August 2020 Monthly Running Challenge
Replies
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A monthly question.
This year has been challenging mentally, emotionally and physically (for some of us). How are you coping? What do you do to get back on track? What challenges do you face and how are you managing them? (hint: if you are not it's time to do so).
or
Remember when you were 10-13 ish? What were your favorite after school shows, snacks, activities, favorite memories and friends or pets?
Having been lucky that there are so many jobs either at home for others that I haven't time to consider the issues - always time to hear from any of you if you need a spare ear.
I cannot remember 13 years old, way too long ago!3 -
The issues of running a HM with a non-runner former professional footballer;
- "Do you have water?" - "Yes", a few miles in pulls out a 330ml bottle
- Starting mile pace 09:30 - "We need to keep it steady", shortly after 1 mile split 08:51, mile eleven 13:03!!!
- Plans a route with a mad inclines at 7 and 9 miles
- Starts at the hpotest part of the day
- The 13.2 mark of the route was 5.6 miles from home "I thought we might run farther, but I can't"
Still he made it so fair play!9 -
Welcome to all the newcomers! I think you'll really like this group.
Glad you are back @polskagirl01 !
Welcome back @bride001 . You are going to be a busy little bee!
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I got up early this morning so I could get in 3 miles before my normal Sunday stuff started. I was actually out the door at 6:50. (That's really early for me.) It was 70°F and 83% humidity. So, in theory, it shouldn't have been that bad, but I felt like I was running under water. My legs were fine, but I had a hard time breathing...especially for the first mile or so. I did manage negative splits, partly because I did fartleks the last mile. I just wanted to get it to be over. LOL
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I did not set an alarm this morning, so of course it was already hot by the time I headed out at 8:45 for my 7 miles. I also realized that my running hat was nasty from yesterday, as I didn’t do laundry last night, so I pulled out a sweatband and rocked my inner 80s rock star. I need to order another hat.
11/75 miles6 -
Date Miles
8/1 8.59
8/2 17.2
Goal: 285 Actual: 25.79. Off to a good start. Easy long run today.
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22 miles on the spin bike. 75 minutes.
Finished 1st in the leaderboard in the Echelon app for both classes. Still not sure how I am managing that.
I mean I know I’m working hard as my heart rate and dripping sweat tells me so, but I wonder if the stats are accurate.
If so, then I’m killing it. All that running!5 -
quilteryoyo wrote: »I got up early this morning so I could get in 3 miles before my normal Sunday stuff started. I was actually out the door at 6:50. (That's really early for me.) It was 70°F and 83% humidity. So, in theory, it shouldn't have been that bad, but I felt like I was running under water. My legs were fine, but I had a hard time breathing...especially for the first mile or so. I did manage negative splits, partly because I did fartleks the last mile. I just wanted to get it to be over. LOL
That is early! Way to get it done even in the heat!1 -
marisap2010 wrote: »I did not set an alarm this morning, so of course it was already hot by the time I headed out at 8:45 for my 7 miles. I also realized that my running hat was nasty from yesterday, as I didn’t do laundry last night, so I pulled out a sweatband and rocked my inner 80s rock star. I need to order another hat.
11/75 miles
I’m getting used to sleeping in on weekends. Another reason I got the spin bike, lol!
Great for getting out at that time!2 -
quilteryoyo wrote: »Welcome to all the newcomers! I think you'll really like this group.
Glad you are back @polskagirl01 !
Welcome back @bride001 . You are going to be a busy little bee!
Yes welcome newcomers!2 -
TheMrWobbly wrote: »The issues of running a HM with a non-runner former professional footballer;
- "Do you have water?" - "Yes", a few miles in pulls out a 330ml bottle
- Starting mile pace 09:30 - "We need to keep it steady", shortly after 1 mile split 08:51, mile eleven 13:03!!!
- Plans a route with a mad inclines at 7 and 9 miles
- Starts at the hpotest part of the day
- The 13.2 mark of the route was 5.6 miles from home "I thought we might run farther, but I can't"
Still he made it so fair play!
