Sunday, November 28, 2010

8 Mile Run/Hike at DAR State Forest & Chapel Brook
Sunday, November 28, 2010
REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #41
Gorge Apres Gorge 5k Trail Race
Sunday, November 28, 2010

JMH

2010 Event Totals
Run 336.6 mi, 77 hr 5 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min

Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min

states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT
Weekly Training Summary
11/21/2010 - 11/27/2010

running (4x) - 24.8 mi
riding (1x)- 15.4 mi
snowshoeing - 0 mi
paddling - 0 mi

JMH

Saturday, November 27, 2010

BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS... & DEER!
Late Morning At Mendon Ponds Park
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Another Surprise...
REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #40
RT Turkey Run 5mi Road/Trail Race
Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Short Version - the turnout was low enough that I ended up taking 2nd place in my age division... this has been a very strange autumn racing season...

JMH

2010 Event Totals
Run 333.5 mi, 76 hr 33 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min

Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min

states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT

Friday, November 26, 2010

2.8 Mile Walk at Thousand Acre Swamp
Friday, November 26, 2010

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

OK, This Was a Surprise...
Tuesday, November 24, 2010

A few weeks ago I ran a fun trail race down near Kingston - the Ulstercorps Service Spint, a 5 mile jaunt through the hills and hollows of the Hudson Valley Resort property on Williams Lake. I ran a decent race but I can't say I went all out, seeing as I was planning to run a bit more and ride my bike later in the day, and the next day I had the Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon up at Thacher Park. The race had a pretty good turn out for a 1st time event during a fairly busy racing season - about 50 runners or so.

So I was more than a bit surprised when the following arrived in the mail today:



Like I said after the Portage Lakes Du, sometimes it's all a matter of choosing the right race... even when you don't know you've done so. And it sure was awfully nice of the folks at Ulstercorps to take the time and postage to send me the certificate.

Of course, this also probably means I've reached the apex of my racing career... two age group first place finishes in one year. I doubt that'll happen again before I hit the 70+ age group... and possibly not even then!

JMH
PRE-THANKSGIVING RUN
8 Mile Run at the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve
Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

15.4 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Sunday, November 21, 2010

2.8 Mile Walk at Trustom Pond NWR
Sunday, November 21, 2010
RUNNING 3 STATES IN 2 DAYS - RHODE ISLAND
REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #39
Lil Rhody Runaround 8mi Trail race
Sunday, November 21, 2010


2010 Event Totals
Run 328.5 mi, 75 hr 38 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min

Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min

states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT
RUNNING 3 STATES IN 2 DAYS - RHODE ISLAND
3.8 Mile Run at Ninigret NWR
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Weekly Training Summary
11/14/2010 - 11/20/2010

running (3x) - 20.4 mi
riding - 0 mi
snowshoeing - 0 mi
paddling - 0 mi

JMH

Saturday, November 20, 2010

RUNNING 3 STATES IN 2 DAYS - CONNECTICUT
4.8 Mile Run at Bluff Point State Park
Saturday, November 20, 2010
RUNNING 3 STATES IN 2 DAYS - MASSACHUSETTS
4.6 Mile Run at the Meadows
Saturday, November 20, 2010

Thursday, November 18, 2010

SAD NEWS
Thursday, November 18, 2010

I just learned that Jack Horkheimer, host of "Star Hustler" and more recently "Star Gazer" died on August 20.

more to come...

Sunday, November 14, 2010

2.5 Mile Walk at Durand Eastman Park
Sunday, November 14, 2010
REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #38
Dirt Cheap Stage Race#3 - Epic Stage 11mi Trail Race
Sunday, November 14, 2010


2010 Event Totals
Run 320.5 mi, 74 hr 12 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min

Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min

states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VT
Weekly Training Summary
11/7/2010 - 11/13/2010

running (3x) - 24.1 mi
riding (1x) - 22.5 mi
snowshoeing - 0 mi
paddling - 0 mi

JMH

Saturday, November 13, 2010

1 Mile Walk Along Durand Beach & the Irondequoit Lakeside Trail
Saturday, November 13, 2010
REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #37
Dirt Cheap Stage Race#2 - Devil's Bathtub 5mi Trail Race
Saturday, November 13, 2010


2010 Event Totals
Run 309.5 mi, 71 hr 35 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min

Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min

states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VT
Running & Walking Around Mendon Ponds Park
Saturday, November 13, 2010
REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #36
Dirt Cheap Stage Race#1 - 3.3mi Time Trial
Saturday, November 13, 2010


2010 Event Totals
Run 304.5 mi, 70 hr 34 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min

Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min

states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VT

Thursday, November 11, 2010

22.5 Mile Ride on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Thursday, November 11, 2010

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Another Wizard Named Harry
Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Monday, November 08, 2010

Let It Snow...
Monday, November 8, 2010

I was very surprised to look out the window this morning and see snow falling... that's been an increasingly unusual occurence for early November around here. The even greater surprise was that instead of switching over to rain, it got heavier as the day progressed and left us with about an inch of slushy white covering the ground by the time I headed home. I wish I'd had my camera with me so I could have gotten some shots of the first snow of the season... even better would have been having the day off so I could go for a run in the storm.

