Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd Bethesda, MD., to Old Georgetown Rd. via Greenwich Park, to Johnson Ave. to Heamsteadt Ave. to McKinley Ave. to Garfield St. to Roosevelt. Ave. to Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. I might not have gone out if it weren't for feeling lazy, and the nice weather outside. For Peggy's and my anniversary, we went out to see the Capital Steps--always funny! By the time we picked-up Max and got him to bed, it was getting late. I still felt full too. With the moonless night, I had to go really slow in a few places. The endureance from the run yesterday carried through to the run today.

Rehoboth, DE. From the trailhead at seaside Outlet Dr., to the Junction & Breakwater Trail, to Gills Neck Rd., to E. Savannah Rd. in Lewes, DE, to Second St., a u-turn back eastward on Savannah Rd., to Cape Henlopen Dr., into Cape Henlopen State Park, the Pinelands Nature Trail to an unnamed trail paralleling north of the Great Sand Dune, past Fort Miles, past the Environmental Training Center, onto the Walking Dunes Trail, onto Gordon's Pond Trail, to Ocean Dr., in Rehoboth, DE, onto N. Surf Ave., onto the Boardwalk, and to Rehoboth Ave.

I had done so little exercise that I wanted to get in a significant run. I guessed this incomplete loop might be 12 miles before setting out. Peggy and Max started it off with me on their bikes. We passed terrain not unlike that in Fair Hill State Park, in MD. There were wooded areas and farm fields except that it was flatter. There was also some evidence of the former rail line part of the trail, having been a horse trail too. The woodlands did have some contour to them and significant amounts looked like they would be alright to run through. The trail crossed some salt marshes too, using bridges. The open marsh smelled of decay and the forest surrounding the marshes would not have been fun to cross off-trail. However the marshes were pretty, and huge. Just before the trail exited the forest for the last time, Peggy and Max turned around, ~2.75 miles out. Max did well cycling at my slow but steady running pace. I wondered when he'd reach this point on bicycle; the flatness helped.

Moving on, I got a call from my sister about coordinating a Father's Day get together--this was about my father. After stopping for that, the trail soon ran out. I also developed an ever increasing need for a bathroom. I just made it into downtown Lewes to the place I ate lunch at yesterday. I also stopped and bought a Gatorade, forcing myself to drink it all before proceeding. After some flat straight and windy roads, I enjoyed getting into the forest again and this time on dirt and sand trails. There were just enough pine needles over the sand to run normally on it. The forest opened-up near the Great Sand Dune. This looked great but it became harder to run and harder to follow the now forking trail. I lost it completely before climbing and intersecting it again. I had some park road and dirt trail running after that.

As I got to Herring Point at about 10 miles and on the Gordon's Pond Trail, heading south, the trail was immediately sandy and mostly open. Some foolhardy soles appear to have tried to cycle the trail for a way. It soon got to the point of trying to run in a sand box for me. The hot white sand was clean, fine and loose. The views however were cool as the air and the strong ocean winds. I stopped several times to take pictures and got a few neat dot knolls of sand that had been built up around vegetation by blowing winds. After +0.5 miles of this, a view over Gordon's Pond emerged. The trail descended there and was on dirt/dry mud, and grass. The pond area was pretty too so I stopped multiple times for more pictures. I was getting tired.






The long straight stretch of Ocean Dr. taking me to downtown Rehoboth required some mental stamina and technique. I shifted focus to the wind at my back, and the vanishing point ahead. I was willing myself into a trance that made time compress, and made me feel like I was going faster; even though I wasn't. After the road was over, the boardwalk which seems so long to walk went by very quickly.

I found Peggy and Max at Funland and enjoyed some time there.




I hadn't realized how dehydrated I had gotten. With it being so cool, I hadn't felt very thirsty but it took a lot of drinking before I needed to pee. The run was longer than planned but rather enjoyable. This terrain is so different to run on. I used to be good at flat land running in high school. Here, the use of the same muscle groups over and over felt like a struggle toward the end. Sitting in the water at the water park after lunch was nice.

Cape Henlopen State Park, DE. Being rather tired last night, I was ready for bed early in our hotel. I started trawling the Intnet for what to do the next day. However, Max was having a hard time getting asleep with our lights on while we read. He crawled up next to me and then fell asleep. I soon fell asleep too but when Peggy was ready to sleep, I had to carry Max into his bed. That woke me up enough to let my mind start thinking of work and life and I had a rough time falling to sleep a second time. I dreamt vividly and had some not so nice, unrestful dreams. Eventually, I woke up after Peggy's run and shortly after Max woke too. After a late breakfast, I found a map of Cape Henlopen with trails and having wanted to checkout these scrubby dune lands since coming to the area in high school with a friends's family, I thought it a perfect time to finally explore them.

We started at the Nature Center in the park and went clockwise. While Peggy was pointing out a nice open section of pines that would be good for orienteering, Max got so distracted that he rode off the edge of the paved trail and fell in front of me. He was okay so we proceeded to an ocean view overlook, through Fort Miles with WWI big artillery pieces that Max liked, past an observation tower that we climbed, throuh a neat open dune area, past a slithering black snake crossing the trail, then back to the Nature Center. It was a cool (65 F and windy) and delightful outing. Max bought a shark's tooth at the store there. We stopped at a quilt store, a bike store, and had a late lunch in downtown Lewes. Kite flying and more fun ensued in Rehoboth in the evening.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. I was tempted to ride all the way in but was still fairly tired. Though cool, It was wet anyway. I also anticipated having a lot to carry home.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. It was a really busy day.

