Camping at Douthat State Park

We decided to throw caution and common sense to the wind and load up six people into a jalopy of an RV and drive 4 hours across VA to Douthat State Park. Luckily, the RV, and all six crew made it safely to our destination...and without a single stop! Gotta love that mobile toilet.

The weather was perfect and the mountain scenery, along with miles of trails and a pristine trout-stocked lake, made for a memorable weekend.

We stayed in Beaverdam Campground inside the park, with full electric and water hook-up. The facilities were very well maintained, clean and in good working order. This park has it all; challenging running and mountain biking trails, boat rentals, a beach with playground, a restaurant overlooking the lake, 1 and 2 bedroom cabins and a fully stocked camp store for necessities like Snickers bars and fishing bait!

Saturday was "Apple Day" at the park, an annual fall festival with apple butter making, a pig roast, demonstrations, workshops, bands, cloggers and more. It was a quaint little family-oriented event and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sunday was our big fishing expedition. By "big" I mean anytime that we pack up all four girls and set out to do anything. The park has an awesome fishing hole for kids twelve and under. The girls caught nine beautiful trout and were so excited. This was definitely the highlight of their trip!

Nikki and I got a chance to steal away for a few precious moments to run, and the trails did not disappoint. At one point I was running through the woods with two white tailed deer and the next moment I was headed straight up a steep trail toward the top of the mountain. We definitely worked off a few of the many smores that were consumed over three nights by the campfire.

Douthat State Park is a small hidden treasure of a place. I would recommend it to families, fishing enthusiasts, mountain bikers, hikers, or people wanting to just get away. We'll definitely be back!

The numbers

Here are the official results: Ft. Eustis mixed team was 8th out of 47 teams. I was 1057 /18857 overall, 954/10584 male runners, 153/1861 male 35-39 years. Time of 1:10:57 @ 7:06 pace.

2008 ATM...a beautiful day for a run

I couldn't imagine a more perfect morning for a race. Sunday in Washington D.C. was bright, clear and about 60 deg for the race start. My buddy Scott and I took the metro in at 0-dark and arrived at the Pentagon about 45min before race time. Plans to meet up with the Ft. Eustis race team were set aside quickly when we were confronted with the spectacle of tens of thousands of racers, spectators and support crew scrambling around like ants in the Pentagon's enormous parking lot. As usual, the lines for the port-0-potties were ridiculous, so it was off to find a place to take care of one last pre-race dehydration.



With the important stuff out of the way we got in a quick(3min) warm up and headed into the dense crowd of runners to find a reasonable place to start. For some reason, I had been seeded in the 8+min/mile area, and Scott just slightly further forward in the 7+min/mile zone. Unfortunately, there were at least 5 thousand runners between us and the starting line, so when the start gun went off, we didn't! By the time we reached the start line (2min later) we were ambling at around 9min pace and were starting to weave through the crowd to find our pace. The first mile went by at 7:15, so we were already at least 30-40 seconds behind the usual first mile pace, although only 15sec behind the 7min pace I wanted to run.



We spent the next 4-5miles passing at least 2-3 thousand runners, walkers...I think I even saw someone crawling! Although it felt significantly faster, probably due to the weaving, we were right at 7min pace through 5miles. The sun was bright, and it really felt a lot warmer than the low 60s as we made our way through miles 5 and 6 downtown. We were beginning to move into our pace group around mile 6, and were not passing or weaving nearly as much. The energy from the crowd was awesome and it carried us through those tough miles when the legs start to fatigue, but the end is not yet in sight.



We headed out of town and on to the finishing stretch on the freeway. Anyone who has run the ATM knows how the incessant undulations from mile 8 to 10 make it tough to keep your pace. Although I slipped a bit on mile 9, I was able to pick it up for the final mile and finished with just under a 7:06 avg at 1:10:57. I am very pleased with the result, and thoroughly enjoyed this edition of the ATM. Kudos to the race organizers for putting together another great race and keeping things perfectly on schedule!

Many thanks to Scotty B. and his wonderful family for hosting the Hendrickson 6 for the weekend! We hope to be able to return the favor next month.


Next up...the Cape Henry Duathlon (5K-30K-5K) on November 15th at Fort Story. It's time to dust off the bike and log some miles on the road...should be fun!

Hope I didn't hurt myself!!

