Week 23: Hometown Visit

Wed 10/31  4 miles on Cottonwood

October totals 83  miles in 12 runs
Year-to-date  1244 1/2 in 199 runs

Thu 11/1 4 miles, including 2 miles barefoot 

Fri 11/2 9 miles, including the KT Darkness Falls trail race. This was a really fun race, and it worked great for my schedule. I drove up to see my mom, six hours of seat time. I arrived there about 4, and had a couple of hours before I drove the fifteen minutes from my mom’s place to the race.

Sat 11/3  Marshall game with my mom. Absolutely the highlight of the trip. We greeted lots of folks in the tailgating area, lots of them making sure to speak to my mother. We sat in my parents regular seats for a while, behind the chief of police sitting with his dad who was my high school baseball coach.

The view from the boxes

We moved to the boxes after the first quarter or so. Again, I appreciated how much attention friends there paid my mother.  She is something of the matriarch now, I guess, and due deference was given. Don't doubt that it was received graciously.

Marshall did their darndest to lose the game, but the time I spent with my friend of 45 years Rob and his dad Bos, both television news anchors in my hometown, meant a lot to me. Bos is charming and avuncular, with a memory stocked with all the greatest moments of Rob’s and my childhoods (not to mention the history of television news from its beginning). Rob and I have known each other so long and done so many things together we are like brothers, and time away does not diminish our friendship.   

Sun 11/4  5 miles in Huntington. This is a route I’ve run so many times before, passing the houses that friends used to live in and enjoying the rather miraculous Ritter Park. That place is legend in our family, the site of much carousing, playing, running, carousing, carousing, and, yeah. Drove home after a really remarkable weekend. 

Total: 22 miles in 4 runs

Week 22: The Nu-Way 5K

Wed 10/24  4 miles, including 2 miles barefoot. Had a pile of reasons not to do my whole barefoot routine: I got to the fields to find that darn high school football team practicing, or something ridiculous like that. That they were only using half a field still kept me to the one field. My usual 2:30 lap turned into 1:30 laps. I hate running that many circles. 

But I stayed with it, and ran 17 or so minutes. I stopped halfway through to watch a little of the practice. I think they must have been JV because they weren’t that big. But they were good and played hard. I always appreciate good coaching, and these guys were all over the place, teaching and not yelling.

Fri 10/26  7 miles at Croft. I started this run in stunning sunset light. The trees were glowing anyway, but with the changing colors were particularly shimmery. I intended to finish with my headlamp, and did. Note: get new batteries. The light was pretty dim, and I haven’t run a whole lot in the dark, and not at all since last winter. In other words, I had a great time. I really practiced picking up my feet, and rolled a few times, something my tendons must respond to really well--I rarely hurt myself.

I also wore one yellow Rogue Racer and one red Rogue Racer. I bought a couple of new pairs--thanks, Montrail--and needed to break them in for the Nu-Way 5K tomorrow. I’ve given up on 5Ks--they are either too short or too painful or both--but this one is special. My friend Cate came up with the idea a few years ago, and it’s taken off. More than a hundred will run tomorrow. Since it involves drinking on  the street, we’re a little nervous the city may shut it down, but since two council members run it (and one of them organizes it), we feel pretty safe for now. It’s a great community event, and highlights our commitment to beer drinking, doughnut eating and run/walk/crawling. 

Sat 10/27 5 miles, including Nu-Way 5K. As always, the Nu-Way 5K is among my favorite Spartanburg events. This year over a hundred folks signed up, even paying five bucks to make some dough for a local arts non-profit. Costumes are de rigeur here; I wore my usual cape. The cape, I say, changes the way I see wind in the face. Where I used to feel some letdown if I turned into the wind during a race, in this one I know it’s blowing my cape back.

I actually had a good run here, too. I felt pretty easy, running with a woopie cushion and  another caped superhero, among others. I even met the physical therapist who rehabbed me after meniscus surgery in 2002. As usual, the beer went down easy, the donut sucked. Then again, I’ve been slacking on the donut eating, but I’ve been crushing the beer workouts. 

Trying to drop the woopie cushion.

One of two Elvii. The Charlotte Hornets guy won.

