LONG DISTANCE 2012 - Race #17
Tri the Oatka Paddle Triathlon
Saturday, July 14, 2012
2012 Event Totals
Run 150.8 mi, 35 hr 48 min
Bike 109.1 mi, 9 hr 36 min
Snowshoe 14.3 mi, 3 hr 37 min
Kayak 4.5 mi, 1 hr 23 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
NOT QUITE THE ORIGINAL INDIAN LADDER 15K COURSE...
10.6 Mile Run at Thacher Park
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I started running trails in the fall of 1997 and ran my first trail race in July, 1998 - the Indian Ladder 15k. I suppose that's one of the reasons Indian Ladder holds a special place in my heart, and even though I can run those trail pretty much anytime I want for free, I still try to get to the race each year. I've run it 10 times in the last 14 years, and even ran it from 1999-2004, when it was practically the only race I ran each year.
The race was originally based out of the Glen Doone picnic area, but by 2000 had outgrown the space available there (particularly in regards to parking) and so was moved to the Haile's Cave area, which resulted in major changes to the course. Where the original course wound its way mostly along the escarpment and through the Paint Mine/Hop Field areas of the park, the current course covers a bit more than half the distance on those trails and then heads off into the old OSI property at the northern end of the park.
When I was cleaning last week I came across a copy of the map of the original course and decided I wanted to have a go at running it again... well, sort of. There are places where trails have been re-routed, and I was pretty sure I wanted to do more than 15k... but I still figured I'd include as much of the old course as possible. Which is exactly what I did this afternoon/evening.
I started out at the Hop Field picnic area and headed across the road to what used to be the finish of the 15k, in the parking lot for Glen Doone. Between two runnings of the original course and a visit Ann and I made here back in the spring of 2001, Glen Doone always makes me nostalgic. And the views from the escarpment north don't hurt... from there I made my way along the escarpment until I finally reached the old wastewater treatment plant above Haile's Cave picnic area.
One thing that became quickly clear is how much the lack of rain has affected the higher ground of the Helderbergs. The trails were bone-dry, the streams were almost the same (a few trickles of water here and there), and plants were wilting and dying all over the place. I hope this dry spell breaks soon... we really need the water.
I detoured onto the Long Path to get back down to the park office... they've re-routed another section to get clear of a boggy area, which will have a small effect on both the Indian Ladder and ARE races (the new section is probably 0.1 or 0.2 miles shorter than the old trail.) Then I headed back over the the Paint Mine area and up... and up... and up... I had forgotten that the old course went through the stream and UP the hill, rather than coming down to splash through the water. Nothing new, I've run these trails many times in recent years... until I made it back to Paint Mine road and crossed straight onto a trail that has clearly seen little use recently (it was very overgrown.) I briefly questioned if I was even on the correct trail until I hit a really steep climb, and then I knew I was on course - I had always wondered where that brief but incredibly tough hill was! After taking photos of a very chubby woodchuck, I circled back down to Paint Mine road on a dirt road that runs along the far side of the beaver pond - another spot I've only been to once or twice since I last ran this course in 1999.
From there it was all trails I run pretty regularly... parallel to Beaver Dam Road, down and around the Hop Field swamps (where a new bridge/boardwalk is being built - very cool!), past the park maintanence area, and then back to the Hop Field picnic area. Just another run on trails I know and love, with the added bonus of revisiting the memories of some of the first races I ran, 13-14 years ago...
JMH
10.6 Mile Run at Thacher Park
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I started running trails in the fall of 1997 and ran my first trail race in July, 1998 - the Indian Ladder 15k. I suppose that's one of the reasons Indian Ladder holds a special place in my heart, and even though I can run those trail pretty much anytime I want for free, I still try to get to the race each year. I've run it 10 times in the last 14 years, and even ran it from 1999-2004, when it was practically the only race I ran each year.
The race was originally based out of the Glen Doone picnic area, but by 2000 had outgrown the space available there (particularly in regards to parking) and so was moved to the Haile's Cave area, which resulted in major changes to the course. Where the original course wound its way mostly along the escarpment and through the Paint Mine/Hop Field areas of the park, the current course covers a bit more than half the distance on those trails and then heads off into the old OSI property at the northern end of the park.
When I was cleaning last week I came across a copy of the map of the original course and decided I wanted to have a go at running it again... well, sort of. There are places where trails have been re-routed, and I was pretty sure I wanted to do more than 15k... but I still figured I'd include as much of the old course as possible. Which is exactly what I did this afternoon/evening.
I started out at the Hop Field picnic area and headed across the road to what used to be the finish of the 15k, in the parking lot for Glen Doone. Between two runnings of the original course and a visit Ann and I made here back in the spring of 2001, Glen Doone always makes me nostalgic. And the views from the escarpment north don't hurt... from there I made my way along the escarpment until I finally reached the old wastewater treatment plant above Haile's Cave picnic area.
One thing that became quickly clear is how much the lack of rain has affected the higher ground of the Helderbergs. The trails were bone-dry, the streams were almost the same (a few trickles of water here and there), and plants were wilting and dying all over the place. I hope this dry spell breaks soon... we really need the water.
