Trail Half Marathon

Today I ran the Trail Half Marathon in the Pinckney Recreation Area. I ran it last year, too -- click here to read about last year's event. The course follows a rugged and hilly 13.1-mile trail in one of the nicest natural areas in Southern Michigan. Of course, there are those folks who do the loop twice to make it a really tough 26.2-mile off-road marathon. Not me.

Rain and thunderstorms last night were threatening to either make the event really unpleasant or cause me to back out at the last minute. We'd had intense lightning and more than an inch of rain in the late afternoon and evening. But this morning, the sky cleared and showed the dawn of a beautiful day. It was even warm, with a temperature around 60 F, maybe a little muggy.

Last year I had woken at 4:30 a.m. to ready for this race. This year, feeling more confident, I delayed until 5 a.m. It's nice to give coffee and a big bowl of granola enough time to settle before setting out on a long run. I believe that last year I was better-prepared for this run. Last year I laid out a very rigorous 12-week training schedule, mixing 3 to 4 days of running with 2 to 3 days of vigorous pedaling on my bicycle trainer. This year, while I've been riding my bicycle to work, I've not been doing any hard riding at all. Most of the winter my runs were limited to weekends, and this spring I jumped into a 12-week half marathon training schedule somewhere around week 6. But last year I was plagued with knee problems; this year I was not.

About 1200 runners participate in this event, so the race is started in waves to allow runners to spread out on the narrow trail. I was tempted to start with the first wave, which was for runners with 10k pace of 7.5 min/mile or less, and probably within my reach. Not feeling overly confident, however, I started with the second wave, for those runners with a 7.5 to and 8 min/mile 10k pace. This worked pretty well, and I ran the first half of the race mostly with the same group of five or six runners at a pace somewhere around 8.5 min/mile. The pace was comfortable, and the company was good. But after a few miles I think this group began to reduce it's pace, and I began to worry that too much time was ticking away for me to reach my 1 hr and 50 min goal. In this race, with such a narrow trail, pace is not entirely self-determined.

I had expected the trail to be a muddy mess, given the inch of rain that had fallen the previous day. It was not as muddy as I had feared. There were only few sections of trail with a little mud, and it wasn't deep sticky mud, just a little layer on the surface. Some portions of the trail are actually quite sandy; the sand doesn't get muddy, but it has it's own problems. The biggest challenge, other than the steep ups and downs, is the tree roots that make footing precarious.

I felt very comfortable at the 8.5 min/mile pace for the first several miles. After about mile seven, I sucked down a package of Clif Bar Gel -- yummy strawberry with 25 mg of caffeine -- and then did my best to pick up my pace. I sped through miles 8 through 11 pretty quickly, but the big hill near the end really drained me. I was watching my time, and hoping to finish under 1:50. I should have eaten my other gel package, with 50mg of caffeine, but for no particularly reason, I didn't. I remember passing mile 12 at around 1:43, and realizing that I'd have to run the last mile at less than a 7 min/mile pace. I tried. When fresh, that's an easy mile for me, but even pushing with all my might, I couldn't force my legs to run any fast enough. I came in at 1:52:42, That's one hour, 52 minutes, and 42 seconds, and placing me 9th in the men's 40 to 44 age class. That's about 8 minutes faster than I ran it last year. I don't know yet how many runners were in that class -- last year there were 68. Last year I was much younger -- running in the 35 to 39 age class, finishing 41st of 104. I think that my improved time was less a result of better fitness, but more the result of better planning, better pacing, and less (no) time stopping on the course to stretch this year.

At the end of the run, I was greeted by my favorite family. They tried to take some pictures of me, but I'm awfully fast for photographing. After I finished, we stood around for a while and soaked in the cold water of Silver Lake with many of the other runners. Last year I'd run the last mile or two with significant knee pain. This year my knees were fine. In fact, other than being completely drained, I felt pretty good. Sitting here at the computer, now, my leg muscles are burning. I can hardly walk.

Also, just like last year, my stomach was feeling a bit yucky at the end of the run. I'm still not sure what's causing this. Maybe nerves before the run? Maybe it's simply an adverse side-effect of pushing myself to the point of being near death just to try and shave another minute off my time.

I wish now that we'd brought our tandems and gone over to Chelsea for lunch and an afternoon ride, as we did last year. We thought we'd be having more thunderstorms, and we haven't even put the rack on the van yet this year. Oh, and we also had a bathroom plumbing project that needed more attention before the weekend was out.

