Five Squirrels

Stone Cat Race Report - Part 2

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:12:00 +0000

Since my last entry, the race results have been posted. Which brings a little twist to my earlier report regarding timing*. Also, for some reason I can't upload any pictures - Blogger doesn't seem to want to cooperate :(

And now back to our story.

I had debated whether or not to wear my Garmin for this race. I wanted to be able to run by feel, but I also wanted to roughly know my pace, too. If my pace seemed strong, that might encourage me to push it a little more or work to maintain it if I knew what ballpark I was in. Of course, that could also serve to discourage me if the pace seemed particularly slow, but that's another show. In the end, the Garmin won out. I was pleased that I was able to just use it as a loose guide and only ended up looking at it a handful of during the race. Plus, I like having it to log my runs in general. I skipped the heart rate monitor, though - that thing chafes like a m-er f-er on long runs.

After finishing the first lap in about 2:08, I headed out across the open field to start my second and last loop. The good news was that since the marathoners had done a mile-ish lap around the school at the start, the second lap would only be 12.5 miles since the first was 13.5. I tried to do a little quick math, gauging about how long the second lap might take and figured if it was somewhere around 2 hours, I'd be pretty happy with my overall time. I wasn't too hung up on it though, I just wanted to stay focused and on course.

The second lap went a little more smoothly than the first. No logjams and the 50 milers I came upon were easier to pass as we were all much more spread out. The miles seemed to tick by and I focused on just getting to Al Cat's Lounge aid station. So, recall that I had been concerned about my legs just crapping out and darkness and evil prevailing and causing me to walk. Somehow the running gods were with me and to be honest, I felt pretty good the entire run. I never hit the wall, never felt major muscle fatigue, cruised up the hills, and generally felt strong the whole way (I know, I hate it when people say that, but the running chi was aligned and I'm not going to mess with it). This time around, the party was in full swing at Al Cat's and I was again greeted by a volunteer holding a half full cup of beer as I rolled in. Randy offered me some little grilled cheeses (fresh off the grill) which smelled awesome and I would have loved to have one, but I didn't think the cheese would be great for my stomach. I scanned the table for what I was looking for - PB&J - and shoved a few little squares in my mouth washing them down with Gatorade. Pete rushed up to meet me (this was the first point on course I'd been able to see him) and informed me that he had had a Burnt Trailer. Emma snapped some pictures and cheered me on and a very nice woman behind a grill tried to get me to take some bacon strips with me on my way out. It seriously was heaven. I almost didn't want to leave - everyone seemed to be having such a good time (and enjoying what looked like a fully stocked bar set up on a nearby table). I kissed Pete goodbye and started to head back onto the trail. Emma was there with some final words of encouragement and I had another one of those moments of connection where I felt like both my body and soul had gotten some aid.

Two mantras started to formulate in my head (well, three). One was "Fast Freddies" (the final aid station) and the other two were "stay on course" and "pay attention". Things were definitely spreading out more and more and when I wasn't running with Lauren and Eric, I was pretty much on my own. I made sure to pay attention to the course markings and not let my mind wander too much. I also did my best to focus on the path ahead so I didn't trip. More than once I rounded a bend to see someone slowly picking themselves up from the ground or heard a "THUNK" behind me only to turn around and see that same slow, dazed, Frankensteinian walk of someone who had just been unexpectedly pinned to the earth.

And then. There was a rumble in the jungle. Over the course of the second lap the debate of "to go" or "not to go" turned in to "where can I go". This would be a first for me as I have never, ever had to stop during a race in my life for a potty break. I'm happy to report (without alienating any readers with too much detail...ok, there might be too much detail here, so consider yourself warned), that I timed it perfectly. Let's just say that on the poo-0-meter that goes from "You Should Have Brought a Magazine To Wait This Out" to "Cold Sweat", I found the Green Zone (and a well-placed tree). Hey folks, poo isn't just funny, it's scientific!

Back to the task at hand, I found myself past mile 20 and cruising home. The final miles clicked down and I was truly amazed at how I felt compared to how I have typically felt around this point during a road marathon. In fact, maybe it didn't hurt enough and I could actually be pushing it a little harder...? Eh, I'll save it for next year. All told, I think I'm just more comfortable with longer distances (especially on trails) and enjoy them much more than shorter, faster runs (too hard!). Now, at this point could I imagine doing two more laps of this for a 50 miler? Hells no!

On the first lap I had tried to make a mental picture of little landmarks that I could look for on the second lap to indicate how far along I was. Well, that didn't really work and I figured I'd just let the section of trail where the two-way traffic started serve as the "you're really almost there" indicator. The next thing I knew, I was out in that open field and running strong toward the finish. Jamie was timing and as I crossed the line he said "Dude, you were like the third woman!" Say what? Then a volunteer at the finish handed me a very nice green fleece finishers jacket and called me by name (standing there afterward, I heard her greet every finisher by name and hand them a jacket - seriously, does this race get any better?). I grabbed some water and Gatorade and pretty soon Pete cruised up on his mountain bike - he was bummed that he didn't get to see me finish, he was trying hard to get there, but had gotten a little lost in the woods (hopefully not the effects of the Burnt Trailer!) We hung around to watch Chris cruise in about 20 minutes later and Tim rolled in looking strong about 10 minutes after that. We celebrated and continued to watch finishers and hang out with Jamie and Carter (who had been drinking almost as long as the clock had been running - all kinds of feats of endurance were had on this day).

I have to admit, a little part of me wanted to know how close I was to the first and second women - what if my dumass off-coursed-ness had made a difference? Jamie must have read my mind and said something to the effect that the second woman had come in well enough before that my diversion wouldn't have mattered and I was relieved with this news. I was very happy with a solid third place and a finish of 4:16. After a quick trip back to the hotel to check out and clean up, we made it back to the race in time to see Ian's spectacular 50 mile finish of 8:02. I can't imagine running 50 miles, let alone at that pace - truly inspiring.

That evening, with Pete, Tim, and Chris, I had my Portland Pie pizza and whoopie pie dessert and it did NOT disappoint. One of my favorite things about racing with friends is re-hashing the battle afterward over a great meal and hearing everyone's take on the course, their experience, and creating the stories we'll tell and re-tell every time we get together.

In more ways than I can describe, I really felt like a Trail Monster on Saturday. Stay tuned for what's in store for 2010...

*Pete had looked at the results board at the race and seemed to think I was only 2 minutes from the second place woman. But when I looked at the results today online, he mistakenly saw the name "Lauren" finishing two minutes before me and assumed it was a woman finisher, not the dude named Lauren who I had been running with.

Stone Cat Race Report - Part I

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:11:00 +0000

I think one of my first introductions to the Trail Monsters was reading Ian's Stone Cat 50 Miler race report in 2007. Who knew I'd be running the marathon two years later as part of the group. This past Saturday I ran my first trail marathon and 8th overall marathon. And let me just say, the road to Hell is indeed paved.

Leading up the race I was fairly nervous. I'd done some research: shaking down everyone who had ever been near the course for details about terrain, experience, pacing; looking through past race results and coming up with a few un-scientific algorithms to get an idea of what my finishing time might be (which turned out to be surprisingly accurate). Even so, I began to doubt my training and my estimated finish time started to expand into a wider and wider range. I settled on three goals - start easy, stay focused, and have fun. Ultimately, I figured I would just have to see how I felt once I started running and let the day unfold from there.

Friday afternoon, after picking up Tim's brother at the airport we headed down to Danvers, Mass to our hotel. Chris flew in from Colorado for the race and it was great to see him again. He and Tim would also be running the marathon while Pete (Mr. Mindy) planned to mountain bike and volunteer. We quickly connected with Ian and Emma who were staying there as well and we all headed to a fantastic Italian restaurant for some carbo-loading. Then it was off to bed and the countdown to the 6:15am start. I got a surprisingly good night of sleep. Even though the hotel room fan kept automatically turning on and off to adjust the heat (and in my half-sleep I thought it was Pete getting up and doing this, but it wasn't). I felt pretty rested at 3:30ish when I finally got awake for good. I had brought my breakfast, so even though the hotel opened their continental breakfast at 4:30am for runners (smart hotel people), I chose to just eat what I had brought and not change what I usually do before a long run.

