Saturday, April 26, 2008

Sybil Ludington 50K -april 26, 2008 -Carmel, NY

from left -Frank, Anton (who just did Boston), me, Dave (who won the 60's) and Celeste
see more photos and report below.

Sybil Ludington 50K -April 26, 2008








well, after getting Frank and I lost on rte 202 and Stoneleigh ave, we finally got to the start at 7:50...
except for the wnd, the weather was perfect for this roller-coaster 50K --either i was especially fatigued, or the hills have grown since last year --this is the toughest course around. The hills just keep coming and coming...aside from a few trafficy areas, the scenery was beautiful -the highlight was ad station mile 16 where we saw Anthony, Meredith and Eddie --then mile 19 where we saw Cathy Groneman.
Frank and walked all the hills and ran with Grant, who pulled away to run 4:54! At mile 21 I had 2 chocolate chip cookies and tylenol...then we mustered enough energy to keep going over the hilly 10 miles to the finish, where we saw Tom and Tony. Nick, Rob, and Joe then finished -cake and beer after.. Frank came in second in the 40s and since Ellen, Ruth and I were the only women, I came in second with my slowest Sybil time --no more running road 50ks like this tired!!! It was a fun time with all the socializing after and the fun awards ceremony!
and we didn't get lost going home.

Friday, April 25, 2008

photos from Sybil 2007 -my, time flies..




Sybil 2008 is tommorrow April 26 -this year, we won't have Tim joining us...but Frank and Rob will be running and hopefully alot of other BUS members who we now --and the race will have great aid station volunteers like Cathy groneman, nick jubok, anthony, meredith and eddie. And it will not -hopefully-be pouring rain like 2 years ago. I will be crawling around tommorrow but certainly can't go much slower than last weekend and my main goal is not to get injured-! photos will be taken!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Lake Waramug Ultras -50K- April 20. 2008














what a stark contrast the low key and quiet Lake Waramug Ultras are to the Boston Marathon! As I look at Frank's photos of the trials I can't help but wish to be part of Boston -next year. This year, a walk/run around lake waramug would have to do!! Just didn' t want to risk paying for a major marathon when didn't know how I would feel --so planned to run a few laps of this 50K course around the lake and see how I felt. Fortunately my and Frank's friend Rob was feeling tired so we walk/ran the whole thing i 5:42 -I under-estimated how tired I was from the 100 so this was a good pace!! and also running were 5 others who had done Umstead, including Ray Krolowitz who was doing the 100K!!! and Andy Cable from Monroe, CT. But some crazy runner is doing both the 100K today and Boston tommorrow -Joe Laskey from CT --we ran with him and another Joe (Shutz) for a mile -he is driving up to Boston tomm -ouch-all training for the 100 mile grand slam.
My friends Kate and Jill and their boyfriends manned an aid station so it was reason to stop and socialize every time we went around --Rob didn't even yell at me for stopping at aid stations. -he kept saying, 'I am getting into this walking'..we saw Nate and Sarah from kickrunners, and crxcross (?) who came in second in the 50K after the Bear mtn 50K!!
The more talked to people the more realized that I was not the only crazy person out around the lake.
Interestingly enough, I felt pretty good but my quads are aching now which tells me I am far from recovered and will have to go very easy for Sybil.
Also saw Ellen McCurtin who is running Sybil!
We had to run 3 laps around the big lake and 2 out and backs --I was far from last (I thought we were) but at least 10 50K people finished behind me...and the 100K runners were circling the lake as I left. and all the aid station volunteers at mile 3 were drinking beer (see photo of them wearing Stone Cat jackets).
It was perfect weather --overcast and 60 ---the sun peeked in and out.
Tommorrow should be perfect for Boston -I will be following Frank , Beth and Karen online in between meetings and soccer practices.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Stamford Nature Center Lego Art -cool!!






The Stamford Nature Center has a cool exhibit going on now --Lego art by a CA artist -amazing stuff, as each one uses thousands of bricks. - a dinosaur made out of Lego, a red and yellow lego man, a giant hand and pencil, John Lennon's face, portraits and a train set --and an artist's studio made in gray tones and colors.
Each one must have taken the artist weeks and months to create. Since the day was hot, we had hiked in the trails until the kids complained and then went inside --the otters were the happiest, frolicing in the water.
This is a great museum for boys as they don't complain too much -they even have a Lego station where kids can make creations to take home!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

more Northface Bear Mtn 1/2 marathon photos




I wanted to add these as I forgot we snapped photos at the top of each climb and also next to a pile of animal bones!

Monday, April 14, 2008

The Trip to Bronx Zoo by guest Mia Levinson




Today I went to the Bronx Zoo with
my friend Francoise and her
daughter Mia and son Remi, and my sons Ike and Hank. Mia will
update you on what we saw:
Hi today, we went today we saw the jungle cat and when ever we took a picture of it, it was all black and
only the eyes were glowing! We couldn't think what was wrong and then we realized it was that he was black and the eyes were yellow! Well, we also saw the penguins, seals, and a lot more! Well, nice talking on this blog for you! Bye!!