Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Friday, September 16, 2011
This Summer !!!
I have been remiss in my duty to post here on my running adventures this summer so i will do a quick
run down on the summer.
I gave Old Domion my best shot and enjoyed running in the Massanuttens immensly. Thing is i really REALLY slowed down once i hit the long slow uphill at Duncan Hollow. I was not able to go very fast after Duncan Hollow. I kept on going to 47 and to 54 and even though i knew i would not be able to make the cutoff at Elizabeths Furnace at 75 miles i kept on going to 64 mile to Little Fort. The experience of running through that countryside with all the flowers was unforgetable. The last bit of my run which was through the ATV trail was the slowest and best. The mountain Laurel was everywhere and i got to see the sun set. Running on that trail/road through the darkness was mesmerizing.
Vermont was wonderful, no it was amazing. Except for renting a car because our car is really really old and beat up, we did it on a very tight budget. We camped and brought most of the food we would eat over the weekend. We napped in the car driving the way up and on the way back.
The race went so so well. The strategy i planned worked to a T, though i got a little slow in the 45-55 mile part of the race. My pacer, Mellissa was the best. I could not hope for a better companion and helper for the last 30 miles of the run. Melissa, if you are reading this - i am forever greatful.
I planned to finish just under 30 hours and to do the last 30 miles in about 10 hours. I finished in 29:46 and did the last 30 miles in a little under 10 hours. I finished next to last. The most memorable things about Vermont were running with Melissa as a pacer, running with Tammie Massie and Tammie Bagdasarian for good bits, the lovely sweet berries and running on a moonlight night with lights turned off.
I was sore the week after the race but the next weekend i was back to doing long (20 mile runs slowly).
2 weeks later i was back at Maryland Heights doing lovely mountain repeats ;-)
Soon after the Vermont 100 i made up my mind to try Grindstone. I figured that with trails smoother than Massanutten and a 38 hour time limit i might have a shadow of a chance to finish the run. Even if i did not finish i would have a great time on Shenandoah trails. I love Shenandoah trails.
Later in August my partner and i drove down to Swoope VA for me to run the Grindstone training run. For the first day i ran with Jennifer Broton who knew Karen Taber from running Cheat mountain. I truly enjoyed running that day with her. The run was supposed to be about 50K but we got in a few bonus miles.
The next day which was about 22 miles i ran alone. The run was sweet, well it was sweet until the skies broke open with torrential rain. The lightning and thunder served as amusement while i trudged through water sometimes up to my ankles. ...It was a good day but i was greatful to get to the car. I called Clark from the car to tell him i was safe as i was the last person in.
The most memorable things about the Grindstone Training run were meeting Clark Zeeland and David Horton, Running with Jennifer Broton, the amazing trails, camping and the hair raising pickup ride to the peak North of Briary Gap in Clark Zeelands truck. I think the ride was more difficult than the run ;-)
Training went well for the weeks after the Grindstone training run.
My next adventure was to attempt to run the Massanutten Ring. I begged into the ring at the last minute. I really enjoyed running with Kim for the first miles of the Ring and with Keith and his wife for a few more miles. A few miles before Camp Roosevelt i ran through a bit of grass and thought there were nettles. My right leg stung and itched pretty fiercely for the next few hours. I slowed down at about that point. When i got to Camp Roos i got food and enjoyed hanging with Gary Knipling and other VHTRC people. After Camp Roos you hit Duncan Hollow. Unlike Massanutten where you turn off at the gap creek trail or Old Dominion where you turn off at the Scothorn Gap trail in the Ring you go up to the top, then down and then up the very steep Waterfall mountain. For some reason every time i have been in Duncan Hollow i have slowed down, a lot. This was no exception. I enjoyed it a lot. I especially enjoyed the steep climb up Waterfall Mountain. The climb up Waterfall brings you to Chrissman Hollow Rd where there is an aid station. I spent a good amount of time at that aid station eating and fixing the blisters on my feet. I had 3 hours or so to go the next 6.4 miles over Kerns Mountain. I got to see the sun set up there and i was left in the dark on Kerns Mt. It felt like i was going fast but i was not. I would periodically see what looked like little gems - when i investigated a couple of these gems i found that they were drops of water held in the jaws of pretty big black or brown spiders. There were lots of them. Though it felt like i was going fast over K. Mt, i was not. I was in a reverie enjoying the place. When i got to Moorland Gap, Laura was there and i was told i had timed out. They said if i had a crew i could go on but Laura was diving the next day so we went home. ....Another great day in the Massanuttens !
