Springtime in Pennsylvania

Running around Canoe Creek Lake (Dirty Kiln Race)

Spring has finally sprung here in central PA, and it's a quite nice (at least for now...ask me again when it's July, 90 degrees, and humid).  Despite this winter's record warmth around the planet, one of the few areas that actually experienced slightly cooler than normal temperatures was the East Coast.  So while Alaska was baking, sometimes 15 degrees above normal for January, we were consistently colder than normal in our tiny little pocket of the world in PA.  Long story short is that it's nice to finally be outside these last two weeks.

Global Mean Temperatures from Dec 2014 - Feb 2015

After my run at the HURT 100 in January, I took a rather long break from running, and essentially most activity in general.  I did manage to get in some moderate hiking and a small bit of running while spectating at the Barkley, but not much otherwise.  For the past three years, February has been my power month.  It's always when I've hit my peak Barkley training and usually end up busting out 80+ mile weeks with tens of thousands of feet of gain.  This year, after having decided to sit the Barkley out, I opted instead to basically go into full-on relax mode.  I'm not entirely sure what the inspiration was for this egregious act of laziness, but I must admit it felt kind of nice.  After a few weeks though, I got bored, and wanted to pick it back up again.  I'm just not happy, nor myself, if I'm lying around on a couch. 

I slowly began picking up the running again with daily workouts, and ran a few local races.  I thought I'd just touch on a few here for fun.  After running the 10 mile Egg Hill run in March (a race I hadn't done since 2011), I signed up for the local Dirty Kiln Half-Marathon.  I figured a 13-miler was a good way to get my trail legs working again.  It was a great little race, lots of mud, and plenty of full stream crossings.  Just what I needed to stoke the trail fire within me again.  The race went quite quick, especially for the front runners.  I am always amazed at just how fast some of the shorter-distance trail runners are from the area.

The super fast start at the Dirty Kiln

Trotting along the old furnaces

One of many fun creek crossings

First truly warm day of the year

Finishing with a decent time, feeling good to have actually run on some trails!

Shortly after the Dirty Kiln, I had the Hyner 50k on my schedule.  I knew without a doubt, that my time would be much slower than usual due to my lazy February.  Typically, I manage to finish the course around 6 hours or so, but this year I figured it would be closer to 7, as I had planned to take it easier.   The weather was quite nice again for the event, and I opted to carry my new z-pole trekking poles this time as well (which would also slow me down a tad).  I kept it reaaallly easy all day, and had a lot of fun, but was significantly behind my normal times.  Somewhere around mile 20 I stopped worrying about it and just had a great jog along the trail until the finish.  I finished after around 6hrs 50mins of fun.  The trails were warm and snow free...and I was having a blast on them.

Topping out at Hyner View after the brutal 'Humble Hill'

Trotting along at Mile 22

Crossing the line casually, after a great/fun day.

The past couple of weeks I've picked it up significantly with my mileage and training.  It feels good to be at least nearing a level of peak fitness again (although not quite there yet).  Last weekend I managed to get out on back-to-back weekend longer runs, and this weekend I have another back-to-back planned.  Today, I spent several hours playing around in Rothrock on some of my favorite trails.  It was delightful, albeit very tick-infested.  I managed to find 3 deer ticks on me, one already embedded.  Thankfully I got them all off rather quickly, so no risk of any possible infections.

I have some big news forthcoming about my future following graduate school.  I plan to post something soon with the details, but I've decided to hold off for another week on that.  I will say this however: of all the places I will miss when I do eventually leave State College, I think I will miss Rothrock State Forest the most.  I have so many memories running and training on those hills and trails.  No matter where I end up, nothing will ever be like Rothrock to me.

Enjoying one of my favorite spots along the Mid-State Trail.

This Tuscarora Sandstone Formation outcrop is quite fun to 

scramble across (and is part of the Rothrock 30k course too).

I will miss this spot quite a bit once I leave PA.

The snakes were out...

As were the baby ducklings...

