The Untold Virginia Stories

As most of you know, I spent most of April and May in Virginia for work. I missed the family terribly, but got a lot of work done and was actually able to do most of my training with zero guilt of compromising my "family time". It was very much like the time Rocky went to Russia by himself to train for his big fight with Ivan Drago in Rocky IV...

Maybe? :) No, but seriously I did do the grunt of my training while in Virginia and came home about 10 lbs lighter. I ate right, ran hard, worked hard, and stayed busy.

So I guess the purpose of this post is merely to wrap up my time in Virginia. I got to do a lot of fun things, but pretty much stopped posting my experiences at some point. This will be a hodge podge post! Here goes...

Colonial Yorktown
We were very close to the old Yorktown. This place has a lot of history. This is where Cornwallis ultimately surrendered to George Washington in the American Revolution back in the 18th Century. We got to travel to the battle ground and see the mounds. The city has done a great job preserving the area. You could really feel the history there and could almost envision the battle taking place right in front of you.

Here are some pictures from our visit:

Yorktown Pub
If you go to Yorktown, VA... Eat at the Yorktown Pub. It looks like a little hole in the wall (and I guess it is), but it is really good food and has a great environment by the water. We gorged on seafood (I had shark for the first time) and we all drank some local beers from the area. Highly recommended!

Norfolk Naval Port Beauty

This whole area is beautiful. I stayed in Hampton, VA (near Newport News). Norfolk, VA was a few miles south of me, and Yorktown and colonial Williamsburg was a few miles north of me. The Chesapeake Bay was a few miles directly east of where I was. While my immediate location was mostly the business district of Hampton, I had all kinds of beautiful places surrounding me.

One evening we took a bottle of wine and our appetites over to a colleagues house and enjoyed an evening of laughter and delicious food at Ian and Sandra's house. Before dinner, Ian and I took a walk down to a local store to get some more wine and I couldn't believe the beauty of the area. There was literally a HUGE battleship parked about 500 yards from their house. Needless to say, I took a bunch of pictures and soaked in the moment. The sun was going down and the weather was perfect. If I had to live in the city, this is where I would live. Here are some pics to try and put it into perspective (noting: these images do it NO justice):

Haunted Williamsburg, Virginia

On May 13th (ie. Friday the 13th), we took a haunted tour around old Williamsburg, VA. The tour started at 8pm sharp and went into the night. It wasn't as "scary" as I wanted it to be, but I guess I had a different type of "ghost tour" in mind. Our tour guide (Fred I think) took us around the streets and told us of various stories of the area. Yes, people have seen activity in these areas, but (no) we saw no action. :) The tour took about 1.5 hours and we learned quite a bit about the area. Unfortunately (almost a month later), I've forgotten most of the information. :) If you find yourself in Williamsburg, VA and have an open evening, I recommend taking the Haunted Williamsburg Ghost Tour. It was fun and very informative.

Terry Simpkins

One evening last month, we all went to a colleagues house for dinner and drinks. Ok, lots of dinner, and lots of drinks. The gentleman's name is Terry, and his wife's name is Fred (short for Winifred). Terry is one of those guys that when you meet him, you won't soon forget him. His voice is distinct and his character is hard to match. I doubt Terry ever meet a stranger that he didn't like. He's just a great guy and fun to be around. It is always fun to talk with him too because he will bring out some crazy phrases that make you stop and think. Things like: "This thing was no bigger than a pimple on an elephants ass" or "This gal would cut off her nose to spite her face to prove a point". :) These are actual sayings that I heard from this man. He treats everybody with respect and stops what he is doing to help me when I have moments of unclarity with the legacy system I'm coding against... yes he's an old school punch-carder that understands "geek-talk".

Anyway, the reason for his mention here is that he accomplished an amazing feat a few years ago. While we were all sitting on the back porch enjoying his and Fred's company, he began to talk about his "motorcycle ride to the arctic circle" on his Gold Wing. He started in Virginia and drove up across the United States, up to Alaska and into the Arctic circle... Then he stopped for gas, turned around and drove back. Wow! He did all of this to raise awareness for an amazing cause: Inoperable Brain Tumors.

