| About Me |
 |
| Photos |
|
| Archives |
|
|
| Links |
|
|
| Powered by |
|
|
| Plugged In |
| Friday, September 26, 2008 |
I know they are out there. I just didn't realize how many of them there are. In looking through the 401 pictures that Bob Kopac took of the Dutchess County Classic, the number of runners wearing headsets is astounding. I've never worn a headset on a run other than on a treadmill. People who do wear them have told me all the reasons they wear them. None of the reasons I've heard has the slightest appeal to me. When I'm outside I like to listen to the sounds around me, especially the sounds of nature - wind in the trees, birds, animals rustling the leave, etc. If I'm on the roads, which is almost never these days, I want to be able to hear traffic. Blocking out the sounds of the world while I'm outside just feels like it's adding a negative to a positive experience.
On another note, all MHRRC races are insured under the Road Runners Club of America and I'm pretty sure that headsets are prohibited in their races. They add a danger factor to races that is not necessary. That's a topic for another time. |
posted by Steve @ 12:38 PM  |
|
|
|
| Livestrong Challenge Report |
| Friday, August 29, 2008 |
As a cancer survivor it was so inspiring to spend two days around people dedicated to fighting cancer and helping those who are living with the disease. I arrived at the Livestrong Village on the campus of Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, PA on Saturday and immediately found myself surrounded by people in yellow Livestrong attire. Five thousand of them were there to either ride or run in the Livestrong Challenge the next day, plus there were eight hundred volunteers just looking to be as much help to anyone as they could.
The sign-in process could not have been smoother. With so many volunteers, the check-in line was basically non-existent and I was through it and walking away with my number and all my goodies in a matter of two or three minutes. I took a stroll through the expo to check out the exhibits and wandered around outside where there were more exhibits set up. I spent quite awhile just taking in the ambiance and soaking up all the positive vibes in the air.
Going out to dinner that night was kind of a strange experience for me. To start with it was my birthday and even though there were thousands of my new friends all around, I did not know anyone. Being alone is something I'm very used to since I run, bike, hike, canoe, etc alone all the time. On the other hand, going to a nice restaurant alone was something I can never remember doing before. Looking to fuel up on pasta, the first place I went was a highly recommended Italian restaurant, which was in an old train station they had converted into the restaurant. Unfortunately, the snooty waiter was not able to find a table for one and I was sent away to seek elsewhere for my dinner.
Saved by my Garmin GPS I did find a place to eat. From there I headed back to the hotel to watch the Olympic marathon. How anyone can run 2:06 in the heat, humidity and smog of Beijing is incredible.
The hotel provided a very nice breakfast starting at 5:30AM and when I walked into the lobby at 5:35 the place was already buzzing. Knowing that getting onto campus and into the parking lot was going to be crowded I left early enough to be there more than an hour before the start. Even at that early arrival, there was a back-up getting to parking. As it turned out they had to delay the start 30 minutes because of the traffic jam getting on to campus.
The 100-mile ride is through beautiful country very similar to Dutchess County. The middle 40 miles are very hilly with one hill at 54-miles into the ride that had everyone talking and worrying long before we got there. Since I had done the ride last year I knew about the hill and had geared much of my training this summer for getting to the top. The training must have worked, as I was able to push all the way to the top, passing riders (and some people walking their bikes) the whole time.
The rest stop at the top was great - live band, lots of food and drink and plenty of shade to enjoy a short break. There were eight rest stops on the ride, all sponsored by Power Bar. They all had plenty to eat, a medical tent, and a bike repair tent. There is a competition between the stops to see who gets voted as the best one. This year I only made three stops out of the eight. The last stop I pulled into was Margaritaville, complete with palm trees and Jimmy Buffett music.
The course control was amazing. Almost every intersection (except for small ones in very rural areas) had volunteers. Any intersection that might be even slightly busy had state troopers or local police stopping traffic. They waved us through each intersection so that we rarely even had to slow down.
My goal for the ride was to average around 15mph and finish with a riding time of about 7 hours, not counting the stops along the way, which I figured would add another 40 minutes or so to the ride. It was such a perfect day for riding and I felt so good that I actually completed the ride, including the stops, in 7 hours. Not too bad for a 100-mile ride that included 8800 feet of climbing.
The party afterwards was lots of fun. I ended up sitting at a table with a couple from Calgary, Canada. They had come in with a group of thirty riders and support people. Their group name was Cancervive and they were dedicated to supporting people in Calgary living with cancer. I'm not sure how large their whole group back in Calagry is. What I did learn was that each member had raised $10,000, which they used to build a cancer survivors center to support those living with the disease.
Spending two days surrounded by people with that kind of dedication can be humbling. Despite what anyone might think of Lance Armstrong, his foundation is one of the best things to happen in the battle against cancer. The Philly Challenge alone raised almost $3,000,000.