Haha. You did it though!0 -
August Goal: 100 Miles
8/2: 10.52 miles
10.52/100 miles completed for August
826.53/1000 miles for Run the Year Team Pavement Pounders
I got up this morning to an unusually nice August morning. I made it out the door at 6:59 am (I am not good at getting up early on Sundays so before 7 is always hard). It was 65°F when I got up and the humidity was 79% and the dew point was 61° which was much nicer than it has been lately. It was really pleasant and stayed that way for most of the run. I was starting warm by the time I got home. It was 75°F by then but the humidity was down to 59% and it was still pretty nice. The sun was out, but I managed to find plenty of shade and one water sprinkler and I really enjoyed my 10.5 mile run. I was even able to keep my average pace at 10:49. It was so nice that after I showered I went out in the yard and threw the frisbee for Ein the Corgi and just enjoyed the morning. It's a good thing too since later this afternoon it was 101°F
Monthy questions:
1. I'm not sure how I am coping with all the stress. Running helps and yoga helps a lot too. In a lot of ways my routine hasn't changed that much. I work in a small office and it is usually just me and my boss. His wife also "works" there, but she only comes in a few times a month. Social distancing is not a problem at all in our office. So things have been pretty normal there which has helped me to keep my routines. We have missed several family gatherings this year including having a welcome home party for my son when he returned from Japan. I am glad I have this group. I have snoozed almost every one I know in real life on Facebook. It is frustrating living in an area where many if not most people think the Covid-19 is a hoax and that it is politically motivated to get Trump out of office and ruin the economy. I'm not really sure who would purposely try to ruin the economy, but conspiracy theories abound around here. And I am pretty tired of dealing with people who don't take the threat seriously. I have lost a family member to it and both of my parents are vulnerable so I don't want to take any chances with them.
2. As a kid we played outside a lot after school, but we always had snacks and we watched TV a lot too. I think our snacks were usually Little Debbie snack cakes or jello pudding cups. I remember watching Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch. We always seemed to have cats, but the cat we had the longest was a silver tipped Siamese cat named Tippy.
Welcome to all the new members and welcome back to those returning!
2020 races:
11/7/20: Run for 57th AHC Half Marathon3 -
SUNDAY UPDATE - Pastor Vincent vs Boston!
For those new/or with short memories I recently hired a coach to help me run faster - with the original goal of a BQ in 2021 (thanks to all the mess around COVID-19 and etc, this will probably be delayed but still a future goal). It is probably an unrealistic goal, but I am not getting any younger, so going for it. Several people asked to be updated on what the coach has in for me so I post each week what the coach's plan was, and what I actually did.
So here we go:
DAY :::: PLAN :::: ACTUAL
Monday :::: 10 miles :::: 13 miles
Tuesday :::: Rest Day ::::: 8 miles
Wednesday :::: 10 Miles :::: 10 miles
Thursday :::: 6x3min@ Lactate threshold:::: 6x3min@ Lactate threshold
Friday :::: Rest Day ::::: 14 miles
Saturday ::::: 15 miles :::: Donated blood
Sunday ::::: 6 miles ::::: 8 miles
Total Miles: 51 running out of 49 planned
A bit low on mileage this week because I missed the long run on Saturday. That Friday that I ran 14 miles, I came home and showered and took off to donate doubles. I was a bit sore, a bit dehydrated and my pulse was like 88 instead of my normal 45-50, but I got it done. I made myself take Saturday as a rest day but did run again on Sunday. Was thinking 10 or 13 would be good on Sunday, but I aborted at 8 miles because I developed a 1/2 dollar sized blister on the bottom of my foot. I might have to replace the shoes. If so this next week will be light on miles. Need the blister to heal a bit at least.
Of course, I came home from the run to find a section of the greenhouse had come down. 5 tons of dirt is heavy, y'all. We had been thinking about reinforcing that section, but thought it was good. Well, we were wrong So we got to climb under the greenhouse and use car jacks we had collected to jacket it back up and put pillars in. Sill, the greenhouse project is going well! We added a potato box today. We had bigger plans, but the structural issue trumped them.
