Category: Sports

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Adventure Sports

RunAmuck NY

Ran in another RunAmuck with NGM yesterday. This one took place all the way up at Sebago Beach (Harriman State Park) in NY. It was an amazing place, massive with some incredible rocks and mountains which I would learn to despise.

My day began with waking up around 5:00 AM then driving an hour over to NGM’s. Ummm, I kinda found myself driving on the Parkway instead of the Expressway for a bit, and had to turn back early on. I guess that’s what waking up that early does to me. Once I met up NGM and company, we began our 2 1/2 hour drive up to NY. So yeah, I spent a good 7+ hours in a car yesterday, not a good feeling.

We managed to get there with no major problems. Up in North Jersey it was very mountainous and quite scenic, very different from the New Jersey I’m used to. Again the RunAmuck was a very well organized event, and that was apparent as we pulled into the park that was packed with so many people.

NGM and I registered quickly, duct taped our shoes to prevent losing them in the water/muck and eagerly awaited the start of our race. There were so many people, even more than the NJ RunAmuck race. Lining up for the race, NGM and I were pitted next to an older fellow we called Jack Lalane. This old guy was ripped, and would go on to easily crush us in this race.

The race began and NGM and I both began with a steady and consistent pace. Only a few meters in and the runners were faced with a brutal incline up a rocky terrain. This early in the race you could sense a lot of the runners lose confidence, and regret signing up for this. This was a true precursor to the most difficult run I’ve ever experienced.

I found the ground to be extremely unique, there were huge rocks almost everywhere. This make footing very difficult and interesting, as well as slick and not too kind to the ankles. I can’t even begin to count how many times I rolled an ankle during the run, as well as a couple of near spills (one literally almost was a spill  as I almost fell into the lake).

The inclines and declines were so very brutal. Several of them required walking attentively to successfully navigate through them. About 1.75 miles in I was completely exhausted from the hostile terrain. I would then slow it down a bit until NGM caught up then, finish this race up with him.

We even had to trek through a lake! The water was up to our armpits at times. This was so great for me, it allowed me to slow and cool down, catching my breath for the upcoming final leg. NGM and I ran out the final leg of the race together and made it through the final mud pit with a respectable finish.

This was by far the most grueling run I’d ever took a part in. Today my ankles are sore with some swelling, and my right shoulder is shot (I have so rotator cuff issues in there and probably got aggravated with the climbs). So I guess I’m getting a bit old, haha. All in all this was an amazing race and a very fun day, we’ll have to do this again.

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Sports

RunAmuck NJ

NGM and I ran in the RunAmuck NJ 5k race today, it was so awesome! He sent me a link to the site a few weeks ago, and I knew that we had to enter. We tried recruiting several others to join us on this quest, but it came down to he and I entering it as a 2 person team.

I drove over to his house in Bellmawr and didn’t get lost! This is a rather amazing feat considering my complete lack of direction as of late (I used to never ever get lost). I arrived at his place around 8:35, pretty early for a Saturday but this would be no ordinary Saturday indeed.

I got a quick tour of his fine home, then we departed on our way to Washington Crossing in Titusville. We arrived and registered for the big race, the walk from the car to to registration was a decent trek in itself.

We duct taped our shoes to our ankles so that they wouldn’t come off in the deeper mud we’d be encountering. It did actually help as there was some very deep thick mud, especially towards the end of the course, however removing the duct tape wasn’t the finest of experiences. The tape was determined to take much ankle hair and a decent amount of skin along with it’s removal. Why I removed it slowly will truly boggle the finest psychiatrists.

The course was amazing and very challenging. I knew a quarter mile in that it was going to be a rough race for me. Just didn’t feel my best, but knew this was something that we’d surely have to finish and finish well. Oh, there were some really cool dogs watching the race too.

The downpour the night before only made the course that much slippery. I nearly fell hard twice in the early going, but luckily there were some large trees nearby that I was able to Tarzan and and keep myself from falling. The course had some great obstacles throughout. Many obstacles to clear and hurdle over, balance beams, a web to weave through (which I shot through in just a few seconds somehow, so proud), and a rather large wall to scale.

The first two miles weren’t too bad, but by the last one I was just beaten down. I really had to simply will myself to the end down the stretch, my body was shot. I really hadn’t done much recently, and the terrain and obstacles really took their toll. I got the the final mud crawl but was held up because teams had to finish together. The pause was actually very much welcome, and NGM showed up in no time and me leaped into the mud and crawled our way to the finish.

I feel sorry for the poor girl to my right as NGM and I went full speed at the end and I can only imagine how much mud I must’ve sent her way. If by any chance you’re ready this, so very sorry. We had a respectable finish, and considering that neither of us had one of our finer days, were very pleased with our outcome.

If I hadn’t seen photos, I wouldn’t of believe just how covered in mud we were by the end of the race. It was in my mouth, ears, my eyes, everywhere. So much fun.

