Plagiarizing myself?

I wrote this to some friends on a running list about my weekend at the Vermont 100. I guess I'm too lazy to write anything more about the race:


"I went down to the race late on Friday, mostly to say hi to friends. In past years, I've worked at the race all day Friday, but I needed to work at my job this year. So, I got there about the time of the pre-race meeting, saw a bunch of friends, confirmed my pacing duties and work assignments for Saturday, and had a couple beers with friends.

On Saturday morning, my wife and I had no work assignments before noon, so we slept in a bit, dropped the dogs at the kennel, and drove to the race. We went to a major aid station at 30 miles to watch the runners come through. I had decided to pace a 60+ friend (they can have pacers the entire way) from about mile 38 to 47. The aid station at 47 is also used at mile 70, and it's the busiest aid station in the race. My wife and I were scheduled to work all day at this station.

My wife arrived at the station around 1:00 and I showed up with my runner about 3:00. He was hurting and I was guessing that his 12th finish was in jeopardy, with the heat and humidity being a major factor. I'm amazed at some really good runners who either quit or had terrible performances on this day. I didn't run a long way, but I ran in some of the worst heat of the day and didn't find it that terrible. But, perhaps it was because I didn't go that far that I had no issues with the heat.

Anyway, we worked through the afternoon and my wife's runner came through mile 47 near the back of the pack, but well under cut-offs. I found out later that the friend I'd paced to 47 quit at 55 - too much heat and perhaps too little training. We saw some really good runners struggling, especially as they got to the 70 mile mark. I heard later that there were quite a few ambulance rides and IVs during the day. Around midnight, only a few runners remained on the course and my wife's runner finally showed up. This is an hour before the station closes, but you really need to be through that station by midnight.

I followed them as crew for the rest of the night. By the next crew station at 77, they were near the back of the pack, but doing OK on cut-offs. At mile 88.5, only two runners remained behind them, and they were within 15 minutes of the cutoff. Of the two runners behind them, one was pulled and one missed the cut-off, putting my wife and Mary in last place. Also, you really want to be at least 30 minutes ahead of cut-offs at this station, not 15. I gave my wife's runner a quick warning when she wanted to sit for a while. I sent her down the trail while my wife was using the facilities - no time to waste. I honestly thought they were done. But, it turned out that the sunrise brought Mary back to life and they started hammering. They got to mile 95 ten minutes ahead of the cut-off, and that allowed them to walk 20 minute miles to the finish. But, Mary was still strong, and she ended up dropping my wife in the last mile and passing another runner for a next-to-last place finish in 29:43.

It was one of the best paced ultras I've seen anyone do. My wife was amazed at how hard the nighttime running and trail running were, but she stuck it out. She's still sore but very happy and planning to enter a 50K later this year.


All in all, it was a fun weekend. It's my "home" race and so many friends show up that I have to be there, even if I'm not running at all.

My first real test of the season comes on 7/31 at a very technical Catoctin 50K course in MD. I think the chances of finishing are low, but I'll give it my best."


Since the weekend, I've lifted once and run once. I was very surprised when my wife ran with me last night. She was feeling pretty good after the 30 miles on Saturday/Sunday and she was running pretty well.

Tonight, we are supposed to get some serious storms, so I think I'll plan on lifting again.

Another two weeks gone by

Perhaps when I was writing something here every day, it was overkill. But, being too busy to post more than a couple times a month doesn't seem right either, unless no one reads what I write.

Let's see, right after my last post, my mom went into the hospital and things didn't sound very good. So, we abandoned our family plans for the 4th of July weekend and headed to PA to visit my mom and see other family. Luckily, my mom recovered very quickly and by the end of the weekend, she was ready to be discharged from the hospital.

I got to spend some time with my sister and uncle, who I don't see often enough. My wife and I did a few runs in brutal heat, but we got out there.

I got in a few good weightlifting workouts over the past two weeks.

While running, my left knee continue to bother me. I had a chiropractor appointment on 7/2, and the chiropractor, who works with some other docs in a sports med clinic, referred me to the orthopedist to figure out my knee.

Then, my lawn mowers died. Well, one was already on life support and my son killed the other one. For about three grand, I got a nice new John Deere hat, but it came with a free lawn tractor. I'm still not sure if I won or lost that one. That was a nasty hit on top of having to replace the kitchen stove earlier this summer.

Then last Friday, our drinking water (from a well) started to get cloudy. We deemed it undrinkable, but didn't really panic until the water turned dark gray on Sunday. Last night, I flushed our basement water tank and turned off the water. Tonight, I'll turn things back on and see if there is any improvement, but I'm not counting on that. If we need a major repair to our well or pipes, it could cost more than a stove and tractor combined.