Fast forward to the school where the start and finish was and the bizarro-world LONG line leading to the men's bathroom and SHORT/NON-EXISTENT line leading to the women's. I didn't even question it, I headed in to take care of business. And well, let's just say I wasn't completely satisfied. There was still something left in the hopper when I headed out on the course and I knew it might just be a matter of time before I'd have to release that hostage al fresco. (Let's be honest folks, poo is just funny).

Waiting for the start, I managed to see Ian, Emma, Carter, Jamie, Randy and Erik which was very encouraging. I'm sure I looked nervous and Ian wished me luck and gave me a hug and it was just what I needed. (I'll be embarrassing people later in the post with my gushing about sincerity and friendship and whatnot, so I'll just apologize in advance). As with all race starts, somehow the time ticked down and the herd headed out to a field where we would set off for the day. Speaking of, I'm not sure where the start line actually was. I just stood with everyone else and when we were given the go ahead, I didn't even know when to start my watch and ended up just hitting it as we stampeded toward the trailhead (and either the course was short, or I started it pretty late, or the satellites weren't just lined up, because I only calculated about 25ish miles in the end - which wasn't a bad thing because I knew my mileage was behind during the race which is sort of the equivalent of setting your clock a little fast in your car). I got split up from Tim and Chris almost immediately and wouldn't see them again until toward the end of the first lap. Incidentally, there was a huge pileup as everyone had to single file onto the trail and then the marathoners split off to do a mile lap around the school to spread things out a bit. Honestly, it didn't spread out at all and we were jammed six ways to Sunday on the singletrack going at a snail's pace. I saw Ian's face superimposed in my field of vision like Ralph Macchio to C. Thomas Howell at the end of The Outsiders. Except Ian wasn't telling me to stay gold, he was telling me that getting stuck behind the slower 50 milers was going to be really, really frustrating. And it really, really, was. At first I just went with it - Emma had mentioned that it's good in a way since it forces you to slow down and not take off too fast - which was excellent advice. The trail did eventually open up to double-track/fire road and I could pick up the pace and pass some of the 50 milers. However, soon we were back on the singletrack and I was ground to almost a halt while people picked their way carefully up the hills, around rocks, and along the ridge. I honestly didn't know what the etiquette was for something like this. NO ONE was passing anyone (and it was a mix of marathoners and 50 milers). I didn't want to be that person who jumped out and ran around everyone, but I was also getting extremely impatient that I had to go much slower than I wanted to be going. So I stuck it out to the next fire road and got back to a more reasonable race pace. I was a little worried the whole race would be like this - super slow - then I'd have to make up time sprinting the open areas. Finally, I saw people passing on the single track, so I started to do that as well - politely saying "on your left" or "excuse me" and they moved aside. It wasn't until after the first aid station that I would say it finally spread out enough where I didn't feel like I was on a slow moving train to nowhere.

The aid stations were phenomenal. Al Cat's Lounge was the first about 4-5 miles in. There was a big painted sign on a sheet hanging in the woods that read "Al Cat's Lounge 1/3 Mile" - and you could hear the cheers almost from that point and smell the bacon and pancakes cooking (for real). As I approached, I was greeted by a volunteer asking me what I needed, how I was, and welcoming me to the Lounge (I was informed the bar was open!). I saw Emma, Erik, and Randy there and at that point just grabbed some water and headed on my way pretty quickly. They all gave me some encouraging words and it was great to see them there.

The miles ticked by and next thing I knew, I was at the next aid station, Fast Freddie's Cafe. This one was a little more low-key, but still just as friendly. I had one of my gels and some gatorade and got on my way. I found myself running pretty consistently with two other guys - Eric from New York and Lauren from Sharon, MA. As it turns out, the three of us would be accordion-ing along almost the entire course. It wasn't soon before I took my first (and luckily only) digger of the day, clipping something on the ground and doing a Pete Rose slide. I popped up and brushed off and was ok except for a bruised knee (not bad) and a few minutes of just regaining my rhythm after the abrupt stop. Toward the end of the first loop, Eric, Lauren and I were chatting a bit and the next thing I heard was some faint yelling and then one of them said "I think we went off course...". CRAP!! I turned around and people were screaming us back. CRAP CRAP CRAP! How did we miss a turn!? It felt like we had gone an eternity out of our way, but when I looked back on my garmin data, it was really only about two minutes or less (ironically, just about the amount of time that separated me from the woman who finished right before me, but more on that later). We ran back to where the turn was and back on course. I was so mad that happened, but there was nothing to be done about it but keep on going, no one's fault but my own.

Pretty soon I started to see people running toward me. Am I off course AGAIN? But we were almost done with the first loop and these were folks heading out to the next loop. Since the marathoners had split off early for the first loop, I hadn't realized that there would be a stretch where those starting a loop would be going by those finishing a loop. I couldn't believe I was already over half-way done and it felt great to see the edge of the field and the next aid station. Here is another reason why trail runners rock. Almost every one of the 50 milers and marathoners I passed heading out on their next loop looked me in the eye and said something encouraging or friendly and I returned the favor by cheering them on. That never would happen (or much less often) in a road race and is practically unheard of in a triathlon. I let myself spy the colors of the numbers that were passing (blue was 50 miler, red was marathon) and saw a good mix, but only saw one female marathoner during that relatively short stretch. I figured the rest of the women were ahead on the course, so I pretended that there was only one woman in front of me and that I was doing well. I finally saw Chris at this point and Tim was a few paces back adjusting his shoe. They both looked happy and I was glad to see them. I finished the first lap feeling strong and hit the aid station, trying not to linger too long. Jamie and Carter were there and it was so good to see friendly faces. Carter was cheering and telling me I was kicking ass and Jamie looked me in the eye and asked how I was doing and if he could get me anything. I said I was doing well and even stopped for a picture. There's something about having another runner and friend offer up such a simple service - not judging, not secretly hoping you'll crash and burn - just complete and honest "caretaking" if you will, and knowing exactly what to do based on what they see going on in your eyes. I'm sure that is a much more valuable service during a 50 or 100 miler, but even at my short time into the race, it gave me an extra boost of mental strength.

One more lap to go and I was still feeling strong.

The Stone Cat Post

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:11:00 +0000

The Stone Cat Marathon is this weekend. Am I ready? I have no idea. I know I can do the distance, it's just what happens to me mentally and physically along the way that will be interesting to find out (I’ll be on the edge of my seat!). I've never done a trail marathon before and I don't really know the course (although those who have done it in the past have given me excellent intel about what to expect). I have, however, done several road marathons in the past and if I had to run a road marathon this weekend based on how I feel about my training now, I wouldn't be feeling very prepared. I’ve finally figured out why and I think it has to do with how my long runs went. Let me preface this by saying that I realize road running and trail running are two different beasts and what I’m about to describe may just be consistent with trail running and trail racing in general. (I will let the experts weigh in on that, though - something I probably should have asked BEFORE I started training for this marathon, but (for next year) if anyone has any thoughts on long run training for trail racing vs road racing, I’d love to hear them.)

