Tag: photo

The Illinois Marathon

For the second time in my life I’ve run a half hour PR and been bitterly disappointed afterward. I’m glad I finished the marathon. I’m glad I ran it faster than any other marathon I’ve run before. I could have run faster. I just fucked it up.

Rob at start line

Rob wrapped in a garbage bag trying to stay warm before the marathon

Bun in the oven

Melissa & Fig ready to run the 5K

One would think I would have learned my lesson after road marathon #1. Then again after road marathon #2. But I didn’t. I started the Illinois marathon too fast, and as a result I finished rather spectacularly (and not the good kind of spectacular).

Marathon & half marathon start

Marathon & half marathon start

My goal for the race was 3:05, which I still believe was reasonable. However, in the back of my mind I thought there was a chance I could run 3:00, which was probably a bit of a stretch. So when I ran the first few miles on pace for a 3:00 finish I wasn’t too worried. It felt easy. Really easy. It felt like I could run that pace all day. Sometimes the mind and the body don’t always agree on these things.

Rob 3 miles into marathon

Rob gives the thumbs up at mile 3

The first half of the race flew by. I was cranking out 6:50-6:55 miles like clockwork. I ran a very steady pace and I was passing many runners who slowed significantly after the first few miles. I first saw my parents around mile 3 and I was feeling great. The course wound through Meadowbrook Park, through Urbana residential neighborhoods, and back to campus. I saw my parents again at mile 9 and I still felt great.

Rob 9 miles into the marathon

Rob still gives the thumbs up at mile 9

After crossing campus we ran through downtown Champaign where the half marathoners split off from the marathoners. Most of the runners around me turned off, though one guy I had been running with for six miles or so forged ahead. We ran side by side for over an hour, though never spoke a word to each other. Shortly after mile 11 we passed the Melissa’s friends from the Anthropology department who were partying at a professor’s house. Melissa, by this time finished with the 5K, wanted to be there by the time I passed but she hadn’t quite made it yet. She was behind schedule and I was ahead of schedule. No matter. There would be other opportunities for her to watch.

Around mile 12 the running was no longer easy. I still maintained my steady pace, but it was taking more and more effort. My thigh muscles started to hurt. This didn’t happen in any of my training runs. At this point it set in that I had been running too fast, but I didn’t slow down. I stubbornly continued.

My anonymous friend and I passed the half marathon mark at 1:30:15. I had been planning/hoping to feel fresh at this point in the race, but I was far from fresh. I glanced at my heart rate monitor which read 180, well above my aerobic threshold. My muscles were consuming oxygen faster than my heart and lungs could supply it. The only way to overcome this deficit is to slow down. Significantly.

Still on pace at mile 14, I began to struggle mentally. I knew I had no chance of maintaining this pace for the rest of the race. What would my fallback strategy be? 15 miles in I began to crack. I lost contact with my buddy as I slowed for the first time. Mile 16 was my slowest of the race so far… until mile 17… then until 18… I was on a downward spiral. My quads were screaming out in pain like nothing I had felt for years… perhaps since my last road marathon. Every step was painful.

Around mile 18.5 one of my training partners, Chris, flew past me. We had similar abilities, training, & goals, but he ran a wise race while I did not. He tried to motivate me as he passed, but it was too late.

I knew it wouldn’t be much longer until the 3:10 pace group caught up with me. I hoped I could hold them off until mile 23 or so at which point I hoped maybe I could pull it together for the last 3 miles and tag along. 3:10 is my Boston Marathon qualifying time. I honestly thought I would have no trouble finishing under 3:10, but as the miles (slowly) passed it was looking less and less likely. They finally passed me at mile 21 and I was unable to lift my pace even the slightest bit. This was the lowest point in the race for me. I felt like a complete failure.

Rob 21 miles into marathon

The 3:10 pace group passes a fading Rob

About a block later I had my biggest cheering section of the race. Melissa, friends, and family were there to cheer me on. I felt so terrible I couldn’t even bear to look them in the eyes. Sorry guys, I know you were trying to help. Mile 21 was my slowest mile of the race.