The bite on my leg continued to get bigger and my leg swelled up a lot. I almost went to the Dr but it improved. Its about 2 weeks later and i have a red spot and an area that is hard around the bite. Not sure what bit me but i am thinking it might have been one of the many spiders i saw.
This past weekend i did another last minute run entry. I entered Stumpy's Xtreme trail marathon, which is a Trail Dawgs event. I had a gas ! We ran over nice rolling trails. We ran through a river. We bushwhacked a bit. We ran through streams and mud. At the end i got to run 5 miles or so with Greta Dobe. A great Day.
That brings us up to today. ...Well it's 5 days after the Marathon and i am doing great ;-)
---- Marina
run down on the summer.
I gave Old Domion my best shot and enjoyed running in the Massanuttens immensly. Thing is i really REALLY slowed down once i hit the long slow uphill at Duncan Hollow. I was not able to go very fast after Duncan Hollow. I kept on going to 47 and to 54 and even though i knew i would not be able to make the cutoff at Elizabeths Furnace at 75 miles i kept on going to 64 mile to Little Fort. The experience of running through that countryside with all the flowers was unforgetable. The last bit of my run which was through the ATV trail was the slowest and best. The mountain Laurel was everywhere and i got to see the sun set. Running on that trail/road through the darkness was mesmerizing.
Vermont was wonderful, no it was amazing. Except for renting a car because our car is really really old and beat up, we did it on a very tight budget. We camped and brought most of the food we would eat over the weekend. We napped in the car driving the way up and on the way back.
The race went so so well. The strategy i planned worked to a T, though i got a little slow in the 45-55 mile part of the race. My pacer, Mellissa was the best. I could not hope for a better companion and helper for the last 30 miles of the run. Melissa, if you are reading this - i am forever greatful.
I planned to finish just under 30 hours and to do the last 30 miles in about 10 hours. I finished in 29:46 and did the last 30 miles in a little under 10 hours. I finished next to last. The most memorable things about Vermont were running with Melissa as a pacer, running with Tammie Massie and Tammie Bagdasarian for good bits, the lovely sweet berries and running on a moonlight night with lights turned off.
I was sore the week after the race but the next weekend i was back to doing long (20 mile runs slowly).
2 weeks later i was back at Maryland Heights doing lovely mountain repeats ;-)
Soon after the Vermont 100 i made up my mind to try Grindstone. I figured that with trails smoother than Massanutten and a 38 hour time limit i might have a shadow of a chance to finish the run. Even if i did not finish i would have a great time on Shenandoah trails. I love Shenandoah trails.
Later in August my partner and i drove down to Swoope VA for me to run the Grindstone training run. For the first day i ran with Jennifer Broton who knew Karen Taber from running Cheat mountain. I truly enjoyed running that day with her. The run was supposed to be about 50K but we got in a few bonus miles.
The next day which was about 22 miles i ran alone. The run was sweet, well it was sweet until the skies broke open with torrential rain. The lightning and thunder served as amusement while i trudged through water sometimes up to my ankles. ...It was a good day but i was greatful to get to the car. I called Clark from the car to tell him i was safe as i was the last person in.
The most memorable things about the Grindstone Training run were meeting Clark Zeeland and David Horton, Running with Jennifer Broton, the amazing trails, camping and the hair raising pickup ride to the peak North of Briary Gap in Clark Zeelands truck. I think the ride was more difficult than the run ;-)
Training went well for the weeks after the Grindstone training run.
My next adventure was to attempt to run the Massanutten Ring. I begged into the ring at the last minute. I really enjoyed running with Kim for the first miles of the Ring and with Keith and his wife for a few more miles. A few miles before Camp Roosevelt i ran through a bit of grass and thought there were nettles. My right leg stung and itched pretty fiercely for the next few hours. I slowed down at about that point. When i got to Camp Roos i got food and enjoyed hanging with Gary Knipling and other VHTRC people. After Camp Roos you hit Duncan Hollow. Unlike Massanutten where you turn off at the gap creek trail or Old Dominion where you turn off at the Scothorn Gap trail in the Ring you go up to the top, then down and then up the very steep Waterfall mountain. For some reason every time i have been in Duncan Hollow i have slowed down, a lot. This was no exception. I enjoyed it a lot. I especially enjoyed the steep climb up Waterfall Mountain. The climb up Waterfall brings you to Chrissman Hollow Rd where there is an aid station. I spent a good amount of time at that aid station eating and fixing the blisters on my feet. I had 3 hours or so to go the next 6.4 miles over Kerns Mountain. I got to see the sun set up there and i was left in the dark on Kerns Mt. It felt like i was going fast but i was not. I would periodically see what looked like little gems - when i investigated a couple of these gems i found that they were drops of water held in the jaws of pretty big black or brown spiders. There were lots of them. Though it felt like i was going fast over K. Mt, i was not. I was in a reverie enjoying the place. When i got to Moorland Gap, Laura was there and i was told i had timed out. They said if i had a crew i could go on but Laura was diving the next day so we went home. ....Another great day in the Massanuttens !