Pics from a couple days ago:
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hamsterwheel6 wrote: »TheMrWobbly wrote: »The issues of running a HM with a non-runner former professional footballer;
- "Do you have water?" - "Yes", a few miles in pulls out a 330ml bottle
- Starting mile pace 09:30 - "We need to keep it steady", shortly after 1 mile split 08:51, mile eleven 13:03!!!
- Plans a route with a mad inclines at 7 and 9 miles
- Starts at the hpotest part of the day
- The 13.2 mark of the route was 5.6 miles from home "I thought we might run farther, but I can't"
Still he made it so fair play!
Haha. You did it though!
Yeah seriously. 13 miles is a HUGE distance for a non-runner.2 -
hamsterwheel6 wrote: »22 miles on the spin bike. 75 minutes.
Finished 1st in the leaderboard in the Echelon app for both classes. Still not sure how I am managing that.
I mean I know I’m working hard as my heart rate and dripping sweat tells me so, but I wonder if the stats are accurate.
If so, then I’m killing it. All that running!
Congrats! Kicking "kitten" and taking names! 2 -
rheddmobile wrote: »
Both my husband and I are extreme introverts who already worked from home as contracters so lockdown has not been too different for us. The main differences are that we don’t go out to eat after running and we aren’t safe at our usual parks. The thing I miss most is being in nature. And of course since we are both high-risk, and acting as a buffer for my elderly mother who is even more high risk, that’s stressful.Does anyone have a monthly question to start us off with?
A monthly question.
This year has been challenging mentally, emotionally and physically (for some of us). How are you coping? What do you do to get back on track? What challenges do you face and how are you managing them? (hint: if you are not it's time to do so).
or
Remember when you were 10-13 ish? What were your favorite after school shows, snacks, activities, favorite memories and friends or pets?
I normally cope with stress by writing, making art, and role-playing, but this constant overarching stress is killing my creativity. What I’ve been doing instead is reading comic books, which I haven’t really been into since high school, and watching anime, the dumber the better. I also pray every morning outside while feeding the birds, no matter what the weather. I make myself find things to give thanks for that I can see around me. So instead of being angry that the day is muggy and humid I am forcing myself to notice the beautiful mist with rays of sun coming through it, for example.
The years when I was 10-13 I was big into horses. The summer I was 13 in particular was the best summer ever. I was an awkward and weird kid but for some reason an older boy at my school saw something and took me under his wing, invited me to his cool parties, made people be cool to me. He was my first kiss. That summer was so hot and we were completely unsupervised from morning to evening at the barn, cleaning stalls, feeding, riding. We would walk into town and buy handmade toffee at the mall and feed it to the horses. That was the year arcades were huge too. Once we rode our horses through the drive-through at McDonalds. It was awesome.
Horses at McDs! Hah! That is great. I see people around here riding horses down the road from time to time. Not sure where they come from, or where they are going.0 -
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rheddmobile wrote: »Both my husband and I are extreme introverts who already worked from home as contracters so lockdown has not been too different for us.
Same here. I mean the only real thing I have learned is that my NORMAL lifestyle is apparently called quarantine and freaks "normal" people out to no end. 🤷♂️
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Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
08/01/20 :::: 1.3 :::: 1.3
08/02/20 :::: 1.6 :::: 2.9
Starting August off with just the minimum to keep the runs streak alive, which I very nearly abandoned on Saturday. I did another 24 hour trip to the Adirondacks for a hike, this one we left at midnight and drove over 3.5 hours, hiked 13.5 hours and then drove back home. The hike covered 5 of the 46 High Peaks, bringing my total to 13 completed. I've added pics and a long (seriously long, sorry) report in the spoiler below in case you want to read.
