not bad for mile 25
Since getting home, I've tried to get back into my running routing while ramping up mileage for a couple of weeks, then taper for the May 1 half. I caught a bit of a gut bug, though, that isn't curtailing my ordinary activities, but is taking a bit of the starch out of me, so mileage is still quite low.
Altair - Your Easter bunny is a kool kat bunny! Sounds like you had a good bike ride. Good to mix it up with something different. I attribute my comfort before the race to the warm Colorado sunshine. I tried not to push crazy hard on the opening climbs, but to keep moving at a sustainable pace, so I wouldn't be exhausted and cramping later. I had no problems that way. I'm not interested in running with music (though tunes are always running through my head). One could easily rip the CD to MP3s and run with the tunes, but I was thinking the Jock Rock CD might be something a race director might like to have to play at the starting line. Once I look it over, I might pass it on to someone who can use it. "My Father's Dragon" rings a bell. Maybe my kids read it while growing up. Are you getting that Nor'easter?
Di - Wouldn't it be nice to have our personal dragons!
Art - Condolences on your father. The celebration of life helps to wrap things up, but grieving is probably a lifelong thing, as it is with my parents. We carry a part of them with us always.
az - Great job on your tough 10 mile run, and a (not so) easy 4 mile followup! I watched most of the Boston Marathon. Seems like there are always surprises in a marathon - no one can predict how an individual runner will do on a given day. The men's was interesting, and the ending of the women's was great. Albertson is a runner to watch - he's got potential! So lucky for all the runners that the marathon wasn't a day later (or the weather a day earlier)!
Of course Ukraine is worrying all of us. I fear there isn't much we can do other than watch as things develop. A local travel agent started a project to book a couple of hundred hotel rooms in Warsaw for refugees, and I contributed to that. Sad situation.
My race was indeed beautiful, especially the part running by the long mountain lake with the mountains behind it. I bet Altair would have stopped and taken lots of pics to share with the group! Since you asked, here is one pic of me from the race. I'm in the lead, of course
Runs in the rain
I did not have the means to watch the Boston Marathon yesterday since I don't have cable TV. I know I could have signed up for a free trial of a streaming service, but did not want any unexpected charges. Instead I was able to listen to a Boston radio station online. However, their coverage was not very good and it is not the same when you can't see them running. It was chilly, damp and gloomy and another day where I felt blah! So no runs yesterday! I watched a few seconds of the finishers on the news later that night.
az - After a tough ten miler it can be hard to decide what to do the next day, four miles with those hills might be more of a workout run than recovery. Nice to have your DH's elderly friend over for a salmon dinner, yum! Maybe best you rested and watched the marathon on Monday. Nothing much I can do to prepare for a cyber attack. If power is lost I'd have no heat and could lose stuff stored in the freezer. Guess I'd forage for food in the wild if I had to! I looked at the elevation profile for the Shiprock Marathon, the first half is like a 500 foot climb! I'd like to run it, but maybe not the best choice to BQ. When I am running I spend a lot of time looking at the sky, a good indication of impending weather! That's why I take a lot of cloud photos.
Art - Great you stretched out a 5 1/2 miler! Way to go! I have like five pairs of sunglasses, not even counting my prescription pair or the transition lenses on one of my glasses! One of the sunglasses is like a blue blocker, gives everything an orange tint but makes things look sharply focused, and those I found by the side of the road when I was out running! They have a small scratch but still work well. I understand the Celebration of Life is supposed to be a joyous occasion, I hope your dad had a great life!
Di - Glad you are able to find at least some low sodium foods working at the KC casino. Putin is maybe the richest man in the world, the only suffering he will have is not getting things his way and he will make others pay for it. I've never been in the military, I just hope our leaders make good decisions.
Led - Speaking of kool kats, nice running photo with the shades! No, I've never stopped during a race to take pictures, although I've considered one of those mini movie cameras, mount it on a hat and I could record the whole race! Sorry to hear you have a gut bug, sometimes when you travel the different bacteria in the water can cause issues, or maybe the stress of running the half lowered your immunity? You don't have much time until your next race, guess this last one was training for the next! I like running with music, but don't often do so. I don't think my area will get the brunt of the storm.
It was overcast, 36 degrees and there were a few snowflakes and/or raindrops falling when I started a run at 1 pm. I decided to do the 3.84 mile run rather than something longer because rain was expected. The sun shown briefly through hazy clouds at the two mile point. There were winds. Legs felt energized after the rest day! So far the rest of the day has followed the same pattern, but we may get more snow later, probably nothing that will stay on the ground. But eastern New York State may have to deal with heavier snow, maybe a whole foot in the northeastern corner!