The bite on my leg continued to get bigger and my leg swelled up a lot. I almost went to the Dr but it improved. Its about 2 weeks later and i have a red spot and an area that is hard around the bite. Not sure what bit me but i am thinking it might have been one of the many spiders i saw.
This past weekend i did another last minute run entry. I entered Stumpy's Xtreme trail marathon, which is a Trail Dawgs event. I had a gas ! We ran over nice rolling trails. We ran through a river. We bushwhacked a bit. We ran through streams and mud. At the end i got to run 5 miles or so with Greta Dobe. A great Day.
That brings us up to today. ...Well it's 5 days after the Marathon and i am doing great ;-)
---- Marina
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Excited about Vermont
We have bought our cheap tent, a camp stove and some camp cookware. We have
packed most of our clothing. We have rented a car.
My partner is picking me up from work at 5 and we are either going to spend an
hour waiting for traffic to die down or we are going to head out braving traffic.
Either way we are going to try to take naps in rest stops along the way rather than
paying for a motel. We hope to arrive in VT early Friday Morning and set up our
tent and sleep until it is time for the pre-race briefing. I wish they would do these
briefings just before the race rather than the day before. It makes these things more expensive having to be there the day before.
Anyway - we are going to enjoy ourselves !
My plan for the race is to go out slowly and average 16 minute miles for the first
70 miles and then slow down to 20 minutes per mile over the more rugged last 30. I have a pacer for the last 30 miles. It will be a new experience. I have been a
pacer but i have never had a pacer - well i did at Old Dominion but i did not make
it to 75 miles where i would have run with her.
---- Marina
packed most of our clothing. We have rented a car.
My partner is picking me up from work at 5 and we are either going to spend an
hour waiting for traffic to die down or we are going to head out braving traffic.
Either way we are going to try to take naps in rest stops along the way rather than
paying for a motel. We hope to arrive in VT early Friday Morning and set up our
tent and sleep until it is time for the pre-race briefing. I wish they would do these
briefings just before the race rather than the day before. It makes these things more expensive having to be there the day before.
Anyway - we are going to enjoy ourselves !
My plan for the race is to go out slowly and average 16 minute miles for the first
70 miles and then slow down to 20 minutes per mile over the more rugged last 30. I have a pacer for the last 30 miles. It will be a new experience. I have been a
pacer but i have never had a pacer - well i did at Old Dominion but i did not make
it to 75 miles where i would have run with her.
---- Marina
Thursday, June 30, 2011
A little humour - what happened to me on my lunchtime walk yesterday
In the early summer and late spring my training is quite a bit slower than other
times of the year. It's not because of the heat or the humidity. I train so slow that
all that does is speed up my rather slow heart rate. What slows me down are temptations that abound this time of year. BERRIES !!!!
I have been enjoying black raspberries, blackberries, wine berries and an occasional mulberry for a few months. After lunch i usually go for a 1 mile walk to keep my legs from stiffening up. Yesterday was nothing unusual. I went for my walk. My walk takes me a half mile out on a bike path and back. On a few portions of the trail, the trail is raised above the ground around it. On one of these raised sections i saw an area where people had beaten down the undergrowth to get to a blackberry patch. I looked at the patch and saw a few berries further away from the trail. I reached and got one. I saw another and i reached further. I saw another one even further away and i put my leg out behind me to balance myself to get it .....and i fell face first into the blackberry patch with my head much lower than my feet because of the embankment. I just laid there for a moment while i though of how to get loose. First i tried to turn on my back and managed it but still my feet were way higher than my head and i was tangled in the briars. I tried to sit up - i could but i could not GET up so i slowly tried to angle my feet downwards by turning in an arc. Every effort only gained me a miniscule result because of the awkward position i was in and because of
the briars. It reminded me of falling down on snowshoes with a heavy pack in deep soft snow. After struggling a while - not sure how long a woman peered over
the embankment and said "do you need some help". I said yes and thanked her profusely. It still was not that easy to get out of the briar patch but she managed to help me out. When i was out i started walking with her. She was walking at a
very respectable pace - probably around 14:00/mile. She told me that she saw something off the embankment and went back to look at it and found me. She must have passed the sad pile of cloth the first time.
