Summer Sailing Bye

Island Lark preparing for raising sails on the Miles River, Saturday, July 25, 2009. Photo by Nick Roper

It’s been over a month since the last post here on Runners On Trails, and a lot has happened since: Seabiscuit hit the water, 4 log canoe regattas have been sailed, 360 miles have been ridden, swimming has had a break, and running three days a week has become the norm. The people involved in these activities are my friends; both new and old.

It seems all the “Bieb” and I talked about during this past year was the return to the fun we had last summer in riding our bikes to the St. Michaels Pool on summer mornings for a swim. We did this a few times early on in June. We were met by the same folks there that also awaited our return; the lady-swim-walkers, the teenage lifeguard girls, and the other lap swimmers. Bieb decided to take a break from training to recover from the huge effort he put in to running Eagleman in mid June. After talking to another doctor about my shoulder, I decided to give it some rest, too, and put a hold on swimming for a while. I see the shoulder doctor tomorrow morning, and I hope to return to swimming soon. I miss it.

I was determined to get the star-boat, Seabiscuit, to the club by the Fourth of July. It had not seen the water in 21 months. We actually sailed Seabiscuit on the 3rd to the annual raspberry picking site. My daughters, Cole, and I sailed in 15 knots of air on a glorious afternoon and returned with over a gallon of ripe red raspberries. We ate them with cake while watching the St. Michaels fireworks. How good is that?

Seabiscuit in her first lead of the season with Taylor by the mast. Photo by Andrew Parish

I’ve since raced Seabiscuit in two Wednesday night races, taking a 5th and a 2nd. In our first race, Taylor Penwell and I nailed the first lap of two, leading the fleet easily. However, my rusty sailing-principle memory tripped me up and we lost the lead and got swallowed by the fleet. The second race with crew Bill Cox moved us in a better position by starting out mediocre and improving our position through out the course. Too bad we didn’t have another leg.

Corey, Lark's mainsheet tender and daughter of the skipper having a ceremonial drink of champagne from the 1925 Govenor's Cup. Photo by Nick Roper

But the real sailing excitement has come with the log canoes. Like a well oiled machine, the Lark crew assembled the rig and hit the first weekend with a bang, winning the first race by a mile. We’ve now sailed 12 races at three different venues tallying 5 firsts, 6 seconds, and a capsize. Our capsize in the Chester River was violent in heavy air. The recovery was tough, too, in the rough conditions. It took several bailing attempts to get her back. We also “turtled” Lark for the first time in 24 years. Other racers who saw us said Larks’ centerboard looked like a giant shark fin (7 feet tall) sticking up in the air. We’ve won some important races including from this past weekend: The Sidney Covington Trophy, the Oliver Duke Memorial Trophy, and the Governor’s Cup.

Victor's son, Terry, one of our best boardmen on Lark, tips the Governor's Cup so Wood Frog can have a sip. Photo by Bowie Rose

It is hard not to recognize the fortunate situation we have on Lark with the crew. The bulk of our crew has been together for 15 years. The core of the crew has been together for 30. The newest crew members have grown up with the Lark, for they are our children. We sailed with six Lark offspring this past weekend. The regular crew helps to keep Lark competitive.

Victor in all his spendor, about to hug a crew member from Oliver's Gift. Pink "Brougham" in the background complete with palm tree. Photo by Nick Roper

Lark’s success reaches beyond who sails during the races. Our chase-boat crew is awesome. Victor, Tad and Ebby’s brother, uses his boat as Lark’s tender, towing us to and from the races and picking up the pieces (literally) when we crash and burn like we did on the Chester. Victor is, well,…interesting. He’s one hell of a nice guy, but a little difficult to label (see photo). Brougham, Victor’s boat, has evolved over the years. First there was a couch on the roof, then a living room, phone, exercise machine, palm tree, and the latest is a pink paint job. The chase-boat crew, especially, Judi, help in many ways from insuring we know the correct course to feeding us with brownies.

