On a beautiful day biked the loop on MLK drive and Kelly Drive along with the short extension along the Schulykill.

This is first in a series I hope to do that shows this great tree thru the seasons.

Back on Merion Golf Course - I am looking east toward Philadelphia and in full size you can just see Liberty Place, the highest building in Philadelphia.


 
 

I have always liked this wood bridge on the nature trail.

 
 

Running the Haverford College nature trail circuit you pass the "duck pond". Those white birds though are sea gulls. We are about thirty miles from the closest salt water but I guess the birds know a good thing when they see it.


 
 

When Merion Golf Course is closed to players I can cut thru the course to avoid running on busy Ardmore Avenue.





 
 

It was a beautiful morning. Unlike the last two Fridays today was clear and we are far enough from the winter solstice that the sky is light when I begin my run on the trail. The woods show the effects of last weekend's heavy wind and everywhere there are fallen branches and in several place large trees. It is a brown wood in all its winter starkness.

On my dead runners mail list one of the runners posted the following:

"Occasionally I'll give an ORN that mentions running on the Heritage
Trail along the Wabash River. What I haven't talked about, I don't
think is that every time I ran, I stopped at a specific point and
took a picture of part of the trail, aiming my camera at a specific
point. Saturday marked the completion of a year of pictures -- only
three weeks are missing, one in April, one in June and one in October
-- one of those was the weekend of a club race and the other two I
was out of town.

I've aligned the pictures -- to a degree -- and compiled them into a
time-lapse movie. Perfection isn't possible with photos taken with
some variability in camera location so the scenery drifts around a
bit. There's a lamp post near the center of the picture that I used
as the alignment point and it moves very little. It's a pretty cool
little (~2.5mb) movie. If you're interested and can view WMV movies
(Windows Media Video or something like that), it's at:

lafinlarry

I'm aiming my camera off a pedestrian bridge over the Wabash River
(what used to be the Main Street Bridge before a new one was built
just south of it and you can see the occasional vehicle on the road
that crosses the bridge in the background through the trees) at the
junction of the access ramp from the bridge with the trail.

And that's me waving in the last frame.


You will need to download the file and then watch it in Windows Media Player but it is well worth it. I especially like it because it shows the changing seasons.

I want to try to do something similar on my trail.

Icicle Ten Miler - Wilmington, Delaware


December started out cold then settled down in the last week. While December was a few degrees colder than average, January has been warmer than average (about 8 degrees F warmer). Last night though winter came roaring back – there was even a coating of snow and the winds howled all night. Today was 30 degrees colder than yesterday (28 F at start). Quite fitting then that my race today was the Icicle Ten Miler.

I have run this race several times and more often then not weather has been a factor with cold temps, snow or cold rain, but no one running today remembered winds like we had today. Somehow with one short exception they always seemed to be in your face.

This race course is very close to the course followed by the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon. It is a great course for a negative split since it is all uphill early and 90% downhill the last four miles.

I had no great expectations for this run since I am still carrying all my Christmas treats. I lined up about three quarters of the way back. At first I was dismayed by how many people seemed to be ahead of me but then I realized that I would be able to pass a lot of people. I really do like cold weather running. Despite the wind I was quite comfortable. The first couple of miles were slow but gradually I was able to pick up the pace. Since I know the course well I could pace well. (Although being able to see so much of the course thru the winter trees is daunting especially mile four thru five when the hill seems to go on forever.)

After a loop thru downtown Wilmington you enter Brandywine Park this goes to Kentmere Parkway where you past the newly refurbished Delaware Art Museum then into Rockford Park and the highest point in the city. You are not quite finished though since you have to loop out to Route 52 and some rolling hills before you turn around and start back. For about a hundred yards here I felt the wind strongly at my back then it was back to cross winds but from here I knew I had three miles of downhill. And now I was passing people – from here to the finish only two runners would pass me as I had my fastest miles.

There is one last hill but even here I ran well and I was able to sprint to the finish.

