a bit...

Me and the dogg...

One of the awesome footbridges at Hidden Lake

Hidden Lake, calm and colorful

Saturday, 10-5 - 3 miles (Road) - Easy run with Jim in Westerly.  Jim's 40th birthday is today, and I wanted a last little short run before tomorrow's festive romp in the woods, so I met him down at his place and we had a nice, conversational pace run, and even stopped at our old karate school to say hello to some friends.  Good, relaxed run, and now it's all about tomorrow.  In the afternoon, Lori and I went to Rhode Runner (Cool shop!) so I could grab a few things, including a new handheld with a 10oz flask that I think I might use for the first out/back (12 miles).  Should be more than enough, then I'll either switch over to the CamelBak or stick with the flask.  I think that it's a lot more efficient for me to carry as little extra weight as possible, so this might be my weapon of choice tomorrow.  I also grabbed a new pair of running shorts, a shirt and some GUs.  Thanks to Eric Lonergan, local cool fast dude, for the gift card.  It made my day!

Sunday, 10-6 - 30th Annual Nipmuck Marathon...report to follow!

Marathon Training Week 7! Week of 9-23 to 9-29

So I guess I'm supposed to taper at this point?  Legs feel pretty good, and I'm running shorter distances, but faster and some on very technical trails.  Decided to skip the St. Michael's race in favor of a big family breakfast.  We also got a new Breville juicer and have been making a lot of fresh juice with it - store bought stuff doesn't even come close.  I think my wife even took the left over sludge from it and did some sort of compost with it in the garden...

Monday, 9-23 - 3 Miles - Wheeler Cross Country trails.  Easy run through the woods behind the ball fields, faster last quarter mile...nice day!



Tuesday, 9-24 - 1.2 Miles (Road) - Sprague short run before Sophia's first middle school soccer game.  I had scoped out this tiny town outside Norwich, and it looked as though there was a reservoir with trails not even a half-mile away.  Alas, it took way too long for me to get everything done at the house and get up there, so I basically had a 10 minute window to do something.  Quick out and back on roads, but a much faster last half that felt good:



And the girls won 7-1!  Great job, and a solid performance in their first game...

Sophia giving me her "Oh, Dad!" look...

Have to get out on some technical trails tomorrow if possible...

Wednesday, 9-25 - 3 Miles (Trail, Road, Track) - Wheeler.  Started on the Wheeler CC trails, hit the roads behind, and finished up with 200's on the dirt/gravel track.  Interesting mix...



Thursday, 9-26 - 4.4 Miles (Trails) - Pachaug and Pharisee Trails, Sterling CT.  Another piece of blu blazed trail goodness.  Started with a collectively descending trail to Porter Pond, then back to the start, cross the street and ascend the rarely-used-by-runners Pharisee (Pronounced "Far I See") trail, past an active beaver lodge to the summit, which was a collection of large boulders, cave-ish holes...heard a bit of movement, and I had the distinct vibe that I was being watched, or more specifically, stalked.  Turned around and hauled ass outta there, but I have to wonder: was it just me?  I only got that feeling one other time, in all the trail runs I've done, and there have been quite a few solo trail runs...but a cool trail nonetheless, heebie-jeebies aside:

Start of this trail section, and spider free!

Friday, 9-27 - 2.5 Miles (Trails) - Green Falls Pond loop, clockwise.  Cool day, and nobody around, and a quick window for a run at my favorite playground, Green Falls...technical, scenic and a good place to start a short or long trail run.  I completed the loop in just over 30 minutes with a pretty good effort.  Sub-30 next time out, and will have to create a segment for the loop, as I'd lean toward this as a shorter, more intense course, especially with the technicality of it...