I’m still getting used to training on trails I guess, but the long runs just didn’t seem…right somehow. It had nothing to do with the fact they were on trails - that was the highlight! It has more to do with how consistent (or inconsistent) my running was during the course of the run. I logged a bunch of 18-20 milers, but most of them weren't consistent - stops between laps, slower paces, feeling draggy and slow on hills and just in general… Somehow I think I would be feeling more confident with a handful of solid unstopped long runs with a few miles of faster paces mixed in which is how I trained for the road marathons for which I felt pretty prepared and had decent results (for me). It all comes down to my greatest race fear, which is that I will have heavy, slow legs early in the race from which I can’t recover and it will be a battle of will to the finish. Funny I should have that fear, because it actually happened to me about 10 or so years ago during a marathon and I’ve been haunted by it ever since. I don’t remember my specific training plan for that race, it was something generic - but I do have a vague recollection that I had never fully engaged in the training (if that makes any sense) even though I covered the miles. Kiiiiind of how I’m feeling about my training this time. Who knows, I was new to marathons then and probably went out too fast without realizing it, but that old feeling is rattling around in the back of my mind mingling unsupervised with the usual thoughts of inadequacy - a toxic pair. I've spent a good deal of time in this life battling some inner demons and I don't want those bastards ruining this race experience for me.

I know all races can’t be perfect, I just wish I felt a little better about the training going into it.

That said, here’s my plan:

I will take it easy on the first lap and then bring the noise for the second if I can.

I will worry about myself and not what everyone else is doing.
I will have fun.

Now for the good: Pete will be there cheering me on. Tim and Chris (my brothers from another mother) will be there running the marathon, too. Ian and Chuck are going to burn up the 50-miler. A whole host of Trail Monsters will be fanned out across the course at aid stations (some sober, some not). My post-race meal will await (pepperoni pizza from Portland Pie and a whoopie pie - two pies, too perfect).

Afterward, I think I’ll take a week off and re-group, maybe do a little planning for the upcoming year. Right now, my two goals for 2010 are - run a lot of trails, have fun.

Scrued

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Normally, I'm a pretty good sport about running in bad conditions. But today it kind of did me in. I met Ian, James and Val at Bradbury at 8 this morning. Ian's plan was to do the full Bradbury Xtreme Badass (27 miles of all three race courses) and I was aiming for a "Scruiser", the Scuffle course (6 miles) plus the Bruiser course (12). It was overcast, but not too chilly, and I don't remember if a light rain was starting to fall yet when we set out. I was feeling pretty good and the miles of the Scuffle course went by more quickly than I thought they would. Ian and James pulled ahead about halfway into the Scuffle and Val and I chatted and enjoyed the time on the trail. When we got back to the parking lot after the first 6, I was starting to get a little cold and the rain was starting to pick up. We hit the Bruiser course and the plan was the Val was going to duck out part way through since she is saving her legs for a much longer run next weekend. Once onto the course, the rain got heavier and steadier and even the trees weren't protecting us much anymore. My long sleeve shirt was sticking to me and the cold fabric was getting chilly. The Lanzo trail is the O Trail's slightly less-annoying cousin, but still a little bitch. And in the rain the rocks and leaves were slippery which made the pace and rhythm even slower and more disjointed. As the rain came down harder, I confessed to Val that I was getting ready to call it quits early and would cut out with her when she was ready. We ended up doing about 1/2 the Bruiser and came back on the end of the Scuffle course. I'm glad I decided to adjust my plans and hopefully I'll get in a nice long run tomorrow. Back at the car I had a dry shirt to change into, but had the heat cranked the whole way home. The hot shower felt great. I'll be interested to hear how Ian and James fared - whatever they ended up doing, I'll still consider it Xtreme badass-ism.

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:12:00 +0000

Earlier this year I had every intention of doing a road marathon in the fall with the hopes of re-qualifying for Boston. I even had a crazy PR time in my head I wanted to achieve. Things have changed. When I started to think of the road miles I would have to put in to prepare for a quality effort marathon, I started feeling dread...and fear. Pounding away on the road for long runs this summer and fall reeked of injury, not to mention the fact that I'd likely be missing out on group trail runs on the weekends. Having finally come back from a serious stress fracture (my third, and partly the result of pavement pounding) I'm gun shy about more road work even though I've addressed many issues that I believe contributed to the injuries (biomechanics, strengthening, nutrition, training, etc). That said, I've been putting in some good miles on the trail and have been feeling surprisingly well. I knew the trails would be easier on my body, but didn't fully appreciate it until I started doing some longer and longer runs for the first time on trails instead of road. I feel so remarkably better the next day I can see how easy it is to just keep piling on the miles. Of course, I still feel slow - it's hard not to with the insanely talented people I join on the weekends - but I also feel that slowly and surely, I'm getting strong and building my endurance. And I'm grateful to just be running healthy. Brick by brick, I'm building a base and hope to just keep doing what I'm doing, because man, I am thoroughly enjoying it. By the laws of running, I know there will be another injury somewhere in my future, but hopefully it's far away and not serious. Now, I'm going to proceed to jinx myself by talking about upcoming plans. In early November, I'm planning on running the Stonecat trail marathon in Massachusetts. I'm really looking forward to it. This will be the first marathon I've done in about 3 and a half years and my first trail marathon. Stonecat has a 50 mile race that I actually considered for a few days, but in the interest of not breaking myself again, the marathon seemed like the right race at the right time. Depending on how that goes and my fall/winter running in general, I've been seriously thinking of what to tackle at Pineland Trail Challenge next May. Yeah, maybe it's too soon to be thinking about the Spring, but I can't help myself. Should I go for the 50K? If I stay injury-free, I know I can do the distance, how well I can do it is another thing, but I'd have plenty of time to at least feel like I trained well enough and whatever happens, happens. Or......should I go for the 50 mile? It sounds so far, but then again, so did the marathon some years ago. The 50 mile would be a whole different beast for me. Yes, not something I need to be deciding this far out and I don't want to jinx anything. So, I said it "out loud", but I'll pack away any serious thought of it for a little while longer (of course any comments/suggestions from the panel either way are welcome :)

Getting Through It

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:22:00 +0000

Had a pretty good run at Pineland today. My goal was to do 18 and I got in about 18.5 miles - of which the last few were mind over matter, so I was very happy I pushed through and met my goal. Ian and Emma started at 7am and I think Jeff must have been with them as the three of them cruised into the parking lot right as I arrived at 8 as did Erik and Jamie . We headed over to the Oak Hill section first and did a few miles. Jamie was trying out the Vibram Five Fingers which left some pretty cool prints in the mud that I came across later when I hit Oak Hill for a second time. Jamie and Jeff finished up at Oak Hill and Erik, Ian, Emma, and myself headed over to "the other side" to run the usual route that follows the race course. I don't think anyone was really feeling stellar the entire time and the trails were really, really wet. But as always, I enjoyed the conversation and just being in the woods and on the trails doing what I like to do and the sun was out which was an added plus. Emma and Ian decided to cut their run a little short as injuries and losing general focus were taking the fun out of things so Erik and I finished the Campus Loop and came back to the parking lot. I still had about 7-8 miles to go so I headed back over to Oak Hill to try and finish up. As I headed out I saw Ian and Emma soaking their legs in the pond which looked oh so nice! I felt my pace slow a little bit and was just kind of feeling blah and not as energized as I hoped. I really wanted to get in the full mileage, though for several reasons: 1) if I was merely "tired" and not in any pain, I wanted to push through whatever bad place I was in for the mental training as well as getting in miles on tired legs, 2) I wasn't in the mood to beat myself up later for stopping without good reason, 3) I want to start building up my long runs and felt like this was a critical one to complete (more on these reasons and some ideas I've been mulling over in my next post). Those reasons kept me chugging away and eventually I found myself back at the parking lot having finished and actually feeling pretty decent. My ITB has been a little tight lately and I'm occasionally feeling that shin-splinty thing, so I made sure to stretch really well afterward. Lying in the grass staring up at the clouds and feeling the warm sun on my face while I stretched out my legs was a peaceful way of ending that morning's extended meditation on the trail.

