Feb 2012 (Today, 02:59 AM)

Pisgah sunrise (Jan 14 2012, 07:46 PM)

2012-01-14_08-10-56_494 (Jan 14 2012, 07:44 PM)

2012-01-07_17-31-56_538 (Jan 8 2012, 04:48 PM)

FMP2 Jan 2012 (Jan 8 2012, 04:48 PM)

FMP Jan 2012 (Jan 8 2012, 04:47 PM)

IMG_0066 (Jan 8 2012, 06:33 AM)

Radio Tower October 2011 (Dec 11 2011, 05:42 PM)

DSCF2067 (Dec 11 2011, 05:38 PM)

Kugler with the big boys...
Thankfully the forecast was off, it was a balmy, and sunny 18 degrees (feels like 7) as seventeen of the dojo departed Milford (from Ms Cheri's donuts). Two flat ones before the real pain began, Kugler repeats, a 2 mile climb of about 308 feet on the road, three times. The usual suspects were out and I would hang with them but we also had a few others like David Riddle, recent JFK CR holder, we also had the winner of the 5 Mile race I attended last week, Derrick Butler in 24:41 (ouch!). Needless to say, they were the front pack! The rest of us hammered for all we had 3 times and then ran hard to Red Bird Hollow (a sweet hidden 2+ mile section of double track) before returning to the cars at Ms Cheri's. My eighteen miles averaged 7:08. Epic is overused so I'll go with Solid!

Back on Track...
A 3 year dry spell broken tonight, under the full moon! 2 x 1200 in 4:24.80 and 4:24.81, a little inconsistent but we'll work on that! Eastern time zone holding up our end...

Looking for us ? On top Tues night, 8:30 ish.
THE Full Moon Pisgah.

So, do I detect that coyote decadence is spreading to
venues in the east ? Full moon howls, donut energy food,
and agave infusion ? Let the fun continue ..... !
BTW ..... Davey sat atop Nebo again this weekend. Ya.

A brisk 18 last Saturday ended at Servati, 16 today ended at Ms. Cheri's. We've got donuts, yes we do! We've got donuts, How About You??

FMP on Tues the 7th. Takers? Look for Pegasus low in the western sky as the sun sets.

It was an awesome day on the ridgeline. We picked the perfect day for a good trail run. Trails in great shape and Ginger was in the lead going so fast he was evaporating whatever water was around anyway. We debated whether to even leave the Hideaway Bakery when we dropped my car off, but alas, we did actually run. Good donuts for those keeping track...

I see fat people....oh wait that's me in the mirror.

I smell donuts...

8 weeks to go! Got a jogging stroller that apparently can be used on trails. Looking forward to testing that out. Hope you're all enjoying your crazy weather. Not sure if you should take a raft or a set of skis when you're out.

Eat and Run
Jurek's new book can be pre-ordered now on Amazon...

40th Houston Marathon
3:06:46 on a day I maximized my effort!

Olympic Marathon Trials...
Spectacular morning in Houston! Won't spill results but did see Megan A and Jenn S among others on the course.

Dog meet Sat morning 7:30 Pisgah backside lot.
If you miss us there, find the closest pancakes
and that's where we'll be after we're done playing
on the mt.

We did our typical guy communicating tonight, and so
went up in two shifts ..... Solo early (and solo),
Harold, JJ , and me arriving to start as he finished.
Four made it to the top for the lunar occasion though,
and so the year begins. Looking forward to another year
of howling at the moon with friends.

I'm hearing noise about a decent crowd at
the summit Saturday night ... like about
6:45 for sipping and howling. see ya ....

No fair Big E, you get a head start on us being on the other side of the pond. Don't tell Jrun but some guy in Australia set off from the Sydney Opera House to run 18,019 miles thru 25 countries. His warm up was a 932 run from Melbourne to Sydney. I was thinking that doing some trail halfs this year was going to be a big deal....