Here was his ride (sorry, camera phone):

There is a story that I found on the internet that tells about it here:

Remembering Matthew: Motorcycle Ride for Awareness

It was neat to hear all of the stories from his trip. He said the Arctic Circle was the scariest part of the trip and he almost laid his bike down with only a few hundred miles of his destination (in the middle of nowhere). That would have been bad. Anyway, I just wanted to share his story, because it fascinated me as an "endurance junkie". I couldn't imagine enduring that much asphalt on two wheels for all those weeks.

Mariners Museum Park

This is a location that was about 7 miles from my hotel. One Saturday morning, I set out to tour the park on my long run. I was scheduled for a 26 mile run. The plan was to run there, explore for 12 miles, then run back. Of course, I picked the hottest day of my stay to do this. The run to get to the park was mostly busy roads. I was able to run along a paved path for about 2 miles, but after that, I was dodging oncoming cars and running along grassy embankments to avoid getting hit.

Of course when I got to the park, it was all worth it! The entrance alone was worth it:

Once inside the park, I found the 5 mile loop that weaves in and out through a cacoon of trees alongside the lake. The entire loop was padded with crushed limestone, so my VFF's were a perfect choice. The trail was exactly what I'd hoped it to be.

Along the loop there were about 15 total bridges. Some were more extravagant than others, but each had their own beauty that let them sit right into the trail. I'm very happy that I was able to see this park before I left Virginia. Thanks for the recommendation Terry. :)

Here are some random pics that I took on my run:

Conclusion

I had a great time in Virginia. A lot of work got done, and I was able to see what it is like to live out of a hotel. :) I kind of liked it, but at the same time it was boring and mundane. I couldn't imagine how horrible it would have been had I not been able to come home those two times in the middle of the 6 - 7 week stay. Virginia is a beautiful place and I'm very grateful that my job has allowed me to travel there to work with such great people.

Mohican Forget the PR Audio and Pictorial

This is really cool:

Forget the PR from Samantha Goresh on Vimeo.

- By Samantha Goresh

Skype to the Rescue

I was having some major withdrawal from seeing the girls. I talk to Jennifer every day either online or on our cell phones, but I've not been able to see or talk to Lizzie, Jazzy or Daizi in over a week.

This morning, I was getting ready for work and was able to do a video chat with them while I drank my coffee.


It was only a 10 minute video chat, but it was just what I needed. I got to hear all about their last couple of days of school, and most importantly I just got to listen to them giggle and be silly. <3

Ahh, today is gonna be a great day.

Luc 2.0

I gave up on my commitment to becoming a hobo before my attempt at the 100 miler. The idea started when we returned from our Florida vacation... I was going to let my beard, moustache, and hair get as long as it could with no trimming of any kind until after I finished the Mohican 100 miler. If I didn't finish Mohican, I would continue to grow it (un-touched) and attempt the distance again at Oil Creek 100 (4 months later). If I didn't finish Oil Creek... well I hadn't thought of that, but I would have probably been forced to cut it then. :)

The decision to cut my hair and shave came because I was required to work onsite at a client's corporate office here in Hampton, VA for 4 strait weeks (maybe longer now). I was assured that my "hair project" was not a problem. This was a pretty big deal to me, so I was glad that I got approval to go through with it. Unfortunately, introductions and everyday interactions with my (much cleaner looking) peers was really pulling at me.

When I would introduce myself to unsuspecting business people, I felt like I had to explain why I looked like a slob. I never did explain the reason for my appearance, but I was somehow expecting complete strangers to treat me like a professional. Some said that I shouldn't have worried too much about it, but it was really messing with my psyche. :( I didn't feel professional at all with my scruff sticking out all over the place. Some people were a little standoffish from me when I was introduced to them. I didn't like that, but I understood why they acted the way they did (BTW: Please don't ever do that!).

The bottom line is that first time impressions are a mofo; they stick. I was sending the wrong impression with each new person I met. Dockers, dress shoes, and Polo's had no affect. The face just didn't match the skills or the character. I felt pretty out of place my first two weeks here, and I still had 2+ weeks to go. It was time for me to fix it, and the only way was to bag my idea of becoming Forrest Gump.