But back to running, I did not feel like running on the trail at all, given the terrain, how tired I was at the end, and wearing a pack, so I knew I'd have to run when I got home or give up my streak. We got back about 11 pm and it took everything I had to make myself go out and run those 15 minutes because I knew how mad at myself I'd be if I let it go. We had a big conversation on the way home about "toughness" and why some people have it and others don't seem to, and I don't have any answers about all of that. But I can say that between the last few miles of the hike when I felt like I was going to break from exhaustion and this 15 minutes of running I know I really tested my inner reserves that day.
Today I slept in blissfully late and thoroughly lazed around, barely moving most of the day. I went out around 6:30 pm to attempt to run a little. I walked to warm-up and stretch my sore legs and feet and headed out 1.5 miles with the plan that I'd have to run those 1.5 miles back home. The planned work and I was feeling a little looser by the time I started running. It was still tough, especially for my feet and knees. I rolled my feet with a tennis ball and that feels really good, but they feel pretty beaten up. I may need to see if I can pamper them up a little this week.
A few pics here:AND a super long hike report I typed up for my hike journal in case anyone wants to read:
Dix Range – 5 peaks in about 13.5 hours total time and 19.1 total miles.
The day started with a midnight leave time for our 3.5 hour drive, and a 4:45 am start to the hiking day. The drive was interrupted for a little bit when we saw some stuff in the road and then realized a person was flagging us down. Turns out he (and a younger guy who was the passenger) had fallen asleep and flipped their truck on the side of the road (which we hadn’t seen until we stopped). We called 911 and helped them a little – luckily both guys had gotten out of the truck and were walking around and seemed relatively ok although with bleeding cuts all over. I got a mylar blanket out of my emergency pack and wrapped it around the younger guy who was freezing. The state troopers showed up in not too long and we were able to get on our way. Hopefully they both were ok.
Back on our way, we were doing a traverse, so met up with our friend John at one the Route 73 end point of our hike where we left his car and drove over to the Elk Lake Road start point. Because the Elk Lake parking lot is closed we had to park 2 miles down the road at the Clear Pond lot (which was full already, so we had to park along the road). Those 2 miles on the road in the dark were chilly and a bit annoying, but we were soon plenty warmed up and the sun was up as we started on the trail about 45 minutes later. The hike started gradually but then we got to the Macomb Slide, which I had heard of but hadn’t really thought about what it meant. Which was a huge steep slide full of loose rocks and dirt. It was definitely a big challenge - and looked like it went on forever as you looked above you and all you can see is more of the same. Once to the top, the summit of Macomb (4405 ft, 21st highest peak of the 46) was close and we made our first peak of the day (and completed the biggest and steepest stretch of elevation gain) about 2 ½ hours from leaving the car. After enjoying the amazing views and refueling a bit, we headed towards Carson (South Dix) which involved descending a ways down the other side of Macomb and then a short ascent back up to Carson (37th highest, 4060 ft). Although Carson is more of a treed summit, there was a lookout and all the peaks offered great views of the whole range and surrounding mountains and it was so cool to see where we’d been and where we were going (which seemed FAR).
Then we had to take a side trail over to Grace. This was a pretty fast trip with a more gradual descent and then quick ascent to the summit of Grace (42nd high peak, 4012 ft), in about 35 minutes. This was a nice rocky (unmarked as far as we could tell) summit and we relaxed for a little while on the boulders, ate some more, and looked in awe at all the surrounding peaks. There were several small groups of hikers that we saw up there and who we kept running into at different points on this ideal (if a bit hot) day. We then had to backtrack on the same trail back to Carson to get on the trail to Hough and Dix and eventually out to the other end.
The climb to our fourth peak Hough (23rd High Peak, 4400 ft) included some really steep sections and some climbing. I’ve forgotten already all the details the next day but I remember thinking “this hike just keeps inventing more ways to go up”. Between Carson and Hough took us about 40 minutes. Looking over at Dix, our last and highest peak, was daunting as it looked very far away and impressive. The Beckhorn is a bald knob close to the summit of Dix that is easily identifiable looking at it (but is not the actual summit because when you get there, there’s still a bit more!).
