First pedal of 2012

Took advantage of my day off, the warm temperatures and the recent dusting of snow to get out on the mountain bike for a little spin down the Bay with Mr. Wildknits. There was a brisk wind from the southeast so we turned left off the Sky Harbor Airport ramp and headed down the point toward the Superior entry first.

It was pleasant riding and I quickly warmed up and started to unzip my layers. We stopped at the old Boathouse as there was open water nearby. No point risking wet feet. On the return trip I stopped to snap a few photos:

Pressure ridge on the Bay

GFM leaning on a pressure ridge with Sky Harbor Airport in the background

The elusive Mr. Wildknits in his native habitat....

After the break we headed "up" the point, towards town. We again turned around at a boathouse - this time the one belonging to the Duluth Rowing Club. On the way back I suddenly found myself down, with my head bouncing off the ice. WTH?!?! My back tire had slipped out from under me. Even though I was wearing a helmet my head hurt for the rest of the pedal back to the airport (I can only imagine the damage that would have been done without it). I also seemed to have picked up a bruised area on my right shin (bike landing on my leg?).

All in all it was a fun ride and I would do it again.

A Little of This, A Little of That

A peek at what I have been up to for the past month:

KnitaJourney Knitting Retreat: low-impact aerobics

Cedars over a stream - Jay Cooke State Park (after a rare snowfall)

Wolf tracks... Jay Cooke State Park

15 mile run at Jay Cooke State Park, this time on a warmer day , mix of snow, ice and mud.

February 5 run on the SHT - Split Rock River Loop

A skein of silk gifted to me at the KnitaJourney Retreat was turned into this lace scarf, which was then gifted to a departing colleague.

Broken Rib scarf - a knitting experiment

More lace - this time a shawl in Mini Mochi (80%merino/20% nylon).

Righteous Real Ale

Training has begun for the 2012 season, with the first race less than a month away (Human Race 8K - a USATF/Northwoods team event). After that my focus will be back on ultras with a few shorter races (NMTC series mostly) to spice things up.

Righteous Real Ale.... the explosion

A new batch of beer was created yesterday, just as we are finishing up the Christmas beer. Fermentation started quickly and was quite vigorous. I expressed a bit of concern about the quantity of hops that could be seen at the top of the carboy but Mr. Wildknits seemed to think all would be fine.

I woke up this morning to find this:

The power of fermentation...

Hops on the kitchen ceiling.

Back in it's container, having cleared its throat of hops.

We slept through it. Which is a bit surprising as we have had a similar explosion in the past and it is quite loud. We live in a small house (some would say tiny at 800 sq ft) so it seems reasonable that we would have heard this.

Some of the hops have been cleaned up, the carboy was put back to rights and fermentation is progressing - still quite vigorously.

There is rumor a bock may be brewed up for this spring....

A Different Sort of Wrap-up of 2011

I think my audience is split between runners and knitters - not sure which dominates, but would guess runners at this point. So, apologies to you folks as I post about some of the knitting I have accomplished in 2011.

I believe every infant born in a northern climate should have some woolies to wear. So I started 2011 off by knitting a Baby Surprise Jacket for some dear friends expecting their first child.

Then there was the experiment in knitting toe socks, from the "toe" up. I heavily modified a pattern I found on line for these socks.

Somewhere in the midst of all this knitting I did get out for some runs, and soccer, and in the process ended up with a stress fracture of my right fibula (which I was in denial about for far too long, which just delayed healing). This did mean I had more time for knitting which worked out well as by late April I was inspired to embark on a rather large project.

I finished this shawl/stole with just the amount of yarn leftover pictured above. I love being able to do this! Once done and blocked I used this as a reason to take a little road trip via motorbike to deliver the shawl in Ely and then visit friends in Embarrass, MN.

In between all the knitting I managed to volunteer at a race or two (if you can't run, or even if you can, you should volunteer!) and to co-host my youngest daughters wedding (at a state park, in July... the shutdown ended two days before her wedding date - whew!!!). As I had chosen a sleeveless dress for the wedding I thought it would be prudent to finish up a shawl I had knit for myself, just in case the weather was cool.

Here it is blocking (being stretched to it's final dimensions). Turns out I was right to have gotten this done as the day of the wedding we woke to storms and temps in the upper 50's/low 60's.