I went from this:

To this:

The first day back was pretty weird. Some people had to do a double take. Others just played the "nothing weird here" card, but I could see that people were able to open up to me now. I got some compliments that made me blush, and some crap from a few peers about how young I looked. :) The best thing was that I could now demand respect from others.

Make no mistake! Had I not been required to be here (onsite) in Virginia, my hair would still be growing and I would still have food particles stashed in my beard. The "hair project" will reconvene upon my return to Ohio.

SETI Stops Searching

This is stupid.

I just read that the SETI telescopes have been turned off due to "budget cuts". This is ridiculous. Why not cut printing more money from the budget instead. Let SETI keep searching.

TrailHacker solution: They should just leave the telescopes on and write a simple batch script (or cron job) to log the information out to a web page. This would be unmanned. It would require a single computer to output the raw data and let others do the work for them. To me it seems that a $1.5 million / year operation get's simplified down to the cost of electricity to keep the batch job running (oh and the satellite array) and the annual domain expense of $15 / year. Right!? :) This would let all the SETI geeks in the world do the grunt work for them. I mean, every programmer has written at least 30 log parsers in their life. Transparency is the key here.

Man, if I were running things over there...

Running in Virginia

I'm in Hampton, Virginia on business. I've been here for 2 weeks and will be here for another 2 weeks. I've been able to come home on the weekends, but the weekdays have been spent here in Hampton. The good thing about being here is that I get to explore new terrain.

Each morning I wake up around 6am and run. I've explored a lot of the area as a result. For example, last week I found that there is a 3 mile running loop around the golf course. The golf course is directly across the street from my hotel. There are beautiful little ponds and the course is nice and manicured. The first time I ran around it, I'll admit that I was a bit intimidated. There is a sign at the entrance to the path that says "Open from sunrise to sunset. Be safe. Run with a friend." I thought this was pretty bold, but I shrugged and kept on... el solo.


I love the new scenery, but it's all paved, all the time. I'd much rather be dodging roots and weaving in and out of trees on a single track trail.

On Wednesday morning I was scheduled for an 8 miler, so I decided to explore a local park in hunt for some wooded trails. Luck was on my side and I found lots. It was a trail running jackpot named Sandy Bottom Nature Park. It's about 2 miles from my hotel. This meant that I would be able to make it there and explore the about 4 miles of new trails before having to head back to the hotel and get ready for work...

As it turned out, I got lost inside the park and was late for work. :) I ended up turning right onto a trail, thinking it would bring me back out onto the main path. After I was on the trail for about 15 minutes, I realized that I was pretty deep into the park and had NO CLUE which way the entrance was. For all I knew, I was on the other side of the park and would have to run another 4 miles just to get out. I didn't worry about it too much, but I was just concerned about getting back to the hotel so I could take a shower, eat breakfast and walk to before it got too late.

Here was my journey (you can see where I started to get disoriented):

Here are some pictures from my journey:

There were 0 hills on this run, and the park is right next to a high-traffic interstate (ie. very loud), but it's better than a paved 3 mile trail. I miss my Blackhand Gorge and Dillon State Park. I'll be visiting them this weekend...

Ordering Domino's Pizza Online

Holy crap! I just ordered my first pizza online at Dominos.com and it is the coolest thing ever. I got to go through the process of ordering my pizza down to extreme minor details about how to prepare it. I configured it to be light on the cheese, extra shrooms, gimme a tub of garlic dipping sauce on the side, etc... Even after I placed my order, I got to see that "Jessie" started preparing it at 7:02pm without having to refresh the page. It was only seconds after I click "Place Order" too.


Talk about customer service!! I would definitely recommend ordering your next Domino's Pizza online! Put the phone down and enjoy the interactive experience.

Since writing the above two paragraphs, my pizza is now "In the Oven"!

Domino's get uber geek points from me!!

2011 Mohican Forget the PR 50k Weekend

What a crazy weekend.

Note: Sorry I had no camera. All pics below are courtesy of Nick Longworth's Facebook album. Thanks buddy! :)

The weekend can be summed up with:

• Little sleep
• Long days
• Lots of friends
• Muddy runners
• Amazing time!