It looked like this was going to be a very tough section of the trail getting to this highest elevation point, especially given how tired we were from lack of sleep and already hiking 4 peaks and being 7 ½ hours or so into this day. And there were some really steep tough sections that made me think the calves and quads were going to burst into flames or snap at any moment. But we didn’t descend too far after Hough, and amazingly the hour or so seemed to go pretty quickly and we were up on the Beckhorn (which we were saying we needed to get to and a guy said “you’re on it”) and then up to the summit of Dix (6th High Peak, 4857 ft). The summit was broad and there were several medallion markers, and there were several small groups of hikers up there with plenty of places to spread out and enjoy our own little piece of the vastness of the mountains. We could see back the whole range we had come through to get there, and the guys were able to point out and figure out many of the mountains we were looking at in the near distance (and that we were probably seeing mountains of VT and NH in the far distance.
Nine-ish hours and 12-ish miles in, we began the descent and hike out. I was almost giddy thinking about being on the “home stretch” and not having to climb any more. But that descent was killer. It was very steep and tough on the knees, and my feet were so sore from all the stepping down from boulder to bolder. When I saw a sign that said it was over 5 miles to Route 73, I really questioned my inner reserve. The tough part continued for about 2 miles, taking about 2 hours, and then it flattened out. And my watch decided it had had enough and the battery crapped out, so I switched to using Strava on my phone. At this point we were not talking, just trying to get it done and I kept thinking we surely must be getting close (but I hadn’t noted the time when we saw that 5 mile + sign so wasn’t sure how far we’d come). It seemed ominous that no one was saying we were almost there. I was really having to push to try to keep up with the group, and not doing so well on that, but determined to keep moving and not complain. When I saw the guys had stopped ahead at a signpost I knew it was not going to be what I wanted to hear. They called back to us that it was 2.3 miles to the road and I could not stop from saying “you’ve got to be effing kidding me”. Ha. I rallied the best I could because what can you do but move through it, and it just seemed eternal. Finally we saw Round Pond and it was ½ mile to the car, then we started to hear the road, and then it appeared. The exit of the trail is not right at the parking area so for a moment I thought we had another road walk to go but it was just a short distance down. We collapsed into John’s car (where he already was because he had gone ahead of the rest of us to change and be ready) and then had to drive back to the other end to get our car. We changed, stuffed some food in, and started the drive home with a pit stop for coffee to fuel us.6 -
Hi all - mind if I jump into the party?
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August Goal: 100 Miles
8/2: 10.52 miles
10.52/100 miles completed for August
826.53/1000 miles for Run the Year Team Pavement Pounders
I got up this morning to an unusually nice August morning. I made it out the door at 6:59 am (I am not good at getting up early on Sundays so before 7 is always hard). It was 65°F when I got up and the humidity was 79% and the dew point was 61° which was much nicer than it has been lately. It was really pleasant and stayed that way for most of the run. I was starting warm by the time I got home. It was 75°F by then but the humidity was down to 59% and it was still pretty nice. The sun was out, but I managed to find plenty of shade and one water sprinkler and I really enjoyed my 10.5 mile run. I was even able to keep my average pace at 10:49. It was so nice that after I showered I went out in the yard and threw the frisbee for Ein the Corgi and just enjoyed the morning. It's a good thing too since later this afternoon it was 101°F
Monthy questions:
1. I'm not sure how I am coping with all the stress. Running helps and yoga helps a lot too. In a lot of ways my routine hasn't changed that much. I work in a small office and it is usually just me and my boss. His wife also "works" there, but she only comes in a few times a month. Social distancing is not a problem at all in our office. So things have been pretty normal there which has helped me to keep my routines. We have missed several family gatherings this year including having a welcome home party for my son when he returned from Japan. I am glad I have this group. I have snoozed almost every one I know in real life on Facebook. It is frustrating living in an area where many if not most people think the Covid-19 is a hoax and that it is politically motivated to get Trump out of office and ruin the economy. I'm not really sure who would purposely try to ruin the economy, but conspiracy theories abound around here. And I am pretty tired of dealing with people who don't take the threat seriously. I have lost a family member to it and both of my parents are vulnerable so I don't want to take any chances with them.