Thought I'd add this in:  although I'm running only my fourth marathon-distance race ever in just over a week, I oddly haven't been nervous at all...I'm not super-competitive except with myself, and I know I have last year's time beat.  I've about tripled my mileage from last year, and have done enough long runs to feel comfortable with this distance, and the technical trail running and hills I've done leaves me with no hesitation there either.  I've run the course.  Know the course, and how to run it.  Mentally, I know where I hit the Wall, and I think I can get over it.  I had a game plan for Surftown and it worked, I have a game plan for Nipmuck as well...gonna enjoy the Hell outta the day, and run the 30th Annual Nipmuck Marathon the best I can :)

Saturday, September 28 - 6 Miles (Roads) - Local home 6 mile loop.  I wasn't able to make the group run this morning, but I was able to get a lot done around the house, spend the day with my girls, and sneak out for a short run in the afternoon.  I did the 6 mile loop from the house today, one of the shorter loops available to me in the sticks.  Good hills, and I picked up three Strava trophy thingies, so the effort was pretty good as well.  Muddy has the CR on the Gypsy Woods segment, and I'm sure he was just out for a stroll, but my new best time is 20 seconds behind his...I can't even begin to imagine the swift and horrible retribution that will rain down if I ever take a segment from him (or Jonny, or any of you other cats out there)...but I'm getting closer :)



Sunday, 9-29 - 0 Miles - Family Day!  Spent a gloriously lazy morning with the family unit, got some things done around the house and ate and watched football all day, and visited with my mother and father-in-law.  Ate a lot!  Sophia made lasagna yesterday, so I've been gorging on that since last night...love to have a daughter who loves to cook - she's making spinach pies as we speak :)

Marathon Training Week 6! Trails, trails and trails!!! Week of 9-16 to 9-22

I have no races planned for two weeks!  So I get to hit the trails again, and rock some Nipmuck prep...I've most likely mentioned to the two or three people who read this that my training for the trail marathon last year was shit.  This year?  My mileage is way up, I'm doing longer runs more regularly, and feel much more confident about this year's race.

Monday, 9-16 - 3-ish Miles (Mostly Trail) - Easy run at Wheeler.  Getting to know the small network of trails there, and have a good rapport with the coaches of the cross country teams and their students, who see me out running on the trails pretty much every day.  I did interrupt four high school kids smoking pot during my run, but what do you expect when you're standing on the main trail between the soccer fields and a large subdivision?  Dummies...



Tuesday, 9-17 - 3.2 Miles (Trails/Road finish) - Lantern Hill quickie.  Wanted to get a bit more from a short workout today, before my daughter's practice wrapped up, so I hit Lantern Hill, which can't be beat for intensity.  Good stuff.  Fast run down the hill back to the car.  Gorgeous day, too:

Lake level to this vantage point...could see the Block today!

Wednesday, 9-18 - 3+ Miles (Trail/Road Mix) - Wheeler trails and quick spin through NoSto village.  The high school soccer team had a game, which derailed my plans to do some track work, so I took a run down to the village to see if the bridge was almost done being repaired...and hey, it's open!  And still tacky as I found out, my shoes sticking a bit with every step as I crossed the fresh asphalt...

Thursday, 9-19 - 6.5 Miles (Trails/Dirt Track) - Arcadia Trails for five miles, then a short 1.5 mile dirt track workout at Wheeler.  Great day to get lost in the woods, right?  Started at the Arcadia entrance, and went up a dirt service road and took a left on the Mount Tom trail.  Ended up getting lost on unmarked trails, but eventually found my way back.  Fortunate to have two things:  GPS with real-time mapping on the Strava app, and a busy state road so I was close enough to hear cars as I got closer.  Good fun!


