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| Ocean Drive Marathon |
| Three veterans and a virgin Chilly Cheeks 2009 |
| Batona Trail Ramblings |
| Camptown revisited |
| Alaska |
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| No One Immune From Cancer |
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| Can't Dance But I Can Still Wiggle |
| Seaside Heights 1 mile swim - Great recent event |
| Escape From Fort Delaware TriathlonT |
| Blood Sweat and Beers - Ugly Mudder |
| Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy |
| Hot Weather Running From RRCA |
| Our Run In The Pines |
| ref="#tristate"> Tri-State Classic |
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The clock turns 2:00am. I roll over on my side, the ice pack
on my throbbing foot having melted.
I take my pulse by the throb alone waiting for the minute on the
clock to change.
Fifty four beats per minute, a little high but it should be from
the pain. I drift off to
sleep.
The big toe and joint on my
right foot is swollen, hot to the touch and the redness runs up my arch.
This is the fourth day I have been suffering.
I downloaded a book that offers a two hour cure and it had me
taking baking soda dissolved in water every four hours.
Needless to say their 2 hour cure was optimistic at best!
The only thing I have ever tried that would get rid of gout for
me was to run 20 miles.
Normally the foot will throb for around five or six miles and by then
the increased blood flow will take the swelling down and it will start
feeling better. I ran seven
miles Thursday and it did feel a bit better after the run but came back pain in my foot but I almost stopped after
the first couple of blocks! Bob was running with me for the first
half mile but he wanted to run a slower pace and he was going way to
fast. I saw friends Keith and Dee to my left so I tucked in with them.
The plan was to run 9:00 miles for a four hour finish. We went by the
first mile in 9:17. It seemed like Keith picked it up the second
and he did! We hit the second mile in 17:45. I was trying to
get them to pace a little better but you have to know Keith! We
started up a large bridge and a good incline heading out of Cape May.
I tried to coast the down side but the foot was stinging on the
bottom now. We turned on a
causeway into the teeth of the wind.
By the time we hit five miles around 44:00 Keith and Dee were
about 30 yards ahead and pulling away. I was expecting my foot to
ease a bit around mile five or six but it didn't at all! I just
tried to stay steady knowing if I favored the foot I would cause
something else to crash. After mile nine, I gave serious consideration
of DNFing and just walking over to my car at Rita's. Her house is
about the 9.5 mile marker. We turned up on the Wildwood board walk
and I ducked in a vacant Port o Lav. I went by 10 miles in
1:32 and the boards were making my foot feel a little better. The
running path was crowded with finishers of the ten mile stumbling around
and not paying attention to the marathoners continuing on.
The marathon course headed
out of Wildwood and crossed a draw bridge. The hill up and down
felt good after running most of the course that was flat as a pancake!
We turned on Ocean Drive and I
started talking with a guy who was walking but started to run again when
I got along side of him. We ran together for a mile or so talking
and joking. When I told him
my name and he told me his, I recognized he is a hasher from Philly!
He only was running the race because I posted it on the "A Clowns" Yahoo
group! We got a laugh out of that and we ran together for about
five miles. My foot finally started feeling better around mile 16.
We came to a T where the course makes a right then goes about a half
mile and turns around. Who do I see?!! Keith and Dee! I told
Keith I smelled blood in the water and he better not slow down! He
has used that phrase on me in the past.
Shortly after the turnaround, I pulled away from my hasher
friend. I was finding my stride and even ran a few miles under
9:00. I went past 20 in 3:07 and felt surprisingly good! The
only walking I would do was when I got drinks from the aid station.
I have cramped way too much in previous marathons so I made sure to
drink Gator Aid and took several Gel packs.
I was still a bit spooked about cramping up in the last six miles
so I ran controlled. Around mile 22, who do I see? Keith!
He was alternately walking and running. When I came up behind him,
I said," Has anyone ever told you that you look like Ned Beatty from
behind?" He said he ran out of gas so I just kept my form
not wanting to make his situation worse. I stayed as smooth as I
could trying to encourage
the runners I was passing as the miles wound down.
They had a clock with the one mile to go sign and it said
4:01:30. I picked it up and ran a fast last half mile and finished
in 4:09:29. I ran the last mile just under 8:00 minutes. Dee
finished in 4:07 something. I told her she should have run with me
from the beginning and we both would have run faster! Keith
finished a few minutes after me. He usually destroys me at the
marathon distance!
I got a
ride back to Rita's and got a shower and changed and iced my foot for
about 20 minutes. It actually is feeling better now and most of
the swelling is gone! I got two blisters but don't feel as beat up
as usual. I guess my gout remedy has worked again!