Sorry to hear about the loss of a family member. I don't do FB, but decided to give in to connect with DS's friends, disseminate information, and collect memories. I really hate the political side. Embarrassingly, DH is one with political posts and I snoozed him. I just watched a show, cuz Netflix is my existence, Connected - the episode on digits. I think many nerdy numbers folks here would like it. It explores Benford's law and applying it to social media, nature, sports, taxes, music, everything. Spoiler- there's a bit about russian bot manipulation of social media to divide the masses. Which is exactly where we are. You can add me, haha!. I don't even vote cuz I am not arguing or ever claiming to back any political figure. I just have kids friends and none of my own... LOL oh @shanaber is my friend
and I follow @HonuNui 
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@rheddmobile Didn't you get in trouble for the drive thru horses? I was maybe 8-9 in California and we'd ride our bikes through the drive thru (for water) and would get yelled at! LOL!0
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Duplicate post, sorry.
So I'll use it to say welcome to all the new members of the thread! Glad to have you here to join in and best of luck with your goals for this month.A monthly question.
This year has been challenging mentally, emotionally and physically (for some of us). How are you coping? What do you do to get back on track? What challenges do you face and how are you managing them? (hint: if you are not it's time to do so).
or
Remember when you were 10-13 ish? What were your favorite after school shows, snacks, activities, favorite memories and friends or pets?
I am obviously coping by getting out and hiking a lot, running, and setting a lot of goals for those things combined that have kept me pretty on track. I also fortunately have friends who work out several times a week and invite me along (at the track and the parks). All of those things are helping emotionally as well.
I don't remember very well but I was thinking about how during summers we would spend all day at the community pool. We lived on a farm and the parents of the kids in the general neighborhood of farms would take turns carpooling us into town in the morning when we do swimming lessons. After lessons we'd eat our sack lunches in the park (peanut butter and pickle sandwiches were a big thing for us one summer) and then go back to the pool when it opened for the afternoon. We'd swim all afternoon and then a parent would pick us up. I can't imagine that level of non-supervision would happen today but we thought nothing of it and I think our parents were just happy to have us out of the house all day.2 -
BEASTFIELD314 wrote: »Hi all - mind if I jump into the party?
Welcome! Jump in! The water is very clod, so a fast jump into the deep end is your best bet
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A gentle 5 miles this morning as my glutes were in agony this morning from too many squats yesterday! Then went to hot yoga hoping that would help but it featured lots of chair and eagle pose so basically spent large parts of the class in a half squat. Ouch!! Tomorrow is going to hurt.
Have a good Monday everyone x
August total: 7m
August goal: 75m
2/8: 2m interval training
3/8: 5m
July: 81m
June: 78m
May: 80 m
April: 115 m
March: 76.4 m
February: 17.8 m
January: 0
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Amazing. I’m very impressed with your hiking, run streak and mental toughness.katharmonic wrote: »Date :::: Miles :::: Cumulative
08/01/20 :::: 1.3 :::: 1.3
08/02/20 :::: 1.6 :::: 2.9
Starting August off with just the minimum to keep the runs streak alive, which I very nearly abandoned on Saturday. I did another 24 hour trip to the Adirondacks for a hike, this one we left at midnight and drove over 3.5 hours, hiked 13.5 hours and then drove back home. The hike covered 5 of the 46 High Peaks, bringing my total to 13 completed. I've added pics and a long (seriously long, sorry) report in the spoiler below in case you want to read.
