Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Hiking the AT #optoutside


Back in September we hiked a small portion of the Appalachian Trail. When I heard about the #optoutside movement for Black Friday, I decided we could head out and do another portion of the trail. I actually looked at several hikes in Shenandoah NP, but they looked a little hairier than I was willing to try with the kiddos and without Mr M (since he's still working crazy hours) and longer than I thought River was capable of just now.

In my googling around I found several parking spots that were right next to the AT, so in the end we went to one of those parking spots and headed out on the trail. It was an overcast day and as we drove along Skyline Drive we came across this view. I'm not sure if it was fog, or super low clouds, but it looked cool.


doesn't Ocean look excited?


As we walked along the trail we saw this little chipmunk peeking out of this rotten tree. We immediately stopped and quietly watched and waited. The chipmunk watched us for a bit, then retreated into the darkness. It came to the edge and watched us some more before retreating again. It repeated this several times before we left, leaving it to continue its business in peace.





River was walking right in front of me, pointing his walking stick out into the woods and making noises. After a minute it dawned on me (and I asked him to confirm this) that his walking stick was a lightsaber and he was shooting things in the woods. Never mind that lightsabers don't actually shoot things.... :)


I somehow ended up with my two trekking poles and River's walking stick, so I tucked them under my arm, pointing behind me. I could feel Ocean tugging on them, so I took this picture. He was helping me hold them :) too cute!


And here's how glamorous I look when hiking with Ocean on my back. I still need to carry my daypack, and it needs to be easily accessible, so I clip the chest strap through the straps of the Boba carrier. Not a super attractive look, but it works. I like using trekking poles to make sure I keep my balance, especially with Ocean on my back. I'd hate to fall and have him get hurt.


This was the first time Ocean carried a backpack on a hike, and he did really well. He had an extra pair of pants and shirt in case it got colder, his sandwich, and his water bottle. He thought he was so grown up! He now wears his backpack around the yard, going on adventures.


The kids don't usually wear backpacks when we go on our shorter hikes, but I think I'm going to have them start doing so. Sunshine also carried her lunch and water bottle, though I don't think she carried any extra layers.


We passed two women who were going on a longer hike (they had large packs with camping gear), though since they were heading north I'm pretty sure they weren't thru hikers. As we drove home, just a few miles from where we parked we saw a couple guys with big packs resting on a grassy spot. I'm guessing they were all taking advantage of the extra long holiday weekend to go hiking.

We had a nice little hike, but I think it would be more fun to not have to turn around and retrace our steps. Someday we'll go up with two vehicles and two drivers, which will allow us to park a car at either end of our planned hike.

As we drove home we saw this view. We may not have high jagged mountains out here, but what we do have is still beautiful.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Turkey Trot Recap

doesn't Ocean look bored? :)

Thursday Sunshine and I participated in our local turkey trot for the seventh year in a row. It was River's fourth year and Ocean's second year "participating". They've always ridden in the jogger or been strapped to Mr M's chest, so their participation is a bit less intense than Sunshine and mine :) I'm debating having River run/walk it next year- our hikes aren't quite 3 miles yet, but they will be by then and he's got a lot of energy, so I think he'd do fine.

Sunshine and I ran the first 1.25 or so miles before stopping to walk up the first hill. My Garmin battery is dying, so even though I charged it the day before, it was dead that morning :( I've had it for 7 or 8 years, so I guess it's lived a good life, but I'm not ready to replace it yet.

In any case, since my Garmin was dead I don't have my usual stats for time and distance. Sunshine's old enough that she doesn't need to stay with me the whole race, so I made sure she knew she could go ahead or fall behind as needed. She ran ahead during the color run, which gave her confidence in being by herself during the race. As it happened she stayed with me till the last half mile or so, when she fell behind me. She did really well though and knocked 10 minutes off of last year's time!

I, on the other hand, ran my slowest turkey trot yet. In my defense, I was pushing two not-so-little boys in the jogger. I ran 3.1 miles in 41:59. I think my decreased treadmill time also influenced the slower time. I'm a bit disappointed with my time but I feel good about my effort.

