Pennsyltucky Ice Bath

Happy Samhain - with Snow!

Volunteering at the Dry Valley Half Marathon - brrrr!

Mums the word.

Indigo berries near our volunteer station.

We were .7 mile from the finish. It was a small crowd this year.

Brooks Defyance 4

A road trip to Jack Rabbit Sports had me fitted for these b@d @$$ trainers. I can't wait to be out on the road with them!

Thoughts from the Road - #32511

Reunited!

The miles have been coming fairly easily lately but I pay for them later. My right knee swells after some long runs and my plantar fasciitis on my right foot has been a bother. This has me sitting around quite a bit with resting and icing. It doesn't make me feel like doing much else.

I have a week and a couple days until my race in Harrisburg. Who knows what the weather will be like so I have been sucking it up and sticking to my schedule. It was windy and brisk on the rail trail but I thought, "It's going to be windy on the river, DEAL with it." It sleeted and snowed and rained all Wednesday and I thought, "It could be cold and wet for race day. DEAL with it." It was over 70 degrees Monday evening when we took a nice run but the humidity made me start dripping sweat instantly. It makes me wonder what conditions would ever make me happy.

Wednesday I was dismayed to have lost my Green Tea Mint ChapStick. It was my favorite (lucky?) ChapStick that I have used before almost every run. I carry it during longer runs and rainy Wednesday was to be at least 8 miles. Because of the weather I was wearing my raincoat over my running clothes and I guess I didn't have the pockets zipped properly. After an hour I went to apply it and it was gone. I was retracing the last 2 miles and kept an eye out for it but never saw it.

Overall it was an annoying run. My legs were stiff from the cold. My plantar fasciitis never warmed up and hurt pretty much the whole way. It drizzled the whole run. The most annoying thing was having to estimate my distance because my iTouch and Nike+ sensor stopped communicating after I had stopped to take a photo. I am very good at estimating my distance because my pace is never far off a 10 minute mile but it still made me uneasy.

The rest days this week have been so chilly and quite glum. Yesterday I stretched out between working on projects but was still gimping around by the end of the day. I was pretty much resigned to not run today. The temperature was predicted to start out in the teens and there was no way any of my aggravated body parts would warm up in that.

The sunny morning was very cheery today and the previous day of rest did my body good. I decided to stay on my scheduled regiment for race day and run 5 more miles this morning. The sun made it feel warmer than the 28° the thermometer showed but I think the breeze counteracted that. It felt close to freezing the whole run but the sunny sky stayed bright and my pace ended up under a 10mm after 6 miles.

The best part was just about .3 mile from home I found my ChapStick lying on the old dirt road that is just beyond the end of where we live. I know it had been rained on and spent 2 nights in the elements but I didn't care. I am thrilled to have my ChapStick back and it makes me realize I better get a back up or two.

Cold Running

Jim running past one of the horses.

Not letting a bad head cold get the best of me. We logged 6 miles!

Thoughts from the Road - #2811

On long runs I have a lot of time to think. I realized yesterday that my longest run to date was going to have my reoccurring overuse injuries rear their ugly heads. By the end of the day I was starting to feel the complete effect of the 15 miles.

I don't write about my injuries because they aren't a pleasant topic. I was thinking that perhaps by not writing about them some readers might wrongly assume that I have none. None are debilitating but they are still unpleasant if I haven't rested, stretched or taken ibuprofen.

The most prevalent of my overuse injuries is my plantar fasciitis. Long and hard pounding on asphalt, increasing my overall intensity of workouts over the week will bring on this painful foot condition. I can remember feeling it even a bit before I started running, probably brought on by hiking. When it is at it's worst, its painful to get out of bed and walk for the first minute or so after rising. The things that have helped it are stretching my calves regularly and (when it's at its very worst) rolling my feet bottoms on a frozen soup can.

My right knee can swell a bit after an intense workout or series of days without a break. I rarely need to ice it but a day or two of rest is usually enough. The tendons around my ankles can be painful and require the same treatment as my knee.