But back to running, I did not feel like running on the trail at all, given the terrain, how tired I was at the end, and wearing a pack, so I knew I'd have to run when I got home or give up my streak. We got back about 11 pm and it took everything I had to make myself go out and run those 15 minutes because I knew how mad at myself I'd be if I let it go. We had a big conversation on the way home about "toughness" and why some people have it and others don't seem to, and I don't have any answers about all of that. But I can say that between the last few miles of the hike when I felt like I was going to break from exhaustion and this 15 minutes of running I know I really tested my inner reserves that day.
Today I slept in blissfully late and thoroughly lazed around, barely moving most of the day. I went out around 6:30 pm to attempt to run a little. I walked to warm-up and stretch my sore legs and feet and headed out 1.5 miles with the plan that I'd have to run those 1.5 miles back home. The planned work and I was feeling a little looser by the time I started running. It was still tough, especially for my feet and knees. I rolled my feet with a tennis ball and that feels really good, but they feel pretty beaten up. I may need to see if I can pamper them up a little this week.
A few pics here:AND a super long hike report I typed up for my hike journal in case anyone wants to read:Dix Range – 5 peaks in about 13.5 hours total time and 19.1 total miles.
The day started with a midnight leave time for our 3.5 hour drive, and a 4:45 am start to the hiking day. The drive was interrupted for a little bit when we saw some stuff in the road and then realized a person was flagging us down. Turns out he (and a younger guy who was the passenger) had fallen asleep and flipped their truck on the side of the road (which we hadn’t seen until we stopped). We called 911 and helped them a little – luckily both guys had gotten out of the truck and were walking around and seemed relatively ok although with bleeding cuts all over. I got a mylar blanket out of my emergency pack and wrapped it around the younger guy who was freezing. The state troopers showed up in not too long and we were able to get on our way. Hopefully they both were ok.
Back on our way, we were doing a traverse, so met up with our friend John at one the Route 73 end point of our hike where we left his car and drove over to the Elk Lake Road start point. Because the Elk Lake parking lot is closed we had to park 2 miles down the road at the Clear Pond lot (which was full already, so we had to park along the road). Those 2 miles on the road in the dark were chilly and a bit annoying, but we were soon plenty warmed up and the sun was up as we started on the trail about 45 minutes later. The hike started gradually but then we got to the Macomb Slide, which I had heard of but hadn’t really thought about what it meant. Which was a huge steep slide full of loose rocks and dirt. It was definitely a big challenge - and looked like it went on forever as you looked above you and all you can see is more of the same. Once to the top, the summit of Macomb (4405 ft, 21st highest peak of the 46) was close and we made our first peak of the day (and completed the biggest and steepest stretch of elevation gain) about 2 ½ hours from leaving the car. After enjoying the amazing views and refueling a bit, we headed towards Carson (South Dix) which involved descending a ways down the other side of Macomb and then a short ascent back up to Carson (37th highest, 4060 ft). Although Carson is more of a treed summit, there was a lookout and all the peaks offered great views of the whole range and surrounding mountains and it was so cool to see where we’d been and where we were going (which seemed FAR).
Then we had to take a side trail over to Grace. This was a pretty fast trip with a more gradual descent and then quick ascent to the summit of Grace (42nd high peak, 4012 ft), in about 35 minutes. This was a nice rocky (unmarked as far as we could tell) summit and we relaxed for a little while on the boulders, ate some more, and looked in awe at all the surrounding peaks. There were several small groups of hikers that we saw up there and who we kept running into at different points on this ideal (if a bit hot) day. We then had to backtrack on the same trail back to Carson to get on the trail to Hough and Dix and eventually out to the other end.
The climb to our fourth peak Hough (23rd High Peak, 4400 ft) included some really steep sections and some climbing. I’ve forgotten already all the details the next day but I remember thinking “this hike just keeps inventing more ways to go up”. Between Carson and Hough took us about 40 minutes. Looking over at Dix, our last and highest peak, was daunting as it looked very far away and impressive. The Beckhorn is a bald knob close to the summit of Dix that is easily identifiable looking at it (but is not the actual summit because when you get there, there’s still a bit more!).