Pride Run

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:17:00 +0000

This past weekend we went to NYC to visit with some friends, hit some museums, and go out to a super fancy dinner. I also had the chance to run the Front Runners New York Lesbian and Gay Pride Run on Saturday - a 5 mile jaunt through Central Park. The New York Road Runners put on about 50 races per year (including the NY Marathon) so this was just another routine race for many. I was still amazed at how smoothly and well-organized everything was - there were over 3,600 runners. The best part of the race was getting to see my friend Richard, whom I haven't seen in about 9 years or so. We were running pals back in Philadelphia, when I first started "really" running and would run together with a group almost daily on the streets and trails of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. Hours of great conversation passed back in those days and I never thought I would find another group so enjoyable to run with until I found the Trail Monsters here in Maine. Richard and I met up before the race and had a few minutes to catch up while we did a little warm up run, then it was off to the corrals. They have organized, seeded corrals for little 5 mile races! I was pretty much just doing this as a "fun run", I didn't feel like I was really trained to do fast, short, run. The morning was getting warmer and warmer and there wasn't going to be much shade along the course. As an experienced NY road racer, Richard gave me a quick verbal overview of the course. He mentioned a few hills and started telling me about one that lasted about 2-3 (I waited for it) minutes. Whew. Thought he was going to say 2-3 miles. After last weekend's Mt. Washington race, hearing about a 2-3 minute hill made me giggle. We were in separate corrals as Richard is super speedy, so we wished each other good luck and headed to the start. After what seemed like a lot of speeches and instructions and the National Anthem, we were off. It was pretty crowded most of the race and I just kept telling myself it was only 5 miles since I was kind of nervous about racing in the first place (I always am) and especially over a short distance. I found a relatively comfortable pace and clicked through the miles. It was a blast running in Central Park, which is beautiful, even though I wasn't really taking in everything around me. Finally, the home stretch! I tried to kick it up, but didn't really feel like I had much left. I was glad to be done. Once over the finish line, we were herded through like any race, but at the end, they were handing out bags of pretzels, water, and...giant popsicles - which was an awesome idea given that it was so hot out, but a definite wink to Dr. Freud. Hello! What says Gay Pride race like huge popsicles everyone was walking around sucking after the race. Genius. Though I would have liked to have gone a little faster (who doesn't say that after any race?), it was still fun and I'm glad I did it. Afterward Richard and I met up with one of my closest friends from college and his partner for a yummy brunch downtown and we all got to sit outside, relax, eat good food, and catch up. A great trip!

Hitting Play: Mt. Washington Road Race Report

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:13:00 +0000

I'm not sure I have any readers left out there since I hit pause on my blog several months ago...but in case there is intelligent life out there, I'm back - and posting my race report from today's Mt. Washington Road Race!

Last year I entered the lottery for the Mt. Washington Road Race and was amazed to find that I got in. Then I promptly got injured and was unable to run the race. I emailed the race director just letting him know my spot was free (I didn't know if they might be able to use the slot for someone else) and he said I could defer to the next year - I'd be able to bypass the lottery and just sign up for the race - awesome. Fast forward to this summer and next thing I knew, the race was upon me.

Let me backtrack and get you caught up on what's been going on at Squirrel HQ lately. I last mentioned some concerning shin issues which I automatically feared were my bones disintegrating into multiple stress fractures - turns out that is not the case and it was just some shin splinty stuff that eased up fairly quickly. Since then, I've been running pretty steadily and feeling pretty good. Still cycling a bit, but mostly trying to concentrate on the running and enjoying being injury-free. In May I ran my first race in quite awhile, the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge, which I may go back and write a race report for if I can remember the details... I also have had some nice long runs on trails in Maine and the Appalachian Trail in PA which I may go back and post on as well, but don't hold your breath on those.

Now, back to the race.

The Prep:

I really had no idea what to expect, other than that it was going to be uphill. I had heard different strategies, run/walk, power hike, survive...and different accounts of people's races, but probably the best thing was when Ryan, Jeff, and I previewed the course last weekend. As we drove up the Road, I felt I could get a good sense of the grade and was surprised to find that there were actually a few "flat" sections (which really meant "less steep"). Ryan gave us some very helpful pointers along the way (e.g., running on the outside of some of the turns as they were actually a little less steep than the inside) that I actually remembered during the run. The best advice was to just not worry about what anyone else was doing and run what felt comfortable and what worked. Pacing was another story. The website provides a time predictor based on your times in other race distances. Apparently most people seemed to concur that your finish time would be pretty close to your 1/2 marathon time. I avoided the time predictor and just kept a vague idea in my head of a range of possible finish times and worked out what the pace would be for those. Even though there were a lot of unknowns, I think it worked in my favor as far as mental preparation goes. The best I could do would be to just get out on the course on race day and see how it felt and whatever happened was going to be my own unfolding news story in real time. It kind of took the pressure off any performance expectations.

The Race:

Race day started pretty early in the morning. Pete and I met Jeff, Cacky, and Danielle at the Gray Park & Ride at 6 am where we had orchestrated a complex caravan of vehicles to travel to and from the race at various times to fit various schedules. After a boneheaded issue with my timing chip which I won't bother addressing (me being the bonehead), Ryan (who had stayed in NH the night before), Jeff and I chillaxed in Ryan's office before the race while our significant others drove up the Road for a little hike and to wait for us to arrive at the summit. Ryan's office? Yes, since he works for the Auto Road, we were treated to all kinds of little insider goodies, among which was getting to sit inside before the race, use normal restrooms instead of portapotties, and generally have some quiet time before the start without having to mix with a thousand other anxious runners. Next thing I knew, we were out on a little warm up run and then to the start. Jeff made his way toward the front and I knew the next time I would see him would be at the top as he's one speedy mofo. Ryan and I started together, but I knew he would soon become a speck in the distance as well. My other concern of the day? What annoying song would surely be in my head the whole way up the mountain. Rob Base. Yep, "Joy and Pain". Sigh. Luckily, I managed to override joy, pain, sunshine and rain (pump it up, pump it up, now!) with the sounds of my own (and hundreds of my newest closest friends') labored breathing. Speaking of rain, the weather was actually really nice - warm even. I didn't need the arm warmers that I had brought and the summit temps were sounding downright balmy! No time to think of the summit though. With the fabled "Only one hill!" pronouncement from the race director and a VERY loud starting gun, we were off in a mob shuffle. The first bit is actually on a flat section, so I just took it easy and tried to get a sense of what the pace would be. That ended pretty quickly as we immediately began climbing upward and I soon settled into a low gear that I would pretty much maintain the rest of the race. I recalled from our reconnaisance mission the week before that there were indeed some sections that just felt steeper than others when I finally found myself on one of those sections (at least I hoped it was one of those sections and not just me breaking down) I decided to power walk up to...the top? Well, there was no end, so when it felt a little less super-steep, I started running again. I feared walking because 1) I didn't think I'd get going again, 2) my running gear actually felt pretty decent and 3) I just wanted to get to the top and running, no matter how slow, was going to get me there faster than walking. All in all, I'd say I only walked a tiny bit - at the water stops and maybe one or two other times on really steep sections. At mile 2 I was pretty sure I was never going to get to the top - it just. felt. so. long. (I'd feel this way until about mile 6 when the end finally seemed somewhat close.) At some point I settled into the aforementioned "gear". It was a pace that kept me going forward steadily, felt relatively comfortable, and was something I thought I could maintain if I kept focused. This actually came as a bit of a surprise to me because I had imagined that my pace was going to be very erratic and I was pleased to settle into a steady forward motion, albeit slow. My mind felt strong and I started counting to 100 over and over with each step. I told myself I could walk if I wanted, but I had to get to 100 first - then instead of walking, I'd just start counting again. A little Rainman-y but it worked. Forget trying to reel people in and pick them off - I think I passed and was passed by the same group of runners the whole way up - everyone had a different strategy and it seemed like we all leapfrogged and ended up in the same place at the same time. Never mind, I was happy to just worry about my own self. It was hard work and I just wanted to hang on and get there. Somewhere after mile 3 I thought I saw Ryan up ahead. As I inched closer and closer, I could tell he wasn't feeling the love of Mt. Washington primarily because of the fact that I was approaching him and normally I'd be eating his dust. As I came up to him, he confirmed that he was just having a crappy day, which happens to all of us, and I knew we'd see each other at the top - no need to discuss it. One, two, three.....ninety-nine, one hundred, one, two, three.... and I was above the treeline. The sun was shining now and clouds hung in the valleys next to the mountain. I could see the tips of the surrounding mountains poking through the fog and ahead I could see a long string of runners ahead winding up, and up, and up. At one point the road curved in such a way that I could see a faraway string of runners behind me also winding up and up - it was a very cool view. When I saw the radio tower of the summit I knew I was really getting close. Then the final stretch was upon me - the short 22% grade wall - and then the finish! Jeff and the rest of the crew cheered me in and I remembered again how awesome finish lines are. Thanks so much to Pete, Danielle, and Cacky for supporting us and spending the day on the Mountain (sounds like they got a pretty good hike in at the alpine garden as well). Ryan was not far behind and once all the Trail Monsters were done, we walked up to the true summit to take a few pictures and recap the race. Jeff came up in a blazing fast 1:25 and had a stellar day. I rolled in in about 1:42 and was happy with how it went given that I had no idea how I would feel. Ryan has the best attitude of anyone I know on a day when he said he just didn't have the focus he usually does, but still had fun. Afterward we all went to the Moat and had a wonderful leisurely meal and the usual entertaining conversation. I'm glad I had the experience of such a unique race I probably never would have done otherwise.