Looking ahead, I'll be running another local half-marathon trail race tomorrow, The Greenwood Trail Challenge.  I've run this event twice before and it was great both times.  I plan on trying to push a little bit more tomorrow if I can, but only if I can still have fun while doing it.  Then, next week I'll taper a bit so that I can run the "Mind The Ducks" 12 hour event up in Webster, NY on Saturday.  I wasn't going to run this event this year, but I just couldn't say no to running a race in my childhood home town again.  I had such a blast running it last year, that I had to go back.  Last year, I actually managed to win the event outright with almost 73 miles.  I don't think I'll be gunning for that many miles again this year...but I guess we'll see.

One last thing,
I don't normally post reviews on here, but I thought I'd share my experience today with a new pair of shoes.  I go pretty simple on footwear when it comes to running.  I basically have three classes of shoes that I keep on my shoe-rack.  1) Trainers, 2) Road Runners, 3) Trail Runners.  Occasionally I've played around with having different types of trail runners (i.e. cushy vs. technical), but usually I just try to keep one model for each of these three categories (unless I'm trying out something new).  For my trainers, I usually have something lying around.  These are my workhorses, the shoes I put on most of my weekly easy miles around town.   I try to buy something with decent cushioning at a fairly decent price.  Generally this means Mizunos, or Asics, or similar.  Also, when my nice road shoes (like Hokas) get worn out, I use them as my trainers.  My Road Runners are what I used for road-type events.  I usually buy a nice pair of Hokas for this role, and then, like I said, as they get worn out, I move them over into my "Trainer" pile.   So where I'm getting with this...

Well the trouble I've had recently has been with finding a good Trail Runner.  For years I swore by my Brooks Cascadias.  I went through a few Hoka phases where I would try their trail shoes, but I found that their tread just doesn't do it for me on trails and I would often roll my ankles as well.   I tried desperately to like Altras, they seem to be all the rage now, but they absolutely DO NOT WORK for me.  I can't stress this enough.  Every time I ever put a pair of them on, I come away from the experience completely underwhelmed and disliking them even more.  I don't know what it is, but they simply don't work for me.  I also found that I actually prefer a good amount of heel-to-toe drop.  I know, so old-school right?  It's a shame, because I actually do like the wider Altra toe boxes.  Which leads me to my current problem...

I had always just bought the new pair of Cascadias when they came out, but after the 7's, wasn't a huge fan of them anymore.  More-recently, I started wearing La Sportivas and have had a fantastic experience with them (particularly with the Ultra Raptors and the Bushido - AWESOME shoes!), but I've always sort of missed that true neutral feel of my old Cascadia 7's.  I've had great luck with the Bushidos, but they are naturally a bit stiff.  This feel is definitely not for everyone.  The Ultra Raptors are fantastic as well, particularly as a bomb-proof shoe, but they are quite heavy.  So...I went to the local running store and thought maybe the new Cascadia 10's would be better, but again I was underwhelmed.  I've found that I've really come to like the grippy outsoles on the Sportivas, which unfortunately the Brooks just don't have.  Additionally there's the big issue of the toe box.  It seems that Brooks thinks our toes are getting narrower and narrower, because I tried on a size 12 (which is already 1/2 size big), and my toes were still squished. Take a look below at just how pointy the tip of the new Cascadia gets in the toes.  How are you supposes to fit 5 toes in there comfortably?

Well the end of this very long story goes something like this....Sportiva just released a new shoe, The Mutant, which has essentially an older generation Cascadia feel, but with much grippier lugs, a little more cushioning, and a really nice new tongue system that laces down snugly (and even hides the laces under a built in flap).  I took them out for 13 fun, rocky, rooty, muddy miles today in Rothrock, and thoroughly enjoyed them.  I'm looking forward to see how they do tomorrow at the Greenwood Trail Challenge, but so far, so good!  I may have finally found my go-to trail shoe!  I've got my fingers crossed.

 

The Brooks Cascadia 10 and it's super pointy toebox

The new La Sportiva Mutant, with it's much more reasonable 

and rounded toe box (and with super grippy lugs!)