Unkle Burt and Elvis at the start.

Beer and donuts.

The second half went equally smoothly, and another guy and I decided to let the woopie cushion finish ahead of us. After all, he was dressed as a woopie cushion. I finished a minute faster than last year, but deeper I think. Thing’s getting pretty competitive. I ran 25:30 including the three or four minutes at the beer stop.

Sun 10/28 13 1/2 miles at Croft. Ran the half marathon course with John G., Clark, Scott and Seth. It became clear pretty early that I didn’t have legs this morning. I trudged along; thought I might run some extra miles, but I was satisfied with what I got.

 Total 29 1/2 in four runs

Weeks 19, 20, 21: Living in the process

Tue 10/2  4 miles on Cottonwood

Wed 10/3  3 miles. 

Sat 10/6 8 miles at Croft. Injury warnings, for sure: my sore left-side lower back/upper butt (‘m sure it has a name) was aggravated all morning, and never really loosened up on the run. I went to Croft expecting to run a new route, maybe 14 miles, and feel fit enough to do it. The odd thing is that I felt strong on the run--leg turnover easy uphill and down, and feet quick even with some added Achilles pain in my left leg. But my back was not happy on uphills, and even with my trying to smooth out my gait on downhills, I felt accumulated pain. I’ll do something about it.

from the riding ring: Foster Mill to the Boy Scout hut to Lake Johnson Trail to Foster Mill

I registered for three races this week. On November 2 I’ll run the KT (Kanawha Trace) Darkness Falls 7-mile night race the day before seeing a Marshall game with my mom. I finally signed up the Camp Croft Half-Marathon (November 10) where I hope to better my last year’s time (1:53:00). I also found the Last Chance 50K in the Francis Marion National Forest in December. That should be a good long run before, should I get in, the Uwharrie 40-miler in February. 

I’m excited about the races to come, even with this tinge of injury. It feels like something I can get worked out, especially because the Stick does wonders itself. Add in a little chiropractor voodoo and I’ll be fine. 

Total 15 miles in three runs


Sun 10/14 13.5 miles at Croft. Ran the Camp Croft Half-Marathon course with Cate and Bristol. I haven’t been on the entire course for quite some time. I felt good the whole way as we both were feeling a little out of shape. 

from the riding ring: Foster Mill to Rocky Ride to Foster Mill to Lake Johnson-Fairforest Connector to Fairforest to Palmetto

This was a tough week. I had evening events four days, all of which kept me from running. I do feel good about Sunday’s run and my fitness, such as it is. I had an excellent chiropractor visit, and feel some better. I’m still sore in my left lower back/upper butt, but the Stick continues to do its magic.

Total 13 1/2 miles in one run



Tue 10/16 4 miles on Cottonwood. I felt loose and easy.

Wed 10/17 3 miles. I felt tight and labored.

Fri 10/19 0 miles. I started out the door on a beautiful day as the sun was setting. Within about 8 steps I knew the IT band pain I’d been feeling, especially after sitting for a while, was not good. I kept on for a few hundred yards, but before I really started into the long downhill that drops down into the flood plain of the Lawson’s Fork, I turned around. 

I’ve had IT band issues for a while, though never with pain particularly. I have some scar tissue built up, but my voodoo doctor tells me that if it’s not bothering me at all--no pain, no gait reaction, no limitation in flexibility--that there’s no reason to worry about it. The pain I have is above that little knot. 

I came home and iced my knee, which left it stiff. Using the Stick and my hand to massage right at the pain spot helps. I hit some ibuprofen, which I don’t take often, and stretched, another thing I don’t do often. I’ll try to stay on top of it.

Sun 10/21 18 miles at Croft. What a great run. Seth, Carroll, Scott and I met down at Southside. I’d planned to do two laps, and they all wanted to run 10 miles. The pace was a little hotter than maybe it should have been--and I led for the first few miles. It was just such a beautiful morning, right around 50 degrees, probably, and we had a good group going. Scott and Carroll pulled away in the last few miles. Carroll will finally be fit for the Camp Croft Half Marathon; knowing the course the way he does, he’ll be smoking. 