I am grateful that I haven't really had a sharp pain in either of my knees like I did early last fall. Rolling out my iliotibial band on a foam roller has really kept that pain at bay, even this winter in the cold. I almost felt it just a bit yesterday between my 12th and 14th miles. I just slowed down a bit and tried to keep conscious while running.

All of the other little things that end up hurting are so varied. I can say I am always feeling something somewhere. I know some might question why I choose to exercise in a way that causes me any pain but the benefits seems to far outweigh the problems.

Thoughts from the Road - #2711

I am recovering from my longest and farthest run to date. I was pleased to grab a couple of hours of daylight when the shoulders of the roadways were not a total mess. I did have to full out stop, a half dozen times, by climbing onto the large mound of snow and ice when the shoulders were most narrow. That was for the passing of oncoming buses and tractor trailers that really had no room to yield on Fox Hill Road.

I ran abut 9 miles of the Nittany Valley Half Marathon route in reverse. I then turned on to Big Hollow Rd which had more traffic on it than I expected. From where it comes out near Jim's work I turned for home via Orchard Rd through Houserville and started up Penn Hills before Jim caught up to me on one of the most lethal hills.

I feel now like I did last summer when I completed my first 10 miler. I feel accomplished but pretty beat up. It was not an easy run at any point along the way. I had moderately bad cramps the whole time and the added weight of the 24 oz of water in the CamelBak seemed to really slow me down. I carried extra water because of the extra distance. How much was left when Jim picked me up after 15 miles? sssslllluuuurrrP - None. I drank every bit as I sweated my way along in the above freezing temperatures.

I ate 1/2 a peeled banana from a snack baggie at about mile 9 and downed a PB&J the moment I got home. I am about to have another 8oz of Nuun flavored water because I am feeling like I am still crashing. Cucumber Mint - yum!

I really loved seeing the 3 red tailed hawks along the road near the airport. A jet and a plane took off i the amount of time I took to run through the area. I wished it had been the day the president came. It would have been cool to see Air Force One as a ran by.

Do I feel like I could accomplish a marathon distance? No way. I am feeling like a nap. I will rest a bit while I know Arron is flying back over the Atlantic Ocean, scheduled to get home about 8 PM tonight.  I hope his travels go well and we can look forward to hearing about his time in London. This week is starting out pretty well.

Thoughts from the Road - #2111

Crazy B*tch

I was born in Washington DC and we lived in an apartment complex in Silver Spring, MD. I can't imagine that during the couple of years we lived there that they got as much snow as the DC metro area is getting this year! Many of you readers know that folks south of the Mason-Dixon line don't always know how to drive in the snow. A lot of times their tires are bald and they don't get enough practice knowing how to pull out and when to brake.

It was the winter just before I turned two that the area got a snowfall. I guess Dad hurt his back pretty badly trying to help a car that was stuck in the snow get out. The driver had been giving the car gas and spinning their wheels at such a speed they were screaming and whining. I don't know if his exasperated, "Crazy b*tch!" remark was before or after he hurt his back but it became one of the DC stories that was shared from my childhood.

My mom gave up her job with the FBI to raise me. She took me out to the park when the weather was fine and visited indoors with friends and other tenants during the rare times DC became unnavigable with snow. That same winter we were visiting one of Mom's friends in her apartment when the lady's priest stopped by for a visit. The way I imagine the next part of the story is that the adults had just enjoyed coffee and cake and clean-up was taking place. The lady turned on her in-sink garbage disposal and it gave out what to me would have been a very unusual squeal as it did it job. My comment was, "Crazy b*tch!" It must have sounded to me just like the tires I had heard spinning in the snow.

Forty-seven years later and no tire spinning for me today. School was canceled from another crazy winter storm but the weather is to turn even more icy in the next 24 hours. I got out and got my run in before the roads got even worse. I thought of Jim cheering me on, "Go, go, go!" This is also based on when I turned two and would say that as I held my two index fingers in the air. (See 1964 archives at this link.)

