Happy New Year - 2010 recap

Good bye 2010

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year. 2010 was by far a better year than 2009 for me. Last week was filled with celebrations including Sandy and my 19th wedding anniversary, Alia’s 16th birthday, and Christmas celebrations here and in Bayfield.

The picture here was taken on 12/27 as the sun rose over Madeline Island. Looking out the window I noticed this tall glowing spike over the island. I’m sure it’s just a jet plume, but it’s kind of weird how it is not even and just ends. This was really impressive a few minutes earlier as the sky was darker, and the spike was brighter against it. It changed quickly as the sky brightened, but the picture still turned out OK.





Running:

I was able to get enough runs in the last weeks of December to be able to reach my revised goal of 2100 miles for the year. Not a bad number considering I was again forced to take most of 8 weeks off from running in July and August. I ended up getting a new Garmin for Christmas. Santa brought me a new 305 with heart rate monitor. I will start using it in January. I have never trained regularly with a heart rate monitor so that will take some getting used to if I choose to do it. I also see there is some new software with it to keep track of my runs automatically. There also is a way to log manually if a run isn’t done using the Garmin. This is why I didn’t use the old Garmin log. Now I will have to decide if I want to change or keep using my .XLS spreadsheet for logging.


Some stats for 2010
27,271 miles on the Odometer as of 12/31
2105 running miles
279 running events
288 hours and 06 minutes of running
7.54 miles length of average run
1 hr 2 min time of average run
74 miles highest week
247 miles highest month
40.5 miles average week
175.5 miles average month
238 miles on the treadmill in 34 runs (7.0 mile average)


Miles by Month
Jan 243.5
Feb 241.5
Mar 204.5
Apr 228.5
May 247
Jun 174
Jul 117
Aug 113
Sep 187
Oct 117
Nov 98
Dec 134


Hunting:

I was not able to get out hunting now for well over a week. This is the first time since early October when that has happened.  I did get out fishing last week with my brothers Todd and Scott, cousins Randy and Dusty, uncle Arthur, and Randy’s friend Brian. It was an awesome day. I bet we caught between all of us maybe 70 fish. Most were thrown back, but we took home 19 fish between all of us, all over 24 inches with the biggest probably about 30 inches. Todd, Scott and I took home 16 of the fish so we had lots of cleaning to do. The picture is of just the fish we took home. It was a great to catch so many fish and to spend time with all these guys.



I know a lot of people didn't have a very good hunting year again. For me this was one of my best ever. I spend 365 days a year thinking about, planning for, and actually going hunting. I may have spent fewer hours in the woods than normal, but that’s only because I was able to be successful early. My food plot layout and crops again turned out well, but I think I will plant one section with all clover since that seems to be what the deer like best. I was able to get 5 deer so far this year. Three with a bow and two with gun. The two nine pointers I got with my bow on back to back weekend was definitely the highlight. I also had chances at lots of other deer both bow and gun hunting so it was an exciting season. There are still ten days left in the season so there is still a chance for more if I can find the time to get out there.


Gardening:
It was a mixed year for the garden. The vegetable garden again turned out lots of produce this year. The interesting thing was I never had to water the garden once all season. The rain came down regularly and in the right amounts. This has never happened before and is not likely to occur gain. The apple, peach, and cherry crop were terrible this year. The hard freeze we got on Mother’s day weekend killed almost all the blossoms and ruined the crop. The watermelon and pumpkin crop were really good. I had all the watermelon we could eat and harvested over 100 large size pumpkins. Winter is the time to plan for next spring and go through all the catalogs again to order for next year. Last year I waited to long and some of the new variety of seeds I wanted to get were already sold out. Hopefully I can get my order in a bit earlier so this doesn’t happen again.

Merry Christmas

This will likely be my last post until after Christmas.
Merry Christmas to everyone.

May you find
some quiet
moments of gentle
joy to blanket
your Christmas
season with peace.










Running:
Running continues to just be on a maintenance path. I did manage 35.5 miles last week on 6 days running. As has been the case recently half my runs were on the treadmill and half outside. Everything is primarily in the 8 minute range.  I did get outside on Sunday morning for 8.5 miles in 1:8:22. This was my longest run in over a month. It was quite cold, but calm and made for a nice run. The roads are as snow and ice covered as at any time since 2004 that I can recall. On Sunday morning things are pretty quiet so I can run right in the middle of the road for the most part. The other thing is that the cold temperatures actually make the snow less slippery. I’m closing in on 2100 YTD miles. I think I should be able to make it. That new GPS watch has made it to my Christmas list. Maybe Santa will be good to me. Through today:
WTD 16
MTD 101
YTD 2067
ODO 27,233

Hunting:
With the snow that has been around it’s real easy to see how hard the deer have been hitting on my food plot. Multiple deer have been coming in daily from all different directions. They have been pawing through the snow to get at the turnips and clover and continue to chew on the few remaining corn cobs that are left. This past weekend I just hunted in the back yard and only the last hour of each day. Saturday there was a few inches of fresh snow, but the deer didn’t come in. Sunday was a different story. The first half hour there was nothing. Soon two small deer came in and started to eat. I just sit and watched them. Pretty soon two large does came in to join them. I thought about taking one of them for a while, but decided to pass. I had the bow up and went through the motions for practice, but never let the arrow fly. The shooting time then quickly passed, but I was stuck in the stand. I didn’t want to get out and scare them away. I knew if I did that my chances of seeing them again would diminish. With the upcoming special “holiday hunt” where we can use a gun I hope we can get another chance. So I sat there. On most nights when I see them out there from the house they don’t hang around long. Not this night. Pretty soon the four deer got a little skittish and ran to the far corner. It was soon apparent why. The biggest buck I have seen so far this year made its appearance. Just a beautiful tall racked 8 to 10 pointer. It was all of 15 to 20 yards away from me at one point. The moon was up and almost full making the deer really easy to see against the white snow background. Pretty soon they were all out there again in the field together. It was so neat to just watch them, but I was starting to get cold and had to think about finding a way to get out of there. At about 5:45 someone let the dogs out to do their business and that was just what I needed. The dogs noticed the deer in the back and started barking at them. They didn’t run back there, but it was enough to scare the deer away. Normally this would not have made me very happy but it sure did this night. When the deer were all out of view I quickly scampered down and back to the house. Judging by the tracks the last few days I would say they didn’t get that scared. I recognize the buck track now and I definitely still see that he is coming in too. Should be an exciting last couple weeks.

Gardening:
So far I’ve held off on getting a snow blower. My driveway is quite long and wide near the house and certainly could warrant having one. I really don’t mind shoveling and in all the years at the current house have really only faced a couple snowfalls where I wish I wasn’t as stubborn. Maybe someday physically I will have to, but for now I’ll continue to hold out unless the right one at the right price falls into my lap. Despite not having one I take pride in knowing my driveway is cleaner than all of my neighbors that snow blow or have a service take care of it for them.