Friday night, my flight landed at midnight. I drove up to Mohican State Park and made it there by 2am. My good buddy, Farley had already setup camp and he let me crash in his tent. The alarm went off at 7:30am and we got ready to start preparing the forrest for tomorrow's race.

The first half of the day was a mostly logistics and getting things setup at the Start/Finish. We went through and packed the different aid station supplies. Synced up spreadsheets and did a few printouts to ensure that the runners would have a smooth checkin the next morning. It was pouring down rain for most of the morning. There was a small patch of sun that snuck in there, but for the most part it was raining in buckets and then it was sprinkling (off and on). Yuk.

We broke for lunch at Pizza Hut and gorged like trail runners. :)

After lunch, we all split up and did our own course marking duties. Farley and I took the trail from the Covered Bridge back to the North Rim Trail. This section was pretty easy to mark; there was one turn and the rest was just a long trail that winded along the river. Not a whole lot of flags were needed on the single track trail section, so we gave some extra attention to the river crossing. We used enough flags to ensure that the runners knew how to get into the water and how to get out of the water, and back on the course. We probably used 1/3 of our flags at this section alone. The remaining 3 miles simply followed the river so we would just drop a flag every so often so that runners knew they were still on course. All in all it was a 'no brainer' though.

Around 2pm or so, Jennifer came up with the girls and we were going to try and hang out a little bit. The plan was for them to help with little odd's and end's and just be together. The truth was that I've not been home all week and won't be home for the next couple of weeks, so we just wanted to find some time to hang out. What better place than Mohican. :) However, as it turned out, she decided to take the girls over to play putt-putt golf and let Farley and I focus on our course markings. It turned out to be the absolute right decision because it got pretty gross out on the course and the girls wouldn't have had much fun walking for 3+ miles anyway.

Farley and I just hung out and did a lot of laughing. We talked about all the different ways we could totally sabotage the race with the amount of lime and flags we had (ie. turn left! now turn right! go in the river! now come out!). :) We played it cool though and tried to be adults about it. :)

Work it, Nick... :)

When we got back to the Start/Finish we all had some nice frosty beers on tap, compliments of Nick. There was a really nice girl there by the name of Samantha, who was doing some audio and photos for the race. She was interviewing various people about the race and who they were. Nick and I decided to let her interview us together. Nick was half lit and I was feeling goofy from the few beers I had. I'm anxious to see how it turned out. :) I tried to sound as unbuzzed as possible, but we'll see... :)

Around 9pm, Farley and I decided to take a night run through Mohican with our headlamps. We started at out campsite and I took him up Big Ass Hill and we made it most of the way to the Fire Tower before turning around and heading back to the camp. We ran about 8 miles total and had a great time. It was Farley's first night run through the woods, and it was my first time doing that since I paced Kimba back in 2008. Farley and I got back to the campsite, cleaned off our funk and crashed by around 1am.

I froze this night and simply could not get warm. I was pleasantly surprised and relieved once I woke up and learned that my feet weren't going to have to be amputated from frost-bite. It was a horrible nights sleep on a cold hard ground! But it is Mohican and the complaining ends there. :)

The alarm sounded at 5am and we fought the snooze button a few times before getting up and out of there for a 6am volunteer shift at the Start/Finish. Farley was on parking duty all morning and I was on t-shirt duty. The runners all came in and got registered in a frenzy. I saw so many familiar faces and it was great to just be surrounded by so many trail runners.

Before the race started Cassandra McCune got up and spoke a few words about her husband, Mike McCune and his legacy that will live on here at Mohican from now until forever. He was a passionate, passionate Mo runner and he was missed dearly today. As Cassandra talked, it was dead silence. She told about who Mike was, not just to the running community or Mohican, but who he was to her. I don't think that there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd. I had a good cry as she talked. She really did a great job introducing Mike to those that never had the pleasure of knowing him. Mike was there in spirit for sure; you could feel it. Thank you for such a great opening ceremony to the race Cassandra.

The 50K race started at 7:30 am sharp. (30 minutes later)... the 25K race started at 8:00 am sharp.

