If I can't do anything else, I can sprint fast. That doesn't help that much in distance running, but at the end of a race, when the finish is in sight, and when there's someone in your age group you want to pass, it can come in handy.
As I've mentioned before, I'd been anticipating today's Spirit Run 5K for a long time. I've never run it before because I knew I wouldn't be very fast and didn't want to embarrass myself in front of former track teammates, and I hoped that this would be the year to not only run it, but also do really well. As it turns out, I ran it and did moderately well and feel really good about it.
I made an effort not to start out too fast. I knew what kind of hills were coming up, and I wanted to have enough energy to not only get up them, but to also stay strong for the second half of the race. I stayed behind an older man who looked like he was keeping a steady, reasonable pace. I forgot my watch at home, so I didn't have many other options for pacing myself. When the hills started, I continued to follow him, but he started to lag behind as it got steeper, and I pulled out in front of him to take on the monster. The hill on Alpine Trail was very steep and not very forgiving. It didn't seem as long to me as it had when I ran it on Labor Day, though. When I got to the top, I was so pleased to know that the worst was over, and I still had energy to keep going. From there the hills were slightly rolling, and I was soon directed onto the flat, paved path to the Alpine School. Note: This was definitely not the path I took when I tried to run the course on my own. Oops. It completely skirted the scary marsh and did not have any rocks or tree branches littering the path. Well, I know for next time. My apologies to whoever's yard I ran through the first time.
This race benefited the county's Catholic school association, so many of the participants were students from those schools, ranging from elementary to high school. I liked seeing all of the kids out there running, but I have to admit that it also made the race a little more difficult. For about 2 miles I was in the middle of a pack of 8-year-old boys who liked to speed up to pass me, hang right in front just enough to be in the way, and then speed up when I tried to pass them. So as not to interfere with traffic, we were made to run along the narrow area to the right of the white line on the side of the road, so I was stuck with them at the time I really needed to move ahead and make up time.
When I finally pulled ahead of one of them for the last time, I thought about saying something encouraging. He was talking to one of his friends, though, and it was on the last major hill, and I didn't have much breath to spare. A second later, though, a girl behind me told him that he was doing a good job. She breezed by me, and I realized with a jolt of annoyance at myself that she was probably in my age group.
Exit quiet, run-for-fun me and enter ruthless competitor me. What if I just gave up an age group prize? I told myself that I could not let her get too far in front of me. I pushed it a little to the top of the hill and tried to get as much as I could out of the downhill, which wasn't much, because I was pretty tired. We probably had less than a quarter of a mile left. I had no idea how much gas I had left in the tank, but I looked ahead at her ponytail and thought that she looked like someone who had been on the track team with me - someone whom I had run in a race with - someone I had beaten. I pushed myself into the school driveway and up to the entrance to the track. I tried to squeeze through the gate with too many other people and was slowed up. Then I was on the track and started my kick. The finish line was at the end of the straightaway - the same straightaway that I had run my single high school track race on. She was far ahead of me but wasn't sprinting. I could catch her. I had to catch her. There was nothing else in the world except her white shirt and ponytail getting closer to the finish line. If I had any stored energy left before I got to the straightaway, I burned it all in that final sprint. I don't even want to know what the race pictures look like, because I'm sure that my face was contorted into some horrible expression of agony from lack of oxygen.
And at the last possible second, I caught up to her and passed her.
I crossed the finish line alongside someone wearing the school mascot outfit (go lions!) and willed myself to stay upright and walk around the track until I caught my breath. I hadn't been paying attention to the clock, and didn't have a watch, so I didn't know my time until it was posted. It turns out that I was 4th out of 11 in the female 20-29 year age group, coming in one second before the girl in the white shirt (who was, indeed the girl I had been on the track team with). My time was 29:42.7, with a pace of 9:34 per mile. I came in 127th place overall and 43rd female.
The time is obviously not my best, but I did give it a lot of effort and had a good experience. I'm even more motivated now to do more hill work so I can tackle the monster of Alpine Trail again without slowing down so much. (And now that I won't get lost finding the Alpine School path, it will be easier running the course on my own).
One of the best things that I came away with today was the exhilaration of sprinting. It feels different when you run in the lanes of a track, and today brought me back to my beginning as a runner. I feel that, physically, I'm more naturally a sprinter than a distance-runner, and the shorter the sprint, the better. Laying it all out along the 100 meter straightaway to the finish line will always be much more natural for me than endurance running, and today it was fun to do it again and feel that it is something that I can be really good at it.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Running down memory lane
I went for a walk today that got me psyched up about running. Weird? Instead of sitting in the park or on the front porch of the library reading a book, I laced up a pair of sneakers and took a walk through the residential neighborhood. In the winter, when the sun sets at 4:30 and I can't bear to run on the treadmill, I often run in town right after work, since there are sidewalks and street lamps, and this walk reminded me of those runs.