Had a 20 minute window before my daughter's soccer practice let out, so I did some loops on their dirt and gravel track, and four 200m fast, 200m slow loops:



Friday, 9-19 - 6+ Miles (Trails) - Tippecansett Trail from Beach Pond.  Jim joined me for this, perfect day for a run.  About a half mile up the trail we come across two state troopers and an Exeter police officer?  After exchanging greetings, they ask if we run here a lot.  I said that I did, and they pulled out a missing persons sheet, with a picture of this dude from New Haven who went missing two months ago.  Creepy, except that he's been seen hanging out at the Beach Pond parking lot, so at least I'm not going to happen across a body out in the woods.  They gave me a flyer and we continued on our way.  Funniest thing?  I run into cops in the middle of the woods, and the very first thing I did was pause Strava, and as I'm pausing it I'm thinking "Yep, you're that guy..."  All in all, a good run, saw three more deer and took a shot of the Tippecansett Pond:

I see some leaves changing!

Saturday, 9-21 - 0 Miles - Hadn't taken a zero in over a week, and the house and yard needed some tending to...good call!

Sunday, 9-22 - 13 Miles (Roads) - Local NoSto run with hills.  After it rained all night and into this morning, I scrapped my trail running plans and waited until the Sun was trying to come out.  Was also feeling kind of lazy, until my wife said "You should go for a run.  Otherwise, you'll be a handful later..."  Me???  A handful?  I'm so low maintenance it's absurd...but apparently I'm fidgety if I haven't run.  I'd wanted to do 10-15 miles, and ended up splitting the difference with a run that gave me more elevation than the entire Nipmuck course, but in half the distance.  I've done technical and non-technical trails this week, and a long-ish run on roads, and feel good about my training.  Used the CamelBak today and almost drained it, and stopped at about mile 7 and took a GU, which I have to remember to take.  I also have to decide on the CamelBak, or the waist pack with flasks for the race.  It's 4 miles or so between aid stations, so I could forgo the backpack, but it's actually more comfortable than the waist pack?  Problem is, it has a very small pocket for gels and whatnot...I'll keep playing with the two for the next couple weeks and make a decision.



I also saved another two snapping turtles today!  One was the size of a half-dollar, the other was bigger and had moss on his shell.  He wasn't as happy to be rescued from the road...

Dude!  Just trying to help!!!

3rd Annual Surftown Half Marathon

15+ Miles (Roads) - Warmup/Race

Results below:

2011 - 2:12:04 @10:05 avg., #587 of 818
2012 - 1:56:10 @  8:52 avg., #496 of 1261

2013 - 1:43:31 @ 7:55 avg.,  #194 of 1613!

Huge PR, and Strava clocked me at 1:42:22, even better!  Half hour better than two years ago.  I was still at my house having a cup of coffee when Mike B. texted me to say that the traffic getting to Misquamicut was already backed up.  I decided to go the back way in, and drive down to the beach club we go to.  When I hit Atlantic Ave. and saw the traffic, I decided to park at Seaside and run the 2+ miles to the race start as my warmup.  Smart move, I think!

Got to the start line with 5 minutes to spare, and ran into a bunch of WTAC singlets lined up in front!  Everyone chatted for a minute, we wished each other luck, and I lined up close to where I thought I should be.  I'd written my "per kilometer" goal time on my hand, and the 1:45 pace leader was four rows ahead of me, so I figured this into my game plan:  Catch up to the 1:45 dude, pass him, and don't see him again for the rest of the race.

I see Beth, and go over to chat with BLS and her friend Monica, and see my friend Kenny, who waited too late to register and ran it as a fun run (and did it in 1:42?).  Gun goes off, and I'm literally standing there, then walking, then moving past the timing mat.  I kept the 1:45 pace leader in my sights and caught him at 1.5 miles and said hello.  I told him my game plan and he says "Oh, you need to catch the other 1:45 pace guy up ahead, he's going for 1:44 and if you pass him, you're gonna PR for sure.  Took me another 3 miles, but I caught him and said hello, and remarked that I wasn't going to see him again...I didn't.  Saw Leanne Noonan at mile 5, and ran backwards for a second for a photo op:

"not being an idiot during races might get my time lower, but wouldn't be nearly as much fun..."

