My sister, the muddog, and Frederick

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My sister is one of the smartest people I know, and I love her. On the day I took this picture, she was about to have some surgery done on one of her teeth and she was freaking out because the doctor had said he may have to put her under. While we talked, I happened across this sign and just had to take a picture of it because my sister's name is Candy :).

On this day, I had also just completed the Muddog Run, a gruelling, freezing, mud covered and filled 3 mile obstacle course, and was walking through Frederick, MD with Jixen, exploring restaurants, wineries, and random little stores. We had done our best to cover up or mud-bathed bodies, and remove dried mud from out hair; I suppose we were somewhat successful since no one threw us out of their restaurants or wineries.

Have you ever visited Frederick? We hadn't. On that day, the sun was out so things were a little less gloomy than you'd expect them to be during the winter. Still, I felt a little uneasy about being there because from where we were parked, the town had this "walking dead" feel to it. However, I very quickly changed my mind about the town when, as we walked towards downtown, this thug looking gentleman with his pants below his butt checks, and his face seated about 5 inches inside a huge hoody gave me a half-smile and a "what's up" nod. Good. There couldn't be zombies here.

We enjoyed that afternoon, tasting all sorts of wines and talking to all sorts of wine people. We even visited the local porn store, which was a sketchy looking hole in the wall. It was as sketchy on the inside as it looked on the outside. All in all, it was a great day of activities

So, why this blog post? Well, this probably wont make sense but whenever I think back to the connection between the the Candy Kitchen and Candy's tooth surgery, I suddenly get a rush of memories of the activities of that day, in brilliant, blinding color. I figured i'd try to share some of these memories with you, and hopefully encourage you to go randomly exploring random little towns :).

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Chipmunk Hell: Catoctin Mountain Park

Unlike most normal people, we decided to go camping sometime in late October, out in Catoctin Mountain Park. It was cold. We rented a rustic cabin in the Misty Mountain Camp area; it had no running water, electricity, or, we later found out, insulation.

Cute? Devil spawn! (Click to view my photos)

Over three days we hiked the mountains and got lost frequently, cooked outside on an open fire, explored the woods we were living in, and enjoyed complete darkness -- the kind you can only find in places victoriously void of civilization. And then we were mercilessly assaulted by chipmunks (hell spawn!). Or more precisely, our food was the target of an unrelenting chipmunk black-ops squad that visited our cabin every night, found their way in through the spaces between the building logs, and had their way with our hot dog buns et al. I was pissed and fought back by hanging up our food in a bag tied to a shoe lace, from a center roofing beam in the cabin. Jixen found all this rather amusing. The chipmunks weren't amused when they kept falling in an attempt to get to the food, and finally let us sleep soundly on our last night.

Chipmunks aside, Catoctin Mountain Park was a blast-- it's outdoorsing paradise-- and I would recommend it to anyone who loves the outdoors. Just don't go when it starts to hit below 60 at night. It's bearable since you can take sheets and stuff for the beds they have in there, but that lack of insulation on some of the cabins is a real pain in the ass.

Making Reservations: 
Making a reservation is pretty simple; visit www.recreation.gov to get your campsite for Misty Mountain  (where we were) or any of the other 3 or 4 other available sites. Click here for more info on the reservation issue.

Getting there: 
The easiest way to get here is with a GPS and a car. There is no public transportation in, around, or close to the park. Click here for more info on how to get to Catoctin Mountain Park.

 Stuff to do: 
There's a lot to do here, but we did the following:

• Rock Climbing
• Hiking
• Photography
• Waterfall hunting
• Cunningham Falls

For more things to do and nearby attractions, click here.

 Tips, warnings, and heads-ups: 

• Devil chipmunks exist there; Keep your food of the ground i.e. hang it up somehow
• There are beds in the cabins so bring sheets and pillows to make your stay more comfy
• If it's past summer, bring extra sheets
• Bring a flash light or two for midnight bathroom treks
• Bring an lots of kindling and tinder; the firewood they provide is sometimes moist
• Bring ear plugs if night sounds bother you
• Enjoy yourself! 

Our Cabin in the woods

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Sunshine, oh yeah!

So, it would seem this mild yet crappy winter is done, and awesome sunshine and warmth are once again upon us! I'm happy. I'll be doing a bunch of camping and biking this summer too because I'm back in school, and will be interning (hopefully) this summer, and so i'll have more time on my hands to explore fun ol' nature.

I haven't yet figured out where i'll go... I usually leave that up to Jixen, but I know it's going to be mostly on the east coast since i'm in NY. Hmmm... maybe I'll go upstate for a change? We'll see. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please be a mensch and share them in the comments section at the bottom. In a later post, I'll share some of the awesome places I saw as last summer drew to a close. For now though, here is a photo of a hike I did. You can click on it to visit the album! Happy Outdoorsing!

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A Weekend running in Bel Air, MD

Part of the Ma & Pa trail I ran

I spent this weekend in Bel Air, MD. It was a nice, quiet time, and I still continued my training for the NYC Urbanathlon. Aha! You didn't think I was still training did you? Well, yes I am.