Well, I guess that's it for now.  I'll be posting soon with some news about my future, and a few other race and trail plans.

hike on folks, and get out there and enjoy the lovely Spring!

-john

A Successful Weekend in Rothrock : Race Report

Cooling off after a hot Rothrock Challenge

Any weekend of playing in Rothrock State Forest that I can walk away from, without any major injuries or horror stories...is a darn good one.  If I also happen to have some fun in the process, well then that's just some gravy on top.

I went into the weekend prepared, but also conservatively cautious.  I simply wanted to survive the Rothrock Challenge 30k race without incident, and wasn't aiming to make any major improvement on my 2011 time of about 3 hours 43 minutes.  I just wanted to get through it and try to enjoy myself.  On Thursday, the solid weather reports for Saturday started coming out and all warned of hot and humid conditions during the race.  The prediction was low-80's and sunny, but also "muggy and sticky".  Going in with this added information, I was even more content with simply getting through the course and not trying to prove anything.  I have run the Rothrock Course dozens of times, but only once at a race pace.  I knew first hand that when racing, it's much more difficult to navigate all of the rocks safely and it takes notably enhanced concentration.  Just another reason to take it easy.

For the most part, I stuck to this plan, although I did push a bit harder than I probably should have during the first half of the race.  I paid for it dearly over the last several miles though, and the fall-off came rather quickly, and with a mighty punch.

At 8:00 am when the horn sounded, I worked my way close to the mid-front of the pack rather quickly.  The course takes the runners along some wide road for about 1/2 mile so that you can find a good spot to fit into before hitting the narrow single track.  I found a decent spot somewhere about 40 people in.  As soon as you hit single track you begin the Spruce climb.   Ah yes...the lovely spruce climb, and Kettle descent.  The hill combination that I have repeated at least 50 times during my preparation for the Barkley Marathons.  I quite truthfully have nearly every step of this section memorized in my mind, and I made rather quick work of it...passing several runners in the process.  About 1100' of gain in a little over a mile, followed by an almost 700' descent.  I was wearing my heart-rate monitor (a new one too! - more on that later), and I quickly noticed I was getting well into anaerobic range, so I forced myself to slow it down a smidge and let other eager runners go on by.  The temps were still moderately cool and the humidity was kept hidden by the fact that the sun was still behind some cloud cover.  These conditions gave everyone a little extra false confidence, and many of us went out a bit too hard...myself included.  I felt great though and figured why not take advantage of it.

At the start - ready to play!

A group coming down the Kettle Trail (Photo M. Jarosh)

Running along the rocks after finishing the Kettle descent

(one of the few "flat" sections)

I continued along the flatter run-able stretch out to, and along the Bear Meadows Wetlands Area feeling great and still basking in the decent temps.  On the climb up to the Mid-State Trail around mile 6, I started noticing the temps rising and the sun hitting my back.  I stayed careful with salts and water and continued riding the good wave knowing that my favorite stretch of the entire course was just up ahead.  When I topped out on the Mid-State trail I picked up my pace and excitedly ran along the serpentine ridge-top trail.  This section of the course is the most free of rocks and quite fun to run.  Before descending from the ridge down to Laurel Run Rd and the aid station, the course takes you over a 1/4 mile-long exposed boulder field.  I was extra careful in this section so as to keep my feet uninjured.  So far I was doing well and wearing my beefier Cascadia shoes.  My knee was also pain-free.  

Coming into Laurel Run Aid Station after successfully 

navigating the boulder field without incident (Mile ~8ish)

After the descent and aid station, I began the climb up the Sand Spring Trail and really began feeling the heat.  My start-line energy burst was beginning to wane and gels weren't cutting it.  Thankfully after summiting the ridge-line, the course quickly drops and follows down to Shingletown gap on a gradually descending and runnable trail.  This year, the course was changed, so I got to run along a new trail that I hadn't seen before.  It was a nice little change of pace and I ran the entire 1.5 mile slow-descent.  

