Northeast

lighthouse shakeout & Frogmore Stew

Published September 29, 2018

Late Friday nite flight. Midnite. Not always possible to office-scoot early Fridays 🙃 First red-eye cross-country trek in THREE years. Notta HUGE fan of overnight travel & sleep deprivation but mighty good to have options. Touchdown 9:30 Saturday morning: Welcome to Maine.

Toughest part? Staying awake during the 3-hour layover in Newark. Overslept a flight ONCE – my first marathon return from Alaska, 2013. Still remember the panic of waking in Anchorage, at my gate/all alone ‘xcept for the humming of vacuums tidying terminal carpets overnight. Yikes!

This trip, slept every opportunity/every flight. Whole lotta sightseeing planned, sunshiny New England day. AND FOOD of course. LOVER of all sea creatures. Lobstah, get in my belly! 🦞

Early hotel check-in, quick shower refresh, change of clothes, diner breakfast – Dutch’s.

Lotta diet change since Sunday’s gut wrenching DNS in Cheyenne. Consistent pill popping, abdominal pain down, mind again engaged. Not running this past week – that’s a fail – but food planning, big SUCCESS! No bread, no dairy, no sweets/sugar, minimal fat, no alcohol. SUPER restrictive me thinks; however month of October, all in. Doc went to med school, not me – gonna give it a try.

Eggs, lean protein on the good list. Diner fed. Ready, ready to roll.

Scenic walk downtown, Portland Harbour slow stroll. Did not disappoint. Race expo at Southern ME University. Bib pick-up, 50 Stater reunion site. Next up? Cape Elizabeth.

Think of Maine, ya think of lighthouses & rocky beaches. Short 20 minute drive, Portland Head Light on Cape Elizabeth. Gotta/hafta/must go. Day’s WOW spot – Maine expectation met. Bonus points? Dropped to shorts & partner-in-crime’d a scenic/HILLY 4-miler. Training miles for Stephen (half-marathon planned in Nashville), whoopie pie reward.

Hotel dash, ‘nother shower, dinner reservations at Grace. Former church. Stained glass, church organ, vaulted ceiling. STUNNING. What’s on the tonite’s menu? Roasted clams & Frogmore stew. Not exactly starving on October’s restrictive diet 😊

: Monument Square

: diner Breakfast

: Portland Harbour

: day’s WOW shot

: Portland Head Light

: scenic 4-mile training run

: Cape Whoopies reward

: clams & Frogmore Stew

: stained glass, church organ, vaulted ceiling – STUNNING dining experience!

Posted in Northeast | Tagged kyrkan, lighthouses | Leave a comment

Buffalo Marathon

Published May 27, 2018

Memorial Day weekend: unofficial kick-off to summer, HONORING our armed services & sometimes weddings – but always lots of running. So many competing races over the long 3-day weekend, haven’t run in Boulder since 2014.

My local 10K, the Bolder Boulder (50k+ runners, 3^rd largest in America) occurs Holiday Monday (40^th anniversary this year). HUGE competing celebration last year: Ash & Tom’s wedding. No such conflicts in 2018 – but first…one more East Coast run.

Buffalo Marathon, Sunday. Bolder Boulder, Monday. Totally doable 🙂

Landed aside Lake Erie, 2 time-zone hours lost, still plenty of time for bib pick-up. No car this trip ✔ Room splurged at the Hilton (marathon host hotel), Lyft app to/from the airport. Easy, no drama weekend. Grey skies, gusty winds – but don’t be fooled, all changes before daybreak. Forecast: 80’s, sunshine, high humidity. Marathon moved up to 6:30am. FAAAANNNTASTIC! Ya’ll know: got NO PEACE with the HEAT. Early Start all but guarantees a quick COOL first Half, no Elphaba/slow melt tomorrow.

Downtown, Ghost town. Binged on carry-out pizza & sappy black movies in my high $$ digs. Goodnite moon.

5:30 alarm. Woke, talking/mumbling outside. Lotta runners walking. Panic minute – had I overslept? Time zone goofed? Doubled checked. Nope. Just a lotta eager beavers I guess. It DID motivate me to leave 30 minutes early. No harm.

Lotta humidity, no sun (yet), comfortable cool Start. No arguments.

One of the BEST singings of our National Anthem. US Flags EVERYWHERE. Understand it’s Memorial Day weekend, wouldn’t mind seeing much more of that – EVERY race, ANY time of year. AMAZING place we live, UNPARALLELED opportunities.

FIREWORKS Start. Unexpected, LOVE LOVED!

Pushed hard from the first surge, HUGE combined FULL/Half crowd. Hung with the 3:45 pace group – far FASTER than my Bighorn training pace, TOO QUICK to sustain for 26 miles. Day’s strategy: log 15 miles before the self-melt begins.