50K start

Farley and I headed over to the Covered Bridge. I was working the Course Marshall duty again, and Farley was there to lend assistance to the Mansfield Running Club. We got to meet some really cool people at this aid station. I also got to see some familiar faces from last year's volunteer group. What a great atmosphere the Covered Bridge is... It is the heart of most all Mohican running events. Many of the trails meet here and runners pass through here multiple times in most events because of it's location.

This year, Rob threw in a nice river crossing and it was awesome to watch the runners belly aching and anticipating the freezing water. The line of the day was when one runner said.. "But there's a perfectly good bridge right there!?!" It summed up the logic of having a river crossing... it's just what us runners like to do for no good reason. :)

About half way through the race, I went back up to the Start/Finish for some technical support on a small little computer app that I built for keeping times. They were having some troubles with it, so I handed over my orange vest and spent the remainder of my day at the Start/Finish greeting runners and doing odds and ends for Rob and other volunteers that needed assistance. I met a lot of really great people here. One runner (named Seth) introduced himself and claimed he reads my blog from time to time. I didn't ask how he recognized me, but I assume it was my crazy shoes. :) If you're reading this Seth, it was great meeting you and perhaps we'll cross paths again soon. Thanks for reading these silly ramblings. :P

While standing there greeting the runners, I realized that I was spent from lack of sleep and really got to missing my girls. I wasn't much use to Rob anymore (sorry man) and I decided to make an executive decision to drive the hour home and spend some quality time with my girls before having to travel back to Virginia in the morning.

Awesome job, runners! Awesome work, volunteers! Awesome race, Rob!

2011 Boston Marathon Shout Out

Today is the day!! Actually, the "race" part of the event is over. It was over 2 hours after it started. Amazing!!

Honestly, I don't like watching marathon running on TV. However, I do get all psyched up when I know people running in the biggest marathon race of the year. I am tracking a few of my running buddy's on the Boston Marathon's website and I'm there with them in spirit. I doubt I'll ever run fast enough to take part in the race but I really do like the hype around it and running it vicariously through my faster friends. :)

Good luck runners and have fun!

My Patchy Beard

I've decided not to cut my hair or shave my face until after the Mohican 100 mile run in June. Jennifer's cool with it and my boss is cool with it, so that's all I cared about. So far it's been pretty hard to get used to all the looks. Especially being here in Hampton, Virginia as a contract programmer in large corporate office building. Everybody looks professional, except for me. I look professional from the neck down, so that has to count for something.

So the next time you see me and wonder why I look like a homeless person, there's a (personal) reason. It looks gross for now, but it's growing on me... get it? :P

32 364/365

That's how old I am right now. Good luck finding that on a google search...

Mohican Forget the PR 50k Race Report

This may appear odd, since the race report is being posted a few days before the actual Forget the PR 50K race, but there's a reason for this. The reason is that the race director (Rob Powell) is cool enough to allow the volunteers to come and run the course a week before the "official" race takes place. For this particular run, Rob promises to:

"have a poorly marked course" and offers "water and terrible aid"

However, the event was absolutely awesome in every way. I wouldn't have changed a thing about it!

I'll admit: I almost didn't run this race. I was on the couch all day Saturday with a box of tissues guzzling cup after cup of hot green tea. I never get sick, but this day I was sick. When I woke up at 5am on Sunday morning to get ready for the race, I felt like crap. I stood up to walk into the kitchen and got really dizzy. I got a total of about 3.5 hours of sleep. I still had a headache. My face was all stuffy with snot. I could only breath out of my mouth. I had heartburn from the meds that I took the night before (which I never take medicine either). Most of all, I just felt weak. I needed more sleep. I actually went back to my bed and laid down. No way could I run 31 miles today...

As I laid in bed, I thought about how ridiculous it was to even consider NOT doing this run. The 1hr drive will wake me up. The fresh air from Mohican forrest will help my sinuses. I'd probably sweat the sickness out of my body. The heartburn will be solved after the first mile. And my legs will be throbbing with pleasure after the run... All signs were actually pointing me to get up rather than lay in self pity. I got up and had a change of mood; I decided to fight the negative thoughts with positive ones... Glad I did!