The realwalk run down memory lane will be coming tomorrow morning, though, when I head back to my high school for a 5K. I'm nervous about it because, besides my reconnaissance run of the course and a few short, easy runs, I haven't done much running so far this month. I'll have to change that soon. Maybe I'll even bring my gear to work one day this week and run around town again before a 5k there next weekend. For this race, I haven't set a time goal, so we'll just see how it goes.
Wish me luck!
The real
Wish me luck!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Always an adventure
Somehow it got to be September. The heat dragged on and on all summer, but for some reason, I was a little surprised to notice a refreshing chill in the air and to find myself behind school buses on the way to work. Fall is almost here. That means that the two 5Ks I'm intending to run this month are coming up soon.
Very soon.
The first race is just over a week away and will be held at my high school. I've been anticipating this race for months. My high school was/is known for its successful sports teams, and track is no exception. I was always more of a bookworm than athlete and didn't even consider joining the track team until my senior year, and at that time I had knee issues and didn't really get my chance to be a track star. Maybe it's high school insecurities coming back, but I don't want to go back to the school, see people who I haven't seen since my days of getting hit in the face with soccer balls in gym class, and come in, huffing and puffing, among the last quarter of finishers in this race. I want to go back and prove how far I've come since then. So, as I said, I've been anticipating this race for months.
My original goal was to place in the female 20-29 year age group. Honestly, I did not train enough to reach that goal. In fact, August was one of my lowest-mileage months of 2010. I'm not so insecure that I won't still run the race, though. I ran the course on Labor Day so I could see exactly what I was getting myself into, and it's tough, but I think that I'll be able to survive it and maybe even enjoy it. The first mile and a half has a 200 foot incline, which is what I had been worried about, but which isn't nearly as daunting after my recent mountain-running exploits. After that, the course follows the "Alpine Path" through the woods, and it will be interesting to see where that path is on race day, because I'm still not sure if I took the right one on my trial run. I didn't see it as I jogged up the road, so I asked someone who was out watering plants in his yard. (Entertaining note: He initially thought I was approaching him because I wanted to be sprayed with water.) He told me that I had passed by the path and gave a vague description of where it was. So I turned around and looked for it. Between two houses near where he said it would be there was a path, and it looked like it could have been separate from their properties, but I could not tell for sure. I took a few tentative steps down it. Was I trespassing? Was I going to find myself in a private section of someone's backyard? A man was in the yard of the house on the right. I called over to him and asked him if the trail led to the Alpine School, and he said it did. Just watch out for the bear. He said that the path led down to a marshy area, but I wouldn't get wet because it was covered with boards. I was relieved that it was the correct path (at least, it seemed to be), so I started on my way and quickly found myself on some pretty uneven ground, littered with tree roots, rocks, and branches. Then I got to the marshy area, where I ran into what seemed like a sea of 8-foot high corn stalks. I heard noises around me and thought about the bear, and was kind of scared, because I could not see around me, and the boards were coming up in sections. Quickly, though, I ran through it and emerged from the scary sea into the open and made my way over the rest of the course. Now that I go back and look at the course map and satellite map images, it seems like I should have ended up more to the right side of the school's grounds than I did, and I seriously think that I took a private path that just happened to lead to the same place as the one I was looking for. It's always an adventure.
As if it wasn't enough fun getting lost, I finished running the course and ended on the track at my high school, cooled down and stretched, and tried to leave, only to find that the gate to the track had been locked. Luckily the person who locked it was still around. Talk about accidentally trespassing, though!
I was pretty exhausted, but the weather was perfect for running, and I didn't want to stop, so I drove a few minutes to a state park with great single track trails. I stopped in to the park office to pick up a trail map, but the only one they had did not have the trails color-coded and was not very useful. So I set out with an idea of what trails I wanted to run and proceeded to miss a turn and get very lost. What I thought would be a fun 20-minute jaunt in the woods turned into a 45-minute quest to be reunited with civilization. I can't deny that I was having fun on the trails, but I had started off the day sore from some sprints I indulged in the day before, ran a hilly 5K course, and then had no idea how much farther I'd need to run to get back to my car. Again, it's always an adventure.
I think that the workout I got that day was really good for me. On Tuesday I was sorer than I have been since the half-marathon in May, but it was a good feeling, and Wednesday I went for an easy run during which I loosened up and just felt so good. Being outside, feeling my heart pumping, and putting one foot in front of the other was pure happiness. I can't wait for tomorrow's run to see what new adventures lie in store for me.
