August 2020 – an amazing run

Orienteering Fun

My coworkers had been talking about this show called “The Worlds Toughest Race” on Amazon Prime Video and asked if I had watched it. I hadn’t, but I asked if they were talking about the Eco Challenge, and sure enough that was it!

I was familiar with the Eco Challenge having watched a series or documentary on it probably ten years ago. Apparently it lives on and somehow escaped my attention. That’s probably because I watch two cable channels and nothing else. But they were adamant that I should watch it and so I checked it out. I probably shouldn’t have because now I have a new hobby.

The Eco Challenge requires a lot of skills to get through it, but as I watched and studied it I realized that orienteering is most likely the greatest of the skills to have. So I looked into orienteering and found that a local forest preserve district had some dedicated orienteering courses to try. All I needed to do was to recruit the wife to join me and try it out.

The course we checked out is in a forest preserve called Waterfall Glen. The f.p. website had a lot of great information on orienteering and maps to their four dedicated courses. If you are local to the Chicago suburbs, you can check out their website and course maps here: Click here and scroll down to Orienteering Course

I did convice Kari to join me without much arm twisting or begging and we talked about preparing ourselves for this mini adventure.

Kari: “Do you think I need to wear pants?” Me: Nah.

Kari: “Should we bring water?” Me: Nah.

Kari: “Do you want any sunscreen or bug spray?” Me: Nah.

Well, we probably should have worn pants and water would have been a really, really good idea. We did end up bringing the sunscreen and bug spray and did apply it, but it probably wasn’t really necessary. It was a really nice day so we got by okay.

I have never been to Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve but as soon as we neared the entrance I realized that it might be the most popular forest preserve in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago. It was packed. People were walking, running, biking, hiking and just generally hanging around on the trails. Fortunately for us we weren’t on the main trail for long as our orienteering took us onto much less traveled paths.

We decided that we would try the long beginner course (Long Beginner Course Map) first instead of the shorter beginner course mainly because we didn’t know how to find the start of the shorter beginner course. That’s pretty funny considering map reading skills are necessary for this little adventure. Fortunately the longer beginner course started right at the exact spot we were at. We settled on nicknames – I would be both Lewis & Clark and Kari would be Sacagawea. I thought that was pretty clever until I realized that Sacagawea was actually the one showing the experienced explorers where to go. As fate would have it, Kari was a perfect Sacagawea.

We easily found the first “control” marker and I patted myself on my back for not getting us lost. The second control marker was located down the path a little bit, but I looked at the map and tried to convice Kari that it would be quicker if we took this side dirt path through the woods. Fortunately she was game and off we went.

UL3sQLfsRUOTSJ9MibFDIQ — Let’s just try that shady path instead of the completely safe path. Okay, sure!

Tr35dyQdRrCysjTk3iDKrg — Found one! Here’s what the markers look like. You were supposed to write down the letters on the map for some reason. I guess its so you can prove that you found it. Photos work too in this day and age.

We made it through alive! And the rest of the control markers were fairly easy to find, with the exception of two of them that had fallen down and were laying on the ground. One of the markers was hidden in the trees somewhat and we had to double back a little bit when we realized we had missed it. But we found them all and it really wasn’t too challenging. It took us about an hour to navigate our way through the map and upon finishing we decided to take a crack at the other beginner course, mainly because we had time and also to the fact that our map reading skills had improved dramatically, thanks to Sacagawea – I mean, Kari.

I foolishly thought the beginner course (Beginner Course Map) would be easier since it wasn’t as long as the other one. Wrong. For a beginner course, this one was much tougher, mainly due to the terrain – lots of indistinct trail with fallen trees and other stuff to confuse the heck out of us, and some open grassy areas which really tore up our bare legs. Should have worn pants.

The first four markers weren’t tough to locate, but the fifth one had us a little worried. The trail wasn’t very clear and we had to double back and take different routes until we were finally able to locate it. For minute there I thought I might have to resort to cannabilism, but fortunately for Kari we found it and continued on.

