Training Log Archive: Nadim

Michaux State Forest, PA. I went scouting terrain for QOC's 2014 bid to host the Long and Middle Championships again. Mostly, I was searching for terrain that wasn't too green or too steep. Since areas considered haven't been field checked and the map is not yet complete, I had to go through considerable amounts of not so good terrain. Fortunately, I did find some viable routes. It was interesting how much water levels changed in just 2 weeks since I was there last. I specifically wanted to focus on start and finish areas on this trip. Given that there is not much development in the area, of the possibilities, I think progress was made. Jon Torrance and I drove out together. He ran and searched separately. The other problem we looked to solve was where to park people. We came up with some possbilities for that too. I hadn't gotten much sleep this week so I was dragging through much of the run. Spirits and energy lifted upon finding the nicer areas.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 12th and C St. SW, Washington, D.C. Finally getting my first ride into town, I rode a modest pace. I rode the flats after Fletcher's Boathouse with another commuter, chatting about how nice it is to have this trail.

From 12th & Independence Ave, SW, Washington, D.C. to Edgemor Ln. in Bethesda, MD., then to Northfield Rd., via Old Georgetown Rd. I rode home w/my laptop since I need to work from home on Monday. As I was riding home, somewhat later than planned because I had to turn in a budget call at work, I got a call from Max. We talked while I was on the move. My stop at Edgemor Ln. was to fulfill his request to bring home a Chipotle dinner.

From Northfield Rd., to Arlington Rd. with Max on his bike, then to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Arlington Rd. From there I rode in the dark towing Max's bicycle to Northfield Rd.

45 situps. Some long days at work, and staying up late making map corrections have induced some laziness.

Cabin John Regional Park, MD. I made an attempt to update the map. I hadn't done any updates since prior to damage that occured during the derecho storm last summer. In general, the park had been pretty well trashed-up by fallen trees and branches. There are still some nice areas but the new damage tended to occur where there were white woods before. I stuck to updating the southern half of the park along the main trails mostly. Given how many trails there were, that covered a lot of the area. I didn't get to the west side of the creek. I jogged along between places.

Cabin John Regional Park, MD. In an unusual situation for a Saturday, I hadn't any particular plans so I went back to the park to make map updates on the north half of the map. In particular, I went to capture some new trails that mountain bikers had made. Once again, I stuck to the east side. I found a bunch of new trails which is somehwhat unfortunate. The southern half of the park has so many trails that having fewer of the in the north would make for better courses. The new trails generally went through the better woods though in one stretch, there was some punching through the new deadfall. Similar to what I found in the southern half earlier in the day, the derecho storm had knocked down a great number of trees and significantly reduced the area of nice forest. I kept moving through much of this effort and was pretty tired as I finished up.

Event: QOC Little Bennett
 

QOC at Little Bennett Regional Park, MD. Sam Listwak setup a 2 hour score-O today. He'd updated quite a bit of the map for it. It was pretty fun. It was mostly sunny and around 50 F. I felt pretty good having been pretty rested (lazy the last 2 days). I also ran with accuracy. Little Bennett park is not very technical but there are enough hills and green areas that increase the risk and also keep one's brain working. The map today was 1:15,000. It did seem to take longer to get to places but this fact never really dawned on me. I just read my way along spotting features. The one place where it did make a difference was where I pulled-up too soon going up a long and narrow 7 contour reentrant. I got pulled-up a side reentrant too early, not seeing the detail of some much smaller side reentrants before the larger one with a control.