Rob 22 miles into marathon

Rob shuffles along at mile 22

I didn’t give another thought to my finishing time for the remainder of the race. I no longer cared. I was in agony, but I knew I just had to keep moving forward for just a few more miles. I walked through each aid station while drinking water & Gatorade. Drinking while running is not comfortable. On the other hand, the first few steps running at this point were excruciating. I was willing to live with the tradeoff.

The last 2-3 miles I began to come back to life. I actually sped up a little bit. Many people were still passing me, but for the first time in 10 miles I passed other runners. I skipped the final aid station at mile 25. I felt like I was on a roll and I couldn’t be bothered with slowing and/or stopping. The final mile down Pennsylvania Ave. felt like it was in slow motion. Once on Kirby Ave. I dodged some half marathoners as the two races re-merged. Then came the ramp down to the football field. It was steeper than I imagined and running down it killed my legs, but there was no stopping me at this point.

Rob after final turn

Rob rounds the final turn

Rob finishing on big screen

Rob’s image on the scoreboard

I ran a lap around the football field before lining up for the final drag into the finishing chute. My image appeared on the scoreboard during those last few moments. I finished in 3:22:15, a half hour faster than my previous fastest marathon 6 years ago.

Rob & Melissa getting food

Melissa & Rob post-race

Once I stopped running my muscles tightened up even worse. I was barely able to walk. I required assistance walking up the stairs off the football field. I was freezing cold after I stopped running so my dad gave me his coat to wear. Melissa & I grabbed a quick bite to eat before hobbling out to the parking lot to head home. The marathon was not pretty, and neither was the trip home.

Marathon finisher medal

I think I’ve done a pretty decent job explaining many of the things that went horribly wrong for me in this race. But it certainly wasn’t all bad. In the interest of ending on a high note I’ll enumerate some of the good things.

The race was very well organized, particularly for a first year event. My family and friends were very supportive of me. The crowds were great. The course was excellent. I trained very well and I was very physically prepared (though apparently not mentally). I did finish. I did get a half hour PR. 3:22 is a pretty good time for a marathon, even if I could run faster.

So how long will it be before my next half hour PR?

(Many thanks to Melissa and Barb for the photos.)

The Frederick Marathon

After the 2003 Washington D.C. Marathon debacle, Melissa & I decided to run the Frederick Marathon in Frederick, MD (just outside of D.C.). It would be her first marathon (the debut) and my second (the redemption). This race was only one week after we planned to run D.C. so the change in plans didn’t really affect our training that much.

Neither of us had ever been to D.C. before, so we went there first to see the sights. The day before the marathon the sun was shining and the temperature was 70˚. We awoke the next morning for the race only to find rainy weather with a temperature of 33˚. And dropping. It’s always something.

The marathon was fairly small (452 finishers). As we lined up at the starting line the rain turned to snow, and it continued to shower us for the next four hours. The race started well. For the first 8-10 miles I was slightly faster than my target pace of 8:00 per mile (3:30 marathon pace) and I felt great, despite the cold and wet conditions.

Rob near mile 12 of Frederick Marathon

struggling with gel packet

Around mile 10-12 I tried to eat an energy gel packet handed to my by a race volunteer but I quickly realized my hands were too frozen to work properly. I couldn’t squeeze the packet hard enough to tear the top off. Not a good sign. A little while later I was looking down at the ground for a few seconds and a huge pile of snow fell off the bill of my hat. I hadn’t realized just how hard it was snowing.

Melissa near half of Frederick Marathon

This whole time I was learning the hard way that Maryland is much, much hillier than central Illinois. The Washington D.C. Marathon course was flat. This one, not so much. Around mile 16 we headed out of town into the country, where the hills were worse and the wind was howling. This was the absolute low point of the race, as the conditions were truly miserable.

I was slowing down considerably, but I felt okay until mile 21 or so when I completely bonked. Not good, but it was a whole seven miles farther than at Chicago. What is wrong with me? Can I not run a freaking marathon?

Rob at mile 24 of Frederick Marathon

I struggled the last five miles. I was soaking wet. I was freezing cold. My muscles were cramping. The race was really spread out at that point so there were no other runners around me. There were no crowds watching the race. I’m still not sure how I managed to keep going forward. I guess I knew that I would be even more uncomfortable if I stopped than I would be if I just kept going.