I also want to mention that this was the first time ever that I have raced under a team name and worn a team singlet. Although our team didn't qualify for points (too few people and they don't allow mixed teams - stupid) it still felt pretty cool to be wearing a Trail Monster singlet (thanks Emma!) and running under a team name. I'll post some pictures once I get them off my camera.

It's good to be back writing here.

Hitting Pause

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:59:00 +0000

I haven't been motivated to write for awhile, so I decided to put Five Squirrels on a little hiatus after this post, so at least I won't feel guilty for not writing. I will, however, be keeping up with all your blogs.

It's been almost exactly one year since my femoral neck stress fracture of last year. It was a long road back, but I'm full on back to running and biking. The bad news is that I've been having some suspicious shin issues lately and there are a few "tender spots" on my shins that I fear may be more stress fractures developing. I can't bear the thought of this. I am very close to just calling the ortho to make an appointment to check things out, but there's not much they can tell on diagnostic tests early on - a SF wouldn't necessarily show up on an xray and they probably wouldn't call for an MRI, they'd just tell me to ease up on the running (or stop) for awhile to see what happens. I'm very frustrated and upset about the possibility of this happening again, but I'll just keep playing it by ear this week and taking it easy.

I'm not sure when I'll return with the Squirrels, but thanks for reading and I hope I'll be back sooner rather than later.

JBS

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:27:00 +0000

This morning I made the Monday trudge up from the parking garage to my work. I crossed the street to the block my building is on and out of the corner of my eye, I saw this small little grizzled figure running toward me looking like they were late for a meeting. Her face and gait were unmistakable from a half a block away. It was Maine's own Joan Benoit Samuelson. I've seen her before at events (it's not that big of a running community) and even introduced myself to her once (totally embarrassing). She's super tiny and was enveloped in a regular winter coat and winter clothes. But she was running. Somewhere. Right in front of me. My love for pop culture spills into the athletic world as well (one time I saw Joe Namath in an airport in Florida) and I was starstruck. A million thoughts went through my head and I immediately turned into some kind of Frankensteinian oaf. "ME WANT TALK TO HER!" Why is it that we feel the need to connect somehow to famous people? The time it took for her to approach and pass was momentary and I had a steady stream of potential things to say in case she stopped and wanted to chat. But in my head it went something like this: "I KNOW you!! Where are you going? Do you always run everywhere? Are you late for a meeting? I know what you DO! I am a runner, too! We are KIN! It's icy J, be careful! Where's the race? Have a nice daaaaaay..." Instead I just stood there grinning stupidly at her as she ran by.

Later on instead of concentrating on my work I thought up clever things I could have said or done. Like calling out her pace as she went by (5:32, looking good J-Sam, nice pace!) or handing her a water. Or running next to her then slowing down and yelling "Just go ahead without me, I'll catch up!"

Yep, me an J'noit, kickin' it on Congress Street today.

Mid Winter Classic

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:51:00 +0000

Ran the Mid Winter Classic 10 mile race today. Geez, the roads definitely beat you up more than the trail - and I didn't even race it. I ran without a chip, just carried my own water and ran with Claire. We chatted away mostly about cycling. Afterwards had an awesome brunch with Danielle and Ryan who had great races as did Ian, who I saw quickly before the race started. Was great to see several Trailmonsters out on the course volunteering! It's sucks not being in race shape, but I'm following my slow and steady return and still enjoying just being able to run again. Patience...

Movies and Books

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:49:00 +0000

I added two new page elements to my sidebar - Supermini Movie Reviews - where I give up to 4 stars for my most recently watched movie (usually while riding on the trainer) and a one or two sentence review. Other one is What I'm Reading - which probably won't get updated as frequently and I don't offer any reviews. I welcome any comments about either!

p.s. You can vote more than once for your fave squirrel picture (if you absolutely can't decide on your favorite). I know this is very important stuff. I forgot to mention it before. Don't lose any sleep over your decision.

Thorncrag Brrrrrrrrd Sanctuary

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:52:00 +0000

Ran today at the Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary in Lewiston, ME with Ian, Emma, and Valerie. It. Was. Cold. Like, frozen snot in your nose cold. Like, frozen eyelashes and hair cold. Like, what exactly does frostbite feel like cold. I just learned that it was about -17 out. We were all bundled up, so no one was unprepared, but starting out was a little bit daunting until we got moving and heated up. I used hand and feet warmers (awesome - thank you Ian) and really, it was only my fingers that were cold for about the first mile, then they seemed to thaw out and I was quite comfortable the rest of the run. We only did about 6.8 miles, but we explored almost all the trails there were - you could run all kinds of combinations of the trails. The conditions were great - packed down snow in a wide enough track that you didn't feel like you had to do what I like to call the "runway" which is putting one foot almost entirely in front of the other one (like a runway model - which, you know, used to be my other job) in order to stay on the trail and not fall off the side into a snowbank or ice pile. There was only one small section of ice and a few places that were a little less traversed so the snow was a little greasy and squishy. Oh, and there were a bunch of hills, did I mention that? It was kind of a roller coaster actually, but I didn't mind it - it felt pretty good to have some hard hills to work. My legs felt strong although my mileage is still only about 20-25 miles a week. I'm looking forward to starting to get into some longer runs, but I'm totally patient with it right now. The trails were really beautiful and apparently there are great views of Mt Washington. On the way home we stopped at Tim Horton's for hot coffee and a bite to eat. Talk turned to the warmer spring and summer that lies ahead and the potential destination trail runs that could get planned - White Mountains, Mt Desert Island. I'd love to do a weekend trip (Jamie suggested this last year) where we head somewhere and do some nice long trail runs during the day, camp over, and then hit them again the next day. I also started eyeing up the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim run - but from what I'm learning, it's a bit more complicated as you have to pack in a lot of your own supplies, it's sort of more of a hike in a lot of places than running, and there may be some permitting issues, but I'd like to research it some more. We took a few pictures with my phone after the run, but for some reason they didn't save (crap!!! sorry guys...) which totally sucks, because everyone looked pretty funky with frozen eyelashes. We certainly have some beautiful places to run here in Maine, it's been fun getting out an exploring them - even in -17 degree weather!

The New Five Squirrels

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:59:00 +0000

Check it out, y'all!

Quick Update

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:11:00 +0000

The polls are closed. Sounds like people like them squirrels! I'm working on the revamp and hope to get it up this weekend, so stay tuned. For those of you who "never got the squirrel thing" - understandably - I had put a little explanation on my sidebar about it, but if you're reading in Google, you may never have seen it. It's still up there if you want to read. Long story short, it still has nothing to do with running, but it was kind of an interesting inspiration for a blog name.