L to R: Miss G; Miss S, Son-in-law E, Mr. Wildknits, Wildknits

In the midst of wedding preparations I was also working furiously on another baby sweater for a co-worker (nothing like working in worsted weight wool in July and August). It accompanied me on a camping trip to the Gunflint trail

and was finally finished a month or so after the babes arrival, but in plenty of time for colder weather.

I also managed to sneak a trip to Isle Royale in this fall. And, as always, my knitting came along. I find socks or hats to be perfect island knitting. This pair was cast on right before the trip and finished off shortly after - with only a yard of yarn to spare!

In October it was time to get to work on a hat to donate to the NMTC trail series (I also threw in another pair of socks somewhere in here). I had picked up a lovely skein of yarn dyed in Duluth and whipped up my basic hat pattern.

I went to a talk at the studio where this yarn was dyed and managed to come home with 5 skeins of yarn. Something about "buy 4, get one free" and yarn fumes overcame me I guess. With so much fun yarn around (as if I don't have a stash that takes up two plastic totes plus overflow) I found myself designing like crazy and knitting was flying off my needles. First a scarf in a silk/merino blend; seen here in the initial pattern writing process:

and here after blocking

Little Arrowhead Lace Scarf

Then a hat from a pattern I had written several years previously and have always wanted to reknit. This turned out to be a study in color, and how what may look like high contrast yarns in the skein may not turn out to be so once knit up. Still, though the pattern is hard to discern, I really like the hat. It is also a silk/merino blend and quite warm.

In late November I was "commissioned" to knit a shawl for a friend and co-worker for Christmas. Initially I wasn't sure it would be possible, but with the right yarn and some serious seat time I was able to finish it in just over a week.

Then it was back to another scarf I was working on, this one in a fingering weight merino.

Ploughed Acre Scarf

I finished that just before Christmas and cast-on for a pair of socks in a colorway that, it turns out, just wasn't quite what the recipient was looking for.

I ripped those out and, in desperation for a way to use that yarn, searched through my pattern library and found a hat I had been meaning to knit for years.

In process, about 2/3 completed, worked from the top down. Cross-Country Chullo

I spent New Years' Eve blocking the two scarves in order to finish them before 2012 and also working on the hat which has me intrigued (I am a sucker for colorwork, it is right up there with lace as endlessly intriguing to me). Today I took advantage of the sun to take pictures of the scarves and hat before heading off to meet friends for a late lunch.

OTC (obligatory training content):

I am back to running regularly with no, apparent, ill effects from this years early season injury. I managed to get to 1,000 miles this year and celebrated that milestone with a friend on a lovely Christmas Eve run on the SHT in Duluth.

See you on the trail in 2012!!!

Afton Fat Ass - 2011 edition

May get around to saying a bit more about this in another post, but for now here are the pictures I took along the way. What a blast!! It is the most fun I have had running/hiking/climbing in a long time.

Afton Fat Ass 11/26/11

On the knitting front

I have been busy knitting. Finished the project I was commissioned to knit in a week (gotta love the combination of big yarn and needles). Finished the scarf I had posted about earlier and cast on a new project on the drive down to Afton (thanks Craig for driving!!) and got a row done at the post-run gathering and a bit more on the drive home before it got to dark to knit. I am resurrecting a hat pattern I designed years ago; back in the days when I taught knitting retreats on a semi-regular basis. It incorporates a bit of mosaic knitting into the band. I am using some more of the wonderful locally dyed yarn I picked up recently (Three Irish Girls Wexford Merino Silk, in two one of a kind colorways).

I have a sock project in mind as well (or two or three - they are the perfect carry along project). I am not sure why the sudden burst of knitting creativity, but am enjoying the time I am spending with yarn and needles.

Update

It has been pretty quiet around this blog of late.

Running

I ran Surf the Murph 50K on October 29th. My stomach was fine, my mind.... well, I struggled. Thanks to friends, volunteers and other runners for keeping me going and getting me back out for the second loop when I was considering a drop. Found some motivation the second time around by picking up all the litter left by runners (there is a rant brewing...). At the last aid station I went out with Marty, who would go on to win the 50 mile race. He got me moving a lot faster and I stuck with him as long as I could, though eventually couldn't keep up the pace as we hit the hills on the northern side of the park. As I caught sight of the finish line I looked at my watch: 6:59:23... could I sprint in for a sub-7 hour finish?!? You bet!! I made it with 5 seconds to spare.