Since I was staying in NC this weekend, and already had a 10 mile run on the training schedule, why not do a 10 mile race in Durham. Well, with no preview of the race course, I was going in totally blind. Of course, Murphy had something to say about that...the course was 10 miles of unrelenting hills! The Army Ten Miler course for next Sunday is almost pancake flat, so this may not turn out to be the best decision I have ever made. But...oh well, I finished it and am not too much worse for ware...I think.

Race report: The first mile went by in 6:55, not too far from what I had hoped for. I always have tough time keeping the pace reasonable after that gun goes off, especially since a 5K started en masse with the 10 miler crowd. I decided before the race to run miles 2-4 at a moderate 7:20-7:30 pace, then bump it up to 7:00 to 7:05 for miles 4-7, before shutting it down to save my legs. The 7:00 to 7:05 pace is what I hope to be able to maintain at the ATM next week. Well, this course didn't have a quarter mile of flat pavement on it, so my pace had to be adjusted a bit. The next couple of miles ticked off at about 7:15 to 7:30, and they felt pretty comfortable, although the hills required a smidgen more effort than I had hoped to be dishin out. At mile 4 I ramped it up a bit and was quickly reeling in runners who earlier were pulling away. I experienced a few twinges of abdominal cramps during those miles, but with a very slight slowing they would fade. Miles 4-7 rolled off at 7:10 to 7:15...but I was feeling the effort. At the 7 mile marker I shut it down and promptly got a nasty stitch in the left upper abdomen. It felt like my spleen was about to explode, and I actually had to walk a bit to work it out. After the stitch subsided a bit, I was able to pick it back up for miles 9 and 10, finishing with a 7:28 average. The course was VERY challenging, so I am hoping that my 7:28 will translate to a 7:00 to 7:05 next week in D.C...We'll see.


A word about the race. This is the 3rd annual Anna's Angels 5K and 10 miler. The race benefits Down Syndrome research, which softened blow of ponying up $40 to "practice" for the ATM. I would, however, like to see the race organizers do a little better job of supporting the racers. The race flyer was a little short on details, there were large intersections without race personnel or police, and at the end of 10 miles of relentless, muscle grinding hills, you are rewarded with a warm bottle of water and a banana. With that aside, this was a good race with a challenging course and great cause. I just hope the legs recover for next week! I'll post a race report on Sun/Mon.

Racing Again!

I'll be heading to Washington D.C. on 4 Oct to run in the Army Ten Miler. Once again, I'll be joining my good friend Scott Brenneman for this great event. Scott and I last ran the ATM in 2006 and if my memory serves me right, we ran 7:11 miles, finishing at just a little over 1 hr 11 min. My goal this year is to break the 7min/mile barrier and finish below 1 hr 10min. As usual, the weather will play a big role in my time. If the temperature is somewhere in the low to mid sixties, then it's "game on." I will be running with the Ft. Eustis team this year and hope to run fast enough to score one of the 4 times that will count toward the team's total. Should be fun! Check out the race page at http://www.armytenmiler.com/. I'll post a recap after the race.

The new ride!

Well...I finally took the plunge and bought a new bike after riding my tried and true Merlin Road Ti for nearly 10 years! It took a special bike, and a special deal, to make it happen. Because of the recent rainy weather, along with the increased running miles I've been logging, I haven't had a chance to ride it enough for a full review, but WOW...what a difference! Noodly would probably be the best way to describe the Merlin in comparison to the 2008 Madone. I can almost see the trail of wasted watts I was spilling on the old girl. Now don't get me wrong, the Merlin was my first true two-wheeled love, and she'll be well taken care of in the stable, but after getting shelled on several recent Saturday mornings while watching a posse of new carbon fiber roll up the road...my decision to upgrade was easy. It was made easier when Chris, manager of our team's bike shop, dropped a bomb on me over a venti mocha chip frapp. A like-new '08 Madone 5.5 was warrantied for a small crack in the paint. While the bike was being repainted, the owner discovered that the "Pro" geometry wasn't right for him and now the shop had a "lightly used" Madone to unload. So...long story short, I'm now the proud owner of a 58cm Speed Yellow 2008 Madone 5.5 Pro. I'll post my full set up and review when I've had a chance to log a couple hundred miles...and I can't wait!

DermSport Now online!

I've recently purchased a domain (DermSport.com) and will also have a new blog at www.DermSport.blogspot.com so check it out soon! DermSport blog will be my portal for athlete skin care and sun protection. I'm excited to get DermSport rolling...look for posts soon.