Well, at least I have health insurance. I went to the orthopedist this morning. He was grossed out by the noises my knee was making. He took lots of X-rays. Those didn't look too bad, although he saw a couple bone spurs that might be causing the clicking. He said it also looked like I had grade 1 (mildest form) of osteoarthritis in my left knee. Given my larger-than-the-average-runner size and the number of miles and races I've done in the past 25 years, plus an ACL replacement, he thought the knee was in pretty good shape. But, he was also sympathetic to the issues I was having. He then used an ultrasound to look at the meniscus as much as possible. He didn't see any glaring issues there. So, he suggested Synvisc, but told me I could wait a while and think it over. He also told me I could get it done in three sessions or one "big" session. I thought it over for a few minutes, and I guess the ultrarunner in me came out. I went for the do it now, do it big option. The single injection cost $750, so my visit to the doc today had to cost in excess of $1000. The injection itself was uncomfortable, but I got through it OK. Now, I have to rest the leg completely for two days and then ease back into running.

Oh yeah, work is interesting with the addition of a new CEO to our small company this week.

This weekend, I'm planning to volunteer and hopefully pace at the Vermont 100 mile run.

Fun Run

Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I had a run that I would actually say was fun. Given my current level of fitness and my elevated weight and various aches and pains, running has simply been no fun at all for me recently. Because I rarely enjoy a run, it makes me want to run even less.

I've been in this running "death spiral" for too long.

But last night, the weather was cool and I simply enjoyed the run - a slow 6+ miler. I don't know what was different. I was still slow and I walked two minutes every mile or so. My knee and hip and hamstring weren't bothering me. It was nice to not have the humidity of recent days. Lake Champlain was calm and beautiful. I certainly need more runs like that.

If the weather holds, I'm going to run again tonight. It's looking like we might dodge the storms today, so I'll try to get out there.

Friday, I see the chiropractor and Tuesday, I have a physical. Between those two visits, I should have a better plan for what to do about my knee and the constant clicking when I extend my leg.

And, I'm taking a long weekend off work this weekend. I'll probably check in on our work system remotely, but I'm actually taking some time off. Given the weather forecast, I'm hoping the weekend includes some hiking, running, cycling, and some relaxing evenings with my wife's family.

Life still kind of overwhelming

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I posted.

I've been swamped again at work, but I've done some good workouts and had some fun with friends and family in the past two weeks. Some of the highlights:

My wife and I had a great mountain hike two weekends ago. It was her first hike for the year and the hills took a toll on her, but we summited Lincoln Peak (between Mt. Abraham and Mt. Ellen) at Sugarbush.

In the days leading up to that hike, I'd been good about getting in my workouts, which was what I said I needed to do in my last post.

My son and I went to Fenway on Father's Day to see the Dodgers lose 2-0 to the Red Sox. I was expecting a well-pitched game given the starters and that's exactly what we got. After the game, we stayed overnight with my best friend from college. Before we left for Boston that day, I got in a great road bike ride.

And then, work hit me hard all last week. I did manage to get out early on Wednesday to celebrate my son's 17th birthday. He is eligible to take his test for his driver's license later this week and I think he's ready.

Last Saturday, I finally had a day without much work (job work) to do. It was also pouring all day. So, I fixed things around the house for my wife - some shower handles, the lawn mower, stuff like that. Because the rain never let up, I eventually went to the gym. I did all three powerlifts, with some warm-up sets, followed by work sets, and then some strength sets - gradually increasing the weight on each lift until I thought I'd probably fail on the next one.

Of course, that workout left me sore; it's Tuesday and I'm sore from Saturday's workout still.

On Sunday, my wife and I went to a NASCAR race. No, I'm not a NASCAR fan, to be honest, but my best friend from college, and his wife, who was my wife's best friend in college, are fans and they had two extra tickets to a race. For us, it was a great social event. It's so bizarre that the fans find the race boring until somebody crashes. It's sort of like rooting for career-ending injuries in other sporting events, and then wondering how they will affect the outcome. I doubt that I will ever be a car racing fan, but I did really enjoy the day with some old friends. I also got badly sunburned, which was my own stupid fault.

And now, I'm back at work and hoping to get out early enough today to get in a nice run along Lake Champlain on the bike path.

Oh yeah, my knee issues, which I mentioned in my last post, seem to be getting worse. This is certainly distressing. But, I see the chiropractor on Friday and I have my annual physical on Tuesday, so I'll ask both docs for suggestions on what to do next. I'm guessing I'll be in an MRI machine pretty soon.