Southside Loop is definitely an easier run at Croft, especially the four or so miles that wind through the flood plain. There are some climbs, though,and some rough trail that I like for how it strengthens my feet. Through the climbs I felt great, with little or no IT band pain. 

Setting off for the second lap (which I knew I would cut short) was easy. I drank a bottle of Perpetuem, which I’d not tried, and which settled easily. I did hit the hills harder than I’d expected, and ran hard the whole lap. This was a real confidence builder, a run I’ll remember for a while. Even got to trash talk with the cross country team from a local community college.

from Southside: One lap of Southside Loop, then Centerline to Fern Gully to Southside Loop to Rock Creek to Centerline.

Total: 25 miles in 3 runs

Coming up next week: the Nu-Way 5k. I may be a little behind in my running and donut-eating training schedule, but I’ve been crushing the beer drinking workouts. 

Just been listening to Lucinda Williams a lot lately.

Weeks 17 - 18: Some running, Jam in the Park for Parkinson's, and Ben Sollee

Week ending September 23

Tue 9/18 4 miles, including 2 miles barefoot

Wed 9/19 4 1/2 miles on Cottonwood

Thu 9/20 4 miles. Went down to Croft, but had to turn back because of the annual biological hunt. Ended up running on Cottonwood.

Team Fox and more information about
PD at Jam in the Park for Parkinson's.

Sun 9/23  4 miles on Cottonwood. A spectacular day was had at the Jam in the Park for Parkinson's. More to come soon. 

Total 16 1/2 miles in 4 runs



Week ending Sept 30

Tue 9/25 4 miles on Cottonwood

Wed 9/26 3 miles 

Sat 9/29  4 miles on Cottonwood

Sun 9/30  12 miles at Croft. A gain a little rearrangement of the pieces to make for a “new” run. I head out against the flow on the half-marathon course again, but turned into the end of Jerry Perry, running it in the opposite direction. I’ve only run it twice anyway, and it’s pretty obscure through much of it. Turn it the opposite direction and you made me happy. I love the cambered trail tread for strengthening my feet.

I was also able to run the last five miles or so of the half-marathon course in the right direction to finish the run. Though there are some tough climbs, it is net downhill, and all very runnable. I kept thinking about last year’s plan: go out conservative, and reel a whole bunch of folks in during those last five miles. 

But last year I had the opportunity to run and chat with Joan Nesbit Mabe, a two-time Olympic track runner. She’s a few months older than I am, and we had a great talk about family and running and raising our children. I felt lucky to be able to run with her; pushing hard through those early miles, though, really took it out of me. 

On a training run I generally run that first 4.75 miles to the spot where the first aid station is in about 45 minutes. I figured I’d run it in about 40-42 in the race (and will shoot for that again, I reckon). I ran 36 minutes with Joan Mabe. Again, it was well worth the pain at the end. A more conservative start should yield a faster time than last year, my only goal for the race at this point.

The last section is rutted and rooty, very technical especially at the end of the race. There are a few short climbs, but assuming your feet are good, you can run it pretty hard. 

from the riding ring: Palmetto to Fairforest Loop to Jerry Perry to New Edition to Lake Johnson-Fairforest Connector to Fairforest Loop to Palmetto.

Total: 23 miles in 4 runs

September total: 89 miles in 16 runs
Year-to-date: 1161 1/2 miles in 187 runs

Saw Ben Sollee in Asheville Saturday night. I don’t know much about him, but it was a great show and a great date with my Gorgeous. I took some crappy photos, and we recorded a few songs that may make it soon. This Tiny Desk concert gave C and me the push to go to the show.

A little different line-up with no violin and a guy playing guitars and bass, but you can tell how much they love playing music the way they do. Awesome show, and a cool direction for music based in Sollee's Eastern Kentucky roots.

Week 16: Patience, my friend

Mon 9/10 Decided to choose my day off. It’s been Mondays for years. Turned out to be a trend.

Tue 9/11 After successfully fending off Christy’s cold, I finally caught it. Thought a run might compromise some immune system function.

Wed 9/12 Plain old sick. 

Thu 9/13 Much better, but after a long day, my legs were feeling achy.