Here is looking southeast where there was a sunnier part of the sky
But it was all dark and overcast for most of the rest of the sky. Here is looking north.
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?Get up, get out, get out of the door!
It was in the upper 30's this morning, but the sun started to come out and it warmed up to 51 degrees. There was some winds which made it feel chilly, but once I started running I warmed up. I got a late start at 3:20 pm so only did 4 miles.
Sky was mostly clear and sun felt warm. Winds did make it feel chilly when they blew.
These Scottish Cattle, also known as Highland Cows, are in a field about a mile from my house. At first I thought they were Beefalo, a cow and buffalo hybrid, because of the horns and shaggy coat. I took photos of these before, but they were close to the fence today so I got a closeup.
I've had a couple of good, snappy runs the past two mornings, probably because I'm feeling more whippy. It was quite foggy this morning.
Altair - DW had the gut bug too, and she blames the water at one of our destinations, so that's possible. On the other hand, DD definitely had a case of the flu earlier. Hers was much worse than ours. I have looked on this series of five races, spaced 2-3 weeks out, as a training routine. 10K, 10M, HM, and HM. I think it is working reasonably well. Love those Highland cows! They're ready for whatever winter might bring!
Led - Great you are back to "snappy" runs, your training by doing races seems to be working as planned! Hard to know what made you sick, but different bacteria in the water is a good guess. The cows are well protected against cold, but probabily would benifit by a clipping during the heat of the summer.
I made some changes to my Running ahead Log. Before now I only put a course name on my mapped runs and left random routes blank, but, just to better track where I've run, I started adding street names. I also decided instead of just making all my runs as "Easy" I would count any run eight miles or over as a "long" run. I also wanted to compare where my training is now to five years ago when I ran a fast, for me anyway, 4:29:29 marathon. These two graphs cover about the same time period, Nov 25 to April 20, and show weekly distances.. Note now that I've entered them the longer runs over 8 miles appear as blue. The 2017 graph is on top. You can see up to the third week of January I actually was doing more weekly distance, but then in 2017 I suddenly made a jump to a lot of 35 to 40 mile weeks, while my current chart seems to plateau at about 20 miles per week. I also was doing longer runs, up to 17 miles as my longest, and often would do several long runs in a week. Now I looked at the proceeding months to see what I was doing back then, but saw hardly any runs since I did a half on Sept. 4, 2016. However, in July of 2017 I did several 17 and 18 mile runs and in August I did runs over 13 miles including a 19 and a 20 miler in preparation for a September half marathon, so despite almost 3 months of not running I seemed to have retained enough fitness to quickly ramp up my distance! However, looking back at my records the 10 1/2 mile run I did this St. Patrick's day was the longest since a half I ran in Sept 2019! So I think I have fallen out of training for the long distances and am struggling on my way back. Being five years older also adds to the difficulty. Note that I deliberately decided not to push the long distances right now, my legs felt sore and I tired easy, so I thought it best to give myself more time to develop and allow ample recoveries. I see some progress, I just need to be patient. Sorry for the long analysis, I just obsess about where I am and where I want to be as a runner.
Well if I haven't lost you all yet I will write about today. Although warming into the 50's rain was predicted until 5 pm, but I learned not to go always by the forecasts! By 2 pm it was still overcast, but the light rain seemed to have stopped! So I chanced a nearly 5 mile run! The first mile was down on of the main streets of the village. I thought I would continue my series of Church pictures with this of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (Mormon).
Running the street in a different direction than usual this historic marker came to my attention. By mistake I ran down Groveland Road instead of another street nearby that I had intended to run, they both diverge in a "V" from this point. I only did less than a mile and a half on Groveland before turning around for home, so did not reach the hill where the historic ambush took place this time.
My plan was to run to the 390 overpass and turn around. Here is a slight uphill to the overpass. The wind was very strong in my face at this time, so it was tough going.
And here is a view from that overpass of 390 going south towards Corning. Lots of dark clouds and wind, but no more rain! My mistake only slightly added to my distance which totaled 4.92 miles.
Hello everyone.
I texted a message to Art to share with the group but I don't see his post.
Google Tunnel Fire in AZ.
Tuesday: as I got ready to run early to avoid predicted gusty winds, I saw smoke towards the south where I was planning on running my 8 miles. Decided to not run. DH and I kept on eye on it and within a couple of hours, we knew it was a wildfire.
