Day 48 - Monday Monday

No sun and a little bit of wind made for one of the coldest walking days of the year so far. Today my walk was cut short which I didn't care because I got to see my two little ones on my walk and it made the day go by real quick. It is amazing what a boost that can give you the rest of the day.

The legs felt sore today. I think it was from running in the snow over the weekend. It does take some time getting use to running in the snow. The feet/legs are always landing and slipping a different way. My legs did feel better after my walk and should be good to go after work.

My run tonight started around 6. Taking off at a nice pace I hit the first mile around a 7:30 pace. For the rest of the run I was trying to stay right around an 8 min. pace just by feel. I try only looking at my watch when it beeps every mile so I can learn to run that pace by feel. As of right now an 8 min. pace on the road around here feels very comfortable for 8 to 10 miles with not feeling like I am going too fast. I can’t do that every day but a couple times a week feels good.

It looks like some icy weather for tomorrow and should be interesting to see what happens. Below are a couple of pics from some cool ice runs I had a few years ago. Hopefully I can get some more shots of some ice after this storm.

Schuylkill River/Little Schuylkill run together in Port Clinton

Appalachian Trail on the Buzzard Course

Top of mountain on Buzzard Course

1-17-2011 - 2.4 miles - 33:55 - walk
1-17-2011 - 10 miles - 1:19:37 - run

Day 47 - Port Clinton Fire Tower

I got a text last night from my friend Dan asking if I ever thought about running up the road to the Port Clinton fire tower. I responded yes and it is a 5k up to the top. Not thinking he was serious about running it, but he was, that is where we ran today. He picked me up around 1 p.m. and we were on our way. I was planning on using this hill as a training hill but I never made it over to run on it. The hill climbs up for the first 1.4 miles then levels off the rest of the way to the fire tower. The road was plowed but at some spots the snow was a little tricky running through. After making it up to the fire tower we ran on on a nice trail that was a public snowmobile trail. That went down for over a mile until we hit the road. From there it is a quarter mile of black top to the trail.  The next trail runs along the Little Schuylkill River up to the Rat Trail. The Rat Trail runs along the middle of the mountain and was all flat single track. Once we were off of the Rat Trail we only had .30 mile back down to the car. The sun was out the whole run and no wind. Another great day with a friend on the trail.

Above is a pic at the start of the run

Port Clinton - Weiser Forest entrance

Port Clinton Fire Tower - Built in 1923

Crazy Trees

Little Schuylkill River

Trail along the Little Schuylkill River 

Dan running down the road to the finish

1-16-2011 - 10.30 miles - 2:01 - run

Day 46 - Sand Springs/Tom Lowe

The day started out by driving out to Shartlesville to run with about 15 Pagoda Pacers at 8:30 a.m. The course was a 5 mile loop. Starting on the Sand Springs trail and back the Tom Lowe trail. The Sand Spring trail already had footprints on which made the footing a little easier than blazing a new trail through the rocks. We passed three hunters today. Two of them had there wife or girlfriend with them. I thought that was pretty cool that they could share the experience with them even if it looked like they didn't want to be there. Once we hit the Tom Lowe trail it had some downhill and that is where the real fun started. The trail had only animal tracks on at the start and you could move along in the snow at a faster pace until we hit some of the steeper downhill rocky sections. Finishing just over 70 minutes another runner wanted to run a little extra and we headed back up a dirt road. He dropped me right away and I only added about an extra mile he went a little further. I said good by to everyone and headed back to Hamburg. The map of the loop we did today is below.



From there I drove right to the Hamburg Reservoir to get a couple more miles in. I would of ran more on the Sand Springs and Tom Lowe trails but with all the hunters I thought I should leave there since I made it out alive. I got my pack on and was getting ready to run when I looked over and there was my friend Al. We ran to the top of the mountain together and I went to get some pictures at Pulpit Rock and Al went to finish his run. After snapping a couple pics I jumped on the AT to the red trail, then down the blue trail and back to the parking lot. I ran into the hiker that yelled to me in the dark the other night after I was on the blue trail. He was out hiking with his dog again getting ready for his trip next month out to Yellowstone for some XC Skiing. Sounds like an awesome trip to do someday.