Treadmill change of heart

Running:
In previous years I’ve done whatever I could to avoid the treadmill. This year I’m having a little change of heart. I have decided at least when my runs are short I will treat the treadmill as my friend not something to be avoided. This will be true only until the roads clear and my runs increase in distance as training progresses. I’ve actually used the treadmill several times over the past few weeks. Sometimes for convenience, sometimes because of the weather, and lately because of the conditions of the road. None of my runs this month have been over 5 miles nor much over 40 minutes. The treadmill can be bearable for that short of a time period. Last week I ran all seven days for a total of 34 miles. This week through today I am up to 20 miles on 4 days of running. My outside runs continue to be watch less. On the treadmill I sometimes run steady 8 minute miles other times I run 8:30’s and a 6:00 last mile. I probably won’t start increasing my weekly mileage until the week of 1/10 when all of the hunting seasons are over with.
Totals through today:
WTD 20
MTD 69
YTD 2035
ODO 27201



Hunting:
December 9th through the 12th was an antlerless only season through the whole state of Wisconsin. In this neck of the woods you could use gun or bow. I didn’t get out much for any of it. The motivation to go out to only have a chance to get a doe put a damper on things. I wasn’t able to get out of work early enough to get out on Thursday or Friday. On Saturday I did get out in the afternoon in the back yard, but it was pretty nasty. A storm had started and the precipitation began as rain. It was raining pretty hard while I was out there and this continued through most of the night. The deer just were not moving. Overnight it got colder so by morning we got some snow. The snow continued a bit through the morning and into the afternoon. Sunday afternoon I got out again after shoveling out, but this time the wind had really picked up. There were gusts well over 40 MPH. Again the deer were not moving. Wouldn’t you know on Monday afternoon I got home a little early because of a dentist appointment and there were all kinds of deer out in the back as night fell. One was a buck that I could tell. Not sure if it was big enough that I would want to take it but it was fun to watch. I might get my decoy out during these last few weeks and see if that does anything to draw them in. I’ve had lots of fun using it in past years.

Gardening:
Despite the temperature going below freezing and staying there for a fairly long time the pond is doing OK so far. The biggest problem right now is when the water level drops because too much of the water is locked up as ice. When this happens I drag a hose from a basement hookup and melt some of it by running hot water until the level rises again. Cleaning the filters and some of the dead vegetation is a lot harder when you are sticking your hands in the freezing water.

2000 YTD milestone surpassed

Running:
Now that the 9 day regular deer gun season is over my running has gotten back to normal for this time of year. Nothing spectacular. I’ve been running 5 miles 5 days a week the last couple weeks. Still taking the weekends off to hunt and complete other chores around the house. I’ve been running without the Garmin since I ran the Lakefront back in October. I had been using just a regular watch since I was running known routes. When the battery on my other watch went about 10 days ago I tried the Garmin again and it no longer works. Now to figure out if I want to get a newer version or get the old one fixed. My runs the last couple weeks have been untimed. But I would guess around 40 minutes give or take a minute for each one. I’m writing them down as 40 minutes in my log. On 12/09 I passed the 2000 mile YTD mark. This is the 5th time in 6 years to match or surpass this milestone. Last year I hit 1900 miles and in 2004 I hit 1800. My seven year total since I started training for my first marathon is over 15,000 miles. Through 12/09.

MTD 35
YTD 2001
ODO 27167

Hunting:
I was able to get out hunting both Saturday and Sunday last weekend. On Saturday afternoon I just decided to go out in the back yard. I didn’t even go out until a little after 4PM. I wasn’t there very long when I heard a deer munching on the ears of corn still standing in my food plot. Sticking my head out of the tree blind a bit I saw there were three deer. Two were bigger and one small. At one point I could have taken any of the three. The two bigger does then walked off out of range while the smaller deer continued to feed just below me. After watching for 10 minutes at least to see if a buck was going to come I decided to take the smaller deer before time ran out. I didn’t need more meat, but would be happy to earn another buck sticker. I took aim and fired. I could see the arrow made a complete pass through and could tell I made a pretty good hit. I waited a few minutes and then went to follow the trail. The deer went off my property through the neighbors. I followed it a couple hundred yards across a small field when it jumped up. I knew I had to wait then. In the morning I picked up the trail and found the deer right away. This was my 3rd deer with the bow and 5th this year. Pretty good so far. On Sunday I had the most exciting hour of hunting I’ve had in a long time. I went to hunt on my bow stand where I got the two nine pointers earlier this year. I hadn’t been there for several weeks. With the new snow, the first of the season here I was excited to see if the deer would be active. I watched the entire Packer game so I got out a little later than I had anticipated. I wasn’t there long when 4 does approached from the west. They walked single file within 10 yards of my stand passing over my tracks I made on the way in. Each deer stopped to sniff as they passed my trail. I could have taken any of them, but chose to pass. Not more than 5 minutes later I saw another deer approach on the tracks of the does. Turned out to be a nice 8 point about the same size as the two 9 pointers I got earlier from this same stand. Again I chose to pass and just watched the deer as he passed through. When it was off a ways I decided to test my grunt call just to see how/if the buck would react. I grunted a couple times, when right behind me a deer blew and ran off. I never saw or heard the buck larger than the eight pointer and his little pal 6 pointer approach from behind. Can’t believe I screwed up like that and amazed that I had 7 different deer within shooting range in less than an hour of hunting. One of those does must have been in heat or about to be, to attract that kind of following. Too bad this weekend is an antlerless only season with that kind of activity going on. I still might go out a bit just to scout if nothing else. With the snowfall last night and more forecast for Saturday I can get an idea where they are bedding and traveling for late season.

Gardening:I don’t know how many garden catalogs you all get, but I get dozens of them. Seems if you order from any place they must sell your name to others to get that many. I always order from the same two or three places, but I always keep a few that have unique plants, good ideas, or some new things to look at. Most just end up in the recycle bin. Used to be you didn’t get any until after the new year. Not any more, they keep coming earlier and earlier.  Kind of like the Christmas music and decorations do.

Catch up through November

Running:
It has been a while since my last blog post. Hunting season will do that to me. I’m finally getting caught up with things neglected since mid November. This update will take me through November and hunting season.


Not much has been happening in the running department since my last update 11/17. Over hunting season I ended up taking seven consecutive days off from running. Except when I have been injured this is as long as it gets between runs for me.   For the month of November I ended up with only 98 miles. This is my only sub 100 mile month this year and is likely to be my only one. This week I’m back on track and have run every day.   Through 11/30
MTD 98
YTD 1971
ODO 27137


Hunting:
Hunting season was interesting to say the least. Lots of stories, but no buck for me, at least that I shot. I got up north to Bayfield the day before the gun opener. Kylli and I left about 3 in the morning on the Friday before. We stopped on the way up and sighted in our guns in Ashland.  We were actually in Bayfield before noon. We went out in the woods to check our stands and place some bait in a couple of them. When we walked down to my brothers stand we smelled something not right. Someone had sprayed perfume or similar substance all over his stand area. Stunk like crazy. Who would stoop to such a low level? All the work all year long preparing this area only to have someone trash it the day before season. We have our suspicions, but no firm proof as to who the culprit is.

