2007 - Looking Back
Monday, December 31, 2007

First the easy stuff -



I ran approximately 927.6 miles, rode approximately 1189.6 miles, and snowshoed approximately 62.9 miles.

I ran in 6 snowshoe races (including a snowshoe duathlon), 4 road races, and 20 trail races, and competed in 4 running/cycling duathlons. Altogether, I ran 299.1 miles in 69 hr 23 min, rode 72.2 miles in 5 hr 15 min, and snowshoed 35.7 mi in 11 hr 30 min in organized events. In the process I ran in all 6 of the New England states (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, & VT) plus NY... just under 1/7 of the states in the USA.

I made a fairly strong comeback after being injured for much of the fall of 2006, and hit a number of PR paces racing this year - my first 10 min pace at the Harborfest 10k in June, and then a series of increasingly faster-paced sprints during the fall duathlons - 9:30 for the runs at the Mohawk Towpath Duathlon and 9:20 for the Black Diamond Offroad Duathlon in mid-October - and wrapping up with a PR 8:42 mile at the RT Turkey 5 Miler in late November.

I completed two marathons - the Nipmuck Trail Marathon (admittedly, I walked the last 7.5 miles or so) and the Adirondack Marathon (I was able to keep to my run/walk strategy for the entire race, but definitely slowed down a lot during the last 8-10 miles.) I also completed the Western Mass Athletic Club's "long" trilogy (Greylock Half Marathon, Savoy 20 Mile, and Monroe Dunbar Brook 10.5 mile trail races) and the beautiful but grueling Ridgewalk & Run 14 mile race (the distance wasn't bad, but the hills were non-stop!)

Unfortunately, I ended up missing four races I'd preregistered for - the Muddy Moose 14 mile, the Mudslinger 5 mile, the Mendon 20k, and the Lil Rhody Run Around, for a variety of reasons. I also didn't make it to ultramarathoner status this year... maybe next year! I had hoped to break 1000 miles for the year and fell a bit short due to a major drop off in my training during late November and all of December. Again, maybe next year!

I also hiked a lot of miles and visited numerous parks and preserves and was blessed with being able to spend countless hours outdoors enjoying the glories of nature.

more to come...

A Bit O' Snowshoeing at Wahconah Falls State Park
Monday, December 31, 2007

After lunch we headed east from Pittsfield through Dalton, keeping our fingers crossed that the parking area for Wahconah Falls would be plowed. After all, the guide book I had indicated that once you were in the parking area, the falls were basically right there... no half mile hikes in and out like we were faced with to see Balance Rock. Eventually, we found the road to the park, and then the park entrance and - success! The parking area was plowed... sort of. One loop about 2 cars wide had been plowed between the two entrances. So I pulled the car over as far to the left as I could (not that I was too worried anyone else would be showing up!) and we got out to have a look around, just as a very light snow began falling.



The obvious first question was - where was the waterfall? It definitely wasn't visible from the parking area, which was surrounded by trees. Hit the guide book (New England Waterfalls by Greg Parsons and Kate Watson - highly recommended if you're going to check out waterfalls in New England!) and read that we needed to make a short downhill hike to get to it. Seeing as we were surrounded by approximately foot deep snow, that meant breaking out the snowshoes I had the foresight to bring along (OK, I got lucky and didn't unpack them when we finished our walks on Sunday.)







Ann hasn't gotten any real experience using snowshoes in deeper snow, so it was interesting watching her figure them out, but she caught on pretty quickly... the only thing I really had to point out was that snowshoes are designed for forward/backward traction, not sideways as she tried to edge sideways down one hill. We tromped down the path and found the waterfall very quckly. Not particularly large, but still quite pretty, especially with the snow falling around us. Then we spent a while wandering around the area above the stream, and Ann amused herself by grabbing low-hanging evergreen branches and shaking the snow off onto herself. (I figured out fairly rapidly that standing under an evergreen branch was a bad idea, unless I wanted snow dumped on me.)







All in all, a nice little area to visit, and a pleasant diversion on the way south to see my parents.

JMH

Balance Rock & Pittsfield State Forest - No Hiking Today!
Monday, December 31, 2007

Pittsfield State Forest official site
Pittsfield State Forest winter map (PDF)

Ann and I were heading down to see my parents today, so I decided to use the trip as an excuse the visit two places near Pittsfield that I'd never been before. The first was Balance Rock in the northern reaches of Pittsfield State Forest - a large (estimates are around 165 tons) boulder perched on a narrow three-foot outcropping. In addition, there are several other interesting glacial erratics in the immediate vicinity. (For more info, I recommend Russell Dunn and Barbara Delaney's 2006 book Trails with Tales.)

