Here are a few of my cultivated winter shots from the past few years, as requested by Adam (and without, thankfully, the ice beard).

We like to run with friends as this generally boosts morale, we get to spend precious time with the people we care about and it adds some variety to our weekly training runs. Sometimes, we also like to run down the middle of roads (this is not advised, please run against traffic on the shoulder).

We did take a quick trip to the Pacific Northwest for the holidays, and so I submit to you a cheating on Ithaca running photo series from the Columbia Gorge in Washington State.

The gorge is well known for its windiness and the Hamilton Mountain trail definitely puts you out into some of that icy blast. This hopefully explains the uncomfortable smiles and my wacko hair do…

It is always nice to find new runs in the places we visit. It isn’t so nice when the trail turns into a foot wide ice slide with a cliff on one side. This quickly turned into a slow walk around ice patches and hand-over-hand scaling up icy climbs. Bonus pic of Adam and his creative solution for forgetting his gloves:

We finished that “run” with a stop by a beautiful frozen waterfall. Happy to be off the windy ice death trap of a trail!

Alright, I promise that’s the last “cheating on Ithaca” picture. But I figured, it was still snowy, and felt like Ithaca. I suppose if Ithaca found out though…there’d be drama.

……back to Ithaca! We still run with friends, and even drag them on a few trail runs. Here we convinced Amy and Phil to join us for part of a 20 mile run in Danby State Forest along the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT):

We’ve really grown to love the FLT through this winter. It is a safe refuge from the snowplows on the roads. Also, it is quiet. Ah, the serenity. I’m looking forward to watching the trail change as summer comes along.

Here is one quick snap of a beautiful winter sunrise, though not on a trail. I find I run later in the day during the winter to run during warmer temperatures. Like, anything above freezing, if possible.

And to add to the icy facial hair pics, I present Ice Eye Baby: The Lashening.

I get asked often if I run through the winter. Yes, yes I do.*

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my round of winter pictures! Thank you to Adam who inspired/suggested that I also add some of my photos!

Now to appreciate the warm office I’m sitting in with a warm cup of tea. mmmmmmmmm

*unless temperatures drop below 0 degrees F. No, thank you.

I took up swim conditioning, because there was little to no impact and my knees were just dandy putzing around behind me in the water. I started seeing fun things appearing on my shoulders (whoa, muscles!), and decided to keep swimming even when I added running back into my routine. It even helped on recovery days to loosen those sore running muscles! (Bonus points if you can not drown while attempting to butterfly stroke while your legs are coming off a big weekend)

Then…I couldn’t make the swimming class fit into my schedule. So like any brain zapped athlete (I can call myself that, now, right?), I looked for another way to work a different workout into my schedule. My good friend Jessie convinced me that powerlifting was the ONLY choice I had, and she’s really smart so I listened. I believed her, mostly.

I started lifting 12 weeks ago. We worked on form and set up a program which has been a blast! I’ve made HUGE progress (though this is expected of beginning lifters) and already see results in my upper body and my core (my lower body still looks like I run, eat good food and drink beer… a lot).

My fear is that this isn’t going to work in the long haul. I’ve been able to keep up in both areas of training, but at some point, one expects that at least one of these areas will suffer. I’ve felt great in both workouts, and they seem to be complementary. But I’ll keep you all posted. We all know the trail running comes first; if I have to I’ll back down on the lifting.

Until then, I’m going to keep lifting heavy things and putting them down. Repeat.

I made a small change by having Jeney whip up a Sriracha aioli and skipping the hot sauce due to that.

Not surprisingly, this was DELICIOUS!

I’ll be making this again and trying out a few different things, including longer soaking of the carrots (nothing wrong with 30 minutes though), and different peppers.

With the exception of the 8 hour slow cook time, the prep was pretty simple. Some prep for the carrots soak, slicing up this and that, and pulling the pork apart. Great to make in large batches so that you have extras or at least extra pulled pork.

Now, time for some food porn pics.

Next up I think I’ll try making my own summer rolls. We’ll probably wait until the summer to do that and make some large batches at one go so that we can get some practice. Something tells me that the sticky wrapping is going to be fun to figure out…

We don’t have as many plans for 2016, although part of that is due to Jeney being wrapped up, for good reason, in completing her PhD work. Another reason is the uncertainty of what our time will look like after that is done (July / August timeframe).

So, we’ve planned out what we want to do until that point and will probably take a look at some races (like the Ragnar ADK) for the fall once we’ve actually hit the summer.

Right now, it looks like this:

• April 16 – Breakneck Point Trail Marathon. Jeney took 2nd in women’s last year, I’m just going to try and complete the marathon distance this year after taking a bad fall on my ass during the 25k in 2015. Great race and really looking forward to getting out there again.
• April 24 – Seneca7. 7 runners, 77.7 miles, 7am! It’s been on my Finger Lakes bucket list for a few years and our friend Taz got a team together. We’ll be bicycling when we’re not running – should be a blast. The only concern is that this is the day after TAP NY (which we will be at!).
• June 18 – Manitou’s Revenge Ultramarathon. 54 miles near Phoenica, NY. 15,000 feet elevation gain. This will be Jeney’s second run through and my first…excited, and a bit nervous. This is the one that gets us out on the trails, or road, during the winter!