The view from Pulpit Rock

The view from Pulpit Rock

The view from Pulpit Rock

The view near the Appalachian Trail

The view near the Appalachian Trail

A side trail off the blue trail

A side trail off the blue trail

The wife and children went over to her parents to go sledding and for her dad's 70th birthday party. I decided to run over to get some more time on my feet and then go sledding. It was nice to open up the legs on the road after running in the snow earlier in the day. I was about a mile away from the sled hill and I could see little specks(sledders) in the field. I just made it there for the last sled run of the day. What a great way to finish the run by flying down the hill on a sled.

1-15-2011 - 6.25 miles - 1:12 - run
                    5 miles - 1:00 - run
                    8.2 miles - 1:06 - run

Day 45 - Ready for the weekend

I went for a longer walk today and got to see some wildlife. As I was walking over a hill a deer stood there watching me. This area looks like a place that cars would have some close calls with the deer crossing. I got one pic and the deer turned around and ran the other way. The walks are going a lot better and I think my cold is 97% gone. Just a little over a 13 min. mile and it felt great.

There should be a deer crossing sign here!

The Appalachian Trail runs along the top of the mountain in the middle.

No running tonight for me. It seems like Fridays are the day to take off from running. Taking a day off here are there are a good way to recharge and keep running fresh for me. The family and I did some shoe shopping and then supper at Subway.


1-14-2011 - 3 miles - 39:20 - walk

Day 44 - Cold and Beautiful

The day started cold and with another beautiful sunrise. I guess any morning you see the sunrise or sunset it is a good thing. I never really paid any attention to things like the sunrise, sunset, moon, stars as much as I do these days. Now I can’t get enough of them.

The wind chill was at 11 ° with the sun at full blast when I left for my walk. The roads were very slushy and slippery. I am just waiting for a car to drive by and soak me when I am out there. So far no one had that kind of luck. It would look pretty funny getting back to the office soaking wet covered in slush. Maybe with some of the snow melting it will be a little more solid tonight on the trail then it was last night. I picked a comedy station to listen today on my walk and it had me laughing out loud. Some of the older Robbin Williams stand up routines are great.

The jet looked like it was going to hit the moon!

Tonight I headed back on the trail. A couple cars in the parking lot with two hikers finishing there day. I wanted to hit the red trail knowing that after last night no one was on it. First tracks on a trail are hard to find a couple days after a good snow. The trail is only a mile from the parking lot but I wanted to get there before dark. Luckily the dirt road was plowed so running was a little faster than last night. Since there is a phone tower at the top of the mountain someone plows to the top. Thats right a mile and a half of plowing to the top just for a phone tower. When I got to the red trail I thought I would try to get some video and I posted it below. A little grainy because of it getting dark but not to bad. It was a little slippery and with no real base down the rocks were still and issue. From there I hopped on the Appalachian Trail and ran up to Pulpit Rock. The footing is better since some of the snow melted. The view was very clear and the moon was creating a lot of shadows. On my way down I stop to listen to how quiet it was. With no wind you could hear a pin drop. By this time it is dark and while I am heading down to my car someone yells. I turned around real quick. The guy didn't have a light so I never saw him. He wanted to let me know that his dog was ahead of me. I started to wonder how many things I run by in the mountain at night that are watching me and I never know they are there. Hmmmmm.



1-13-2011 - 2.8 miles - 38:20 - walk
1-13-2011 - 4.50 miles - 58:00 - run

Day 43 - Snow finally

Today started with a great workout – shoveling snow. I was out there around 5 a.m. and loving it. I got a whole hour of it before I went to work. It was just a different way to start my day. I wish I would love to get up at that time everyday and working out but I never can manage to do that. Snow just drives me to be outdoors. I guess if I would get over 500 inches a year like some parts of Utah maybe I would get sick of it but not here.