Very soon.
The first race is just over a week away and will be held at my high school. I've been anticipating this race for months. My high school was/is known for its successful sports teams, and track is no exception. I was always more of a bookworm than athlete and didn't even consider joining the track team until my senior year, and at that time I had knee issues and didn't really get my chance to be a track star. Maybe it's high school insecurities coming back, but I don't want to go back to the school, see people who I haven't seen since my days of getting hit in the face with soccer balls in gym class, and come in, huffing and puffing, among the last quarter of finishers in this race. I want to go back and prove how far I've come since then. So, as I said, I've been anticipating this race for months.
My original goal was to place in the female 20-29 year age group. Honestly, I did not train enough to reach that goal. In fact, August was one of my lowest-mileage months of 2010. I'm not so insecure that I won't still run the race, though. I ran the course on Labor Day so I could see exactly what I was getting myself into, and it's tough, but I think that I'll be able to survive it and maybe even enjoy it. The first mile and a half has a 200 foot incline, which is what I had been worried about, but which isn't nearly as daunting after my recent mountain-running exploits. After that, the course follows the "Alpine Path" through the woods, and it will be interesting to see where that path is on race day, because I'm still not sure if I took the right one on my trial run. I didn't see it as I jogged up the road, so I asked someone who was out watering plants in his yard. (Entertaining note: He initially thought I was approaching him because I wanted to be sprayed with water.) He told me that I had passed by the path and gave a vague description of where it was. So I turned around and looked for it. Between two houses near where he said it would be there was a path, and it looked like it could have been separate from their properties, but I could not tell for sure. I took a few tentative steps down it. Was I trespassing? Was I going to find myself in a private section of someone's backyard? A man was in the yard of the house on the right. I called over to him and asked him if the trail led to the Alpine School, and he said it did. Just watch out for the bear. He said that the path led down to a marshy area, but I wouldn't get wet because it was covered with boards. I was relieved that it was the correct path (at least, it seemed to be), so I started on my way and quickly found myself on some pretty uneven ground, littered with tree roots, rocks, and branches. Then I got to the marshy area, where I ran into what seemed like a sea of 8-foot high corn stalks. I heard noises around me and thought about the bear, and was kind of scared, because I could not see around me, and the boards were coming up in sections. Quickly, though, I ran through it and emerged from the scary sea into the open and made my way over the rest of the course. Now that I go back and look at the course map and satellite map images, it seems like I should have ended up more to the right side of the school's grounds than I did, and I seriously think that I took a private path that just happened to lead to the same place as the one I was looking for. It's always an adventure.
As if it wasn't enough fun getting lost, I finished running the course and ended on the track at my high school, cooled down and stretched, and tried to leave, only to find that the gate to the track had been locked. Luckily the person who locked it was still around. Talk about accidentally trespassing, though!
I was pretty exhausted, but the weather was perfect for running, and I didn't want to stop, so I drove a few minutes to a state park with great single track trails. I stopped in to the park office to pick up a trail map, but the only one they had did not have the trails color-coded and was not very useful. So I set out with an idea of what trails I wanted to run and proceeded to miss a turn and get very lost. What I thought would be a fun 20-minute jaunt in the woods turned into a 45-minute quest to be reunited with civilization. I can't deny that I was having fun on the trails, but I had started off the day sore from some sprints I indulged in the day before, ran a hilly 5K course, and then had no idea how much farther I'd need to run to get back to my car. Again, it's always an adventure.
I think that the workout I got that day was really good for me. On Tuesday I was sorer than I have been since the half-marathon in May, but it was a good feeling, and Wednesday I went for an easy run during which I loosened up and just felt so good. Being outside, feeling my heart pumping, and putting one foot in front of the other was pure happiness. I can't wait for tomorrow's run to see what new adventures lie in store for me.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Poetry, ultra-running, and another mountain run
Some of my favorite literature is the poetry written by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, and Shelley. For me, one of the most fascinating things about these poets is that many of them knew each other. They moved in the same circles, visited the same places, and wrote about those places, and yet, each of them had a different perspective. Mont Blanc, a mountain in the French Alps, is one of the places that appears in almost all of their writings, and it takes on different meanings in the different works. (It even appears in the novel "Frankenstein", as the doctor trails his monster across glaciers in the Alps.) And this weekend, the mountain took on even more meaning for about 2,000 people who gathered to run the 100-mile North Face Trail du Mont Blanc.