The running is going well, though still slow and steady. Last weekend I got in my first double-digit miles at the GAC Fat Ass "race" in Topsfield, MA. I loved this run, despite the frigid temps. I wish I could have done more laps, but that was not in the plan. Hopefully next year I'll be able to do each and every K of the 50K.

Just a quick post - it's been a crazy week at work and shows no signs of slowing. More updates this weekend.

Bradbury Run

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Got in 8 miles today with the Trail Monsters - Stephen, Ryan, Jamie, Jim, Ian, and Randy. The trail was easier to follow than I thought and the conditions were actually much better than I anticipated, too - just a few ice traverses that I had to skate across. I decided against wearing my Yak Trax for some dumb reason and still haven't made screw shoes yet (weekend project). The run was really nice - I was slower than the crowd as I'm still not up to full on mileage/training yet (not that I could keep up with them when fully trained, but it's a goal...), but Snowman ran with me for a bit which was awesome and then Jamie and I cruised back at the turnaround as the crew was going a bit longer. It was great to get reconnected with the trail and with friends. Feeling good.

I posted a poll on the side over there (for those of you reading in Google Reader...) so check it out and please let me know what you think!

Still Alive...

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:16:00 +0000

I haven't really posted or read blogs the past 3 weeks or so. Just now finally caught up on my reading and am feeling up to blogging. I've been running. Biking on the trainer. Kind of got waylaid a bit with the winter blues (and we're only 10 days into winter...). My running is in a very strange place right now. Mostly I'm worried I'm going to get another stress fracture and it's holding me back a bit from diving into the next level of training now that I'm running relatively comfortably again. I have a rough sketch of some races I'd like to do in 2009, but aforementioned funk, too many holiday cookies, and losing my mojo isn't helping. Today I went looking for my mojo for 6 miles on the Eastern Trail in subzero temps. I caught a glimpse of it, but then realized it was someone else's mojo and kept going. I have the feeling it's closer than I think. More to come.....

The Hills

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:11:00 +0000

Today I went to Verizon Wireless to pick out a new phone since my contract is up. I LOVE when I get to pick a new phone. I love gadgetry and personalized settings and such, so I was very interested to see what the possible upgrades were. Now, I only use my phone to call people and text message, I don't really use or need any other fancy features, but the look and feel of the phone is very important to me - it has to be the exact right size, weight, color, font, etc. Once in the store I was helped by, let's call her "Tiffany". Tiffany was probably about 22 years old and boy, she sure knew a heck of a lot about those phones. She asked how I mainly used my phone and instantly steered me to exactly what I was looking for. I was impressed by how knowledgeable she was without sounding like she was reading from cue cards. With each phone I picked up and admired, she told me about some special cool feature like I was her BFF. This chick could sell phones. I was looking over the LG enV2, when Tiffany pointed out how awesome the screen is and that I could even watch TV shows on it! "You know," Tiffany told me nonchalantly, "you could watch The Hills". The Hills. I looked young enough (and quite possibly cool enough) to be a Hills watcher!! Tiffany and I are totally going to hang out and watch The Hills together and then we're going to get dressed up and wear our new makeup from the mall and go to a fancy bar and look at boys! If you've met me, you'll know that that last scenario is most likely to happen in another dimension, but still...The Hills! Tiff rang me up and made sure all my contacts and pictures were transferred from my old phone to my new one (for free). She even brought me a few little cases for it and didn't rush me as I tried to pick one. We were SO shopping for handbags later. We chatted some more and she told me about the month of free internet and GPS service I'd be getting. And then in a whiff of Fancy, she was gone to help another customer and I had to stand by the counter waiting for the resident phone geek guy, let's call him "Roy", to finish downloading stuff off my old phone. Roy guffawed as he told me about how many pictures some woman had taken of the inside of her purse and how long it had taken him to download them (...I didn't bother asking why she wanted photos of the inside of her purse). Roy was also wearing an iridescent maroon shirt and tan jacket and sort of had one of those dead teeth in front. *Sigh*. I spied my new best friend across the store as I gathered my things and walked out. She didn't wave or tell me where we were getting our nails done later, but she has my number...

Sports Guy

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:56:00 +0000

A little lighter post than my last. I love the Sports Guy. Don't know if any of you are fans, but Bill Simmons of ESPN mixes pop-culture with sports writing and it's pretty awesome stuff. Especially since he's about the same age as I am and references all the great 80's movies and tv shows that we watched in our formative years. Here's a link to one of his recent gems...a breakdown of the Robert Conrad/Gabe Kaplan footrace on Battle of the Network Stars. It doesn't get any better than this, squirrels. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

...And Through the Woods

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:12:00 +0000

This weekend I had the pleasure of running on the Appalachian Trail. It was practically in my backyard growing up, but I wasn't running then and it never occurred to me that one could even run on a trail. The trail around here is rolling single track through woods, alongside corn fields, and through horse pastures. I ran two consecutive days and only saw 1-2 people on the trail each time (both were walking their dogs). It was really the epitome of a nice fall run. The air was cool, the wind was relatively calm, and again, I found myself enclosed and alone in the woods. Every time I enter the woods to run it feels like a secret mission. The path sucks me in from the trailhead and I'm born into calm, protected surroundings with the trees curving behind and overhead to erase any sign of me to the outside world. I took it easy, warmed up, and then picked up the pace whenever I felt like it. Since I didn't know the trail, I just waited to see what was around each bend and it never disappointed. There were little rocky sections, fun, curvy singletrack, wide open tree-lined paths, and a worn grass path that wound along a corn field. A few road crossings here and there spat me back out into reality for a few seconds and I listened to my feet go thud, thud, thud, slap, slap, slap, slap, thud, thud, thud as I crossed from dirt to pavement and back. My favorite part was running through a horse pasture surrounded by an electric fence. There is a little set of wooden stairs (with a white blaze on them) that leads you up and over the fence on one side, then you run about 100 yards along a path through the pasture to the other side, where there's another little set of wooden stairs that leads you over the fence on the opposite side. My breathing was easy and I took moments here and there to appreciate the fact that I was actually running again. I thought about my grandma. Her funeral was Sunday. I thought about what her life might have been like when she was younger, what might have been going on in the world, what she might have been thinking or feeling. When she was my age it was 1959 and she had an 18 year old daughter. I wondered if she was missing my mom who would have left for pharmacy school in Philadelphia that fall. My grandma was my last living grandparent. An anchor from the past has been uprooted and now falls to the next point in time, my parents...and then me. I love nostalgia. I love history and preserving the past. We went to my grandma's house on Monday. It was hard to be in the house without her, but the place swelled with memories as we went through pictures and memorabilia. She saved everything - not in bags and boxes, but stored neatly and organized in drawers and on shelves. She had saved my grandfathers WWII uniform, my great-grandfathers coal mining helmet. We found my grandfather's 8th grade graduation diploma, my great-grandmother's old roasting pans and mixers. In one drawer were several pairs of old glasses - miniature bifocals that were tucked away in leather pouches. She saved the comb that her mother had in her hair. There were two old spoons that might have been wedding gifts of my great-grandmothers. It was like she had preserved the essence of those she loved in a few select everyday possessions - a pair of shoes, a lock of hair in a worn Bible, a perfume bottle, a lighter from the neighborhood pharmacy. Who will remember us and how? These are the questions that come to mind when someone leaves us. We connect every day with those things that make us who we are. I'd like to think that in doing so, we're connecting with our history and those who came before us who add depth and texture to our every day being.

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:41:00 +0000

Just a little update. We lost Grandma Squirrel - better known as my grandmother Maysie, yesterday afternoon after a brief battle with lung cancer. She had a long life of 86 years and was feisty as ever (for you oldies like me, think Flo from the tv show Alice) till the end. I'm doing ok and I'll be back to more regular updates soon. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive during this time.

