The Summer of 2012 in Review

Princeton Reunion 5k--

The Summer is a month away from being over and it has been a hard but wonderful summer. Waking up at 4:55 am every morning for work has been brutal but it has all paid off as Ashlee and me are right around the corner from being in Cortland, NY!  Are place is set and ready for move-in and school is right around the corner too.  This summer has been quite an adventure.  We have been to New Hampshire, Cortland twice, camped out under the stars, the Jersey Shore, working all the time and the Ivy.  It has been hot in New Jersey at times and at other times it has been a nice change to Oklahoma's 120 degree heat.  Here are a bunch of photos Ashlee has taken from all the various races:

And the race is underway

FInishing strong

Sunset finish at Firecracker 5k in Princeton

The start of the Loon Mountain Race!

4000ft up the mountain at Loon !

As Ashlee is in Oklahoma, I am going to put in some hard training as I will not have much else to do besides prepare for moving.  I have been running a nice solid 72 minute run and a 65 minute run in the rain yesterday at Autumn Hill Reservation. It was a nice run and I am excited about being able to run mountain trails and can camp out in all the NY state forests and even the FInger Lakes!

It is time to finish out the summer and prepare for a wonderful fall in Upstate New York!

Friday---I have had some nice training runs lately.... Ran in sweltering heat the other day out towards Blawenburg and ran down Mountain View Road. The Heat and Humidity was awful as the 90% humidity mixed with the mid-90's heat to have me sweat like I was under Niagara Falls.  It was great to pass through Blawenburg as that area is at the cusp of the Sourland Mountains and the running is great: you have trees, hills, no busy roads, golf courses for water, and just pretty views that you would find in Vermont.  I pushed through the fatigue and was able to log 14.45 miles and 83 minutes. I was running as fast as I could and afterwards, I powered up with a fruit smoothie and settled for a very uneasy stomach.

Saturday---TOday-- Ran in the morning after work with my father out along Bunker Hill Reservation/Natural area.  We ran the trails and soon I was out by myself. The early heat was already stifling as I pushed across the creek that runs into the golf course and then headed to a little farmstead in the woods.  I turned back and was chased by a horse fly, bathed in the creek, and then decided to run home on the roads in my trail shoes: La Sportiva Vertical Ks.  My legs feel sore in weird spots because of the waves of the trail shoe running funny on the roads.  I really did not care about this occurrence becuase I just wanted to make it home as my singlet was drenched in sweat.  I must say that New Jersey has been more like Florida this summer with the high heat and humidity.  I hope fall comes soon as the trails will be a great asset to have in Cortland such as the Kennedy State Forest in Virgil and the LimeHollow nature trails.

Sunday--77 minute Run

Monday--- 82 minute run with my father out on the towpath. First 20 minutes with him and then the fast pick-up tempo run.  I felt great and the towpath even had some nice cool spots which was awesome.  Ran a 75:23 half marathon and then finished the last mile and a little bit! That is below 5:50 which is great and I was able to log about 14 for the day.  I might be interested in running the Catherine Valley Half Marathon in Watkins Glen, NY on AUgust 19th and this towpath run would be similar to the race conditions I might encounter. IF I can run that type of pace (5:40) in trainers just running fast, then I know I can race a great pace.