Unfortunately, after making our way over a number of snowy roads on the west side of Pittsfield, we reached the road to the Balance Rock parking area only to find it completely unplowed and impassible by car. And since neither of us wanted to hike a half mile in to see the rocks (especially not with the car parked alongside the rather narrow road) we decided to come back another day and headed off to lunch instead. Bummer!

JMH

Blogger Strikes Again...
Sunday, December 30, 2007

Tonight I sit down, create a new header image exactly the same size as the one I've been using, and upload it... only to find it displayed at a size significantly smaller than a postage stamp.

Aargh!

So it's back to the mis-sized title image, until Blogger either fixes whatever went wrong with my image upload tonight or I find out how to fix it for my own blog...

UPDATE: after a little research I found a fairly easy modification for my template which fixed the problem for now... and I'm back to Blogger's header in the process. Thanks to Blogstar Vin for his fix, which I found here at the Dummies Guide to Google Blogger Beta.

UPDATE#2: it also looks like whatever was wrong with the photo loading has been fixed as well. For a free service, Blogger is pretty darn awesome sometimes!

JMH

A LITTLE BIT O' HIKING
Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center
Thacher Park Hop Field
Whitbeck Memorial Grove
Sunday, December 30, 2007

I knew I wanted to get outside for a while today, but after last night's 5k walking adventure I didn't think Ann would be too keen on any strenuous hiking... so I searched through my local trail guides (in particular, the fantastic Natural Areas of Albany County book published by ECoS, the Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady) to see what I could find that would be interesting but relatively easy.

Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center

The first place we went was the Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center, which is named in honor of the donor of the land for both the John Boyd Thacher and Thompson Lake State Parks. The Nature Center opened in 2001 and hosts a variety of programs for all ages, as well as having ongoing displays about the local flora and fauna and even geology. I thought one of the coolest parts was a model of the part of the Helderberg Escarpment that contains the parks.



After checking out the Nature Center we headed out for a short walk on the trails. I found the footing the be difficult enough that I grabbed a pair of snowshoes out of the car... though I ended up taking them off for the walk back, since we ran out of snow!







Thacher Park Hop Field

On our way back from the Nature Center we stopped at Hop Field picnic area so I could show Ann the waterfall I discovered at the end of my run the day before Thanksgiving. It was just a short walk from the parking lot, but while we were there we passed a group of snowshoers and also a fellow on XC skiis.



Whitbeck Memorial Grove

The Whitbeck Memorial Grove is a small Nature Conservancy preserve in New Scotland that I've passed numerous times while running or driving to and from Thacher, but never stopped at. It was originally a farm when purchased by Andrew Whitbeck in 1883; his granddaughter left the land to the Nature Conservancy in 1971.





We walked on the mile-long loop trail that took us first through the woods, then across a meadow and power line right-of-way before heading back into the woods again. I used my snowshoes for the first half of the walk, then the snow cover got so sporadic that I took them off and carried them.





At one point we spotted a Pileated Woodpecker flitting through the trees. By the time we reached the end of the loop it had gotten dark enough that it was tough to see much of anything!

A small park with a relatively short trail, and I suspect it gets fairly muddy at times... but it might make a nice short diversion from the road the next time I'm running out that way.

JMH

THE 2008 WMAC SNOWSHOE SERIES BEGINS!
No Woodford for the Turtle...
Sunday, December 30, 3007

Despite reports of great running conditions at Woodford, I reluctantly gave up on making it to the first race of the 2008 WMAC Snowshoe Series, mainly because there's no place there for Ann to wait comfortably... race HQ is essentially a couple of tables set up in a parking lot! I definitely want to run Woodford again - it was my first ever snowshoe race in December 2005, so it holds a special place in my heart - but this year it just didn't make sense, given that it would have meant leaving her home along for 4-5 hours Sunday morning and early afternoon.(And after two weeks of being mostly inactive... it probably would have been pretty darn painful running to boot!)

On the plus side, conditions look good both for the Frozen Assets 5k race out near Rochester next weekend, and the Brave the Blizzard 5k right here in Albany... which may finally be a snowshoe race in its fourth running, and which I may actually be in town and able to attend!