While I was typing this my latest batch of 100 Livestrong wristbands arrived by Fed Ex delivery. The battle to defeat cancer continues! Why not join the fight? |
| posted by Steve @ 9:12 AM |
|
|
|
| Catching Up |
| Monday, August 18, 2008 |
Only six days to go before the Livestrong Challenge. I'm pretty sure my legs are ready, not so sure how my butt is going to handle 100 miles in the saddle. My fundraising total is up to $3336.20. If you would like to donate you can go to http://philly08.livestrong.org/runtuff I'm truly grateful that a total of 62 people have made donations so far.
The Livestrong Challenge comes in the middle of my annual week at The Running School . I'll have to miss two days at camp while I go to Philly for the ride. Last year we had a group of five of us that went to the Livestrong Challenge as a team. This year I'm the only one going back. There certainly won't be any lack of company since there are close to 2000 riders heading out on the various rides. |
| posted by Steve @ 9:37 AM |
|
|
|
| Livestrong Challenge Update |
| Sunday, August 3, 2008 |
My Livestrong Challenge century ride (100 miles) is three weeks from today. I've ramped up the biking mileage some to get the butt and legs in shape. This week had two rides in the 55-mile range. The plan is to do pretty much the same this coming week with one ride of at least 65 miles.
The fundraising is going ok, but not quite what I was hoping for. My goal is $4,000 and the total as of today is $2,846.20. If you would like to donate to this very worthy cause you can go directly to my fundraising page at http://philly08.livestrong.org/runtuff
Thanks in advance for your support. |
| posted by Steve @ 1:03 PM |
|
|
|
| The Grandpa Factor |
| Thursday, July 31, 2008 |
| It was the 4th and last race in the New Paltz Cross Country series. I had run well at the first three races and won the 60-69 age group in all three of them. Unfortunately, the last race wasn't going as well. For whatever reason the zip just wasn't in the legs. At a little more than half way through the race I could hear runners gaining on me and was pretty much resigned to being run down in fairly short order. As we started climbing a tough hill there was a father and two young kids along the trail picking blueberries. They watched us run by, then a few seconds later started cheering for the runners behind, "Come on grandpa, you're doing great." Or something like that. What a wake-up call! Here comes grandpa and he's gaining on me. What to do? Luckily Chris Giam was just in front of me. I surged a little at the top of the hill to catch him and enlisted his aid, "Chris, you've got to help me. Grandpa is after me and this grandpa doesn't want to get caught." We worked together over the next 1.8 miles and with Chris's help we were able to keep grandpa at bay. It's great to still have the competitive juices flowing even while being a grandpa. |
| posted by Steve @ 10:54 AM |
|
|
|
| Random Encounters |
| Tuesday, July 15, 2008 |
When you put things out into cyberspace you're never sure where they end up. Such is the case with this blog. I'm never really sure who, if anyone, really reads it. Then every once in awhile someone will drop a comment. Like yesterday - I'm standing near the starting line of the cross country race at Spring Farm (Mohonk Preserve), kind of spacing out enjoying the spectacular view of the Catskill Mts. while waiting for a kids race to finish, when the person next to me says, "Steve, I really enjoy your blog." Wow, thank you very much.
Same day, now the end of the race, one of the long time veterans of the local running community is handing out place cards at the finish line. We hadn't chatted for quite awhile so after the finish line quieted down I went over to catch up. He was pretty excited about his new coach and his recent training results. I asked him if he was going to the Empire State Games this year. He said that he was going, but really the training was more about next year when he will be 70. What an amazing sport! What else would you doing in life that at 69 years of age you're eagerly anticipating the next decade.
Random encounter #3 came as an email from one of my former athletes from back in the early 90s. I had not heard from her in a few years. She wrote to tell me about her new job for Girls on the Run-Chicago as the manager for Girls on Track. She said it really brought back memories of her first season on track as a freshman in high school. She also sent along 879 (yes, 879) pictures of her recent wedding! It's always so great to hear from athletes from years ago. I figure if they still care enough to at least keep a little in touch I must have done something right. |
| posted by Steve @ 2:15 PM |
|
|
|
| Erie Canal |
|
|
| posted by Steve @ 8:14 AM |
|
|
|
| Deja Vu all over again |
| Wednesday, July 9, 2008 |
| There seems to be a pattern here. Strange things happen that don't have a good impact on my running. I won't go through the litany. The latest one is my third case of Lyme Disease. If it wasn't for the rash, I would not have know I was infected. That's the good news. The bad news is three weeks of antibiotics with all the side effects, including super sun sensitivity. Not a good thing in the middle of July. I'm pretty careful about being in the sun anyway. Now it will basically be no sun for the next three weeks. That means lots of shaded runs and early in the day or late day bike rides. "Life", as John Lennon (I think it was John) once said, "is what happens when you're busy making plans." Now some of the plans have to be adjusted. |
| posted by Steve @ 5:31 PM |
|
|
|
| Coaching Thoughts |
| Sunday, June 29, 2008 |
The following is taken from an email I wrote to one of the members of the training group. He had written to me about why his workout times were not in the range I had for him. I think it provides a good perspective of the approach I take in coaching the MHRRC group.