Can you tell which one is me? The pictures below were taken as I crossed the field in the last hundred yards of the run. The three women to my right were actually running the marathon, which started a full hour before the half marathon. That means they were finishing the first loop at 2:50, and that's only half way. Wow. By the way, although it looks like my right foot is pronating, I have pretty neutral stride, so I'm guessing the uneven ground had caused my foot to roll a little.




I'm so, so, sore...

Bikes belong...

on the sidewalk?

on the road?

These articles appeared on The State News opinion pages recently.

You know what I think!

Easter Day

And a busy day it was.

We started with our traditional living room Easter egg hunt. The kids scampered around the room while Cindy and I sipped our coffee. Ideally an Easter egg hunt should take place in the green grass of the back yard, but our grass is just starting to grow, and of course all the candy would have been frozen solid.

After the treasure hunt, we had a quick and ordinary breakfast before heading off to church. I'd never been to an Easter service any place other than Woodland UM in Wichita. We've been to this church in Haslett just a handful of times. It's been interesting and has been providing some additional perspective on everyday life.

Managed to lock the keys in the car at the church. Hmmm. I had driven to the church and was messing around in the front seat of the van after we arrived. Everyone else zipped inside afraid we were running late. The instant the van door closed I knew I'd screwed up. I usually check my pocket before closing and locking the door, but the parking was tight and I'd had to squeeze out of the car through a tiny gap. Messed up my routine. Cindy's keys were at home in their basket; not in her purse.

The family that introduced us to this church, friends of ours through Abbey and their daughter Annabelle, helped us out by giving me a ride back to our house and then back to the church. How embarrassing. But it was a good chance to chat with Annabelle's dad, Chuck.

Once we got the locked-the-keys-in-the-car mess straightened out, we went home for another ordinary lunch of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. But at least we had our ordinary lunch (and breakfast) on our new dining room table, delivered to us yesterday, perhaps in celebration of my dad's birthday.

After lunch Cindy headed out to work in the yard -- still moving around last falls leaves. Another bunch of bags down to the curb. We haven't even gotten to the back yard. Next year we're just going to pay the $250 to have the leaf guys come with their vacuums in the fall. It will save us at least 50 hours of hours of raking, mulching, and bagging.

While Cindy worked outside, I returned to my basement bike shop to finalize the handlebar swap and install new bar tape on the Big Blue Burley. Once done, I hauled it upstairs to ready for our first ride of the year. Actually, we had a really short test ride last night, but I'm not counting that.

I just finished some significant alterations to the Little Blue Burley. I think I mentioned that a few posts previously. The old bars from the LBB, which were really too wide and deep for Cindy, are now on the BBB and seem to be a good fit for me. I'll post all the tandem upgrades later (some might call some of the upgrades downgrades, but, as I said, later).

It was a beautiful sunny and chilly afternoon, with a sharp north wind, and an air temperature of about 50 degrees F. We bundled up the kids in what might have looked like snow skiing outfits and rode off toward Lake Lansing Park. All the changes to bars, brakes, shifters, gears, and cranks worked without incident. I always worry a little about failing to tighten one little bolt somewhere and having a critical piece come loose and causing a horrible crash, but the bikes worked quite well. We let the kids play at the park for precisely 17 minutes, and then we pedaled home. It was an easy 12 miles for our first tandem ride of the season. I love our Blue Burleys! The kids are OK, too.

On the way home from the park, we stopped at the grocery store for powdered sugar so Cindy could make a batch of frosting. Yum. Back home, I had to spend some time rearranging bikes in the garage so I could got both tandems on their racks. Cindy frosted her carrot cake and got our Easter dinner started. Scalloped potatoes, fake chickens, green beans, deviled eggs, and rolls. And carrot cake. The eggs that were deviled were the same that had been decorated the night before, so some of the whites looked sort of tye-dyed.

Yesterday, while the kids and I were out for an 11-mile run-n-ride, we saw a big fat cottontail rabbit hopping along near the edge of a wetland. I suggested we catch it and add Easter bunny to the dinner menu. As usual, they had ignored me.

Our dinner was delicious. "Thank-you a hundred times!" said Quinn. And the carrot cake was great, with a hint of coconut and little chunks of pineapple.