Opening day we headed out in the woods early. It was a cold day, no higher than mid 20’s all day and it was dark in that a storm was approaching for the next day. Around 9:00 I heard a deer as it made its way towards me. I caught a glimpse of it, but even though it was angling towards me it never came where I saw it again. Nothing else for me until the last 10 minutes of the day. Again I could hear a deer approaching well before I saw it. In the middle of the day I would have seen this deer earlier. In the fading light I did not see it until it came close to my shooting lane. I raised the gun and saw the curve of an antler which was enough for me. I steadied my gun on the shooting rail and aimed at the shoulder and fired. I heard the deer run off. I waited a few minutes and got down from the tree to check. I already needed a flashlight to see anything. When I got to the spot wouldn’t you know but my new flashlight quit. I had to go out of the woods back to the truck a quarter mile away and then go back in. I took my brother Todd and another flashlight and went back expecting to see a dead deer. We searched everywhere with no sign of a hit. This is not a shot I would miss. I have no idea what might have happened. Kylli and I both ended up staying in our stand location over 11 hours on opening day. This is normal for me, but I think quite a show of patience for her. I hunted the same spot the next morning and searched for a couple more hours again with no sign of anything. After totally tromping all over this area I decided to hunt another spot in the afternoon. I went to my bow stand where I took my big 8 point last year. A little after 4pm a doe came into the stand. I wasn’t going to shoot it, but I texted my brother and he said shoot it for him. That’s what I did. I had it gutted and dragged back to my stand by the time he arrived shortly after 5. It turned out to be a pretty big doe. She weighed 133 pounds on the registration station scale. Monday evening I had two does in by my stand for quite a while. Even though I had an antlerless tag I chose to not to shoot. Kylli also had a couple deer by her but no chance to shoot them as she only saw the legs.

On Tuesday afternoon we got out a little later than hoped. Kylli went down to her ground blind and wasn’t there more that 45 minutes when a deer appeared. She shot. I had her go check for blood and she saw none. I got out of my stand and over by her as quick as I could. We found blood right away and not more that 25 yards away a dead fork horn buck. She was happy as was I. She really is a good shot. I said this before, but the only thing better than getting a buck myself is being with your kid when they get one. Brought me back to thoughts of dad and me and some of our early hunts together. We dragged the deer out together and were back to the truck before it was dark. Wednesday was somewhat uneventful except that we had a DNR game warden in the area. Todd was checked, but none of the rest of us were. I’ve hunted in this particular area for 40 years and have never seen a warden. Not that we were doing anything wrong, but it opened our eyes to be sure everything is by the book as far as hunting on State/county land from now on. There are new rules is place regarding blaze orange markings on ground blinds and providing identification even when the blinds aren’t occupied we will have to pay attention to. We headed back to Dousman on Thursday morning with the plan to make it back by Thanksgiving dinner. On the way back the car started acting up. All I could think about was how in the world if we broke down I would get home with all of our stuff in the back. The problem turned out to be mismatched tires. Before I went up the previous week I had two replaced because one of them had a screw in it and the tire was not repairable. The uneven circumference of the tires apparently caused an issue with the transfer case. My mechanic was right as two new tires ended up solving the issue. Hunted just in the yard Friday and didn’t see anything.

Saturday I made my way out to the Waukesha conservancy. Not seeing any cars there I thought I would walk around instead of sit. When I got to a location on the way back of the property I noticed quite a commotion going on in a grassy/swampy area a little ways from me. When I got there to check it out I found the carcass of a large buck. Almost everything was eaten or pulled away except for the head and neck, a few rib bones and a couple of the legs. I cut the head off and brought the head home with me. What a unique 8 point rack. One tine was clearly broken off. Both sides didn’t match at all, but it still is impressive. Nothing else much happened on Saturday and likewise on Sunday. So the regular season ended without me getting a buck for the first time in several years. Like I said at the beginning it was an interesting season with lots of stories. With my earlier success I’m not disappointed at all how this one went and besides we aren’t done yet.

Gardening:
Just like with running not much going on in the gardening area. The recent warm spell and rain softened the soil so I dug up another big bunch of carrots. The rest I covered with a layer of leaves and a tarp in hopes of digging more in a few weeks. As of yet we have no measurable snowfall here. There is several inches forecast for this weekend though. By the end of this weekend I will have the outside Christmas decorations out. In the morning I hope to cut our tree down from the back yard and brought into the house.

Like a kid at Christmas

Running:
What a nice week last week was for running. I only ran 4 days but I was able to run in shorts every day. Temps were in the upper 50’s to almost 70 degrees during the early part of the week.  I ran 5 miles on Monday during my lunch break in 40:11. Tuesday I ran from home and did 8.5 miles mid day in 1:05:50. Wednesday I ran 5 miles at work in 40:22. Thursday I again ran from home mid day and did 6.5 miles in 52:02.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I took off from running although there was lots of work and walking getting deer stands ready for the upcoming gun season. I also noticed that at least so far, my weight has held the same since the week before the Lakefront marathon. The worst month for gaining is coming up though. Over the gun season and Thanksgiving I will take my largest number of days off. In the past I’ve taken as many as 11 days off during this time and of course with Christmas and lots of extra treats and still reduced miles through December I will always add a few pounds. Mileage through last week.
WTD 25
MTD 59
YTD 1932
ODO 27098

Hunting:
Gun season is this coming weekend. The closest way to describe it for me is that the anticipation is like a kid as Christmas approaches. The nights or I should say mornings are sleepless as the day gets closer. I find myself waking earlier and earlier in the morning and can’t get back to sleep. What will Santa bring?  That fancy new bike you really wanted or that big buck of your dreams maybe?  

This past weekend I was up north getting everything ready. I also fit a little hunting in. I got up to Bayfield late on Thursday. Friday morning I headed out to a new stand we put up last time I was there. I scared a deer on my way into the stand, but saw nothing in the few hours I was out there. During the middle part of the day I put some bait at a couple of stands locations and checked out a few others. In the evening I made my way down to my favorite bow stand. I again scared a deer on my way in and saw nothing. This night was one of the quietest I have ever heard in the woods. It was so still and absolutely no creatures of any kind were moving about. Not a squirrel, grouse, crow, blue jay, deer, or any animal. The few remaining leaves on the trees were not even making a sound. Complete silence for a few hours. It was almost spooky. Early Saturday morning sometime the weather changed and some heavy wet snow started to fall. I went out hunting at dawn for a couple hours. I stayed out until I was soaked and couldn’t stand it anymore. For most of the rest of the day I spend hanging my primary gun stand, putting up another ladder and putting some final touches on a couple ground blinds we have up. The temperature was hovering right around freezing. Near the lake all the precipitation fell as rain. Up the hill where we were it was alternating between mostly rain and all snow. This continued all Saturday and into Sunday. Sunday morning I went out hunting for another couple hours and saw tracks where deer had been near my stand overnight but I saw nothing in my time on stand. There seems to be plenty of deer sign, but the amount of buck sign is down from what I have seen in the past. All I can say now is that I think everything is ready and can’t wait for opening day to get here.

Gardening:
Not much happening on the garden front these few weeks. Most chores are done other than a little leaf and pond cleanup once in awhile. I did help mom shut down her pond for the season. Doesn’t consist of much other than pulling the pump out and putting it in a bucket of water, pulling the filters out and cleaning then, and trying to get out leaves and dying vegetation the best you can. I leave my pump running all year round or at least I have the last few years. I was having trouble burning up pumps in the spring until I started doing this. Anyway it works for me.

Packer game

My weekend was interrupted in a good way in that I was again invited to attend a Packer football game with a friend from work. Nice to know someone with season tickets that is willing to share once in a while. What a great game to see in that the Packers beat the Cowboys 45-7.