Today the walk was windy and the weather channel said it feels like 15 ° but it didn’t feel like it. I am really getting use to the colder weather now. Being in it every day and dressing the right way for it makes a big difference. Today I saw a hawk flying into the wind just looking down at me until the wind blew harder and he flew with the wind. I was a little late with the camera so no picture of that.

Tonight I drove up to the Hamburg Reservoir instead of running there. The sides of the roads at night are not that safe with all of the snow. About a half mile from the parking lot is where the Appalachian Trail crosses. There was only two tracks going up to the top and it was slow moving. With 4 to 5 inches of snow you have to lift your legs a lot higher and the snow was light, fluffy and slippery. I was moving along at a regular pace and when I hit the top I was about 7 or 8 minutes slower with the snow and it took a lot more work. These are the conditions that will make you stronger in your spring trail or road races. My speed will be put off when running in the mountains for now but the strength and endurance I will take advantage of.

1-12-2011 - 2.8 miles - 37:47 - walk
1-12-2011 - 4 miles - 55:00 - run

Day 42 - Snow Geese

Today I could feel that snow was on its way. I could not wait to get out and run in it. On my way back from my walk I could hear a large group of snow geese right above my. They were really high and could barely see them. They blended right in with the clouds. I tried to take some pics of them with my phone. They were not the best pics because I could not zoom in on them. I changed the photo to black and white and then you could see the birds better.

Snow Geese

After I got home I really want to wait until the snow was on the ground to run. When 9 p.m. rolled around I was really tired and I think the 50k is finally catching up to me. Little aches and pains here and there I thought I should take the night off. Trust me this is not what I wanted to do but I have a long way to go and I can’t get injured or sick trying to do to much. The body needs some rest.

1-11-2011 - 2.8 miles - 37:03 - walk

Day 41 - Calm before the storm

I am like a little kid waiting for it to snow and yes I will be bummed if we don't get the snow that might happen. Being in the mountain with deep snow all around is just a feeling like no other. I was running with a friend the other week and we were talking about anything and everything and skiing came up in the conversation. He said do you like running or skiing better? I replied there is nothing like skiing and no other sport I ever did comes close to it but running in it is close. I only went out skiing a hand full of times in the last couple of years. Time, cost and running got in the way. Right before my wife and I had children I was skiing over 50 days a year. I will get back into it someday since the children are asking more about it. Floating down a trail with a foot or more of powder is amazing and just thinking about I want to go now!

Today on my walk I was thinking about running in the snow that might be arriving tomorrow. Once the snow starts falling I will be out there in it. Last year was a great training year with the deep snow. I did a lot of power hiking because we were forced to until we could run on the trails. The snow was so deep and you had to lift your legs so high. It was a lot of work but it paid off in the spring. I can still remember my friend Dan and I made the first trail to the top at Pulpit Rock in the deep snow about a mile and a half. It took a lot of work to get there. The next day I went up and thought this will be a lot easier since we already had a trail up. I was about half way up the trail and then all the foot prints were filled in with snow due to a lot of wind. So I had to blast through the snow the rest of the way to the top again. Those days were very hard and can’t wait for more of them in the mountain.

Tonight I left the house a couple of minutes before 7 p.m. and had to be back by 8. The temps were in the low 20’s and with no wind it felt surprisingly comfortable out. My legs are feeling ok not great and I thought I would run a little faster then I usually do after a race because I’m not sure what the roads will be like in the next couple of days. Tonight the sides of the roads had some ice and snow – not the best conditions you want to run in on the side of the road. You have to be very careful and watch every step. After moving along the first couple of miles the legs were still felling ok and I kept moving along at a nice pace the rest of the run. I finished with an average pace of 7:53 per mile and I was happy with that. If the snow hits I know that pace won't be seen for a while.

Below are some pictures from one of the big storms from last year I took when I was out for a run. Hopefully I can get more snowy photos soon.