As we continued on the trail to the next control marker we would occasionally pass some people heading the other way, usually asking if we had found the waterfall. We didn’t find a waterfall, but we did find this hill that would have been a nice waterfall if the area wasn’t experiencing drought conditions.

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We made it back to the parking lot with our legs a little scratched up from the brush, our lower legs covered in trail dust, and kind of thirsty. But our first shot at orienteering was a success and lots of fun! I can’t wait to go back and try the intermediate and advanced courses. I’m just going to make sure that I wear pants, bring water and maybe add some trail shoes to make it a little more easy to navigate.

My Search For American Muscle – Part XII

I’m up to the twelfth post of my search for a muscle car. I never thought that I would be having this difficult of a time in finding something that would satisfy my old car desires. But I am having fun looking, even if it means that I am more of a virtual tire kicker than a real one.

I am a little perplexed as to the muscle car market right now. It seems that it has dried up somewhat. When I first started looking for a car in November 2018 there seemed to be a lot more available. My three top cars that I have spent the most time looking at are the 1967 Olds 442, the 1967 Plymouth GTX, and the 1967 Dodge Coronet R/T. Right now on Hemmings.com, there are only five GTX’s for sale, the Coronets number eight, and there are only four 442’s currently for sale. A check of eBay basically has similar numbers as most sellers cross list their car on both websites as well as many others. When the pandemic hit I figured there would be a lot of sellers, but I guess people are holding on to their investments for as long as they can. And to add to my woes, I’m still hoping to find a convertible, which really limits the numbers.

What has been listed is being snapped up pretty quickly. This 1967 Dodge Coronet R/T from Southern Motors in Michigan came up for sale this week and it’s already listed as “Sale Pending.” It was listed at about $7000 less than what they are typically listed for, so I’m not really that surprised that it was snapped up quickly. I have trouble acting that quickly on a car. I like to really study them before I can even list them as a “favorite.”

The car lacked a drop-top, the Magnum 500 wheels, A/C, and it was black. I was trying to like it for $43K, but it was snapped up before I could.

One of the mistakes I have come to realize that I am making is that I have been limiting my search to primarily Hemmings and eBay. I have discovered that there are some other good dealers out there that don’t list their cars on either site and seem to be doing just as well.

One of those websites is Bluelineclassics.com. I’ve seen a couple cars on their page that had grabbed my attention only to be gone from the available cars within a week.

Another page that I check on frequently is Brown’s Performance Motor Cars. They currently have a very nice white 1969 Chevelle SS with a blue interior that I really like. I’ll keep an eye on it, but I prefer the 1967 and 1970 Chevelles more.

I’ll keep virtually kicking tires for now and keep you posted. Thanks for reading!

This Is My Life

I am a menace to society. People have hatred towards me. When people see me I honestly think that it must make their blood boil. I’m as heinous as they come. I should be locked up put away for my crime. What’s my crime, you ask? It’s because I legally ride my bike on a roadway.

After another close call with the car driving public, the thought of this is how life is for a cyclist passed through my mind. This is my life can have different meanings, such as:

This is my life… It can be positive, just like this blog in which I post things about the amazing experiences that running, triathlon, and life have provided to me.
This is my life… The things I do day in and day out. Mostly the same as everyone else, but from my perspective.
This is my life… Or possibly something that occurs occasionally that can be burdensome, such as doing laundry nearly every damn day.
This is my life… But my intended purpose of that statement today is that THIS IS MY LIFE YOU ARE ENDANGERING!!! DOES A HUMAN LIFE NOT MATTER TO YOU IN YOUR FUCKING CAR AS YOU TRY TO PASS ME IN A DANGEROUS SITUATION?

I was riding my bike on a road that within less than a mile I would hope off of to catch the adjoining trail. I just needed to be on it shortly. But to people in cars, I might as well have purposely gone out of my way to plan my ride to coincide with their trip to Starbucks or whatever.