45 Situps. Busy day.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to Arlington Rd., then to 12th and C St. SW, Washington, D.C. Max and I rode together. There were pockets of refreshing cooler air but elsewhere it was warmer than mornings have been. My pace accelerated as I kept passing people getting to Georgetown. It was quite fast in some spots. I eased back after Georgetown with some slight headwinds. There were lots of cyclists and other traffic out which emphasized the need for diligence.

From 12th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Arlington Rd., then Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I mostly had a tailwind which was good since I needed some rest. I went to check if Max had ridden home w/Peggy and found out that he and she had. There were lots of cyclists out. I steadily passed one after another and basically rode alone the whole way--that was nice because I didn't feel like I wanted to push too much.

Event: EX2 Bushwhacker Adventure Run
 

EX2 Bushwhacker Adventure Run: QOC members had been looking forward to the return of this race format last run about 2 years ago. It was basically a trail race where one was allowed to go off trail as long as one got to all the checkpoints in order and stayed on the provided map. There were many categories for the competitions. I ran the Solo which meant out and back. If I were to have taken the trail the whole way it would have been 20K roundtrip, starting at Fountainhead Regional Park, VA, and turning around at Bull Run Marina. Team partners ran ~10K each. The map was 1:16,000. Though it looked like an orienteering map, many parts of it weren't mapped to orienteering standards.

I went out chasing the lead runners. Jon Torrance, some trails runners, Ted Good (master's relay teamate category with David Onkst) ,and Ryan Hanna were ahead early. I struggled on the steep hills but made-up time opening-up my stride on downhill stretches. We'd gotten to see the map well before the start and having run the same trail in the last similar race, I knew what to expect. I stayed on trails just about the whole way to the first checkpoint. I did have some position changes during this but was just ahead of 2 runners at the checkpoint. I left after they left, and cut across the woods on the second leg. It was fun popping out ahead of them while still in sight. This happened over and over during the race, though it was more frequent on the way out. At one point Amber Tomas caught and passed me in forest. As she said later, it was good to have someone else nearby who was navigating. We both ran more confidently. We were pretty close together until just before the turnaround when she cut across a stream that I was expecting to be uncrossable as far down as she was. I made-up some distance near the turnaround when she went all the way to the parking lot--I had gotten drawn off that way too by hearing her and other people who were cheering. I drank a lot at the turnaround as I did at each stop--though the morning had started at 62 F, by race time it was pushing 70 F and we probably finished with it being in the low 80s F (later in the day it hit 96 F).

On the return, I took a better route than Amber right out of the turnarond control so even though Amber had left earlier, I was close behind soon enough. As she lead across some other shortcuts off the trail, we were still moving at similar speeds. At one point, she cut up to cross a spur that I chose to contour around more. She had made the right decision because deadfall and steepness ahead forced me to climb too. I was also slower at the next checkpoint since I took time to drink. I lost sight of her probably near where she cut up to shorten the route as we'd done together coming out. I fumbled with my map at this point and lost place of where exactly I was on the trail about then. I ended up cutting a much lower straighter route that crossed more hills. One of the trail runners caught me the next time I was on the trail but I got ahead again by taking another allowed short cut--on one of these, I think I could hear an audible sigh behind me from the runner as if it was breaking his spirit for me to get ahead on a shorter route again. Approaching the last checkpoint, someone I ran past who was headed the other way told me that Amber was about a minute ahead of me. As I left the last checkpoint, I could hear one of the runners coming in just behind me. I stuck to the trails again for the last leg. I think the route minimized the risk of unmapped deadfall slowing me down, and played to my strengths better--I was able to open up my stride going down a long hill, then climb more gradually up the next long hilll. The navigation cutting across wouldn't have been difficult but I think I would have just moved slower, probably with some walking. However, as it was, on the long trail climb, I tripped and fell pretty good, landing on a knee and my already hurt right shoulder. It happened because my legs were tiring and I didn't lift enough to get over a tree root. Still alone, I moved as best as I could--not swift but not extrordinarily tired either. Going down what was basically the last major hill, I got caught by a runner for the last time. I moved over to let him pass just before we hit the steep part of the hill with many more tree roots. I guess foot specificity coming from orienteering and not having run as far or fast as the runner worked to my advantage because I found myself pulling away instead of getting passed. Once across the creek, I popped up the steep next hill, encouraged that I had a chance to get 4th, I kept up the effort. I somehow managed to get in 10 seconds ahead of the guy who'd come up behind me.

To my surprise, not long after the runner finished, Amber Tomas finished--it turned out that she wasn't ahead of me because she'd missed the trail climbing that last big hill and lost a couple of minutes. Also, I discovered that Ryan Hannah had slowed the second half and was not ahead of me either. I ended up an unexpected 2nd overall in the Solo category to John Torrance by about 7 minutes. Perhaps one of the team category runners finished in between us. It was great to have as good a good result as this and satisfying to have won it in basically a physical effort at the end. This race had lots of great prize swag. I got a nice Patagonia cycling courier bag--something I've thought about buying several times. I also won the Male 50 year age group category,getting a drinking cup for that too--Peggy and I have enough for a set now. While things were going my way, I was fortunate to win a raffled micro IPod too. I hadn't gotten this much swag since my college road racing days. It turned out that all the regular QOC people who came to the race won something too. We had a nice lunch afterward.

photo taken by Heidi Onkst

photo taken by Heidi Onkst

C • Awesome 2