The librarian part of me was excited about following this race to gain my own experience of the mountain (however far removed from it that I am). The runner part of me wanted to follow it for awe and inspiration at the amazing feat so many participants would achive by completing the race. So I was really psyched up at work yesterday when my lunch break coincided with the start of the race. Only about 2 hours after it started, however, it was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.
If I was disappointed at the cancellation, I can only imagine what the runners felt. To have trained, traveled, and already invested so much mental and physical energy into the race and have it called off in the middle must have been immensely frustrating. I decided that as a nod to their efforts, I'd run up my own mountain this weekend, so this afternoon I took another trip to Mount Tammany.
I had run 6 miles yesterday afternoon, so I was a little tired, but I took it easy and rested a few times on the way up. It was warmer than last week, and I really noticed it when the trees began to thin out and I came into the full sun.
Although I did a lot of hiking today, when I did run, I felt more confident in my ability to navigate around rocks and roots than I did last week. In fact, I felt more stable running than I did walking. It's as if the lightness and quickness of the steps got me past the point where I would trip or stumble before it had time to happen.
I brought my camera this week, so when I reached the summit, I asked one of the people already there to take a picture of me. Here it is - me after running up a mountain:
I stayed around for a few minutes to enjoy the view. A lot of other hikers were gathering there, including some of the canine type. Here's one that I almost didn't notice because he was curled up in a little puppy nest between the rocks. He was so cute, but the poor thing looked hot and exhausted.
When I started back, I felt really refreshed, and was able to run over the rocky trail that I could barely walk over on the way up. Here's a picture of the top of the ridge before the trail leads down the mountain. It's amazing how, with enough energy and focus, you can pick your way over and around the rocks. I definitely was careful about it, though. I didn't want to trip and hit my head.
The way down was fun. I took the opportunity on some of the flatter stretches to really pick up the speed, and it felt great. I noticed that my quads did not hurt like they did last week, so I suspect that I'm already benefitting a lot from the workout. After making my way down the mountain, I climbed out into the middle of Dunnfield Creek. It rained a lot in the past week, so there was more water in the falls than last week's trickle, but you can see that it wasn't much. It was still a very pleasant spot, and I felt even more energized when I continued back to my car.
So I have now completed two runs up the mountain, and I am sure that it has made a trail runner out of me. I'm thinking of visiting a different park and running some hilly, single-track bike trails as a safer alternative to the mountain for now, although I hope to reach many more summits over the course of my running career.
"Mont Blanc yet gleams on high: -- the power is there,
The still and solemn power of many sights,
And many sounds, and much of life and death."
From "Mont Blanc: Lines written in the vale of Chamouni "
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1816
The librarian part of me was excited about following this race to gain my own experience of the mountain (however far removed from it that I am). The runner part of me wanted to follow it for awe and inspiration at the amazing feat so many participants would achive by completing the race. So I was really psyched up at work yesterday when my lunch break coincided with the start of the race. Only about 2 hours after it started, however, it was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.
If I was disappointed at the cancellation, I can only imagine what the runners felt. To have trained, traveled, and already invested so much mental and physical energy into the race and have it called off in the middle must have been immensely frustrating. I decided that as a nod to their efforts, I'd run up my own mountain this weekend, so this afternoon I took another trip to Mount Tammany.
I had run 6 miles yesterday afternoon, so I was a little tired, but I took it easy and rested a few times on the way up. It was warmer than last week, and I really noticed it when the trees began to thin out and I came into the full sun.
Although I did a lot of hiking today, when I did run, I felt more confident in my ability to navigate around rocks and roots than I did last week. In fact, I felt more stable running than I did walking. It's as if the lightness and quickness of the steps got me past the point where I would trip or stumble before it had time to happen.
I brought my camera this week, so when I reached the summit, I asked one of the people already there to take a picture of me. Here it is - me after running up a mountain:
I stayed around for a few minutes to enjoy the view. A lot of other hikers were gathering there, including some of the canine type. Here's one that I almost didn't notice because he was curled up in a little puppy nest between the rocks. He was so cute, but the poor thing looked hot and exhausted.
When I started back, I felt really refreshed, and was able to run over the rocky trail that I could barely walk over on the way up. Here's a picture of the top of the ridge before the trail leads down the mountain. It's amazing how, with enough energy and focus, you can pick your way over and around the rocks. I definitely was careful about it, though. I didn't want to trip and hit my head.
The way down was fun. I took the opportunity on some of the flatter stretches to really pick up the speed, and it felt great. I noticed that my quads did not hurt like they did last week, so I suspect that I'm already benefitting a lot from the workout. After making my way down the mountain, I climbed out into the middle of Dunnfield Creek. It rained a lot in the past week, so there was more water in the falls than last week's trickle, but you can see that it wasn't much. It was still a very pleasant spot, and I felt even more energized when I continued back to my car.
