2013 Turkey Bowl

After running the 5k this morning, I drove out to Medford to Camp Ockanickon where I've been playing a camp alumni football game every year for the better part of a decade.

We played old guys (of which I was the oldest) vs. young guys while the girls stood on the sidelines chatting.   We used to play full-on tackle, but camp has gotten worried about the possibility of injuries and makes us play touch now.  Football is obviously not my forte, so I'm happy to catch the ball a few times and score a touchdown or two.

The real reason for spending the day playing a sport I'm not good at is to head out for beer and wings afterwards.  We usually go to a small Piney bar where they serve enormous bowls of wings and cheap beers.

Today we sat right by the giant TV screen playing the Auburn - Alabama game and proceeded to gorge ourselves on meat and pitchers of PBR.  It doesn't get much better than that in my book.

Running at camp II

I tried, once again, to join Above and Beyond Fitness's training session this morning over in Medford.  Two weeks ago I didn't find them until their workout was almost over and I had already run 9 miles.  Today I found them in time but was informed their weekly Saturday workouts had been canceled because they're too far behind in setting up the obstacles.  Instead, I was invited to join them on their walk through (to show the volunteers the course).  I could do all the obstacles and would still get just as good a workout.

A - no I wouldn't.
B - wasn't I just told not all of the obstacles were completed?

I declined, told them I'd see them at the race in two weeks, and set off on an 8 mile run by myself.  I hadn't brought my Garmin with me so I had to run by time, like in the good old days.  Ran an hour and 11 minutes for good measure.

The bonus of running at camp, aside from running in the woods, is that I can go in the lake afterwards.  I've had a nagging pain in my calf the last few days, so I took off my shoes and went into the lake up to my knees.  Does a body good.

Running at camp

Set out for Camp Ockanickon this morning at 7am.  Had intended to join a fitness class there sponsored by Above and Beyond Fitness, in preparation for their semi-annual mudrun next month, but I couldn't find them. In lieu of the crossfit-style workout I had come to camp for, I set out for my usual Saturday 8 miler, which turned into 9.

Running in the woods always brings to mind Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening:"

The woods are lovely dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Running at camp is so good for my soul, and today was just what I needed.  Gone is the humid nightmare I've been experiencing lately, replaced by the first fall morning chill with brilliant blue skies.  The 9 miles went by easily as I ran past deer, wild turkeys, people out for bike rides, and several girlscouts on a weekend retreat.

Caught up with the ABF crew at the end of the run and met the trainer who seemed incredibly nice.  Turns out they start their workout on a small patch of land recently acquired by camp that I didn't know about. Might try to meet up with them on a Saturday in the future.

2012 Turkey Bowl

Every year, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the better part of the last decade, I've been going to the alumni Turkey Bowl football game at my old camp.  It's a day when counselors of generations past can get together for some football, followed by wings and beer afterwards at a bar down the road.  That last part might be why I look forward to this day.

2012 Turkey Bowl

Football is hardly a strength of mine, but I like the camaraderie and male bonding it allows.  I'm usually happy just to score a touchdown and make an interception here and there, and I'm always happy for the exercise.

Missing the ball

This year the camp director showed up and not only made us sign waivers, but made us wear flags and play flag football instead of tackle.  Most of the guys were not happy about this.

We still enjoyed ourselves for a few hours before daylight gave out on us and we headed to the bar.

Family Camp 2012

Just had one of the most relaxing weekends in recent memory.  Spent the weekend with Stevie sleeping in a small cabin at Camp Ockanickon, one of my favorite places on earth.

Last year I was still training for an upcoming marathon and had to complete several training runs while there.  This year, having just completed a spring marathon, I was able to keep the running to a minimum and spend more time relaxing.  Among the highlights from the weekend:

We spent time on the archery range...

Went canoeing...

I played with fire:

We conquered the climbing wall...

And did plenty of swimming:

Three more weeks left of school until summer!

Flashback Friday III

Part of the fun of being a twenty-something is doing all sorts of strange things to earn a buck. Eventually you settle into a career and begin to forgo the spontaneity, indecision and uncertainty that are hallmarks of your young working life, but until then, you might end up looking like this:

June 2006

It's a fact that in the summer of 2006, I earned money to dress like this every two weeks.  I was a "village chief" at Camp Ockanickon, capping off a total of six summers and a trove of unforgettable memories.  Each session ended with what we called the Blue Feather Ceremony in which one or two boys from each village would receive the blue feather, camp's highest honor.  Shortly after I finished my time at camp, I got a blue feather tatooed on my right triceps - such is my love for this camp.

Knowing my time at camp was coming to an end, I spent my final year there trying to take advantage of it all, which mostly took the form of running its many trails.  With nearly 600 acres and a spiderweb of trails strung about its landscape, camp is a runner's paradise.  I trained for the first marathon of my life on those trails, usually at dusk, often setting out around the lake and trying to make it all the way around before darkness enveloped the woods.  It was during these runs at dusk that I often encountered several deer.  Two or three off in the distance, eating calmly, raising their heads to watch me bound past, sometimes breaking into a run themselves.

I continued running into the summer, despite the heat and prevalent exhaustion, so much that when it came time for the first Blue Feather Ceremony of the summer, my village chief name became obvious.  Though we took pains to be historically accurate and culturally sensitive to the area's rich Native American history, it didn't stop the village chiefs each year from assuming pseudo Indian-sounding names for this ceremony.  I took my inspiration both from Dances with Wolves and the countless deer I'd seen over the past year.