2016: 41:59 (pushing both boys in the jogger)
2015: 33:30
2014: 34:22
2013: 35:35
2012: 37:58 (pushing Sunshine in the jogger)
2011: 32:44
2010: 35:05 (pushing Sunshine in the jogger)

Weekly Mileage
Monday: walked about 2 miles around various battlefield sites as we worked on one of Sunshine's Jr Ranger badges. I had my Garmin on, but I kept forgetting to stop and start it as I got in and out of the car. Oops.
Thursday: 3.1 mile Turkey Trot
Friday: We hiked another portion of the AT in Shenandoah NP - 1.8 miles #optoutside
          total mileage: about 7.0 miles

29th race in 2016

Month
Event
Time
1.
January
New Year’s Day 5k
33:01
2.
February
Frostbite 5k
37:37
3.
February
Mud Run
1:35:37
4.
March
4k Walk
33:19
5.
March
March 5k
33:49
6.
March
Pi Day Virtual 5k
1:01:30
7.
March
Obstacle Race
44:06
8.
April
Glow Run
35:16
9.
April
April 5k
41:15
10.
April
Evening Run
34:59
11.
May
May 5k
35:18
12.
May
Evening Cross Country Race
43:17
13.
June
June 5k
39:21
14.
June
1 Mile Glow Run
11:38
15.
June
Vineyard 5k
39:10
16.
July
July 5k
35:53
17.
August
Predict Your Time 5k
37:41
18.
August
August 5k
35:45
19.
August
NPS 100th Virtual 10k
1:49:17
20.
August
4 Mile Run
45:20
21.
September
Labor Day 5k
46:54
22.
September
1 Mile Color Run
18:25
23.
September
3.5 Mile Trail Run
41:07
24.
October
Run Long & Prosper Virtual 5k
49:55
25.
October
Flat Trail 5k
33:47
26.
October
Halloween Trail 5k
37:06
27.
November
Two Mile Road Race
20:55
28.
November
Two Mile Cross Country Race
22:24
29.
November
5k Turkey Trot
41:59


































41st race towards my 40 by 40 goal


Date
Event
Distance
Event Type
1.
July 2015
4th of July 5k
5k
Pregnant
2.
August
4 Mile Fun Run
4 miles
Road Race
3.
September
All Terrain
5k
Mixed surface
4.
October
Hill Valley Half
13.1 miles
Virtual half marathon
5.
October
Corn Maze 5k
5k
Corn Maze, 1st in age group
6.
October
Kilted Trail 5k
5k
Kilted race
7.
November
Trail Half
13.6 miles
Trail Half, last finisher
8.
November
Turkey Trot
5k
Road Race
9.
December
Veteran’s 5k
5k
Mixed surface
10.
December
Army Virtual Marathon
26.23 miles
Virtual marathon
11.
January 2016
New Year’s Day 5k
5k
Road race
12.
February
Frostbite 5k
5k
Cross country race
13.
February
Mud Run
4.8 miles
Mud run
14.
March
4k Walk
4k
Walk
15.
March
March 5k
5k
Road race
16.
March
Pi Day Virtual 5k
5k
Virtual 5k Walk
17.
March
10 mile race
Not applicable
Water stop volunteer
18.
March
Obstacle Race
5k
Obstacle run
19.
April
Glow Run
5k
Glow Run, 1st of 2 races in 12 hours
20.
April
April 5k
5k
Pushing jogger, 2nd of 2 races in 12 hours
21.
April
Evening Run
5k
Evening run
22.
May
10k Kayak Race
10k
Kayak race
23.
May
May 5k
5k
1st of 2 races in same day
24.
May
Evening CC Race
5k
Evening cross country, 2nd of 2 races in same day
25.
June
June 5k
5k
Pushing jogger, 1st of 2 races in same day
26.
June
1 Mile Glow Run
1 mile
Pushing jogger with both boys, 2nd of 2 races in same day, glow run
27.
June
Vineyard 5k
5k
Vineyard run
28.
July
July 5k
5k
Road race
29.
August
Predict Your Time 5k
5k
Predict your time
30.
August
August 5k
5k
Road race
31.
August
NPS 100th Virtual 10k
10k
Virtual 10k run
32.
August
4 Mile Run
4 miles
Road race
33.
September
Labor Day 5k
5k
With all 3 kiddos
34.
September
1 Mile Color Run
1 mile
Color run, Sunshine’s first solo race, River’s first race
35.
September
3.5 Mile Trail Run
3.5 miles
Trail run
36.
October
Run Long & Prosper Virtual 5k
5k
Virtual 5k run
37.
October
Flat Trail 5k
5k
Travel to race, trail run, ran w/o stopping, 2nd in age group
38.
October
Halloween Trail 5k
5k
Trail run, in costume, in a vineyard
39.
November
Two Mile Road Race
2 miles
2 miles, road race
40.
November
Two Mile Cross Country Race
2 miles
2 miles, cross country race, paper entry form
41.
November
Turkey Trot
5k
All 3 kiddos, 7th year in a row running this race