Surf the Murph is about costumes. And there were some great ones out there.

50 miler, Rick Bothwell, upon receipt of his hot fudge sundae at Natchez Aid Station.

I am a bit lame about dressing up, but managed to rummage about the house and find a soccer referee uniform, complete with whistle and cards.

Emptying garbage out of my pocket at the Horse Trailer Aid Station - Loop #2

A few folks got to see the cards in use as I issued yellow cards to: Helen for misidentifying me as a football ref (she meant American Football) and Marty for lapping me. Red cards would have been shown to anyone I caught littering!!

This was a long 50K - 33.92 miles. I managed to miss a turn the first time round (that is what I get for ignoring the hints the race directors gave in the form of flagging and orange paint), so may have actually run 34 miles. The dry weather led to a very firm surface and by the end of the race my knees were letting me know they had had enough. I could have easily worn road shoes on this course and may keep that in mind for the future if it is this dry.

Surf is a great race, well organized and the finisher's "award" was inspired. A wooden plaque that we branded with our race distance. The race organizers and volunteers are awesome and I don't think I can ever say thanks enough for the time and effort they put in to making this event happen.

Looking at my running log in early November I realized I had accumulated 800 miles despite being out of commission for much of the spring. This made me think reaching 1000 miles in 2011 was feasible, so that is now my goal. In the meantime I feel like I am finally back in shape and have been running well. Now to maintain that fitness through the winter, avoid injury, and be ready to race next year.

Knitting

With the return of cooler weather, and some new yarns as inspiration, I have been knitting a lot. Amongst the recently finished objects are a hat

(donated as a prize for the Fall NMTC Series awards) and a pair of socks, finished just in time to wear at the UMTR AwardsFest. I immediately cast on a scarf with a lovely merino wool/silk blend yard. Which I then proceeded to rip out several times while I redesigned the pattern.

I finally settled on Little Arrowhead Lace, a pattern that I found in a Barbara Walker Treasury. This seemed appropriate as the yarn was dyed in Duluth. The pattern was inserted into my basic scarf recipe and, when blocked, will result in a nice open fabric.

This project has been set aside briefly while I work on a shawl commissioned for a co-worker. In the meantime I have stumbled upon another pattern that has me eager to get out the double point needles again.

Outdoors

Daylight is a limited commodity at this time of year and I am learning to adjust to spending much of my time not at work in the dark. We have had an extended mild fall season and just got our first accumulation of snow. With the advent of snow comes a whole new way to experience the natural world. Animal tracks were abundant this morning on my run at Jay Cooke State Park and it was fun to see a hint of who else was using the trail. In one section, there must have been a smammal convention, as tracks were very abundant.

Now that the temperatures are dropping it is less likely that bears or raccoons will be roaming our neighborhood. This means I can put the bird feeder up and welcome back the resident flock of chickadees. I am a bit surprised they haven't been looking in the door already - they are usually pretty adamant about their supplementary food source.

In addition to regular visits by birds our yard is, unfortunately, frequented by deer. They wreaked havoc on the garden this year and are so immune to our presence it is hard to get them to run off no matter what we do. The rabbit population seems to be down and the other night I got a hint as to why when I saw a fox run up the hill. Yeah for predators!!!

Wild Duluth 50K - 2011 edition

Well, I could throw out lots of reasons for my performance this year:

- injury in February that hampered any real training until June

- work stress (first week of "Go Live" on our new EHR - electronic health record - coupled with weeks of being short-staffed)

- surprise visit from a family member that changed my 'night before the race' plans drastically

- middle of the night GI issues

- minimal training (in my opinion) for this distance

I went into this race with a goal of finishing between 6 - 7 hours. Six hours was very optimistic, but I had run close to that at the Superior 50K a couple of years ago, so not impossible. Seven hours was an acknowledgement of my training effort and current condition. Runs leading up to this race were mixed, making it hard to really judge my fitness level. I was sure I could at least match my time on the course from my first year of running ultras, so there was my third time goal. Over all though I just wanted to have fun and not have a mental bonk. I looked at this as a time to rest my brain... life is pretty simple on the race course - eat, drink, run, walk.

