Things I've Found While Running (Part 1).

I’ve been running for over 40 years and have come across some interesting places and things. I finally started carrying a camera a couple years ago, so I can capture some of my finds. Here are a few vehicles and aircraft I’ve come across:

I’ll start with my favorite. This Lockheed T2V “SeaStar” crashed into a swamp near West Milford, NJ in 1962. Luckily both pilots survived the crash even though they were unable to eject. The T2V was a carrier-capable training jet used by the U.S. Navy. All that remains is the fuselage (seen below) and the nose, about 100 feet away.

(Photo by Asia Danger Davidson)

This UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) is in the woods on Ft Dix, NJ and is used as a training aid for Army Medics. Various forms of the Huey were produced from 1956 until 1976. The U.S. Army eventually replaced the Huey with the UH-60 Blackhawk. More information on the UH-1 can be found at http://www.aviation-history.com/bell/uh1.htm .

This M60 Series tank can also be found in the woods north of Browns Mills, NJ near the Browns Mills – Cookstown Road. The M60 was the state of the art main battle tank for years before being replaced by the M1 Abrams tank. More information on the M60 series tank can be found at https://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/detail.asp?armor_id=28

During a recent run through the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area in Roosevelt, NJ I came across a few unexpected gems from the past, 2 cars and a plane. I’m sure each has its own unique story; but since no one nearby could offer any insight into their past, I’ll share my own theories. The first car was driven into the woods by lovers who were forbidden by their families to see each other. Unfortunately for them, while making love under the full moon, they were killed and carried off by the Jersey Devil. Hey, it could’ve happened. They, and by they I mean I, say that if you visit this car at midnight during a full moon you can still hear their screams. The second car was dumped deep in the woods following a mob hit, which would explain all the bullet holes in it. Finally, the abandoned plane was used by the infamous Nosdivad family to escape the government’s assault on the Ashram in a tiny village in the NJ Pine Barrens called Ong’s Hat. More history and information regarding the Ashram and its inter-dimensional portal can be found online or in Joseph Matheny’s book, “Ong’s Hat: The Beginning”. You can also research the “Incunabula Papers”.

The Batona 50K: My First Ultra Finish

 

Well it’s been a few months in the making; but, I can finally call myself an Ultra-trail runner! I just finished the Batona Trail 50K; but, before I tell you about the race, here’s how I got to this point. I’ve been interested in ultra-marathons for a few years; but, I really didn’t get the urge to run one until my friend Jon asked me to pace him at the Burning River 102 Miler this past July. I was surprised he asked me since other than running in the mountains near Colorado Springs in February and the Santa Monica Mountain Range in March my training, if you want to call it that, had consisted mainly of 3-5 mile Hashruns (still does). I’m glad I was quick to say “Yes” because if I had really thought it over I should’ve said no, I just wasn’t prepared. Jon said he needed me to run through the night with him for the final 26 miles. Now in my mind I remember thinking wholly crap I haven’t gone that far in years; but, I shrugged off my doubts and agreed. I did warn him though that I couldn’t promise anything other than I’d try. I’m so glad I did. It was a great experience. I monitored his food and hydration intake as we went, made sure he urinated regularly, and tried to keep his mind off the miles with stupid jokes and stories. I’d refill his bottles at the aid stations and send him on his way before filling mine and then sprinting to catch up. Mile after mile I observed and learned from Jon and the others runners we came across. When we arrived at the finish line I peeled off to the side so he could cross the line on his own. Although other pacers went across with their runners, I didn’t feel right as I had only ran the last 26 miles not the full 102. That finish line was his, not mine. My finish line was yet to come.

 (Leaving the last aid station at Burning River)

 (Immediately after finishing 102 miles. How can he look so fresh?)

After that weekend, Jon and another friend, Dong, kept encouraging me to sign up for an ultra, filling my mind with visions of my own finish line experience. So, on a whim I signed up for the hilly Mountain Madness 50K being held on September 23^rd in Ringwood, NJ. It’s part of the NJ Trail Series found on https://sites.google.com/site/njtrailseries/. I set up a training plan to prepare for the race and everything. Then along came Hurricanes Harvey and Irma that put an abrupt stop to that as I began pulling 12-16 hour response shifts. I ran a grand total of 22 miles spread over three runs prior to race day. Being the stubborn male that I am, I ran the race anyways. I figured its only 50K, right? I felt great on race day as I toed the starting line. The race director, Rick McNulty, briefed us on the race markings, said go and off we went. The Mountain Madness 50k is a three loop course, with the middle being the longest. I finished the first loop feeling great and running strong. I grabbed some snacks and refilled my bottles quickly getting back on course in just over a minute. Everything was going great until around mile 16 or 17 when I fell on a short but steep downhill and jammed my left Achilles. I felt a pain I hadn’t felt since I tore the tendon a few years back so I made the decision to walk the remaining few miles back to the start. I told myself there would be plenty of other days to run. So I took my time limping back and taking pictures of my beautiful surroundings. Even though I dropped at mile 24.7 I had a great time there, experienced some great trails, and gained some humility along the way. In the past the idea of dropping from a race had never crossed my mind but I knew that I had made the right decision. I’ll return to Mountain Madness next year and I will have my redemption.

