Mohican and finalized Race Calendar

So here are my official plans for 2013. After narrowing down my 100 miler for the year, the Mohican 100 I scheduled around that. I took off the 3 days at the Fair 24 hours since that was too close to the Mohican and I think I would go crazy running for 24 hours on a 1 mile loop.  I am excited for Mohican it is one of the first 100 milers I heard of growing up in Cincinnati. And I always wanted to go to Mohican, and it's supposed to be in one of the nicer spots in Ohio. I think I might of gone skiing there as a kid. I was considering Burning River for a while, but my anti- Cleveland bias got to me and we might be going away for my in laws 50th anniversary that week. So a quick weekend in Ohio, I'll have my built in crew my mom and Mark. I need to find a pacer, but looks like there are local pacers available. It's mostly trail single track which is fun. So Mohican is the big race for the year. And if it all goes south I could win the Last of the Mohicans award for coming in last.

Race Schedule Approved by Susannah

Long Island Fat Ass 50- January 12th (unless Bengals Playoff game conflicts)
NYC Central Park Marathon February 24th
NJ Ultra Fest 50 Miler March 24th
Rock the Ridge or TNFEC 50 May 4
Mohican 100 June 15th
Virgil Crest September 21st
NYC Marathon
JFK or other race in Nov/December

Racing Plans 2013

My racing plans for 2013 are in flux. I was thinking I would try to go back to Leadville for the 100, but my wife put an end to that plan. We went to Leadville for the 50 last year, but going back was not in I put together a little Power Point (see bellow)  I had my little presentation with my wife for my plans this year and she nixed travelling out west for a 100. So I am trying to figure out which east coast ultra to do. 

As I learned 2 years ago, a spring 100 like Umstead is too soon, so I figure I want to wait till June or July. I was slow to slow for figuring stuff out so I know I missed the Massanutten and Vermont entries. Need Ideas? Thinking along the lines of Oil Creek?, Burning River?, Mohican? Massanutten? Old Dominion?  I don't get around to this till New Years so those Dec 1 entries mess me up.  Any one doing any of these or advice. Got to figure this soon so I can get motivated to train. Enjoying my end of December running lazzies. 

Here is my 2013 plan so far

LI Fat Ass in two weeks

Central Park winter Marathon

NJ Ultra Fest 50 miles

3 Days at the Fair 24 Hours

Help out or Run 100K at NYC Great 100 Exposition

Virgil Crest??? 

NYC Marathon

JFK?? or that other one in MD same weekend

How to Run with a Jogging Stroller

Here is my blog post at NYC Stay at home groups blog. It was my first entry as a guest blogger. Check it out here. http://www.nycdadsgroup.com/2012/12/how-to-guide-for-running-with-jogging.html

Leadville Silverush 50

So this spring my wife and I decided we are going to visit our family in Colorado. So the first thing I did was look at the ultra running calendar for July aiming for a race in July. So I see the Leadville Silverush 50 on the calendar. So I signed up in June for the Silverush in July. I was excited, had always wanted to run the Leadville 100, but this would give me a taste of the altitude for the future. At the time of registering, I didn't realize how much support I would get. My brother in law Chuck in Denver, was super exited to crew the race. He had just read Eat to Run by Scott Jurek and was pumped up to experience an ultra. I was also extremely excited because it would be my first western mountain ultras. I had done Virgil Crest in upstate New York, which started at a ski resort but nothing at this elevation.

The race started early, and since it was July I wasn't used to seeing 42 degrees on reading. My brother in law Chuck drove me to the start. We took pictures, I grabbed my race # and gave them my information since they were out of shirts. Then we walked over to the start which was just one steep hill. Something that would be difficult to walk up, and probably would be scary to sled down in the winter. Also we were dealing with attitude of around 10,000 Feet.

The start, I got my trekking poles that I purchased just for this race. I started hiking, since I was not running the hill. They had little drones flying over head video taping the runner. The first person over the hill would get a free entry into the Leadville 100. As up the hill it was runnable for a bit.

This might be the last race that I loved my compression socks, they were giving shin splints for the first 4 miles. Anyway enough on that.

The first few miles was a lot of climbing, and some running. I stuck with my walk the hills, run the downhill and the flat strategy. It seemed to work for me.  Lots of runners, didn't get the memo about walking the ups, and they passed me easily.  Some of them I did see the last few miles of the race, which is always fun.

The first ten miles, was a slow and steady climb of almost 2,000 feet, going from according to my Garmin 10,023, 11,976. That was when a lot of people passed me. I hiked, and I am a slow hiker. I would of been even slower without my new trekking poles. Once we reached around the 10 mile mark we were around 12,000 feet and it was runnable, and then we got to run down hill for the first time and that was a blast. I love downhill trill raining.  But then we hit the 10,236 mark. This was around the elevation that we started at around mile 15. Then it was a long climb back up to 11,800 feet in 5 short long miles. Then around mile 20 it was time to go down again, it was pretty. Great mountain views.  Then it was time to do some running of rolling terrain till around mile 25 mark. It was tough but seemed a bit more runnable and passable. This was the turnaround point somewhere in this portion, and we headed back. I had my great crew of Chuck, my wife Susannah, and Lucinda. Who knew how good a 7 month old would be at crewing at an ultra.