Although this was a mid pack finish and not particularly great time I was very happy with this race - it was one of those runs that felt right from beginning to end.

My Results

155.   44   Aaron Chidekel           CHADDS FORD       PA 40 M    25  1:24:08  8:25
156.  181   Steve Niss               MEDIA             PA 39 M    30  1:24:15  8:26
157.  155   Denise McFadden          WILMINGTON        DE 46 F     3  1:24:27  8:27
158.  190   Christopher Perry        BERWYN            PA 38 M    31  1:24:29  8:27
159.  355   Scott Rubush             WEST CHESTER      PA 27 M    13  1:24:34  8:28
160.  228   Michael Spencer          SALEM             NJ 41 M    26  1:24:36  8:28
161.   51   Joseph Collison          NEWARK            DE 42 M    27  1:24:38  8:28
162.  103   Brian Healy              BOOTHWYN          PA 43 M    28  1:24:48  8:29
163.  387   Rob Magaw                WILMINGTON        DE 35 M    32  1:24:48  8:29
164.  169   Connie Montana           LANDENBERG        PA 42 F     4  1:24:50  8:29
165.   29   Charles Brooks           HAVERTOWN         PA 59 M     6  1:24:52  8:30
166.   62   Christopher Digsby       ELKTON            MD 27 M    14  1:24:55  8:30
167.  299   Tina Lang                CHERRY HILL       NJ 26 F     5  1:24:57  8:30
168.  277   James Forte              WILMINGTON        DE 59 M     7  1:25:09  8:31
169.  221   Brigitte Sheehan         NEWARK            DE 45 F     4  1:25:18  8:32
170.  367   Dan Knox                 NEW CASTLE        DE 49 M    21  1:25:24  8:33
171.  285   Robert Roche             NEWARK            DE 57 M     8  1:25:38  8:34
172.  154   David McCorquodale       WILMINGTON        DE 61 M     2  1:25:45  8:35
173.  125   Ann Jornlin              HOCKESSIN         DE 53 F     3  1:25:55  8:36
174.  350   Jim Durkin               ARDMORE           PA 67 M     3  1:26:10  8:37
175.   47   Rich Christie            BRIDGETON         NJ 51 M    11  1:26:15  8:38
176.  273   Jean Western             HOCKESSIN         DE 43 F     5  1:26:29  8:39
177.   78   Ingrid Fischer           KENNETT SQUARE    PA 47 F     5  1:26:30  8:39
178.   74   Lorri Fencer             WILMINGTON        DE 44 F     6  1:26:36  8:40
179.  389   Lori Culnane             WILMINGTON        DE 45 F     6  1:26:37  8:40
180.  101   Brian Hartman            NEWARK            DE 54 M    12  1:26:54  8:42
181.  220   John Shaw                WILMINGTON        DE 40 M    29  1:27:05  8:43
182.  340   Maureen Berry            NEWARK            DE 49 F     7  1:27:05  8:43
183.   56   Chris Dambrosio          NEW CASTLE        DE 35 M    33  1:27:07  8:43
184.   13   Rudolph Antonini, Jr.    NEWARK            DE 56 M     9  1:27:10  8:43
185.  272   John Wallace             WILMINGTON        DE 46 M    22  1:27:14  8:44
186.  300   Malcolm Vanatta          PENNSVILLE        NJ 28 M    15  1:27:41  8:47
187.  119   Fred Isbert              NEWARK            DE 56 M    10  1:27:42  8:47
188.   95   Clete Grah

The Brandywine

 
 

Study the course

 
 

Last year I parked here

 
 

I95 goes over the Brandywine and the race course

 
 

The volunteers were Great!!!!!!


 
 

The Finish Line

 
 

It's not cold!!!!

 
 

Let's Talk About That Race

 
 

Finishers


 
 

Pizza and Pretzels

 
 

I am 165


 
 

My Results


 
 

Results Board


 
 

Icicle Run 2006