Running in the Heat. And the Best Protein Shake Ever.

Donate Here!

How the hell did I ever survive triple sessions in the New Jersey August heat?  I specifically put off my run today until the evening hours to let the temperature cool down a bit.  At run time it was probably only flirting with 80 degrees here in South Kingstown, RI.  Nonetheless, this weather had me sweating like I was a righty at bat against Mariano Rivera.  And the run was only a little over 4 miles.  I think I left as many pounds of sweat in my t-shirt.  To make matters worse this was the second time I'd sweat through my shirt today as another day in the field trapping turtles in the mid-afternoon heat proved grueling.

Anyone who played football with me in High School knows I am a notorious cramper (ask Joey Schoch or Sean Hirrell about the post-Ponderosa Steakhouse episode).  Folks with Cystic Fibrosis lose salt in their sweat at a much greater rate than a normal person thereby making them more susceptible to the perils of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance.  Hence cramps.  For this reason I have ample concern over attempting to run 26 miles with the only assemblage of muscles that I have.  What if its 80 degrees in NYC on November 3rd?  There wouldn't be enough Gatorade in all the delis in all the Boroughs!  

My only real plan to prevent cramping is to be vigilant about hydration before, during, and after runs.  Is there anything else you can do?  As my mileage begins to tick upward...8,10,12,15 miles...I'll have a much better idea about how my body will respond to prolonged water and salt loss.  Hopefully it won't be too dramatic.  Or too hot in NYC in November.  All this global warming stuff is hocus-pocus anyway, right?

And now (as promised) shifting gears...

Here is the recipe for the most delicious protein shake ever invented:

2 bananas

2-3 tablespoons peanut butter

2 cups milk

1 fat free (or fat...whatever) chocolate yogurt

1 tablespoon semi-sweet chocolate chips

ice for coldness to preference

Blend it up!!!

Drinks like a Butterfinger milkshake but its damn healthy.  About 30 grams of protein.  And very easy to get all your ingredients organic.  Now go get out and run so you have an excuse to make one. 

Donate Here!

Old People Running.

Sometimes you're just not in the mood for running.  But you have to go out.  Because you told all your friends that you're gonna run real far in a few months.  So you kind of pout along, dragging your feet saying to yourself, "I'd rather be doing something that wasn't running."  And then you hit an uphill.  And then it starts raining.  Things are looking grim.

But then plodding methodically down the hill comes a grey haired wonder.  An old lady wearing sneakers and a fanny pack and running with a little hitch, but basically as fast as you are.  And she's smiling.  And then she smiles to you and waves and says, "good morning!"  And you can't help but smile and say good morning back to her.  She passes and with her passes your malcontent.  Now your smiling.

Donate Here!    

Virginia is for Runners.

Donate Here!

I've spent the passed week in Front Royal, Virginia at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation taking a class on wildlife genetics.  The course has allowed me to take a big step forward in understanding the possibilities of working with DNA to answer questions related to wildlife conservation and ecology.  And  like so many opportunities that come to pass when working in this field, it has afforded me the chance to come to a place renown for its natural beauty.  The school is located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at the northeastern edge of the Shenandoah National Park.  Although the pace and rigor of the course (often times going at it for 13 hours/day) has precluded me from venturing into the surrounding hills for any substantial period of time, I have been able to escape in the early morning hours for a handful of runs.

Not to mention the fact that the 3200 acre grounds house breeding programs for (and the opportunity to view) some of the most critically endangered mammals and birds on the planet (cheetahs, clouded leopards, red pandas, maned wolves, Przewalski's horses, white-naped cranes), this place and the surrounding Shenandoah region hold captive my naturalist heart.

This morning I got out with a short window of time to run before having to report to class.  In a pinch for time I figured I would take full advantage of the topography in order to maximize the benefit of my exercise.  To the north of campus (built upon an old military installation) there is a large hill called Racetrack Hill where rugged United States military men from centuries passed would engage in equine sport.  And as it happens, an oval shaped, mowed hilltop is a convenient place to run.  I had come up here briefly on a run a few days prior and watched the physical repercussions of what was unquestionably a large, fast-moving snake slide through some tall grass along an old stone wall.  Like a child, I ran after the moving grass.  But as in waking from a dream where some wonderful fleeting feeling escapes...the snake got away before I could glimpse it.

Needless to say I was eager to return to Racetrack Hill. I spent the rainy morning running laps around the primitive track.  I was soon lost in the place.  Hayed hillsides giving way to rolling hardwood forests, lingering fog obscuring the rounded peaks, lone purple thistle rising from the grass, swallows zipping overhead.  All of this appealed to a deep seated sense of place.  A distant sense of home.      

Donate Here!