On Saturday morning, I was woken at about 6am, by my wife (Jixen), fed some breakfast, and dragged out of the house to go for a brisk run. You should understand that I have always had a very strict rule about vacations, holidays, and weekends: they are meant for relaxation-- this translates into me vegging out and watching movies and/or playing video games-- So being woken at 6am to go for a run isn't something I really  appreciate. However, doing anything outdoors with my wife, no matter how unpleasant it seems at first, quickly turns into fun and silliness.

Anyway, so off we went to her favorite run spot, the Ma & Pa trail. I'm not sure exactly why it's called the Ma & Pa trail (I'm sure you could find out if you're that interested though), but it's a beautiful, beautiful place to run! I'm not sure if it was the fresh rain drops still sitting on the leaves, or the fog created by the water evaporating from the ground, but this was an amazing place to run. The trail is about 3.3 miles long (only the Bel Air, MD side. There is apparently another 1.7 miles somewhere in Forest Hills, MD)  I understand, but I really only did 2.75 miles over two days. Hey, it was humid!

I hope to go back again soon and bike the trail from the Bel Air section to the Forest Hills section just to see what all of it's like. And next time I'll take pictures. Please see here for trail locations, and here for maps and directions.

Stuff to do:

• Run, bike, and/or walk you puppy!

Tips, warnings, and heads-ups:

• It's not flat
• Enjoy the very well kept woods
• See if you can spot any equestrians as you pass the Harford County Equestrian Center
• Stop over at Annie's playground and go inside

Top awesome things:

• The nature.
• Annie's playground

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Airsoft!

Filforce, an Airsoft team

No, I did not vacation in Afghanistan this summer. What you see in the photo to the left are Airsoft players. What is Airsoft? Glad you asked! Airsoft is a recreational activity in which plastic BB's are shot with replica firearms during MilSims (Military Simulations/ Military Simulated Battles). Another way to put that is: Airsoft is like paintball, except it uses guns that look remarkably like the Real Steel versions, uses BB's instead of paint, and is VERY focused on the military look and feel of the game. For more information on Airsoft, check this wikipedia thing out or take a look at my sidebar. You can also follow this link for information on how to get started in Airsoft.

So why am I writing about Airsoft here? Well, as you can infer from the photo above, the game is sometimes played outdoors (there are also "indoor" CQB games, but you can read up on that for yourself), and per my definition of Outdoorsing, Airsoft qualifies. I was first exposed to Airsoft by a friend in CA; he later went on to join the National Guard so he could play with real guns and not be hassled by the Police for not having an orange tip on his guns. But I digress. I left CA shortly after and came to NY then NJ where I rediscovered the joys of running through the woods with guns, BB's, and Camo.

I am currently getting my equipment ready for this game:

I'll make sure to take pictures to share!

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NYC Urbanathlon update 2

Today is day 4 of my preparation for the NYC Urbanathlon. Yesterday was a "rest day", so I biked about 7.7Miles to keep my muscles "alert" (see below for the awesome scenic route I took through Liberty State Park).

Today, I repeated the 1.5Mile run I did on 8/9/11, with two noted differences: I was about 2 minutes slower ( I attribute that to a pebble in my shoe), and my lungs and diaphragm weren't on fire when I finished! The second point in particular interests me because I think that means my body is getting used to running again and taking in all those extra gulps of air, which mean I'll soon be ready to increase the distance I ran! I'll keep you posted.

Off day biking route
On off days, instead of kicking back and playing some Black Ops, I decuded to keep my muscles on their toes. I originally thought about doing short runs or jogs, but then I felt sorry for my knees (running screws up your knees) so I decided to ride my bike. That's kinda what they call cross-training. Anyway, below is the bike route I took yesterday-- I might stick with it for all my off days.



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NYC Urbanathlon -- 10.29.11

This is going to suck.

I very recently re-agreed (I half-heartedly agreed earlier in the year and forgot about it) to run the 2011 NYC Urbanathlon with two friends. I haven't run a mile since college, when I decided that running without the motivation of a rabid dog was silly, and quit the track team. I haven't figured out exactly what their motivation is for wanting to run in this race, but I figure life is short so wth, right?

I'm posting this here as a way to motivate myself to train. I'll be doing mini postings like the one below a couple of times a week (damnit!) to update the internets about my progress/ training etc. I am as yet not sure exactly which form of the race we're doing i.e. the 3 man relay where each person runs approx 3.1 miles, or the individual race where everyone runs 9.2 miles. Personally, I hope they're thinking the relay, because 9.2 miles seems like an awful waste of time and knee cartilage.

Yup, it's going to suck. But like most things in life, friends make it suck less.

Training 8/9/11
Today I run 1.5 miles in 11 minutes. Not bad I say, considering this has been my first 1 mile plus run in about 8 years :). See below for the route I took:


 Tips, warnings, and heads-ups:

• If you decide to do this, you may want to consider an early morning or late evening run. The afternoon's fine too if you don't mind dodging people and/or their pets and kids.
• Enjoy the view of NYC.

Top awesome things:

• The view of NYC.

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