Running:
Running wise for last week it was déjà-vu from the previous week. I ran five days at work 5 miles each day over the same course again. The only difference from last week is that all my runs were less than 40 minutes. I took Saturday off. Sunday morning I ran 8.5 miles in 1:06:19.   This gave me again 33.5 miles for the week just like the previous one. So totals through 11/7.
WTD 33.5
MTD 33.5
YTD 1907
ODO 27073

Hunting:
Only got out hunting a little on Saturday. In the morning I hunted the stand where I got the 2 bucks already this year. I could see the scrape I hunt over was still being worked by another buck so I knew there was at least one around still. I didn’t see anything though. I didn't see anything and only hunted until 9:00 and then decided to go on a short scouting trip. I found a few hunting spots on the conservancy land that I can easily get to from the land I have permission to bow hunt on. I’ll need to approach the landowner to see if she has any issue with my using this route to gun hunt this spot later this month and in December. I can get to it from the parking spot on the conservancy, but it is a real long walk coming from that way. Saturday evening I decided real late to just go hunt out in the back yard. I wasn’t there more than 20 minutes when two does came in to feed on my food plot. I could have shot either one of them at some point, but chose to just watch. They were kind of nervous and only hung around for about 15 minutes before walking back in the direction they came from. I haven’t seen the buck yet that has been scraping up trees in my yard. This next weekend I will be heading up north to get my gun stands ready and also do a little bow hunting up in Bayfield.

Gardening:
Amazing how warm it turned again. We’ve had 4 or 5 days in a row over 60 degrees which is crazy for this time of year. I cleaned the pond real good over the weekend so hopefully other than cleaning an occasional filter and fishing out a few leaves there won’t be much to do until spring. I got all the gutters cleaned once more too. However with the way the leaves are falling so slowly this year I will likely have to perform this task one more time before winter. I got the lawn mowed one more time, so I think now this will be the last other than maybe to bag some more leaves using the mower. Only a few things remain in the garden to harvest. We’ve had a few real good freezes so the only things to make it are the root crops like beets and carrots, the Brussel sprouts, and some lettuce that I had covered with a tarp.

9 point X2

Running:
It is so hard to believe that November is here already. October was such a busy month. A marathon at the beginning of the month, beginning of some serious hunting, and lots of yard/garden work really filled up the time.  As mentioned in previous posts my running kind of takes a back seat for a few months after my fall marathon is over. This last week was again fairly normal as far as running. I ran each work day again. Four of the runs were on my usual route and one of the really windy days I ran inside on the treadmill. Again all of these runs were 5 miles in length and within a minute +/- of 40 minutes. On Sunday the last day of the month I was able to fit in a morning run of 8.5 miles in 1:05:11. With a couple more months to go there should be no problem making 2000 miles for the year. Totals through October.
WTD 33.5
MTD 117
YTD 1874
ODO 27040

Hunting:

I can’t even believe the year I’m having. This past weekend I was able to bag another nice 9 pointer. That makes three nice deer in 3 weeks time and two of my largest 4 bow kills ever.  I think I’ve only been out bow hunting on 5 occasions.  I remember a few times going a whole season without even getting a chance for a shot during bow season.

On Saturday morning I made it out to my stand well before light. I snuck out as quietly as I could and was sitting quietly by around 6:15. This was the same stand I shot the deer the previous Saturday evening. I wasn’t quite sure what impact all our walking around the previous weekend would have on this location, but I know it is a good spot and thought I would try anyway. Until shortly after 8:00 there was no action at all. I had lots of things to do so I was thinking I would only stay until 8:30 or so. All of a sudden I caught some movement in the tall grass directly in front of me. It didn’t take long to notice the good size rack on the top of this deer. At first I thought it might head directly across the ditch out of range. Then it made an immediate right turn and headed straight for the scrape I’m hunting over. When it was behind a bunch of trees about 20 yards out I drew back and waited. The deer walked right into the scrape and scratched it with his hoof as I released the arrow. The arrow didn’t pass through, but I knew it was a good hit. I watched it run 40 yards out and stop for a few seconds. It then started walking back towards me stumbling a bit. When it got back within about 20 yards it just fell over. No drama like with the previous week’s tracking adventure. When bow hunting it is always a bonus to be able to see your deer go down. From my experience it doesn’t happen often. While watching this deer another small buck (4 point) made its way on the same path as the other and stood right below me.  It walked it's way over to it's buddy and couldn't figure out what was going on.  It ended up just walking away.  I climbed down and went to tag the deer when I realized I had left both of my buck stickers in with my gun back tag. I had to run home to retrieve it and then head back out. Because this deer was so close to the owners house (at their request) I have to either carry the guts out with me or gut it elsewhere so the dogs don’t get into them. I chose to take it away from there and brought the deer out to the conservancy to take care of that. While there I ran into a guy named Charlie who told me he thought he had a trail cam picture of my deer. In fact he told me he had pictures of two 9 pointers one with 5 points on the right and one with 5 points on the left. He sent me both of the pictures and I think these are the same deer I got the last two weeks. Kind of neat to have the trail cam pictures to go with the harvest shots.

I’m happy the year is unfolding as it is, but sad only that it will keep me out of the woods some during this exciting time to be out there. Maybe I’ll just go out with the camera or at least not shoot anything else unless it is a true giant. With gun season(s) coming up there is lots more hunting to do, but this sure changes the complexion of the rest of the season. The freezer is full, so there is not much need for me to take another unless I can find someone else to take it.

Gardening:
Because I got the deer on Saturday I was able to spend Saturday afternoon mowing the lawn for the last time this year (probably) and all of Sunday on lawn/garden cleanup chores. It is amazing how much you can get done in a day and a half. I was able to put all the planters, hanging baskets, and lawn furniture away. I was able to clean up the last of any remaining leaves and spread them on the garden. I turned my whole compost pile one last time before winter, and harvested lots more vegetables like carrots, Brussel sprouts, beets and lettuce that are still growing out there. I noticed I had a buck rubbing up some of my evergreens in the back again. This just started in the last couple days. I sprayed some stuff on them that is supposed to keep deer away. Kind of funny that I plant stuff to attract them and then have to keep them off other things. Now what will I do with myself these next couple weeks if I don’t go hunting and have all my chores done. I guess that is a good problem to have at this time of year and certainly a rarity for me.

9 pointer and 27,000 miles

Running:
My running last week was just normal for this time of year I guess. I ran on all 5 work days and took the weekend off to hunt. My runs were all on the same 5 mile route.  Each run was less than 30 seconds one side or the other of 40 minutes . I see on my Odometer I surpassed the 27,000 mile mark. Totals through last week.
WTD 25
MTD 84
YTD 1840
ODO 27006

Hunting:

I wasn’t sure how the weekend hunting was going to go. The horse farm I have permission to hunt on had an adult camp going on last weekend. I only have restrictions when riders may be out there riding some of the trails along the woods.  I totally understand that as the last thing they would want is for a horse to be spooked by my walking out of the woods and throwing a rider. I had a backup plan for places to go, but was really looking forward to getting out on this property.


Saturday in the early afternoon I ran a bunch of squash out to the owner and checked how things were going. Because it had rained there were no riders outside.  They were all in the inside area in their riding barn. She told me I could go ahead and hunt if I wanted to.  I got out there sometime after 4:30 and settled in. Looking around from my stand I could see two scrapes in the same place they have been the last few years and could tell by no leaves in them they had been recently worked over. The woods was fairly quiet. There wasn’t even a lot of squirrel activity compared to usual. The evening passed fairly quietly until about 5:45. A couple of raccoons came in and started chattering away and eating acorns. I had never seen a raccoon eat an acorn before. They were quite noisy cracking them open and chewing them down.