So I have now completed two runs up the mountain, and I am sure that it has made a trail runner out of me. I'm thinking of visiting a different park and running some hilly, single-track bike trails as a safer alternative to the mountain for now, although I hope to reach many more summits over the course of my running career.
"Mont Blanc yet gleams on high: -- the power is there,
The still and solemn power of many sights,
And many sounds, and much of life and death."
From "Mont Blanc: Lines written in the vale of Chamouni "
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1816
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Running on top of the world
At an elevation of only 1,527 feet above sea level, it's hardly the top of the world, but it sure felt like it was when I reached the summit of Mt. Tammany yesterday. And I think it's made a trail runner out of me.
I had planned an early 8-mile run on the road for yesterday morning, but when the alarm went off at 6:30, my head was pounding with want of more sleep, and I turned the alarm off and buried my head in my pillow. When I did get up, it was about 8, and my head felt like it would begin pounding again if I moved around too much, so I decided to postpone the run until the next day.
The only hitch was that the weather was beautiful. It was sunny and about 61 degrees with no humidity - which has been almost unheard of this summer. I had to do something outside. I thought about taking the Trek for another spin down the trail, but then I thought about hiking. I hadn't done that for a while. It seemed like a perfect way to spend the beautiful day.
I checked with one of my running buddies to see if she'd like to come along for a hike, but she was busy, so I planned to go myself. I told my parents when and where I was going and even gave them a park map showing which trail I would take. I used my iFitness belt, which carried my cell phone, ID, keys, and food. And to be extra careful, I wore a whistle.
I got to the park and decided that I wasn't really in the mood to hike. I wanted to run. So I jogged through the parking lot and onto the Appalachian Trail. That section was heavily traveled with people, so I slowed down and walked when appropriate. At one point, though, I heard someone tell someone else to stop for me. It went something like "Anyone jogging the Appalachian Trail deserves the right of way." That part was actually not difficult to run on. The ground was rocky and the path was moving steadily uphill, but I didn't have trouble picking my way. Then I turned off the AT toward Mount Tammany.
Once I moved farther up the mountain, the rocks in the path became looser and more numerous. I started feeling the effects of not stretching or warming up, as my calves started to cramp up. I stopped running and hiked up the loose, rocky spots and began running again when my calves felt better. It was a thoroughly good workout. I stopped one or two times to drink from my water bottle and take a breather, but for the most part I was steadily running and hiking up the mountain. As I moved up through the forest and the trees thinned out a little, I noticed that the sky had clouded up a bit, and some humidity had crept into the air. Instead of being green and gold with sunlight, the forest was green and gray and had a calm, subdued atmosphere.
After one steep, exceptionally rocky slope, I came to a grassy space which I knew must be the top of the mountain ridge. The trees were sparse, and the ground was covered with scrubby vegetation. The path was still rocky, but grass grew up all around the rocks. I followed the trail blazes until I saw a break in the trees and went to take a look. It was a scenic overlook. I stepped up to it and got my first view of the height I had just climbed: miles and miles of valleys and hills sprawled out below. I snapped a few pictures with my phone (Maybe someday I'll get text-messaging and be able to actually post the pictures from my phone. For now they're stuck there.) and went back to the trail to follow it over to the summit.
I started running again here, albeit slowly - as I picked my way around rocks - and came to a brush-covered pile of boulders and the blazes marking the end of the trail. In between some of the larger rocks was a little pathway. I stepped through and came out, it felt, on top of the world.
There were the mountains of Pennsylvania rising in a peak directly in front and stretching on in a line. The Delaware River snaked through the gap below, looking like a little creek beneath the mountains. Leaning over, I could see the parking lot where I started far below.
A lot of other people were at the summit. One girl was wearing flip-flops, and I can only wonder how long it took her and her boyfriend to get up there. I took a picture for a family that had hiked up together, and in return, one of them took a picture of me with my phone. I keep looking at that picture and remembering how good it felt to run (and hike) up a mountain.
When I began to make my way back down, I was rested and really felt like running again. I ran over rocks that on the way up I had walked over and surprised myself with how much easier it was to run. There were definitely places that were un-runnable, but I took those slowly and carefully and had a blast running down the mountain the rest of the way. I really felt it in my quads by the time I had come to the end of the mountain trail. I felt so good, though, I thought that I'd run a little further up the AT before heading back to the car. I turned onto the AT, which headed uphill. I was tired and took it slowly on that incline, but I didn't get far before I realized that I had a party to go to that night, and if I didn't get home soon, I wouldn't have time to get ready and eat dinner. I also didn't want to fall asleep the minute I got the the party. So I turned around and ran back toward the parking lot.
