Race 35 Twisted Ankle Half Marathon

This race was hard.  In my quest to do 100 races, this was number 35.  It was the most difficult, by far.

The day started out very early as we made the 100 mile drive to Sloppy Floyd State Park.  Upon entry into the park we stopped by the park ranger, paid the $5 park entry fee, had no trouble finding a parking spot, and had plenty of time before the race started.

As usual the race director, Becky (remember her name, you'll see why in a bit) called us all together just prior to the start to go over things to be aware of.  Becky does a wonderful job putting this race together, she is one of the best.

Becky giving last minute instructions

I do believe I took away the most important thing she mentioned - just follow the blue strips hanging from trees and you won't get lost.  That was good because numerous times over the 13.1 miles when I was by myself, wondering if still on the right trail - I'd see a hanging blue strip and knew I was not lost in forest : )

We were off.  First mile was around the lake, the second mile was through  the camping area.  In the camping area, smelling the bacon & eggs, I thought - this is borderline cruel and unusual punishment : )  Next we were off into the forest.

At around mile 3 we passed the old Marble Mine, a dip in the reflection pool would have felt pretty good at that point.

Marble Mine on the trail

So at this point the race was still "easy" and "fun".  However, we were quickly approaching Becky's (the RD, the name I mentioned earlier) Bluff.  Becky's Bluff is no joke - it is HARD!  Putting into perspective, here are my mile times for the first few miles:

Mile 1    12:15

Mile 2    13:15

Mile 3    13:45

Mile 4    28:38

There were a few foothills leading up to this elevation gain and your brain starts thinking "oh this must be it", only to discover it's not Becky's Bluff yet.  However, there is no doubt in your mind when you ARE there.

http://www.rungeorgiatrails.com/maps.html

All I can say, it was hard.

At the top of Becky's Bluff we started an out and back rolling elevation changing ridge line.  The inclines were tough but nowhere near as tough as what we just did.  Following are a few shots from on the ridge line:

Seeing the blue ribbon was comforting

Bananas!

I think it was about mile 8 or so, my legs did not want to go anymore.  They were just tired.  The elevation gain really took a lot out of me.  You really start questioning why you're doing this.  Pretty much by this point, mile splits, finishing time, mean nothing.  You simply just want to finish.

One of the really nice parts of this race was on the out and back on the ridge line.  It made me think of a really old advertisement pitch by Honda (I think this was from the 1960s).  Their ad saying was "You meet the nicest people on a Honda".  Well during that out and back I thought "you meet the nicest people in a trail race".  As I was still on the "out" part, many were on the "back" part.  The amount of "good job", "looking good", "doing great", thumbs up,... from the folks as we crossed on the trail was amazing.

I was very happy to finish this race and the pizza & coke afterwards were delicious!  But in hindsight, what I liked the most about this race was the t-shirt we got:

What a great t-shirt!

Retirement the Richard Proenneke Way

A few years back I was introduced to what Richard "Dick" Proenneke did in Alaska.  Read his book too.  This guy was pretty incredible in what he decided to do in his 50s - went to Alaska, built a cabin (with hand tools only!) all for the purpose of testing himself to see if he could live through an entire year in the Alaskan wilderness.  Well, he succeeded and liked it so much, spent the majority of the next 30 years there.

Although I do want to fit Alaska into retirement, some how, I doubt it will be anything like the way Dick Proenneke did.

I think in many ways Dick Proenneke was a blogger before his time.  He kept journals for the purpose of sharing his experiences, click here to see his entries from 1974 - 1980.

Good Luck Great Saunterers

On my quest to do 100 races/events my favorite to date is The Great Saunter.  It is a 32 mile walk around the island of Manhattan.  Today is the 28th annual Great Saunter and I wish all of those participating the best of luck!  I had the opportunity to do The Great Saunter last year and do have a strong desire to make it an annual event.  Circumstances prevented me from participating this year, however I do look forward to the 29th Great Saunter next year.

A while back I came across an interesting explanation of what a saunterer is.  The recording below is Librivox recording of "Walking" by Henry David Thoreau (read by Chris Masterson).  At about the one minute mark you can hear Thoereau's explanation of what a saunterer is.



Good luck saunterers!

Baseball is a Simple Game

“Baseball is a simple game.  You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains”  from the movie  Bull Durham .

You throw the ball

You hit the ball

You catch the ball

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  

Well not actually true in this league.  In this league every game ends in a tie, outs are not counted, and no one strikes out  : )  Recently saw one of my grandson's Little League Tee Ball games.  Their games are three innings, each team bats through their lineup each inning, outs do not count - even if the happen to occur.  Batters get three pitches and if no hits by that point, the ball is put on the Tee for them.

And afterwards...

good game, good game, good game,...

Gwinnett Braves vs Norfolk Tides

First game of the season - well for me.  I am lucky - really, really enjoy minor league baseball and the Gwinnett Braves (AAA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves) are less than 10 miles away on all back roads!  And to make things even better, a lot of their games are 6:05 PM first pitch during the week.

Now it is very early in the season and I'm sure as they get further into the season, the crowds will pick up.