 About 6:10 I started hearing footsteps across the drainage ditch moving from west to east towards me. I watched as a deer passed through the ditch and right up to one of the scrapes I’m hunting over. I quickly identified it as a shooter buck, what I thought was a 10 point. I listened as he sniffed at the scrape and scuffed the ground a bit. I couldn’t pull back my bow right at that moment and risk the deer detecting a sound or movement. It walked east behind a large buckthorn clump and as it did that, I drew back. I got my anchor point and sights all lined up and when the deer stopped 15 yards out quartering away from me I released the arrow. I looked at my watch, it was 6:15. After analyzing the deer’s reaction I knew I had hit him good but maybe a little far back. I left the woods after 30 minutes sitting quiet and went home to wait and have some supper.  I returned to the woods at about 8:30 to search. I found my arrow right away and a good blood trail. The blood was dark though so I suspected a liver hit. Still with all the blood I expected to see it laying there just ahead in the light given by my flashlight. I followed the trail across a drainage ditch where the blood suddenly stopped. After a frustrating and bewildering search for most of an hour on my hands and knees, I marked last blood and left the woods.

After a sleepless night listening to the rain pour down, I rounded up a friend (Pat) to help me track on Sunday. We went out around noon after the heavy rain quit. There was no sign of any blood, even the heavy blood trail I had followed the night before was completely gone. We decided to start grid searching. Back and forth we went with nothing at all found for two hours. Pat’s son Patrick came out with a friend just about when we were going to call it quits to help us look one more time. We went to where last blood had been. Patrick looked where the last blood had been and said "if I were a deer I would go this way" and he took off. Within 15 minutes he yelled "found it". We had been within 50 feet of it at one point. It was down near one of the neighbors ladder stands in a meadow north of the ditch he crossed. Absolutely incredible tracking skills on that boy. To me there is no question it was more than luck. I am still amazed when I think about how he pulled this off, it was almost magical.

As suspected the liver was shredded. The exit hole looked good though on a quartering away shot. I’m shocked it went that far. I gutted the deer and the boys dragged it out for me even though I wouldn’t have minded doing it. Took the deer in to be registered and then took it home to wash it out good and get some ice on it. I loaded up the chest cavity with ice and hung the deer up in my tree along the side of the house over night. In the morning I brought it in to the processor. I would have had to take the day off from work if I was to do it myself and felt it worth it to have someone else do it for me this time.

Not that this is a bad deer at all, but my initial thoughts when I first saw it was that this deer was bigger. That maybe it was the 8 point that gave me fits last year from this stand, but a year older. Afterward, I don't think this is the same deer as last year. There is no question the buck I saw last year was bigger than this deer. Still overall I am pleased with this one. It’s incredible when everything comes together as this hunt did. It could have ended so differently. To go from excitement of seeing such an animal and thinking I had a good hit, to dismay when the trail was lost, to the sick feeling as rain fell all night and into the morning, to frustration over not finding anything with all the searching, to elation when the deer was found was quite a hunt to remember.

Now I’m looking forward to hunting for the true trophy and can be as patient as at any time in my hunting career. I’m also going to focus my efforts during upcoming gun seasons to be able to make sure my daughter Kylli gets a crack at a good one.

Gardening:
It sure had been warm and dry this October. It is still warm around here, but at least we finally got a fair amount of rain. Just in time to save me a lot of work. I noticed Sunday that some of the day lilies and Russian sage are blooming again after the rains. A sure sign of how warm it has been. The leaves have been falling at a leisurely pace this year. This has allowed me to keep up with the cleanup fairly well. Although there is something to be said about taking care of them all at once too. All the leaves have been going on the garden so far. Today we are getting a massive wind storm expected to last at least 24 hours along with a little rain that will likely take care of whatever leaves are left.  This coming weekend will likely be the time to finish up any remaining lawn chores including putting away furniture.

First deer of 2010

Running:

My running last week got back on track, at least as far as post marathon training goes. The runs are really just basic maintenance running. Things will stay this way until the new year.  I’m running just enough to not have to start completely over in January and hopefully enough to keep from gaining more than a few pounds this fall. I will be running about 5 times per week. 4 or 5 weekday runs and if time allows only 1 weekend run. This past week I ran 5 miles during my lunch break at work 4 times. Each time the same route. Monday I ran it in 41:09,  Tuesday in 40:32, Wednesday 39:45, and Thursday 39:22. Friday I took an off day. Saturday morning I got out for 8.5 miles from home in 1:06:09. Sunday was also an off day from running.

WTD 28.5
MTD 59
YTD 1815
ODO 26981
Hunting:
This past Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was a four day special antlerless gun season in parts of the state. I was able to get out Friday after work, and a little bit on both Saturday and Sunday.  I spent the entire time on the Ottawa Wildlife reserve (OWR). I’ve mentioned in previous blog entries that Kylli and I are 2 of 14 hunters whose names were drawn for the rights to hunt there.  Just a beautiful property and lots of nasty thick and swampy areas for the deer to hide real well. This was my first time out there to hunt and the other 12 guys have been at it for a month.  From my scouting they seem to have all the close (to parking) areas already chosen.  Everywhere I seemed to find that looked like a good location there were stands hung.

Sunday morning while I was scouting an area way in the back of the property I noticed two deer that were making their way toward me. I got down on my knees behind a tree and waited until I could see for sure what they were. When I saw the first one was a large doe I didn’t hesitate and took the 50 yard shot. The deer ran only about 50 yards. It was very easy to find. After I found it I began to question why I had done such a thing. I was so far back on the property that I knew the drag out was not going to be fun. Was I right about that. After trying to cut across a swamp for a bit of a short cut I gave up on that.  The swamp was large clumps of grass with oozy sticky mud in between. I back tracked my way out of the swamp and then decided to go back out the way I came. After skirting the swamp through some of the thickest tangle of
brushy trees I then made it to a spot which was clear cut a couple years ago. Lots of small shrubby trees were overtaking this area and workers were cutting them down over summer. I had to drag the deer several hundred  yards over 4 to 6 inch brush stumps and old left over branches. This was like dragging the deer over a big comb. After that I had about 1/8 mile uphill through an oak forest. Once through the forest I still had about ¼ mile up an old road back to the car. This was one of the most difficult drags I have ever had. I was wet from sweat inside out. All for a doe. Had it been a giant buck at least it would have eased the pain a bit. Still good to get the 1st one of the year in the books.

I loaded the deer up, took it to be registered, and then brought it in to be processed all before the kickoff of the Packers game. Time for some serious bow hunting now, but having some meat in the freezer will allow me to be a bit more patient.

Gardening:
It has been extremely dry around here that last few weeks. I’m actually thinking I will need to get out and water a few things so they survive the winter. Evergreens can really have some trouble if they go into winter on the dry side. If it freezes hard before we get significant rain I could have a few things in trouble. I got the garden tilled this weekend so now I have a place to dump the abundance of leaves. I usually throw most of them on the garden to decompose over the winter and then till them in come spring. This has worked quite well and has significantly changed the soil for the better over the last 7 years or so. My entire pumpkin crop was sold. Nice to not have a few dozen to wonder what to do with.  I got a premium price for all of them since they were all so nice this year.

Recovery

Running:

Not much running last week. The only day I got out to run was Wednesday. I did only 4 miles with no watch, just to loosen up the legs. I went up to Bayfield over the weekend and was tempted for a while to run in one of the Whistlestop races which were taking place on Saturday. They run a full marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k. The 5k winner was over 20 minutes so I would have had a chance at winning a race for the only time ever. I did find this short video of the start of the marathon race. Brings back fond memories. I think next fall I will target this race again if I don’t run Chicago.