It looked like this was going to be a very tough section of the trail getting to this highest elevation point, especially given how tired we were from lack of sleep and already hiking 4 peaks and being 7 ½ hours or so into this day. And there were some really steep tough sections that made me think the calves and quads were going to burst into flames or snap at any moment. But we didn’t descend too far after Hough, and amazingly the hour or so seemed to go pretty quickly and we were up on the Beckhorn (which we were saying we needed to get to and a guy said “you’re on it”) and then up to the summit of Dix (6th High Peak, 4857 ft). The summit was broad and there were several medallion markers, and there were several small groups of hikers up there with plenty of places to spread out and enjoy our own little piece of the vastness of the mountains. We could see back the whole range we had come through to get there, and the guys were able to point out and figure out many of the mountains we were looking at in the near distance (and that we were probably seeing mountains of VT and NH in the far distance.
Nine-ish hours and 12-ish miles in, we began the descent and hike out. I was almost giddy thinking about being on the “home stretch” and not having to climb any more. But that descent was killer. It was very steep and tough on the knees, and my feet were so sore from all the stepping down from boulder to bolder. When I saw a sign that said it was over 5 miles to Route 73, I really questioned my inner reserve. The tough part continued for about 2 miles, taking about 2 hours, and then it flattened out. And my watch decided it had had enough and the battery crapped out, so I switched to using Strava on my phone. At this point we were not talking, just trying to get it done and I kept thinking we surely must be getting close (but I hadn’t noted the time when we saw that 5 mile + sign so wasn’t sure how far we’d come). It seemed ominous that no one was saying we were almost there. I was really having to push to try to keep up with the group, and not doing so well on that, but determined to keep moving and not complain. When I saw the guys had stopped ahead at a signpost I knew it was not going to be what I wanted to hear. They called back to us that it was 2.3 miles to the road and I could not stop from saying “you’ve got to be effing kidding me”. Ha. I rallied the best I could because what can you do but move through it, and it just seemed eternal. Finally we saw Round Pond and it was ½ mile to the car, then we started to hear the road, and then it appeared. The exit of the trail is not right at the parking area so for a moment I thought we had another road walk to go but it was just a short distance down. We collapsed into John’s car (where he already was because he had gone ahead of the rest of us to change and be ready) and then had to drive back to the other end to get our car. We changed, stuffed some food in, and started the drive home with a pit stop for coffee to fuel us.2 -
@katharmonic Sounds like an awesome hike! I always think the descent is the worst part. I’ve had a couple of backpacking trips where I thought my
legs were going to dissolve into jelly trying to hike down.1 -
Very nice pics @katharmonic! You are a beast!
@PastorVincent that greenhouse is looking great.
5 very tough miles this morning. Phone said it was cooler and less humid than normal, but it felt terrible.
3 -
8/3 - Estimated distance: 6.96 mi (11.22 km). Time: 93 min.
I ordered the Fitbit Charge 4 last week, so that I could accurately measure distance and speed. Also want to figure out the cute Excercise Ticker that people are posting.4 -
@kgirlhart Sounds like you had a really enjoyable run! It's coming a nice gently rain here today, so I'll probably run on the treadmill. I just don't feel like getting my shoes wet. But, the temps are supposed to stay in the 70°Fs today. That will be nice. I may sit out on the covered porch later and just enjoy the coolness and listen to the rain.
@PastorVincent Sorry about the blister and the greenhouse. Hope the blister heals quickly and that you get the greenhouse fixed up and going again soon. It looks nice.
@hamsterwheel6 Great job being in first place on the ride! You rock!
@katharmonic You are definitely one of the tough ones! I don't know how you do all that you do. I can't imagine hiking 13.5 hours. Love the pictures. Curious - are there snakes in those rocks? That would seriously worry me. LOL Glad you were able to help the young men in the accident and also hope they are okay. Wow, that was a serious hike. You seriously amaze me!
Welcome @BEASTFIELD314 !
Way to hang in there and tough out the miles @Scott6255 .3
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