Rob at finish of Frederick Marathon

By the finish I was in no mood to run a full lap around the high school track before crossing the line. I mean it was right there, why would they tease us like that? I finished in 3:49:53. It was a half hour P.R. over my first marathon but I was still pretty disappointed. More importantly I was cold. Very cold.

I hobbled into the high school gym, where food and drinks awaited the runners. I could barely move my legs. I wanted to sit down on the floor but I was so sore I couldn’t bend my knees enough to even do a controlled fall. And I didn’t want to simply collapse. I was shivering. A volunteer took pity on me and mentioned that I could take a hot shower in the locker room. I was unable to get undressed so I just stood under the hot water with all of my clothes on. I’m pretty sure I had mild hypothermia.

Melissa at mile 26 of Frederick Marathon

What happened after that is kind of a blur to me. I remember having a difficult time finding Melissa, who finished a little while later. I remember wanting to put on warm, dry clothes, but they were all the way across the parking lot in our car and I could barely move. It was truly a miserable experience, though it still wasn’t as bad as the first marathon.

Frederick Marathon finisher certificate

Frederick in 2003 was the last road marathon I ran. I have since run a trail marathon (which also took place in a snow storm) and a few ultras. Frederick is still my P.R. In both of my first two marathons I was very unsure of my abilities and scared of the distance. Older and wiser, I’ve learned some lessons. I have a good feeling about Saturday.

The Hillsboro Roubaix Road Race

I’ll start this blog post with something I’d never thought I’d write. What a beautiful April day in Illinois. Sunny, clear skies, 65˚, calm winds, perfect.

Wild Card Cycling

Yesterday I participated in my first cycling race of the year in Hillsboro, Illinois, about half way between Springfield and St. Louis. Long time readers may recall I also did this race last year. Hillsboro Roubaix has two distinguishing features. First, it has some hills. They’re not huge, but they’re far larger than anything we have around Champaign-Urbana. Second, about half of the finishing circuit takes place on brick roads.

Luke & Mark

Luke and Mark before the race

This was my first race as a category 4 rider, as I upgraded from cat 5 over the winter. My Wild Card Cycling teammates and I started in good position near the front. The speed was quick, but reasonable at the beginning. I stayed in the second quarter of the riders for most of the first lap (of two laps total). Not much exciting happened. I was concentrating mostly on staying upright in such a large group of riders. Our field did a pretty good job at respecting the yellow line rule (the roads were open to traffic, so we were supposed to stay on the right half of the road) for the first 2/3 or so of the first lap, then all hell broke loose when dozens and dozens of riders started moving up through the field on the far left side. So much for rules.

Rob, Mark, Tom, & Luke begin the second lap. Photo by John Bennett.

At the end of the first lap there were two good sized hills and the finishing brick road circuit. This is where the race really heated up. I rode well up the hills, miraculously dodging the dozens of slower riders who started the climbs ahead of me. I was in terrific position (about 15 riders back) as the leaders hammered through the brick roads, down the hill, and back out of town.

Hillsboro speed

The race was particularly intense between miles 20-30

The next several miles we had a slight tailwind and many riders tried to escape off the front. Miles 20-30 were the hardest of the race, aside from the final 2 miles. I maintained my position, closing gaps as they arose. The attacks decreased when we turned into the crosswind. I couldn’t see any of my teammates, so I wasn’t sure who was still in the lead group. Eventually I found Tom, and a while later I found Luke still there.

On the way back into town I tried to move up through the field to be in good position for the final two hills. Unfortunately, everyone else was trying to do the same thing, so it was kind of a wash. The first hill went reasonably well, lots of riders fell off the pace and I was able to move up quite a bit. As we sped up between the two hills there was somewhat dangerous situation as a car stopped in the middle of our lane just as everyone was ready to race really hard. We all swerved around it at the base of the final hill.