Today I started from the far end of our road, through a deep snow covered hill then up and into Stern's Crossing. I was really surprised that the roads in that fancy-shmancy development were so poorly maintained this morning! I dropped down onto Houserville Rd via October and Creekside Drives to add in an extra mile and was thrilled that next to no traffic was out.

Almost everywhere I ran only half of the road had been maintained. Luckily it was the side I was running on and it was a day to make certain to run facing traffic. As I jogged up Trout Rd a few people were out cleaning off their cars and I wished them a good morning. I don't think they were expecting to see me and there was a bit of surprise in their expression and voice as they returned my greeting.

I did a couple of laps on Spring Valley Rd but even the horses were staying in the barn this morning. The sky stayed grey and a spitting drizzle had started by the time I had made it 5.5 miles.

The 2 miles to home were very sloppy along Shilo Rd and through the Walmart complex. People were finally making it out into the world to get their shopping done. A Walmart employee was taking her smoke break and reading a book out in front of the store as I ran by. She looked up at me and her face had the same surprised expression as the residents on Trout Rd I had greeted. I suddenly got a clear picture of what they were all thinking about me, a seemingly insane woman running in terribly foul weather. "Crazy b*tch!"

Archives!!

As time allows, my goal is to scan in old photos (and slides?) that are not yet in digital format. Don't forget to look in the archived blog posts listed in the right hand column of this page. I did a 1974 post of some 6th grade track meet photos to show a little of what I hope to share. Stories will hopefully follow.

Thoughts from the "Road" - #12811

An Unsatisfactory Start

The huge drifts of snow in January 2010 caused my running schedule less problems than the much smaller ones this year. Last year, darting out for a few laps on a local street easily ate up 20 minutes. Even when it was bitterly cold I got out, started to sweat and was back in and stretching in no time at all. This year has been harder to rally knowing I will be out in the cutting breeze, stepping through icy hummocks and looking for safe places to run for an hour or two at a go.

My right knee is a little swollen from the uneven running-on-beach-sand type workouts I have lately in the deep snow on the bike path. This morning I had a plan to mix it up a little by utilizing Penn State's indoor track at the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility.

I have been scoping the location out for about a month. Firstly, it was locked because it was the day before classes resumed. I had wrongly assumed that because PSU staff had been back to work for well over a week that the facility might be open.

Next, I went on a weekend when the track had an event going on. I could at least read the track rules and building hours, 8AM until Midnight. Over this period of time, I had unsuccessfully scanned all of the web pages associated with the facility to try to determine when classes or events were being held and if the general public were limited to specific hours.

The day of the track meet there was no one on hand to ask so I spent the next week trying to call for information. No one ever answered the phone so I planned on trying a run there the following week just after lunch. I entered the building for my third time during lunch so it was pretty much abandoned. There were a couple of people using part of the sprinting course within the track so I knew it was open. With no one at the reception desk, I went to change my clothes. When I came out, the desk was manned and I asked about public use. I was told Monday - Friday 8 AM until NOON. I was a little exasperated and shared that I had been trying to glean that information but no one had been answering their phone all week. I asked if I could, for just that day, use the track since it was being under utilized at that moment. I was given the ok with the understanding that I would have to leave if students, a class or a coach needed to use the area. My use of the facility was 20 minutes, not even 2 miles of running, before students began trickling in. At least I got to try out a pair of new shoes before I bundled up and walked across campus to my bus on one of the most bitter cold days this winter. What a lot of trouble.

It wasn't the bitterly cold but the piles of snow and slush that had been a challenge this week so this morning I was ready. I had planned last night to have my gear ready to go when Jimmy-the-Eye started out for work. When he dropped me at the facility @ 7:45 AM, I wasn't concerned if I couldn't get in for 15 minutes. Sure enough the doors were locked but I had warm up clothes over my shorts and t-shirt. I was dressed to run indoors but not yet sweaty so the wait would be fine. I only had to wait about 5 minutes until someone unlocked the door. I asked if I could wait in the warm lobby until the building was open and I was told that the building would be closed all day because of an event. I wanted to scream but thanked the fellow for cluing me in as I hustled off. Even if I changed into my new sneakers and dealt with my back pack banging around, I wasn't dressed to run outside. I chose the closest bus stop to try to get home and missed the bus by 2 minutes. I was forced to call Jimmy-the-Eye for a ride home.