From mile 25-30 it was some steep and steady climbing going from around 11,000 to 12,000 feet. This was probably the point in the race were you could feel the lack of air the most.  Then from around mile 29 to 32 there was some steep climbing. Then we arrived at the printer boy aid station for the second time. You felt relief that there were 16 short miles left. Ha Ha. This including another 1,200 feet of climbing within 5 miles. But you knew there was light at the end of the tunnel. Then it would be downhill most of the way till the end. That is how recalled it at least. Knowing how much climbing was at the beginning. Nothing like almost 2,000 feet of downhill running. I was excited because I was enjoying the downhill running so much. I started passing lots of people. I felt like nobody was passing me, and I was passing people. I felt good for the most part. The running was going well. No falling, the trekking poles were so light I could use them as guides.

I was a tad worried about missing the cutoffs, but I didn't miss any of them. Towards the end my legs started to feel it, the shuffle settled in. I kept thinking we were almost there. Since the race wasn't exactly 50 miles, I couldn't remember the exact distance. So at one point I thought we were almost to the finish. But then I realized there was one last hill and a steep downhill right at the finish. I slugged the last hill, it wasn't as long as some of the others, but it seemed worse. Especially when you really thought you were done. Then you arrived at the top of the final pass. And I headed down. Sitting on the side of the hill was Susannah, Chuck and Lucinda. I attempted to grab Lucinda and take her over the finish, but Susannah with held this. I don't think she knew what I wanted to do, or she didn't trust someone finishing a 50 mile race to hold a baby. I finally made it through the finish. I got my medal and my bracelet. Then headed over to the Beer tent which had my favorite beer in the world. The Dales Pale Ale tasted great. Chuck, Susannah and Lucinda joined me. It was a successful trip to Colorado. A great race, a great experience in Leadville. Hopefully next year or soon I can do the Leadville 100.

Sorry this was a little late, writing the JFK 50 race report last night inspired me to final write this one up.

Me on CBS 2 on being Stay at Home Dad

JFK 50

This weekend I ran my second JFK 50 Miler. The race which takes place every year the Saturday before Thanksgiving brings runners from Boonesboro, MD to Williamsport MD via the Appalachian Trail for 16.5 miles, The C&) Canal which you say many important spots in American History including Harpers Feery and Antietam, and finally for 8 miles through the country roads leading the Williamsport Middle School. This years race was a lot different than 2 years ago. My experience as a runner has changed, being a father and Stay at home dad has become the focal point of my life.

The race weekend started on Friday afternoon, I woke up and took Lucinda to the playground, then we headed to Fairway for some last minute race preparation. Picked up 2 cases of Six Point Beer, some Bananas and soy milk for Momma and Lucinda to make it through the two days without papa. Then we got ready for my aunt Sue who would baby sit Lucinda before Momma got home from work.

Melisa picked me up at 83rd and Broadway and we set for midtown to pickup Michael. Then we hit the road for Maryland, western MD near the West Virginia and Pennsylvania border. There wasn't too much traffic, but we learned from everyone else if we left any latter we would of hit a lot of traffic.

We arrived in Haggerstown around 6:15 hit the small little expo to pickup our race numbers and I checked in to the hotel. After  settling in we headed to the Olive Garden to meet Jacqueline Choi and a bunch of other people for a big table at Olive Garden. But Jackie was stuck in traffic, and everyone else would be late. But she told us to give olive Garden the name Marco Rodriguez and we would get a table. But the staff at Olive Garden had no clue what we were talking about. So we changed our mind and headed to the Kobe Hibachi place next to the tofu. This was a great plan. I had some avocado rolls and some Hibachi Tofu cooked in front of me. It was great time with Emmy, Karen, Michael, and Melissa.

Then I headed back to the hotel for bed. Decided to have a couple of my Bengali Tigers to help me go to sleep and watch the Knicks lose there first game of the season.

I set the alarm for 4:50, woke up and started to get my race day gear together. The big debate was whether to wear the CWX tights or CWX shorts with Compression sox. I went with the tights, after wearing them for 28 on NYC Marathon sunday and not being sore the next day thought they would e the best

I headed down to breakfast in the hotel with my stuff. Ran into Keila, Karen, Becky, Jackie in the lobby. With everyone getting ready to head to the race. I waited for Michael and Melissa to pick me up to head the Boonesboro, HS.

At the school we sat down to listen to Mike Spinnler gave the pre race briefing. He had all the military people stand up and all the people who had run the race 15 times. Then we got to the important stuff, were to pee. He said not pee 3 feet from the trial, but 30 feet from the trial. I had to tweet that since I thought it was kind of funny. Then I made the stupid decision, I decided it was time to poop. I got in the line and it took longer than planned. Then I forgot my phone in the bathroom and had to go back and get it. Then I forgot how long it took to get to the start and ended up being 2 minutes late to the start. But I had company, fresh off his Ironman Kona finish, was Larry Lewis of Brooklyn.