Fri 9/14  4 miles on Cottonwood. Felt pretty okay. 

Sat 9/15 9 miles at Croft. Had ambitions of a longer run. Just felt crappy. 

Sun 9/16 Yard work. 

Total: 13 miles in 2 runs

As I usually do, I got caught up in the Run Rabbit Run 100, an ultra offering a pile of prize money and therefore attracting a bunch of good runners. Add into that a 1 pm start that assured an overnight run for everyone and irunfar.com’s twitter feed commentary, and I’m one happy runner geek.

Trail ultramarathon updates are already sparse because runners often disappear onto back-country trails where all kinds of race strategy stuff can happen. But Bryon Powell and his folks at irunfar.com make it exciting and accessible and fun. 

So off goes the crowd with all the right people thrown in the front. Timothy Olson, Mike Wolfe, Jason Schlarb, Dave James, and Karl Meltzer were all in the top ten or so. Then off went the speedsters. and Meltzer hung tight. He’d talked about how he figured to win the master’s division but not the race. At 44 maybe he’s too old to keep up with the youngsters. 

But of course not. The guy runs without a pacer in every race, and no pacers were allowed in this race. He loves the through-the-night-with-tons-of-climbing stuff. There were drops ahead of him, but he negative-split a hundred-mile race, running the second half faster than the first. What patience that shows, a willingness to let the race run in front of him, and not just take advantage of the carnage, as he would say, but to jump all over it. I’ll say it again, he negative split a hundred-mile race.

In both my Terrapin Mountain runs I moved ahead in place at every aid station but one. The race begins with a four mile climb; I took my time getting up, knowing there was a long day ahead. But I moved through the crowd both years, passing other runners in the last miles. The second I ran five minutes faster than the first, and the last ten miles faster than the first year. David Horton told me that was a sign of good training.

I want to feel fit and strong in Wisconsin in May, and feel certain I will. I know there’s no rush, and my Karl Meltzer example applies to this training season, too. I need to be patient, and build my training through low times and high.

When I went running on Saturday, I set myself up for a bad run, I think. I ate 5 gels in an hour-and-a-half, I started later in the morning, I spent too much time thinking of a way out (I did find a good nine-mile loop though). But I’ve said several times already that I’m most worried about crashing in March and not being ready to run in May. Thirteen miles in a week is no way to train for a race in November, but maybe it’s the way to train for a race in May. 

Week 15: New trail

Mon 9/3 4 miles, including 2 miles barefoot. One of the best recovery runs I’ve had in a while. With sore quads from Saturday, and sore hamstrings from pulling weeds on Sunday I set off a little wobbly down the street. The air smelled like the sprinkling rain after an afternoon of thunderstorms. I loosened up soon enough, and decided I would run some barefoot miles on the high school fields. In the rain, and through puddly soft grass in my socks--let me tell you, it was a good day to feel good. The laps clicked off unnoticed. 

Tue 9/4 2 miles. Hmph. What a difference one day made in this case. Felt little niggles in my left IT, my right calf. My left hamstring was very tight, I think a little injury from weeding on Sunday. No, seriously.

Wed 9/5 2 1/2 miles.  A little better, but thought I shouldn’t be running.  

Thu, Fri 9/6-7  No running. 

Sat 9/8  4 1/2 miles on Cottonwood. Felt much better, easy and loose.

Sun 9/9  12 miles at Croft with Bristol.  A beautiful fall morning with temps in the mid-60s is hard to beat for a long run. Make it a new loop that includes a trail I’ve only been on once and I’m a happy camper. 

I started off running backwards on the half-marathon course, not something I’ve done often. Then after a short road section and about 6 miles into the run I turned onto a trail I’d heard of for a while and run once before. The tread is pretty obscure, and that always keeps me interested. The run ended along the larger of the two lakes, climbing up several draws to skirt the fingers of the lake.

from the riding ring: Fairforest to Lake Johnson Fairforest Connector to New Edition to the un-named trail. When you cross the camp road the trail seems to get more traffic, but I’ve never seen it on a map, and didn’t notice any blazes.  