Island Lark skipper, Tad duPont, behind some of the prizes won over the weekend. Photo by Bowie Rose

This past month I have had privilege to bike with some new friends. Roy and I had an awesome 40 mile ride on the Fourth of July, hitting some new terrain for both of us in and around the Leeds Creek area. Roy is an awesome guy, a quick triathlete, and has a beautiful family. Later the same day we took his son, Sam, on Seabiscuit for a fast sail up the Miles River. The ego lap in St. Michaels harbor was cool too, especially, the tack in front of the Crab Claw. Roy gets to ride in Central Park during the week, and recently busted some ribs in a wreck there when a lady stepped into his path. Heal well, Roy!

Tim is an artist and was visiting locally for the recent Plein Air Competition. I borrowed a bike from Dominic for Tim to use (thanks, Dom!!). Last Friday afternoon we went for a ride to Tilghman. This was an introductory road-bike ride for Tim. He is recovering from knee surgery after a lacrosse injury last year. This guy is so pumped to be a triathlete. He’s already an athlete; lacrosse and mountain biking. He’ll make the transition into triathlete easily. Tim took first place in 3 categories at this year’s Plein Air, and sold all of his paintings for the week. Congratulations, Tim!! I look forward to our next ride.

Tim Bell's "End of the Day" painting from 2008. Photo from McBride Gallery

Though I am still contemplating knee surgery this September, I am managing 3 runs a week, two of which are with Katherine. She is training for the Rehoboth Beach Marathon in November, and I guess, I am too since two of my runs each week are with her. It is amazing to see Katherine’s speed increase. In our most recent run on Tuesday (see RUR blog) we ran with Mike, Shaun, and Andrew until we met up with Joel in San Domingo Creek. During Katherine’s fast intervals, I had a hard time keeping up with her. She was once a 5 minute miler. Hmm…

Rise Up Runners Andrew, Michael, Kat, Shaun, and Wood Frog on the St. Michaels San Domingo Wharf this past Tuesday morning. Photo by self timed MjK

There is so much to look forward to: New Hampshire and the White Mountains, The Samoset 10K in Bristol, Maine, lots of biking, an occasional Wednesday night race on Seabiscuit, and 3 more weekends of log canoeing with my buddies on the Lark. I am deeply appreciative of the many people in my life that make all these adventures meaningful and fun.

Friday I turn 45 and will be spending the weekend on the vintage racing yacht, Windalier, with my daughter Eleanora, our good friend Cole, our new friends the Bench’s (their boat), and Windalier’s crew as we race Friday night and into Saturday seventy miles down the Bay to St. Mary’s City in the Governor’s Cup Race. It has been 10 years since I last raced this race aboard my brother-in-law’s boat, Restless. I am happy to have this opportunity to share this adventure with Eleanora. St. Mary’s holds many great memories for me with the Restless and Nicole crews over the years. It’s historical significance, geography, and festive atmosphere strikes at every heart that sails ashore.

Sail, swim, ride, run, and appreciate ~

Noble November

Rise Up Runners at Rehoboth: Laura, James, Dominic, Wood Frog, Lori, Joel, and Michael. photo by Liz

Surprisingly, November provided an incredible array of training and racing for my friends and me. I don’t generally think of November as a big month for racing, but with turning triathlete this year it’s now hard not to have some sort of race or adventure in every month. In addition to racing in my first swim meet this month (see previous blog entry), I ran a half marathon and a 10K. During Thanksgiving break (Wednesday through Sunday) I swam 3 times, biked 45 miles, and ran a 10K race. All except the bike ride include good times with friends. But, first, let’s back up a week:

The Rehoboth Beach Seashore Marathon is surely to become a yearly event for the Rise Up Runner crew. It was our first extended/overnight adventure as a team. Dominic rented a house for us in Rehoboth so we could relax Friday night, get a good night sleep, be at the race early, and have a place to shower and relax after the racing. In short we had 2 relay teams and 3 full marathon runners (7 runners in all). All were successful in achieving personal goals in the frigid weather we had on race day. Friday night saw a light dusting of snow (and near white-out driving conditions). I am most proud of my teammate, Joel, for running his first ½ marathon in well under 2 hours, and of Michael for running his first sub-four hour marathon and behaving afterwards like it was just another day in the office. There is a complete write up of our Rehoboth experience on the RUR blog.