Dropped pace alongside Lake Erie (mile 9). Face salt already burning my eyes. I don’t retain liquid, my curse.

2 loop course: said it probably 20x, not a FAN. Halfers on the left, FULL runners to the right – out for a second loop. Honestly, not dogging my Half buddies. Just break us at mile 6/7 or 8. Running past the Finish TWICE is tough mentally. You go from being a pack runner, so many people, everyone’s excited, energy UP – to just you & 6 others doing a bonus lap. That’s the feel.

4 hour pacers caught me at 14; 4:30 pack at mile 21. Puked early. Walk/jogged last 5 miles. Dehydrated, summer heat. No time for drama, it is what it is – focused on a hotel shower before Cinderella’s key demagnetizes at noon. Wink.

3 hour+ second Half, ugh. FINISH #120 (New York x2), AWESOME medal (Buffalo herd/USA flag), posh post-race shower (rainfall shower head). Should I stay, should I go-go? Anchor Bar. Can’t leave Buffalo before trying the wings, right? ❤

Buffalo Marathon
Buffalo, NY 05/27/2018

Haga K R 579 Louisville CO 5:00:38

The first plate of wings was served in 1964 at a family-owned establishment in Buffalo called the Anchor Bar. The wings were the brainchild of Teressa Bellissimo, who covered them in her own special sauce and served them with a side of blue cheese and celery because that’s what she had available.

: Memorial Day 2018

: Lafayette Square

: #BUF

: Memorial Day sizzle

: BUFFALO & an AMERICAN flag

: gotta/hafta/MUST try

: same size medal too 🙂

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, Northeast | Leave a comment

Shires of Vermont Marathon

Published May 20, 2018

Overcast, grey & humid – but no rain…yet.

Mile-half sleeps from today’s school bus Start allowed a last minute get up-n-go. Locked the key inside my room. No chance for a hotel shower today (luckily, nabbed one in NH). Small marathon field, just one single school bus load to Bennington College.

Green. Everything in Vermont. Scenic Sunday morning. I dig New England.

Marathon’d in Burlington, my first time ’round the States. Why THIS race? Why southern Vermont? Local race supported by local runners/local businesses – AND the course description pasted below. Couldn’t go wrong.

26.2 mile, picturesque point to point journey through 5 beautiful southern Vermont villages…

Couple speeches thanking volunteers, then paved road we ran.

Humid thick air first hour, then caught a light breeze before day’s rain settled in. Easy rolling HILLS. Country pasture, small New England farms. Quiet Sunday morning. Cows, draft horses, pens of chicken. LOVE LOVED.

Comfortable steady pace first Half. Saved the COVERED BRIDGE for my second 13.1 – LOVE shared with the Halfers.

3 strong squalls of heavy water, but sure beats summer humidity. Crazy; after years of dreading race day precip, now I embrace inclement. Bring on da rain! LOL> UPBEAT positive folks manning (& wo-manning) today’s aid stations. Aside from EVERYTHING GREEN, the day’s UPBEAT Vermonters I’ll remember long (HUGE praise RD/local organizers).

2^nd Half: BIGGER rain, BIGGER hills. But also, even more GREEN, more uncluttered COUNTRY. Cows huddled in thickets during the heaviest downpours. Horses however continued to graze, lift their heads occasionally, watch the people parade.

Mile 24. Late BIG HILL, UP UP Manchester Center. New England marathons love their Heartbreak Hills. Head down, arms pumping, steady climbed to the Aid Station [24 mile top]. Kicked my butt. Walked the next quarter-mile. Whew!

Main Street two miles more (Highway 7a). Left on Hunter Park Rd, half-mile FINISH at Riley Rink (town’s hockey pond). Laid down, breathed hard, eyes scanned the arena. FOOD! Not just food, fully-loaded BAKED POTATOES. The Vermont LOVE fest just continues. BIG BIG FAN. EVERY 50 Stater should run this race.

Lotta hills, lotta rain. One of my sub-4 friends ran a 4:45 – maybe a 5-hour finish & a SMILE, not so bad 🙂

SHIRES OF VERMONT MARATHON RESULTS

BENNINGTON TO MANCHESTER BATTENKILL VALLEY ROAD 05/20/2018

330 78 M HAGA, K R LOUISVILLE CO 5:01:35.5

“The medals themselves are so very Vermont, beautifully rustic ceramic pieces. Just across the board it was an awesome experience. If you live in the area and you want a challenge, do this race. If you’re a 50 stater and you’re looking to cross Vermont off your list, DO THIS RACE! You won’t find a better encapsulation of the spirit of Vermont!”