I detoured onto the Long Path to get back down to the park office... they've re-routed another section to get clear of a boggy area, which will have a small effect on both the Indian Ladder and ARE races (the new section is probably 0.1 or 0.2 miles shorter than the old trail.) Then I headed back over the the Paint Mine area and up... and up... and up... I had forgotten that the old course went through the stream and UP the hill, rather than coming down to splash through the water. Nothing new, I've run these trails many times in recent years... until I made it back to Paint Mine road and crossed straight onto a trail that has clearly seen little use recently (it was very overgrown.) I briefly questioned if I was even on the correct trail until I hit a really steep climb, and then I knew I was on course - I had always wondered where that brief but incredibly tough hill was! After taking photos of a very chubby woodchuck, I circled back down to Paint Mine road on a dirt road that runs along the far side of the beaver pond - another spot I've only been to once or twice since I last ran this course in 1999.
From there it was all trails I run pretty regularly... parallel to Beaver Dam Road, down and around the Hop Field swamps (where a new bridge/boardwalk is being built - very cool!), past the park maintanence area, and then back to the Hop Field picnic area. Just another run on trails I know and love, with the added bonus of revisiting the memories of some of the first races I ran, 13-14 years ago...
JMH
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Monday, July 09, 2012
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL...
Monday, July 9, 2012
My office, after being about 2/3 cleaned up... there's a chair, a table, and a 10 yr old PC somewhere under those piles of stuff...
A couple of hours of work and - the chair, table, and old PC make an appearance...
And another hour or two of work - things are looking better and better!
It's a small victory - but it's kind of nice to be able to sit at the table and work on my new PC instead of sitting on a folding chair in the corner of the bedroom.
I'm beginning to think I may manage to finish this cleaning and reorganizing stuff by the end of the month after all...
JMH
Monday, July 9, 2012
My office, after being about 2/3 cleaned up... there's a chair, a table, and a 10 yr old PC somewhere under those piles of stuff...
A couple of hours of work and - the chair, table, and old PC make an appearance...
And another hour or two of work - things are looking better and better!
It's a small victory - but it's kind of nice to be able to sit at the table and work on my new PC instead of sitting on a folding chair in the corner of the bedroom.
I'm beginning to think I may manage to finish this cleaning and reorganizing stuff by the end of the month after all...
JMH
THE YEAR OF THE DNS (DID NOT START)
1.7 Mile Walk at Buckingham Lake
Monday, July 9, 2012
I was really looking forward to running the 1st race in the New Paltz Summer Series, Undercliff/Overcliff, this evening... unfortunately I didn't get much sleep last night and when I started the drive south, I found myself doing inexplicable things like stopping at green lights (fortunately with no one behind me!) So before I got on the thruway I turned around and came back home. Darn it.
1.7 Mile Walk at Buckingham Lake
Monday, July 9, 2012
I was really looking forward to running the 1st race in the New Paltz Summer Series, Undercliff/Overcliff, this evening... unfortunately I didn't get much sleep last night and when I started the drive south, I found myself doing inexplicable things like stopping at green lights (fortunately with no one behind me!) So before I got on the thruway I turned around and came back home. Darn it.
I considered going out for a run but again didn't feel like driving far... or running, to be honest. So instead I headed over to Buckingham Lake for a walk. Lots of people, and a distinct lack of ducks, though at the end one of the mallards with youngsters showed up, and the lone youngster that everyone seemed to enjoy beating up on was looking for food too.
Water levels are the lowest I've ever seen them - but then that's the same everywhere around here. Around here we're close to 4" below normal for the year so far, and that's on top of the lack of snow melt after our horrendously snow-free winter.
JMH
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Cleaning and Organizing Sucks...
Sunday, July 8, 2012
... though I suppose I'll be glad when it's done... but for the last two weeks my place has been even more of a shambles than usual, as I'm trying to use the excuse of setting up the new computer as an opportunity to clean up and reorganize some of my stuff.
The most time consuming part is probably sorting through the piles of stuff I've accumulated since the last time I did a major cleanup (easily 4-5 years or more.) The amount of crap I'm throwing out is incredible - this is the 7 contractor bags that I've filled, plus a pile of other junk, since I was last here to put the garbage out, almost 2 weeks ago, from essentially two rooms (the living room, which I tackled first so that I'd have room to move things around as I slogged through the work room.)
On the plus side, once the work is done, this place should be a bit more liveable, at least until the clutter builds up again. I'd like to think I'll have learned from this and will toss stuff before it accumulates and requires a major upheaval to get rid of it - but who am I kidding?
With luck I'll be able to move the new computer out of the corner of my bedroom and into the work room by Wednesday... which means of course that then it will be time to tackle the bedroom...
JMH
Sunday, July 8, 2012
... though I suppose I'll be glad when it's done... but for the last two weeks my place has been even more of a shambles than usual, as I'm trying to use the excuse of setting up the new computer as an opportunity to clean up and reorganize some of my stuff.
The most time consuming part is probably sorting through the piles of stuff I've accumulated since the last time I did a major cleanup (easily 4-5 years or more.) The amount of crap I'm throwing out is incredible - this is the 7 contractor bags that I've filled, plus a pile of other junk, since I was last here to put the garbage out, almost 2 weeks ago, from essentially two rooms (the living room, which I tackled first so that I'd have room to move things around as I slogged through the work room.)
With luck I'll be able to move the new computer out of the corner of my bedroom and into the work room by Wednesday... which means of course that then it will be time to tackle the bedroom...
JMH
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Monday, July 02, 2012
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