Sam had set the controls with two more obvious strategies: going clockwise or counter-clockwise. I went clockwise, not having analyzed the full map before taking off (it was allowed to look at it before starting). I was a little rushed since I needed to be back in time to help with epunch duties. Controls had different points for getting them. The counter-clockwise route seemed to be the way most people went. There was 8 or 9 contour narrow reentrant with high point totals early for those taking the counter-clockwise route. About 1/4 of the way through, I made two changes of plan and went back to my original decision on both of the--this cost me time but I hit the controls accurately. Part of what was fun about today was the accuracy, and being able to run up most of the hills. I recovered after cresting pretty well such that I was able to get some faster leg turnover on the other side. Over an hour into the course, I took a risk going for two controls that were close together; they were 80 points and 100 points of which there were relatively few on the course. After that I was concerned about making it back on time. I hadn't read the course notes but I figured the penalty for going over time would be high (it was 40 points per minute late). I hit the one control that was in the middle and not part of the more obvious loop, then decided that I still had time to go get more than were on my direct route back. I crossed Clarksburg Rd. for 2 controls, then headed in. If I hadn't gone for the middle control, I could have picked up an extra control or two. As it was, I made it to the finish with about 2:38 left on the clock. I figured that was pretty good efficiency though had I skipped one control near the finish earlier, I would have been able to pick it up at the end. I got 1,360 points for the 21 controls I went to. That got me second place behind John Torrance who was around 1,540.

Event: Bike Hour
 

From Northfield Rd., to Arlington Rd. with Max on his bike, then to the Bethesda Metro Station. It was finally around 40 F and sunny.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Arlington Rd. It was Science Fair night. Max had worked with a friend and had tested whether heavier cars go downhill faster than lighter ones. After hanging around and some rough playing outside w/friends, it was time to go. Max tried to unlock the bikes but something happened. I think he got the lock open just enough for his fingers to slip in a crevase, push some parts, and reset the combination before it was completely unlocked. Peggy had to bring a hacksaw from home. After cutting the lock, we rode back. However, Max was unhappy because his friend and friend's father were getting a ride from Peggy and I made Max ride home w/me. Max used his new light.

From 14th & Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. Independence Ave. to the Reflecting Pool, to the Lincoln Memorial, to the Rock Creek Trail, through the tunnel near the zoo, to Tilden St., to Connecticutt Ave. to the Van Ness/UDC Metro Station. It was in the upper 50s F starting out but got down to the lower 50s by the time I was done. Another really strong headwind posed an obstacle until I got to the Potomac River. Though I'd taken my sweat jacket off and that helped me cut through it, the wind almost stopped me a few times near the Reflecting Pool. There were small whitecaps in the pool. However, I was moving pretty well in the first mile; my GPS was off mark starting out but I knew from previous splits. At the river, I no longer headed due west so it wasn't as bad for me. I couldn't say the same for the crew team I saw below. One of the 8 sculls was swamped by waves generated by the same winds. They were passing back inflatable life jackets as a coaches boat was near to provide assistance. The team was calmly sitting in the skull while submerged to the waist. That looked cold but not as cold as it would have been if they jumped all the way in and became more wet. On the trail I continued to hit miles in the 7:30-7:40 range until just before Woodley Park. I decided to extend and go through the zoo but when I got to it, I found that the zoo was closed, still on winter hours. I had new shoes on and this felt better on my feet until the last mile. I climbed Tilden St. hill well but it looked a lot steeper in the daylight. I'd run this route a month ago and was over 6 minutes slower.

Spinning and watching a movie. I started out somewhat slowly and needed to. Staying with a higher cadence, I was able to keep some good intensity and cover just a little less distance than when under higher torque last time.

Event: QOC Manassas
 

Michaux State Forest, PA. Wanting to get in the woods before the leaves come out, I went scouting terrain for QOC's 2014 bid to host the Long and Middle Championships. I printed some early map drafts myself but after consulting with Francis Hogle for a while, and getting a copy of his field work taped together at 1:5,000, I was set. It was 31F starting out and it never got very warm; 36 F when done. Throughout the time out, I ran, jogged, and walked. I stopped a lot of times to take pictures and too often to tie my shoes--I'll tape them next time. Stopping to take pictures was slow since I had to pull off my skin tight gloves, open-up my small fanny pack, and then put these things back. I covered higher terrain early, going to some control locations that I had put together as part of some mock courses I did to see how full lenght course would fit. I bumped into Francis when transitioning to lower ground after being out a couple of hours already--he was continuing his field checking. I tested a lot of things lower, making things up as I went. There are a lot of technical areas and some good variety. I hadn't seen so many depressions since the US Championships in Wisconsin. In think the area must have a lot of limestone caves that collapsed underground. I was going slow enough and on a small enough scale map, that I was hitting things pretty good--I guess that's training for when I get older. I got a good feel for the area as far as what seemed fun, and what is better to be avoided. Fortunately, there was plenty of the former.