That’s about it for now. We’ve got several others that depend on timing and other plans (weddings, travels, all that sort of thing). A few more that we’re looking at:

• June 4 – Cayuga Trails 50 – We use this route as a training run year round. Since it’s close to Manitou’s Revenge date-wise we might opt for the marathon instead of the full 50 miles.
• July 2 – Finger Lakes 50’s. A fun local race that I did for the first time last year (50k) in some insane mud.

We’ll also be doing volunteering at local races like the Skunk Cabbage half marathon, the Gorges half marathon, and several others.

In addition to the single runs, we’re going to be looking for an opportunity to put together a team for a Ragnar Trail – perhaps an ultra team? We love hitting the trails, and the Ragnar Trail events are a great way to enjoy some trail running and have a good time with friends for a couple of days. The last one we did was Ragnar Trail MA and we had a blast with 3 teams from Ithaca!

What are you running this year?

Today I went out for a short 4 mile trail run and it was spectacular! Sadly, I didn’t have my camera on me, but it did remind me that I have taken a few good shots this winter.

So, without further ado, here’s some of my favorites from a few areas around Ithaca this winter.

A quick slow motion video of a little falls area in Treman…I recently got my Nexus 6P and had to put the slow motion to use!

While that rounds out the scenery shots from around here this winter, I have one more that I, for better or worse, take several of each winter – the ice beard pictures. I present, Ice Beard III, The Icening!

We recently found out that we’ll be here for one more winter – so hopefully I can remember to do a 2017 winter picture roundup. I’ll have to see if Jeney has some good winter pictures to share, although hopefully no winter ice beard pictures

Back in Vancouver, WA on the 13th of December, 2015, there was a big run/walk 5k to raise money for a good friend of mine who is having ongoing issues with a brain tumor. Since we couldn’t make it back from Ithaca for this, we posted on Facebook and asked friends to come out run a 5k in Ithaca with us and to donate if they could.

We had several friends come out to run [original run event here], and donate, based around someone they’ve never met before. I’m extremely grateful for their help, friendship, and donations – I know my friend and his family appreciate the help as the medical bills continue to pile up.

This won’t be a long post – I just wanted to say that it was nice to have this response from our friends and to use running and being outside as a way to help others.

Thank you.

Now, I won’t go into details about that part of the trip here; I’ll just say that it was a good time and meeting in person allowed us to take care of planning that probably would have taken weeks or more remotely.

What this quick post is intended for is to highlight the places that we were able to eat at while in Miami Beach. We had some outstanding meals – nothing we had was just “OK”.

A thank you is in order to our friend Sarah for her recommendation of the website Eater (http://miami.eater.com/). This site has a subdomain for each city with some outstanding recommendations and a quick overview of their top picks. Every place we’ve been to in various cities that was chosen from this site has been a winner.

Here’s a quick run down of our favorite places we got to try:

1. 27 – this place is attached to an outdoor lounge (which we went back to the follow night) that is run by the same owners. We showed up on a Thursday night, were seated immediately and had a very informative waitress that gave a good run down of the menu and various highlights. The only down side here was that the tap was down. And by tap, I mean every local beer that was connected to their tap system…We ended up order a good variety of food that was flavorful, presented well, and delicious. Just to throw it out there, our table had the octopus, two catch of the day (red snapper), and a burger (enormous!). Two thumbs up!

2. Roasters and Toasters – Jewish deli on one of the main roads into Miami Beach. If you’re looking for a big lunch this is a good place to go. Huge, meat packed, sandwiches, large salads, and friendly service. I would agree that service might be a tad slow, but for the price and what you’re ultimately getting I still love this place. Come with an appetite.

3. Taquiza – So good. Go here. This cool little “upscale” street taco looking place is on the main drag (Collins St) into South Beach and has seating for maybe 20 or so people in a first come, first serve area. You order at the counter and grab it yourself when it’s done. Several good beers on tap and lots of good taco choices (pollo, barbacoa, etc). Tacos were served fast, even though we ordered 15 at once and the chips were freshly made tortillas that had been quickly fried and served with a nice chunky and fresh salsa. Great for a quick meal and relatively low cost compared to other options in the area. I think the word that describes this place is “fresh”.

4. Makoto – In Jeney’s words, “This is the best sushi I have ever had in my entire life”. Strong statement coming from her! We stopped by here for lunch before hopping on flights back north and we had an excellent experience. Quick service with a helpful waiter who helped us figure out what we should be doing – seriously, this place is apparently quite famous locally and somewhere that chefs like to go and eat it – so he gave us the run down on the menu and made us quite happy eaters. Best parts of this meal? Sushi, obviously, and the many types of delicious rice – seriously, the rice (from sushi to chirashi) was insanely good. What’s that? Why yes, the presentation wasn’t half bad either (no joke, click on the picture to the left and check out that chirashi!).