Total 25 miles in five runs

Weeks 13, 14: Table Rock run

Tue 8/21 2 miles. O my, one of the worst runs I’ve had. Dead legged, stiff, unmotivated. Starting taking an antibiotic on Monday, which may account for some of the fatigue. 

Wed 8/22 3 miles. Eh.

Sat 8/25 7 miles at Croft with Carroll. Felt okay, but not great. 

from the riding ring: Foster Mill to Rocky Ridge to a little connector to Beech Glen back to Foster Mill at the Boy Scout hut.

No running on Sunday.

Total: 12 miles in three runs

Mon 8/27 3 miles

Tue 8/28 3 miles, including 1 mile barefoot. Started to feel some calf tightness, and after battling with that last fall, I do not want a repeat. 

August totals: 100 miles in 17 runs
Year-to-date: 1072 1/2 171 runs

Sat 9/1 11 1/2 miles (3:10; 3000 feet of climbing) at Table Rock State Park. 

Of course I had to add my photo to the numbers.

The coincidence of September 1 and the Labor Day weekend made this a perfect time to start my new training season with a long run in the mountains. Table Rock is an iconic landmark in South Carolina, the most photographed place in the state, I read somewhere recently. I had been there once before to run a race, but I prefer Jones Gap for its variety, I guess. 

This run comprised almost all of the trails in the park, a couple of sections twice. I liked the pattern of the run, though: I climbed to a saddle junction, turned right to go up Table Rock Mountain, came back down to the junction and took the other fork to Pinnacle Mountain, which makes a nice loop back down the other side of the ridge.

These cut-in steps continued to the top of this long slab,
part of the engineering of the trail. I was a little 
offended by some of it.

Table Rock Trail climbs quickly from the base, about 2000 feet in three and a half miles. They have engineered the trails to handle the crowds, which are pretty significant, I’d say. I passed all sorts all the way up. Boy Scout groups with enthusiastic leaders and tired kids, couples of many ages, two dads with their young sons, the occasional family, probably a church group or two. The climb is steep, but after the saddle junction it becomes difficult, with long steep pitches that require attention. 

I was pretty battered on the climb, but coming back down after ten or so minutes on the ledge of Table Rock itself, I regained energy from gravity no doubt. I had pondered backing out of the Pinnacle Mountain stretch that I’d run in the race, but by the time I got back to the junction, I was ready to roll. 

The not-Table-Rock view.

Good thing, because the Ridge Trail starts with a long climb pretty much straight up the slope. The trail is far less defined than the Table Rock tread. It rolls along the ridge climbing four little summits before climbing to the wooded peak of Pinnacle Mountain. Unlike Table Rock Mountain’s hefty sign marking the peak at 3124 feet, this one had no apparent marker, other than a single tree with two double yellow hashmarks. At 3415 feet, it is almost 300 feet taller than Table Rock Mountain, and 150 or so shorter than Sassafras Mountain to the north and west, the highest point in South Carolina at 3563 feet. After the rather anticlimactic peak, the trail drops steeply to another granite bald, not nearly as broad as Table Rock, but with spectacular views and a sharp drop off. 

From there, it’s all downhill. I hit the peak of Pinnacle Mountain at about 2:10, and took the last 4 miles pretty conservatively, stopping to eat and drink. Almost all of it is very runnable, only breaking stride in a couple of little creek crossings. I sat in a deeper creek for about 5 minutes a little more than a half mile from the end of the run; the cool water felt great on my quads and a tingly left IT band. 

I felt good about this run. After a longer but much less steep Dupont waterfall run, a run with lots of sustained climbing felt great. 

Sun 9/2  2 miles, plus yard work. More tired than I originally thought.

Total: 19 miles in 4 runs. Saturday’s run should definitely be counted by time rather than mileage. So far I’m good with my goal of running every day in September. I've stayed on top of the daily eating, figuring that I can't let myself get depleted at any point. So far, that's been a good strategy.

I’ll see where I am in a couple of weeks before deciding on races for the next year, but I have 50K in October somewhere in mind, and I’ll definitely run the Camp Croft Half-Marathon in November, and possibly a 50k in December. I plan to pay closer attention to Uwharrie Mountain Run sign-ups for the February 40 miler, which filled in less than 3 hours last year.