Michaux State Forest, PA. After driving to an area that I had run near earlier, I mostly walked to get some higher resolution pictures. Unfortunately, it was very overcast and some of the more picturesque areas were further away than I had time to get to. I think it'll be hard to see the contours in what I photographed.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd. via Greenwich Park, to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Woodglen Dr., to Nicholson Ln., to Executive Blvd./Jefferson St. I was surprised to see a big jump in weight but I'm pretty sure this is just a temporary change. I again had trouble figuring out my pace, as often happens on morning runs for me. I did push myself. I slowed on hills but moved well on flatter ground and downhill grades. I don't feel that I've got much leg speed so it takes an effort to move my legs faster. The endurance seemed to be there but I did have a couple of days off. Part of that was being lazy and part of it was being busy.

Busy day at work.

From the Glenmont Metro Station, Georgia Ave. north to the Matthew Henson Trail, to the Rock Creek Trail, to Cedar Ln. to Rockville Pike, to Commerce Ln. Edgemoor Ln. I hadn't been running much lately and missed running yesterday mostly due to working late. I set out for longer one today--inside, I had mixed feeling about going this length. I left the office and the weather was supposed to be 50 F. An open window told me otherwise so I wore upper and lower sweats--that was a good decision. When I got to Glenmont and started I had another nasty cold headwind. This winter has had a lot of them. I felt like it was in the low 30s F and I didn't have any gloves. I felt like I was running pretty well but my loose nylon sweats were like sails. I pushed them against the wind for almost 2 miles before reaching the relative shelter of the riparian way on the Henson Trail. I started fading early. My pace moved slower to around 7:50/mile. I dragged along feeling some of the quadricept fatigue pain that I'd been feeling through much of February for a while, slowing more. For a few miles, my legs felt dead. I started heel striking more whereas before I stepped over uneven ground a little more on my toes. Small hills were slowing me down. I started having what seemed to be hunger cramps and I rarely get those. I seem to be going through the kind of age related slowdown that happened in my early 40s. Oddly, things improved on this run and that was unexpected. In the Rock Creek Valley, I was mostly sheltered from the wind but sometimes I had a tailwind and others a headwind. Climbing out at a steady pace, I felt okay. On Rockville Pike/Wisconsin Ave., I stopped briefly for a traffic light at the Medical Center Metro Station and then started moving faster. Maybe with the mental challenge of climbing out on tired quads past me I was more ready to run faster. I saw that I had a chance to finish the run in under 80 minutes and knew that it was just over 10 miles. The tailwind helped and my tiredness melted away. I stopped my watch at the end seeing it change to 80 minutes on the nose. It was about 39 F when I finished.

I did some spinning and watching a movie. I was moving pretty well relatively.

OK and Possumtrot: Heart Brain Courage U.S. Intercollegiate Interscholastic Orienteering Championships in Shawnee Mission Park, KS. Warm-up jog from the assembly area at the marina parking lot, to the start at the top of the park. I was already short on time and getting ready to race when Peggy knocked on the door. She'd been helping at the start but it was too cold/windy and needed more clothes. I drove her back but by the time I returned to the parking lot, I knew I'd miss my start.

OK and Possumtrot: Heart Brain Courage U.S. Intercollegiate Interscholastic Orienteering Championships in Shawnee Mission Park, KS. Day 2 felt like a much better day for me. It started off with me running with a loose and fast feeling--I hadn't been feeling that lately. I figured that it had to do with putting in more intensity the day before. It felt like my younger self. The course was hilly in ways that didn't seem necessary but it wasn't punishingly difficult as has become the fashion at some recent Billy Goat events. I kept moving well spiking controls and feeling like I was taking some pretty good routes.

