SUNY Cortland Class Schedule And Books..It is time!

Student:	Crosby, Cole E.	Major:	REC
Semester:	Fall Semester 2012	Program:	MS_REC_EOE
ID:		Advisor:	Anderson B. Young

CRN	Course	Title	Creds	Qtr	Day/Time	Location	Instructor	Attr
92156	REC610-001	Wilderness & American Culture	3.00		7:00 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. on Wed	PRST 1105	Young, Anderson B.	LASR
92762	REC601-001	Rec Research & Evaluation I	3.00		7:00 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. on Tue	PRST 1136	Todd, Sharon L.	LASR
92933	REC600-001	Survey: Rec&Leisure Profession	2.00		4:20 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. on Mon	PRST 1105	Yaple, Charles H.
94758	REC611-001	Readings in Outdoor Education	1.00		6:05 P.M. to 6:55 P.M. on Mon	PRST 1105	Yaple, Charles H.

Total Credit Hours:	9.00

BELMAR CHASE 5K!!!

This week has been a wild mix of running and all the other aspects of life.  It has been hot and at times, and at other times nice and runnable.  Today I ran up along Trap Rock up a 1000 ft long incline that ascends at 9% grade which is what I title as the Hill of Death along here in Kingston, NJ. The road is not the hardest thing I have ever done but if you were to do repeats on this hill, it could easily turn you into a little pile of mush.  After work, I headed out along the hill and ran in the shade of Old Georgetown Road which is a side diversion off of the main road along the quarry.  The mid-afternoon heat was not nice but luckily I took my water bottle and used it to hydrate and splash a little bit of ice cold water along the backside of my neck.  I was able to log 70 minutes before the big 5k tomorrow as  I hope to be able to win the race and score a nice prize purse.  This will be my first Jersey Shore race and I am excited to see the competition.



Recap: The race was muggy and pretty hot for a New Jersey 8:30 am race at 80 degrees or so and 90% humidity.  The Belmar CHase was a chase indeed as a group of 5 Kenyans showed up to fight for the prize money.  I was nervous and just hoping to run a fast time. With the waves crashing in the background, the race was off. I was jockeying for position amongst the huge lead pack as the pace was maybe around 5:05 mile pace for the first half-mile.  Then the Kenyans made a move as the pack began to string out and I lead the chase pack as three other guys went with the Kenyans.  I crossed the first mile around 4:52 and was feeling nice and relaxed though I was already drenched with sweat.  I then began to make a move to catch the Kenyan pack.  As we neared the two mile mark around Lake Como in around 9:40, I splashed myself with the aid station water and was running with a guy from Brooks.  He was panting pretty hard as we worked together stride for stride.  It was once we hit the long 1200m straight-away into the finish that I lost my closing speed and lost pace with the Brooks guy. I was then passed by two more guys into the finish shoot as my legs just ceased to push any harder.

I placed 10th in 15:37, an average time for me for summer racing as last summer in Oklahoma,  I was hitting faster 5k times while training in intense heat!  I was not to happy with my performance but shrugged it off because heck Ashlee and myself are at the Jersey Shore, and training after the OKC marathon has been hard especially with my golf job where I rise at 4:55am every morning and many times have been missing some crucial sleep.  So to look back on it all, I would say that 5k's are not my thing anymore but they can serve as nice speedwork and can help me gauge my fitness and training.  I feel that 25k-50k is my ideal distance as I can outpace people and even split a 4:50 mile and then take a recovery mile if need-be whereas that would cost me a race in a 5k or 10k even.  My next race will be the Virgil Monster Marathon in Cortland, NY in September 2nd and I may just run another race before that just for fun!

Lovely Belmar Beach!

The Finish---15:37

\

For my long run, I ran 1 hour, 33 minutes and 36 seconds for a grand total of 14.8 miles and an average of 6:19 a mile.  A nice run in my new Asics Gel PHoenix 4. They are a lot cushier than the Karhu Stable so we will see how they work out.

8 miles on the Six Mile Run

Six Mile Run Park in Franklin, NJ has always been a place I was curious about.  New Jersey has some nice trails and many more that have all the prowess of being great, though there is not enough maintenance done to them for many people to run on them.  Most of my insane trail runs have me bring a machete in order to slice my way through the tall grass and over-grown forest patches (in all seriousness, I do not have a machete).  I went with my father for a nice run on the single-track of Six Mile Run which is near Bunker Hill Golf Course, where I work.  As we drove on the Canal Road to get to the park, I felt like we were being transported into Northwestern Arkansas or rather the Smoky Mountain National Forest.  The slender road was trumped by lush greenery everywhere as it felt so open and quiet which is a rarity in New Jersey.  That is what makes New JErsey an interesting place. There is so much going on which traffic and busy homes and roads that we often lose sight of the natural beauty of the state and that it has tons of hidden gems of nature scattered throughout the state.

Running the single-track was just like running in Norman, Ok at Lake Thunderbird.  The trail wound up and down through  an open cornfield and into the cool and shaded woods. After tons of rain the past few days, the trail was incredibly dry which led to fast running even for my father who felt like a spring chicken again.  55 minutes of running done and it was time for a celebratory drink at Sonic!!