 

 

 

So this brings me to this past weekend’s Batona 50K/50M. The Batona 50M is a point-to-point, mostly single-track trail that runs along the entire 53.4 miles of the Batona Trail from its northern trailhead at Ong’s Hat to its southern most terminus in Bass River throughout the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I opted to run the 50k option that ends at historic Batsto Village. Due to this being a point-to-point race the distances are slightly longer due to available parking locations. The Batona 50K is actually 34 miles and the 50M is actually 53 miles. It was a frigid 20 degrees as we gathered at Ong’s Hat for our 6am start. With headlamps on we headed immediately into a thick single-track windy section. I run and hike the Batona a lot so I was able to warn the group I was with when a couple tricky turns were about to come. While the Batona is very well marked with pink blazes the entire length, it’s very easy to be memorized by the surrounding beauty and miss many of the turns. I heard after the race that a bunch of runners had missed turns along the way and had to back track. The group I was running with arrived at Pakim Pond (mile 8) in 1:20:00. I knew that was too fast but it felt really good. Plus, if I followed logic I wouldn’t had been there in the first place with such little training (actually none). I reached the half-way point (17miles) in 3:03:07 still feeling really good. I remember thinking, “This 50K stuff is easy”. I arrived at the Carranza aid station (21.5miles) in just over 4 hours still feeling great. I stopped to refill my water bottles and have a couple cups of warm chicken noodle soup. That’s when the lack of training hit me. Around mile 22 my right hamstring knotted up and from that point until Quakers Bridge area around mile 28. Even though I walked nearly 6 miles my slowest mile was 18:10. After replacing my front water bottle with the one in my pack and a quick snack I was able to combine a slow run with the walking for the remaining 6 miles arriving at the finish in 7:26:10 (13:14/mile pace). According to my Garmin my total moving time was 7:13:36 (12:52/mile moving pace). I placed 6^th out of the 12 that completed the 50K. The funny thing is that neither the time nor the place actual matter to me; I finished and that was my primary goal. I did have a secondary goal of finishing under 8 hours so I actually achieved both goals! So after 2 attempts I finally got my own finish line and like Jon at Burning River a huge smile of achievement and relief came across my face. After warming up in my car I drove over to the Evan’s Bridge aid station at mile 43.1 and then to the finish so I could cheer on my fellow Pineland Striders who were running the full 53 miles. I like to thank all the wonderful volunteers that came out to shuttle runners to the start so our cars would be waiting for us at the finish as well as all their support at the aid stations! The biggest lesson I learned that day was that although I can finish a 50K in a decent time without training it would’ve been a hell of a lot easier if I had. Maybe I’ll train for my next one…probably not. And for my hasher friends, this is FLaT On-out.

(8 miles down, feeling great!)

 (34 miles down, happy it's done!)

 

(Pineland Striders: Skip, John and Mike)

 

 

December 2015 (part 1): The Post-op Trail to Recovery

30Nov – 6Dec (Week 6 post-op):

Tuesday, 1Dec15: I had a great run in the rain on the Monmouth Battlefield State Park trails. I ran the Yellow, Green, White, Red, and Green trails all end-to-end. I didn’t see anyone else on the trails but I did see 5 deer. This was my first run without the knee brace and, at 5.6 miles, it was my longest outing since my operation and everything felt great.

Wednesday, 2Dec15: After yesterday’s test of my knee without the brace I chose to rest my legs and spend an hour doing yoga. I followed along with my favorite yoga DVD (Yin Yoga) by Travis Eliot which gets deep into the connective tissues by holding each stretch 3-7 minutes. This is part of the Ultimate Yogi series of DVDs. I always feel so good after doing this workout.

Thursday, 3Dec15: With my body’s great response to yesterday’s Yin Yoga session I chose to do the same tonight.

Friday, 4Dec15: I had planned to run this afternoon but my dog Sparta was sick so I stayed in with him and continued to work internally. I started with the Ultimate Yogi Mountain Pose series followed by some Pranayama (breathing) techniques and finally 20 minutes of meditation. While I still wish I had ran I do feel really good.

Saturday, 5Dec15: Sparta and I ran the Whites Bog inner 4.1 mile loop after work. This was my second run without the knee brace. Everything felt great, I think the yoga the last couple days helped. The water in the bog must be getting cold because Sparta only jumped in twice. .