The feeling of being stronger faded on the #8 to #9 leg but I still spiked the control (a route choice leg in which most final attacks and even the whole leg could follow a fence). The route I took to #10 wasn't optimal. I misread the easy lower road approach to the right and went along the left. Some green I thought I saw wasn't on the map and that led me to deviate with even more distance than necessary. Going up a very steep short leg to #11, I made things worse by climbing too high too early. I recovered by dropping a little and contouring along some difficult sloping rocky terrain.

I got passed by a younger and faster OK runner (in the classic OK colors) when going the downhill leg to #12 but my speed started to improve again too. The climbing leg to #13 started with some unexpected wet ditches in a hillside field that I had to splash through--the recent rains filled up what otherwise would have been dry. The fortunate part of the weather was that predicted rain held-off while the temperatures did drop during the day--just some ocassional mist fell keeping things wet. I had on a long sleeve o-top with a short sleeve one over it, and I wore gloves. I only once thought this was being over dressed when about a third of the way through. I climbed a bit more than necessary getting a shorter straighter route but hit #13 well. I hit #14 and #15 well but I did slow to verify an extra control wasn't mine on the way to #15. I got moving well, climbing to #16; I used the trail under the power lines, then the mountain bike trail over an oddly steep bridge to spike it.

I took a risk going to #17 by taking a northern much longer route using trails that I'd been on for the Red course the day before. It avoided a lot of green woods and a reentrant on the straight route, plus it gave a solid attack point. Turning toward home, I ran quickly through the fields somewhat downhill to #17 and #18. I went a little left getting to #18 to use a easier passage through a tree wind break. On my run in yesterday, I was cautious to make sure that I hadn't missed any controls and knew where I was going; I was also tired. Today, I was energetic and had no question of where to go so after a few steps I put in a pretty good push.

The course was fun and I was pleased with my finish time over the hills. I felt like there's more opportunity to go after getting more speed in my legs again. The terrain at Shawnee Mission Park is the kind of place where you still need skill to execute an optimal route but the large reentrants without much detail to them keep me from overrunning my map reading ability. The decisions come-up just often enough that I can handle them with high confidence.

C • Good running 2

OK and Possumtrot: Heart Brain Courage U.S. Intercollegiate Interscholastic Orienteering Championships in Shawnee Mission Park, KS. After finishing my race and downloading, I took a brief break. I'd seen Max hanging out in the shelter near the results. He subsequently disappeared and was actually hiding behind a wall. When I spyed him there he shrunk away and hoped I hadn't seen him. After a little coaxing and some bribery with sour drops as a promised reward, he was willing to go do the White course. Having been out myself, I assured him that the trails were better than the slush and mud he encountered yesterday. As we were getting ready, Peggy appeared and was readying herself to run. She had another start worker's car that she needed to return to the start area so we got a nice warm ride up with her. It was cold on top of the hill in an open windy field. Max hadn't taken any gloves. As we waited, we reviewed standard processes of orienteing the map, checking off trail intersections, and returning to the last place or control on the map that he was sure of if he got off track. As luck would have it, we were started after our start time and with Peggy--a family affair.

Max does well in open fields. He was eager to get going so he oriented his map at the start timer signal, and saw #1 from the start. He took off at what was an 8 min/k pace (some time passed as he opened the map to orient it). He was even quicker planning a route to #2 (straight down a flatish ridge trail) and took off before I could get a glance at what he was reading. His split recorded a 6:15/k pace. Turning to #3, he spiked that just as quickly though the trail was more muddy.