For all you number chasers...Happy New Year! The count starts now!

chasing numbers....
As the year wraps up I always find myself looking at the totals. Where do I want to finish, should I run one extra day or take that zero? A few more push ups, sit ups, head to Yoga? The more years that roll by, the more I do what's right for my schedule, so this year, probably a couple of nice runs, a zero and another easy day in these final four. Then a big Sunday to kick off 2012!

Merry Christmas!
Leveraging unplanned off time at home this week to run run run! After a hard twenty yesterday, just a 40 minute Christmas Day jaunt short of an unusual December 70 mile week! Family is feeling better now as well, fortunate for Santa comes tonight...

Holiday greetings to all who venture here, and a belated
birthday shout to Jeff, who rolled the meter to 41 on
Thursday. Hope the E girl is progressing nicely into the
new year ..... a baby in 2012 ! Also hoping we can all get
together for some fun miles again soon.

Two runs this week up river. For the first time I headed down stream to Blue River and warmed up on the chip path that surrounds Jeff Sherman's Field of Dreams. After about 15 minutes I headed down on the track for quarter repeats, with easy quarters in between. For those who haven't seen it or run on it yet it really is amazing what Jeff has pulled off up there. The next day Coach Culp came by the house and we headed up to Deer Creek and did an up and back to Trail Bridge. I seem to suffer from what ever the most recent section of MRT that I've run is my favorite. It was clear and cold and that low angle bright winter light that makes the setting look like something right out of a nature magazine. A good negative split coming back down stream was icing on the cake.

Around the horn real quick. Heard that Jeff's little Anna
has been ill and their trip west postponed until next week.
Hope she is recovering and they can spend a few days in Oregon.

If you've been following Dave's page at all, then you know the
trials of Lynn's illness. A great highlight last week as Amy
Chase had a baby boy, ..... another grandson for the 'birdlegs'
and his dear wife. Congratulations !

Any JRun beer plans for Tues night ?

BAM!
REI just announced a ten year lease to build in Cincinnati! This is big news when the current closest location is 250 miles away in the Motor City!

Special guest appearence by Lt Thomas Stark at tonights FMP. He heads off soon to Oklahoma to defend our nation. Can't think of anyone better to defend the rest of us from those Okies. Those people scare the hell out of me. Also JJ's BD tomorrow, should be a cold but good one.

FMP EAST under a LUNAR ECLIPSE
Mark K finally joined me in my neighborhood and we couldn't have picked a better morning. Full Moon with the eclipse beginning, alas moonset here was 743 or about 75 minute before the peak eclipse but on a crystal clear 24 degree morning we certainly enjoyed the red tinged full moon...

While both magazines feature the identical bridge shot only UR features SOLO COYOTE!

My Trailrunning mag showed up yesterday with an
article on the MRTR also ! Going big time !

For those who eagerly await the monthly
announcement ... word in the air is FMP
summit Sat night, 7pm. The Dec challenge.

UltraRunning December 2011..
Crack it open to pages 42-43 for the McKenzie 50K recap and one large photo of SOLO heading up the Falls Trail!

Thank you, men ..... that's what I'm talkin' about !

Gettin' high's been on my mind a lot lately, and today I was determined to get at least up to the ramp road on Steele 2000. Got my bride squared away to go to some volleyball games with Aaron and Fam later this morning.......answered my door and was happy to see the Harold, JJ,and Solo headin' downtown. Said "Hi" to them, "bye" to Lynn, then I was off to soar above the fog.......at least hoping to.

Drove out of the fog close to Steele. Put on everything I had to battle the 26 degree temp. Headed up into the blue and had a fabulously slow, easy run to the ramp road. Took some pics.....warmed up coming down. Everything clear above, and all of the hills- islands in the fog, and the Three Sisters- magnificent! A great time with me, myself, and I got my wish after almost 2 months of no Nebo!