Century

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Last Saturday I completed my first century ride. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time. A few weeks ago when I was home in PA, I rode an awesome 60 mile route through the rolling farmlands of Central PA. The weather was unusually warm for that time of year (I actually got a little sunburned) and I felt great. After that ride, I decided that when I got back to Maine, I wanted to plan a 100 miler the next weekend if the weather was good. I wanted to pick a relatively easy course, have good weather, and just hit it and cruise and get into the rhythm of the ride. It worked out pretty well. My companions were Claire (who's always up for a ridiculous number of miles) and Tim - who just moved up from Tampa and has been living with us while he awaits deployment to Doctors Without Borders. Tim had just run the MDI marathon 6 days before, but was still up for it. I had willing wingpeople, good weather, and picked out a nice route heading down the Maine coast that would take us through New Hampshire, Massachusetts (along the Eastern States 20 miler course) and then loop inland back through New Hampshire and Maine. The night before, I got everything together, cut up my Clif bars (chocolate chip) and put them into baggies, got my water bottles ready, and got all my cold weather gear ready just in case. We were going to set out at 8 and meet at Wells Beach in Maine. As we pulled out of the driveway, I checked my phone - a text from Claire "Cat got away, better make it 8:30". So we came back in and had second breakfasts. In no time we were at Wells Beach and met up with Claire. After some tire changes and pre-ride preparations, we were ready to go. I think I've mentioned I have a shitty sense of direction - so my cue sheet for this ride was about 10 pages long and I worried about getting us lost pretty much the whole trip (the only drawback of the day). I set my watch to eat a little Clif bar piece every 15 mins and with the Clif pieces right in front of me in my bento box, it worked like a charm. The time seemed to fly by and every time my watch went off, I was like "what!? time for more chocolate chip cookie pieces? But of course!" I never got tired of those little Clif bar pieces. They must have been doing their job, too, because I felt strong and well-fueled the entire ride. Mentally, I was feeling good, too. Sometimes on long rides (and long runs) the focus just goes to hell. This time I was feeling pretty connected most of the time. There were a few hairy spots with the directions and I think we were only around 40-50 miles at that point - I was starting to dread the rest of the ride if we were starting to get lost, but lo and behold, we got back on track and didn't have any other problems the rest of the day. That night we were supposed to meet up with some of the Trail Monster crew for beers and dinner before the Telluride Film Festival in Portland. Our late-ish start and few stops along the way (and probably my miscalculation of how long it was going to take) got us back to our cars without enough time to make it back for the beers and dinner part, which I was bummed about (the best part of a nice long ride/run is the celebratory meal afterward!) but there will be other chances. We made it to the Film Fest in just enough time, though, and it was great to just sink down into my chair and watch a series of short films about people conquering mountains, kayaking rivers, and saving elephants in an auditorium full of like-minded folks. I had the most perfect feeling of post-endurance event tiredness. I wasn't sore, nothing hurt, but I was satisfactorily spent - it was good. It's a feeling I love after long runs, too. I don't think I'll get in another century before the snow comes, but I'll definitely be putting in several over the course of next year. A few times along our route I realized that I was riding the same distance that my friends had run at ultra races this summer - it just blew my mind, I could hardly conceive running the distance I had biked. Of course, there was also a time when I could hardly conceive running a marathon, so stay tuned.....

The Return - Part II

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:47:00 +0000

I've mentioned I've been doing a lot of biking. One thing I'm working on is getting better at nutrition on the bike and eventually, during my long runs. A few weeks ago Claire and I did a 60+ mile loop around Lake Winnipesaukee and I was definitely behind on my nutrition. I had just brought gels and water and it wasn't enough. My arms started to feel floaty and I was really hungry when we were done. Needless to say, when I went to do my next long ride where I would likely need gels, I encountered the bottom of the barrel. I had used up all my delicious Chocolate Outrage GU (I think they should spell it OUTRAGE!) and was left with the box of what I had bought because it came 1/2 price when I bought the box of Chocolate OUTRAGE! In the back of my pantry...next to the stale sample packets of lemon Recoverite from some race a million years ago...were the next to worst gels I had left: Strawberry Banana. Like many, I'm pretty particular about what I want to eat during long rides and runs. Chocolate OUTRAGE! is tolerable nearly all the time. The consistency and taste is perfect for me. Strawberry Banana, on the other hand, is nearing desperation. The WORST gels I had left which luckily I didn't have to tap into, were more remnants of race goody bags....liquidy citrusy Hammer gels (one is called Apple Cinnamon, which in theory, sounds like it might work, but let me assure you that it doesn't). This seals it up that I'll never get free samples from Hammer, but...ugh...just, ugh. It sounded better in my head if I said it with a British accent "STRAW-bry baNAHna". Like shortening Strawberry to two syllables would make it more palatable (and make me sound like Britney and Madonna, but that's another show). I need to get to the store and restock the OUTRAGE! and start to experiment a little more with food for longer events. This past weekend when I was in PA, I did one of my favorite long rides through the country. I never got to pick up more OUTRAGE! but instead I cut up Clif bars into little sections and set my watch to eat a piece every 15 minutes - it worked like a charm. I don't think I've ever felt so good on a long ride. The weather didn't hurt either - it must have been in the 70's with no wind. I'm really going to miss biking outside once it starts getting permanently cold and windy. I've really enjoyed putting in the bike miles and it's almost hard to think about how to share that time with running - like I can only have a relationship with one at a time. That must have been why triathlon never took for me, I always felt spread too thin. Patience is the name of the game though and the running ramp-up needs to be gradual. My plan is that I'll keep up my biking mileage while I'm gradually re-introducing the running miles at a very slow and steady pace. At some point over the next 6 months the tide will turn and I'll be running more than biking. I've designated Tuesdays and Thursdays to doing my PT exercises which take about an hour to get through. So there's a loose plan. In six months we'll see where I am. As of last week I am officially done with my return to run program and the ramp up can commence!

Now, let's talk about my most drastic change from pre-injury running to now. Trails. I've been having a blast discovering trails that are practically in my back yard. It's been tough now that we're losing light, but in the past month or so, I could ride in the mornings and get in a little trail run after work. Now, I'm going to have to start using a headlamp, or figure out a new plan. One morning I explored a trail I must have driven by a thousand times and probably heard about, but never paid it much attention. The trailhead was almost hidden from view from the road, but once I found it and started down the path immediately into woods, it was like I dropped into another world. Did other people know this place existed?! All along these trails have been running as soft and meandering undercurrents to the hard asphalt roads all around me. I just wasn't looking for them. It was like I entered a different dimension. I've been on trails before, but with a different attitude. This time it was like a gift. Every day I couldn't wait to get home to try a new trail. I've been wearing my Garmin and it takes everything I have to turn around when I'm supposed to when I'd rather go just a little bit farther to see what's around the next corner. The only tarnish to my trail running high so far was running into a woman on another new trail I was trying (she was walking) whom I know from my former gym. This woman is probably 15 years older than I am and a pretty decent runner and would always give me a hard time whenever I beat her time in a race. I was never keeping track, but apparently she was and I'd get the email after the race talking some trash about it. I saw her ahead (she was walking if I didn't mention) and said a very pleasant hello as I ran by. She smiled her scary mean smile and shook her head and pointed to her watch and told me I'd "better go faster!" What the hell? I was already having one of those days when I was feeling a little tired and wondering if my pace would ever come back. Then this mean old lady wrecks it for me. I laughed or said something stupid in agreement and kept on going. It ate away at me the rest of the day. Dumbstoopid competitive bullshit. I wish Claire had been with me to let out a lengthy string of unprintables, calling her names that rhyme with "punt".

I love being able to run again, but it's tentative. I'm running infrequently and keeping up with my PT, and doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm in a weird zone right now of no expectations. So I'm going to keep just focusing on the present and let running come back to me under these new terms. I'm confident I can make it work again.