My addition to the Rehoboth story is the deer hunter tale. While Laura and I were waiting on the bus at the ½ marathon transition station at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes and among the runners wrapped tightly in their neat running tights, shorts, and technical clothing, came a deer hunter in fluorescent orange and camouflage dragging a dead deer he’d just shot. He announced to those of us at his arrival that “his” was a real marathon of having to drag a deer ½ mile through the woods,” and that, “the runners need to be wearing orange, as well, because the woods were full of hunters”. I announced to the bus load of runners that our added challenge for our race was to “not get shot”. It was a mixing of two very different sporting worlds, of which I’ve been a part of both. To have them come together on a race day was very weird for me. The hunter was the “anti-athlete” as I was prepared to do CPR on him if he collapsed from his exertion. I would have much rather drag the 200 pound deer instead of him (250+).

"You have been warned, runners!" Photo taken on Joel's camera by WF

My run at Rehoboth was motivating. It actually has me thinking about running another full marathon, again. It is probably the first race of length that I ran negative splits. My last mile was in the 7:10 pace range which is fast for this old guy.

After the half marathon I had less than a week to be ready for the annual Run for Hospice 10K at the YMCA. The real treat for me was that my daughter and my niece both ran their first 10K with me on Friday. We were standing in front of the Y when the starting signal went off. I wanted to hang with them but they shouted for me to “RUN, we want to see you get the big W!” I didn’t have the heart to tell them I wasn’t going to win this race but I did kick it into gear after the first ¼ mile. I passed my last person in front of Waverly, and there I maintained 7th place for the rest of the race. I thought I was being challenged while in Oaklands, and I was, by a few fellows, but I was able to stretch it out and preserve my position.

Ahead of me were Mike Bickford (a solid 5th with a sub 42 minute run) and Noah Wood who snatched 3rd place at around 40 minutes. Mike ran 2 miles from his house to the start (that’s how Dean Karnases started out) that morning. Noah is always a happy face to see at the races. I’m glad he comes to the Eastern Shore to show us what its like to run fast. He introduced me to the winner, Ward, who ran the 6.2 miles in 37 minutes and change. Lori (one of the RUR’s) ran a strong 3rd place race ahead of my girls even though she had a tissue injury. Laura (our newest RUR) won the women’s division with a time around 47 minutes. My girls finished in 55ish minutes with a strong run to the clock.

Added features to this year’s record 300+ crowd race were a small running exposition with vendors in the gym, limited tee shirts (they ran out by the time we arrived, which is fine by me), and traffic police who stopped the cars and not the runners. It was a well run event with limited prizes (fine again by me) and the hope that they made a bundle for the good Hospice people.

Thanksgiving Day provided me opportunity to take a long ride on the bike while the family was sleeping in and having a lazy day before we headed to friends for dinner. Julius could be seen parked alone at the Cambridge South Dorchester High School parking lot while I was plying the back roads that snake through the marshes of Blackwater. It was an inspiring ride (I took it easy; 17mph average for 45 miles) with bright sunshine, light winds, much wildlife, and time to think. Though I can enjoy a solo ride, I hope to have company there for my next trip back to Dorchester.

Saturday morning saw 6 of us in the pool, including Landy, for a long strenuous workout designed by Glenn and Rachel, our coaches. We did forty – 2 minute intervals of 75’s, 100’s, 150’s, or in Glenn’s case, 200’s. Ten of these intervals included push-ups after 25 yards of butterfly stroke. Landy has a very strong butterfly and was racing Rachel (assistant swim coach at UM) who is killer underwater. Landy was king on the surface though.

I am finding my swimming is getting stronger and somewhat faster. More importantly, I am really enjoying it. I like the aspect of having friends in the pool and doing intervals with the team. The competition aspect keeps me focused and makes the time fly by. No matter what my speed is, there is always someone to race, some aspect of my form to concentrate upon, or some time to just feel the water, as the coach likes us to do. Landy is a great addition to our team, and I look forward to more good workouts with him and learning from him.

It's been a great succession of racing/training days. On the agenda: get back to Blackwater as soon as possible with some friends, December 20 swim meet in Catonsville, and Christmas parties. Love, swim, bike, and run...