1-10-2011 - 2.8 miles - 38:14 - walk
1-10-2011 - 8 miles - 1:03:04 - run

Day 40 - Slow and steady

Went out to get salt for the big storm arriving on Tuesday/Wednesday. I guess we will see if it really happens. I know I hope we get hammered with snow at least in the mountains and not on the roads.

My legs feel pretty good today. Not to sore just tired. The days after and event like yesterday it is just nice to get out and move forward. I left the house around 12:30 p.m. and went right for the mountains. There is a couple of inches up there with very little ice. There were quite a few hikers out today and I saw some friends going for a hike with their dogs. They were trying to get in a quick hike before the Eagles game. I was searching for a trail with no foot prints on and I found one. The blue trail down to the campground had only animal tracks. My legs were feeling very tired once I hit the 1.25 mile climb up from the Blue Rocks campground to the top. I did a lot of hiking on that section. On the way down the Pulpit Rock road hill I opened it up a little and had some fun fast down hill running in the snow. Once I hit the macadam road section my legs felt like Jello and fell into a very slow pace. I just kept moving and could not wait to stop. A couple more days of easy running and I should be back to where I was.

The view from the Blue Rocks Campground

The view from the Blue Rocks Campground

Looking towards the back of the Pinnacle on the left

The view from Pulpit Rock

The view from Pulpit Rock

The view from Pulpit Rock

1-9-2011 - 11 miles - 2:30 - run/some hiking

Day 39 - Horseshoe Elevation Fest 50K Fatass

Woke up today around 6:15 a.m. after a pretty good night of sleep. Getting up and out the door a little after 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning with the whole family to go to a 50k for me - I must say my family is very, very, very supportive. It makes it a lot easier knowing I have their support.

We arrived at Stephan's house a couple of minutes before 8. My friend Stephan held the Horseshoe Elevation Fest 50K Fatass (click here if you need to know what a fat ass is) starting at his house. The course is a 6+ mile loop run on the Horseshoe Trail which is on roads and trail. We had to park at the bottom of his driveway and walk up. The driveway was snowy and had some icy spots and was not a good idea to drive up. I was warmed up after walking up his driveway because it is about 600 yards long. Once we made it there we signed in on the table where there was a watch to record your time on every lap. After talking to a lot of friends and getting a group photo we off running down the slippery driveway with snow falling that fell for the rest of the event. There was an inch or two already down on the trail. My wife went on a 7 mile hike with another friend and the kids sledded, watched movies and played Nintendo Wii for the the rest of the event and had a great time.

These fatass events are a great way to try different things before a real race. I was trying to use two of my drinks mixes mixed together. 1 scoop of Hammer Perpetuem and 1 scoop of Cytomax. The flavor was not that great at first but wasn't to bad after I used it for awhile. That mixture was giving me 220 calories per bottle. I had 5 bottles made and almost finished one on each loop.

After running down his drive way we made a left and we were running on a trail which lead to a gradual climb off and on to to top of the mountain. From there we headed down to an aid station he had set up at the half way point. Then we hit the road section for a couple of miles through 
Adamstown and one last climb back up to the starting point to sign in at the table.

My first two loops I ran with Derek and Tony. It was nice hearing about Derek's goals for the year and his big race in the fall the Pine to Palm 100. He is a great runner and it will be fun to follow his progress along the way to his first hundred mile race. After the second loop Derek was going out for a loop with his dad. I took my first gel on the start of my third loop. Tony and I ran the third loop together and he helped me keep a nice pace on this lap. It was a big help to me to have them push me along for the first three laps. The start of the fourth loop it was gel time again. I was on my own and this is where I started to feel some aches and a little tightening in my legs. I took my first Hammer Endurolyte of the day. These help with keeping your legs from cramping. This loop went really well after the gel and endurolyte knowing once I finished this one I had one more to go. After leaving the sign in table for the last loop my legs felt very tired. After pushing on the road section it was really slowing me down once I hit the trail. I felt like I was moving my legs as fast as I could but they really were not moving that fast. I took another Endurolyte and a couple of minutes later my last gel of the day. This time the long road section went fast knowing I would not see it anymore today. Another fun event I am glad to be a part of from one of our on Pagoda Pacer club members. Thanks to Stephan and his family for hosting a great event. Below are my splits to the event.

