One Month Out; Pan-Mass On Deck

One month to go to Iron Day and everything is progressing well.  August 27, 2011 is going to be a long day and beyond continuing to log hours, the logistics need to be established as well.  No lack of support from family and friends to help out and can't tell you how much it's appreciated.  Will share details about the day as they're finalized.  The routes have been tweaked to what should be final form.  The swim will be in Lake Buel in Great Barrington, MA.  Will dive off the dock of the Bock family house and it's exactly 2.4 miles to the end of the lake and back.  Will then set off for two 56 mile bike loops- Loop One heads south down into CT for a short time and back to the start of the loop by the lake.  Loop Two heads north with the last 20 miles being on the flats of the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail- transition from bike to run will be at the trailhead in Pittsfield.  The first 11 miles of the run are on the rail trail and then we're on Route 8 from Adams to North Adams before working our way to and around Williamstown.

Before all that fun, however, there's a challenge to meet the weekend of August 5-7.  I'm fortunate to be able to participate in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge, the original fund raising bike-a-thon in the country.  In addition to the 183 miles we'll ride over two days, a group of friends are adding 100 miles to the front end of the official Pan-Mass.  At 6:30am on Friday, August 5, we'll start on the NY/Mass border and ride 100 miles to the Pan-Mass starting point of Sturbridge, MA- this is a draft of our route.  We'll do close to 300 miles in three days and that, quite frankly, is more intimidating at this point than the Iron Day business described above.  Chas won't be with us on this first leg, as originally planned, but he is going to take part in the Pan-Mass which is exciting.  There's a significant fund raising goal for each rider- all donations going directly to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Jimmy Fund.  Donations to my effort can be made here, Chas' link is here- no pressure and thanks for all your support and good wishes, whatever the form. 

Williams Cycling Weekend

This past weekend's bike miles were logged with members of the Williams family at the third annual Williams Cycling Weekend.  Approximately 30 alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff gathered in Williamstown for three days of cycling and Williams camaraderie.  The event is the brainchild of colleague, Lew Fisher '89, who just finished an 8 year run leading the 50th Reunion Program to take over the whole Development operation at Williams.  The rides were 35, 88 and 42 miles in length with no escape from the hills (or heat!) which surround us and included a Sunday jaunt up and over Mt. Greylock.  Too many great people and interactions to recount over our 10+ hours on the road and evening socializing.  Here's a shot of the group at Mt. Hope Farm before Saturday's ride- will provide a link to more photos when available. 

Lew Fisher providing overview of Saturday ride

Century with Cary Collins

After riding the relatively flat terrain of Martha's Vineyard, I reacquainted myself with Berkshire County by seeing a good chunk of it this past weekend.  Tim and Karen Bock were at the Williamstown homestead- the occasion was parents visiting day at Camp Greylock where their three sons are spending the summer.  Camp Greylock is in Beckett, MA and Tim has a new tradition of riding his bike down there, about a 38 mile trip.  I joined him for the ride down, as did Cary Collins who was in town for the weekend, too.  Cary and I continued on and since we were near Loop #2 of the Iron Day ride, we scouted out that route, circling back up to Williamstown to complete a good, hard 101 mile day.   This was the second ride of that distance on consecutive Saturdays and the legs held up well, mostly due to the company kept along the way.

Brooks, Cary and Tim at Mile 38- Camp Greylock in Beckett, MA

Brooks and Cary at end of 101 tour of Berkshire County

Martha's Vineyard Training Camp Complete

Two weeks- Wednesday, June 29 through Wednesday, July 13- had been circled on the calendar for a long time.  Our annual family vacation would be the first 15+ hour weeks needed for the last third of Iron Day training.  Lots of things could have gone wrong- weather could have stunk, body could have started to break down, might even have over-indulged one or two nights.

Everything, however, was perfect. 

Best part of all was seeing old friends and making new ones along the way.  Here's how the exercise broke down:

• Almost 5 miles of swimming (1.8, .5, 2.0, .5) over 3 hours
• 347 miles of biking (52, 70, 34, 101, 47, 43) over 20+ hours
• 71 miles of running (9, 13, 5/after 70 mile bike, 8, 16, 3/after 101 bike, 17) over 10.5 hours

Still 5+ more weeks of training to go, but I've mentally switched gears.  Doubts will linger until the goal is actually reached, but it's in sight.  Lots of hard work and fun times ahead- focus is overtaking fear.

You already met John Phillips and Libby Mitchell in a previous post- here are some of the other folks I'm indebted to as well:

I first met Jim Joyce a year ago.  We connected riding with a group of 3-4 other guys.  I said I was thinking about riding a century the next weekend and asked if anyone was interested in joining in.  Jim raised his hand.  So we did it- rode 100 miles in under six hours- you can learn a lot about someone when you're with them for six hours.  He and his wife bought a house on the Vineyard a while back and after doing the Fairfield County to MV back and forth they took the plunge and moved full time to the Vineyard.  Smart people.  Jim and I have stayed in touch- I rode with him in April on MV and he came out to the Berkshires with a buddy to train for the 148 mile Harpoon B to B ride.   He was with me for four of the six rides this time around including our second annual MV Century.  His 50th birthday is Sunday, July 31 and he's celebrating in style- on the Champs Elysees with his wife and the Tour de France riders on their last laps.