JMH

FIREWORKS & A WALK IN THE PARK
Albany WinterFestival Last Run 5k
Saturday, December 29, 2007

A while back I came up with the bright idea of signing Ann and me up for the Last Run 5k here in Albany. Since the race course winds through the holiday lights in Washington Park, I thought it would be a nice way for us to see the lights and get out for an hour or so of walking while we were here in Albany.

Ann wasn't thrilled with the idea, but since I'd preregistered us for the race she went along with it. We parked near the New York State Museum and ended up walking probably a little over a mile back and forth... first from the car to the check in under Empire State Plaza, then back to the car to drop off our windshirts and goodie bags, then back to the check in area to wait for the fireworks scheduled for just before the start of the 5k.

The fireworks were loud, bright, and colorful... I'm pretty sure breathing in the smoke from them wasn't the best way for a group of runners to get ready for the race, but they were still fairly impressive to watch... I don't think I've ever been quite that close to where a major fireworks show was being launched before (and I'm a bit surprised that they were setting them off that close to crowd!) Then Mayor Jerry had a few words, and off the runners went.

Ann and I walked up the hill behind them with a few other people who seemed to be planning on more walking than running... though many of those folks picked up the pace once they reached the top of the hill. We hit the entrance to the park at about 20 minutes, and then spent another 20 walking briskly through the lights. It's a fairly nice display that's put on each year as a fundraiser for the Police Athletic League... Ann and I drove through a couple of years ago and enjoyed the show, even though it's not quite as elaborate as the Lights on the Lake. A major section is patterned after fairy tales and nursery rhymes, so we had some fun figuring out what each character or scene was.

Toward the end we were re-routed (I think) because the park had re-opened to cars driving through to see the lights, and then we hustled back on the sidewalks to see if we could make the finish before it shut down. Ann's knees and legs were giving her some grief (we've walked longer distances before, but not at that pace) and my feet were a bit sore from a poor choice of socks. Made it back to the Plaza in about an hour, but they had taken down the finish line so we ended up finishing unofficially.

After that we snagged some water and oranges from the post-race "party", and then made our way back to the car. Ann had me take her picture commemorating her first ever 5k... somehow I don't think I'll be convincing her to walk another one any time soon.

Maybe sometime in the future I'll run the 5k and afterwards we'll do the sensible thing and drive through the park to see the lights. But sore feet and sore legs aside... it was a nice night for a walk.

JMH

A Short Hike at Chittenango Falls
Friday, December 28, 2007

Chittenango Falls State Park official site

I’d read about Chittenango Falls in several places, including Rich & Sue Freeman’s 200 Waterfalls in Central & Western New York and the excellent Waterfalls of New York State site. I’d even driven through Chittenango on a number of occasions and seen the signs for Chittenango Falls State Park, but somehow had never had the time to actually go there. So today we decided to make the time to stop there on our way to Albany. I especially looked forward to seeing the park, because between chores and the holiday I’ve basically been stuck indoors for the past week and a half, except for driving.

The area of the park was an active industrial site in the 1800’s – no great surprise, given the easy access to the waterfall as a power source. The land was sold to Helen Fairchild and the Chittenango Falls Association in the late 1800’s specifically for public use, and remained a privately owned park until 1922 when she asked the state to take it over, giving us Chittenango Falls State Park.









We followed Gorge Road (Rt 13) south from Chittenango, not sure exactly how far it was to the park… though I took it as a good sign when the road started to wind uphill. We knew we were almost there when we caught a glimpse of a spectacular waterfall, roaring with water, through the trees – it was a real shame the road was too narrow to pull over and take a picture.

Once in the park, we found out that the gorge trail is closed during the winter (no surprise, that – most of the waterfall parks in central and western New York restrict access during the winter months.) So we settled for walking around the top of the falls, visiting the overlooks on both sides. Despite being a very grey day it was very impressive, and I suspect the view from down in the gorge is awesome. Definitely have to visit again when the trail down there is open!







So this didn’t turn out to be quite the outing I had hoped for… I doubt we walked more than a quarter of a mile all told… but we did get to see an impressive waterfall we haven’t visited before, and now we have someplace to go next spring or summer to explore a bit more.


click for a larger image



JMH

WINTER SOLSTICE
December 22, 2008

At 1:08 AM, to be exact.