This was one of those amazing runs. The kind that comes around every once in a while that reminds you of why you love running. It made me feel good in every possible way. And it made me want to run trails much, much more often.
I know that I'll be following the Tour du Mont Blanc next weekend -- awed by the mountain peaks that the runners in that race will be ascending. And I am almost definitely going to run a trail half-marathon in November.
I had planned an early 8-mile run on the road for yesterday morning, but when the alarm went off at 6:30, my head was pounding with want of more sleep, and I turned the alarm off and buried my head in my pillow. When I did get up, it was about 8, and my head felt like it would begin pounding again if I moved around too much, so I decided to postpone the run until the next day.
The only hitch was that the weather was beautiful. It was sunny and about 61 degrees with no humidity - which has been almost unheard of this summer. I had to do something outside. I thought about taking the Trek for another spin down the trail, but then I thought about hiking. I hadn't done that for a while. It seemed like a perfect way to spend the beautiful day.
I checked with one of my running buddies to see if she'd like to come along for a hike, but she was busy, so I planned to go myself. I told my parents when and where I was going and even gave them a park map showing which trail I would take. I used my iFitness belt, which carried my cell phone, ID, keys, and food. And to be extra careful, I wore a whistle.
I got to the park and decided that I wasn't really in the mood to hike. I wanted to run. So I jogged through the parking lot and onto the Appalachian Trail. That section was heavily traveled with people, so I slowed down and walked when appropriate. At one point, though, I heard someone tell someone else to stop for me. It went something like "Anyone jogging the Appalachian Trail deserves the right of way." That part was actually not difficult to run on. The ground was rocky and the path was moving steadily uphill, but I didn't have trouble picking my way. Then I turned off the AT toward Mount Tammany.
Once I moved farther up the mountain, the rocks in the path became looser and more numerous. I started feeling the effects of not stretching or warming up, as my calves started to cramp up. I stopped running and hiked up the loose, rocky spots and began running again when my calves felt better. It was a thoroughly good workout. I stopped one or two times to drink from my water bottle and take a breather, but for the most part I was steadily running and hiking up the mountain. As I moved up through the forest and the trees thinned out a little, I noticed that the sky had clouded up a bit, and some humidity had crept into the air. Instead of being green and gold with sunlight, the forest was green and gray and had a calm, subdued atmosphere.
After one steep, exceptionally rocky slope, I came to a grassy space which I knew must be the top of the mountain ridge. The trees were sparse, and the ground was covered with scrubby vegetation. The path was still rocky, but grass grew up all around the rocks. I followed the trail blazes until I saw a break in the trees and went to take a look. It was a scenic overlook. I stepped up to it and got my first view of the height I had just climbed: miles and miles of valleys and hills sprawled out below. I snapped a few pictures with my phone (Maybe someday I'll get text-messaging and be able to actually post the pictures from my phone. For now they're stuck there.) and went back to the trail to follow it over to the summit.
I started running again here, albeit slowly - as I picked my way around rocks - and came to a brush-covered pile of boulders and the blazes marking the end of the trail. In between some of the larger rocks was a little pathway. I stepped through and came out, it felt, on top of the world.
There were the mountains of Pennsylvania rising in a peak directly in front and stretching on in a line. The Delaware River snaked through the gap below, looking like a little creek beneath the mountains. Leaning over, I could see the parking lot where I started far below.
A lot of other people were at the summit. One girl was wearing flip-flops, and I can only wonder how long it took her and her boyfriend to get up there. I took a picture for a family that had hiked up together, and in return, one of them took a picture of me with my phone. I keep looking at that picture and remembering how good it felt to run (and hike) up a mountain.
When I began to make my way back down, I was rested and really felt like running again. I ran over rocks that on the way up I had walked over and surprised myself with how much easier it was to run. There were definitely places that were un-runnable, but I took those slowly and carefully and had a blast running down the mountain the rest of the way. I really felt it in my quads by the time I had come to the end of the mountain trail. I felt so good, though, I thought that I'd run a little further up the AT before heading back to the car. I turned onto the AT, which headed uphill. I was tired and took it slowly on that incline, but I didn't get far before I realized that I had a party to go to that night, and if I didn't get home soon, I wouldn't have time to get ready and eat dinner. I also didn't want to fall asleep the minute I got the the party. So I turned around and ran back toward the parking lot.
This was one of those amazing runs. The kind that comes around every once in a while that reminds you of why you love running. It made me feel good in every possible way. And it made me want to run trails much, much more often.