After dinner Quinn sat on the piano bench to practice but couldn't focus and got frustrated and whined about not being able to do anything right. I didn't help the situation because I just got frustrated myself and yelled at him. After a little crying we had some successful practice time before he went off to bathe. Meanwhile, Abbey was working madly on an assignment for school that had somehow laid untouched for the 11 days of spring break. Then she practiced the piano while Quinn took a bath. Everyone had some reading time and now they are asleep. So is Cindy. And here I am at the computer trying to write it all down. I'm not sure why.

Today it seemed that nearly everyone we knew was having a nice dinner and spending the day with friends and family. The streets and driveways in our neighborhood and in the neighborhoods where we bicycled were full of the extra cars of visitors. It was sort of sad that we were not doing the same.

The Glenbrook Yurt

The kids are on spring break this week, and since their first choice, a trip to Florida (where everyone else in Michigan went), was not an option, we decided to do a local camping trip. To make the trip a little more interesting, rather than pitching our tent, we reserved couple of nights in a yurt. We hadn't previously been in a yurt, but I'd seen this one in the Pinckney State Recreation Area last year and thought it would be fun to try it sometime. It was fun, and with the return of winter in the form of about eight inches of snow, we were glad to have the space and heat afforded by the yurt.

The Glenbrook Yurt is located on a little dead-end gravel road that follows the stream that flows from Half-Moon Lake. The yurt is on a little hill with a nice view of the lake. The yurt is round, perhaps 20 feet in diameter, with single door on the north, and double doors that open to the balcony with a lake-view to the south. There is a window on either side. A large plastic dome on top can be raised with a crank from the inside. The dome provides a tremendous amount of natural light. We didn't test its effectiveness at ventilating. The yurt has neither electricity nor indoor plumbing, although there is an LED floodlight and one or two outside that are powered by a solar panel mounted outside on a pole. There's also a solar-powered, trash-compacting, bear-proof, garbage bin outside. A hand pump on a well with potable water is not far away.



Inside the yurt is a propane heater, futon, a bunkbed, and a small drop-leaf table with five chairs. The yurt will sleep five people, but it would be rather crowded if all five were adults. It was close-quarters for our little group. The pads on the bed and futon are a brown vinyl for easy cleaning, although they look a bit like leather. Rather than sheets and blankets, we brought our sleeping bags.




We arrived on a cloudy and cool Sunday afternoon, fearing that a winter storm was on the way. We loaded our gear into the yurt and quickly set off for a lengthy walk in the woods, taking advantage of the dry trails while we could. A few long trails crawl through the forested hills, valleys, and wetlands of the park. Wooden bridges regularly cross small streams or arms of little lakes. Although the buds on the trees and bushes suggested spring was on the way, the leaves covering the forest floor and trail reminded us of fall.




Back at the yurt, we heated Mexican rice and beans on our propane stove in the outdoor kitchen beside the yurt. It made for a delicious burrito dinner, but we were disappointed that we left the salsa in the fridge at home. I think that the salsa was the only thing we forgot on this trip. We even remember the snow shovel.



That night, as the kids slept, Cindy and I lay awake listening to the soft sound of heavy snowflakes falling on the yurt, and the occasional hissing sound of large slabs of snow sliding from the roof down to the deck, landing with a gentle whump. We awoke in another world. The snow was deeper than we'd expected, and tremendously wet and dense. I got the show shovel out of the van and cleared the path between the yurt and the outhouse while we boiled water for coffee and hot chocolate.





After breakfast we geared up for our morning hike, although unsure about how successful we'd be in finding or traveling on the trail. It was wonderful and beautiful, surreal and magical. Even the thinnest of twigs were caked with inches of snow. Trees were leaning down across the trail. Some were broken, but most would spring up quickly with a little shake, a tap, or a gentle kick. We walked about a mile, reaching a bench and having a cold snack where two major trails intersect.





Once back in the warmth and shelter of the yurt, we had lunch and spent some time lounging about, reading Harry Potter, napping, and playing games. In the afternoon we went outside again. The kids build a snowman, we took a short walk, built a couple of snow forts, and had a rather viscious snow battle that ended with all of us sliding on our backs down a steep slope along the road. Surprisingly, nobody was seriously injured, but the ribs on my left side are still bruised.




This picture is pretty funny. Too many burritos?