When i got out i was covered with smashed blackberries and i had thorns all over.
It was hilarious, though i will remember this incident and be more careful picking berries. If it had not been for that woman i might have had to call my partner to come and save me ;-)
---- Marina
times of the year. It's not because of the heat or the humidity. I train so slow that
all that does is speed up my rather slow heart rate. What slows me down are temptations that abound this time of year. BERRIES !!!!
I have been enjoying black raspberries, blackberries, wine berries and an occasional mulberry for a few months. After lunch i usually go for a 1 mile walk to keep my legs from stiffening up. Yesterday was nothing unusual. I went for my walk. My walk takes me a half mile out on a bike path and back. On a few portions of the trail, the trail is raised above the ground around it. On one of these raised sections i saw an area where people had beaten down the undergrowth to get to a blackberry patch. I looked at the patch and saw a few berries further away from the trail. I reached and got one. I saw another and i reached further. I saw another one even further away and i put my leg out behind me to balance myself to get it .....and i fell face first into the blackberry patch with my head much lower than my feet because of the embankment. I just laid there for a moment while i though of how to get loose. First i tried to turn on my back and managed it but still my feet were way higher than my head and i was tangled in the briars. I tried to sit up - i could but i could not GET up so i slowly tried to angle my feet downwards by turning in an arc. Every effort only gained me a miniscule result because of the awkward position i was in and because of
the briars. It reminded me of falling down on snowshoes with a heavy pack in deep soft snow. After struggling a while - not sure how long a woman peered over
the embankment and said "do you need some help". I said yes and thanked her profusely. It still was not that easy to get out of the briar patch but she managed to help me out. When i was out i started walking with her. She was walking at a
very respectable pace - probably around 14:00/mile. She told me that she saw something off the embankment and went back to look at it and found me. She must have passed the sad pile of cloth the first time.
When i got out i was covered with smashed blackberries and i had thorns all over.
It was hilarious, though i will remember this incident and be more careful picking berries. If it had not been for that woman i might have had to call my partner to come and save me ;-)
---- Marina
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Nice little run
Today my partner and i run the Women's distance Festival 5K in Reston. It was a lovely WELL ORGANIZED run with markings and course marshals to point the way.
When Laura runs a race with me i am pretty much always the side show no matter how fast i go. She does 5k's on crutches or in this case, trekking poles.
Today one of the runners told her that they started running because they were inspired seeing her do races even though she is disabled.
My run was good. Despite having a hurt left foot i managed to run 21:30 for 7th place overall. I was told after finishing that i was 6th place. Looking at the results it seems it skips from 5th place to 7th place. Fine by me ;-)
I won a nice lava lamp for winning the 45-49 age group.
Later in the day i crept 20.5 miles walking 3 miles of it in the hope of working
out the kinks in my legs. It turns out that it really hurts to 6:54/mile for 3.1
miles when you mostly train at 10-11 minutes/mile ....or slower. Anyway - all part of what it is to run distance ;-)
---- Marina
When Laura runs a race with me i am pretty much always the side show no matter how fast i go. She does 5k's on crutches or in this case, trekking poles.
Today one of the runners told her that they started running because they were inspired seeing her do races even though she is disabled.
My run was good. Despite having a hurt left foot i managed to run 21:30 for 7th place overall. I was told after finishing that i was 6th place. Looking at the results it seems it skips from 5th place to 7th place. Fine by me ;-)
I won a nice lava lamp for winning the 45-49 age group.
Later in the day i crept 20.5 miles walking 3 miles of it in the hope of working
out the kinks in my legs. It turns out that it really hurts to 6:54/mile for 3.1
miles when you mostly train at 10-11 minutes/mile ....or slower. Anyway - all part of what it is to run distance ;-)
---- Marina
Saturday, May 14, 2011
I got lost during a 5 k race !
I got lost during a 5 k race !
by Marina Brown on Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 1:56pm
I must get a prize for this. Getting lost during a 5k Race ! I ran a 5k race this morning with friends from work. I was doing really well staying faster than 8 minutes a mile for the first half mile then mostly faster than 7 minutes a mile til the end. At the end there was a turnoff and i was kind of out of it from the pace and i went straight where i should have turned. There was no one directing the runners. I ended up with 26:56 for 3.84 miles which is a 7:00 pace. Ah well. ;-)
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)