Posts Tagged ‘Terrapin Mountain’

As with many of my miles this year, Duke was with me for mile 1,000.

I’ve said many, many times this year how great of a year this has been for me with running. Then November came along and it all seemingly came crashing down. But I’m not going to let an injury define my year or set the stage for 2011.

There have been so many great things happen this year that my attitude about running is changed forever. 2010 has been the highest of highs and it’s time to reflect on running quadruple digits for the first time in the seven full years I’ve been running. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. I (quietly) hit 1,000 running miles in 2010 Saturday. So here it is, the highlights of my 1,000 miles of running this year …

0-2.4
Funny thing about the year with the most running miles ever … I didn’t run my first miles until Jan. 4 because I started the year off with a horrible cold and horrible weather conditions.

42.5-54.5
It’s very rare to have a non-race run to be so life-altering, but these miles covered a run/power hike on Terrapin Mountain that I didn’t think I could do. A big group of us battled wind, cold and icy conditions at the top to do this. This run set the tone for the year, putting in my head that I could do anything I set my mind to. Not that it wasn’t there before, but it became reality.

226.6-239.7
Simply put: a PR in the Shamrock Half Marathon. A goal met that was a long time coming.

This was me at the 100th mile in April. Looking back, this photo was somewhat of a wake-up call to drop a few pounds. Besides my beard, I can see the difference in my mile 1,000 photo and this one.

257.8-359
Talk about doing anything I set my mind to, the April streak is the highlight of my year. While I had PRs and climbed mountains, running at least a mile a day for 30 straight days was one of the most self-satisfying things I’ve ever done in my seven years of running. Speaking of PRs and climbing mountains, during my streak I set a PR in a 5k by one second (miles 310.2-313.3) and ran a half marathon that climbed Roanoke Mountain (miles 325.1-336.2). I also ran just before and after midnight for two of those days during Relay for Life. Looking back, April 2010 was the single best running month ever. Expect another streak in 2011.

435.8-437.5
Not all these miles have to be good — this was my DNF in a trail half marathon in June. While I was sick for much of that week, I learned that it’s OK to not finish if the body doesn’t allow it. My DNF was so much better than a DNS. I gave it a shot; that’s all I could do that day.

514-515
One measly mile, but it was oh-so fast. The 6:15 in the Academy Mile was surprising, and to this day I think I could have done better.

647-660.1
It’s strange how many humbling runs I’ve had this year, and the Lynchburg Half Marathon in August is no exception. It was a wake-up call that I needed to step-up my training a bit. A GIANT hill in the middle killed any thoughts of having a good race and it made me realize that I had to stop taking hills for granted. But I finished with my son in my hands, and that was what made this so special.

810.6-820.6
Not a PR, but I survived some late race heat to put in a good performance at the Virginia 10 Miler, a pretty much unplanned race. Looking back, I know I could have set a PR had I not had an 18-miler the week before. Maybe, just maybe, this becomes a big focus for 2011.

835.6-855.6
The first 20-miler of my Richmond Marathon training session was also a bit humbling. Looking back, I still don’t know what to say about it. Each long run this summer was special with hitting distances I haven’t hit in 3 years. It makes it even more special now knowing that I’m not going to do it again anytime soon.

901.6-921.6
The second 20-miler, which set the stage for the injury I have now. I clearly remember the last big hill in that run and my knee starting to ache a bit. Had I stopped that run at around 18 miles instead of pushing it, who knows what could have happened the rest of the year. But I can’t play the “what if” game. It’s another lesson in listening to my body that I so easily forget.

966.6-992.8
I’ve well documented the Richmond Marathon and how that went and how things have gone since then, but looking back a month later, I wouldn’t have done anything differently. If I lived and ran in hindsight, I would be doing myself a disservice. It’s done and I’ve moved on. So many of you out there who have injuries and regrets with running need to do the same thing.

999.2-1,000
It’s not even a whole mile, but this Saturday I hit 1,000 running miles for the year. Since the marathon, I’ve ran a few tenths here and there, only logging a mile or more just a couple of times. It certainly didn’t happen like I thought it would or when it would or any of that once I knew it would happen, but now that I’ve hit the mark I don’t care. I did it. 1,000 miles. Quadruple digits.

To mark the occasion, I took my dog, Duke, to the nearby middle school to run the final bit on a field where I ran my very first “official” mile when I was in 4th or 5th grade. Fittingly, it was cloudy, cold and windy, like so many of my runs in the first couple of months in the year.

I ran the final few tenths of a mile on a flat field at the Bedford Middle School, site of my first ever timed mile 20+ years ago.

So there you have it. You won’t see a 2010 recap or top 10 list from me in the next couple of weeks because this is it. This IS my year of running. I may run another mile here or there, but these are the best and worst of what the year had to offer. A year ago at this time I was ready for 2010 to be “my” year — a redefining sort of year. And to reflect on this year, I must say that it was my year.

Somewhere along the way in my blogging I stopped doing some sort of monthly reflection. And now that I’m back in full training mode, I think I’ve done myself a disservice doing that. Even in a down time, I think I should take a look back at the previous four plus weeks to look at the lessons learned, enjoy my successes one more time, figure out what went wrong and then forge ahead.

