Describe Your Running Today, Part II

PM; 5miles, clouds opened for a time to reassure us there is yet a moon lurking above them. No watch, no i-Pod, no wind.

It felt grand to run through the moon cast shadows of trees my daughters helped to plant.

2 runs, 11 miles and some strides.. good stuff

A tough but enjoyable run up and down Mt Alexander via the Great Divide Trail. 33.46 up to the cairn, pleasing time for the 5plus kms. Returned in 27mins. Bright, sunny, shirtless day of 25C. Sorry to rub it in Driske!

Spotted 2 red bellied black snakes and what was probably an eastern brown. Happily they were not too close. Also spotted 2 more mallards down the bottom near the water channel.

Finished the day with a quickish hour on the mtn bike through the south of One Eye Forest. Not a roo to be seen but spotted several wallabies and a fat, waddling echidna.

Yesterday was a solid paddle on the lake in quite windy and choppy conditions. Spotted a pair of mallards with some young. Numerous pelicans and cormorants and wood ducks. The dead trees protruding from the water were populated by many galahs. Also spotted a wedge tail eagle high in the sky.

Saturday is Mystic, day one of our 4 Peaks race. It is a terribly steep 11km loop passing a hang gliders launch pad.

Some sections are around 40% grade. It has one very notorious descent that has plenty of skin left behind on it.

Sunday is Mt Feathertop. This is an up only race to the top of our states 2d highest mountain. It should still have good snow. 12kms with a total climb of 1400m. It can be pretty woolly up there if the weather gets cranky. It was in the news recently when a prominent politician was lost on it (found alive). We have to walk the 12kms back to the start.

Monday is Mt Hotham. 16kms and 1300m. Also prone to some wild and woolly weather. I've seen runners blown off their feet on the Razorback. It finishes below the summit at a hut and fortunately we can be driven back.

Tuesday is Mt Buffalo. 10kms and about 1000m finishing at the famous Buffalo Chalet. A tricky course on a spectacular mountain.

This is my 25th year of doing this event. My son will also be doing it. It is the 8th year that he has tackled at least part of it. He did Buffalo at age 10!! I couldn't talk him out of it.

mopak, great week man, yeah! Are those snakes very poisonous? Agressive? I'll be looking out for animals in New York, but i just have a feeling that my writeups will never quite match yours. In this light, if Gimmelwald 2011 happens it has the potential for being very memorable.

driske, many thanks for the support and the domestic humor.

I know, what is it with Italians in US/NY? Fiorello La Guardia? Mike Piazza? Joe DiMaggio? Alessandro Volta? Joseph Barbera? Filippo Mazzei? Antonio Meucci? Giovanni Da Verrazzano (the NYCM bridge dude no less!!) ? The NYPD officer who urges runners on in-lingo at the 25th mile? The Touched and the Untouchables? Martin Scorsese, Bob De Niro...LOL The fact they have a pasta party as opposed to say a Rice party or an Ugali party? Which actually doesnt sound like a bad idea at all...

Again thanks for sharing your thoughts of inspiration, assimilated on this and other threads i have had the chance to peruse.

Indeed, connectivity wont be an issue. How about big city pressure? I haven't been in such a long time.

today: chores, more chores, nursed as much as possible wife and daughter. AM walk to school and back. Lunchtime, light jogging and exercises at the track.

If all goes well in a dozen some hours i'll be in the airport en route to boarding my flight...

-494 running days to the MOARG, in Gimmelwald, Switzerland, in 2011

tpcb,

i dare say your grasp of Italians and the contribution they've made on American soil far exceeds mine. A huge impact by one nationality to say the least.

4 days until you stride onto that Verazanno bridge/ coaxed along by the crooning of Sinatra. Look to your left. See the Statue, the glistening streams aloft from the fireboats. Man, it gave me goose bumps.

PM: 9 miles/77 min. Fox River trail@ Green Bay. Not another soul on the stretch from DePere to center of GB.

Lots of cottontail rabbits in the adjacent brush and hundreds of geese resting in mid-migration, on the river itself. Tender is the night.

An easy hour of running, down to the golf course and 2 loops of the perimeter then back home. Warm and sunny.

Driske, tpcb, I think we are fortunate that we see the beauty in our environments. So many people don't.

I have had the good fortune to run through Rome and quite a few other Italian cities. New York I think would be intimidating but enormously exciting at the same time.

I imagine the land of Driske to be a little like some of the Scandinavian countryside.

tpcb, re the snakes. Both snakes have potential to kill. The eastern brown is one of the few Australian creatures that kill people each year. They love mice etc so often come in contact with humans. They do have quite an effective bite and without treatment death normally occurs.

The rb black is a bit more timid, usually stays away from humans and is less toxic. Probably only about 50/50 that you would die without treatment.

Reality is snakes are scared of people. They feel a runner approaching and usually move away. I have not known of any runners who have been bitten. Snake bite is very, very uncommon.