I know that I'll be following the Tour du Mont Blanc next weekend -- awed by the mountain peaks that the runners in that race will be ascending. And I am almost definitely going to run a trail half-marathon in November.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Not sure what to do
I went for a really great bike ride yesterday. I mean really great. The weather, for once, was perfect, and I felt amazing and so happy and didn't want to stop riding. I probably would have ridden through a couple of towns if there was enough daylight.
If every day were like that, I'd have many more miles behind me. Unfortunately, my mileage dropped off severely this summer once the hot weather kicked in, and when I do run, I feel slow, out of shape, and basically like a hopeless case, even though I probably have it in me to be faster and stronger. Long runs always feel too slow -- sometimes so slow that it's nothing more than a shuffle. I've tried to kick up the intensity by doing some hill and interval training, but it's not consistent. None of my running is consistent, unless you count that it's consistently slow.
I feel like I must be doing something wrong. For example, one day I went out for a 7.5 miler. I felt exhausted from the beginning. I dragged myself through it at snail speed, and by mile 6.5 had blisters on my feet and stopped to walk. I figured that I'd try and give it one more shot, at a faster pace, and started running again, probably about twice as fast as before. And you know what? It felt great. I kept up the pace for the rest of the run and actually flew by other runners on the trail. How could I have such a great finish after 6.5 miles of not being able to go faster than a shuffle? Why can't I go at least moderately fast for the entire distance? I must be doing something wrong.
And I just don't know what to do with my training. The weather in general has been so hot that even if I have the motivation to push myself, I can't always physically do it. I had hopes of running some speedy 5Ks in September, but I'm afraid that I'm not getting the training in to make that possible, so I should probably re-evaluate those goals.
Maybe the nice weather will stick around long enough to get some runs as enjoyable as yesterday's bike ride to boost my motivation, and with any luck, the fall will bring some nice training runs and fun and successful races.
I think that I'll begin writing in this blog again to help keep track of how things are going. I've been getting into the habit of writing in my journal again, and I think I can split my writing between the two now.
If every day were like that, I'd have many more miles behind me. Unfortunately, my mileage dropped off severely this summer once the hot weather kicked in, and when I do run, I feel slow, out of shape, and basically like a hopeless case, even though I probably have it in me to be faster and stronger. Long runs always feel too slow -- sometimes so slow that it's nothing more than a shuffle. I've tried to kick up the intensity by doing some hill and interval training, but it's not consistent. None of my running is consistent, unless you count that it's consistently slow.
I feel like I must be doing something wrong. For example, one day I went out for a 7.5 miler. I felt exhausted from the beginning. I dragged myself through it at snail speed, and by mile 6.5 had blisters on my feet and stopped to walk. I figured that I'd try and give it one more shot, at a faster pace, and started running again, probably about twice as fast as before. And you know what? It felt great. I kept up the pace for the rest of the run and actually flew by other runners on the trail. How could I have such a great finish after 6.5 miles of not being able to go faster than a shuffle? Why can't I go at least moderately fast for the entire distance? I must be doing something wrong.
And I just don't know what to do with my training. The weather in general has been so hot that even if I have the motivation to push myself, I can't always physically do it. I had hopes of running some speedy 5Ks in September, but I'm afraid that I'm not getting the training in to make that possible, so I should probably re-evaluate those goals.
Maybe the nice weather will stick around long enough to get some runs as enjoyable as yesterday's bike ride to boost my motivation, and with any luck, the fall will bring some nice training runs and fun and successful races.
I think that I'll begin writing in this blog again to help keep track of how things are going. I've been getting into the habit of writing in my journal again, and I think I can split my writing between the two now.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Another Christmas in August
Last Thursday I ran the Christmas in August 5k for the 3rd time. Last year, this was my race. I had just set a PR a week and a half before at the Frankford Foundation 5K, and then smashed that by over a minute at Christmas in August. This year I was not quite as amazing, but I have to admit that my time was not as shabby as it could have been. I ended up only one second behind the Frankford Foundation 5k time, making it one of my best race times, even though the weather was very hot and humid.
My dad came to cheer me on at this race. We were running a little behind schedule and got there to register with about 20 minutes before the race started. I had to laugh when they ran out of safety pins and handed me my number with duct tape to attach to my shirt. (I had contemplated bringing my own pins, but I thought I wouldn't need them!) It wasn't a problem, and once I had my number on, I went to warm up. Instead of jogging through the parking lot, I took a trail in the woods. It led to some picnic tables and barbecues for campers at the state park, and continued to a boat launch at the edge of the lake.
