Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half Marathon-Sunday, 9/16

I made my yearly (ok, it is only the second year) trip to Philly for the Rock and Roll half marathon.

I started last year to challenge myself to run farther and faster.

Training this year was a little easier because I was on the road so much, all I did was work, sleep and run.

I convinced my dearest wife to come and meet me in Philly (honey, we can have a weekend to ourselves ;-) ). She was a saint, putting up with me pretty much sleeping all weekend when I wasn't running.

I drove down from CT and picked Jennifer up at the airport.

We had a wonderful lunch on Friday at the Valley Green Inn in Wissahickon Park. From there we went to the packet pick up. My wife the social butterfly talked to more people at all the booths than I did. We also got some cool hydration belts. I know you shouldn't try anything new for the race, but my current set wasn't getting it.

We had parked at the Reading Market. I was born and raised in Philadelpha and lived in or near Philadelphia for 30 of my 45 years and I have never been to the Reading Market. Probably a good thing given my love affair with food. Even though I was on a strict runners diet (I made that up), I had to sample the roast pork sandwich. (Protein and Carbs, just keep telling yourself that). Then it was off to see mom and Trinket.

Saturday, we pretty much hung out and relaxed and then met our college friends for a mini-reunion.

On Sunday, Jennifer and I woke up early and headed downtown. We found great parking and made our way to the starting point.

Jennifer decided to go to the art museum while I ran. You know you are a slow runner when someone can tour a museum while you are running.

Since I knew what to expect, I guess I was less nervous this year. Off we go with Jennifer cheering me at the start.

Last year it seemed like the first few miles went really quick. Maybe they did because of course I went out too fast. This year, on the run down Market street, it seemed forever till we hit the turn around point. Then right before mile 3, disaster, had to make a pit stop. There goes the world record!

Anyway, once I got going again, this is the critical part of the race. Mile 4 is back on the parkway approaching mile 5 and the art museum for the 2nd time. Fire up the Rocky music and grunt up the hill (okay, it's a small hill, but there is one).

Once you pass the Art Museum (and see the running gods finishing), it is time to blast the river drives. Flat and straight. For me, miles 6, 7 and 8 are the hump. In Philly, once you hit the mile 9 marker, you are at the turn around point at the Falls Bridge. Grab some GU and gut it out.

I actually felt like I was picking up speed and the last few miles flew by.

One of the things that irked me this year was the number of bikes on the course. The last thing I need at mile 12.5 is to try and dodge some idiot on a bike. The crowd was awesome at this point, and their was my gal waiting for me as I sprinted (okay, that is an exaggeration) across the finish lline. Brad Michaels was still on stage when I crossed the line (damn, if I had run a little slower I would have missed him).

Thanks to Jennifer for supporting me through this.

Amazingly, I knocked off 13:35 off my time (3:11:19) from last year, a mile a minute faster!

Keys to training this year-run with someone, the miles cruise by!

Lessons learned-strengthen the core and run sooner afterwards.

Crowders Mountain Carolina Orienteering Club-Saturday, 10/1

The new orienteering season is finally here!

Jennifer, Joey, Darwin and I made the trek to Crowders Mountain for the first meet of the year.

Jennifer and Darwin ran the White course, Joey ran Yellow and I ran Green.

I thought my course was pretty easy (here start the excuses), but my resistance was down after the Philly half marathon.

Anyway, started out pretty good. Point 1 was 400 meters away, no problem, easy find. Point 2 was 800 meters away, up the trial, along the creek. Point 3 was also easy to find, but the climb up Crowders Mountain was on. Over the ridge and down into a stream to point 4. I love the look of all the hikers when you come scaling up the side of Crowders Mountain. They look at you like "theres a trail here you idiot". I agree!

Now is when the fun begins. They did a whole bunch of work on the trails. I could not find point 5. I searched for 25 min and ran into another team looking for it as well. I eventually gave up. Skipped to 6 and 7 which were easy finds. When I went to 8, again, ended up lost. Decided today was not may day and packed it in for the finish.

Jennifer and Darwin finished 9th out of 15, Joey was first out of 36. Way to go Joe!!! Time to move up to Orange. I was one of 14 teams that did not finish on Green. It always says something ot me that when that many teams don't finish (especially when I am one of them!), the course was too hard.

I will have to make it up in November!!!!

Here is the link:

http://www.carolina-ok.org/results/season_2011-2012/2011-10-01/index.php

Hebron Rock Colony at App State-Saturday, 10/8

The whole family took a ride up to App State to see Mark Jr. He said he always wanted to take us on a hike so we headed out to Hebron Rock Colony.

This is a cool hike located nearby, where many students and locals go. It is essentially a hike up a waterfall.

(notice wonder dog in the foreground)

After a short .5 mile hike, the trail basically follows the river upstream. How you get up there is up to you, but there is lot's of boulder hopping involved.

Joey and Mark shot up, and Jennifer and I managed Darwin. This little dog has no fear, hopping across boulders like a big dog!

Jennifer was also a trooper, it was a little rough going especially at the top, but we all made it.

The rest of the pictures can be found here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/116220729005084753753/HebronRockColonyOctober2011#

2011 Mount Whitney Trip With Joey-Sunday, 8/21

OK, I have been really bad at my blogging, but I am going to try and reform myself.

To finish up the trip report, Joey and I spent the night at the Dow Villa Motel in Lone Pine.

It is a really cool place, old time, lots of antiques and they have a pool!

After a quick breakfast at a local diner, we decided to go on the "Rock Fantasy" tour in the Alabama Hills.

The Alabama Hills are steeped in movie history. Anytime you see a commerical with mountains in the background, it was probably shot in the Alabama Hills. Old Western movies to Iron Man were shot here. Now everytime Joey sees them on TV, he says "there they are dad".

Anyway, they have a bunch of rock formations that look like creatures.

We started to do that and found about 10 of them, but we got bored.

Joey said, "Dad, where does that road lead?" and off we went on the road to Horseshoe Meadows.

I had never been up there before. The road is better than any rollercoaster ride (thank God certain nervous passengers weren't with us).

It leads up to Horseshoe Meadows which is a pretty cool place.

We hung out for a little while and then started our trek back to LA.

Going down 395 is always interesting, the crazy houses, the airplane graveyard and we stopped for Jerky and Pistacios.

The flight home ended up being an adventure. We missed our flight and they re-routed us to Dallas where we got to stay an extra night.

We were both glad to be home, but it was a great trip!