I didn't know what type of weather to expect so I dressed warm and hoped for chilly weather (long sleeve & long pants). I screwed up on that one. :) It turned out to be the hottest day of the week; 80+ fahrenheit. Oops. This would actually help me sweat out my cold though, so there's another way of looking at it. :) I decided to show up and treat this as a slow 30+ mile training run rather than a race. I wanted hills and time on my feet. After all, it's called "Forget the PR". Therefore, I decided to use my CamelBak as my portable aid station. I had it swelling with a bladder full of day-old water that I filled the evening before. I had some apples, bananas, napkins, Vaseline, and some extra nip-guards. I didn't know what to expect in regards to aid, so I packed for the worst...

The drive up was dark and foggy. We all gathered around the starting line around 7:25, for the 7:30 start. Some of the finest racers were there: Rob, Mark, Kimba, Cheryl, Michelle, Paul, Jim, Glenn, Terri, Bob, and (of course) Myself. :) Rob quickly briefed us all on some tricky areas and handed out some maps to those that needed them (myself included). There were some new trails being ran on this run, so I took a map and listened very attentively to his instructions... At one point, Rob interrupted himself in mid-sentence and said "Oh... go!". We were off! :)


I should also add that I wore my VFF's and got some crap for being a "hippie" from my buddy, Kimba. :) For those that may recall, I wore these shoes last year on this run and ended up in pretty bad shape after the run. It was my first time running more than 5 miles in them at that time and I did some pretty nasty damage to my feet & legs as a result. Since then I've done most of my runs in them, minus Oil Creek and the snowy/icy runs this winter.

The course was great. It's quite different from last years course due to some downed trees from recent winds. The course was 2 loops, so we had to do everything twice. Well, except for the Purple loop; we only did the Purple loop on the first time around. Also it started at Mohican Adventures Campground this year, and also had a new section added to the course. Rob decided to throw in a funny joke around mile 3 this year which he calls "Big Ass Hill". Yeah. I was completely winded about 1/4 way up the first climb of it (which we had to do twice today). Once we get to the top of the vertical ascent, the course meets up with the old Red/Green loop where we immediately go back down the other side of "Big Ass Hill". When you get to the bottom of that, you go back up another hill. Ouch.

Looking up 'Big Ass Hill'

There were a few times where I got to run with a few people and it was great catching up with them. For the most part though, I just kept to myself for the majority of the run. A few times I'd bump into others, then I'd let them trot ahead of me. I enjoyed shuffling through the woods and hills in silence with nothing but my own thoughts...

Oh, here comes a huge and deserved shout out to our rolling aid station, Ron Dukes. Ron drove all over Mohican State Park with his pick up truck and provided cookies, snacks, water, and other fuel for us runners. He always greeted us with a big smile and a gallon of warm water ready to rehydrate us. We were all so thankful that he came out and did this. A few times I stopped and enjoyed his conversation before heading back out onto the trail. Thanks a bunch, Ron. See you this weekend!

The run was oddly relaxing. It got really hot around noon, and my clothes were saturated with sweat. Even though I was dressed for winter on a hot summer-like day and trudging through the forrest, I felt great. I ran out of energy a few times, but kept moving toward the "next downhill". The heat didn't bother me too much... If anything, it was good training for the 100 miler. After all, it's going to be much hotter in 2 months for the Mohican 100. Although, I'll be wearing much less clothes for that run. :)

My favorite part of the race was the finish. I was the last of the 50k runners to cross the finish line and all of the other runners and attendees of this race came out of the conference hall and greeted me with a tunnel of cheers and high-fives. It was a finish that I'll never forget! Thanks everybody! I felt like a sweaty first place finisher. Hopefully my energy depleted 100 meter sprint to you all looked half-way believable.

I finished in 8 hrs and 17 minutes (or something like that)

Post race fun @ Mohican Adventures

The post-race meal was spectacular. There was beer and lasagna (thank you Betty Baun) for all of the runners. Rob handed out our t-shirts and the 50k finishers all got fancy belt buckles. Rob explained some last minute details for next weeks logistics, then we all sat around and had conversation for a few minutes before departing back to our normal lives.

Mohican Forget the PR 50K is a great race with great views of a great park that is always accompanied by great people.