Hillsboro elevation

The course had a number of hills in the 75-100 foot range

The last hill started well enough, but mid-way up I had to slow way down. I just got stuck behind the wrong people. They were going so much slower than me and I couldn’t get around them. I had to completely stop pedaling three times and slow down to avoid running into them. Then I would be in the wrong gear for the slower speed. It was incredibly frustrating. Meanwhile a group of 10 or so riders (including Tom) were pulling away and I would have no chance of catching them.

Tom and Rob begin the last hill. Photo by John Bennett.

We reached the top of the hill, hit a hard left turn, then hammered down the final descent onto the brick roads. I was pushing a monster gear down this hill at well over 40 mph. I made the mistake of taking the next turn on the inside. I had to slow way down but I didn’t shift out of my huge gear, so couldn’t accelerate fast enough out of the corner. I lost contact with the small pack I was riding with (including Luke) at this point, and I was several seconds ahead of the next group. Since I was completely isolated I wasn’t able to catch back up to the group ahead of me (who were all working together). I think I may have passed a couple of them who sat up before the finish line.

Cat 4 results

I finished 19th place out of 100 riders. The race was much harder for me than the race last year for a number of reasons, mostly because the field was very large and all the riders were very good. Last year’s field was much smaller and had a much lower percentage of strong riders. Here’s a quick comparison:

2008 2009
Cat 5 4
Distance 22 miles 44 miles
Avg speed 20.6 mph 22.8 mph
Avg heart rate 151* 156
Max heart rate 181 184
Field size 50 100
Placing 6 19

* Hmm. I thought my average heart rate was much lower last year. Once I caught back up with the lead pack I was unable to move up through the group and hence sat on the back doing very little work. I distinctly remember looking down at my heart rate monitor during the middle part of the race and reading 110.

Since all the races were going on at the same time I missed the finish of the cat 5 race (four teammates) and the Women’s cat 4 race (two teammates), both of which did one lap. I was able to catch the finish of the Masters division (three teammates), which raced three laps (66 miles).

Greg finishing Masters 50+

Greg

Martin finishing Masters 40+

Martin

Gene finishing Masters 40+

Gene

As far as Wild Card Cycling goes, we didn’t dominate this race like we did in last year’s cat 5, but it was fairly solid. I was pleased with my performance, even if I could have placed a few positions higher with better luck. Here’s the full team results:

Mens cat 5:
-----------
 5 Alexei Perelet
 9 Scott Dahman
19 Nick Hand
31 Art Hess

Womens cat 4:
-------------
11 Becky Chan
15 Anona Whitley

Mens cat 4:
-----------
  9 Tom Carlson
 17 Luke Taggart
 19 Rob Raguet-Schofield
 38 Mark French
DNF Dan Sochacki
DNF Karl Crapse

Mens masters 40+
----------------
38 Martin Gruebele
44 Gene McDowell

Mens masters 50+
----------------
17 Greg Youngen

The Hardman

A friend pointed me to this humorous blog post discussing various types of bicycle commuters. As many of you know I’ve commuted to work by bike for a number of years. Since we’ve been back from Nicaragua I’ve only driven a car to work three times, and all three of those times I was transporting large and/or heavy objects.

Back to the types of commuters. I’ve certainly seen each of these types of commuters before, which is why I found the article so funny. Clearly, I fall somewhere between The Pro and The Hardman.

The PRO

That’s right – YOU. You didn’t think you were gonna get out of it so easily, did you? You’re the only one who thinks you’re the coolest kat in town. You’re the guy who gets all kitted up, pins a number on, rides the Zipps, and has an espresso flavored powergel on your way to work. But I’m sure you have good reason to ride in like this…It could be because you have a race after work, you need to take your bike to the shop at lunch, or it could be because you like to show to all your coworkers how PRO you are. Sorry, but we’re the only people on the planet that think spandex, shaved legs, and tiny arms look cool.

During the summer I show up to work on my race bike with shaven legs, just waiting to start my training ride after work.

The Hardman

This is the guy who hasn’t missed a day of commuting to work since 1993. This is a badge of honor to this steed and everyone at work talks about him around the lunch table like he could win the Tour de France. You pipe up every time and try to make them understand that he is not as PRO as you are and that you’re in fact the much more dedicated cyclist.

I also ride all winter long. I don’t hesitate to grab the bike lock keys, rather than the car keys, on my way to work in 5˚ weather.

