Float On...

Dear Readers,

Diane and I went canoeing today. It was really fun.

About 2/3 through our trip, we came upon three boats filled with some young adults. The young gentlemen all had on american flag shorts, and the young ladies had on american flag, and confederate flag bikinis. I have to admit the homage to the origins of Memorial Day did not got unnoticed by me. It was clear that these kids paid attention in school, and knew that originally Memorial Day was a holiday to recognize the soldiers that fought in the civil war, but then later became a day to honor all that have served and sacrificed for country.

Cheers to you young men and women and your, dare I say, outstanding patriotic display. Living in Cecil County, I'm not such a fan of the confederate flag, but I understood the homage.

 I would have shared one of the red, white and blue Buds that you were enjoying, until you tipped your canoes and buds were sent floating all over the Brandywine river. We were able to rescue 2 and help return them to their homes. The nice bikini clad ladies also did help shepherd us through a tricky little rocky section. You know tricky for the Brandywine.

These kids were very kind, and friendly as we floated on down the river... Lots of folks out today in canoes, tubes and other floating devices... Everyone with smiles on their faces... it was nice.

sorry folks no pictures of the gentlemen in flag shorts, or the flag bikinis but  Here are  lots of selfies:

transferring at the dam.

Notice the trend, I paddle, she takes pictures...

Panorama kinda freaks me out... 

Oh, and we went for a bike ride this weekend.
It was glorious. Glorious if you like a ton of weird winds.
Glorious indeed.

thanks for reading.

respect
fatmarc

My brother says I run like a Sasquatch.

Dear Reader,

I will admit my perspective has changed a bit.

My brother called me earlier this week. He had been reading my facebook posts and was a little concerned where my head was.

My Running Form= Sasquatch

I have greatly enjoyed my time in grad school, and as a student. This opportunity has enabled me a chance to do something that frankly has been an albatross for me for a longtime. I am a good student, and I have really enjoyed my time at Goldey. That said with the light at the end of the tunnel,Hopefully next February I am tired. I want those 10hrs a week back.  Last block, I was able to really get pumped up again as the professor was incredible and the course really challenging and interesting.

In the last weeks, my new class started. I was not initially blown away by the professor. I am lucky to be working with a good group for yet another group project. I feel lucky to have the teammates I have. That said there were some issues on our first paper, and frankly the professor was at little laissez fair in her handling of it. I found this dissatisfying. Couple the fact that she was not timely and getting back with me, and I was downright surly. It all works out at the end of the day, but it was not a nice situation.

I'll also admit that the 9 hrs of Rocky Gap has left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I could really careless about the result per se.  I have never been particularly athletically gifted, or had anything come easy to me. My strengths are in planning, keeping a cool head and being resilient. I pride myself in preparation- one of my mantras is failure to prepare, is preparing to fail. Last weekend I made so many mental mistakes, preparation mistakes that I just keep kicking myself for

•  making the front group on the run and running past my bike, as I was looking for a black bike, you know the one I broke months ago
• not re-freshing my stan's prior to the race, and flatting the first time
• not putting enough air in the tire/tube and causing the second flat.
• I was 7 pounds over where I needed to be this time of year. 

No one has ever accused me of being a climber, but I climbed really awfully.

Look, I had fun, I love that course, one of my favorites and I see the positive in our result, we were very resilient. But clearly, I'm not been pleased with my preparation for that race. I needed to get that off my chest. Can't control the past, only the future, but that one is nagging me a bit...

When things are a little wonky, and between my school/my cycling they have been, my instinct is to grind. Put my head down and to go. Sometimes that's not pretty. Sometimes it works out great. Sometime I grind myself into the ground.

So my brother called me the other day, and it was great to hear from him. I'm grateful to have heard from him. Wednesday night, Diane and I went to the O's game. It was awesome. They slapped around the Yankees, and I might have hung out with Mr. Boh a little more than normal. It was awesome. I am truly a blessed man.

"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."

thanks for reading.

respect
fatmarc

9 hours of Rocky Gap

Dear True Believer,

Friday afternoon, about an hour before the Amy Farrah Fowler Fan Club was scheduled to leave for Rocky Gap State Park, Diane charged into the room and said to me, "I have to run to the grocery store." I was surprised and looked at her puzzled. She responded  "the dogs got into your race food while you were loading up, they ate all of it. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Sneaking my way to the front row...

Another Awesome Picture of me running badly !

Somewhat of an ominous, foreshadowing of events I would say....

The Amy Farrah Fowler Fan Club made up of Buddy Briggs (twin six), Travis Sapsford (Guys), and Fatme (C3: twenty 20) headed to the 9 hours of Rocky Gap expecting a challenging race, and at least 7 teams that were capable of pulling off the win. We had developed a plan, and frankly having raced together for a long time were felt good about our chances.

But then, then the shit storm hit. I've been doing team relay races for a long time, and frankly we've been really lucky over the years. In all those years, we always seem to have good luck, seemed to things break our way. Today, not so much...

Profile of the 9 hours of Rocky Gap

That said, I don't want to write an excuse filled blog with why we didn't win or do better. That's bike racing, sometimes things all fall together, and sometimes you face some unexpected challenges. That was us today. In the end, I'm proud as hell that we were able to fight back and make the top 5. While we certainly didn't land where we had hoped, we battled, we and resilant and had some great racing. On my second lap, catching Root, and riding his wheel through the first section of single track was so much fun. Perhaps even more fun was ripping the same section with Scott form Haymarket. At one point I wasn't sure we'd end up in the top 10 on the day, but we just kept fighting, kept charging and battling. It was it's own reward in the end.