After saying good bye to everyone we headed down the driveway for the last time. Slipping and sliding down to the bottom. We made a quick stop at ToysRUs and then headed out for a nice supper with my parents. After getting home and cleaning up we were all beat. If all days could be just like this one!

Lap 1 - 56:15 
Lap 2 - 58:14
Lap 3 - 56:27
Lap 4 - 58:21
Lap 5 - 63:23


1-8-2011 - 31 miles - 4:52:40 - run

Day 38 - Woo Hoo Snow!

What a great feeling it was seeing the snow starting to fall at 1 a.m. then waking up at 5:45 a.m. with everything covered. That is not what time I usually go to bed but I started fooling around with some pics from our trip and before I realized it was very late. I could not wait to go out in it.  I got to spend about 25 min. shoveling it before work. Shoveling snow in my driveway is a great little work out before work.

I got out for my walk a little earlier today right around 11 a.m. The snow was great to see on the ground and made my walk some much fun. Seeing everything covered in snow I now really can't wait to run in it in the mountain. With no running today because of the 50k tomorrow. I won't make it to the mountain until Sunday:( Searching for trails that weren't hiked on is what I will be looking for.

Walk at work 1-7-2011

Walk at work 1-7-2011

With no school, friend things or running tonight the family and I went to Red Lobster for supper. We had a gift card from the holidays that we could not wait to use. The service and food is always so good and consistent there. Then we headed right back home for the wife to make the cookies for the the 50k and me to get my stuff ready.


1-6-2011 - 2.8 miles - 37:07 - walk

Day 37 - Maybe 10 plus runners

I'm still battling my cold but should be ok for Saturdays 50k. Maybe if I would take something it would go away like my wife tells me. I’m not a medicine fan and never will be. My first MMT was in 2007 and that was the last time I took any medicine (2 Advil – during (never again) 1 Aleave - after) other than a couple of cough drops over the years nothing since that race. If I can make it to the race this year without any medicine it will be 4 years med free. This cold is going down with a fight from me!

It seems like ever since I mentioned about how much of a pain an mp3 or music player can be for me I have been using it more now than ever. Today I used it again on my walk and was using the Pandora app on my phone. It leaves you pick a music group (I have AC/DC right now) then it creates a radio station with songs with that group and other groups similar to the one you picked. This is a fun app for your phone or computer if you want to listen to something different on you next run, walk or hike.

I was looking at the final entrants and wait list runners for the MMT 100. Right now it looks like there could be over 10 runners from the Pagoda Pacers to start the event if everyone stays healthy and other runners drop which some usually do. With that many runners, pacers and crews this is going to be one heck of a run fest this year!

Pagoda Pacer group photo from 2010 MMT 100 (Photo by: Bobby Gill)

Tonight my legs felt good before the run so I thought it was a good time to push a little harder. The temps were nice and no wind. I took off running and hit 6:36 on my first mile. That felt great but I knew I had to back off a little. The next 5 I slowed down and wound up with a 7 min. average pace for the first 6 miles. The last 4 I really slowed because I didn’t want to do more damage for the night and finished the last 4 miles with an 8:39 pace. Great night of running and if I didn’t have the 50k this weekend I think I could of went all night.

1-6-2011 - 2.8 miles - 36:41 - walk
1-6-2011 - 10 miles - 1st 6 miles - 42:00 / Last 4 miles - 34:36 - Total = 1:16:36 - run

Day 36 - Getting there

After a night of not that much sleep I woke up feeling tired and coughing. The morning got better and I started feeling a change for the better - at least for now. Hopefully I will feel good enough for the 50k that I will be running on Saturday. One thing with running for long periods of time you learn to push through things you never would of before. Just like when you have a cold you feel bad but you have to keep moving and it will get better soon. Ultra running is so much like life – you have your ups and downs – just keep moving forward and you will be fine.