I would post pictures from my hike up Lincoln Peak and my trip to the races, but the stupid upgrade of my iPhone's OS seems to have deleted my music, my photos, some e-mail accounts, but restored a whole bunch of stuff to the phone that I didn't want. This was not a good upgrade for many iPhone users.

Great mountain hike

The photo above was taken from near the top of Mt. Ellen, looking towards Stark Mountain, Camel's Hump and Mount Mansfield, all on the spine of the Green Mountains.

Some of my favorite workouts are when I hike the higher peaks in Vermont. For people who live in truly big mountains, our five different peaks of 4000' or more don't sound like much, but I usually use approach routes that include a minimum of 2000' of vertical. Last night, I hiked Mt. Ellen, part of the Sugarbush ski resort, and the route I used includes 2450'. I hiked up on ski area service roads and then left the ski area briefly to use the Long Trail to summit the peak. The distance on the Long Trail is very short, but I always like to get the real summit.

Regretfully, last night was also a reminder that I'm not in very good shape and my left knee is not happy. My record ascent time for this peak is 54:30. My best round-trip time is 1:27:59, done in August of 2005, just two days after a 23 mile trail run. Last night, it took me almost 1:28 to get to the summit, but not quite.

My slow time is due to 3 things:

1) I'm just not in very good shape right now and I've done no hill work at all this year.

2) My weight is too high and that really shows up when climbing.

3) I'm having some problems with my left knee.

I had my left ACL replaced in 2002, and it's been fine most of the time since then. I've done some really hard races and hard training since that surgery in May of 2002. But, in early March of this year, I took an awkward fall while skiing and it hasn't quite been the same since then. I'm concerned that I may have damaged my meniscus somewhat in that fall. I have my annual physical in a couple weeks and I'm going to ask for a referral to our local orthopedic surgeon at that visit.

When I hike uphill right now, my knee audibly clicks. It doesn't hurt, but it's annoying and it does cause me to alter my stride to get the clicking to stop. It's in the area of the lateral meniscus, but it's also possible that the clicking is originating somewhere other than the meniscus. That's what I need a doc to help me figure out.

But, despite being out of shape and not completely healthy, it was a beautiful night and the hike was fun, albeit challenging.

On Saturday morning, I think my wife and I are going to hike a different 4000'+ peak, trying to finish before the heat and humidity forecast for that day hit.

A disturbing pattern

Lately, it seems that my weeks have gone like this:

Monday: good workout

Tuesday, Wednesday: repeat

Thursday: tired, skip my workout, maybe work late or go out for a beer instead

Friday: Skip another day

Saturday: If the weather is nice, do something, if not nice, do stuff around the house.

Sunday: Feel guilty and ride my bike or go to the gym.

So, this week is going to be different. This week, I'm going to do my workouts - at least the first six days of the week:

Today: Easy five mile run outdoors or treadmill sprints indoors if storms hit

Tuesday: Mountain hike/run on the way home from work

Wednesday: Lifting

Thursday: Sprints or bike ride

Friday: Bike ride, easy run or lifting

Saturday: Longer mountain hike/run

Sunday: Bike ride or lifting or rest

No more excuses.

Two good days

I certainly didn't have a good weekend as far as diet and exercise were concerned. On Saturday, I ran a measly (and slow) 2.5 miles with one of my dogs. By Vermont standards, it was hot, humid and uncomfortable. After my run, I headed to Boston to see a concert with friends. On Sunday, I drove home, but never got in another workout.

My wife ran the Covered Bridges Half Marathon in Woodstock on Sunday. She ran about ten minutes faster than I ran on easier terrain a week earlier. It was about the same time she ran less fall on a tougher course, but she was better trained for that one. She was happy with a very steady pace on Sunday.

Sunday was also her birthday, so we had a nice dinner, including some Champagne and older Bordeaux (1989 Pichon Lalande - one of her favorites). After dinner, we tried to watch the hockey playoffs, but I couldn't stay awake. I went to bed and allowed my wife to finish my wine.

Work has been busy again this week, but I've gotten in some workouts so far. Monday night, I lifted. Last night was a short trail run as a warm-up, followed by 9 x 100 meter sprints. The last two were brutally tough.

Today, work is fighting me again, but I think I'm going to pull off a bike ride later today. At least, I hope so. I have a meeting at 3:00, and when that ends, I should be able to get out for a ride.

Not much else going on - planning a couple running races later this year, trying to train more consistently, eat better, get my work done. That's about it.