Let it Snow !!

Yesterday's forecast said the snow would be north and west of the Twin Cities. Today, not so much. It looked like about 3-4" of snow by the time we reached Afton. Along the way, 4 cars in the ditch. The fifth car was off the road in the park and it was somebody we know - Jim McDonnell. We stopped and he said he was waiting for a tow.

We tried to run but the snow was slippery so it was a combination run / walk / slog. The trees were beautiful with all that snow hanging from the branches.

And we had a running companion. We are doggy sitting the sweetest little cocker spaniel - Bailey.

This photo was taken "after" we went running. She is one soggy doggy. But she had fun.

We saw Cedar Waxwings, Black-capped Chickadees, Slate-colored Juncos, and a White-breasted Nuthatch. We stopped and watched as 7 deer crossed the trail in front of us - no antlers on any of them.



Catch Up

It's been a quiet couple of weeks for running. Not signed up for any more races so the motivation isn't quite what it used to be. Here is what has been happening:

Someone named Joe found my cell phone and was kind and thoughtful enough to figure out how to contact me and return it. I am so grateful for his kindness. Awesome !!!

Continued doing Boot Camp and regular exercise classes.

Went to Kansas one weekend - didn't do any running there.

Procrastinated all morning. Finally did some hill repeats the afternoon of 11/4 - the first one felt awful and it didn't get any better. Decided to quit when I had to walk hill #3.

My sister got married on Saturday to a wonderful man. Wishing them and their children a "Happy Ever After".

Ran on Sunday, it felt much better than hill repeats. I was concerned about running on the snowshoe loop with deer hunting season open. But Loren wore bright orange and we didn't see anyone in the deer stands along the edge of the park. Saw a couple of other runners, they were cruising.

Stay motivated !!

Afton Sunday

The storms last night did not prevent us from running / birding at Afton SP today. The parking lot was pretty empty this morning and we were out for a couple of hours - until I realized I lost my phone out there. I retraced my steps for quite a while but did not find it. Maybe tomorrow?

We did get to talk to John Taylor for a little while, he helped look for the phone and it was great hearing about his upcoming events. What an athlete !

By the time we got back to the car, we had done about 4 hours instead of the planned 2. Oh well, it's good for us, right?  So if anyone sees a cell phone out on the trail, please turn it into the park ranger. Thanks !

Before the phone was lost, I enjoyed the Golden-crowned Kinglets, American Robins, Bluebirds, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Cedar Waxwings, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Black-capped Chickadees, American Crows, Purple Finches, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper.

Tapering

The marathon is this Saturday.

We've been doing our usual "boot camp" strength training workouts and yoga, but not much running. Last weekend was a bust because Saturday was a family gathering at our house - no time to run. Sunday we spent at the Twin Cities Marathon, cheering all of the fabulous runners there. Then off to Warner Nature Center for the annual open house.

There are lots of marathon stories, at least one per runner.  One story is about a runner who planned to do a Boston qualifier time of 3:20. Training went well but the day of the run, it just wasn't happening for him. So he took a break at mile 20 and told us his story about calling his girlfriend at mile 10 to pick him up. It didn't happen. So he wanted her to pick him up at mile 15. Again, didn't happen. Now he's at mile 20 and decided to just finish the marathon. I think he finished around 4:00. Isn't that great? I would love to do a 4 hour marathon.

I sympathize, I've run a couple of marathons that I didn't want to finish. A couple of years ago at TCM, I didn't think I would finish under the cut off of 6 hours. It was really hot. There were runners laying in the grass on both sides of the course, all looked awful. I felt awful. The first aid people on bicycles were tending to some and offering boullion cubes to those still on the course. At mile 20, I was ready to end my misery, why bother? Loren was there and talked me into continuing to run. The hardest part was running up Summit Avenue, pushing to go faster, in the heat of the day, to make up for the time I lost going so slow in the first 20 miles !!!

Tapering has been very easy, maybe too easy. I hope I remember how to run.