Overall, a great recover run and a great trail system that anyone living or passing through Central New Jersey must go to!

As It Is...

Running as of late has been something of habit.  The heat waves in New Jersey have made it feel like an Oklahoma summer as 90-100 + temperatures have invaded the East Coast. I have not wanted to head out of the door but I know I must still be dedicated to a sport that has shaped who I am today.  THe heat is gross but with a new running water bottle holder, I feel I can do my best to combat the heat.  With my new running water bottle, I have been able to get in much needed hydration and it is easy to run with.  Just the other day, I ran in the Herrontown woods trails, that have always been over-grown but are awesome as the 100 degree afternoon broke as a thunderstorm cooled off the area.  It felt great to run in cool temperatures and after that storm, it has been rainy and cool here in New Jersey in relation to what it was earlier on in the week.  I have averaged some fast runs and the majority of time spent is between 70-85 minutes for each run.  I have my sights on the Belmar 5k and I hope to intermix some trail runs with road training this next week as the 5k draws closer.

More RUnning

Here is a link to the Belmar 5k on July 28th that I would like to run. http://www.belmarchase.com/

THis looks like a great race and there is a great prize purse that would be awesome.  I hope I can bring home the bacon as first place is 1,000 dollars!!!

I am also excited about running The 11th Annual Monster Marathon in Virgil, NY which is about 8 miles south from Cortland, NY.  THis race has nice steep climbs and great wooded trails and a few mountain summits which I hope I can maybe run a really strong course record.  I am hoping to shoot for sub 3:26 for the marathon as I believe that is the record for the course.  This is no ordinary marathon which is why I feel that this race will be a great early-on challenge for me in New York! ANd to imagine it is only a few miles away!


Today is SUnday and I am back at the training block. It is time to refine my fitness for a fast Belmar 5k at the end of the month and I am excited about living and training in Cortland, New York where I will have great mountain trails such as the Virgil Mountain trails, the Finger Lakes Trail and the Jim Shug Trail.  My training is coming along pretty well. I have a great new running bottle holder I bought from Wal-mart for $4.97 and will fit perfectly on my various running water bottles I have.  Now, I have two hand-held running water bottles so  I can use both of them simultaneously or I can use one for training and one for racing.  I already have a Camelback 22oz running bottle and holder I got with a gift card from Backwoods and have used that thing from Oklahoma summer training to The Arkansas White Rock 50k record run and many other uses.  I love that bottle and holder but I have used it so much I cannot get the grip off of the bottle as the two have virtually melded together. With my Outdoor Research bottle, I can use my slimmer Inov 8 water bottle that holds 16 fluid ounces instead of 22 and will work great for training!!!  I will get to test it out this week as New Jersey is hit with another heat wave...BOOOO!

Training up Towards Loon Mountain and The race at Loon!!!

This is a photo from Acidotic Racing of me going up Loon Mountain!


THe Training that I did leading up to Loon had been going great!  I have run many 70-1 hour and 45 minute runs with fast tempos and some decent hill work. I was ready to roll. After a nice trip to New Hampshire, it was time to rock and roll.  This year at Loon Mountain was the USA mountain running qualifying team race for the women as the race brought the best competition. As my second official mountain race I was really excited!  Thanks to Chris Dunn at Acidotic for the great accommodations and event!  And with this race, I ran conservative the second half but felt great at the top and now know what I must do to reach that next level.  THe race went out nice and controlled and suddenly I found myself locked up with Jim Johnson (eventual winner) leading up the mountain.  The first initial climbs were not too bad as I was ready for a long day.  But what really surprised me was how fast the steep inclines came and how much distance we climbed in the whole race.  It was about around the 2 mile mark where I let Jim and another guy go as I just hung back remaining relaxed flexing those legs muscles.  Then at mile 3, I was caught by a few other guys including teammate, Judson Cake as I drafted right with him up the steep probably 25% grades.  At this point, I began to tire and could not find my footing up the rocky gravel that made me slip with each step. I resulted in power-hiking the sections and did very well at holding charging runners off for the most part.  ANy flat section gave me the chance to stretch the legs and fly.  Then the race neared the Walking Boss.  The sharp downhill was nuts and I went real slow to not get gravel between my teeth and though I was right along the top 10, I was just running to finish strong.  As I came across the Upper Walking Boss, my jaw dropped at a sheer vertical cliff that was a 40 % degree slope.  Jim Johnson later told me to side-step up the pitch though I just went with hiking up it as fast as I could cause it was CRAZY HaRD!  After the 8-10 minutes spent on the half-mile incline, I was done in 15th place.  It was a great day and the ride back down the gondola with Ashlee was awesome and it was great to have her be such an amazing sport riding up and down the mountain which I know can be pretty scary!

Thank you to everyone especially Chris Dunn from Acidotic Racing for getting me started with Mountain running in New Hampshire and I think guys are going to be seeing me a whole lot more in the SNowshoe, trail, and Mountain running circuits!

I love a great race that leaves you hungry for more and I look forward to racing and training with the guys of New England!

SOme awesome photos taken from the event!!!!!!

Loon Mountain Race!!!!

Great Photo From Loon Mountain!!!!