Hunting:
As mentioned I went up north over the past weekend. My brother Todd was up there as well. The mornings were spent fishing, the afternoon working on getting several deer stands up or ready for gun season, and the evenings bow hunting. The weather was incredible for early October and all the leaves were at or just past peak near the lake. Quite a sight. We went fishing in the morning going out before it was completely light. It was something watching the sun rise over Madeline island and completing making the Bayfield hillside look on fire with all the color. Crazy being out on Lake Superior in October in short sleeves. Unfortunately in two days we only caught one small Coho salmon. We marked lots of fish near the mouth of the rivers, but unfortunately we could not entice them to bite. In the afternoons Todd and I spent time refreshing a couple of ground blinds with natural material. One of these is a new spot that looks like it has real promise. We also put up a ladder stand in a new spot, and another bow stand on this same property close to the road and easy to get into. Just a little more work to be ready for gun season next time we get up there. In the evenings I was out hunting. It was much too warm, but I had to try anyway. It was nice to be out and the woods was incredibly beautiful despite the lack of deer. Looks to be plenty of sign including lots of rubs on trees, but they were likely just lying low in the warm temperatures. Here are a few pictures taken near my bow stand. The first is the stand my dad last used for bow hunting. I go past it on the way down to mine. The second is a picture of the woods near my stand, and the third is a picture standing at the base of my stand looking out toward the big oak tree in my opening. Thanks to my brother Tad for taking these.

Gardening:

Gardening chores are now pretty much related to fall clean up. There is some harvest of remaining vegetables, but mostly pulling all the vines and old plants and rebuilding the compost pile. Also lots of leaf raking and pickup. Most of these will end up being put on my garden and rototilled under over the next couple weeks. Out of 100+ pumpkins I started with I only have a couple dozen left. Within the next week I expect them to all be gone except those I keep for decoration myself.

17th marathon in the books

Running: 
Last week was all about the taper, last minute preparation, and the race. Last week was three full days of rest, three relatively easy runs, and the race on Sunday. Monday was an off day. Tuesday I ran 5 miles mid day at about 7:30 pace. Wednesday I ran an easy 4 miles mid day with the last mile at 7:30 pace. Thursday I ran 6.5 miles in the morning with the last half at 7:30 pace. Friday and Saturday were both rest days.

Friday I made my way down to the expo and packet pick up after work. After picking up my packet and getting my chip checked I walked around and checked out all the booths. I really wanted to try and find a new racing hat, but nothing struck me as nice or unique enough to justify a purchase. Looked around at lots of things, but nothing was overly exciting or such a deal I had to buy it. Usually I run into a few people I know, but not this time. So over all I didn’t spend a lot of time downtown and got home relatively early.

Saturday I got all my running things together so Sunday morning would be a snap. It was hard deciding exactly what to wear since it was going to get pretty cold. I decided to stay minimal with just shorts and a t-shirt, but brought along a throw away shirt to start the race with. This turned out being a good choice. The morning of the race I got up at around 3:30. I got close to six good hours of sleep which I was pretty happy with. I don’t always do that good on race day. I did the usually routines with having a little coffee, eating a breakfast of three pancakes and two bananas, having a glass of juice with my liquid vitamin/minerals. Finished dressing and packing the bag and was out the door at 5am. I met my wife’s cousin Don at a park and ride on the way to the shuttles so we could ride together. This was his 5th marathon and 1st Lakefront. This was to be my 17th and 4th Lakefront. We made it to the park and ride at almost the same time and then got downtown as the first shuttles were loading. Had a good bus ride to Grafton and then settled into the cafeteria to wait out the start. It was nice to have someone to chat with to make the time pass by, and not have to worry about leaving your stuff as you took restroom breaks and such. Before we knew it the time had come to get the drop bag into the truck and line up. Don was hoping to run a possible 3:25, but his ultimate goal was to BQ with a 3:30 at least. I had decided I would like to try for at least a 3:20 and would start with the appropriate pace group. I had also decided to run without my Garmin for the first time since 2005. I was going to go completely watchless, but realized I had not taken my other watch off my wrist. Too late as I already had dropped off my bag.

The gun went off and I positioned myself right behind most of the 3:20 group. This projects to about a 7:38 average pace for the whole race. They went out a little fast as the first mile was 7:24. This felt pretty good to me though and I wasn’t worried especially since this was about a half minute slower than my usual start. For about 4 miles I was right in with the group. From the first water stop I pulled ahead by a bit and then stayed there. After about five miles there was a small group that was just ahead of the 3:20 pacer that started to put a little distance from the group. I decided to stick with that little group. Looking at the race results afterward I see I passed the 7 mile mark at a 7:31 pace. Mile 8 was seconds over 1 hour so I knew I was still on target. I felt really good and was running quite comfortably at this point. I continued to hang with the small group and we probably put about a minute between us and the big group by the half way point. At least I couldn’t hear all the chatter for a while which was fine with me. I was still feeling real good and passed half way at 1:38:49 or 7:32 pace. I’m not sure I ever ran that consistent of a half before. At mile 16 I was still less than a minute over 2 hours and well on track for less than 3:20. I passed mile 20 at 2:31:29 still feeling quite strong for that part of the race. I usually hit some kind of a mid race slump somewhere between 15 and 20 miles in, but so far I didn’t face that. It was here that I made a slight technical error. It was time for my 4th and final GU, but the water stop snuck up on me. I had trouble fishing the GU packet out of my short pocket and didn’t get it in time for water. I decided to delay the GU until the next water station. Wouldn’t you know it but I hit that slump somewhere in miles 21 and 22. The 3:20 pace group passed me somewhere in here and I just couldn’t keep up. By the time I got my GU down and gathered myself and broke from the slump they had probably put a couple minutes on me. I could still see them when there was a long straight stretch, but knew there would be no catching them anymore. At least I had gotten some of my pace back and seemed to be running even with them. I passed by 24 miles in somewhere around 3:04 if I recall. Pretty sure my 3:20 was gone, but feeling relatively good at that point. The last miles are always hard, but I really felt OK considering it was the last few miles. This was probably as good as I’ve finished a marathon in a while. Making the final turn along the break wall I mustered as much as I could and gave it all the final .2 to the finish. Final time 3:22:06. 196th overall and 15th in my age group. After getting the finisher medal and blanket I went over to watch for Don to finish. Didn’t take long as he pulled in just under 3:30 for his PR and BQ.

I’m both OK with the 3:22 and disappointed at the same time. Maybe that’s just my own unrealistic goals. The 3:22 was exactly what my Parot time said I would run so I shouldn’t be surprised. I guess I have to be OK with a BQ time by almost 14 minutes, to finish 196th out of almost 2000 runners, and top 10% of my age group . Also considering the quad injury I had that delayed the start of the training cycle and affected the entire 12 weeks in lots of ways I put down a time that falls in the middle of my 17 tries. My positive split of just over 4 minutes was way better than I’ve done in a while. The reasons for some disappointment are to have an almost perfect day weather wise and still miss the 3:20 goal by a couple minutes and still not being able to put down a complete race. I knew there was no chance for a PR this time around and didn’t even try, but I still refuse to believe I’ve hit my last marathon PR. Staying injury free will be the only way I have a chance so I will need to examine the training program closely over this winter and do something’s a little different next year.