The Last Weekend in September

What a great weekend. Went to the Carpenter Nature Center's Raptor Release on Saturday. The skies threatened rain but changed to partly cloudy and warm sunshine. What a great opportunity to see these amazing animals up close and learn more about them as a species. The knowledgeable volunteers shared the individual bird's stories.

Three raptors were scheduled to be released in the morning. The bonus bird was a gorgeous young eagle that flew low over the audience before heading towards the river. The morning seemed to go too fast and then we had to leave. Friends were meeting at the Gasthaus for Oktoberfest and we had to be there early to get a table.

The Gashaus was "party central". Running legends Dave & Luther were there. Larry & Marilyn, Jim & Rose, Jim's brother Don shared one table and a big bag of kettle corn with us. We talked to another table of runners that were swapping stories about their training for the upcoming Twin Cities Marathon. Dancing the polka must be good for the legs! And the famous Pennycook was there. He is famous for the story he once told us about running the TCM "on memory" with his longest run of 6 miles. A week later another runner told us Pennycook had been at the 20 mile training run. Hmmm.

Throw in a long run (4 hours) on Sunday at Afton SP with great weather and it becomes another perfect weekend. It was good to see so many people out on the trails, walking with their friends, family and dogs. One group of 3 women were enjoying the horse trails and asked us to take their photo. Hope it turned out !

While there were lots of butterflies along the trails, this one really stood out for me so I stopped to take a photo. The Audubon butterfly book called it a Giant Swallowtail. In addition to the unusual pattern (most black and yellow swallowtails we see are Tiger Swallowtails), this one is yellow when the wings are closed.

Hope your training is going well, too. See you on the trails !

Hills tonight & Links to Superior Sawtooth Races

Worked out 3 times this week. Going to do hills tonight at Afton. Hope the rain stays away.


Individual Race Reports of the Superior Sawtooth Races
http://mwrunfar.blogspot.com/2010/09/superior-50-report.html

http://lifeslikerunning.blogspot.com/


Photos of the races are located at these sites:

Photos by Jen & Zach Pierce:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachpierce/sets/72157624944291630/

Photos by Londell Pease:
http://picasaweb.google.com/107903963349804040950/Superior2010?feat=direct link

Superior Sawtooth 100 & Superior 50 Sugar Loaf Aid Station

We spent the night at the Sugarloaf Aid Station, mile 71.6  Someone from Larry's crew had arrived early and set up the shelters, tables and dropped the supplies off. We set up our tent, sleeping bags, air mattress, food, beverages, lights, and stove. We had the PBJ sandwiches made and the food fairly waterproofed and ready for runners by the time the rain started.

The first runner blasted in at 10:15 pm, almost 3 hours faster than last year !!!

The 100 milers and pacers were sporadic during the night. Some were quite cold, but all continued. They were just incredible.

Jim Wilson was in good spirits.
John Taylor kept saying thank you, I'm shivering but that's normal, I'm OK.
Valeria LaRosa looked great and she was in first place when she left the aid station.
Sheryl Wheeler was in second place and doing great.
The Saari's were organized and running great.
Brian Peterson flew through the aid station, almost as fast as the first 50 milers.
Results should be available soon at:
Superior Trail Race

It got pretty crazy when the 50 milers started coming through. Just had to focus on getting them what they needed and getting them out of there. It was much better with 4 people this year. Last year we only had 3 volunteers at the aid station. This was so this was much better.

Some of the 50 milers:
John Horns cruised through like it was just a run in the park.
Steve Krampe looked great - welcome back to running Steve !!
Phillip Gary Smith was close to the course sweeps.

We were busy for most of the morning. As things started winding down, other volunteers came by, to see if we needed anything. Then they helped with the final teardown beginning around noon. We headed home around 2pm. What a long day. We were too sleepy to drive so we pulled over at the scenic overlook in Duluth to take a little nap before finishing the drive home.

Ran at Battle Creek Park on Sunday. Managed to stay ahead of the mosquitoes. Then off to Carpenter Nature Center's big fund raiser on Sunday evening. It was really fun.