After a simple meal of cheddar-broccoli rice, and crackers and cheese, we played Yahtzee in the soft LED light at the table in the yurt, read more Harry Potter, and finally went to sleep.

We'll have to stay in the yurt again sometime when the air is warmer. With easy access to the water and a chain of little lakes and streams, it would be a great spot for some paddling. The yurt would also make a great base camp for a few days of some of Michigan's best mountain biking. If a person had a mountain bike, anyway.

Ten miler

Cindy's at work this afternoon so the kids and I are home packing for the yurt-camping trip. They're quite excited. We ought to do this more often. Actually, we should be out walking in the woods today and coming home tomorrow. Today it's sunny and 50 something outside, but tomorrow it's supposed to snow. Still looking like the camping trip will coincide nicely with a 3-day blast of winter. We'll come home just as it starts to warm up again. Oh well.

I got outside this morning for my long run. Ten miles today. The Trail Half Marathon is three weeks away, and I'm feeling good about my training. Generally, I'm supposed to be doing long runs on Saturdays, shorter runs on Sundays, and then three to four miles each on Tuesday through Thursday. Rarely have I managed to get in all five runs in a single week. Time, time, time. But I have managed to get in one long run each weekend, sometimes two, and then I've always managed at least two runs during the week. I'm bicycling to work, too, which may help a little. Today's ten miler was my longest yet this spring, but it was pretty easy and mostly painless. I'm keeping about an 8 min/mile pace, so I finished in about 80 minutes - including a few stops to stretch and one drink-n-pee stop at my office. I'll run a few miles on the trail at Pinckney while we're camping this weekend -- most likely Tuesday morning so that I can stink up the car when we drive home! Last year I finished the trail half marathon in less than a minute under two hours. That's just over nine minutes per mile. This year I'd like to run it at closer to eight minutes per mile, but it's a tough course.

There's no One Day Ride Across Michigan this fall. I may ramp up my running and do a full marathon instead.

Quinn leaves the planet

Last week Quinn and his classmates went to Planet X to collect specimens to bring back to Earth for scientists to study. In preparation for the journey, each student worked with his or her parents to put together a tool box for specimen collection. Quinn's box contained a specimen container, some bags, a notepad and pen, a small shovel, a foreceps, and a snack. We also made air tanks for Quinn to wear so that he could breathe on the surface of Planet X.













The mission was a success and all of the students returned to Planet Earth safely. I had hoped the mission might last just a little longer.

Time, time, time...

Where's it all go? I was up late last night working on plans for yet another big fish sampling project. If it happens, this one will be on the Upper Mississippi.

The kids and I squeezed in a run-and-ride last night, but we missed piano practicing and didn't eat dinner until Cindy came home at 8:30. It's still getting dark before she rides home from work. Anything for more time.

Pedaled to work this morning in a 40 degree rain. I wrapped myself in a PTFE hornet suit. Dry on the inside, and brightly visible on the outside. Traffic is less with the schools on spring break. I scared a couple of deer. White tails in the air splashing through a little wetland. Sometimes I think it's worth the extra time it takes to ride my bicycle to work. Other times I wonder.

Had a nice chat with the chief engineer for our county road commission. They'll be replacing the bridge over the Red Ceder on Dobie Road this summer. It's that old narrow bridge with the wooden sidewalk. I'll have to take pictures of it before they tear it down. ASHTO funds will get us a new bridge, but the rest of Dobie is years from improvements. We talked about the rest of Dobie, and why it hasn't been improved. Time, time, time. That's a story I'll save for later.

Spring Break

Spring break has arrived. The kids are out of school through the end of next week. All of their friends are in Florida, so they'll probably be bored all week. Today the air feels spring-like, but I see snow in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday, which will coincide nicely with our little local spring break camping trip. We're going to try out yurt for a couple of nights.

Tandem bicycling still hasn't started for us this spring. I'm working on some upgrades -- well, modifications, anyway -- to the little blue Burley. It should be ready to roll soon. We had the cranks shortened in the front and rear, I've changed the gearing, and it's getting new handlebars, brakes, and shifters. All of these changes are intended to improve efficiency, comfort, and function for Cindy and Abbey on their machine. I'll post some details eventually.

Abbey now has her own blog. Maybe she'll be better at keeping hers up to date than I am with mine. Hers is limited to friends and family and is by invitation only, so you'll have to send me (or her) an email if you'd like to see it.