I'm not
sure how Bob made out. Someone said he got lost on the course!
That
was the most comfortable last 10 miles of any marathon I have ever run!
I guess having to hold back the first 15 miles or so has its benefits! I had no intentions to run this marathon but Dee told me last Tuesday if I consider it a training run trgin-bottom: 7.5pt"> By Jim Pate and Trail Dog Danny Sunday January 11th, concluded the last section of the Pineland Striders Annual Batona Trail series. The series started in September some fifty miles away. It was a chilly damp morning but we easily could have had worse conditions with freezing rain in the forecast. The series has grown in attendance since just four runners and a trail dog completed the entire trail the first year four years ago. It seems like we pick up a few new faces every week! A good number of the participants are now doing the sections as out and back runs building mileage for various upcoming races. Like all good trail runs, it's not really a trail run if someone doesn't get lost! Daniel Boone once remarked after someone asked him if he was ever lost: "No, I've been bewildered a few times for a couple days but never lost!" We didn't get anyone lost this year but a few were bewildered for a few hours a couple of times! Leg one started at the northern trail head at Ong's Hat. Ong's hat was named for a traveler and ladies man Jacob Ong who rode the stage coach from Philadelphia to the shore back in the 18 hundreds. One of his lady friends became upset after seeing him with a different woman and threw his top hat up into a big oak tree where it stuck in the branches. When travelers would pass the spot for several years after they would say, "There's Ong's hat!" The name stuck. Ong's hat is also the location of one of New Jersey's certified haunted villages and the location of a cult which practices interdimensional travel in a specially built orb while having tantric sex. Do those people know how to party? Or what!!! 
Cranberry trail for the last half mile of the 8 mile trail section finishing under sunny skies at Pakim Pond. A good sized group went to breakfast at Anapay's Restaurant where we enjoyed a hearty meal along with a big pitcher of Margaritas. Several others did the out and back for 16 miles. One of them got a bit bewildered on course but was picked up walking along the highway by one of our group just as we were organizing the search party. Leg Two Pakim Pond to Carranza
Another cool wet morning as a group of 18 runners and a trail dog gathered at Pakim Pond for the 11.6 mile trip to Carranza Memorial. This section takes a single track trail around the pond for a mile before crossing Rt. 72 on to a sand road then back to a single track trail. The trail winds along close to some houses with a abandoned jogger stroller, guard rails and some old appliances before turning to very narrow trail with green briars and many downed trees to be negotiated. Those who chose not to wear long pants were wishing they did at this point! The trail crossed Rt. 563 and joined a sand road for a good solid mile of sand moguls. After enjoying the ups and downs of trail running, we came out to a paved road and continued for a mile and a half passing Cranberry bogs and blueberry fields. Eventually we were back on a nice two track trail all the way to Apple Pie Hill where the water stop was. Apple Pie hill is the highest point in southern New Jersey at 209 feet above sea level. There is a fire tower on top and gives the best view of the pines you can get from earth on a clear day. You could tell it was close to Halloween because some local youths recently enjoyed throwing pumpkins off the fire tower. I wonder if they were listening to Smashing Pumpkins on their I-Pods?!! I digress!
Apple Pie Hill Water Stop
The trail leaves the hill on a nice single track with some elevation changes. It goes up Tea Time Hill then over a series of wooden bridges along a cedar stream before spilling out to a campground and the Carranza Memorial. This is one of the prettiest sections of the whole trail and is often done as an out and back from the Carranza memorial. In July of 1928, Emilio Carranza Rodriguez's plane crashed in the Pine Barrens. He was on his way back to Mexico from a goodwill flight to New York. At the crash site is a memorial, roughly 10-12 feet tall. One side has an arrow carved into it, symbolizing Carranza's flight. The other side has a dy breakfast and a pitcher of Bloody Marys.
Carranza Memorial
The Quakers of Burlington, Mount Holly, and Medford would go on annual meetings to Tuckerton. Here a group of Quakers had built the original bridge over the Batsto River in 1772 in memory of numerous Quakers who had drowned while attempting to ford the stream.
Quaker Bridge Batona Sign
Quaker Bridge over the Batsto River There was a tavern located here overlooking the Batsto River (1808-09 to 1849) that became an important stage coach stop on the Tuckerton Stage Road. It was eventually destroyed by fire. The second leg of the trail followed the river south on a mix of sand roads and single tracks before joining the White Trail to Batsto Village. Originally founded by Charles Reed in 1766, Batsto's major industry was centered on its iron furnace and it was a major supplier of munitions to the American army during the American Revolutionary War. We gathered in the picnic area trormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:14.4pt" align="center">
The sand road transitioned back to oak forest and then pine as we approached Evans Bridge. . Time wise, this is one of the quickest loops we run. The trail is, for the most part, good condition and you can run side by side most of the way. We passed a sprung on the left a mile from Evans Bridge which can be dry as in the first picture or totally filled with water a week later.