I made the short climb up to the Shingletown ridgeline, and then had a blast rock-scrambling back down to the gap.  This is the steepest descent of the course and even has some ropes tied up in some sections.  At the bottom, I crossed the log bridge, happily came into the aid station, and then began the most technical climb of the day....the "Shingletown Scramble".  As far as total climb, it is not as much as the Spruce climb, but it is way steeper, and requires hand-over-hand boulder scrambling.  It is a tough and taxing climb any day, but by the time I hit it during the race, the heat and humidity were dialed up to max.  My nice wave of positive race juju had worn off, and I was starting to hurt.  But...so was everyone else too.  People were shutting down fast and I passed several runners just by speed-hiking.  I figured by this point I was somewhere around 30th place or so.  Earlier in the race, I was a fair amount ahead of my 2011 pace, but by this point, I had slowed down enough that I was almost exactly back on the same pace.  Considering the heat, I was perfectly content with this.  I was supposed to be actually having fun right?

The gnarly descent down to Shingletown Gap (Photo: D. Lister)

Coming into the Aid Station at Shingletown, about to

start the toughest climb of the day.

Some runners climbing the Shingletown "Scramble"

Another view of the "Scramble" (Photo M. Jarosh)

Looking back down the "Scramble" (Photo M. Jarosh)

After the endless climb up to the ridge, I was finally able to start running again as I made my way down the slow descent back to the Sand Spring trail.  This section went ok, and I was able to run, but I was no longer having fun.  I was ready to be done and all I could think about was getting to that finish line and jumping into the nice cool pond.  The following climb back up the Sand Spring Trail to the Bald Knob ridge-line was the most difficult of the day for me.  It was only about 500 feet of climb, but I was completely sapped by this point and the heat had a full grip on me.  I hobbled my way to the top very slowly and once on the top I had to actually stop for a few seconds to gather myself.  I was in terrible shape.   I gradually got my gears going again as I knew I had a nice and smooth downhill ahead up to the last aid station on the front side of Laurel Run Rd.  The two miles to the station went by painfully slow, but once there I felt much better knowing I had only one climb remaining and then a nice 1.5 mile descent to the finish.  I filled up a full water bottle, poured almost half immediately over my head, and quickly started power hiking the final 400' climb up to the Fire Tower Rd.  At the top, I gathered myself quickly, downed my water, and ran like hell with whatever I had left all the way to the finish.  I passed several people in the process and when I came across the finish line, I was utterly and completely spent.  Seconds later I was where I was dreaming I would be for the 5 previous mile...neck-deep in the refreshingly cold pond.  It was glorious.

Making the final turn to the finish line,

while somehow pulling off a 7:30 mile

Talking with Dave Lister at the Finish just before hitting the pond

So entirely exhausted, I couldn't even stand up straight.

In absolute heaven

When I finally checked all the stats, I found that I finished in 3 hours, 39 minutes (about 4 minutes faster than in 2011).  This was fantastic considering how fast I shut down over the last 5 miles.  I placed 25th overall, and somehow  managed a way-too-high average heart-rate of 165 during the race.  Overall, despite the misery I was suffering through the last several miles, I was very pleased with how well I managed to do, how much I was able to run (even on some of the climbs), and how my body held up.  I was also thrilled to have made it through unscathed, and with both feet unharmed.  I did have one scare when I caught a rock on the final descent, but managed to catch myself before wiping out completely.  The immediate dip in the cold water also helped to quickly heal my legs.  I have been recently experimenting with cold baths following long runs and have noticed that I experience almost no muscle soreness the following day if I soak in cold water for 15-20 minutes.  By last night I had no residual leg pain whatsoever.  This was quite a different experience than what I had in 2011, when my legs were trashed for almost a week.  