The Return - Part I

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:52:00 +0000

I haven't felt much like writing lately. Things keep coming into my head and I wait for a chunk of time when I feel like writing and feel like I can get everything down the way I was thinking about it. That time never seems to come these days. I'm not even that strapped for time, maybe just strapped for concentration. Got a few not-so-great things going on on the homefront in PA and in fact, I'll be travelling there this weekend (short story, Grandma Squirrel is not doing so well).

I did want to update folks on how things are going with The Return (to run), however. A few days before we left for Bar Harbor I was given the go ahead to start to run again. I hadn't run in 5 months. To come back to running, I was given a sheet from the doctor that outlined a progression of walk to jog to run that I would follow over the course of the next three weeks or so. About mid-week this week, I'll have finished that paper startup program and will be tagged and released into the wild on my own recognizance. I'll have a clean slate, an intact femoral neck (where my stress fracture was), no expectations, and the hope that I won't do anything stupid. I'm now at the point in the progression where I'm basically running about a mile and a half at whatever speed I want. It would be nice to actually have a choice in the matter, but my body has decided what pace we're going to go and it's not always as fast as I would hope. I am taking it easy though and not really caring (too much) about pace right now. At first I felt really, really out of running shape. No matter what my brain kept telling me about my aerobic fitness from all the biking I've been doing, my running body felt like I hadn't gotten off the couch in months. So I'm just running at a comfortable pace and waiting for the rhythm to come back and it feels like it is. I feel the inklings of stressing about it and then I'm over it a second later. I feel like much has changed about my mindset over the course of this injury and the time off running. I'm sure things will continue to evolve as I build up my base and start to think about racing again. The same old triggers are out there for me, but I think I'm better equipped to handle them now. About a week after I got the green light to run again I had my last PT appointment. We spent the better part of an hour discussing what I needed to do....what I REALLY needed to do to stay healthy. PT asked me how many days a week I planned on running now. I started to answer with what I thought was a reasonable response, "Fiiiive?" He was shaking his head. His words of wisdom were this in a nutshell: "You need to spend the next 6 months running 2-3 days a week, biking 2-3 days a week, and doing your PT exercises 2 days a week. Once you're strong, you can start training and racing again." Hmm. I let it sink in. I said that I got it and that I was really listening and taking it in. I'm pretty sure he believed me about 60%, maybe less. Awhile ago, I would have dismissed him, thinking that I knew better and that as soon as I was able to run, I would just increase my mileage gradually and basically be training (e.g., speedwork, tempo runs) at the same time I was ramping up my miles. I let it sink in some more. I considered what he was saying and heard the words again in my head. He was looking at me with the kind of look that said "I hope she's getting it, but if I was a betting man, I'd bet she'll be back here with another injury in the next 12 months. I hope she gets out alive, but I've seen this same scenario too many times". I let it sink in some more. I felt like I was at the end of some kind of drug rehab, not just physical rehab. I don't want to relapse. I had the day off work that day so I went home and went for a bike ride and thought about things some more. What was I going to do differently? What would it be like? I had 5 months to think about this, but once more, I went over these questions and answers as I cruised through my bike route and felt the beginnings of fall and of change.

Bar Harbor

fivesquirrels@gmail.com (mindy) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:00:00 +0000

Friday morning we headed up to Bar Harbor, Maine - one of the most beautiful places in our state. The leaves were just starting to turn and I can't imagine how incredible it will look there in about a month. Luckily, I'll be able to see it, because we're going to head back up for the Mount Desert Island (MDI) marathon in October to cheer on the folks that will be running - Jamie, Ryan, Danielle, and Tim.

Incidentally, we parked the car on Main St. to check out a few of the shops. When we got back to the car, we realized this was right in front of our parking spot! Good omen. This entry is filled with biking pics and the like, but a switch back over to running is in the air, cuz mama got the green light last week to get those hooves back on the trails.

Back to our adventure: I took my road bike and Pete took his mountain bike - we figured one of us could rent the other (road or mt) depending on what we decided to do each day. Saturday we ended up biking the carriage roads - a wide gravel trail system throughout the park with some decent terrain and infinite number of combinations of rides. I rented a mountain bike that must have weighed at least 5,000 pounds, but we had a blast cruising on the roads and trying to avoid crazy tourists (which of course, we were not). Oh, speaking of tourists, I have a mild obsession with signs. It's not an obsession, but more of a fascination. I would carry a camera with me in the car everywhere I went (if I remembered) just to take pictures of interesting signs I see (and we saw some excellent ones, so stay tuned).

Here's a pic of Pete (aka Mr. Mindy) during one of our stops by a waterfall. He is a pro (well, not literally, or I could quit my day job) but he can do all kinds of balance-y stuff and did these little Evel Knievel jumps over the horse poo on the trails (hey, I was impressed).

"The Bubbles"

Me on mountain bike.

Do I look like I don't know what I'm doing? Because I don't. And it felt like I was on a motorcycle the whole time.

Here is Sand Beach. It's not really sand, it's pulverized shells that look like sand.

A nice Scottish couple took our picture. That's us, not the nice Scottish couple.

Sunday I took the road bike on a nice spin on the paved park road - which is absolutely incredible. There was barely any traffic (I think I saw one car) and the roads looked like they had literally just been paved. The Park Loop Road as it's called is also one-way traffic for the majority of the loop (except between two of the busier attractions) so I could basically ride with one lane to myself, not have to worry about any oncoming traffic and any cars that came could easily see me and just go around in the other lane. My goal was to do a nice ride on the Park Loop Road and end with a climb up Cadillac Mountain. Cadillac Mountain is typically known as the place of the "Nation's First Sunrise" as it's the first point in the US to be hit by the sun each morning. I had a brief idea of riding up in the dark so I could watch the sunrise at the summit, but a) I didn't have a headlamp and I figured there would be tons of cars heading up to do the same and b) it was freaking cold that morning. Here is a pic before Cadillac (imagine how incredible this place looks in peak foliage).

Here's the start of the climb up Cadillac - it was foggy and just got foggier. And windier. At the top you couldn't see anything, but it was worth the climb for sure. It was a steady ascent and not the lung-screaming, quad burning ride I had anticipated (read: worried about), but definitely challenging. I felt like a million bucks at the summit for having climbed it. And afterward we had the most fantastic breakfast where they had biscuits that were so good I wanted to cry.

And I haven't even mentioned the miles and miles of awesome trails to run in the park. Soon, my pets, I shall set upon them with mended hip. Speaking of my hip....as I'm sure you saw from my last post - I've been given the green light to start the return to run program! Three weeks of walk/jog and jog/run. Then I'll be up to about 6 miles a week. And then, to infinity and beyond! No, from there, I'll increase super slowly and see how it goes. My take home message from the ortho (after addressing my nutritional and biomechanical issues which may have been impacting things) is that my bones just may not be able to keep up with themselves when I start getting into the upper reaches of things (for me, 40+ mile weeks). For some reason, the bones just aren't getting enough time or fuel to build back up after the constant pounding and breaking down. Our bones are constantly regenerating (don't know if that's the proper word, correct me if I'm wrong doctors out there) and apparently my body has a tendency to get behind the curve and next thing I know, I've got too much breaking down and not enough building up (i.e., stress fracture). So the idea is to go at an even slower mileage ramp up than I think I should be for things like marathons, etc - to try and give the bones the chance to keep up. I'll save my "lessons learned" for another post, but I think you get my drift that I'm going into this a little smarter than before.

Let me leave you with a few sign photos I managed to take without stopping every 5 miles. The first one is just Maine at its finest. The second one was outside an ice cream shop (that apparently sold hot dogs). I'm not even sure what this hot dog is DOING, but he (?) sure looks like he's enjoying it. I'm going to open it up for a caption contest. Best caption wins a special prize from the great state of Maine. No holds barred - bring on the best captions you can muster(d) (ha!)