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Events:Stone Cat 50 Mile Trail Race November 6, 2010 Middlesex Fells Trail Race December 4, 2010 AMC Mountaineering Committee Ice Program Winter 2011 AMC Mountaineering Committee Rock Program Spring 2011 Pictures:AlbumRunning Data:20102009 2008 |
Mon, 30 May 2011I've had a couple of spectacular weekends recently. Kevin Pilgrim is the closest friend I have ever had. We met when we were about seven, maybe younger. Between the ages of 12 and 18 we were practically inseparable. We spent the summer after our senior year in high school traveling in Europe and Morocco visiting faimly and many places without family. In 1989 I was released from Syrian police custody, having overstayed my visa, only after pleading that I was to be best man at Kevin's wedding in rural Indiana three days later. I arrived at 4 am and was fitted for a rented tuxedo the day of the wedding. Returning to Berkeley, California, I lived Harry Potter-like in Kevin and his new wife Jane's front closet for a couple of months while he was a PhD student. On my own wedding night 19 years ago Kevin drank a bit too much, and I helped him walk it off through the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts. We have kept intermittently in touch, but have not seen each other since then. Kevin came to Cambridge two weeks ago for a conference at the Clay Institute. I picked him up Saturday morning and he accompanied us to Connie's volunteer job in Wellesley and riding lesson in Derry, New Hampshire. I wont dwell on details, but it was a classic experience. There are some people in everone's life from whom you can be absent for decades but are as if they had always been right beside you when you see them again. Sorry that sentence sucked so badly. Read it over a few times. I'm sure it will make sense. Last Sunday I resolved to go for a run. This was non-trivial. Several months ago I auspiciously ended the off season with a 17-mile run. That went so well that I tried to extend it to 20 miles on March 26. At about mile 7 my Illiotibial Bands on both sides began to give me some pain. I ended up walking the 7 miles home from mile 9. To make matters worse, the temperatures were below freezing, and since I was on the beach there was a stiff coastal breeze. When I got home I found my left thumb was white and wooden. I had managed to avoid frostbite though a season of ice climbing in New Hampshire only to get it at home in the Spring. I ran very little in the early Spring nursing my IT bands. There were a couple of beautiful foggy pre-dawn mornings but very little else until the Seven Sisters Trail Race last month. That race was brutally difficult and I ended with a pace that was slower than a careless walk over even ground. My legs hurt for days. View Bike-Run-Bike, May 22, 2011 in a larger map Last weekend, however, I felt great. Connie had a dress rehearsal for her dance recital, so I drove her and Carol there with my bike on the back of the car. The bike is now fully functional except for brakes. I rode to the Sheepfold enterance of the Middlesex Fells. The work I did on the bike over the winter has really paid off. The hubs have been cleaned and regreased and the bearings replaced. I replaced all spokes and trued the wheels to better than I have previously seen them. The rear one is still questionable. I have also replaced the chain and cassette. All of this decreased friction appears to have resulted in about a 50% improvement in speed for a given effort. I dropped the bike at Sheepforld and began running the Skyline Trail. Since I was well warmed up from the ride, I may have started out too fast. I finished the first loop much faster than usual for a multiloop run of Skyline. My left IT band was beginning to ache but not badly so I started out for a milder second loop. The ache got worse and I developed an occasional sharp pain on the lateral side of my right knee. I decided to switch to the less rugged and shorter Reservor Trail and slowed to a brisk walk. I made it back to the bike after running and walking about 14 miles. Since riding required a bent knee, it didn't aggravate the IT bands, and I made the six mile trip home without incident. Carol and Connie filled my Memorial Day/Birthday weekend with climbing, cooking, wine, and dinner out while I tossed in an hour of hill repeats. Soon every day will be a holiday. |