Control #3 was a trail intersection almost under a power line. Max's speed got the better of him as he read quickly and took off downhill on a trail paralleling the power lines. To his credit, the map didn't have the trail segments at the intersection for #3, joined. With the added black on the map for a nearby fence, it wasn't easy for him to see what he should have done. After 300-350m, the trail Max took turned back to cross the power lines and he expected to see the control there on the other side of the power lines. I noticed that his focus was on the ground of the trail itself, not up in the air where the power lines could be seen. He oriented his map and I reminded him to look for big things that would help him know where he was. Eventually it dawned on him that he needed to go back to #3. Once there he took the correct trail and hit #4 which required no further turns. Muddy shoes and his muddly falling sweat pants (no tie at the waist) slowed him some. Control #5 continued straight on the same trail, but was at a crazy twisted cross of an intersection. After punching the control, I felt relieved that Max was able to slow down for a bit, choose the correct trail and spike #6. Controls #7 and #8 were straight down the same trail so he hit those well without trouble too.

Leaving #8, there was a short streamered route to bridge a gap between trails. The gap was small enough that one couldn't show it on the map other than a line similar to a normal leg line. It took Max a while to find the streamers but we bridged the gap quickly afterward. The streamers ended on the outside of a hairpin curve on a trail. Max turned onto the trail in the correct direction (unknownst to me since I couldn't see his map). A very short way away was another intersection that he needed to take. This one was with an intermittant trail that led to the control. I didn't even notice the trail or intersection or control as we went past it (it was there but an oddly bent branch went over the intermittant trail right at the intersection, at about 4-5ft.). We went along the regular trail getting further away, even noticing a small pond down below that the control would have been near. Eventually turning back, we went past the same intermittant trail intersection w/o seeing anything. We hit some wiggly trail bends and following instruction learned from his mistakes yesterday, Max stayed on the trail through every bend. It was obvious to me that one could cut straight across the slalom turns but I didn't say anything least I confuse him more. Emerging in a field near the finish, Max was flumoxed. He had little confidence in what would be on the map and what wouldn't. He didn't think the tennis courts would be on the map and didn't think to understand the bike trail and road being on the map--normally he would as he did yesterday with a softball field. Eventually Max figured out that the wiggles in the trail would lead back to #9 so up we went. After rounding the hairpin curve where the streamers ended, Max was still confused. We wandered on with Max thinking we'd never find it and with him getting colder (temperatures kept dropping). We walked this time so he was able to spy the control from where the intermittant trail intersected the main trail (again, the intersection was not connected on the map). It should be noted that other competitor times in his class would suggest they had no trouble with the streamers and intermittant trail intersection.

After getting #9, I think Max just wanted to finish. He knew the finish was near so he continued down the intermittant trail in the wrong direction to the tennis courts. He saw the finish but couldn't make the leap that he could follow the finish backwards to the Go control (#10). We went back up toward #9 and once in sight of it, I think Max realized he hadn't oriented the map correctly when leaving it the first time. He also didn't understand the scattered open/low vegation mapping on the straight line to #10; there was no trail through it but it was mostly open. He thought the symbol on the map represented mud. Decending, Max knew the control to be near but he couldn't see it. It was tucked behind some cedars at the end of a field edge/row of trees. Unfortunately, the trees there were mapped white. Even if mapped green, Max probably wouldn't have made the connection from that the control could be behind the trees--he expected to see it. Max walked past the control still flumoxed. He even crossed the trail and road. He turned around after more time and finally saw the control. His finish was fast. I had to run hard enough to keep up that I wouldn't be able to hold the pace for long. Max passed a woman as he ran but as the slope increased he ran out of steam at the end. The woman passed him just before the finish.

Max finished 3rd for the day, out of 3 in his class. He didn't feel so good about that but since one of the guys didn't finish the day before, Max pulled out second place for the 2 day competition. He wore his medal for several hours afterward, even on the airplane home. There was some realization that he did accomplish something on the course, even though he didn't race well and wasn't having fun much of the time. The lack of tears and anger that happened the day before was a great improvement. I told him that the real champions are ones that keep coming back to do better another time. I meant it and hope that Max will take it to heart, bravely, and smartly too, to compete again and again.

