Road Trip 5/5/12-Lake Norman and Catawba, NC

Jennifer had a great idea to take a ride out to the country.

Our first stop was a quick breakfast at Einstein Bagels.  Then on the road to escape the golf tournament traffic.

Our second stop of the day was the Terrell General store. 

At the corner of 150 and Sherrils Ford road, they serve ice cream and soda in glass bottles.  They also sell penny candy and other locally made goods and some light groceries.  Nice people, it is nice to see that a small business can still thrive in today's economy.

They told us about a place called Murray's Mill.  About 20 min away, this is a still working mill that used to be the industrial hub of the area. 

We started out at another general store, The Murray & Minges General Store.  While they sell some things here, it is really the gift shop for the site.  They still have much of the goods arrayed like they used to be. 

Then we visited the actual mill.  They still have the water wheel connected, and it is pretty cool to watch it work the machinery.  You can walk around 3 floors of the mill.

They also have some nice nature trails on the property.

The rest of the pictures are here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/116220729005084753753/albums/5739519320111542401

Running 5/1/2012

Can't believe it is May 1st already.

So I did my rehab for the shin splints.  Rest for 5 days massage and Hammer Nutrition's Tissue Rejuvenator.

Good stuff.

Pre run Ibuprofen (not always the best idea) and lots of stretching.

Anway, I took it slow, not the usual sprint I always end up starting at.  A little soreness, more on the right, but no serious on the left where it was really killing me.

Was a slow run, very hot for May, but no pain.  Iced the shins after the run.

Also starting to try new hydration tactics.  Today I tried Nuun Lemon Iced Tea flavor.  Thought it would be good during a run to fantasize about drinking iced tea.  Don't do it!  It's like brown water.

Orienteering Lake Crawford 24-Mar-2012

Okay, this is it, last meet of the season.

First I was informed that I will be the meet director for this meet next year.  Hmm...

Then off I went.

Was smokin points 1 to 6.  Then I made a bone head mistake and followed a line of drift and had to backtrack to find point 7.  Then I went into wandering mode (not following my compass or pacecount) and ended up on a major wasteful hike shown on the map by my crazy route between 8 and 9.  Shoulda took 5 min, endedup taking 25, duh!  Then I woke up and finished quickly. 5th out of 7.

Joey for the first time ever did not finish the Orange course.  There were a large number of DNFs so I know it was difficult.

Results here:

http://www.carolina-ok.org/results/season_2011-2012/2012-03-24/index.php

Orienteering Kings Mountain National Military Park 3-Mar-2012

With my recent terrible performances, I needed a good showing this month.  It is usually cold and nasty, or the place is on fire.  It was great weather this month.

I ran Green again. Point 1 was no nonsense, 2 was an easy find. 3 was a pretty long let, but an easy ridgeline to track to.  4 seemed like climbing Mt. Everest.  I hadn't really been working out that much and paid for it climbing a hill to get to 4.  5 was a hike, decided to take the high road and stay away from the jungle below.  Passed a young wipper snapper who decide to stay in the valley.  6 was super easy.  7 was a little of a struggle.  Many folks were circling looking for this point. Then off to the finish for a 4 out of 15 place.  Not too bad, one of those days where if I woulda pushed harder, I could of easily come in 2nd.

Joey came in 2nd on Orange, he did a great job.  I have been pushing him to run the more advanced courses and he is stepping up.

Results are here:

http://www.carolina-ok.org/results/season_2011-2012/2012-03-03/index.php

Orienteering Reedy Creek Park 4-Feb-2012

What a dreary day for orienteering.  We arrived to a large crowd.  I gave a quick class to about 20 people while Joey got off to a quick start. 

Then I ran Green.  I had some difficulty on one point and had to back track, the crowning achievement was smacking my head on a branch!

Results are here:

http://www.carolina-ok.org/results/season_2011-2012/2012-02-04/index.php

Joey, 1st out of 50 (great job) competitors and me 12 out of 20.

Orienteering McDowell Nature Preserve 3-Dec-2011

Well, this month was very interesting indeed!  Joey ran Yellow and came in first of course.  I decided to "coach" my princess and stay with her.  We did the White course and she did a great job.  It was pretty long for a white course and fun to walk through the woods with Jennifer and Darwin.  Alas, not enough time to run a course of my own, but I did get a workout doing control pickup!

Results are here: http://www.carolina-ok.org/results/season_2011-2012/2011-12-03/index.php

We finished the day off with lunch at T-Bones a very interesting place on the waterfront at Lake Wylie.