Nothing really eventful happened after that, other than I saw John Hammett senior at the bottom of the "Hill" in Watch Hill, cheering the runners on!  Nice to see, and nice to see so many people out cheering the runners on, and early on a Sunday!  No sign of Taylor Swift, she must have slept in :)

My pace remained so steady it was ridiculous.  My running app usually chirps out my splits, but I didn't have the volume up, so I relied on how I felt, rather than how my phone was telling me I was doing.  I'm not fast, but I pretty much knew exactly how I was doing the entire race, which is another sign of progress...

Chilled post-race with WTAC'ers Seth "Action" Acton, Ryan and Leanne, had some chowda (served by Jana!), and basked in the post-race glow.  Muddy won???  He was giving interviews like a rockstar...

Ryan Woolley took third behind an Olympic runner?  Jeff 6th???  Seth 13th, Matthew 26th in his first Half at 13 years old, and Mike B. 30th of 1600+ after knee surgery in April???  Beth rocks a 2:19 and finished fast enough that I couldn't snap a picture from the sidelines...This was a great day for running, for sure.  Ryan Noonan ran his first Half Marathon in 1:48, as a warmup for the New York City Marathon, where he'll be running to raise scholarship funds for kids with Type 1 diabetes.  Cool...

So an awesome day!  The weather was perfect, huge crowd, great WTAC turnout, and we had fun!  I'll be posting pictures soon to the Facebook page, sent by Leanne, and setting up for our next race!  Trail training runs, here I come...look out, Nipmuck!

Surftown Half! Marathon Training Week 5...9-9 to 9-15

Here we go again!  September is here and that means cooler temps, and longer runs, leading up to much longer races.  Our calendar is now highlighted with a half marathon this weekend, a full trail marathon in four weeks, and an ultra marathon four weeks after that...and some shorter races sprinkled in for good measure.  Didn't I say I was lowering the number of races I was doing in 2013???  I'm at 21 now, with at least 6 more on the schedule???

This will be the third year of the Surftown Half.  I ran this as my very first half marathon two years ago, and ran it again last year, results below:

2011 - 2:12:04 @10:05 avg., #587 of 818
2012 - 1:56:10 @  8:52 avg., #496 of 1261

Since then I set my PR at the Ocean's Run at a 1:49, but I think I can do better this weekend.  I have a game plan, carefully crafted, and I plan on sticking to it for better or worse.  I talked to Gazelle today and he seemed to be in agreement, but game day is always a fickle and evolving thing...and my goal?  Getting those 9 minutes shaved off the 1:49, which is possible but pushing it?  But it's a goal, and I have to have a goal for these types of races...looking forward to it, though!  Big WTAC group going to this, can't wait!!!

Monday, 9-9 - 5 Miles (Trail/Road Mix) - Wheeler trails, local roads.  Soph's at soccer, so I run.  Started with a short run on the trails, then skipped around the neighborhood behind the school, into the village, and back onto the trails to complete the run.  Added a 200M sprint (for me) on the dirt track, and felt good, especially with the weather in the upper 60s...perfecto!



Tuesday, 9-10 - 3 Miles (Beach) - Charlie Stavros Beach Run.  Ran from Westerly Town Beach to breachway with Leanne N. to set turnaround cone, cheer and take pictures, then walk/jog back to the start of the Charlie Stavros Memorial "On the Beach" run.  Charlie Stavros was a WTAC member, fast local runner, owner of an epic handlebar moustache and avid supporter of the local scene, who tragically passed away during a race some years ago.  This race has been run for over 30 years, and was named in his honor after his passing.  I didn't have the honor of meeting him, but he sounded like a very cool guy based on the kind words and enthusiasm from our locals for running a race in his name.