On the way home they took me to some massive Diner and I ate a ridiculously large sandwich. Apparently the waitress told them that nobody ever eats the entire sandwich. I was so proud to hear of this, another challenge conquered.

Amazing time, and I do believe we will  be entering the RunAmuck NY in June too.

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Adventure Sports

Failed Curling Attempt

After watching the 2006 Winter Olympics the Shepherd and I declared that we wanted to play curling after watching much of it on TV that year. Well apparently we had forgotten our mission until 4 years later when the 2010 Winter Olympics came around.

After some brief research we found that the Philadelphia Curling Club was offering a $5 donation class today. So this had to be attended by us.

The Shepherd actually called me at 9:55 AM this morning ready to go. This may not seem early to most, but by his current standards this was an amazing feat and probably summed up just how excited both of us were to finally experience this grand sport.

The ride over took about an hour and a half. We didn’t take a signal wrong turn, which even with GPS we were both proud of.

Upon arriving, we soon discovered that we weren’t the only ones interested in trying out curling. I’d say there was probably 1500-2000 people waiting in a wrapping line outside in the cold with hopes of getting inside to curl.

We waited a good while, with the line barely moving at all. We later found out that there was no chance that we would have an opportunity to curl on this day. Truly tragic news indeed. With our dreams shattered we then decided to get a bite to eat and do something else nearby.

Apparently there isn’t much else to do nearby the curling place. We also somehow took about 4 hours to get back home due to a GPS device that decided to toy with us the remainder of he afternoon. While it was clearly a failed mission, I’m glad we at least followed through with our original plan 4 years ago and gave it a shot. Who knew curling would be this popular.

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Adventure Sports

Carousel Park

The Shepherd and I made a voyage to Carousel Park in Delaware today. They have a very highly rated disc golf course that we were determined to play. It was in the high 20’s and probably not the finest of days to be outdoors playing disc golf, but while not the finest of players we are probably the toughest (or most stupidest) disc golf players east of the Mississippi.

The park was huge! It’s a horse park, dog park, and a bunch of other things too. There were a ton of horses and little ponies there. They poop a lot, but luckily none was to be found on the course.

A lot of people had their dogs at the dog park, and I like dogs so that’s always a plus.

The disc golf course was very impressive. Some great distance and some insane hills really made it unique. It took a little bit to figure out the course the first time through, but that also gave me an excuse to sprint ahead to scout the course out.

I did manage to land a disc in the middle of a frozen pond, but was able to retrieve it by throwing out a life preserver with a rope attached and lassoed it in. I think I enjoy saving lost discs more than actually playing.

While a little bit of a trip, the course was so impressive that we will have to make some more trips out there. It’d also probably be wise to go when it’s a bit nicer out, it was so cold today.

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Sports

Thanksgiving Game 2009

We managed to get in a fine game of flag football in this morning. Thanks to Wes and Josh for rounding up enough able bodies to play as well as providing flags and cones for a respectable game.

A big surprise addition to this game for me were the Shepherd and a slimmed down Alex both playing. And they both played very well. Alex did burn me for a deep score, probably the longest play of the game. The Shepherd with a late QB switch almost lead his team to victory on this fine morning.

However on this day, I was fortunate enough to find myself on the winning side. Kyle gave us some very solid QB play. Wes played an extremely good 2 way day, with the most difficult task of guarding Josh for most of the game. The gunslinger Dave had some amazing catches, including the game winning TD. Very impressive.

Haha, I had a ton of drops. 2 or 3 of which were definite touchdowns. Oops, sorry guys.

Great game with a great bunch of guys. We’ll have to have a rematch next year if all of our bodies have recovered by then.

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Sports

51st AC Marathon 5k run

I ran with Mr. Mellons in the 51st Atlantic City Marathon’s 5k run. It was pretty cool, I beat Mr. Mellons with a time of 27:27. I don’t think that’s very fast, but considering I’m new to this running stuff I was pleased with the outcome.

The 5k race took place on the AC boardwalk from about The Pier to around where Mr. Mellons lives. So we considered this race to be on our home turf as we run that route pretty often (evidently not often enough based on my time :-)

I woke up really early and put my brand new sneakers on, new sneakers of course are a must for such an event. Then met up and walked over to the starting point. There were a ton of people entering the marathon and half-marathon. I think they’re crazy for running that long.

While walking over some crazy guy yelled some stuff at us. Oh well, I just gave a glare and kept walking as he conveniently opened up his mouth as we were a good several hundred feet away. Plus he seemed kinda not all together, so I just dismissed it as he’s a crazy person and it’s not nice to hit crazy people regardless of what they say.

The actual race went well. I really passed a lot of people during the 2nd mile, but ran out of gas down the final half mile. That’s kinda my trademark move now. I guess I’m just used to more sprinting type stuff than anything of distance.

Afterwards they had a bunch of oranges, pretzels, water ice and doughnuts to eat. And I did eat a lot of each, perhaps too much. But after running you do get really hungry. Oh, also and a dum-dum lollipop. Don’t think I’ve had one since I last visited the pediatrician.