El fuego en la nieve

The one day this past winter I didn’t ride to work wasn’t because I didn’t try. The roads were covered with ice, I fell, bruised my hip, and limped back home. I worked remotely that day.

Icy streets

The End of March

Photo of the Day

March calendar

Blog

The top searches that lead to my blog in March were:

  1. my name is rob
  2. camel clutch
  3. time lapse photography 555 timer circuits
  4. dahon helios
  5. bike friday pocket rocket

Camel clutch

I’ll note that my Flickr photo was on the first page of Google results for “camel clutch” and my blog entry was on the second page of results. So I’ve been getting some pro wrestling traffic.

Other humorous searches include:

  • $5 camera
  • jerry seinfeld hair
  • steamy novel
  • 5 men walking at same pace riddle
  • fallking
  • short shorts boy 1980

Interesting stuff.

Cycling

Jay descends into Makanda

Despite the lousy Smarch weather the past few days, we had some decent weather earlier in the month and I was able to increase my cycling mileage.

March 2009

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 45.5 Mile 11 4.13636 Mile
Pocket Rocket 34.7 Mile 8 4.3375 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 331.7 Mile 7 47.3857 Mile
Total 411.9 Mile 26 15.8423 Mile

Jan – March 2009

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 189.5 Mile 41 4.62195 Mile
Big Red 2. Mile 1 2. Mile
El Fuego 39.92 Mile 5 7.984 Mile
Pocket Rocket 58.5 Mile 14 4.17857 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 493.74 Mile 10 49.374 Mile
Total 783.66 Mile 71 11.0375 Mile

Running

Finishers keychain

I ramped the running mileage back up in March. I had a good race at LBL and I’ve been doing some good quality training. The marathon is only 11 days away.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.34 Mile 10 10.934 Mile
February 55.83 Mile 7 7.97571 Mile
March 108.792 Mile 10 10.8792 Mile
Total 273.962 Mile 27 10.1467 Mile

Swimming

Transparency

I wore out my Speedo

I’ve also been swimming really well lately. I’m able to swim farther and faster than at any other time in recent years. This could mean good things for the upcoming triathlon season.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 1.87452 Kilo Meter 3 0.62484 Kilo Meter
February 14.9504 Kilo Meter 6 2.49174 Kilo Meter
March 19.5224 Kilo Meter 7 2.78892 Kilo Meter
Total 36.3474 Kilo Meter 16 2.27171 Kilo Meter

The Training Camp

This past weekend was my cycling team’s training camp in southern Illinois. We spent four days riding on some very hilly roads (particularly compared to the very flat roads of Champaign County) in what turned out to be some fairly nasty weather (much like last year).

Training camp

My cabin at Giant City State Park

The ride schedule was mostly the same as last year. About half the team went down a day earlier this year to get in one additional ride. We started out on Thursday from Giant City State Park and did a quick climb from Makanda up to route 51. This is a two mile long climb that got the heart pumping right away. On the way back down I hit 45.3 mph trying to keep up with fearless Jay. Last year on this same hill I only hit 39.1 mph.

Jay descends into Makanda

Jay descends like an animal

From there we headed to Bald Knob, the highest point in southern Illinois. This is the same climb we would be doing on Friday, so this was just a warm up. We intended to go nice and easy, but those intentions never seem to work out. We rode a litter harder than we planned, and probably a little harder than we should have.

I was pretty exhausted by the time we returned to our cabins in Giant City to clean up. We drove to Carbondale for dinner at the Italian Village, followed by some window shopping at closed bike stores, before picking up Dan who took the Amtrak train from Champaign. After returning to Giant City I slept for 10.5 hours.

Six grown men ogle bikes through the store window

a Carbondale drive up liquor store

Friday we rode to Lick Creek to meet the rest of the team members who were staying in cabins there. From there we rode over to Bald Knob again. The entire group was much bigger and rode much faster. I was pretty tired from Thursday’s ride, so it was tough just getting there.