Of course, seeing snow on the ground reminded me that it's almost SNOWSHOE SEASON!

more to come...

Sunday, November 07, 2010

2.8 Mile Walk At Nyack Beach State Park
Sunday, November 7, 2010
REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #35
Alexa's Thunder Run Trail Half Marathon
Sunday, November 7 , 2010


2010 Event Totals
Run 301.2 mi, 69 hr 49 min
Bike 119.4 mi, 8 hr 51 min

Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min

states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VT
Weekly Training Summary
10/31/2010 - 11/6/2010

running (2x) - 17.7 mi
riding - 0 mi
snowshoeing - 0 mi
paddling - 0 mi

JMH

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Sigh... No Run for the Turtle & Goodbye Daylight Savings Time
Saturday, November 6, 2010

And I had such big plans for today... I was going to get up early and head to NJ for tomorrow's race, stopping along the way for a short run and also a ride... well, those plans were reduced in scale first by my not getting up all that early and then by my not leaving the house until midafternoon due to a variety of chores and general laziness. But I still planned to stop at the Columbia Land Conservancy's Greenport Conservation Area... I enjoyed running there last fall and since I bailed on the trail race this year, I've wanted to stop there and do a couple of loops. Today seemed like a good opportunity...

... until I got there at a little before 4 PM and discovered a fancy automated gate at the start of the dirt road leading to the parking lot, along with signs indicating that as of 11/7 the gate would close at 5 PM. I drove down to the parking lot anyway, and found more signs indicating that at other times of the year it closes at 7 PM. Granted it's only November 6th, so I might have still had until 7, and I could have at least squeaked in one loop (about 3 miles) before 5... but the concept of possibly being locked in threw me sufficiently off my game that I bailed on the run entirely. I thought about other possible places to go, but nothing came to mind that was both close enough to get to before it was too close to sunset and had sufficiently long trails that I wouldn't be running many loops to get in 5-6 miles. Guess I should have gone with an earlier thought and run somewhere close to Albany... oh, well.

Today also marks the last time for several months that I'll be able to get outdoors after work in the daylight... with the switch back to Standard Time sunset will occur most days right around when I leave. I don't mind running in the dark all that much - sometimes it's actually lot of fun - but it is tough to get motivated to head out into the cold dark night for a couple hours, and it also limits my choices, since many of the parks I'd usually head to are closed after dark.

Still, I shouldn't complain... at least they changed the dates that DST begins and ends back in 2007, extending it by about 4 weeks. The change was supposed to reduce energy use though my understanding is there's not much agreement as to whether it actually does, and interestingly some of the main lobbyists for the change were retail groups that would presumably benefit by people being out and about after work. I recently read an article that claimed that the change was pushed by retailers to provide an extra hour of daylight on Halloween, and thus more sales of supplies for trick-or-treating. Without any evidence to back it up that idea seems a bit silly to me, since it ignores the fact that Halloween has long since stopped being primarily for kids (like it was when I was younger) and now seems to be mostly an excuse for adults to dress up in costumes and party. The world being what it is these days, kids' activities on Halloween seem to be more and more structured in the form of community parties and activities at school. A shame, really... it seems like it's lost some of the innocent scariness I remember it having when I was a kid.

JMH

Friday, November 05, 2010

4.6 Mile Run Through Albany & Around Buckingham Lake
Friday, November 5, 2010

Finally a break in the rain! Other than being a bit chilly and windy it was fairly nice outside when I got out of work, and I had a bit of time before tonight's performance of the fall play, so I headed out for a short run to try and work the rust out of my legs after too many days of inactivity. Can't say I'm particularly fond of running around Albany, but it beats not running at all, and spots like Buckingham Lake Park offer a slight nature break in the midst of the city neighborhoods.

I had planned to do three loops around the lake, but my guts were in something of an uproar by the time I got there so I cut the run short and headed for home before things got really unpleasant. I suspect I have my own stupidity to blame - I probably shouldn't have downed a Powerbar right before I headed out the door.

JMH

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

2.5 Mile Walk at Thacher Park
Tuesday, November 2, 2010