Sunday, 6Dec15: Keeping with my focus this week on muscular health, I finished today off with the Ultimate Yogi Mountain Pose series and 36 Sun Salutations. This was a good week and my body truly feels good after all the yoga.

 

 

 

7-13Dec (Week 7 post-op):

Monday, 7Dec15: Took the day off, no training.

Tuesday, 8Dec15: I ran the 4.1 mile Whites Bog inner loop with my dog Sparta after dark. After returning home, I added P90X Stretch (1hr) and AB Ripper X (15min) followed by the Ultimate Yogi Mountain Pose series, Pranayama breathing and finally some meditation. Tonight was a great night.

Wednesday, 9Dec15: Today I walked 4+ miles after work on the Lawrenceville dirt track. Then later in the evening I did 36 Sun Salutations and ended with my Ultimate Yogi Gentle Yoga DVD (1hr).

Thursday, 10Dec15: I was going to run but I was really tired so I took a nap after work and decided to just workout inside. I worked up a great sweat with my Tapout-XT Muay Thai DVD and then cooled down with the Ultimate Yogi Mountain Pose series.

Friday, 11Dec15: Today I just worked on a lot of stretching, no structured workout. I finally got to the last of the blue berries I picked this year so I added them to my peanut butter and onion sandwich for some extra flavor. I used Vermont Peanut Butter Co. chunky because it's all natural and it's made in Vermont like me so you know it's good!

Saturday, 12Dec15: This morning I ran with Ted and Diane Hardies on Black Run Preserve trails. This was my first time there. They have some great trails there consisting of single and double track as well as dirt roads and they are very well marked. After Ted and Diane left I ran on the trails and sand fields around the superfund site just south of Black Run Preserve. The trails were nice but it was the sandy fields that made me work. It was like running on the soft sand down the shore; a lot of effort for not much speed. It was a great morning. Then I got a long-needed massage in the afternoon and finished the day with an hour of Yin yoga just before bed.

Sunday, 13Dec: Today I hiked the Batona Trail leg 1 (8.1 miles) from Ong’s Hat to Pakim Pond with my kids Asia and Kriss and our dogs Sparta and Honda. While I have ran this many times it was the first time I had ever slowed down to hike it. It was a nice change of pace and a great time for the family to bond. This was Kriss’s first time on the trail and Asia’s third time on this section. The trail was mostly dry and the unseasonably warm weather felt great at nearly 70 degrees. I don’t imagine it will be anywhere near that warm when we hike the next sections.  

 

 

 

October 2013

October was a good month with lots of short runs in New Jersey with my dog, Sparta. He finally behaves well enough to take him off his leash. He loves when we run in Whites Bog because he can take mid-run swims and soak me when he comes out. I worked on stretching also with yoga 2-3 times per week. High points of the month included running a couple legs of the 53 mile Batona Trail and restarting our Wednesday night Cranberry Trail runs.

 Sunday, October 20 I ran the Batona Trail leg 2 with roughly 30 members of the Pineland Striders. This section covers 13.5 miles from Pakim Pond, Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, traversing around the village of Chatsworth, passes over Apple Pie Hill and finishes at the Carranza Memorial south of Tabernacle in Wharton State Forest.  This section is beautiful and thanks to a reroute last year, now includes a technical section of narrow foot bridges through a cedar swamp and much to my liking some mud! Temperatures were 26 degree at the start and 30 at the finish with a constant cold wind all morning. We enjoyed warm wine and deer jerky at the finish thanks to Jim Pate and Trail Dog Danny. Carranza Memorial is a 12 foot Aztec design monument on the crash site of Captain Emilio Carranza, a Mexican goodwill pilot whose plane crashed July 13, 1928 while returning to Mexico.

Carranza Memorial

Pakim Pond

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, October 27 I ran the Batona Trail leg 1 with Jeremy Helm, Mike Bialecki, and Sean Toohey. Leg 1 covers 8+ miles of rolling hills, through hardwood forest and cedar swamp from Ongs Hat to Pakim Pond in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest. While Sean and I called it a day, Jeremy and Mike continued on including leg 2 as well totaling roughly 22 miles. The temperature was a comfortable 35 degrees at the start with no wind, a great morning to run! 

Wednesday night trail runs are back! After my long break due to knee surgery, I finally started running my usual Wednesday night Cranberry Trail runs. It’s a mostly flat combination of single track and hard-packed dirt road with very few roots. Head lamps are a must this time of year as we start at 6:30 pm at the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest welcome center, run to Pakim Pond and back. Choices include a 2.3 mile short loop, 6 mile Cranberry Trail (actual), and 7.2 mile Cranberry Trail (extended).