My walk was windy today and I could feel it blowing through my other vest that is not wind proof. It is amazing what wind proofing can do for a coat. The energy level is still not there to push my walks. I’m getting better every day but not 100%. 

Tonight I felt like I could throw down a good run. I went with an 8 mile loop and it went really well. I ran a 7:30 first mile which felt good. I tried to stay with that pace and not run any faster. 7:25 was my final pace for the 8 mile loop and I didn’t feel exhausted after I was finished. Tonight I also saw 2 people walking what look like was for exercise. I know that might sound funny but I don’t see that many people walking in my town exercising – at least when I am out running through it.

Today I leave you with a really cool video from another ultra runner Karl Meltzer from Utah. But first I have a little story of my own about Karl. My friend Dan and I got to meet Karl on his Appalachian Trail run in 2008. You could track him on his website and I knew he should be in our area that morning. I ran over to Hawk Mountain Road to run a couple of miles with him. I waited and waited and waited some more. Well I was thinking he already went through and I missed him. I went home and forgot about it for a while. Later that day I thought I would try and go to a different section of the Appalachian Trail to meet him. I got in my car and made a left out of my drive way and looked a head about 50 yards and there was an RV pulled off the side of the road with someone talking to a neighbor. When I went by I looked over and there was Karl’s RV. I got out of my car and went over and told them I was looking for them earlier in the day. His crew was looking for directions to the Hamburg Reservoir – yeah I know where that is I said and I showed them the way there. On our way there I called Dan and he met me at the reservoir. We got to talk to his crew for awhile and they said Karl should be coming through in a couple of minutes. We asked them if they needed anything and they requested some adult beverages. After a quick trip to the local pizza shop I was back and we were all walking up to where the AT runs through to meet Karl with some of the beverages. In no time we look up and there was Karl. From there he decided to do one more 6 mile section before the day was over. He quickly got what he needed for his next section and he was off with beverage in hand. The crew invited Dan and I to the next section to wait for him. When we got there they were already cooking his supper and had everything ready for him. When Karl arrived he was ready to eat and do a little carbo loading. We talked to him for a little and then we headed out. That day Karl ran I think 55 miles. The reason why I missed him in the morning was he started running the wrong way and arrived at that spot a lot later then he was suppose to. The signs around here read like the picture below. We were told when he started running he thought he was heading towards Georgia. He didn’t realize it until the sun stated to come up that he was not. The sign reads Appalachian Trail – Maine to Georgia. Which Georgia on the sign has an “N” below it which means is goes north – kind of confusing.

Appalachian Trail Sign

 

Melter Luge 2011

1-5-2011 - 2.8 miles - 39:17 - walk
1-5-2011 - 8 miles - 59:17 - run

Day 35 - Blahhh

The sunrise was awesome today. I got this pic with my phone and again in no time the amazing colors were gone. This is one thing to look forward to in the winter when the only colors seem to be are browns, grays and sometimes white:) Only a couple of months and the green will start shooting up from the ground. I really appreciate the change of the seasons more now running in the mountains year-round. It is so cool to see the changes in the mountains on a daily basics.

Sunrise 1-5-2011

I’m still not feeling the best today but I decided to go for my walk. I didn’t walk as fast as I normally try to. Just to be out moving forward was my goal. It did warm up and that felt great. I passed one guy on my walk today maybe he was out for a New Year’s Resolution walk.

On my way home after work the sunset was just as cool as the sunrise today. I did get one pic but it looked so much better than the picture shows. Once being home for awhile I knew tonight I was going to have to take off from running. My cold is not getting any better and I feel drained. I decided to bag the run and try and get some sleep.

Sunset 1-5-2011

1-4-2011 - 2.8 miles - 37:32 - walk

Day 34 - Feeling a little better

I woke up today feeling a little better. I still have the nose thing going on and I will leave it at that. I checked the temps before I went for my walk and it said 32º F and feels like 24º F. It sure felt like 24º F with the wind in my face for about 15 min. It was great to be back walking at lunch. I kind of missed it after being away last week.