The 2.6 run up the Appalachian trail via the hilly roads of Boonesobro, seems like for forever. Then I hit the trial and that's when the fun started. I have developed a love of downhill trial running and get a kick out of it. I also am really slow hiking up hill. So I have a habit of passing people on the downhill and those same people passing me on the uphill. It's a back and forth cycle, which lasts a while. As the trail went on a ran into some people I knew. Ended up running with Becky Tsai for a while. I let her draft on me on the my downhill for a while. She latter flew past me at around mile 38.  Then as I got further down the trail right before the switchback ran into Jackie.

Then we hit the C&O canal, which would be my home for the next 26.3 miles. Long flat, scenic, and historic. It's a great run. But a lot of the same. It was fun, met a lot of people ran into some friends. Ran into Emmy then ran past her at the Harper's Ferry. Then further down I ran into Karen. Ran with Karen for around 11 miles or so.  That was fun, talked enjoyed the trial. Then she flew past me. I lost her after I took the picuture of the Run Faster I Just Farted sign. I started encountering some issues around mile 36. My speed slowed down. Stated doing some ultra shuffling a bit. Then Becky ran past me, then Emmy. I was counting down the miles till I wanted to get of the canal path. I wanted to be off the canal path so bad. Too much of the same over and over.

Finally I finished the Canal Path it was over, I received my orange reflective vest. Then I headed up the road. Started chatting with a marine and some other army guys. Then there was what I needed, a beer stand. I got a cup of Beer and it went down real well. I also ate my cliff protein bar. This gave me a new boast of energy. Then Jackie was running me down. I had the energy so I started pushing the pace with her for a couple of miles. But then my metatarsal started killing me. My super feet were fried, my Brooks Cascadias were fried. I decided to fire my superfeet, took them out of my shoes and threw them out with with 4 miles to go. I kept slugging the miles out, got in my shuffle stance and pushed through to the finish. I As I passed the tattoo parlor with less then I mile to go I started pushing towards the finish.

As I ran toward the finish line, I looked up and realized I finished. According to my watch it was 10:54, the clock said 10:56,  a little over 1 hour and 5 minutes slower than 2 years ago. But under 11 hours, and still respectable. I received my medal, and went into the Middle School for the post race festivities. Had some Mo's Burritos and hung out with people, took pictures and then we headed back to the Boonesoboro on the school bus.

On arrival back in Haggerstown a the hotel, I opened my Bengali Tiger and took a shower. Then I looked downstairs at the JFK post race party. It didn't look too exciting, but then I headed down when I saw Karen. I talked with her for a bit, then I met Micahel and Melissa for some dinner at a pizza place across the street. Then we headed back to the party. At the party we ran into Glenn Redpath who introduced us to the Ian Sherman (holder of the fastest trail ultra marathon time in North America 12:44) Glenn and I were on the same page, the hotel was providing us free Michelob Ultra Light and as everyone knows ultra runners don't drink shitty beer. Glenn had his Lagunitas and I had my Six Point Bengali Tiger. I ran up to grab a couple more can's and enjoyed the good beer and good conversation with Glenn, Ian, Karen and few other people at the bar. Then the bar manager showed us a letter from the state of Maryland about bringing outside beverages into a bar. We laughed it off, since he was the same guy who gave us cups to poor our beer in. Glenn told some good stories, Ian told us how he can never catch Max King (Max was the winner and broke the course record). Then it was time for bed and the end of the JFK 50 weekend.

NYC Dads Group Great Lawn on Wednesday

On Wednesday went to the Stay at home Dads group meet up in the Central Park. It was exciting on multiple levels. Meeting other dads with babies of similar age to Lucinda, free toys from Time to Play Magazine, being interviewed by CBS and Japanese TV.

We arrived at the park around 10:45, most of the dads were already there. The kids were playing. Got to meet Sam and Kai again whom we had a play date earlier in the week. Then we got to meet some dads with kids almost Lucinda's age. We got to mess around with some toys such as a golf club, lawn mower, baby soccer balls. It was fun, Lucinda got to meet other kids and it was fabulous. Papa, as I am known to Lucinda, my wife goes by momma.  So Papa got to meet other dads and that was fun, also engaging in discussions on fatherhood.

We were then discussing baby wearing, why Lucinda doesn't use pacifiers, and a few other subjects, then the CBS TV cameras come upon us and asked us to continue talking. So that was weird, need. I have always been one to avoid TV cameras, but it was ok.

Then as we were about to leave the Japanese tv producer approached us and asked us to be part of their TV special. My understanding is it is a TV special on parenting around the world. Luckily for Lucinda she fell asleep and missed most of it. She woke up near the end. It was kind of fun,with the girl who interviewed us speaking in Japanese and being translated. It was an interesting experience, and again I had to get used to talking in front of cameras. Explaining why it is important to be involved in Lucinda's life as a stay at home dad. It was all good, glad we did it.

We left the event with a inflatable pool and lawnmower and went to meet momma.