So yesterday I was cruising along the "Tracks" trail - an old dirt rails-to-trails path that runs through the forest - and got attacked by a ruffed grouse for the second time! This time it flew down from a tree in front of me, ran ahead of me for about 50m until I caught up to it, then circled around and started chasing me! This continued for about 30m, at which point I stopped and turned to face the bird. It stopped within a couple feet of me- I could almost touch it with my foot- so I shooed it off the trail and continued running. Seconds later, the thing flies at my back, lands right behind my feet, and resumes chasing me! Crazy bugger.
About 6 weeks ago I was running with Kyle Dawson in the same spot and it chased both of us. That time, I thought it was another runner catching up to us... we were running a pretty good pace so I turned to see who it was and well, it was little Mr. Angry Grouse.
Apparently this is pretty common, or I would make a video:
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=WfivrfPA2qY&feature=related
Maybe this is karma, given that I went grouse hunting last weekend. I was unsuccessful-- they were all hidden in really thick cover. Georganne has also been attacked by this same bird and said she saw a hunter on that trail yesterday. Apparently they only come out in the open when we are running.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Penn State National XC Invitational
Here are some pics from the Penn State National XC Invitational, held on Friday Oct. 17. Georgetown's men and West Virginia's women were victorious, while the Penn State squads both finished strongly as runners-up!
Pics from Penn State National XC Invitational
Today for my long run I went out around the airport, then looped back to campus. It was a pretty long run and I was able to use the airport as my midrun water stop! In what other city can you swing by the airport on a nice running loop!?!?! That was great. State College is a fun little city in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, the middle of nowhere gives us beautiful mountains.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Road Whore
It's been a hectic few months, to say the least. In June I left my job coaching at Notre Dame. In July I competed in the Olympic Trials, closed on our new condo in State College and got moved in, then got married at the end of the month. After that, it was off to a couple weeks of fun in Minnesota, Mexico, and Chicago, then back to State College for a 2-week math refresher course (the fun was over at that point!). Now I've gotten into the swing of school, and running is coming along well after my end-of-season break. I've been training a little over 2 months now.
In the beginning of September, off just 3 weeks of training, I raced in the Harrisburg Half-Marathon. I wasn't very fit at the time but thought I'd jump in to get a hard long run and to do some road-whoring (running road races in the hopes of earning some meager prize money). Well, some fit guys showed up and I got smoked by one of them in the last 2 miles. I ran 1:09:46 on a flat course.
Four weeks later, I ran the Lancaster Hands-On House Half-Marathon. Far more fit after just another month of training, I went out hard in 14:50 thru 3 miles, then pulled away from the field going up an enormous hill in the 5th mile. My mile splits indicate the severity of the hills on the course: I ran 5:57, 4:25, 6:07, 4:44 from mile 4 to mile 8. It was the hilliest course I have ever seen. I ran well by myself the last 8 miles to finish in 1:07:58. I felt great about that time on such a hilly course (and got some local press lovin').
Last weekend I ran 3 legs on the Tussey Mountainback 50-Mile Relay with a team. My first leg was leg 1, a 3.2 mile ascent including 845 vertical feet of climbing. I covered it in 19:17, and no one I talked with had ever heard of a time under 20 minutes for this leg. My second leg was leg 6, a 5.3 mile ascent including 800 vertical feet of climbing. I covered it in 25:03. Finally, I ran leg 11 which was an out-and-back leg up over a mountain. It included 636 vertical feet of climbing in 4.0 miles, which was incredibly difficult but I covered it in 21:59 to propel our team into the lead for good. I even got some love in the local paper.
So training is going well. I am putting in lower volume due to my demanding academic schedule, but I am doing the right things and it is paying off. Each week I do a tempo run and a long run and one of the following: a fartlek at 5k-effort, or a hill repeat session of 16-24x100m. This coming Saturday I'm racing a small 5k in Harrisburg, the Pumpkin Chase 5k or some such thing. It will be a good chance to get out and have a fun VO2 max session.
In the beginning of September, off just 3 weeks of training, I raced in the Harrisburg Half-Marathon. I wasn't very fit at the time but thought I'd jump in to get a hard long run and to do some road-whoring (running road races in the hopes of earning some meager prize money). Well, some fit guys showed up and I got smoked by one of them in the last 2 miles. I ran 1:09:46 on a flat course.
Four weeks later, I ran the Lancaster Hands-On House Half-Marathon. Far more fit after just another month of training, I went out hard in 14:50 thru 3 miles, then pulled away from the field going up an enormous hill in the 5th mile. My mile splits indicate the severity of the hills on the course: I ran 5:57, 4:25, 6:07, 4:44 from mile 4 to mile 8. It was the hilliest course I have ever seen. I ran well by myself the last 8 miles to finish in 1:07:58. I felt great about that time on such a hilly course (and got some local press lovin').