"The switch from coaching high school athletes to coaching adults was quite an adjustment for me. The high school kids HAD to be at practice every day and pretty much follow instructions to the letter (with lots of individual adjustments mixed in). One of the biggest adjustments to coaching adults was realizing they would come to practices when it fit their very busy lifestyles. For some it would be a priority and if they did not have an over abundance of obligations they would be at practice on a regular basis. Those with jobs, kids, and other interests would come when they could. Also, adults tended to come with their own ideas of how they wanted to do things: warm-up, cool-down, recovery time, number of intervals, etc. I learned early on not to take any of that personally. My biggest jobs were to provide a framework for people to work around, provide what knowledge I have of the sport, encourage those who were new to or just returning to the sport and set up a weekly time for everyone to get together and run. I think it's worked out." |
| posted by Steve @ 8:33 PM |
|
|
|
| Irony |
|
| As many of you know, I'm a pretty big Jimmy Buffett fan. The last line of the song "Son of a Son of a Sailor" is "I'm just glad I don't live in a trailer." Listening to that line always gave me a little chuckle. Now it really hits "home". That's because our home for the next 6 months or so is a trailer. We have pretty much settled in and it's actually nice and cozy. The fact that it's next to over 900 acres of state forest and two of the grandchildren are next door makes it very liveable. |
| posted by Steve @ 8:52 AM |
|
|
|
| Running and Weird Age Juxtapositions |
| Thursday, June 26, 2008 |
The last few weeks have provided a couple of strange age/running related phenomenons. The first one should not have surprised me like it did after years of watching all the ageless runners at local races and MHRRC practices. Still, I had to smile in the middle of a tough track workout recently when I was clicking along at sub 6 minute per mile pace and thinking about the phone conversation I had made earlier that day to sign up for Social Security benefits. I hope all this fitness stuff will help me collect many years of those checks.
The second one occurred today when I went running with three of my former high school athletes. Here I am, sixty-one years old, out for a 6 mile hilly run with three guys in their early twenties. Each of them have 5K PRs of 14 minutes and change. The rule is that when they run with the "old man" the pace can't be faster than 8 minutes per mile. I must have trained them well. We finished the six mile run in 48:24. Since I hadn't had a chance to chat with any of them for awhile, it was great to catch up on what was going on in their lives. |
| posted by Steve @ 6:36 PM |
|
|
|
| A Great Running Week |
| Sunday, June 22, 2008 |
Over the last 5 days I've run more races than I would normally run in a month. The selection was just too good to pass up. Wednesday was the Solstice Run in Minnewaska State Park. The race was recently wheeled and the distance turned out to be 8.78 miles. The weather was iffy, with thunderstorms around on the ride over. They cleared as we rode up to the registration area and it turned into a beautiful evening. As usual, the turnout was great and the competition top notch.
Saturday was the Bridge Fever River Run 5K in the city of Poughkeepsie. It was a fund raiser for the Marathon Project and Walkway Over The Hudson. How could you pass that up!
Sunday was a half marathon trail run in Taconic Hereford Multiple Use Area, aka "909". What a blast. I didn't try to run it hard, just enjoyed the trails and got in my long run for the week. |
| posted by Steve @ 4:39 PM |
|
|
|
| Catching Up Some More |
|
Wow, it's been a month since I've put anything on here. That is mostly due to the stress of selling the house and moving. Yes, the house is sold and we are in our temporary residence. We may be nomads for the next year or so. New adventures await us. Where we are now is perfect for the next 6 months or so. It's adjacent to over 900 acres of state land full of trails. I can run out the door and into the woods!
The next thing I need to really start working on is getting my bike legs and butt in shape for the Livestrong Challenge Ride on Aug. 24. My fund raising is currently over $1,500, with a goal of $4,000. If you would like to contribute to my fund you can click here to go directly to my personal fund raising site. |
| posted by Steve @ 4:20 PM |
|
|
|
| Some Catch Up |
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
Boston must have taken something out of me since I haven't really updated this site since then. We did go to Texas for a few days to celebrate Lisa's (my daughter-in-law) graduation with her PhD from the University of Texas. She and Josh will be moving to the Rochester, NY area this year. She has a job teaching at Nazareth College in Pittsford.
Next week we are headed to Florida to celebrate Aunt Ruthie's 85th birthday. We are meeting Marlene's sister and husband there for the celebration.
Some alumni news: Ryan Joyce (Geneseo)won the SUNYAC triple jump championship with a leap of 45 feet 2 inches. James Kennedy (Brockport) was second in the javelin with a throw of 160 feet 11 inches, third in the pole vault at 13' 5" and 8th in the long jump with a jump of 20' 7".
Hakon DeVries (Stanford) finished 5th in the PAC 10 Championships in the 1500 meter run in a time of 3:43.19. This time is equivalent to 4:00.5 for a mile. |
| posted by Steve @ 8:51 AM |
|
|
|
| Huguenot Street 5K, New Paltz |
| Saturday, May 10, 2008 |
 The MHRRC training group had excellent representation at the Huguenot Street 5K. It was an evening run with great weather, which was held mostly on the rail trail. |
| posted by Steve @ 7:13 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