At a gas station stop I made the mistake of taking too long to strap my little Flip video camera onto my bike and ended up missing the group as they rolled out. I had to chase for a couple miles, including the really big hill were the group split up. I caught up with several riders on that hill and a few of us hauled ass to try to catch up with the lead pack. We didn’t quite make it as they reached the Bald Knob climb before us and we picked our way through the remnants of that group on the way up the climb.

Training camp Friday elevation

Friday’s elevation profile

The remainder of the ride was much easier as everyone was tired by this point. We refueled afterward with a big dinner at the Giant City lodge, which, despite not having any vegetarian entrees on the menu, has a number of delicious sides, including wild rice, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, etc. After dinner I quickly fell asleep for 9.5 hours.

Saturday’s ride was 100 miles, going from Lick Creek to Golconda and back. At the start of the ride it was 50˚ and drizzling rain. The rain came and went all day, but the temperatures got colder. During one two minute stretch I was even pelted with pea-sized hail. We split into two groups. Given my fatigue from the previous two days (and the fact that I am supposed to be tapering for the marathon) I wisely chose to ride in the slower group. We faced a stiff headwind the entire first half of the ride. Despite the nasty weather we had a pretty good time. It was a tough ride, very hilly. The group would split up on the uphills they we’d come back together on the flats and downhill sections.

Training camp Saturday elevation

Saturday’s elevation profile

Half of our group chose to turn around at 37.5 miles rather than ride the full 50 to Golconda. The first 10 or so miles after we turned around were actually somewhat pleasant. Sure, I was soaking wet, but we had a good tailwind and as long as I kept moving I stayed plenty warm. Around this time the sun actually came out for about 30 seconds. Soon after came lighting, thunder, driving rain, hail, a drop in temperature, and a change in wind direction. We faced a headwind the rest of the way back.

After the ride I changed into dry clothes, munched on some snacks and chitchatted while we waited for everyone else to finish. Then we all packed up and headed over to the Giant City Lodge for a team banquet. Saturday was all you can eat fried chicken night at the lodge. This is going to sound crazy, but that’s actually what I ordered. I simply didn’t eat any of the chicken. The meal also had all you can eat mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, etc. Everyone placed the same order and huge plates of food were served to us family style.

Lodge

We awoke Sunday morning to temperatures in the mid-30s, howling winds, and damp roads. The ride was much shorter, but still challenging. We coasted down to Makanda then took turns climbing the two big hills heading out of the valley. One was long and gradual, the other was short and steep. I did five climbs before deciding my toes would fall off if I did any more.

The last descent of the last day of training camp

And that was it. Training camp was great fun. We had some tough rides in tough conditions. Most importantly, I don’t think it screwed up my marathon preparations. We’ll know for sure in less than two weeks.

The Bender Mask

Bite my shiny metal ass

“Bite my shiny metal ass”

Futurama is one of my all time favorite television shows. The robot character Bender isn’t my favorite character on the show, but he seems to be quite popular with every other fan of the show. I was able to score this Bender halloween mask from emerchandise.com in 2002 for $7 and it has served as my de facto Halloween costume many times since then.

The Forest Glen Maple Syrup

Today was the Maple Syrup Open House at Forest Glen park. The park holds this event each spring where they demonstrate how they make maple syrup and have a pancake dinner. I’ve run at Forest Glen four or five times this winter so I’ve been looking forward to this event for a while. When I told Melissa about it she was very excited, so we just had to go. And since my parents live somewhat near the park, and they love pancakes, we invited them to come along as well.

Melissa and I arrived a little early so we could get a short hike in before the pancakes. First we hiked to the observation tower.

Forest Glen observation tower

Forest Glen observation tower

Forest Glen observation tower

that’s a lot of stairs

Melissa & Rob at Forest Glen observation tower

Melissa and Rob at the top

View from Forest Glen observation tower

view of the forest

Melissa descends observation tower steps

Melissa descends the tower’s many stairs

Next, we continued on the path down the hill towards the Vermillion River. We passed the beloved backpack trail on the way. The water in the river seemed high and fast-moving.