I showed up for the race feeling good, but not particularly ready to race, as I've got the Surftown on my mind...Jeff needed a "Conemaster" (my term!) to work the turnaround on the out-and-back, so I volunteered, along with Westerly track coach Leanne.  Nice easy run to the halfway point, got to chat about running, training, her husband Ryan's fundraising for T1 diabetes (fundraiser link below, and a truly great cause), and local stuff.  Cool.  What's also cool is seeing runners over a mile down the beach, and being able to identify some of them as they approached by their stride/style.  Everyone's a snowflake, right?  I knew FiveK and Chris G. would be out front, but I could see a third runner with them...hey, is that Mike G.???  Sure enough, and the three of them looked smooth at the turn...

Lead group approaching, what a great night for a run!

Chris G., swinging wide at the turn

FiveK and Mike G.

I'm actually glad that I didn't race?  Did I say that?  I don't often get to spectate and cheer runners on, and I had a great evening meeting some new people and touching base with some others I hadn't seen in a while.  Was able to snap quite a few pictures at the race, and some came out pretty nice, in spite of the odd lighting and angle of the Sun.  Good stuff.  Should have some posted on the WTAC Facebook page soon.  After the last runner made the turn, we made our way back to the pavilion, and paid tribute to Charlie Stavros and his family, who were in attendance, and announced the winners of the race.  Great way to cap off the Tom McCoy series, and I received four membership renewals for the club, and some-body, who goes by BLS, is now our newest WTAC member!!!  Awesome!  Can't wait to send out her welcome letter :)

Gorgeous sunset, as we wrapped up the summer running season:

Sunset over 'Squammy...

Ryan's fundraising website, raising camp tuition money for kids with Type 1 diabetes so they can go to a camp with other kids who share the same disease, to learn about it and share their experiences, and have fun at the same time!  Here's the link to Ryan's website:

http://diabetic-cyclist.weebly.com/nyc-marathon-fundraiser.html

Wednesday, 9-11 - 3.5 Miles (Roads) - Local roads, 80+ degrees and 70+ dewpoint.  Sweatfest this morning.  I knew it was going to be ridiculous today, so I went for a short run before karate class.  Drenched would describe me after the first 10 minutes?  Dewpoint in the upper 70s???  Did some pole-to-pole speedwork (just a little), and finished fast, but didn't have much more than that.  Had to outrun the skeeters though, there's EEE-positive mosquitoes in my 'hood...Karate was bruising and awesome.  Great workouts.  Looking forward to cooler temp this weekend for Surftown...

Thursday, 9-12 - 2 Miles (Trail/Dirt Track) - Short spin at Wheeler while waiting for soccer practice to finish.  SURF!!!  After a horrifically long flat spell, I checked the buoys this morning and there was fresh chest high groundswell filling in, so I headed out to Point Judith.  Surfed Conant Ave. for three hours with a handful of people out, so stoked to get back in the water, felt great!  Headed home, changed up and went to pick Sophia up from practice, and did a short trail run, and dipped my toe into some track work.  Out here in the sticks, it's a dirt/gravel track, but it was fun to go slow for half, fast for half.  Can't wait for this front to move through, though, and cool things off!  Too muggy out there...



Friday, 9-13 - 0 Miles Running, 3 Hours Surfing - Headed to Point Judith again, and what's this?  The wind has gone completely slack, and there's waist to chest glassy waves coming in at Conant Ave. with NOBODY OUT.  Miracle!  Ended up trading waves for over an hour with some dude on a shortboard, and my nephew came down from college to meet me.  Great day, and it never got crowded.  Arms were jello when I got out, and I had a rock embedded in my middle right toe, under the skin???  I'd jumped off a wave, and when I landed, my foot scraped the rocks on the ocean floor.  Waited till I got home to dig it out.  Small, just a pebble, but bled pretty good!

Saturday, 9-14 - 2.5 Miles (Roads) - Pre-Surftown Shakeout, Westerly.  Went down to pick up my race packet for Surftown, and possibly meet up with Mike B. (who was gone minutes before me).  Steady stream of people coming and going, as this is now a sold out event at 1800 runners, and that's just for the Half Marathon...hey, who's that working the shirt pickup?  Muddy Puddin'???  I'll take a medium, my good sir!