Touchdown.

So jet lagged and out of it i walked to the marathon center at 11th ave and 35th street and only then realized it opens tomorrow.

Just beautiful.

Guys help me find Italian women (Geraldine Ferraro e.g.) who played in a role here. My list is way too male dominated...

Natural beauty is a universal gift. It becomes a personal choice whether or not to recognize it.

Our immediate locale is peopled mainly with Germans and Poles.

Pockets of Finns thrive to the North, and Norwegians to the South. In the last generation there has been a move away from autonomy and few of us are pure breds of any nationality.

Our children carry the genes of Norwegians, Danes, Germans,Lithuanians, and Poles.

We think we live in a beautiful area. The landscape is perhaps 50% tilled and 50% forested. Vertical relief is present, but gentle. The highest feature within a 30 mile radius rises only 700' above the surrounding landscape.

Rural areas are populated by roughly 15-20 people to the square mile. This number lessens in the North.

PM: Recovery bike ride with the Bride and Bro-in-law.

1 hour @ 16 MPH. Paved trail and moderate temps. were a treat.

25C, wow, these parts won't be seeing that for the next 7 months. Got to get through a patch of -25C first.

So, wake up at 3:15 AM, cant get back to sleep.

Around 6AM walk to meet some other countrymen at Sheraton Tower. Then it's light jog to columbus circle to meet with past nycm winner Orlando Pizzolato for a group jog. Really nice dude. Went by the finish, then twice around the reservoir, and back to Columbus circle. Then picked up my bib, at marathon center. Bit mor walking around. I am wiped. Going to bed.

Good stuff from the NYC streets. Thanks. What a difference 5 hours can make. Biorhythm syncing, day by day.

Two good Gals. Liza Minelli(sp?) , Patti Catalano.

Local male favorite, Vince Lombardi. Legendary Coach of the Green Bay Packers.

driske, good call on the ladies. Spelling for Minelli is correct. And Catalano, she was awesome and from what i read of her she still is!

Yesterday: some easy stationary bike, some walking around the city, a sit down in the food concourse in Grand Central on those incredibly fat chairs, some other eatery visits just contemplating life, a downtown book-signing, some striders in central park with a foliage to make you enamored. A New York state of mind, you might say: somewhat solitary, somewhat uplifting. Still jet-lagged as you can tell from the time on this post at a kinko's, the windows filming luckless, worn-out revellers in the perimeter streets trying to make sense of a holiday weekend just beginning.

MOARG thoughts on hold. Hey, this is New York.

tpcb,

Living the scene through your updates. Halloween on the eve of the Marathon. Cool.

Brrrisk temps. blew in over night. 3 miles in 33 min. with the Bro-in-law and Bride.

Hello, Rangoon!! Long time no commiserate. I just wanted to check in and let everyone know that I am alive and well.

My absence from this illustrious thread can be attributed to an unforseen medical condition which has put me on the running sidelines. It is a bit of a private issue, so I prefer to keep the specifics close to the vest. Nevertheless I have a strong hankering to return to the trails and roads, and believe that may be possible before the end of the calendar year. I do not aspire to return to my sub-elite glory days, but only to once again share in the brotherhood/sisterhood that we all enjoy.

One obvious benefit of my absence has been the coincidental absence of our troll friend. Hopefully my brief return will not awaken him from his slumber. Internet stalkers are no fun. Trust me.

I would also like to commend the hardy and faithful posters which have kept this most wonderful thread thriving. You are the best! I am humbled by the small part I have played in this most successful venture.

Keep up the good work, all!

I ran for 90 minutes on my old high school track. I used the outside lane and went 45 minutes in each direction.

I like trails and grass , but it rained pretty hard last night and the track seemed like a good choice. Having just recovered from a hamstring tear three months ago , it felt great to get into an easy rhythm and not worry about how fast or far I was going.

Greetings RD,

All the best with your recovery. I'll confess to wondering as to your whereabouts as of late.

Will a troll take notice? Time alone can tell.

3h26.xx unofficial.

I am pretty psyched, havent gone this fast since 2007 in Florence. A magical experience which could be improved.

congrats, tpcb.....you should be very proud of yourself.....30' thursday.....that's all the time i had available.....right knee a bit sore still......42' sunday.....knee still sore, but not enough to stop......feels better today.....we'll see what the week holds....

you fool no-one.well, maybe drisk, but no-one else.

Tpcb,

Solid run. Magical experience indeed.

MT, gullibility has long been my strong suit. For crying out loud ,I'm still an RW subscriber. And I still vote, every election.

Troll, or no troll. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Yesterday. Rails to Trails Marathon-Norwalk WI. 19 minutes slower than Chicago. 3:57. My condition has fallen off a cliff. Beautiful course and scenery. Tunnel and farms fields and forest.

Finally hit some great running conditions and my fitness is in the crapper.

Time for a breather and some skiing.