Friday I helped flag one section of the course which allowed me to stretch my legs a bit after a week of tapering and clear my head after a very stressful day/week of trying to care for patients and learn a new charting system. Along the way I saw:

- a very large hawk perched on a log, finishing off a meal. It stuck around quite awhile, but flew off before I could get my phone(camera) out of my pocket. I was within 10 - 15 feet of the bird and my best guess was that it may have been a red-tailed hawk;

- a garter snake, curled up on the trail near one of the bluffs, I managed to capture a picture before it disappeared into the grasses;

- a ruffed grouse, running down the trail ahead of me.

My friend Sam met me near the end of my section, helped with the final bit of flagging and then gave me a ride back to my vehicle. From there it was a quick dash to race headquarters to drop off flagging supplies and say hello to friends. I thought I was heading to a pre-race pasta party but it was at this moment I got a call from a brother-in-law informing me he was in town (from California!) and wanted to get together for dinner. Off I went to meet him at a local restaurant. We had a great visit and then it was time to head home and prep for the race (by now it was past 9:00 pm). Thankfully Mr. Wildknits had agreed to crew for me and was willing to be at every aid station as needed, so I didn't need drop bags. Instead I packed up the red backpack with everything I thought I would need for the day, and added additional items (first aid kit, S-caps) to a small bin.

I was up for good at 4:30 am to have coffee, eat breakfast and finish getting ready for my race. Shortly after 6:00 am I hiked up the hill to the SHT to cheer on the 100K runners as they passed by. The moon was so bright that I didn't need my headlamp. What a beautiful morning! I was able to see most, if not all, of the runners pass by before I had to head back down to the house for a ride to the race start.

This race has really grown in three years! Once runners were checked in and race instructions given, we were off. I was feeling pretty good and tried to keep things easy as we ran along the trails in Jay Cooke State Park to our first aid station at Grand Portage. Somewhere in this section I realized that I would need to stop and take care of my feet. The area near my bunions was quite painful and I was worried about blisters already. Regretted not applying blister pads to those areas before the race, but had not been having issues in any training runs so didn't think it was necessary.

I came into the first aid station in 53 minutes (5.3 miles), well ahead of my optimistic estimate. Let Mr. Wildknits know I needed the blister pads and ran off to use the "facilities" while he found the first aid supplies. I left the aid station still ahead of schedule.

The section between Grand Portage and Munger Trail/Ely's Peak is one of my favorites and I often head here for training runs. It is 5.7 miles long and, in my mind, broken into two parts, divided by Mission Creek. It is in this section where I anticipated seeing the lead 100k runners - and I was not disappointed. Chris Rubesch came by looking very strong and from then on out I split my time between watching the trail in front of me for obstacles and trying to spot oncoming runners so I could move out of the way as needed.

Knowing the trail gives me a bit of an advantage and I was able to anticipate the aid station and powered in, so I would have a bit more time if needed.

Val and Jen were working this station so it was fun to do a bit of visiting as I checked my hydration pack to see if I needed a refill. I also met up with a few more 100k runners I knew here.

The climb up Ely's Peak is a bear! Especially so when some of the steps are waist high. I offered to let the runners behind me pass, but they seemed content with my pace. This may have led to me pushing a bit more up the hill as I tend to do that when I have someone close behind (I always think I am too slow and subconsciously increase my pace). Near the peak Zach Pierce was taking photos and I had to give him a bit of grief about needing to run and smile near the top of a climb.

Somewhere in this section my stomach started to turn and I could no longer eat or drink. Water was not sitting well, nor were the gels I usually rely on. I slowed considerably while I tried to sort out what was wrong and not make things any worse. I arrived at Magney - Snively (mile 15.3) not feeling well at all. Chicken broth wasn't palatable, but cola, ginger ale and Heed were. I decided if worse came to worse I would walk it in as everything else felt fine.

It is only 2 miles to the next aid station at the base of Spirit Mountain and I focused on getting there in a timely manner without getting hurt (the trail here is quite rocky and mostly downhill). I took Mr. Wildknits words to heart to not think about my stomach (has worked on rough Lake Superior crossings).