Day 2 - Red - Splits

Event: QOC Patapsco Granite
 

Event: The 'Hood Hunt: Kansas City Plaza
 

Event: 2013 IS IC Championships
 

OK and Possumtrot: Heart Brain Courage U.S. Intercollegiate Interscholastic Orienteering Championships in Shawnee Mission Park, KS. From the assembly area to the start. It was windy but running up the hill warmed me up.

OK and Possumtrot: Heart Brain Courage U.S. Intercollegiate Interscholastic Orienteering Championships in Shawnee Mission Park, KS. It was fun running today. I wasn't very fast--lacking leg speed. I had a hesitation on #1, a questionable route choice and change of direction on#4 and #9, climbed just a
Iittle higher than needed on #10, and made another poor route choice on #16. The rest was pretty clean.

OK and Possumtrot: Heart Brain Courage U.S. Intercollegiate Interscholastic Orienteering Championships in Shawnee Mission Park, KS. From the assembly area to the start so that I could shadow Max on the White course.

OK and Possumtrot: Heart Brain Courage U.S. Intercollegiate Interscholastic Orienteering Championships in Shawnee Mission Park, KS. Max has been out on plenty of orienteering courses before. Most have been when out with friends or shadowed by them. Going with his parents is more challenging. Today on the White course, I was trying to get him used to doing all of it by his self. The frustration started early when he didn't know what the dots for the vegetation boundary (field and forest) leaving the start were. My mantra had been mostly for Max to use his compass and read the map. It was frustrating for me to see him angrily reply with "I read the map!", then go and run off in the wrong direction. On #1, Max pulled up short of the control where I was just high enough to see it. Telling him to use his compass resulted in him leaving the field, and running north into the open woods where he found 2 controls that weren't his. He backtracked to the field, found #1, then #2 quickly. The trail to #3 was on a north slope and so it was a slush and plain flooded mess. Max pulled up early at a yellowish control off trail on a ditch but knew where he was when checking the code and finding it to be wrong. He picked his way through green parallel to the trail going onward because the trail was flooded and his feet were freezing wet. He finally got to #3 but not without some drama and encouragement to finish. Going out of the trail intersection, Max went the wrong way. He understood this after a short way and turned around. Back at #3, he was lackadaisical with orienting the map. He had it in his mind to go north to find #4, and that to him meant going back through the slush and green woods toward #2. We got back to the control on a ditch just off trail, then a little past it before the realization that #2 wasn't near #4, set in. Tears set in too. More encouragement and funneling of anger got him going--he stomped through the freezing puddles of water and slush for the third time. Telling him that this would be the worst part of the race may have helped though I wasn't sure of the truth of it. Max finally got back to #3. To his credit, I think there was a small map error in which a bend shown at #3 was further ahead. There were some more errors getting to #4 including Max going off trail again. Going to #5 was smooth. We passed Peggy and Mook going the other way over the stony causeway. Going to #6 across the field was no problem for Max. He visually found #7 about 2 steps out of #6. Leaving #7, he found a nearby red control but got to the corner of the ball field before not knowing what to do. Looking for a field, he saw a control in a field far off across the main park road back past where we'd come from. My mantra resulted in Max again repeating his standard reply. Once at the wrong control, I told Max to look for big features that would help him. He found the baseball field and connected it with the map. Then he was off and running hitting #8, and not even stopping to look at the map before the run in. He chased and caught a teenager at the end. I hope it was a learning day for him and that it will help for tomorrow. It was a learning patience day for me.

OK and Possumtrot: Heart Brain Courage U.S. Intercollegiate Interscholastic Orienteering Championships in Shawnee Mission Park, KS. I split some control pickup with Mike Eglinski. I was slightly off on one cliff. The controls were on stands. They were going to set them out again for day 2 so I just pulled them up all assembled. In some places where there was snow, fog was rising.