Looking out over an audience of impressionable young boys, eagerly awaiting the announcement of each village's blue feather recipient as the firelight danced weakly on the trees around them, I bellowed into the darkness, "I, Chief Runs with Deer, declare the Mohawk Tribe, of the Ockanickon Nation, to be in council."

Revenge of the 20 miler

Marathon training schedules generally don't care if you're having a relaxing weekend in the woods. They don't care if you'd rather spend your morning sitting by the lake.  No matter where you are, you have to stick to the schedule.  So my peaceful weekend was briefly disturbed by another raging 20 miler this morning.

I'm at Camp Ockanickon for the weekend, running in the same places in which I trained for my first marathon when I worked here years ago.  The good thing is that camp owns 565 acres on the western tip of the Pine Barrens, which means trails - lots and lots of trails: blissfully uncrowded, devoid of cars and their exhaust, shady, soft trails.  I would estimate 80% of my run this morning was on dirt roads and trails.  It was a nice change of pace from running on concrete sidewalks and asphalt roads all the time.

But a 20 mile run is still a 20 mile run, and I was hurting in the homestretch, especially as the morning temperature crept into the upper 80's.  The only thing that got me through was the thought of jumping in the lake to cool off when I finished.  I didn't even stop to take off my shoes.  I grabbed my Gatorade and ran with it into the waterfront, then to the end of the dock and jumped. I stopped my watch in midair and landed in a cannonball, much to the confusion of those around me.

Truly the only proper way to end a 20 miler

My legs felt better afterwards than they ever have after a 20 miler.  If only I could always end a long run this way.

Back on the trails

To an Old Camper

By Mary S. Edgar

You may think my dear, when you grow quite old

You have left camp days behind,

But I know the scent of wood smoke

Will always call to mind

Little fires at twilight

And trails you used to find.

You may think someday you have quite grown up

And feel so worldly wise,

But suddenly from out of the past

A vision will arise

Of merry folk with brown bare knees

And laughter in their eyes.

You may live in a house built to your tastes

In the nicest part of town,

But someday for your old camp togs

You'd change your latest gown

And trade it for a balsam bed

Where stars all night look down.

You may find yourself grown wealthy

Have all that gold can buy,

But you'd toss aside a fortune

For days 'neath an open sky

With sunlight and blue water

And white clouds sailing by.

For once you have been a camper

Then something has come to stay

Deep in your heart forever

Which nothing can take away,

And heaven can only be heaven,

With a camp in which to play.

At camp for Memorial Day weekend, and couldn't be happier.

The Oddman Duathlon

Every year at the end of March, a large number of runners and bikers go crashing through the woods of YMCA Camp Ockanickon in a madcap race called the Oddman.  It's a 16.2 mile duathlon - 5k on foot, 10 miles on bike, and another 5k on foot.  It's called the Oddman because its organizers frequently came in 5th place, so they decided to devise a race in which only 1st, 3rd and 5th place finishers receive trophies.  And what a unique trophy they offer:

My trophy from the 2009 race.

Each one is handmade with a picture of the Oddman symbol on one side and the finisher's name on the other.  I won this trophy in the 2009 race and have been using it to drink celebratory volumes of beer ever since, making it one of my favorite trophies out of any I've ever received.

The Oddman is one of my favorite races of the year for several reasons.  The unique prize system helps, but one of the biggest reasons is the setting.  I was a camper for five summers at Camp Ockanickon, and on staff for six.  Nostalgia mixed with natural beauty make it my favorite place on Earth, which says a lot.  This picture doesn't capture the white sandy trails, the softness of the White Pine's needles, the mist blanketing the lake at dawn... but it'll get you started:

Imagine spending the morning racing around this

The first part of the race - the first 5k on foot - went perfectly.  I know every square inch of that camp and am incredibly comfortable on the trails.  I spent this part within 30 seconds of the lead pack, and not one person passed me, which is pretty good for me.

Then I got on the bike.

Simply put, I do not race well on a bike.  I am to biking what Rebecca Black is to singing.  Ok, I exaggerate, but while I held my ground quite easily in the running portion of the race, I quickly lost count of how many people passed me in the biking portion.  One after the other, while I was flailing about, clicking away at the gears and pumping like a madman on the pedals, biker after biker passed me with confident ease.  It was maddening and incredibly discouraging.  Add to this an extremely challenging race course, with abrupt dips, turns, climbs, and tree roots numbering in the thousands, and six trips up and down a hill so steep it practically requires a harness and a six man belay team, and you might imagine how frustrated I was getting.

Then I got back on my feet.

I felt good.  I felt alive.  I was passing people with relative ease.  It reminded me how much I love running and racing.  My unofficial time was 1:37:35, good for 5th place in my age group and 17th overall.  It's nearly a three minute improvement over last year when I took 2nd (and no trophy), and a five minute improvement over two years ago when I took 1st.  It's odd, man (hehe).  My times have gotten faster, but my place in the standings has gotten worse.  C'est la vie.

I don't look anything like a cyclist

After the race two men approached me and said, "So you were in the race."

"What do you mean, I was in the race?"

"You passed us at the end and you were absolutely flying - we thought you were just some guy out for a trail run.  We were going to yell at you to get off the course because there was a race going on."

It was a nice ego boost.

It's tempting to dedicate more time to cycling.  I kept thinking that if I knew what I was doing on a bike, I could easily dominate the Oddman.  Or at least stand a better chance at winning my age group again.  But I'm just not ready to commit to buying a new, expensive bike and spending hours a week on it.  For now, I'm more than happy with a simple pair of running shoes and narrow, winding trails through the woods.