Results:  Rothrock Challenge

Elevation Gain

Heart Rate

Splits

Full DETAILS: Click HERE

You are probably wondering what's with all the Garmin stat stuff.  Well...let's just say that John has a new toy...and boy does he love it!!  When REI posted their Memorial Day sale last weekend, I couldn't resist and I finally splurged on a running watch.  I've wanted a new heart-rate monitor watch for a long time, but I've also wanted a GPS watch.  I was tired of carrying around my big handheld unit on runs and hikes, and with the REI sale (combined with my dividend check), I finally gave in.  I wanted something with 20+ hour battery life though and wasn't ready to spend $500 on an Suunto Ambit or Garmin Fenix.  I decided to instead keep my trusty Casio Pathfinder as my altimeter hiking watch (which never needs a battery replacement), and buy a Garmin Forerunner 910xt as my running/ultra watch.  So far, I absolutely love it.  Not only does it track everything, but I can also upload directly to runningahead as well as garminconnect.  I even have the iPhone jack that allows me upload directly through my phone without having to use my computer.  Super convenient.  So far, I am simply loving the watch.  Last week during my easy runs, I ran against virtual partners, learned more about my sporadic pace than I ever have, and even discovered that most of my standard routes are actually longer than I thought! I also noticed that the  despite the 5 great years I've gotten out of my trusty Polar RS100 heart-rate monitor, that the Forerunner seems much more accurate and consistent.  The Rothrock race was a great test of battery life.  I turned off all audio alerts and extraneous features (leaving on vibration), and even with the paired heart-rate monitor running, the watch was still at 86% charge after almost 4 hours of use.

The new toy.  Garmin Forerunner 910xt (and heart-rate monitor strap)

Anyhoo...on to today....

So after yesterday's foray into Rothrock, my legs felt so good in fact, that I actually did something I never would have thought possible.  I ran a second race this morning.  Yes you read that right.  This morning was another free Tussey Teaser race in Rothrock, and I decided to see how'd I do.  There was no way I'd be racing, but I wanted to do a moderate length run today, and I figured an organized group run would force me out there.  The teaser was the 10.5 mile Treaster Kettle out-n-back leg, a perfect distance for what I was shooting for today.  So at 8:30 this morning, I reluctantly lined up, wearing my more padded Hokas, and ran all 10.5 miles along the forest roads without any issue.  I ran a comfortably snappy pace, but not too fast, and had a great time.  When I got home, I again sat in an ice-cold bath for 20 minutes, and my legs feel completely fine now, just a few hours later.  Crazy!  Needless to say, I'm looking forward to a few days off :-)

So all in all, I had a successful weekend playing in Rothrock (both days!), and came away injury free, and full of great memories.  I could have certainly done without the heat on Saturday, but I guess it just made the post-race swim even more delightful.  Glass half-full right?

Here are the details from today

RESULTS: HERE

Full Details: Click HERE

Oh and one last thing; a little walk down memory lane.  I found this old photo from my 8th grade cross-country running days.  The pic is from a meet we had at a place called "English Road", which I think was in Greece, NY.  That's about all I remember.  What I love about the pic is that while several of the other kids look to be jogging or even walking up this tough hill, I'm running...and running hard.  I think I will keep this picture handy for all those times when I'm feeling particularly un-motivated and have convinced myself to "just walk that hill" :-)

Back Home with All Pistons Firing

Out for a brisk run at WAIS Divide

I'm officially back home in lovely State College, having survived my fifth season in Antarctica.  Coming off of the ice this year was somewhat of a bitter-sweet departure, as it marks the end to what will likely be my yearly jaunts down south.  The ice-core drilling at WAIS Divide is over.  I know what you're thinking...didn't I say that the past two years?  But this time, there will be no last minute grant extensions nor replicate drill requests.  The drilling facility is literally being torn down next season and other than a couple of weeks of borehole logging, all science at the site related to the ice-coring, ended this year.  There's always a possibility I could head back for a quick pole-net stint again, or as part of whatever future career I end up with, but there's a very real possibility that I may not set foot in Antarctica again.  I totaled up all of the days that I've been on the Continent over the course of the past five years, and that number is 339 days.  What this means is that of my 36 years on this planet, I have spent a cumulative total of just over 11 months of my life in Antarctica.  In a nutshell...nearly a year.

I have a lot of labwork, writing, and data processing that needs to be done, before I can defend my thesis.  This means that this year will likely be stressful.  Nevermind throwing in various post-doc and/or other job applications in there, and I will likely be participating in a unique "academic ultra" of sorts.