Astronomically, the significance is simple - the solstice occurs at the time when the earth's rotation axis, which is tilted 23.44 degrees, is pointing directly away from the Sun. This has two effects major effects in the Northern Hemisphere. Since the Sun's radiation is spread over a larger area because of this tilt, the Northern Hemisphere is cooler, and we have winter. Also, since the Sun will stay its lowest above the horizon and spend the least time in the sky, resulting in the shortest hours of daylight for the year. In the US this date is referred to as the first full day of winter, though some countries consider the solstices and equinoxes to be the mid-point of the seasons.

Historically many holidays and celebrations have been observed on or near the solstice. Some of this had to do with supersititions and beliefs regarding the Sun - the solstice was viewed as a time of rebirth, when the various sun gods would be reborn or renewed. Other celebrations were much more practical in nature, and involved getting ready for the difficult months to follow, when food would be much more difficult to come by.

The solstice has significance both practical and spiritual to me, as well. From a practical point of view, it's an indication that the days will soon begin to get longer, and the hours that I'm forced to run and ride in darkness will become shorter. That same process also helps pick up my spirits - while I at times enjoy being out in the dark, it is often a struggle to get out on the trail or the path after a long day at work, especially knowing that I have primarily dark and cold to look forward to. I enjoy winter... but each day now is a step towards light and warmth and once again being surrounded by green growing things!

JMH

Hurray, It's Not My Fault!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Unfortunately, the followup to that is "crud, now I have to figure out how to fix it".

I checked the Blogspot help boards today and found a mountain of posts regarding messed up header images. Apparently, the nice people at Blogspot decided to change the headers so that pictures are automatically cropped and resized, resulting in numerous irate bloggers. If you have far too much free time on your hands and are curious, this is a good place to start reading the venomous posts, from folks who are much angrier about this than I am. (I just find it irritating.)

One of the posts mentions an article on making customized headers... I may try that out if Blogspot doesn't get their act in gear and fix the problem themselves.

But at least it isn't anything I did!

UPDATE#1: I made the changes to the code for my template as suggested in the article, and - it works! My blog header is back to the way I like it! The image is no longer clickable, but I rarely used that feature in any case.

UPDATE#2: Apparently the folks at Blogspot are working on a fix for the problem - which hopefully will not affect me at all, since I seem to have resolved the problem with my own blog.

JMH

3.6 Mi of XC Skiing at the Corning Preserve
Monday, December 17, 2007

Another Monday off from school. Not that I mind having a day off... but missing class time is especially tough for my AP classes, which are on a tight schedule to begin with if we want to cover the entire curriculum. Ah, well, so it goes...

I could hear the wind howling when I got up this morning... that led me to put off going outside for a while, and fortunately it died down a bit as the day progressed. I had originally planned to get out for a run on my snowshoes, but decided instead to take advantage of being out during daylight and spend some time on my XC skiis instead.



I first went XC skiing in college, as part of a phys ed class I took, and really enjoyed it. Rented skiis a couple of times in the mid-90's, and enjoyed it even more... so much so that in the end I invested in a set of my own, and spent several winters happily exploring various parks and trails in western Massachusetts. Opportunities to ski were definitely fewer once I moved to Albany, or at least I thought they were... now I'm much more familiar with the many places I could go to glide through the snow. Unfortunately, the last few winters have been somewhat light on snowfall, and much of the time when there was snow I was out on my snowshoes, training both for races and for running in the spring. It doesn't help that I'm at best a medicore skiier, especially on hilly terrain, which means I generally won't go skiing at night - my prime time for hitting the trails from November through March!



Since this was the first time I'd been out this year, and my right hip/groin muscles were still a bit sore from the weekend, I knew I wanted to avoid hills, which rather limited my options. In the end I decided on the Corning Preserve despite the non-stop traffic noise from the nearby highways, for a very simple reason - it's close enough that travel time was minimal.



Drove down to the waterfront parking lot under I-787, gathered up my gear, and headed off into the park. The entrance is a fairly narrow path which had been plowed, so I ended up walking about a quarter mile before I could hit the snow. Surprisingly, no one had been out yet, so I ended up breaking trail for the first 3/4 of a mile. That's always tough work, whether it's on snowshoes or skiis, and the icy crust on top of the snow didn't help.



About a mile in the plowed section ended, though someone had driven a vehicle down the path after one of the recent storms - there were two distinct tire tracks running down the path, filled partially in with a couple of inches of snow. I hopped into one of the tracks, and found it much easier going. So much so, that when my watch timer went off to indicate that should turn around and go back, I kept going for another half mile or so, even though that meant I might end up getting back to the car in the dark.