We also were able to go out on our last night in town and sample some of the local beers, but to be honest we didn’t find any that we came home raving about. To be fair, we didn’t feel strongly about the ones we did try, but nothing really took ahold and made us want to share with friends back home.

If you’re into some sweeter and stronger type beers, you should check out Abbey Brewing Company – they offer a sizable tasting flight with a good range of flavors. Again, not necessarily my style but worth checking out.

If you find yourself in Miami Beach, do yourself a favor and get out and try some of the food – you won’t be disappointed!

On October 2nd, Jeney and I drove a few hours east towards Phoenicia, NY, for the inaugural running of the Cat’s Tail Trail Marathon. Once we got near the Catskills the colors exploded, combining the beautiful tree colors with the mountains and blue sky and we were just happy to be in the area!

I’ll fast forward to the next morning when Jeney’s “head cold” had progressed to the point that she didn’t really get any sleep since she kept waking up from so much sinus drainage and felt “like death”. And it was raining. And the temperature had dropped about 15 degrees from the previous morning (it was now in the 40’s).

Jeney made the hard choice to not run and preserve her health while I headed down the road to the waiting buses that would shuttle us to the start line.

Now, for a little background on this area – Jeney had run Manitou’s Revenge just north of Phoenicia in June. However, my knee had been having issues in the spring so I had not yet had a chance to run in the Catskills – today was going to be the first!

So, how was it? It was awesome!

It was cold.

It was rainy.

There were no scenic vistas to take in at the top of the peaks as we were basically IN the clouds.

Speaking of scenic vistas…

But you know what? It was a total blast. One thing that I really like about running in this area is the people. Both at Manitou’s (as crew) and at this race as a runner everyone was pretty upbeat and really easy going – just a good group of people.

It also probably helps that this isn’t a “first timers” trail marathon – literally. Everyone has some sort of longer distance trail running experience which certainly helped on that day as the course was (in my mind) fairly technical, combining climbs, ledges, running water on the trail, wet log ladders, and steep ascents/descents.

I channeled my inner Seattleite and figured the weather was a benefit; I tend to run hot and it was better than being hot and humid! After getting the big climbs out of the way I thought about how Jeney would tackle the 8 or so miles of mostly down and got after it.

Even though I had a few close calls, the day ended well with a 7 hour finish and no injuries. For the rain and slickness combined with the tough course I call that a raging success!

Would I do it again? You bet! I highly recommend this course to anyone that wants a challenge in a marathon type distance. With the 7,000 feet gain in elevation and the long descent at the end this course is a ton of fun and a challenge.

Jeney met me about 1/10 mile from the finish where she had been cheering people on as they came in:

It was great to have her at the finish, along with some great food and a cold beer that we had brought along.

Sadly, we didn’t stay too long as the cold weather wasn’t helping me out after finishing and we still had to take care of our camping gear (and take a cold shower at the campground…that’s another story!).

This is one that we’ll hopefully get to both run next year if we’re still in the area.

Mt. Democrat, just outside Alma, CO, was a fun hike, and the weather couldn’t have been nicer. A short steep climb takes you from the trailhead at about 12,000 feet to the summit at 14,154 feet in 2.4 miles!

On the way down we got a little bit of running in on the less scree (and people) filled steep descents – and managed to snag a quick video that also shows the valley and the surrounding ridges and peaks.

I’m fairly certain I just searched for “cilantro corn black bean salad” and found “Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing” by the GardenGrazer.  She’s incredibly clever, and it is fun to read her comments on making the salad. All credit goes to her! Unfortunately, the salad typically disappears so quickly that I don’t have time to capture a picture…and she doesn’t allow people to borrow hers…

I’ve added a few notes which helped me, but you can ignore them (especially the first time making it).

Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing

Prep time: 20 minutes (depending on how fast you chop)

Ingredients

• romaine lettuce – one head
• 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can sweet corn
• 1 orange bell pepper (I also tossed in some red and yellow)
• 16 oz cherry tomatoes (any tomatoes work, grape…roma…etc.)
• 1 avocado
• 5 green onions
• 1/2 of a cucumber, skin or no skin…your choice!
• Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing (see below)

Directions

1. Chop romaine and dice bell pepper, green onions and tomatoes. Size does not matter. It is just about how much you can fit on a fork and into your mouth.
2. Mix all chopped ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add dressing and toss to coat!

Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing

Prep time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 handful cilantro with stems removed (Uh…I just added a lot. I never measured)
• 1/2 avocado
• 3-4 garlic cloves (In fact, once I used 4-5. That was only slightly too much. I didn’t complain.)
• 1 whole lime – juice 
• 1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar – I’ve also used white vinegar. Slightly different taste, liked both.)
• 1/4 cup olive oil – I used a bit less.
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Add all ingredients into a food processor and puree! I pureed until the cilantro was fairly small bits.
2. Taste and edit with whatever ingredient you are lacking. I kept adding cilantro, vinegar and garlic.

I’ve made batches of 3 at a time. It keeps for a few days, and I try to eat it for every meal during that time. Good luck and enjoy!