Decided on a short "shake the nerves out" run downtown, not because I'm nervous about the race (really not!  I was pooping myself two years ago for this, my first half, but now it's a regular distance I do so I'm not concerned with finishing or performing poorly); rather, I have a goal in mind and I'm nervous about not hitting it.  I'll have fun either way, but I want to hit my target.  If you see me with strange numbers written on my hands on race day, there you go...my target time reminders...

Pre-race Bling!  BLS would approve :)

This times 21 gets me to my goal...

Sunday, 9-15 - 15+ Miles (Road) - Surftown Half Marathon, and a huge PR.  Separate post shortly...

NK5K! September 7, 2013

So here's how it went down:

Met Tommy at his place and we made the 40 minute drive over to the North Kingstown High School, where the race starts/finishes.  Tommy had never run this before but he'd done his homework, knew the basic layout of the course and that there were some fast dudes in previous years.  We talked about training, upcoming races and stuff on the ride up.  I'd done this race the last two years, and after we got our swag and headed out for a warmup, I suggested we run the back end of the course.  We ran the last mile reversed, and I pointed out the slight rise in the last mile, but the slight downhill for the finish, as well as the hard turn at the finish, which would be a factor at his pace.  I think it helped...results here:

http://www.runrhody.com/resultsTCDisplay2.php?res=38

Here's the deal with this race:  It's incredibly well organized, great spread, awesome tech shirt, and this year?  I'm not really a fan, but local Hope Valley resident and country star Billy Gilman came out and belted out possibly the best National Anthem I've ever heard.  Seriously fantastic.  Then, as we're all looking around saying "That was awesome!", it's go time!

Here's where I get to the boring details, and the coolness:  My mile/km splits?  Almost identical (see Strava link below), and I'm not kidding, they were within seconds...the only time that I actually lost time was at the beginning, when I got boxed in.  Tommy was right, line up at the front.  I was two rows back at the start and still needed to be further up???  OK.  Got it.  Lesson not learned, as I do the same thing almost every time, unless Way Hedding is there to drag me up front.  He's like a reverse heckler...so I passed people the whole race, and felt good the first mile, so-so the second, and good the third...some speedwork would have got me sub 21:00?  I ended at 21:36, but the course ran long, and my GPS had me at 21:11 for the 5K, which either way is a PR, and over 3 minutes off last year's result!  What"s next???

Post-race, I find out FiveK came in third at 16:57, one second behind Kevin O'Neil, who's a pretty cool dude...Our own WTAC board member John Hammett came in at 24:22 and sealed 1st in his age bracket!  I'd set up a WTAC team category, and although there were no team awards, the three of us took the team category!

Team WTAC at the NK5K!

Post event:  I'm standing with Tommy, and I see Eric Lonergan, winner of the race, collecting his prize and coming down toward us.  Eric's a fantastic runner, and I've said great job to him after several races.  Today, I say "Eric, great race today," and he stops to chat with Tommy and I.  Quick recap of our results, and then Eric says "Did you win anything?"  Well no, I just PR'd, so I have that...so Eric, being classy and cool like that, pulls out his winner's prize (A $100 gift card to Rhode Runner), and says he'd like me to have it.  I'm still floored.  Class act, for sure.  Our local scene is like that.

Tommy and I shared a complimentary beer at Gillian's Ale House in NK after the race, and enjoyed every minute of the atmosphere...great group, runners everywhere, and good band and awesome bartenders!  Perfect day!

Marathon Training Week 4 - Week of 9-2 to 9-8

Another week down, another week closer to the Nipmuck Marathon.  Most of my training is going to take place on trails for the next month, with some minor exceptions, and preferably on trails that are technically more difficult than the Nipmuck course...