C • Thanks 2

Day 1 - Red - Splits

From Northfield Rd., to Arlington Rd. with Max on his bike. It was windy but we had a tailwind. After dropping him off, I proceeded to the Bethesda Metro Statiion.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Arlington Rd. After picking up Max and his bike, we rode together to Northfield Rd. it was a little windy.

From Northfield Rd., to Georgetown Pike via Greenwich Park, to Beech Ave., to Anniston Rd., to Ewing Dr., to Roosevelt St., to Jefferson St., to Northfield Rd. I worked late. I got out to run to keep from being a complete sloth. Taking my car in for maintenance and picking it up the last two evenings reduced some opportunities to train but taking a break also seemed in order. My quads were better today but not really where I expect to be in terms of speed. I could have used a bathroom for much of the run. It was about 42 F outside.

Spinning and watching a movie. I did spin better than I had been doing the last several times.

Washington, D.C. From 12th & Independence Ave., SW, onto The Mall, past the Washington Monument and down betwee the Reflecting pool and the Vietnam War Memorial to Lincoln Circle. to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Calvert St., NW to the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro Station. After a day of rest, I felt pretty good starting out. It was less cold than I expected it to be and the wind had died down much from earlier in the day. As I waited to start at a traffic light, a guy around my age went running past along 14th St. in a jacket similar to mine. There were other runners out that got me moving a bit faster than I have been doing lately. The Washington Monument was fenced off for repair work--needed after the earthquake that hit DC over a year ago. It looked rather nice with being lit-up at dusk. It was interesting that the guy with the similar jacket converged with me just past the Lincoln Memorial. I was going slightly faster than him but he was using shorter routes here and there. When I finally caught-up, we talked a bit about how run commuting was a pretty nice way to go. I started feeling a bit tired about then and got winded as we spoke. He broke off at Georgetown to run into Arlington and I ran up the dark Rock Creek Trail. I was going pretty well except when going up hills. There is residual soreness ini my quads but they are much better than they have been.

I was going to get out to do some field checking but the weather just wasn't that pleasant. Instead, I did some draft course setting on paper for what QOC is planning on bidding an A-meet for in 2014.

Event: QOC Patuxent River Trail 10K
 

Event: Seneca Creek Greenway Trail Marathon & 50 k
 

Patuxent River Park, MD. I played photographer today for the QOC Patuxent River Trail 10K. In doing so, I took 727 images. It started out in the upper 20s or about 30 F so at one point it appeared that my battery ran dead. After a few minutes, I tried it again and was able to keep shooting with it; the warning signal just kept flashing but I finished. After photographing the race, I went and ran most of the course and did a little more. It was 35 F when I was done but I was cold starting out. During the first mile, I felt rather strong. My quads didn't hurt any more and my legs felt light. However, very suddenly at around the 1 mile point, the soreness in my quads came back. I kept running mostly though I did find some stray streamers (from the race) on the course and I pulled them. Dave Linthicum had also asked me to move a sign that had been left out from the NJROTC event a couple of weeks ago so that was another small detour. I was pretty slow on hills whether they be up or down. On the flat Riverside Field at the end, I added on, I ran well, and I scared the geese.

It was Bethesda Elementary day the the Cabin John Ice Rink. Max bounced around with his friends a lot but seemed to get cold. He doesn't seem to think he should admit such things. I didn't feel like skating and the first 5 minutes were just awkward. After some minor skate adjustments I felt much better. I got moving and sometimes sweaty; I took breaks. Peggy cruised around at a steadier pace. We saw Ken Walker, Jr. and his daughter Samantha. A surprise was seeing Diana Todd--she was there to play hockey after we left. She'd said she'd learned and joined a league 2 year ago. It could have been orienteer day at the ice rink.

From Northfield Rd. to Arlington Ave., with Max, then to the Bethesda Metro Station. I hadn't pumped my tires in a while and what rushed when I left. It felt like I was bottoming-out sometimes.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd. with Max's bicycle, then to Charlcotte Rd. to pickup Max from a friend's house. He rode his bicycle back with me in the dark.