It was a lot easier leaving for my run tonight at 6:30. I feel like I am getting some energy back and that is a good thing. The weather was perfect for running tonight. The route was all on road and it was fun to be back running on one of my regular courses. I had the headphones on tonight and was listening to some old nostalgia radio stations for about 6 miles then I need to play some faster music. Then Kickstart my Heart came on by Motley Crue and I just took off running. It was like my legs had a mind of their own and I just held on. The next song slowed a little and I was back to my regular pace for the rest of the run. Those quick burst of fast running to a great song are some much fun.

Below is a picture of one of my favorite quick meals I make after some longer runs. You can use any ingredients you like. Sometimes I will add black beans, fresh tomatoes or avocados. Avocados are added after baking.

1-3-2011 - 2.8 miles - 36:59 - walk

1-3-2011 - 10.50 miles - 1:26 - run

Day 33 - One of those days

Today was one of those days I didn’t want to get out of bed. My throat was very sore and my nose was stuffy. It’s been a while since I had a cold and I guess it is my turn:( One thing I did notice over the years of running my colds don't last as long compared to when I didn't run. I waited until the afternoon to go out for a run. It was not going well I felt cold and I didn’t want to go. I thought I should at least get my running clothes on and see how I feel. Once the clothes were on I started to warm up and felt a little better. I headed out the door around 3 wearing my New Balance 101's. I only wore them on one run and my legs got pretty beat up on the roads. Today I was going up to run in the mountain to see how they stick on the rocks. Being a very minimalist shoe your feet really feel naked in them especially on the rocks. They stuck pretty well on the rocks but I won’t be using them all the time. I can only imagine how you foot will feel when you kick a rock on the front, side or a stick tries to go through the side - not good. Lucky for me I didn’t do that today. With the amount of rock running I do I can't risk running with very little protection on my feet. Now it is off to rest.

1-2-2011 - 8 miles - 1:25 - run

Day 32 - Happy New Year 2011

January 1, 2010 - That means 4 months to go of training. It seems like yesterday I just started training for this race. Time is moving fast. Before today I only ran 1 time in the last 7 days. Disney vacations will do that to you. We had a great time and kept busy the whole vacation. We were usually up by 7:30/8 a.m. and out the door by 9 a.m. and back in bed by 11 p.m. With that schedule there was not a lot of time for running  - at least I wasn't making anytime for it. The weather was in the high 30's with 30 mph winds and no sun some of the days. I felt colder then the low 20's back home before we left. The girls should make great ultra runners staying on their feet for that long and we never came back to the room once we left in the morning until we got back at night.

Today I thought I better try and catch up for the running I missed last week. I know you can't do that but I was going to try. The first run I was out the door by 11 a.m. It warmed up really fast today and it felt great. I headed right to the mountain. The run was up on my favorite parts of the mountain - Pulpit Rock and down to the Blue Rocks. There where a lot of hikers out today and I wished everyone I saw a "Happy New Year". It felt great to be back on the mountain.

The view from the Blue Rocks Campground

The view from the Blue Rocks Campground looking up at Pulpit Rock

The girls where heading to the movies so this was my chance for another run. I left around 6:50 and it was very warm night. No one is out so I have the whole town to myself. I finished with 9 miles and just over 20 for the day. Off to bed for a good night of rest. Happy New Year!

1-1-2011 - 11.25 miles - 2:15 - run

1-1-2011 - 9 miles - 1:18 - run

Day 24 - Off to the flat land

After a fun run last night and full night of sleep it's time to pack today. The family and I are off to see Mickey and his friends. First the second little one was off to the doc to make sure the cough is just a cold and nothing else and it is just a cold. I got to sneak out for a slow 5 mile run before we left. Here are some pics of my run. Merry Christmas. (This was suppose to be posted when I got to Disney but there was no free WiFi so I waited until I got back.)

The view from Pulpit Rock

The view from Pulpit Rock

Watch out for the ice!

The Hamburg Reservoir 

The Hamburg Reservoir 

12-24-2010 - 5 miles - 57:00 - run