Last weekend I ran 3 legs on the Tussey Mountainback 50-Mile Relay with a team. My first leg was leg 1, a 3.2 mile ascent including 845 vertical feet of climbing. I covered it in 19:17, and no one I talked with had ever heard of a time under 20 minutes for this leg. My second leg was leg 6, a 5.3 mile ascent including 800 vertical feet of climbing. I covered it in 25:03. Finally, I ran leg 11 which was an out-and-back leg up over a mountain. It included 636 vertical feet of climbing in 4.0 miles, which was incredibly difficult but I covered it in 21:59 to propel our team into the lead for good. I even got some love in the local paper.
So training is going well. I am putting in lower volume due to my demanding academic schedule, but I am doing the right things and it is paying off. Each week I do a tempo run and a long run and one of the following: a fartlek at 5k-effort, or a hill repeat session of 16-24x100m. This coming Saturday I'm racing a small 5k in Harrisburg, the Pumpkin Chase 5k or some such thing. It will be a good chance to get out and have a fun VO2 max session.
Joe the Plumber Doesn't Know Jack About Taxes
Being a tax geek, I was perplexed at the statements Joe the Plumber, a small business owner, has made about his plumbing business. Joe the plumber originally met Barack Obama in Joe's neighbor's yard in Ohio. Joe asked Obama a "tough question" along the lines of, "I'm a small business owner; if you get elected, will you raise my taxes?"
Obama's response, basically stating that his tax plan calls for tax cuts for everyone who earns under $250,000 per year was apparently confusing to Joe the Plumber. Does Joe, who is in fact an unlicensed plumber in rural Ohio, really earn more than that? Not likely. Still, Joe has been unleashing comment after comment to the national media, implying that Obama wants to raise Joe's taxes. Untrue!
What's worse is that John McCain is playing on Joe's (and America's) tax ignorance in saying that Obama's plan will raise taxes on small businesses, which is a flat-out lie! The vast, vast majority of small businesses are sole proprietorships and partnerships, which are flow-through entities. Flow-through entities are not taxed at all; rather, the earnings flow through the entity to their respective owner(s) and the owner simply pays individual income taxes on the earnings.
From "Compare Obama and McCain's Tax Plans"
"Bottom Line: Make LESS than 250,000/year or do not have health insurance, tax wise, and health insurance wise, you will be better off under Obama.
Make MORE than 250,000/year and do not have to worry about health insurance costs, you will be better off with McCain."
I realize there are other reasons why people vote the way they do, but the part of your vote concerning your personal finances should be clear based on the above.
Obama's response, basically stating that his tax plan calls for tax cuts for everyone who earns under $250,000 per year was apparently confusing to Joe the Plumber. Does Joe, who is in fact an unlicensed plumber in rural Ohio, really earn more than that? Not likely. Still, Joe has been unleashing comment after comment to the national media, implying that Obama wants to raise Joe's taxes. Untrue!
What's worse is that John McCain is playing on Joe's (and America's) tax ignorance in saying that Obama's plan will raise taxes on small businesses, which is a flat-out lie! The vast, vast majority of small businesses are sole proprietorships and partnerships, which are flow-through entities. Flow-through entities are not taxed at all; rather, the earnings flow through the entity to their respective owner(s) and the owner simply pays individual income taxes on the earnings.
From "Compare Obama and McCain's Tax Plans"
"Bottom Line: Make LESS than 250,000/year or do not have health insurance, tax wise, and health insurance wise, you will be better off under Obama.
Make MORE than 250,000/year and do not have to worry about health insurance costs, you will be better off with McCain."
I realize there are other reasons why people vote the way they do, but the part of your vote concerning your personal finances should be clear based on the above.
Let's do Ten Miles Easy

Welcome to Ten Miles Easy. This blog is intended to be like an easy ten-miler; you know, the bread and butter of every serious distance runner's week. The most enjoyable workout of the week, you saunter along, telling stories, giving your teammates a hard time, ranting about news, politics, sports, drugs, sex, rock & roll... a little bit of everything.
A lot of this will be about my own running as many people are asking what I'm up to and where I'll be racing and if there's a website to track me. I hope to throw in plenty of random content to keep things interesting.
A lot of this will be about my own running as many people are asking what I'm up to and where I'll be racing and if there's a website to track me. I hope to throw in plenty of random content to keep things interesting.
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