MTD Sept 187
WTD/MTD Oct 26.2
YTD 1783
ODO 26949

Hunting:
Hunting can be my focus now that the marathon racing and training is done for the year. I will still run as regular as possible on weekdays, but will back off the bigger weekend miles. Last Thursday I had the afternoon off from work. After getting some chores done around the house I actually got out hunting for the first time. I went to the land just west of my house I have permission to hunt. It was a nice quiet night and I did manage to spot a doe and fawn about 6:30. With all the cover and noise the squirrels were making I’m not exactly sure where they came from. I noticed them about 40 yards away walking through a tall grass opening. Too far for me to even think about a shot. Still good to see something on the first night. I had hoped to get out Sunday after the race too, but decided against it as the time to go out approached. This was one time I felt just too tired to head out and didn’t want to worry about falling asleep up in the tree. Should have taken a nap when I first got home, but had to watch the Packers squeak one out. I’m taking a long weekend coming up and will be able to get out a few times so no worries yet.

Gardening:
We had big time frost over the last few days so growing season is done for the most part. I harvested most anything left that I couldn’t cover and knew can’t stand up to a freeze. I even found another quart or so of fall raspberries. I also covered a few things so they still have a chance for a week or two since it seems it’s suppose to warm up for a while. Fresh picked beets, lettuce, beans, and a few peppers will taste pretty good yet if they make it. I started selling my pumpkin crop. I will end up selling about 50 myself and another 50 through Wales Lawn and Garden.

Final prep

Running: 
It’s hard to believe the Lakefront marathon is only a few days away. I think I am as ready as I can be. I really tried to take the taper period seriously this training cycle. I think in previous marathons I over trained during the taper and went in with legs not fully recovered. Any way I’ll see if this strategy helps me at the end of the race. I think I’ll be going down to the expo and packet pick up on Friday night after work. Saturday could get busy with some other things so I’d rather not take a chance and be rushed to get downtown. Right now the weather is calling for very chilly morning temperatures the day of the race. Frost warnings will likely be up even near the lake and highs should only be in the mid 50’s. This should help produce some pretty good times if this holds up. It will be interesting figuring out what to wear and I still have to decide on which shoes. Also still contemplating my race pace and strategy. I’m really leaning toward at least starting with the 3:20 pace group and adjusting as the race unfolds. I don’t want to sell myself short either if race day proves to be better than anticipated.

Last week I ran a few miles of each run at expected race pace. Most of the miles were just at a comfortable pace for the distance. I took two complete rest days. Monday was one of those rest days, the other was on Friday. Tuesday I ran 6.5 miles in the morning before work in 54:44. Wednesday I ran 5 miles during my lunch break in 37:33. Thursday was 4 miles mid day in 32:14. Saturday I ran 6.5 miles in the early morning in 51:59. Sunday I started at 7:30 am which is close to race start time and did 12 miles with 6 at race pace in 1:33:05 total time. This week will be three rest days and three run days (about 15 miles) and the race Sunday.
Totals through last week.
WTD 34
MTD 172
YTD 1741
ODO 26907

Hunting:

I still haven’t been out hunting yet. I’m starting to feel that itch now though. I’ve been practicing shooting regularly in the mornings and things have gone quite well. I have been seeing several nice deer while on my morning runs, and seeing hunters cars out in the state forest after them. After the marathon is over that is where my attention will shift. I’ve been watching a few hunting shows to get the blood flowing. I really like some of the hunting I see up in Canada. Maybe someday I will be so lucky to try it. I noticed two products I thought were interesting. The first is the airskinner. It uses air pressure to help peel the hide off of a deer. If this works it looks like it will save lots of time and make less of a mess. I’ll keep watching for reviews. This next one is a blood finding agent  product that is supposed to make blood glow. It’s actually the same product that can be used by forensic experts for crime investigation. They advertise it will even work in the rain. Several other tracking products sold at this site (trackem.biz) look interesting too.

Gardening:
This past weekend I harvested what was left of my three rows of potatoes. I ended up with a large garden cart full. I also harvested half of the sweet potatoes and beets which ended up being about a five gallon bucket full of each. Picked the last of the green beans and picked all of the squash. I have about two wheel barrows full of squash of different varieties. We dodged the frost the other night but by this weekend we are supposed to get it again. I’ll be scrambling between now and then to harvest all the pumpkins and get them covered. Looking this morning there will be about 100 or so real nice ones. Almost 100% of them have turned orange already unlike last year when half were still green at first frost. I also managed to get the entire lawn fertilized over the past couple days. It’s nice to get it done after the aeration last week and before the leaves fall in a few weeks from now. The pool is scheduled for closing this coming Thursday.

Garmin is back

Running:
The past couple weeks I have been operating without my Garmin. As long as I was running familiar routes I didn’t really need the distance, so my backup watch was OK. The power cord was not functioning properly so there was no way to charge it. I was really thinking of getting a newer model, but after finding a new cord on eBay for $20 and free shipping I decided to give it a try. I received the new cord late last week at it works perfectly. I guess I’ll just have to wait a little longer for the new model now.

I notice that another local race has gone by the wayside. This race was in Wales and I ran it last year as a tune up before Lakefront. In previous years I had run one in Mukwonago that no longer exists on the same weekend. What’s up with that? I’m trying to see if there is any other race this weekend locally worth considering. Saturday will be busy so unless it is close I don’t think any race will work. It’s too bad. It really is a confidence builder to race and have a good result and is a good fitness test.

Training this last week went pretty well. In fact my run on Saturday was as good as I’ve felt in a while. I’m trying to examine my race strategy based on the last few weeks training. Everything I see points me to about a 3:20 marathon. Last week’s Parrot predictor told me 3:22. Plugging my last 5k time into the race predictor I get 3:21. Plugging in my half marathon time from a few weeks ago I get 3:22. I think I see a pattern. I have a couple of thoughts on this right now. My first thought is to start off with the 3:20 pace group and then hopefully have enough left to leave the group sometime after 20 miles. My second thought is to run at 8MPH. I would then be slightly ahead of the group. If I kept that up through mile 24 I would have 2.2 miles left with 3 hours ticked off the clock. So still an opportunity for a good race time. The first look at the weather that far out on race day shows things to be trending slightly lower than the normal of 50 low and 70 high.

Last week I took Monday off. My weekday runs were all done during my lunch break at work. Tuesday I ran 5 miles steady pace in 38:30. Wednesday I ran 6 miles in 47:11. The first 5 steady pace and then 1 mile on the treadmill at 7:20. Thursday I ran 5 miles easy in 39:02. Friday I ran 6 miles in 45:45. The first five steady pace and then 1 mile on the treadmill in 7:20. Saturday morning it was raining heavily and this was the only time I could run that day. I jumped on the treadmill and ran 7 miles in 52:30 or 7:30 pace. Sunday was a beautiful morning. I ran two loops of my favorite course. The first 8 miles I ran fairly easy, the second loop I pushed the pace up to 7:20. It was surprising how good this run felt. This was really a confidence booster and gives me hope for a somewhat decent marathon time. For the week I finished at 44 miles which is right about where I expected. This week will likely be in the 30’s.

WTD 44 miles
MTD 138
YTD 1707
ODO 26873


Hunting:
Second year in a row I didn’t get out hunting on opening weekend. Saturday and Sunday were just too busy. I thought about just going in the back yard on Sunday afternoon, but my lawn chores ran a little late and I decided otherwise. Having the tractor out in the back so late wouldn’t have helped my cause anyway. If I needed an antlerless deer to get an earn-a-buck sticker my thinking would be a little different. The stickers I got last year are still good for this year so a little pressure is off.