Our neighbor across the street from us is the deputy sheriff and his son is also a county police officer. They both advised everyone in the neighborhood to be on alert to leave. I always have a "to go" emergency bag. I got the important documents in a tote and we got the vehicles packed to go at a moment's notice. Power and gas were turned off.
What's weird is that on Sunday, I told DH to get extra fuel for the generator, to fuel up his trucks. I filled up mine a week ago, and I don't drive anywhere. And, also told DH to keep his phone charged up (but he didn't). I charge up my phone everyday, and luckily I also charged up my power banks.
The fire stayed to the south of our neighborhood. They closed the highway except for the ones leaving. The wind kept getting worse shifting unpredictably. But more neighbors were leaving by early afternoon especially a couple of them who had horses. The wind was relentless, and loud.
Late evening, the fire started moving towards our neighborhood and took the 3 houses and barns that lined our neighborhood to the south.
If we had to leave at this time, we had to go north, not towards town because the fire jumped east over the main highway and burning on each side.
The fire jumped the ridge and towards the west area of our neighborhood, up the hills (where I usually run). The hotshots were already burning a perimeter but the wind made it so difficult. The smoke was thick and dark from whatever it burnt along the way, with loud bursts of explosions. I wore my mask and safety glasses. We held on as long as we could into the night. Told DH to sleep in our clothes if we need to leave.
Around 11 pm, we evacuated. The wind shifted again. The fire was in the backyard of our neighbors (across the street) who were adjacent to the forest. We followed each other as we drove to the main highway 89, and it was scary as we drove through the fire, burning on each side of the highway. We got to the elderly friend's home (the one DH has been helping). He had told us to stay with him if we had to leave.
Wed: attended meetings for updates. Over 20,000 acres are destroyed. 0% containment. The wind didn't stop but it died down in the night. Our neighborhood survived ....... a wildfire for the second time, it's a miracle. But there are those who lost everything.
Thurs(today): Wind picked up again later in the morning giving the planes to do their job before the wind made it unsafe. We are not allowed to return to our home yet due to unsafe gas breakage/leaks and embers. But we are safe. And blessed to have a place to stay as long as we need to. No running at all. Not sure if I will run the race in NM. The Crooks Fire is to the south of us and the smoke is not safe to run in.
I'm still tire. eyes and throat are irritated. But we are ok.
Trails
Az, I'm glad to hear you all are ok. I grew up in FL during the fires they had and we had one come just across the road from us in the wooded area I rode my horse in. Luckily that's as close as it got but given where I live now I worry as we are surrounded by pastures and some of the grass is still dry.
We head home today from the KC audit and I am really looking forward to being at home. I get 2 weeks at home then I fly to visit my mom. I don't know how much longer she has so even though I'm tired of traveling I still want to visit.
az - I heard about the fire in the Flagstaff area on yesterday's news, and worried about you. Good grief, that is scary, and you are out of your home for the time being. So sorry. We'll be thinking about you. Please be careful, and keep us posted as your time permits.
Az - OMG! I'm glad you're safe, but what a scary thing to happen! I looked it up, but still not sure why it is called the "Tunnel" fire. It seems with a decades long drought, caused by climate change, the West is now in danger with more frequent wildfires. Glad your home was spared and the elderly neighbor gets a chance to reciprocate the favors your husband did for him. I hope you can move back soon and there is no damage to the home. You may have to travel to find smoke free areas to run, I imagine higher elevations might be clearer? I can't imagine what it must feel like to find your home in danger of destruction! I live with woods near my house, but usually the area is wet, except for during the heat of the summer. I pray that all goes well for you!
Di - Have a safe journey home, I'm sure you will be glad to get back. Visit loved friends and relatives when you can, you never know what might happen.
I'm waiting for it to warm into the 50's, nice and sunny right now. I'm considering doing close to a 12 mile run, but maybe a less ambitious 10 miler might be better, not sure if I'm ready yet for longer distances.
Quick note:
I've been using the library's internet so have to keep it short.
It's closing in a few minutes.
Will try to keep you all updated when I can.
Still not allowed to return to our neighborhood although part of the main highway that was closed has reopened but not to our area.
Another community meeting tomorrow (Sat) for updates.
We had some rain this morning but the concern is the ongoing gusty winds, predicted to be 20-50 mph.
We are doing fine. The houses in our neighborhood made it.
The city has really come through with any assistance that may be needed by those who lost their homes.