Mile 52 of the Vineyard Century.  Jim Joyce, Brooks and the return of Tim Bock.  He and his wife Karen came out to Vineyard for some relaxation and Pan Mass training.

Jim and Tim at the Aquinnah cliffs

Tim and Brooks after 101 miles (plus three more running)

Alex from Chilmark and New Jersey, Brooks, Jim and John on a Sunday morning ride

Brooks with Nancy from Chilmark and New Canaan.  Nancy is a Pan Mass regular who logs a ton of Up Island miles every summer.

I first met Booth Kyle in 1994.  He had just graduated from Conn College and I was in year two of career in secondary school admissions.  Booth was working in admissions at Brooks School then moved on to Deerfield before taking over as Director of Admission at Lakeside School in Seattle two years ago.  We hadn't seen each other in a while- that is until his parents bought the house next door on Martha's Vineyard.  Since then, we've been fortunate to cross paths with his family most summers.  Booth's longtime passion is crew but he's got two goals for this fall.  First, he'll run the Portland, OR marathon in early October and then join a masters boat at the Head of the Charles at the end of the month.  Booth pulled me through the last 9 miles of a 16 mile run.

Booth and Brooks

Best of all, when we returned to Williamstown, Chas was there to greet us.  He was in town with daughter, Walker, who was in a Williams lacrosse camp.  We got in a 6 mile run on Thursday morning, July 14.

Chas and Brooks

Alison's First Race

"I could never run five miles"- Alison Foehl, January 2011

Murdick's Fudge Five Mile Run the Chop Challenge, July 4, 2011:
281   357  Foehl, Alison              W45  Williamstown, MA             48:57.00      

Never say never!  Congratulations, Al! 

My wife has always been able to power walk with the best of them, but she couldn't see herself as a runner.  It was always "too" something- too hard, too painful, not too much fun, etc.  But that was before she put a goal out there and really tried to become a runner.  Over the winter, she'd get on the treadmill at the gym and start mixing in some miles.  My Runner's World magazines, usually by my bedside table, were finding their way to her side.  Over the spring, she upped her weekly minutes to get ready to run the five mile race on July 4th, but doubts were still in her head.  She worried about the course and if she would finish last- she was reassured that training in Williamstown got her more than ready and there'd be lots of people finishing behind her.  In fact, she bettered almost half the field- overall results here.

With her family there in full force to cheer her on, Alison kicked butt.  At the finish, she had a big smile and said she had lots of fun.  Discussion of the next goal was already underway- congratulations, hon, you're a runner!

Alison getting high five from boys at start of race

Al and her boys at end of race



Al with Patrick Joslin, next door neighbor from Williamstown and Williams sophomore.  Pat finished 8th overall (as a bandit- he showed up a couple minutes before the race started)- he's got a great engine honed as a nordic skier for Williams.



Brady and Toby at starting line for kids fun run

Training on Martha's Vineyard

We're out on Martha's Vineyard for two weeks as work more or less leaves the equation and family time and training take hold on the priority list.

The first morning, I headed out for a beautiful 50 mile ride.  The first 30 were solo and ended in Gay Head at the far end of the island.  While taking a quick break to admire the view, another cyclist arrived and our interaction went like this:

Me:  Where you headed?
Him:  Back to Edgartown.
Me: Me, too- will join you. (now riding) Where you from?
Him:  Boston
Me:  Boston proper?
Him:  Actually, Wellesley
Me:  You don't ride with my friends Cary and Lew Collins out of there, do you?
Him:  I rode with them yesterday morning.

Both of us blown away by this small world interaction (60 seconds to either side of our meeting and we probably don't connect), we got to know each other over the 20 miles back home and will get in a few more good rides over the coming weeks.

With John from Wellesley

The next morning, I was able to connect with a great friend from our time working together at Millbrook School.  Libby Mitchell and her family were on the tail end of a visit with her mom and step-father in East Chop.  Libby and I logged a lot of miles together at Millbrook (will have a future post about running buddies) and it was great to get back on the road with her.  Ran 7 miles to their house and then Libby and I went out for 6.5 miles around Oak Bluffs.  We spent quality time later in the day with husband Jim, son Cooper (3.5 years) and daughter Emerson (7 months)- what an amazing family.  Coop was Mr. Chatty and as adorable as you can imagine as was Emerson.  Alison and I realized that we're not around young kids that much anymore- it was fun to step back in time with such great parents and kids!  A few changes in the almost 7 years since having a young kid- video added to the audio monitors, baby food in a tube (with its own special spoon- squeeze the food out of the tube right into the spoon), and the iphone as distraction during adult time conversation.  Libby and Jim just moved out of SF to Mill Valley- hope we get to see them on MV every year!

Libby, Coop (as T-Rex), Jim and Emerson