Pineland Sprung a mile before Evans Bridge Dry
Same place one week later
As we ran the last quarter mile on the paved road to Evans Bridge we noticed several memorials where people lost their lives in accidents. There is even a tombstone in the parking area. More to follow on that!
Leg Four Finish at Evans Bridge
Evans Bridge Orbs
The first year we ran the Batona Series; this picture was taken at the start of leg five in the Evans Bridge parking area. Notice the orbs. On a higher resolution photo there are eight in all including one damily:"Times New Roman""> We crossed an old wood bridge over the Oswego River with some missing timbers. The road then took us to the old abandoned Martha Furnace where the water stop was located. Bill and TDD checking out the Bridge over the Oswego River
Martha Furnace Isaac Potts who named it after his wife built the furnace in 1793. That was the custom in those days. Isaac Potts & Co. was an iron merchant in Philadelphia. Perhaps Potts noticed the success of New Jersey bog-iron furnaces during the struggle for independence. In any event, he began acquiring land in the Martha area until his holdings reached a peak of nearly 60,000acres. In less than three years, a sizeable town had sprung up around the furnace. In its heyday, the village had a population of four hundred people. There were forty to fifty houses, a store, a school, a sawmill, a gristmill and numerous other buildings. Potts sold the furnace in 1800 to a group of four men. The products of the furnace included the usual stoves and fire backs, sash weights, sugar kettles, shot, cannon wheels, and various utensils. Today there is little left to suggest the village and its furnace ever existed. The furnace ruins are there, although they can't be seen. A long time ago, the state photographed and cataloged every inch of the ruins. Then they buried them under an enormous pile of dirt, and put a chain link fence around the site, presumably to prevent the ruins from being carried off, brick by brick and rock by rock. After the water stop the trail followed mostly sand roads with a few nice hills mixed in. There were a few flooded areas but they were easy enough to get around until we came to a lake covering the road! This picture was taken a couple years ago when it was much drier. The boards on the left were under water this year.
Keith trying to walk on water
After the lake we went back on single track trails for a couple miles then coming out on Stage road in Bass River State Forest which marked the official end of the trail. We covered over fifty miles through some of the nicest areas in the pines. It is no surprise we get more runners every year! EL and Bill do a great job coordinating the transportation, water stops and of course the trail awards for the runners who complete all the series. Many will do makeup runs to cover missed sections to get this coveted award! A warm Glow Wine Toast completing the first year of the series
A wet Trail Dog Danny
The race started on a ball field then on to a paved road for the first 2.5 miles. We ran out of town with the sounds of a band playing "Camptown Ladies sing this song do dah do dah" I went by the mile mark in 7:15 with running with another guy in the Clydesdale class, Ken. There was a guy tall guy, Dave, ahead of us also in the division I could see but he went out quicker and was about 100 yards ahead of us. Ken is in his early 40s and he beat me a couple of years ago in this race and said he has been training a lot. He started to pull away and I didn't go with him. I just tried to relax knowing I hadn't runof big slippery rocks. There was a rope to hang on to but I used alternating trees to keep my footing and slow my decent. When I came up out of the Ravine, I could see Ken coming down so I pushed the last half mile on the trail. The trail came out of the woods up a steep short bank and over the guard rails. I pushed it up the hill and over the rails then flew down hill back into town. I figured I could gap while he was still running the trail. Just as I was entering the town, I could see Dave, the Clydesdale winner, 100 yards ahead of me. I closed the gap a bit but there wasn't enough distance left to catch him. If I spent less time saving energy on the trail worrying about Ken, I probably would have caught him! I beat my time the last two years by over 2 minutes and beat Ken by over a minute. I ran 52:15 for a 10K but this course has hills you have to run to believe! It continued to pour the whole second half of the race. They had a big tent with a chicken barbeque and the local glee club singing some numbers while we waited for the awards. I won a nice trophy for second place Clydesdale. It will serve to motivate me for next year! There were over 15 Clydesdale runners in the race. Guess it still is a horse race in a way after all these years! . My injured foot felt better after the race than before! I'm going to give Steamtown a shot next month. If you would have asked me the middle of last week I would have said no way! Driving out of town, I had a great view of the mountain we ran over and a reminder once more of what keeps calling me back there! By Steven J. Loder, MES, CSCS Congratulations on completing your marathon! Here are a few suggestions to help speed your post-marathon recovery and enhance your overall marathon experience:
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