Once off the plowed path, the only other trail users were the local critters. I saw lots of deer tracks - apparently they were taking advantage of the tire tracks too. A little over a mile in I actually saw two deer munching on some plants next to the trail, and I'm pretty sure I heard some moving around in another section as well.





Eventually I reached fresh tire tracks - looks like someone was checking on one of the towers for the power lines that cross the Hudson about 2 miles into the park. I took that as a signal to turn around, since skiing in fresh tracks was going to be a bit harder than what I'd been doing (not to mention - it was getting late!) The trip back was initially much easier than the trip out - XC skiing goes so much more smoothly when track has been laid already! Along the way I spotted a fox ahead of me on the path, but he bounded off into the brush before I could get a picture.



The last stretch, along the edge of the field that borders the plowed path, was a bit tougher. On the way out my skiis had stayed on top of the ice crust until I put my weight on them and they broke through. On the way back the ski was down in the track, which drove the toes of my boots against the crust lining the top of each track, and my feet were taking a beating. I fairly quickly abandoned my previous track and ended up breaking a new trail across the field. More hard work!





So in the end I didn't get to go as far as I would have liked (I either should have gotten out there earlier or I should have brought my headlamp!) But it was still a good first ski of the season... hopefully I can get out on my skiis a lot more this winter than I did last winter!

JMH

When Will This Madness End?!!!!!
Monday, December 17, 2007

Yup, another new title. I really liked the bit from Robert Frost but it just didn't express my individuality...

But maybe, just maybe I'm zeroing in on the new title...

No closer to figuring out the title image issue, though. Oh, well.

JMH

A Decidedly Unoriginal New Title
Sunday, December 16, 2007

During my drive back from Syracuse I found myself thinking about blog titles, and the one that's currently at the top of the page popped into my head... I find it rather ironic that I decided to abandon Turtle Tracks in part because it appears in a number of other places online, and now I've replaced it with a line from a Robert Frost poem that is probably used in even more places! But right now I rather like it, so it stays... at least until my twisted brain comes up with something I like even more!

JMH

P.S. I'm also trying to figure out why my title picture, which used to fall nicely within the title box, now overlaps the right edge... it's a minor thing but it annoys the heck out of me! Clear proof, as if anyone reading this needed more, that I have far too much time on my hands...

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...
Lights on the Lake
Saturday, December 15, 2007

Lights on the Lake



Each year, from late November through early January, the eastern shoreline of Onondaga Lake Park hosts the Lights on the Lake display, a 2 mile long collection of holiday lights that's one of the largest in the northeast. I've seen the lights from a distance as I've driven past the lake on the Thruway over the last 8 years or so, and several years ago Ann and I stopped and drove through on our way back to Rochester. In many ways the Lights on the Lake are a symbol and reminder of the early winter and holiday season, and I always feel a little bit sad when I drive by in mid-January and the lights are gone.







Since we had time between our late lunch and the holiday party we were going to Saturday night, and the park was only a few miles from where we were staying in Syracuse, I suggested that we go see the lights again this year. Each year they add a few new displays, and this year I actually hoped to get some photos using my digital camera. Ann liked the idea, so after getting ready for the party we headed west to see the show.









One thing I hadn't considered until we were almost there was that Saturday a little over a week before Christmas would be a popular time to see the lights. It took us about 10 minutes to get to the entrance to the park, and then another 15-20 minutes to actually get in!









Eventually we had paid our $8 and joined the line of cars making its way slowly through the park. Ann set the radio to the companion station, which was playing Christmas music and occasional advertisements for Lights on the Lake sponsors. We saw lots of displays that we'd seen before, but also quite a few new ones. My favorites tended to be the clever ones that use changing strings of lights to mimic motion - everything from a snowman fishing and catching a Christmas stocking, to kids throwing a snowball, to an eagle flying down and snatching a fish out of the water. I also really enjoyed the animals (no surprise there) and I think in a couple of years the dinosaur section will be really cool (right now there just aren't many displays in that part.)













The rational, ecologically-minded part of me realizes that the Lights on the Lake just don't make sense - they've got to use a ton of electicity, and all those cars idling slowly through the park for hours on end certainly isn't an efficient use of gasoline. At the same time... the lights brighten up a dark and sometimes dreary part of the year and often bring a smile to my face. And I'm not the only one, judging by the little kids we watched going bonkers in the car ahead of us. So they may not make sense - but I look forward to seeing them in the years to come.















JMH