This isn't to say that I won't run a few races this year, but probably not as many as last year.  My first focus must be academic.

I've already been busy the first two weeks that I've been back.  But First, a quick recap of my 5th, and possibly final, Antarctic adventure:

I arrived in McMurdo just after Thanksgiving.  After gathering cargo and science equipment, I found I had time to kill while waiting for my flight out to WAIS.  I made sure to get in some good trail runs on the rocky Ross Island trails.  I knew once at WAIS, it would be a lot of skiway running.

I took my annual, and now traditional photo, behind the McMurdo sign, and even compiled this cliche' montage highlighting my 5 years.

A new, and rather ridiculous addition to the United States Antarctic Program, was the oft-talked-about "Kress" vehicle.  To say that it's enormous, would be an understatement.  There's absolutely no explanation that anyone can give to me that would honestly justify the purchasing and use of this monstrosity.  I won't even go into all of the technical issues with a vehicle this size in McMurdo, but that fact that it belongs to the American Program, and is so unnecessarily large, speaks volumes to the stereotype of Americans always needing bigger and bigger things.  Perhaps the USAP consulted with Texas before deciding to drop several million dollars on this beasty.  I made the following image as a joke, but it does serve to illustrate what could be argued as an overall problem with American thinking....

Speaking of the Kiwis, I made another trip over to Scott Base to buy some souvenirs.  Always a blast heading over there.

I managed to squeeze in a little geo-caching in McMurdo as well and found this little beauty hiding up on Observation Hill.  It was buried well.  Who knew that there were active geo-cachers in Antarctica.

Eventually, after about 10 days, I made it out to WAIS Divide.  I secured a great spot in the far corner of Tent City, and got my self settled.  After about a week of "fine-tuning", the drillers managed to pull up the first piece of replicate ice core.  This core was drilled at an angle off of the main borehole, thereby preserving it for future logging.  What made the replicate drilling so revolutionary was that it was done on the up-wall side of the borehole....essentially against gravity.  This meant the drillers had to use intelligent actuators and software to push the drill the right way during each run.  Truly remarkable what those guys are able to accomplish.

WAIS Divide (and my tent site)

First piece of Replicate core!

Special "Milling" head used on the drill to flatten a ledge for replicate coring

Because the first 5 meters of replicate core weren't fully round, nor part of the requested science depths, we were all able to take a few photos holding the first core when it came out.  This is the only time in the history of the project, that an ice core has ever been allowed to be handled in this manner.  It was a bit unsettling having a 40,000 year old ice core in my hands.

The four core-handling science techs

(Me, Ross, Brad, Emily)

First Up-Wall replicate core ever drilled

IDDO's video from the season!

At one point during the season, we decided to host a whisky tasting.  Everyone in camp that brought their own whisky, put it into the pool, and we were able to sample a whole slew of different varieties (mostly scotches).  I brought the Ardbeg Uigeadail.

A few weeks later, there were actually three of us at camp with very Hungarian surnames.  We decided to honor our ancestry with this photo.  I was the only one that didn't actually speak Hungarian though.  (Fanny; pronounced Fawnie, Me, and Ildiko)

As part of my side research, I set up 5 temperature logging strings near camp. Their purpose was to run continuously, tracking the temperature in the upper 5 meters of snow at WAIS.  These data, when combined with solar and meteorological data, will hopefully will allow me to get a better handle on what causes the various changes with near-surface snow that I've documented over the years.

Programming a Logger

Building the Logger Box

Calibrating the sensors in an ice bath

An expansive surface "glaze" I photographed at camp

Putting in a station after drilling a 5 meter deep hole

Putting the sensor string down

One final voltage check

Towards the end of the season, a group of four of us went out to help Brad with his side project.  This project involved digging snowpits and drilling 10-meter shallow cores at 5 different sites near WAIS Divide. (The drilling was done with the same hand-auger drill that I used to make my 5-meter holes for my sensor strings).  The farthest drill site we had to visit was about 40km from camp.  What made this side project so exciting was that it meant we got to drive out on snowmobiles, and then set up a small/remote camp for the night.  In five years, I've never been able to actually camp alone away from a large station or camp (with the exception of maybe my snow school back in '08).