We were especially surprised but reassured when our insurance (USAA) called the day after on Wed to check on us and our home.
No running on my part these last few days. My immune system is really low and I'm not feeling all that great so I'm not running.
Hope to get better and try a 10 miler this weekend.
Laters!
az - The national news showed the fires in Colorado and Arizona. They said some hail had fallen, but not enough to quench the fires. Good to hear that your neighborhood made in through the crisis! Lucky you have use of the library computer. Hope you feel better, I'm sure the stress is part of why you're feeling low. A ten miler might help take your mind off worries for a while.
I did get out at 3 pm yesterday for a long run! I did consider something shorter since I got a late start, I had decided to wash clothes and hang them on the line to dry before my run, however I decided to stick to my intended plan and do 10 miles! I did decide not to attempt a 10 mile course that I wanted to do that had some steep hills, instead I did an out to back run that just had a 110 foot increase from mile 2 to mile 5. It was 54 degrees and sunny. I wore one of the new running shorts and was very pleased with the comfort and ventilation. Note that I am now taking a water bottle on these longer runs on warm days! Nice to take a sip when the throat gets dry! My legs got rather tired the last few miles, but my pace did not drop off as much as it has been usual lately, so maybe a sign of progress! Finished 10.31 miles.
Today (Saturday) my legs and knees felt sore from the 10 miler when I got up, but felt better after I moved around a bit. I got out around 11:30 am and did a run of 4.96 miles. It was partly cloudy and 55 degrees. Upon return I sat and relaxed on my deck for a while listening to all the spring bird songs.
I went with my GF into Rochester this morning. On the way two wild turkeys crossed the road in front of us! Up in Rochester we were going to look at the lilacs in Highland Park, but the streets were blocked off for the Flower City Half Marathon! I saw a few people running slowly or walking, must have been the tail end of the runners. I felt bad that I was not running the race. Also my sister did her relay team leg of the Vienna City Marathon along with her daughter! She posted a picture of the team on Facebook.
It was an unusually sunny and warm day getting up to 84 degrees! Upon return we did a 4 1/2 mile bike ride around streets in our neighborhood, I had her take pictures of me on my bike when we finished!
After that I left for a longer ride by myself. The first 4 1/2 miles were basically the same route as my Easter bike ride. Here I am about to cross the 390 overpass again. You can see part of the guardrail cables in lower left corner
This shows some blue faded hills off in the distance
The route includes a steep "segment" (part of a course that someone marked on Strava in which your time is tracked and compared to other runners) that climbs about 90 feet in 1/5 of a mile. Believe me just doing this is a workout on it's own! I put the bike in low gear and managed to reach the top without stopping and was 30 seconds faster than last week! I'm still 168/169 on the leaderboard for this segment. Note that the title of this segment was called "Groveland Hell" instead of "Groveland Hill" last week, but now the name seems to have been changed to "fu"! I think I should be pedaling standing up when climbing a hill, but I just sit. Where I turned off last week I went on straight. and then turned left on another road. Here is a picture I took from Maple Beach road, a road that leads down to Conesus Lake.
My plan was to continue for another mile on Maple Beach, but I saw a side road with a hill and decided I'd rather continue uphill a little ways and make the top of the hill my turn back point and then it would be mostly down hill on my way back. Hunt Hill was a dirt road and when I stopped to take a picture suddenly an All Terrain Vehicle appeared over the hill and this was soon followed by a half dozen more! They all raised an arm, I guess in greeting, as they passed. Their passage stirred up a dust cloud on the dirt road and I waited for most of it to dissipate before taking this photo of the hill.
And here is the view of what's ahead from the top of the hill. The hills in the back are on the opposite side of Conesus Lake. Note I turned around and did not follow this downhill path to the lake at this time.
On going going down Hunt Hill I used breaks because the dirt road was uneven with ruts and rock, but later when I came up to "fu" I decided to go down it without using the breaks! My speed reached over 31 MPH! I was very careful not to wipe out at that speed! I finished 11.56 miles giving me a total of about 28 miles biking today. Total running for the week is about 28 miles and despite doing over 10 miles Friday my week total for running was 3 miles less than the previous week, but I feel I put in some tough efforts.
I got a whole 5 min on the TM on Sat after my massage. I can't believe how out of shape I am. I'll try again tonight if I'm not wiped out from being at work all day.
Az, I hope you are still safe. We had some nasty high winds on Sat/Sun so I'm sure you are still getting them too.
Well no run Monday...perhaps Tue will be better.