Action Packed Weekend Update - In No Particular Order

Hey Cooterinos, I'm back in effect, hollering at you from the comfort of my muggy dining room. I didn't have a chance to write in this weekend as I was busy as could be, once again. Despite resting for Sunday's race after the Thursday Night Run, I managed to keep myself busy. Read on for some wild and crazy stories.

Sorry about the false advertising, but these stories are neither wild nor crazy.

Saturday's Kayak Trip

I think it was Friday after work that I went out to Stockbridge Bowl for a few practice laps of the Josh Billings Runaground route. Nope, it was Saturday morning. I'll get to Friday later. As usual, the first lap was for taking in the scenery and getting my photograph on. I thought I had seen some nice lake houses, but on Stockbridge Bowl you'll find South County Lake Houses. Dag.

At one point I paddled up on what I thought was a pretty nice place. It sat right on the water, had a small deck and a chimney that landed IN the water. Pretty sweet I thought to myself. As I got closer I noticed that this was not the house, but rather the changing house for lake activities. The house behind it matched, but had to be a few thousand square feet and was draped in windows. I can barely afford a house without a spare changing house, sprinkled (not draped) in windows and these rat bastards get these dope digs. I would like to be their friend.

At this point I was now tainted and would not be surprised again by any fancypants houses. I paddled and paddled, then came up on a bridge of lilies that connected an island to the mainland. I'm trying something new with the really big pictures right in the middle of the text. I highly suggest you check out the rest of my pics, as this is only a sampling.


So I sat there jammed up in the lily pads and felt like I didn't even want to paddle, lest I should disturb this perfect carpet of flowers. As it turned out, paddling didn't do much since paddling through lilypads is like jogging underwater.

As I quietly fought my way through toward a clearing, I noticed a strange stick perched atop a neat rock. There were in fact several rocks that looked like they had been planted there by Buddha himself (you know how Buddha rolls). True to form, I misjudged the stick and it turned out to be a crane sunning himself in his Buddist archepelago. Here is a shot of the crane after he spotted me.


At first he stayed "coiled up", but once I started to approach he streched out his neck and made himself look big, then went and hid in the weeds. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him flying, it was really neat. Before I had a chance to chase him into hiding, this is how he looked, watching over his private cove.



I'm going to stop here so you can catch your breath. Next I'll get into my Thursday and Friday.

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Thursday and All of Its Glory

Thursday was a boring day as usual at work. To be honest, I can't back that up because I don't remember it. What I do remember is that my nipples were chafed the hell up from the post-race cooldown on Wednesday. You may remember this story from such blog entries, as Thursday Morning's, so I won't repeat myself. On my way over to Kennedy Park on Thursday evening, I stopped off and treated myself to 3 new pairs of socks. The cost exceeded that of an earlier purchase containing 2 pairs of pants and a shirt. But the socks are nice. I was wearing what used to be a nice soft wicking t-shirt, but now will be remembered as the 60-grit nipple grinder from hell. Dang that hurt; still no bleeding, thank God.

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Friday: The Day of Rest

After the run Thursday, I was done for the week so my body could rest up. My plan was to get the A-bike in for its tuneup, but that didn't happen. Instead, I went for a 40-mile ride. Before you get your panties all in a bunch, let me preface that with the following statement: It was approximately 40 miles. The first 35 or so were at a slow pace, so I tacked a few more on just to help me sleep. Wow, that statement takes me back.

Once I dropped off my co-rider, I made plans to go kayaking in the morning, then headed up Washington Mt. Rd. for a killer hill ride. I did the best I could, rested and had some water, then did the best I could again. The freaking hill had me in Granny Gear #2 (I refused to drop to Granny Gear #1) until I could take it no mo'. At which point I turned around and pointed my bike straight toward the center of the Earth.

The road was so steep that I couldn't shift up quickly enough to be able to contribute to the acceleration; gravity had me beat. I dropped onto the lower part of the handlebars (I forget what they're called) and went along for the ride. I was hauling ass at approximately 45 MMPH. That's 45,000,000 MPH to the average John Q. Layperson.

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Sunday and the Race

Sunday morning I picked up CPG per her request (cha-ching) and headed over to the race. We signed in, did a short warm-up run, bullshat with the other runners and watched the Family Fun Run. I love when they have the FFR before a race, because the little kids are so excited to race and some of them are really fast. The girl who won did the mile loop in something like 5:40. That shit is fast. But what really made it extra fun was that the guy coordinating everything had the adults line the sides of the halfway point/finishline to cheer the kids on. Their expressions were priceless.

Finally, the race. We lined up at the starting line, had a moment of silence for those who literally went down in the struggle (against cancer, this race benefitted Cancer research), and we were off. I kept with the pack as we booked it down the hill toward Rte 7. This steep hill would also serve as the final ascent at the end.

At the first mile marker I had myself clocked at 6:40, a little too fast for me. I slowed down, found my groove and really enjoyed myself. As it turned out, I probably should have kept going at that pace because I "left a little too much in the tank" at the end of the race. I sprinted out the last hill, passing three or so runners, but a faster pace all along would have really moved me up in the standings.

Speaking of standings, I don't know why they don't have them posted online anywhere. I didn't bother looking at the end of the race because I figured I'd just get them off the web somewhere at my leisure. Eeewwrrroonnngggg.

And speaking of more stuff you people don't care about, many of the top runners are people from my various crews. We roll deep, and we're very supportive of eachother so it's no surprise to see my homies taking home half of the trophies. I mean, I didn't get one, but dammit I was in the Men's 29 and Under category. That puts me against HS and college track/cross-country runners, as if M20-29 isn't bad enough. Bush League!

After the race, we piled into our cars and headed over to Onota Lake for Leg 2 of the day's biathlon. There were 4 of us who brought kayaks with us to get our afternoon paddle on. It was a fantastic day! Since I'm sure some of you are already winded at this point, I'll spare you the details. Bizarro, have some ribs and catch your breath. This was not an official race - or even an unofficial race for that matter - but rather a relaxing afternoon in the water. Damn I live a good life! Hate all you want, haters.

I have some pictures of yours truly from the race but I'm not going to post them here for fear of Copyright lawyers. There was a professional photographer at the race, and I kind of cheated my way into some free pictures by taking screen shots. I'll link to a couple of his pictures, but I don't know how long you'll be able to see them. If you're interested, check out the guy's pictures here. My favorite picture of me is this one, followed by this one.

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That's all I have to say about that.

Over and Out,
Old Coot