Day 49 - Ice run

I woke up around 2:30 a.m. to the sound of sleet against my windows. Looking out the windows I could see through, most of them were coated in ice, I was hoping for more snow by that time but only an inch or two that I could see. No shoveling before I left for work today. I thought it would be better to leave the ice on top of the snow so I wouldn't have to deal with a sheet of ice after the freezing rain started when I got home. I left about 25 minutes early thinking the roads were going to be a sheet of ice and it was going to take me a lot longer to get there. It turned out that the roads were not that bad at the time I left.

I hit the mountain around 3:30 after shoveling some of my driveway this afternoon. It was great to be running during the week in the light. Not a one person was on the trail today. I'm not sure if that ever happened before this late in the day. A lot of people take their dogs up to walk them I guess not today. There was a little coating of ice on top of the snow at the start but nothing to slippery. By this time the temps were above freezing and all you heard was the ice falling off of the trees. I ran right up to the red trail to work on my running and video making. I really enjoy making/sharing the videos because not everyone can make it out to see what it looks like after a storm. After running down that trail I knew my feet were going to be soaked and cold the rest of the run. The closer I got to the top the temps started to drop and the ice on top was getting thinker. There was a lot more ice that was still on the trees at the top and some fog. If you were never at the top of the mountain after an ice storm you don’t know what you are missing. It is a total different world up there. After getting some pics at Pulpit I ran the AT to the red trail and down the blue snapping some pics on the way . That is where my feet were really starting to feel the cold. I sat down to wring the water out of one of my socks on the foot that was very cold. It does help if you know your not going to be stepping in any more water for awhile. Finally I see two more sets of footprints as I was finishing the last half mile. I was glad someone else got to check what was left of the little ice storm. The sky started to break and the sun and moon were peeking through. What a cool ending to a run.

1-18-2011 - 8 miles - 1:45 - run

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