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.