Can You Leave Home Without It?

 A couple of years ago, I was on pace to a PB at a local 5k when I caught movement to my right. I turned and saw a deer running parallel with the course fifty feet away. Suddenly it turned left, straight toward the course and the guy in front of me, I yelled "Look out Deer! Deer, Deer!" as it bound over the ditch and smack into the unsuspecting runner*. The runner had been wearing an IPod, tunes blaring when the hit and run occurred and  he literally had no idea what had happened. Would he have been hit if he hadn't been wearing an IPod?
 Technology has provided a wonderful tool box of gadgets to monitor, count and record our journeys. The 30 lap memory chrono with indiglo night light, step counters, HR monitors, GPS, IPod, coaching, nutrition and training soft wear and aps like Mapmyrun. We use our heart rate monitor to register and record our level of effort. Chrono's to record the time it takes to complete a run or repeats on the track. An IPod for motivation or just to keep the mind off the fact that we are in fact running. The GPS provides the play by play of what, where, when, how far, high and low. When home we rush to put all that data into a computer for.........?
 Don't get me wrong I have all these gadgets and use them regularly but do I need to? When first using a GPS I was disappointed to discover that the routes I had mapped in the car as my daughter recorded the mileage I called off from the odometer where off by as much as a mile or more. That is a 17% reduction in weekly mileage, 300+ miles annually. I futzed around with my HR monitor for better than a week as the batteries died a slow death and its monitoring I had come to rely on became intermittent, leaving big gaps in my log book.  Nothing slows you down more than when you drop the Ipod as you change gears for hill repeats. Then there is the dreaded lost ear buds, you frantically search for while trying to fit in a run before you have to be somewhere else. There is always the potential to get hit by a deer or texting motorist while in the middle of a tempo run, tunes blaring.
 Even with the tools to monitor, count, record and numb I can't help but consider the time wasted, opportunity lost, experience missed  or safety jeopardized because my head was down scrolling past the song on my IPod  I wasn't in the mood for. There is a time and place for all of it I guess, what we have isn't going away and the addition of some other wonderful gadget is just around the corner. But one of the the things I have always cherished about my runs is the time I had with my thoughts and technology stuff takes away from that. Although it is pretty cool to know the elevation I gained and how fast I ran loops on the local x-country course yesterday afternoon. I have decided to step out the door technology free more often. Can't wait!

*The deer fled the scene after slipping and sliding across the tarmac and disappearing into the woods. The runner finished covered with deer hair and a busted IPod. I fell short of my goal but was able to help a fellow runner in the process.

Wet Solo Trip

 Two months ago I flipped through the calendar and picked a date, June 2, 2012.
 In the little box I wrote (in pen) "AT-Run" and made everyone aware of my intention to run more than 30 miles on the Appalachian Trail and started training. Next I perused maps, confirmed elevations and decided on the start of my point-to-point excursion. Other logistics and planning were ironed out as the date approached, nutrition, essentials and how I would carry them all had to be considered. Admittedly, I enjoyed the planning as much as the training and was counting down the days.

 As I prepared my kit the night before my run, Saturdays dismal weather forecast still called for 100% chance of heavy rain. I did not want to run in the rain, a mental battle began in my head. "Train as you fight," I thought. "Can't change the date now," I said. "If it rains on race day you want to be ready for anything," I had to keep telling myself.  I can call and have my wife pick me up if it gets really bad, I muddled over and over in my head. Mentally, I was exhausted when I turned in but it wasn't raining, maybe it wouldn't.

The Start

 The forecast was was dead on; gale force wind shook the house as it was doused with rain so thick I could barely distinguish the street light at the end of our drive way, it was going to be a long day. I made breakfast drag on a bit as I still held onto the possibility however minute that the rain would suddenly cease and the sun would rise on a beautiful blue bird day.

 The rain had not let up as my wife drove away into the early morning darkness, I headed North on the AT in torrential rain. The light of my head lamp periodically bounced off of white trail markers as my head yo-yo'd between my feet and where I was going. Water cascaded down the trail as I headed up and sat in ankle deep pools in the flat sections. In a  number of stretches, the vegetation bent over in submission to the rains constant pounding forming a tunnel I had to almost crawl through. I stumbled, tumbled and fell, climbed over newly toppled trees, slogged through creeks, retraced steps a few times after wondering onto the wrong trail. Sunrise only allowed me to put away my head lamp not any reprieve from the continuing storm. It had been slow going, as I crossed the 1/2 way point I had already been on the trail an hour and a half longer than I had planned. Surprisingly, I was up beat even proud of my progress.The rain was letting up and I still hoped it would stop altogether.



My Trail Angles

As the storm subsided and streaks of sun began to flash through breaks in the trees, I felt a boost of energy. However, I knew I had a significant amount of climbing ahead of me and I already felt like I had spent the morning inside a washing machine. Perfect timing and a wonderful surprise to see my wife and kids (trail angles) as I came out of the woods. They had water, bananas, clean socks and hugs for me just when I needed them.
 The remainder of the trip was slow going. Everything was soaked and I had become very self aware of my footing as I had gone down a few times and did not want to hurt myself. I hiked swiftly driving my legs into the ground in an effort to move as efficiently as possible up hill and ran when conditions warranted. I never stopped and fueled on the move.Time was ticking, I was tired and it seemed an eternity between landmarks. I said a quick hello's as I passed other hikers but their faces where a blur. I was jolted out of my trance a few times nearly stepping onto unsuspecting snakes sunning themselves on the open beds of granite that made up this final stretch of the trail. I have to admit I was grateful to stumble out onto the black top 6.5 miles from home but not looking forward to the relentless hammering I knew the road was going to unleash.

The last stretch is void of much thought other than wanting be home. I had finally turned on the IPod and do remember wondering how many songs I would hear before I would get home, I lost count at #3 No Sleep Till Brooklyn. I stopped my watch at 11:36:24, 2.5hrs more than intended but excited to have planned and traveled 36.6 miles with over 3500' of gain along the historic Appalachian Trail.  

  

My Kit



I carried my Nathan Race Vest hydration pack, Petzel e+lite head lamp, .5 Adventure Medical Kit, XSOL Bivvy, Raid Light Ultralite jacket, 16oz water bottle, 20oz Amphipod, Road ID and watch, some wet ones, hand sanitizer Udderly Smooth cream, Halo visor, I-Pod packed with trail worthy tunes and various podcast and extra socks. I finally decided to take my phone to text periodic progress reports to my wife and/or to call her in case I chose to bow out. My food consisted of 2500 calories; gels, clif bars, trail mix, fig newtons and NUUN tabs making up its bulk.