Gwinnett Braves vs Norfolk Tides

I do have a ritual that I do every year in the first game of the year:  hot dog, beer, boiled peanuts!  And I was in luck because they did have all three of those :)  The hot dog & beer would be standard stuff at all ballparks, the boiled peanuts maybe not.  Not sure about other parts of the country, but in the south, boiled peanuts are typically available.  Although I'm not a southerner by birth, once I moved here and was introduced to boiled peanuts - well. there is no going back!

With AAA baseball being one step away from the majors, these guys are really good ballplayers.  Saw a lot of good baseball during this game.  But at the same time, minor league baseball is a tough business to be in.  One of the random pictures I took during the game was of Matt Pagnozzi on first base in the third inning:

Pagnozzi base hit third inning

Just out of curiosity I looked his stats up on baseball-reference.com .  This is his 11th season in the minors, as of today he's played in 713 minor league games for the following teams:

New Jersey Cardinals (New Jersey)
Peoria Chiefs (Illinois)
Palm Beach Cardinals (Florida)
Springfield Cardinals (Missouri)
Memphis Redbirds (Tennessee)
Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Colorado)
Columbus Clippers (Ohio)
Gwinnett Braves (Georgia)

and he has played 33 games in majors during that time also:

St. Louis Cardinals
Colorado Rockies
Pittsburgh Pirates

This guy has been around baseball!  Oh yeah, he is also the nephew of the former St Louis Cardinal catcher Tom Pagnozzi ( I knew I had seen that name before).

Going to baseball games is a release for me, it is an escape for me - can't wait for the next game!

One other thing, this is somewhat of a habit now, started years ago when my son first played baseball, I've got to do the book when I'm at a game...

Race 34 IAF Superhero Virtual Half Marathon

On September 3rd, 2010, Isaiah collapsed in front of his parents and was rushed to the hospital. There were no prior symptoms but he suffered severe brain damage as a result of complications from lymphoma which wasn't diagnosed until that day. He never regained consciousness and he took his last breath on September 10th in his mother's arms.

Isaiah was a true superhero and would often be seen wearing costumes of his favorites, especially his batman costume. He also loved to dance to MJ songs. Isaiah had a contagious smile that would brighten any room and was truly loved by all who were lucky enough to have known him…

The information above and picture below are from The Isaiah Alonso Foundation website.

Isaiah Alonso - Superhero

A walking buddy of mine mentioned the IAF Virtual Superhero Run/Walk hosted by The Isaiah Alonso Foundation, where you could sign up and do different race distances (5K, 10K, half marathon) and it would support families battling childhood cancer.  It was a virtual race meaning you could do your race anywhere during the month of April.

So for my race number 34 I did the IAF Virtual Superhero Half Marathon.  The location I picked was Suwanee Greenway/George Pierce Park in Suwanee, Georgia.  The date that I picked was Saturday April 13, 2013.

For this race I did not bring my iPod.  I wanted to focus on thoughts of Isaiah Alonso, his family, others battling cancer, and their families.  These things are so sad, so unfair, and it is way beyond my comprehension why things like this happen.  It also reminded me of the brevity of life and that there really is no guarantee of tomorrow, for any of us.

Race 33 Georgia Half Marathon

My daughter Jen and I spent St. Paddy's Day morning making our away around downtown Atlanta for the Georgia Half Marathon.  This, being our 2nd year in a row to do this, are old pros now with getting up at a crazy 4:00 AM to get down to the 5:15 Marta train to take us downtown.  We arrived at Centennial Olympic Park with plenty of time to cycle through the porta-potties and even grab a free cup of coffee.  

Free cup of coffee really does taste better!

The weather was perfect for the race at 52 degrees at the start.  We walked around a bit, weaving in and out of the 10,000 or so participants and made our way to our starting corral.

Jen & me waiting for the start

We were about a quarter of mile back from the the actual starting line, think it was just over 12 minutes to get to start:

Back of the pack at the start

We were off.

For this race, my plan was to not run at all, I wanted to walk the entire course.  With the recent knee issues, I wanted to see see if I could do the entire half marathon without having any knee pain by not running.  Even though Jen usually runs these type races, for this race she decided hang with me.

One of the best views on this course is around mile 4, a great view of the Atlanta skyline:

Atlanta skyline just after sunrise

A few miles later, made our way through Little Five Points (if you are ever there and looking to grab a burger, this is your place!).

The Vortex - Little Five Points

One of the funny things  about the race was around mile 12, I was tired, I was spent.  I think the energy needed at that point to move forward takes away from the energy going to the brain.  As I approached a water/Gatorade station on the course I see a sign (race logo official sign) and it has the following on it "M&M".  For the life of me I could not figure out what M&M stood for - really!  So I took a cup (thinking it was Gatorade) from a volunteer as I made my through the station.   I think to myself, this cup is really light, did they forget to put Gatorade in it?  And what are these little round things in the bottom of the cup?   

M&Ms!!!      Is this what they call "distance walker brain"?

They did hit the spot though - very thankful they had an M&M station.

The walking worked pretty good for me and the best part, no knee pain!   I finished with a time of 2:52, it came out to be 13:06  minutes/mile.  I am just glad I can still do these races without the knee pain!  And, as usual, all finishers receive a medal, it was unique because of the day.

Georgia Half Marathon Finisher Medal