Harold and I granny geared a 6.5 mile loop from the solo ranch around Pre's trail and back. We made the rabbit, or should I say energizer rabbit, run a longer route home for 8 miles. JJ was running 5 feet in front the whole time anyway.

It was cold and foggy the whole time, the it being Harold of course...the weather was cold and foggy too. Harold did warm up briefly, cutting a corner and accelerating past JJ with his arms in the air, like his idol Rocky Balboa, for 20 feet or so. Otherwise it was just good chat time and we were able to solve most of the worlds problems...

Pam and I walked the canal at 6:30, drove entirely too far to get a pretty nice (and inexpensive) tree with the fam, and then watched a heck of a movie--Moneyball with Brad Pitt.

Hey, it doesn't have to be exciting, just tell us
about your miles .... I need some stories.
Davey was up in the Steele/Nebo sun, and three
'yotes were steaming in town. Me? Restless and
way out of shape, but eager to start all over again.

Looking ahead to December FMP...Saturday December 10th, eve of Coyote JJ's birthday! Be there or be...

Did a few runs this past week that I hadn't done for a long time including McKenzie View Drive out/back from Armitage. Ran before work this morning on the "Springfield Levey". Hope to be in decent shape by the New Year to hang with the dogs in the hills. Enjoying running in the dark, nobody can see my old man snail pace!

Just to get the cobwebs off the page: JJ, OG,
and Solo did a peaceful(i.e. flat) Walterville canal
seven Sat morning, while Harold indulged my hiking
restriction with a walk into the Mt Gate hills.
Not too exciting, but the dogs will not be still.

Bonus look at almost full moon as I headed off to work at 6 this morning. Thursday nights monthly OPS (Occupy Pisgah Summitt)was as surreal as they get. Popped out of thick fog quickly to a waiting spotlight of a full moon and bright stars. View from top was unbelievable. We were on an island surrounded by thick fog below with bright spots of lights trying their best to poke thru all over. Not a hint of a breeze and much warmer than down below. Didn't want to leave but were running out of Kickapoy Joy Juice.

The part I can tell you about is that Harold and I
hiked out of the fog to the top, unexpectantly met
Mark and Brad (and a friend) at the monument in balmy
conditions, and had a nice five part howl.

The part that defies description is the visual overload
of stars, brilliant moonlight, low fog, tree silhouettes
..... had to be there. Nothing else to say.

FYI. FMP. Thurs night, on top 7:15.

the BIG APPLE...
Leaving for a two night business trip tonight. It's Marathon week and I'm hoping to get out for an easy run or two in Central Park!

Another Boston qualifier...good work!

World Class...
Could not have been a nicer day or a nicer route in the world to spend three hours running today. 3:11:05 and loved every minute! Oorah!

OGG, Wonder Woman (I knew we would find a nickname), Solo and Ginge headed down ridgeline on this dim, misty morning, with one goal in mind...get this run over with and head down to Hideaway! Not exactly MIssion Impossible, and clearly mission accomplished. Twas a good morning for young female coyotes to check out the studly lean running machines flying by us on the trail (looked like a MLK warm-up).

Best wishes to Jrun this weekend, if only our government would pick up a few pointers...

Ich bin ein berliner

oorah!!
Heading to DC this weekend for the Marine Corps Marathon! Just hoping to run a little better than our government...

Here's a cheer for Thurston's all-time great rally boy.
IT'S ALL OVER !

Harold. Sixty today. With a few miles still to go
..... we can hope.

The coyotes eat steep hill climbs for breakfast,
and today we got a bellyful. JJ, OG, Solo, Blue
Wonderwoman, and I drove out of the gray soup
up BoothKelly, then ran the 1.5 m 405 climb in
route to blue, sunny skies, and the view from the
radio tower.... Solo's first look. We all ran
the whole thing, a rare one for me. Classic 8 mile
loop, not many better than this anywhere.