Crooked tree shadow

a crooked tree casts a shadow on the backpack trail I usually run

Vermillion River

the Vermillion River looked high

Melissa & Rob at Vermillion River

Melissa & Rob

Noon was approaching, and this was the time we agreed to meet my parents for pancakes, so we hiked back up the hill and drove over to the Maple Syrup Open House area. We got in line a few minutes after noon. My parents arrived shortly thereafter. We were having a good time, but we couldn’t help but notice the line wasn’t moving very quickly.

The line for pancakes and maple syrup was long

the line for pancakes was long

It took us right at two hours to reach the front of the line, get our pancakes, and sit down to eat (what became) a late lunch. The pancakes were good. The syrup was good. I’m not quite sure it was worth waiting two hours in line, but at least the weather was beautiful.

After lunch Melissa & I walked a short distance to the recreated pioneer homestead, where the syrup was made. They collected sap from 400 or so maple trees in the park all winter. Then they heat it up to evaporate away most of the water, leaving just the sugary syrup behind.

Homestead

one of the pioneer homestead buildings

Maple

they collected maple sap in buckets and bags all winter long (old photo)

Maple sap drips into a collection sack

maple sap drips into a collection bag

Maple syrup building at Forest Glen

this building housed the evaporator machine which converted the sap into syrup

Evaporation device converts watery maple sap into syrup

the evaporator was heated by a wood stove

Melissa in front of the evaporator

Melissa watches sap become syrup

The Land Between the Lakes Trail Race

I’ve been doing a lot of running lately in preparation for the Illinois Marathon in four weeks. The past few weeks have been my peek mileage and I’ve been pretty tired. These isn’t really the best time for a race, but I didn’t let my fatigue stop me. I really wanted to do a half marathon at some point. I found out several weeks ago that many of the local Buffalo trail runners were heading to Kentucky to run the Land Between the Lakes (LBL) trail race this weekend. LBL has four different distances, the shortest of which is 23 KM (a little over a mile longer than a half marathon). Perfect.

The race is about 4.5 hours away from Champaign-Urbana, so we made it a road trip. I rode down there with Andrew and Sandra. We followed Cousin Don, Brian, Juan, & Natanya in another car. Once there we met Jeff, Chris, Wes, & Becky, who drove another car. Just before the race we met up with Marla, who came late Friday night. Jeff’s sister lives 10 minutes from the race start/finish in Grand Rivers, and she was kind enough to let many of us sleep at her house the night before.

This area of Kentucky was hit pretty hard by an ice storm at the end of January. Many, many trees were knocked over or broken in half. The forest was pretty messy. Fortunately, with the hard work of many volunteers, the 11 mile LBL canal loop trail was cleaned up and ready for the runners.

Ice storm damage

Ice storm damage
Ice storm damage

We awoke early on race morning to make it to the starting line by 7 am. The longest event is 50 miles (yes, fifty miles), which takes a long time to complete, so the race started early. It had already been drizzling for a few hours and it wasn’t supposed to let up anytime soon. This was going to be interesting.

I squeezed my way up towards the front of the starting line. I was running the shortest race and I assumed/hoped I was one of the faster runners there. We started off with 1.75 miles of paved road before we reached the trail. The runners spread out pretty quickly. One guy shot way out ahead of everyone else. Then there was a chase group of three or four. Then I was in the next group of three or four. My first (paved) mile was quick, but not unreasonable.

I counted the runners ahead of me and figured I was in 9th when we hit the trail. The trail immediately went under the bridge on the road where we started. As I passed beneath it I heard the familiar calls of “Buffaloooooooooo.” This is what the Buffalo trail runners yell when they see other Buffalo on the trail. Some of the others running the longer races spotted me from up on the bridge as I ran beneath them.

The early miles were pretty easy. The trail had a lot of twists and turns but not many hills at this point. There was a little bit of jockeying for position as I moved from 9th to 8th to 7th to 8th to 9th to 8th and so on.

LBL trail race map

The trail was in pretty good shape, though there were clearly some spots that were messed up by the ice storm. In a number of places a tree along the side of the trail had blown over away from the trail and where it was uprooted there was a big hole that required fancy footwork to get around. The steady drizzle made the entire thing just a little bit muddy, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. My shoes were never in any danger of being sucked off my feet.