This was our camp.  Two small tents and our snowmobiles.  That was it.

Sampling the snowpit

Driving out to the camp

Another shot of the camp

Here was what I wrote about the experience in my journal and later sent to some friends via email:

"A few days ago, a team of four of us went on a snowmobile traverse about 40 kilometers from our main camp.  The purpose was to drill some shallow firn(snow) cores and sample snow pits on the other side of the ice-flow divide.  Because of the distance from camp, we had to set up a small remote camp and spend the night out there (of course I say night....but it never gets dark).  At about 9 pm, after we had finished drilling our cores, I went out for a walk away from the tents about 2 miles (still close enough to see them though).  It was a fairly calm and warm night...probably about -20C or so.  As I stood there alone, I realized that I was as truly "out there" as I would probably ever be.  It's a completely staggering feeling; an almost desperate disconnected-ness.  It's hard to think of any other time in my life that I've been so remote...or imagine a time in my future where I'll again be this remote"

Time-lapse of shallow drilling

Time-lapse of shallow drilling and snowpitting

(I'm snow-pitting, Brad, Emily, and Graham are drilling)

I left camp on Friday, January 25th....the day the last core was pulled up.  The optimistic, and what many people thought was an unlikely goal for the season, was to drill five separate replicate cores...all from different depths, ranging in total lengths from 12 meters to 100 meters.  When I left on Friday, they were pulling up the last core from the fifth and final deviation.  All target depths were drilled, and drilled successfully, with the entire replicate coring project being a huge success.  The flights home went quickly and smoothly (with the exception of my chicago flight), and now I am thrust back into a busy world of grad school catch up.  It seems I haven't really even had time to process my fifth season.  It was a huge success, but it also went by rather quickly, and I haven't honestly had a lot of time to reflect on it.  I was so very glad to be asked back again and was honored to have been a part of such an incredible crew.  It's hard to believe there won't be any drilling next year, but I know that this is the case.   Perhaps I will find a way back down, and finally break that 1-year-of-ice-time barrier.  Who knows.  I know at least this:  I love working in the polar environment and Antarctica has truly become a second home for me.  It is a magical place that I long to return to every year.  I hope I can, and will find a way back.  

But for now, it's time to push ahead with my thesis and my future career options.  My grad school chapter of my life is slowly winding down and must soon come to an end.

As far as other fun stuff.  Well...I've been up to a little goofiness since getting back.  On February 2nd, I attended...in person, the official groundhog day festival.  It was notably more crowded than I expected it to be.  Gobbler's Knob looked like a huge outdoor music concert.  There were easily 10-15 thousand people there.  It was a bit surreal being there, and I was convinced at any moment that Bill Murray was going to jump out.

And finally.......the running.  When last I updated, I was noting my current physical woes.  I was having heel pain, toe pain, and knee pain.  Since taking a few weeks off in November, I slowly began working up my miles while out at WAIS Divide.  By the end of the season, I was back to 40-50 mile weeks.  The knee pain is thankfully gone completely, but I still have come-and-go heel pain.  At some point I probably should get an x-ray to make sure there's no bone spur, but for now I enjoy getting outdoors too much to let it slow me down.  Neither my heel nor my toe have gotten any worse.  

The first weekend I was back in State College, I went for a 20-mile trail run in Rothrock while it was cold and snowing.  It was absolutely magnificent.  In the two weeks since then, I've stepped up my running again and have been trying to get out as much as I can.  I really missed the dirt beneath my feet this year while in Antarctica, and since coming back, I can't get enough of the wooded trails in and around Rothrock State Forest.  I have even been going back to old hill-workout sites from last year to see how I would hold up.  Surprisingly...I managed just fine....

The ol' 1250 feet in 1 mile gas-line cut in Rothrock

Being nostalgic with some eye-popping hill repeats