Sunday, March 26, 2006

Runners' Gear

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HAT RUN 50k 25 MARCH 2006


Friday, March 24, 2006

Spring





I saw these daffodils last week on the orange trail at Tyler Arboretum. I was quite sure that they would be gone by this week. Maybe deer don't like daffodils.

I walked to these today because tomorrow I will run a 50K trail run in Susequehanna State Park in Maryland.

I am nervous about the run and the weather but I am also looking forward to it.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

 

Senator Carper congratulates the finishers. He's a pretty good runner. Posted by Picasa
 


The finish line ten minutes after I crossed it. Posted by Picasa



A view of the Brandywine - the race travels on this roadway.


That last hill. Doesn't look too bad in this photo but after 13 miles. Yikes!


First Place Woman - Andrea Niggemeier


Caesar Rodney Half Marathon

This is one of the races I have regularly run since I started racing. Since I ran ten miles both on Friday and Saturday I didn't expect a PR. It was cool and rainy. In fact the rain came down heavily until just before race time. Fortunately, it was mostly dry during the race. I had hoped for a sub 2 hour run and came in at 1:58. The first seven miles I was paced by my friend Mukund who kept us nice and steady.

This race is three miles thru downtown Wilmington including the ever changing waterfront. Then into Brandywine Park where it follows the exact same route as the Icicle Run.

The run ends with a slightly different finish than Icicle with a longish climb up a steep hill.

I felt the fatigue in my legs in the last miles but was satisfied overall.

It was fun running with a friend and I always enjoy the hubbub of a big race.
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Friday, March 03, 2006

A view of my trail thru the Arboretum - no Mohawks but I did see a beautiful red fox and several deer.

My Dear Runners Society friend Paul Loucks sent us an excerpt from Drums Along the Mohawk:
, a novel written in 1936.

German Flats lay 24 miles to the north and he knew he had probably
the pick of Brant's Indians on his trail, men who could run 80 miles
through the woods between sunrise and noon. But Adam knew that he
could run himself, and he knew that he would have to run on an open
trail and that once the Indians discovered that, they would know he
would stick to it. They wouldn't have to be bothered with tracking.

He eased up slightly, listening behind him. The first surge of
yelling had overshot the eastern ridge; now it returned. It would be
only a minute before they brought his tracks down to the trail. He
began to put on a little pressure to make the next bend; but just
before he rounded it he heard the war whoop slide up to its inhuman
pitch and a wild shot cut the air high over his head.


The passage Paul quoted is much longer and is an exciting account of Adam's run pursued by the Mohawks. The runner is Adam Helmer who was an historical character who did a run much as described in the novel.

I have often wondered if Indians had trod the trails thru Tyler and Ridley. But now I will also think of Adam and how would it be to be pursue for thirty miles.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

7600. That, give or take a few days, is how long I have until my 80th birthday. It is a sobering realization. It is really not a very big number. Last night I ran 6x1000 meters. With the recoveries I ran 7200 meters. Those 7600 days will fly by as quickly as those meters did.

I realize that if I bought a refrigerator today it is quite likely I will never have to buy another one. That I will buy a new car maybe three more times. There unlikely to be more than five Olympic games in my future. I am not quite to the point of not buying green bananas but I am getting close.

I am trying not to fall into new age speak or other gobblygook but it is very important that I be present every moment. That I inhabit my world fully. I know that I will be distracted at times and the practicalities of life mean I will spend time in queues, or waiting, or being bore. But even then I want to there fully.

Does any of that make sense?

I do know (and have felt this for some time) that I don’t want to waste time being angry about meaningless things. I don’t want to waste time disliking people. I don’t want to fret about things that don’t matter.

Now I understand that is easier to say these things than to live them. What matters may be a complicated calculation. But I reckon that of lot of what doesn’t matter will be obvious and I am resolved not to let those things interfere with living.

Why is this posted on a running blog? Because I think I got to this point because of running. Running has connected me with the rhythms of my body and the world around me. Being out everyday straining against gravity, watching the sky revolve thru the seasons, the weather changes, the interplay of light and dark as we progress thru the year, all this and more is a product of running.

This time of year, late winter, I find myself fascinated with the shapes of leafless trees. The intricate branching against the cold winter sky entrances me. Soon the trees will green up and their structure will disappear and I will embrace that fullness too. It speaks to life and its continuity and provides hope.