I am trying to get over sulking about it. It seems I have put a lot of effort into this morning for nothing. I am trying to turn it around and make something good out of a bad start. I am like that on runs and races too; if things start off badly I have a difficult time turning it around. I let my head get in the way and it can dictate the mood for a while.

I am having a second cup of tea, finally writing in this blog for a bit, planning Jimmy-the-Eye's birthday weekend as well as my my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. I have a couple of art projects to get into and can revel in completing my taxes. I may not be out in the drifts of snow working out but I will plow my way through the day and strive to have a smile or two along the way.
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addendum
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I did get a shorter more intense run in this morning. I took a round-about route in my studded shoes. Starting with a lap on my unplowed street, a quick down & up our hill then off to return a Redbox dvd to Walmart made it almost feel like I got a run in.

April Foolishness

Something I am looking forward to in early April. Double the miles of the race I entered last year at that time is the Capital 10-Miler.

Thoughts from the Road - #11911

Images from Winter Runs

Mile 4/6 on Spring Valley Road, past the horses. I saw a juvenile Northern Harrier near here this day and ran directly under an American Kestrel sitting on a line.

Mile 5/13 today. I 99 passing over the Bellefonte Central Rail Trail which was 6 miles of sloggy slush, the whole way to Waddle and back.

Detail of above.

Thoughts from the Road - #11211

Not Now, I'm Doing Math

We used to steal our son's shoes off of his feet on long trips in the car as one of the many ways to fight off boredom and stay engaged. Before Kindergarten, he became obsessed with general math and begged us to give him problems to solve to pass the time. When he wasn't in the mood for playing around and having his feet tickled he would seriously tell us, "Not now, I'm doing math." Math was too important to be interrupted with a frivolous game.

I have never enjoyed crunching numbers and sometime about 8th grade I ended up feeling very stupid when it came to Algebra. I had been placed in a group of students who were set on an accelerated path through Junior High School, we were constantly pushed to enroll in classes that were 2 years more advanced than anyone else in our grade. I did excel in many topics but math was not one that came easily and I struggled to keep up. The track we were on was clearly outlined as a long series of advanced math courses for years. I was relieved at the beginning of my senior year when I had enough math credits accumulated to graduate and could have a year without any math class and take on 2 science classes.

As a runner, I find myself thrust back into doing math more often than I would like. I am not a maniac about bettering my time and don't really keep an eye on my watch for that reason. If I do have to be at a specific location by a specific time, that ends up requiring... math.

As an example, Monday I wanted to set out from home to run 10 miles. I had never run that far in the snow before so I wanted to be generous with the amount of time I would need and estimated 2 hours (my 10 miler normally would be closer to 1:42:00). Because of the snow, I didn't want to have to run the final mile back to my house which is all uphill and a gravel snow covered road part of the way. I asked Jimmy-the-eye to pick me on his way home for lunch at a park that is enroute.

With all of the above information, I needed to figure out when to turn around to make it back to the park close to when he was to pick me up. This required me to see how long it took me to get to the park (about 2 miles into my run) and subtract that out of my remaining time and distance for the return. Then I realized that I had to cut that time in HALF when applying it to my finale 8 or so miles because I would be running that time in both directions. AUGH! All I wanted was to take a run!

On top of all of that, I was carrying water and fuel which I wouldn't need for my entire run. I like to refuel about 40 minutes/ 4 miles into my run and once more at 8 miles. I spent most of my first 4 miles trying to figure out exactly where to drop my water bottle in the snow so that I would be running back past it for my 8 mile refueling. This, of course, required that I had a plan for exactly where/when I would be turning around. My first 4 miles were super-saturated with little math problems. Next time I will plan ahead and wear my CamelBak.