Around miles 9 and 10 (I think) there were three or so fairly big hills, which were steep enough to cause me difficulty, but not so steep I couldn’t run up them. I really struggled with these hills. I tried to make up for my super slow uphills by really pushing the flats and the downhills, but I fell back to 10th and I was losing ground at this point.

I regained a little bit of ground after the hills relented. By the time I finished the 11 mile trail loop I moved back up to 9th. The aid station volunteers informed me that I was 5th. Curious. This was the point where the 23K runners left the trail. The marathon runners ran one more loop, the 60K runners ran two more loops, and the 50 mile runners ran three more loops. This placing discrepancy must have meant that four runners ahead of me (and I was running pretty fast) were racing at least twice as far as me, or maybe farther. Impressive.

I was able to pick up the pace again once I was back on the paved road, but despite running my last mile in 6:40 one guy still passed me. I assume this means I finished 6th, though I never got any confirmation on that. I just based that on what the aid station volunteers told me. It was a solid race for me. I wasn’t thrilled with it, but I wasn’t disappointed either.

Finishers keychain
My keychain finishers award

After the race I was soaking wet, so I headed over to Cousin Don’s van (the Patti-wagon) to change into dry clothes. Juan had a really good race, because I missed him finishing while I was changing my clothes. I grabbed my camera and made it to the finish area just in time to watch Andrew sprint across the line in a photo finish. The other guy barely edged him out.

Andrew sprints to the line
Andrew sprints to the finish line

Andrew post-sprint
Andrew looks tired after his sprint to the finish line

Natanya finished a few minutes later as 2nd place female. Apparently her socks slid down during the race and her shoes rubbed her heels raw and bloody. It looked pretty painful.

Natanya was the 2nd female to finish the 23K
the race director awards the 2nd place prize to Natanya

Heel problems
Natanya had a sock snafu that left her heels raw and bloody

Sandra just ran a tough trail marathon last weekend and she wasn’t quite sure whether some pain in her foot would allow her to complete this race. Not only did she finish, she did so with a great big smile.

Sandra finishes the 23K with a smile

Sandra finishes with a smile

Now that all the Buffalo 23K runners were finished we headed indoors for some delicious vegetarian minestrone. Andrew accidentally locked his keys in the car before the race and asked around about who could help him get into it. A firefighter showed up with some tools, and after much work they finally go it.

Locked out
Andrew and Juan help a Grand Rivers firefighter break into Andrew’s car

We were pretty cold and wet so we didn’t stick around long enough to watch the other Buffalo finish their longer races. They did call while we were driving back to Champaign-Urbana and apparently everyone made it alright. Another successful race for the Buffalo of central Illinois.

The Grape Creek Hills

Saturday

Saturday morning several friends and I headed over to Kickapoo for a bike ride. We didn’t ride the mountain bike trails there, instead we did a long road ride up and down the Vermillion River bluffs. These aren’t mountains, but the hills are order of magnitude larger than any we have in Champaign county.

We started in Kickapoo and headed south, through the county fair grounds, out to Shangri-la, down to Catlin, over to Belgium, down to Grape Creek road. Once there we twisted and turned and rode up every hill we could find.

Kickapoo - Grape Creek ride

Eventually we wound our way through Westville and Catlin back to Kickapoo. It was cold, though much of the ride was perfectly tolerable where we were surrounded by trees and hills. The miles between Catlin & Westville were out in the open and the wind was brutal. It was a good ride. Afterwards I visited my parents in Danville for lunch before heading home.

Sunday

Sunday morning I took part in Second Wind’s 20 mile marathon training run at Lake of the Woods. Rather than running the trails as I usually do, we stuck to the paved 3.3 mile bike path. The wind was even worse on Sunday, gusting up to 30 mph. I had to throw on some additional clothes at the last minute because the wind made it feel even colder than I expected.

I ran with two or three other guys the whole way and we ran fast, averaging 7:20 per mile. On one hand, I don’t typically run my long runs this fast so it was pretty challenging for me. On the other hand, I hope to run the marathon even faster than this so I felt the need to prove to myself I could do it.

Sore Rob

I was pretty sore after the run. I ended up sleeping or lounging around the rest of the day. I was able to perform some household chores, albeit very slowly.