Training Log Archive: bl

Tired day. Lifted off @ 0208 from DC, touched down MCH 0337, pillow 0440, done sleeping 0730, work 0830 (not a single yawn) left 2:30pm.

Warm day! Saw a jogger in T & shorts. Rt MTP sore from abuse, not much else - ego slightly sore but what the heck.

Ken Walker Jr sat in seat 3F & I sat in 4F. Didn't see him til we were getting up to leave. Had a brief visit - was able to deliver in words an email drafted to send to him maybe 4 weeks ago. Interesting that earlier in day, I had a personal tete-a-tete with Ken Sr in the forest. When it rains, it pours.

Route 7 to 8
think the RS was unmapped. Ran the SE-going trail finally & then set compass for #10, caught it 100m or so along - rain on the brain.

C • Epic journey... 2

Brown ultra, disaster. Had quit but came upon a path I finally could ID so couldn't quit. Quite the scene before the start: raining hard, trying to keep out of it until last minute. Start right at parking lot, run to start triangle on hardtop road for a few hundred meters. Frame of mind seemed just fine but a few glimpses of others must have subtly converted it, then finally it was indisputably converted. First point, we all ran down the road - AP was a mapped-as-distinct, small clearing - then cross some reentrants to flag. There never was a small clearing (not even after fm car) but stopped when I saw a distinctly sharp reentrant coming right to road - not as mapped but had to be mapped...WTF.... So acted on that, got in the reentrant system with Al Newman & others & some ahead heading toward where it should be & was.

Passed Sharon on way to #2 - I was thinking I should be ahead of various I spotted right up til #7 which was part of my problem. #3 should have taken the path but went straight, straight up, straight down - saw Jim Hall & Al Newman halfway along. #4 lost maybe 5'. 60% of way there, saw Al again - he and another followed a ditch/veg boundary - I went st & when distance ran out, did not see reent. Went L, then R then bk L at top of contours...nothing, just green crap & mapped indistinct trail.Was still moving laterally w/o focussing when I saw the flag. Al had seen me (told me later) - was w/in 50m but went wrong way - guess I expected to be that close or closer, should have aimed off. Mucked up #5, too by not being careful enough - maybe a minute. 6 ok but not best RC.

Leaving #7, I heard Sharon right behind me, sigh. Went L to road & parallel path, missed a small path & then what. Sharon had entered the woods about same place. I was sl ahead & too L. Decided a st S route to SE-running path & relocate at bend above #11. Never happened that way. At one time, compared notes with Ken Walker (standing on a path/path system I just could not fit) and when he was gone, I still was confused. Went direction of #8 but situation did not improve. Finally, had had it - but sometime later, stumbled upon the SE path I originally been seeking & felt compelled to finish. Saw Al there, heading to #12 I'm guessing. Headed to #10 in error, caught mistake in vague swamp area, made a dead reckoning estimate which was OK. Ok rest of run tho 8>9 was really green stuff - not really foreseeable. Went for a lake bath, returned to parking but with fairly steady rain, not worth hanging around.

305 must have hit a branch unnoted til very end - was pretty sure I was hitting lap for splits but not looking to see elapsed time running. Anyway, mark that piece of Earth as a place of Infamy.

US_Ultralong_2012_5 Brown UL - Splits

Went back to Mt. Airy to walk a few legs from last nght. Amazing how open these woods are this time of year. See why #7, a depression, was visible from a considerable distance. Chasing yellow relationships at the end would have been hard & loss of time but i was so sure I needed as close an AP as possible. After, watched some of the relay racing across the way.

Cincinnati Zoo, a superb AOWN place/visit! Matter of fact, in departing a young employee at the gate asked me how I liked my visit & I was able to say how impressed I was, 'first time, A+'. Beth generally won't go to zoos. True, there are some unhappy campers in captivity but maybe exposing people, esp young ones, to animals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects & the far-a-way places many reside is of current/future benefit. Visited a memorial pavilion for Martha (as well as the last Carolina parakeet, d. 1918), the last living passenger pigeon who died at the zoo in 1914. PPs used to be 40% of the bird population so it said. Martha last visited in 1974 at the opening of the pavilion. She rests at the Smithsonian. How stupid can man be...the sky's the limit.

Left at 5p. Many, many people were arriving for the Festival of Lights. Cars were backed up all the way to I75, 1.5 mi away. Walked 4.45mi in 4h14m but 'parsed' that.

"AOWN"

C • Sounds like an interesting zoo 2

C • I read this a couple of days ago 3

Event: OCIN A-meet (Night, Relay, Ultra-long)
 

Night O, Mt. Airy Forest. Was 61F when I arrived in Cincinnati, about 54F at start. Short sleeves would have been fine. B/B+ run. Lost some time at 7, 10, 11, guessing less than 2' total. Depressions were deep, no real give-a-way except, ironically, #7 where I had the most confusion. My light hit it from quite a distance but I mistook reflection for a runner's light & did not want to just run toward it should that person be searching/clueless etc. A second look later revealed a red reflection. Saw a double reflection 15' up in a tree which was either possum or raccoon eyes, probably terrorized. Izzy Bryant 36+, PG 38+. Hard to know who's come to the event in the dark. Nice to finally settle down after a long day.

M,C,R

Looking dark - although a big moon was off to the left


MHT/Phily/CVG, 7a flt. Moonlight on front path, no baby steps to/across the bridge. 4 alarms set for 5a: old BR CR (not entirely trusted), CR fm basement (never used/untried), wrist watch (might not hear), kitchen coffee maker (same) - with 4 was capable of banishing the "what if" thought. Surprised security was not curious enough about the wires & devices noted by technology to inspect.

US_Night_2012_Brown - Splits

Gallery #3
"Out of order", Mt. Kearsage summit, November, 2012


R&R day. After dark DP walk on the PL with Beth but moon hadn't shown its face.

Bower loop with dogs, just before dark. Didn't see anyone/anything. Cloudy so saw no moon either. Sluggish, maybe just resting w/o realizing.

It was a poignant exhibit: It was a poignant exhibit. Three strikes & one is out:
A & B

DP, slough & back, gray, raw. 31F seems colder than when the ground is white. Havr called this 0.7, can't recall where measurement came from. Was not from 305 but can't say I've exaggerated - if from road, it would be just that.

Hopkinton loop, run-in-country mood except the get-up-&-go had gone somewhere else. Really tired, didn't sleep well, this was a chore. Walked maybe 12-15' worth. Missed the fields, thought they were roadside - went in looking for the SVT...nothing but woods, no road. Sat shows I needed to go further but didn't know that. Was not a point of confusion going the other way last time. Still chilly, gray, raw, no moonrise to see tonight. Encountered the same two women I met last time - walking their 3 miniature poodles who began yapping at me on the otherwise-deserted dirt road from 200m away. Petted one, yapping stopped but as soon as I got on my way, it returned. The car lic plate: "My 3 dogs". High-strung little monsters. Nice to get to car: dry shirt, heater on high & a Coke for energy restoration.

From destruction, creativity

Cozy, one supposes