I need to mention that I can't do math when I am really exerting myself so my figuring has to be put on hold if I have any hills to run up. I also need to focus if I share any of my route on roads that have traffic; no math on roads. Loose dogs, tricky footing, wedgies, running snot and any malfunctioning gear will all cause my calculations to be put on hold (at best) or be totally forgotten (at worst). It may surprise you that I can walk/run and chew gum at the same time, I just can't do math.

On the plus side (pun intended), once I have figured out the general length of a route it is much easier to know how to tackle it in the future. Running by a landmark I will think, "Oh, that's my 8 mile point when I start from point X and run route Y," even though it would only be my mile 3 for that day. I don't forget things like that if I have put effort into getting it straight a run or two in the past. I don't want to have to do the math more than once.

It is said, to run a strong race a runner is encouraged to run negative splits. That means for each mile you run it is a good practice to try to run each additional mile a little bit faster than the last. More math. I have been coasting along at a 10 (something) minute mile pace for quite a while. I think I could probably train to get a little stronger but I will be honest, I like working with 10s. The only race I where I had my splits written down, they stayed tucked neatly away in my SPIbelt as I struggled to keep myself moving forward at any pace. For the time being, I will just be glad to run my second half of anything faster than my first half.

Maybe I am becoming more comfortable with the mathematical challenges running has thrown at me. I was pleased to recently realize that I almost naturally run the tangents of any race course. That has not been, however, to make better time nor that I relish Euclidean vectors. I can easily be distracted from doing math but I won't run any farther in a race than I absolutely have to. I'm not that stupid.

Long Run in the Snow Success

I reviewed how my snow studs did on an initial light run but wanted to give them a real trial over a much longer run. Today was the perfect day, the cold temps had kept the bike path snow covered and the day was a sunny one.

The biggest challenge was psyching myself up for going out into 22° weather for 2 hours solid. I keep telling myself that I know I got out no matter the weather or temperature last year but that was 30 minute work outs maximum when I started the Couch to 5k plan. Now that I look at it, the first few weeks were only 20 minutes each work out. I worked up a sweat but was in and showering soon after that.


I shivered and puttered around until 10:00 this morning and finally pushed (and shoved and kicked) myself out the door. Armed with a couple Gus and a new Cucumber Mint Nuun tablet for my water, I had a lot of gear to juggle in my very cold hands.

This run was probably 85% on packed or 2" - 3" fluffy snow. The bike trail over the weekend had been well used and there were even some icy patches that I make a beeline to, no matter if it was on a hill or not. About 10% of the run was on clear road and 5% was on snow covered gravel or dirt. I logged over 10 miles and surprisingly made a little bit better time than I had expected. Running in the snow takes some effort but the studs on the shoes really were amazing. I didn't ever slip and I only lost one stud from one of my heals. I didn't miss it, thankfully, on any of the descents.

Because I overestimated how long it would take me, I was left with quite a while to stretch out and wait for Jimmy-the-eye to pick me up. This is when the cold kicked in as I walked around the park and tried to stay in the sun. When I got home I saw it had only warmed up to 25°. I was grateful there was very little wind today.

I am thrilled at how good this 10 miler felt. I hadn't logged that distance in over a month and I am not feeling too badly after my shower. I like the possibilities the snow studs have opened up for me but will still be glad for warmer weather.

snow studs

We finally got a substantial snowfall to justify my winter running project. With Miles' help, I screwed in some 1/4" sheet metal screws into my oldest sneakers. I have decided to mutilate my oldest shoes since Yaktracks Pro do not come small enough for my size 6 New Balance 758's.


After an easy 2.5 miles on many different surfaces I returned home to find I had lost one outside stud. The remaining ones showed no wear even though half of the running had been on slushy or just wet road surfaces.