I felt tired just from jogging. I had only gotten about 2 or 3 hours of sleep the night before (a combination of being kept awake by my Yorkshire Terrier who has a pathological fear of thunderstorms, and then being awoken at 4:45 a.m. by my little sister coming home after being out all night). I had made sure to have lots of caffeine (and then extra water to re-hydrate) throughout the day, but maybe it wasn't enough to combat the tiredness caused by the heat. I sat on one of the benches and stretched and enjoyed how quiet it was in that little corner of the park. The sun glinting off of the lake and filtering down through the trees was calming, and I liked having that little bit of "me" time to keep me from getting too anxious about the race.
The race started with the usual "Ho, Ho Ho, Ho Ho Ho!" and we were off. I kept toward the back and tried not to start out too fast, but I also tried not to lock into too slow of a pace. I found a light, quick cadence that I felt I could sustain and went with it.
The course was mainly flat, but the mild inclines felt hard thanks to the heat and humidity. When I got to a water stop, I couldn't decide what part of my body to splash the water on - my face, the top of my head, my back? I splashed a little down my front and then dumped the rest down my back and kept going. I made it to the turn-around at 12:54 minutes.
I tried to keep up my pace in the second half but couldn't. I watched as a number of people passed me and tried to hold on and not slow down more. A woman in a yellow tank passed me with about 1/2 mile to go, and I tried to keep her in reach. She was about 75 meters in front of me when I started my kick, and I actually almost caught her. I ended up only 1 second behind her. Here we are coming in to the finish (I'm the one trying to look like a ninja with the black sweat band and sunglasses):
My final time was 26:29. I obviously slowed down a lot in the second half, which is something that I really need to work on. Overall, though, I'm happy with how I ran. I know that I don't run well in the heat, and I still managed to reach one of my best times.
Now, if I can beat the heat, I'm going to try and commit to a schedule. In about 6 weeks is a 5K at my former high school, and the week after that is a 5K in the town where I work. I would really like to be speedy for both of those races, and I'm thinking about setting a new PR at the second one, but I know that I have to put in a lot more effort than I have been lately.
My dad came to cheer me on at this race. We were running a little behind schedule and got there to register with about 20 minutes before the race started. I had to laugh when they ran out of safety pins and handed me my number with duct tape to attach to my shirt. (I had contemplated bringing my own pins, but I thought I wouldn't need them!) It wasn't a problem, and once I had my number on, I went to warm up. Instead of jogging through the parking lot, I took a trail in the woods. It led to some picnic tables and barbecues for campers at the state park, and continued to a boat launch at the edge of the lake.
I felt tired just from jogging. I had only gotten about 2 or 3 hours of sleep the night before (a combination of being kept awake by my Yorkshire Terrier who has a pathological fear of thunderstorms, and then being awoken at 4:45 a.m. by my little sister coming home after being out all night). I had made sure to have lots of caffeine (and then extra water to re-hydrate) throughout the day, but maybe it wasn't enough to combat the tiredness caused by the heat. I sat on one of the benches and stretched and enjoyed how quiet it was in that little corner of the park. The sun glinting off of the lake and filtering down through the trees was calming, and I liked having that little bit of "me" time to keep me from getting too anxious about the race.
The race started with the usual "Ho, Ho Ho, Ho Ho Ho!" and we were off. I kept toward the back and tried not to start out too fast, but I also tried not to lock into too slow of a pace. I found a light, quick cadence that I felt I could sustain and went with it.
The course was mainly flat, but the mild inclines felt hard thanks to the heat and humidity. When I got to a water stop, I couldn't decide what part of my body to splash the water on - my face, the top of my head, my back? I splashed a little down my front and then dumped the rest down my back and kept going. I made it to the turn-around at 12:54 minutes.
I tried to keep up my pace in the second half but couldn't. I watched as a number of people passed me and tried to hold on and not slow down more. A woman in a yellow tank passed me with about 1/2 mile to go, and I tried to keep her in reach. She was about 75 meters in front of me when I started my kick, and I actually almost caught her. I ended up only 1 second behind her. Here we are coming in to the finish (I'm the one trying to look like a ninja with the black sweat band and sunglasses):
My final time was 26:29. I obviously slowed down a lot in the second half, which is something that I really need to work on. Overall, though, I'm happy with how I ran. I know that I don't run well in the heat, and I still managed to reach one of my best times.
Now, if I can beat the heat, I'm going to try and commit to a schedule. In about 6 weeks is a 5K at my former high school, and the week after that is a 5K in the town where I work. I would really like to be speedy for both of those races, and I'm thinking about setting a new PR at the second one, but I know that I have to put in a lot more effort than I have been lately.
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