It was great to see the crew at Spirit Mountain (Storkamp's, Don Clark, et al) and I downed some more ginger ale and Heed before heading up the trail. My stomach was settling down at this point and I continued to feel strong. Mr. Wildknits had indicated that a few friends were up ahead and were looking forward to me catching up to them. I thought he was just trying to motivate me so was quite surprised to actual see my friend Sam just prior to reaching the drop into Kingsbury Creek. Unfortunately she was also having stomach issues and had slowed quite a bit. My attempts at motivating her were not successful and I was soon running on alone.

This section is quite rolling until it passes under the freeway, then crosses Cody St. There has been a lot of construction in this area recently and there was netting down over straw/fiber that was catching on my shoes. This led to a bit of "high stepping" in order not to trip. After a short walk up Westgate Blvd (someday I will run this stretch) it was onto the Keene Creek Valley and the climb to the Highland & Getchell aid station. I had quite a surprise waiting for me once I made it up the final set of steps, over the barrier and across the five street intersection. Ed and Linda Dallman had driven up from Florida! Ed is one of the people I credit with getting me into ultra running and Linda has been there at many an aid station to tell me to stop whining and get moving.

At this point my stomach was feeling better but I was sticking to liquids from aid stations so as not to risk another episode of stomach trouble. I think I may have taken three pretzels here, but was still not too keen on water so avoided that completely. I think I also gave up my extra flask of gel as I knew I wouldn't be using it. This next section is where I had been flagging the previous afternoon, and is a part of the trail I know well as it is close to home. I headed out, looking forward to the beauty of the woods and the views over Western Duluth and towards Lake Superior.

Soon enough I was descending to Haines Rd, then crossing to the Piedmont Hills. After a bit of rolling trail it was time to descend towards Skyline Blvd and on towards the 10th St reservoir and Lincoln Park and the 24th Ave. W aid station. When I reached the bridge over Miller Creek I found it lined with spectators. What fun! And what a change from last year when I ran (well really walked) this bit in the dark!

From this aid station it is only 3.1 miles to the finish. It wasn't long until I was passing the spur trail to my house, crossing Skyline again (and again) before entering Enger Park, rounding the Peace Bell and then starting the long descent towards downtown and Bayfront Park. I still felt strong at this point and like I could continue on if needed, which was nice in light of my training this year. The finish is interesting, one of the few stretches of pavement, but it is so fun to run up towards the big arch in the park.

My official time was 7:12:02. By far my slowest in a 50K. I did not meet any of my time goals but I did have fun and I didn't crash mentally so I count this as a success.

After having a bit to eat, swapping stories, and cheering in other runners I headed home to clean up, bundle up and head back out to the course to watch for 100k runners I knew. It turned into a late night/early morning but was so worth it to watch friends finish this challenging race.

Sunday I was back out on a race course for the NMTC Hawk Ridge 6k. Initially I figured at best I would be walking much of the first mile as it is uphill, but surprised myself by running the whole distance (thanks Chris for the great chat up the hill!) and turning in a respectable time as well, with a pretty decent finishing kick.

It took most of the week before my stomach was back to normal and I had much of an appetite or a taste for water. I took Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off from running (though did get out for a walk on the trails Wednesday). Thursday's are for running to work so that is what I did, in what may be record time! I did opt out of a run home though as I was still a bit tired and had had two close calls with vehicles that morning and just was not up to battling traffic.

OKC

All this free time has meant more time for knitting. And a good thing as I have cast on, knit, ripped out, redesigned, cast on, knit, ripped out and reknit a hat three times. I know how to get the most out of my knitting dollar! As of now the hat is moving along nicely and should be done in plenty of time for the NMTC end of season potluck and awards ceremony.

Today, rather than running, I headed out with Mr. Wildknits to the Lester Park mountain bike trails. This was my first venture onto these trails (on a bike) in over 20 years. Wow!!! Spectacular! We had a blast and I was smiling ear to ear by the end of our all too short ride. From there it was on to an event at the Three Irish Girls yarn studio where not only did I get a lot of knitting done, but I managed to walk out of the studio with 5 skeins of yarn (hard to resist a merino, silk blend or some lovely merino fingering weight yarn). I must have been overcome by all the yarn fumes in the air....

Tomorrow it will be back to racing, with a 9k (NMTC Roughrider aka the Powerlines to those familiar with the Voyageur course) and then the following weekend Surf the Murph 50K. After that.... well, we shall see what the new year brings.