They handled best on snow pack where tires had driven on the 2" of unplowed snow. They were also really nice on unshoveled sidewalks with 2" - 3" of fluffy snow. I was able to get a nice grip to keep moving up a 3° - 5° incline and felt just as confidant descending the same route because of the studs on my heals.

The surfaces I felt less confidant about were the wet roads where I wasn't certain if the studs might cause me to slide if I would pick up speed. The snowy trail I was on was just more difficult to navigate because of the added effort to get through the snow. I will say the same for the hill with road grade gravel.

I look forward to trying them again when I have a few ice patches to test out.



Birbanto helped me with the follow up shots.

Thoughts from the Road - #1611

Take Me Away

Take me away from the cares of the day.
Let my pumping legs make me all sweaty
and muscles burn with the demands of a run
and forget all that's pointless or petty.

Take me away from my worries and fears.
Help me burn off all that limoncelli.
My breathing and pace so unbearably fast
I can't think of her break up with Kelly.

Take me away from the pressures and stress.
A long run builds up my muscle tone
and for a moment forget others' endoscopies,
thyroid tests and kidney stones.

Take me away from the sadness and doubt
if only while I'm running hard.
A run is my daily treatment and cure;
psychotherapy for the avant-garde.

My Runniversary

Today is my runniversary. Last year on this date I started the Couch to 5k program. I ran 2.1 miles that day at a 14 MM pace. I graduated the program in about 9 weeks and have gone on to run 860 miles to this day.This is me at "the horses" (about 2.1 miles in) on my last run of 2010. The total run was a 5 miler at a 10 MM pace. It was the last run of the season with jingle bells on my shoes.

Today I went 3 times as far as last year on this date. This year I hope to log at least 1,000 miles total.

Bellefonte Road Runners

We did a run with a group tonight to see the holiday lights in Bellefonte. Folks dressed up and we wore jingle bells on our shoes.


We ran over 5 miles through Bellefonte with many of the high school cross country team. The streets were dark but the Victorian houses were lovely. I cannot image how they can afford the electricity to decorate those large places with holiday lights.


After about 2 miles many of the younger folks cut back to the school for cookies and hot chocolate and probably to get warm since they had taken off their shirts. We continued on for another 3 or so and enjoyed another less Victorian but decorated residential area.

It was a fun way to start the longest night of the year.

Chilled Out

So many little blog entries for me today, mainly because I am just lying around waiting to see if I am getting a cold or not. I'm sitting around, feeling mainly gross, trying to tell myself it's all in my head. The problem is, it is literally in my head; I have kinda sore throat and back of my nose and my eyes are burning.

I am feeling helpless to do anything and worry that even if I try to do something productive that I will just mess it up. I try talking to people I love and just seem to say the wrong things or get angry. I want to connect but my mind isn't stringing words together in thoughtful ways. Support becomes interference, a chat talk on the phone becomes a gripe session, and just trying to catching up is a chore that is more exhausting than it should be.

Sitting around inside as opposed to getting out for a while feels awkward but it is terribly cold. Wind chills have been in the negative digits so even walking outside in the breeze is painful. I have been getting my runs in just fine but today I can't find it in myself to do anything except sit like a bump.

What has given me a real smile this morning is The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Please don't tell me that is woman is really some type of mean snob. I really enjoy her humor, her compassion for others seems genuine and she is a vegan. I find myself smiling even just watching people dance on her show. I like the rapport she has with her DJ and the rest of her on air staff. Her guests seem thrilled to be there and she looks like she is having the time of her life. I don't like sitting around but am glad to watch Ellen's show when I have to.

I have also been reading a bunch of other folk's blogs. My eyes are tired and I have a bit of a headache but it's nice catching up and getting acquainted with what is going on with some other people with whom I share interests.

The meteorological winter has set in and because I have been out in it too much or picked up a little something while trapped indoors with so many people, today is a chill day for me.

Festive Photo

I found this photo of the Nittany Valley Half Marathon that I am in. I am last on the right. We are somewhere between miles 3 and 4 and I ended up passing all of these folks.