I was supposed to go to a friend's wedding in Ohio this coming weekend, but due to the high cost of plane tickets, my wife is going solo.  That said, since I'm not going, I decided to sign up for the NK5K, which I've done twice before.  Tommy FiveK and I are carpooling to this race, which is flat, fast and in need of some PR setting.  My previous results are listed below:

2011 - 174/532     28:09 @ 9:04 avg.

2012 - 103/522     24:40 @ 7:57 avg.
2013 - ???            2*:** @ 6:** ???

Monday, 9-2 - 7 Miles (Trail/Dirt Roads) - Tippecansett/Deep Pond/Dye Hill/Pachaug loop, Arcadia Management Area.  This loop starts off fairly benign along the lake, then gets twisty, hilly and technical, before ending on a dirt road and briefly hitting pavement.  Very humid still, and raining just a bit.  Very cool trails here, and we did go off trail a couple of times but weren't super lost, just sort of lost...heard some rushing water off the trail at one point, decided to explore a bit and found an awesome campsite somebody had set up next to a stream, complete with  stone benches and firepit, overlooking a series of small waterfalls.  Never would have known it was there, and only 50 feet off the trail.  Photos of today's trail coolness below:

Trippy 'shrooms, man...going to collect this tomorrow :)

Misty morning on Beach Pond

Rhode Island???

50 feet off trail.  Campsite/firepit is behind the stone wall...

Off trail.  Love it...

P.M. - Trip through torrential rain and traffic-clogged I-95 to get Soph some soccer gear, and I was able to wrangle a quick pit stop at Waterford Wine and Spirit, home of one of the best darn selections of beer anywhere, and look what's in stock!  Delicious...I've mentioned before that I don't normally like fruit or spices or any unusual additions like that to beer, but Dogfish Head pretty much nails the balance on all their limited-release stuff...

Great way to start the week!

Tuesday, 9-3 - 2 Miles (Trail) - 2 super short runs.  First, I ran out to collect the mushroom I photographed yesterday, as I was told it's a special "Chicken of the Woods" mushroom, highly prized by mushroom fanatics and supposed to be delicious when prepared properly.  Gone when I got there, and whoever took it, took it right down to the bark.  Bummer.  I'll know for next time, I guess...

Raced over to the middle school in blinding rain, only to find out that the soccer tryout meeting had moved indoors.  So I'm milling around, waiting for them to finish, and the rain lets up a bit.  I notice a dirt track out by the soccer field, and see one of the coaches doing some paperwork, so I ask if it's okay if I do some laps.  We get to talking and it turns out he's the Wheeler cross country coach.  THEN he tells me there's a whole network of trails just into the woods?  Really?  Suddenly waiting for my daughter's practice to get out every day isn't going to be so bad!  I did a very short run in the rain to check it out, and they're nice trails, super runnable and just enough technical stuff to make it challenging.  Best thing that happened all day!

Wednesday, 9-4 - 0 Miles - Got a call from a friend who owns a landscape company, who was shorthanded and was looking for some help.  So, I spent the day getting filthy, whacking weeds and helping a friend.  Good day.

Thursday, 9-5 - 2.5 Miles (Trails) - Hewitt property trails and local roads.  Had a small window of opportunity before my daughter/nephew's extra-super-early dismissal (11a.m. for the middle school? 12 for the elem.?  Really?), so I hit the Hewitt Farm, just around the corner from the schools.  Got viciously stung by a hornet on my calf, but otherwise had an enjoyable romp around the property...



Friday, 9-6 - 3+ Miles (Trails) - Wheeler Trails behind the schools.  More exploring while Soph finished up her soccer practice, which is 5 days a week and means that I'll be spending lots of time on these trails.  Even the cross country team knows me on sight now (and they have one kid who's ridiculously fast), so I'm some random dude running in the woods behind the school.  I even chatted with the CC coaches, cool dudes.  Next up?  Carpool in the morning and the NK5K with Tommy FiveK, should be awesome!



Saturday, 9-7 - 6 Miles (Roads) - NK5K warmup/race/cooldown.  Separate write-up to follow...