It is because of running that I will rage against the shortening day and accept its inevitability.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Video describing a first marathon:

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Bob Schwelm

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Sunday, February 19, 2006

15 Degrees. That's what the outside thermometer said. I was tempted to make some excuses and climb back in bed but I had committed to a two hour run and knew that later wouldn't work.

So on went the layers and when I got out and moving it didn't feel all that bad. The winds were momentarily quiet and I think that helped.

Rockin' Ron Cade was playing Elvis B-sides. Some of you youngin's may not be familiar with B sides. In the days of vinyl, records came in three speeds - 78, 45, and 33. Now 78's were even before my time but 45s ruled the 50's and into the 60's. 45s were the smaller records with the large round hole (kind of looked like the winter Olympic medals). The record companies would put an expected hit out on the A side and a lesser song on the B side. Now Elvis (being Elvis) was the king of the B side. A lot of his B sides were hits (Hound Dog was a B side). But even the lesser known ones are a lot of fun. It was the kind of thing I wish radio would do more often rather than play a short playlist over and over.

Well I got to thinking about B sides. I think we all would enjoy running and life in general if we remembered that it's great to have a strong A side (an age group win or a PR) but let's not throw away the B sides. The B side might be nothing more than having a good time and having fun with the race. It might be celebrating a friend's great race. It might be might an injured runner volunteering at a race or sharing lessons learned with a newbie.

Let's not let those B sides slip away.

P.S. anybody know the A side of Hound Dog? It’s a good one.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

“ . . . true wisdom comes when you see the extraordinary nature of ordinary things “

Kevin Nelson in The Runner’s Book of Daily Inspiration

Well I don’t want to say I have achieved true wisdom, but I do feel that running in general but in particular trail running allows you to experience the extraordinary nature of ordinary things. I have noticed that when on the trails you become attuned to the world around you. You notice the shape and texture of the world.

I like the way the woods change as the seasons progress. Light can be filtered through clouds or come out of a clear, blue sky and as dawn first recedes and then comes back the trees reveal different aspects of shape and form.

The quiet winter wood will soon give way to the noisy spring as birds seek mates and territory. The somber colors of winter will soon give way to green, but this week it was snow that made it own changes on the landscape.

I am glad to have the chance to see the extraordinary nature of ordinary things.



The old one seen on Friday, 17 February 2006


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Friday, February 17, 2006

You scored as SG-1 (Stargate). You are versatile and diverse in your thinking. You have an open mind to that which seems highly unlikely and accept it with a bit of humor. Now if only aliens would stop trying to take over your body.

SG-1 (Stargate)

88%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

81%

Serenity (Firefly)

81%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

75%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

75%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

69%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

63%

Moya (Farscape)

63%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

56%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

56%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

50%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

25%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

A few months back I looked at the world of Wiki's.

I was recently contacted by pbwiki that they would double my storage space if I wrote about them in a blog or a newsletter.

I found this definition of a wiki:

"Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly."


It occurred to me that a wiki might be of interest to the general Dead Runners Society community and the the Bryn Mawr Running Community so I have written both groups and suggested the membership consider a wiki.

A wiki could be the place where all those FAQs could go. For example, new members could be pointed there for the definition of ORN. There could be a page devoted to shoe reviews, favorite races. or favorite home town routes.

I am excited about the possibilities of a wiki and think it is the perfect form for communities like the Dead Runners and Bryn Mawr where there is a large pool of "institutional" memory just waiting to be captured and displayed in a user friendly way.

Here's a link to the pbwiki:


PBwiki logo

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Snow Run

Woke up early (for a Sunday) and went for a run to check snow conditions. It was still snowing and it was blowing quite hard but O how beautiful.

On most roads I was breaking trail, that is I was the first one down the road either human or vehicle although in one spot I could clearly see how a squirrel ran from one tree across the road to another tree.

To add to the pleasure Rocking Ron Cade was playing Elvis love songs to celebrate Valentine's Day.
This is the old one on a snowy day


Looking back at my tracks




 
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Looking down the pink/white trail Tyler Arboretum



 
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Saturday, February 04, 2006

The old one as seen on Friday, 3 February 2006

 
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Saturday, January 28, 2006

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

Friday, January 27, 2006




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

Sunday, January 22, 2006

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.


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

 
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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.


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





 
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Friday, January 20, 2006

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.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

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

 
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Study the course

 
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Last year I parked here

 
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I95 goes over the Brandywine and the race course

 
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The volunteers were Great!!!!!!


 
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