I get being inconvenienced. I don’t like it either. But I am a life out there on a bike, exposed to the world and your one-ton enclosed, all steel, with numerous safety features vehicle. It blows my mind to think that a driver would go out of his way to avoid crashing into another vehicle, but some old guy in tight clothes on a bike is open game. I probably wouldn’t even scratch your car as you hit me.

I wasn’t really intending to make this post an argument for sharing the road with cyclists. I could tackle the arguments about why cyclists shouldn’t be allowed on the road, or give a counterpoint to “just because I can doesn’t mean that I should.” I’ll save it for next time if the next time doesn’t kill me.

So as luck would have it, I have a video of this incident. I have gotten to the point in my cyclist life that I feel it necessary to document my ride so that in the event that something happens to me, the authorities can look at the video and say “Yep, he was doing it right when he got run over.”

I was riding up some hills, the road was striped with double yellow, no-passing zone markings, and I was taking up a little more of the middle than the far right as safely possible just to give the impression that there wouldn’t be enough room to pass. She attempted the pass anyway. Watch the video. Form your own opinion. (Warning – The audio is quite loud – turn it down before hitting play.)

All I ask is that you think about that person on the bike when you drive. They are someone’s family. And it’s someone’s life that you put in jeopardy by not passing with caution.

This is my life.

Chasing a Sub-6 Mile – Update #1

It’s been a couple of weeks since I declared that I’m attempting to run a sub-6 minute mile and it’s time for an update. Here’s the link to the first post: Chasing a Sub-6 Minute Mile

The summer here in the midwest has been typical – hot and humid – and my efforts have been influenced by that. It’s no surprise that the hot weather will produce slower times and my running has fallen in line with that. But I have been training fairly consistently and I’m seeing a few positives come my way. And the weather this week turned much cooler and less humid, so I decided to give it another go.

First, I’ve dropped about 10 pounds from what I weighed over the winter months. This winter weight gain is something I struggle with every year, but I generally lose the extra weight by mid-summer. I currently weigh about 167 pounds, so another five or so pounds less might make me a little quicker. I’ll keep that in mind.

The second positive is I ran to the local junior high school track last week and did a speedwork session of 4×400 repeats with a 400 recovery between each one. It was a warm day and somewhat windy. I wasn’t trying to do it for any other purpose other than to put in some work at a faster pace. But I was very happy to see that I turned in those 400-meter laps in 1:30, exactly the time I need to be at a 6-minute mile. Now, each 400 was followed by a recovery 400 in which allowed my heart rate and breathing to recover. If I could string those four laps together though I would meet my goal. I’m not counting that workout as an official attempt because it was broken into four segments, but I did get a huge confidence boost from it.

I learned a little about pacing those 400’s as well. The first one seemed to be the hardest. I went hard from the start and felt like I was fading at the end. The second 400 was run similarly. When I did my third and fourth 400 I decided to hold back at the beginning and little and push hard at the end. That seemed to be the best way to approach it as I didn’t feel like I was dying by the end of 200 meters and staggering at the end. That will probably be my approach to any further efforts and time trial runs. Also, I am aware that I only ran 1600 meters and a mile is 1609 meters, so I will have to keep that in mind if I do further time trials on the track instead of the trail/road.

AUGUST 4, 2020 – Attempt Number 2

TIME: 6:25.2
WHERE: MOKENA JR. HIGH SCHOOL TRACK
WEATHER: 72 degrees, cool wind from the north, low humidity – a perfect day
LEAD-UP: A rest day prior and an easy-paced 3-mile warm-up
COMMENTS: This wasn’t going to be an official attempt as I was planning on just doing 8×200 and some 100 repeats, but it was such a nice day I decided to give it a go. I’m glad I did. My previous attempt came in at 6:32, so to shave off 7 seconds seems to be meaningful. I’m still 26 seconds away from going sub-6, but at least I am moving in the right direction, time-wise. The weather was definitely a factor, and I did also hold myself back a little at the beginning of the mile. I wish I had hit my splits, but forgot on the first lap and then just went with it. Here’s to progress!