Cheers to Travis Harnish, Scott Roberts, and Chris Jackson on their 2nd place finish. They rode a really tough race, and came through strongly.  Scott Bridged back to me on the steppest climb and I had to throw everything I had at him to finally get some space on that lap. Good on you guys.

Our little compound- Scott Roberts not pictured.

I can't say that I wasn't frustrated with some of the trouble I ran into today. I didn't keep my cool as I like to, but I am grateful for my teammates, and my wife who all kept me calm and moving forward.

hard fought 4th place

Rocky Gap is a beautiful venue, and frankly the course is one of my all time favorites. The Cranky Monkey folks did a great job promoting this one, and frankly if you told me I could line up and take another crack at it today, I would... Only 364 days until the next 9 hours of Cranky Monkey...

This poor guy lost a bet with his teammates and had to drink the Natty  Daddy.
Travis, Buddy and I agreed that no bet ending with someone drinking the Natty Daddy was worth it.

thanks for reading.

respect
Fatmarc

TLC and fighting Mr. Belvidere

Dear Readers,

Saturday morning found me at another 5k trail run. Close racing, hard efforts, really fun stuff, in a sick, sad, I'm not a good runner kinda way.  It's enough to keep a guy coming back. Oh and Mathew McConnaughey hot guy was there again. L-Web got this picture of him at the finish. His fame is growing quickly...

He might be enough to come back around for. I can't guarantee he'll be at Granogue, but he's made all the other trail runs thus far... He might be on the marketing for the Granogue 10k next year. I think he's been working out some more. Luckily he was doing the 10k today, and not the 5k where he would crush my soul.

Race went well, I suffered  out my eyes, lost the leaders after the turnaround, and finished up 2nd in my age group. Ran a 25:07... This was by far the hardest trail run done thus far from an elevation standpoint and just the pace of the run. Course was more open, and just fast. Turned myself inside out. It was fun in a brutal kinda way. Somehow at the finish, I didn't look too good.

Sunday, we had a nice group of riders show up to the house for the Mr. Belvidere hates you loop. This loop while not the most brutal features Belvidere road, of course named after this guy:

 His road, has a number of rises, and the point in the ride, is longer and a bigger challenge than I'd like to admit. It's hard and really fun.

CONsorto, hendrickson, (i)Paul, Lisa, Blair, Kurtee, Ted Logic, JW, Stu, Heather, Buddy, Charlie, Amy and I

How fun?

So much fun that Diane pretty much wanted to punch me in the junk as she finally came over the final peak of Belvidere. It was all smiles for the ride home...

one of my favorite sections of road

It was a good day, and a good weekend for sure.

best to you all.

thanks for reading.

respect
fatmarc

A Week Full Of Awesome

Dear Reader,

My apologies for lack of updates last week. It was a heck of a week that included a final exam, a birthday trip to Philly/sitting in parking lot on I-95, and a Civic Association meeting we didn't know existed  about a drainage pond that we apparently own 1/20th of but again didn't know existed. Let's just say that was full of awesome.

Let's just say neither Monk or I got the riding in we wanted to, but it was a whirlwind week that ended up with us at the Piscatello Law Great Valley Criterium.

Monkey's Race:

cass and monk

First few laps seem to stay together, everyone is working well. There is a kid in the field who decided she didn't want to ride with the women anymore. She starts attacking and the field is strung out. With 11 to go,  the field comes by totally strung out, and Monkey and a couple of other women have been popped.

I have to admit at this point, I thought it was going to be a long day.

But, then something amazing and awesome happened. The kid got clear, and the pack mellowed out a bit. Monkey had bit her lip, tucked into the drops and chased her ass off. As they came back through the start finish she bridged back to the the group. It was awesome. Monk visibly was bleeding out the eyes, but with 9 to go, she was back in the pack. This is going into the last lap:

The rest of the race was pretty smooth as the group worked together and came to the line for the sprint. She was pleased with ride, learned a lot, and continues to learn...  I was super proud of Monk. She was tough as nails, and to battle back in was freakin' awesome.

My Race:
Super fun, tons of juniors in the cat three field, which was actually kind of nice. I will admit junior smack talk is still developing, and while they can rip my legs off, they need some smack intervals. One nice kid yelled when folks weren't pulling through "if you are scared of the wind get out of the race." You can do better buddy, you can do better.

Where's Fatmarc? look for the Awesome Pro Feet...

Anyway, I wanted to be patient, but then went on a move, resulting in me missing the move I should have gone with. Once I was left with the group to sprint, well I balled that up too. Came around the last corner too hot, got bumped out of the draft, and started my sprint way too early, and essentially let everyone pass me on the line. It was fun, legs were tired from my Saturday ride, and I rode stupidly, but other than that it was really fun. Looking forward to the next one...


Monkey and I finished off the morning with a nice breakfast at the sidebar. I had an artichoke omelet, and an Allagash White, Monk went with jalapeno and steak omelet and a glass of orange juice.

anyway, thanks for reading.

let's hope this week is actually filled with the good kind of awesome.

respect
fatmarc