Gardening:

With all the rain over the weekend I was glad to get the lawn mowing chores done on Saturday. Sunday after the Packer game and the rain stopping I was able to hook up the lawn aerator to the tractor and get the whole lawn done. The ground was nice and soft so it worked well this year. It was great timing as we got more rain Monday and Tuesday of this week. Purchased all of my fall fertilizer and will be attempting to get that spread on the lawn this week. Twice a year Steins has a good sale on Milorganite and I try to stock up when I see it. Also have a couple bags with weed and feed for a few trouble spots

20 miler

Running:
Less than three weeks to marathon day. Last week was a pretty good one for me. I was able to ramp up the miles to 63 which is a little low from where I wanted to be, but considering the shortened training period because of the injury I am happy to get there. It’s like the switch was just flipped on the weather. From hot and humid to cool and dry just like that. The days and especially mornings have been excellent. The taper period now begins. This week I hope to be solidly in the 40’s with one long run and the rest of the focus on pace and tempo style runs.

Last week I had no off days. Monday I ran in the morning 6.5 miles from home in 57:57. Tuesday was 5 miles from work in 40.15. Wednesday I ran again in the morning 8.0 miles before work in 1:3:22. Thursday was 7.5 miles during my lunch break in 57:.58. Friday was again the same 7.5 miles during lunch break in 1:2:07. Saturday I ran after the rain storms stopped and got in 8.5 miles in 1:09:48. Sunday was my big run. I ran my 20 mile country road loop in 2:45:36. I started off while it was still dark. I chose to take the iPod for this run. I didn’t use it right away, but it helped a bit during the last half of the run. Overall this tune up run went pretty well. I felt comfortable and ran fairly even pace the whole way. Looking back over my run log from last year at this time I was a full 5+ minutes faster on this same course. Another good sign for upcoming marathon.

Hunting:
Only a few days now from the bow hunting season opener. Still haven’t decided if I will go yet. This week I purchased my license and picked up 4 of the free bonus tags available for this area. I should be set with tags now. I also have two earn-a-buck stickers left from last year so I won’t have to shoot an antlerless deer first. This makes it quite a bit more exciting to get out there. I also got my stands squared away, both in the back yard and on the other property I have permission to hunt. I cleaned up quite a few limbs, branches, and brush that had overgrown sight and shooting lanes. The deer sign looks real promising.

Gardening:

So many vegetables. Everything except the brussel sprouts is either done already or available for harvest. The number and variety of squash this year is incredible. I’m really excited about a new kind called “baby blue” Hubbard. This one looks and tastes like a true Hubbard but is only a fraction of the size. The full size ones are as big as a good size pumpkin. Nice to have something much more manageable. Picked several quarts of fall raspberries. I put the plants in a couple years ago and these are the first pickings. They taste a little different than the early summer kind, but still quite a treat to have at this time of year. Had enough to make a fresh berry pie with some.

Lake Country half marathon

Running:
This past week I opted to try something a little different with my running routine. I knew I wanted to try running the Lake Country half marathon on the weekend and didn’t want to go into it wiped out, but I also didn’t want to take a full taper week. I opted for easy runs to keep the miles up and then a series of strides thrown in at the end of each run for a little speed work. Monday was 5 miles, Tuesday 5 miles, Wednesday 5 miles, Thursday 6.5 miles and Friday off. When I run at work the fire hydrants are about 100 yards apart. The last .7 miles I would run fast (5k pace or faster) to the next hydrant, then jog to the next, then fast, etc… until back at the office. When I ran from home I would use telephone poles in the same way.


For the race Saturday I really didn’t have a good feel for how I would do. Coming back from injury I had not been able to push myself with either speed or distance yet. I didn’t sign up until Friday night as I was watching the weather closely. I would not have signed up if it was going to be really hot. That was not going to be the case, but the forecast did call for strong winds as the day went along. At 7am though it was nice with just a little wind and temps in the upper 40’s. I set a goal for myself of trying to hit about 7:20 pace at the beginning and see how that went. The race went along well. The splits off my Garmin, with the auto lap feature set were 7:15, 7:19, 7:07, 7:17, 7:22, 7:20, 7:44, 7:08, 7:40, 7:32, 7:31, 7:34, 7:38, and .51 (6:31). There weren’t a lot of hills, but they were found on mile 7 and mile 13 accounting for some of the slower pace. The wind directly in my face the last mile didn’t help much either. I think mile 8 was short and 9 long which happens sometimes so they would average out. Final time was 1:37:18. I was 85th overall and 4th in my age group. The previous two years I was 1st in my age group for this race and only a little over a minute slower. Funny thing is this same time last year would have still been good enough for 1st, so it really all depends who shows up. In hind sight I should have set a faster goal. I had lot’s left at the end and I felt real good immediately after and the next day. That’s usually proof I could have pushed harder. Any way I came out of it well and with a little confidence for the upcoming marathon.

Some good things about this race for me are: that it’s close to home, the timing is right for fitting into the schedule for an early Oct marathon, registration can be last minute, packet and chip pick up are easy, nice technical t-shirt, lots of good food and drink afterward (no beer though), plenty of water stops and even a gel stop, well marked course, nice bunch of volunteers that seem to make the whole event run smoothly.

Some not so good things, it is rather expensive for a half marathon at $50. Get there early or you will be stressed finding a place to park. The course sucked this year. It’s advertised as music along the course…water…woods…scenery. Granted construction caused this to happen, but it was pretty boring in the current configuration.  It was mainly just through different subdivisions with lots of corners to take. Previous years it circled the lake with lake views probably ¾ of the way at least. The only music I saw/heard was a single woman playing guitar near the beginning and a chair with a boom box going somewhere in the middle.

Here is a link to some pictures from the professional photographer. They are pretty bad so I don’t think I will buy any.

To finish the week I ran a recovery 6.5 miles on Sunday giving me 41.1 for the week. I finished August with 123. On Labor Day I ran another 6.5 slower miles.  My weekly average is still over 45 and my monthly average is right at 196 despite the recent down time.


So through Labor Day Monday:
WTD 6.5
MTD 37.6
YTD 1607
ODO 26,773

Hunting:
I’ve gotten out to practice shooting with my bow a few times, but still haven’t been as consistent doing it as I should be. I have been good with the grouping of shots so I’m not real worried about it, but the more you can get out to make the shot feel automatic the better. I finished trimming the shooting lanes around my back yard stands this past week. Things are ready for the opener if I choose to go out 9/18. I have had deer in the back almost every day this past week. I’ve seen a few of them, but also know some are coming in at night to eat apples and pears that fall from the trees, and some of the corn standing in the back. I also notice that one or two have a preference for spaghetti squash and have demolished a couple of them.

Gardening:
Just about a year ago I posted that I had seen some salamander lizards while cleaning the pool skimmers. That same thing happened again this past week. Two days in a row I pulled out yellow spotted ones. One of them was as big a salamander as I have ever seen. All the vine crops are starting to shut down now. This is a little early, but there are lots of squash, watermelon, and pumpkins out there so I’m not worried about getting enough. In some ways it will make the harvest easier as I won’t have to leave them there and risk having to scramble when the forecast calls for a hard frost or freeze. The watermelons have been fantastic this year. I’m so glad I learned how to tell when they are ripe. We went to parties on Saturday and Sunday where a dish to pass was in order. The melons went over well both times.