That being said, this January has been one of the craziest months I’ve experienced in a long time for many different reasons. It didn’t start well at all — I had a horrible cold and didn’t get in my first run until Jan. 4 — all of two miles. My big goal for the month was to do 31 exercises in 31 days — “31 in 31” as I called it — but that kind of fell apart after my big mountain run and was pretty beat up for a few days. However, I think it failed for more reasons than that — I didn’t plan well enough for it. Next time I try to do something like that, I have to plan it out better. Poor planning leads to poor results and I honestly did a poor job with that.

For a while this month, I was rolling along with the 100 push-ups program, but after falling in the mountains, my elbow was pretty sore for a few days, so I decided to take a week off with that. Things feel better now, so I hope that in February I can finally roll along with the program again. January surely wasn’t a complete disaster with this though — I did 591 push-ups overall.

January’s biggest highlight has been with my running. When Jan. 1 hit, I decided that it was time to move on from the previous two years. For me 2010 was a complete new start and that there was no need to compare this year to previous years. It’s not the easiest thing to do that, but I’ve pretty much have. It’s quite liberating to look ahead instead of looking behind. I think a once-a-month reflection, and a big once-a-year review, is enough.

So with running, I can simply look at my mileage — 75.3 — and be happy with that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled about passing 75 miles for the first month of the year. But those 75-plus miles have been through a bad cold, through cold weather, in shorts, in pants, in rain, in some pretty decent weather, through ice over a mountain and in the past two days through snow. I’ve done things I had no idea I could do, and I’ve done many things I simply wouldn’t normally do. Yesterday’s 2.5-mile run through snow and temperatures in the mid-teens put the icing on the cake for this month.

The next time I’m ready to make an excuse, all I have to do is look back at January 2010 to know that no excuse is good enough. It’s hard to believe all this has happened in the span of 31 days … here’s to the next 334 being just as great.

Here are a few photos from yesterday’s snow run. By the time it was over, we were just shy of another foot of snow.

Three days removed from the Terrapin Mountain adventure, I’m almost over my soreness. I had a nice short recovery run last night, am taking tonight off and will continue with a planned long run tomorrow night of 9-10 miles. I’m still all giddy about that run/hike the other day, but perhaps the most surprising thing is how sore I’ve been.

While some of the soreness is due to the fact I probably could have waited a month to do that, I’m also discovering what it’s like to recover from running on rocks and falling on ice and leaves. While my elbow soreness is going away slowly, my legs are sore in completely different places. It felt weird yesterday to walk around. Today it’s just a dull soreness that will be gone by the morning.

I continue to be bummed about dropping my “31 in 31″ plan and 100 push-ups for at least this week, but it is what it is. I can’t let that get me down when I have so much more going for me right now. I haven’t felt this great about running in a few years, so I have to take this momentum and roll with it.

A few days ago I ran 8 miles in the rain. What’s next? Climbing mountains? Yup.

Today I met up with a group of people to run Terrapin Mountain in Bedford County, Va. It’s funny that I grew up in Bedford and have spent much of my life in the area, but I’m completely unfamiliar with the names of the mountains beyond Sharp Top and Flat Top. I’ve spent a lot of time on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so these areas are familiar to me — I just never took the time to learn more about them. Anyway, the idea today was to pretty much tackle the half marathon course for upcoming races on the mountain.

Until today, I really haven’t tackled trails too much. I’ve done a few runs and races on trails … but not a mountain. Not something with a 3,200-foot elevation change. What a huge difference that really is. My friend Travis has been talking up this mountain and other trail races for a while and how different it was — he always explained it as a run/power walk/hike. I thought, walking? Hiking? That’s not running. But after today, I’m a big believer in this method of working out — running to a hill, power walking it, running when you can. That’s really the best way to explain it.

But there is so much more, especially today. A couple of miles into it, I was surprised that we had to cross a creek with no rocks to really step on — yes, my feet were getting wet weather I wanted them to or not. Then as we gradually climbed the mountain, things got a little icy and then suddenly we were going through an ice machine. The ice that was at the top of this mountain was like fast food ice. We had to climb up it, then across it and then down it. I seriously had to remember some of my skiing moves to avoid busting my butt.

That didn’t stop me — or others — from busting my butt though. I did it twice. The first fall was on the ice and I scraped my leg up a bit; my second fall was later on some crazy wet leaves that left my right elbow and shoulder aching. Then there was also leftover snow from last month’s /storm that we had to go through that left cuts on the front of my legs.

On the way down the mountain there were some smaller creeks, which allowed me to refill my water bottle. Then toward the end of the trail there was a final creek to pass through — similar to the first one, only bigger. Like water up to your knees bigger.

Aside from the workout, there were two or three spots that just had some breath-taking views. They were the kind of views that just make you appreciate life — it’s tough to find the right words.

All told this was a 12-mile adventure. Besides some soreness with my legs, I feel great. It’ll be a while before I decide whether I want to do this again or not. Right now I’m just happy that I did it.

I’ve had two runs this week completely out of normal for me. I thought an 8-miler in the rain was crazy enough; today was just wild. These types of runs are ones that change my thinking; they change my routine; they change my focus. This is the boost I’ve been looking for since … well, I’m not sure when. It’s been too long.