Tag Archives: Tyoga Running Club

goals, runner, Running

100 Miles of Social Media

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When I ran the Pine Creek Challenge 100 I knew that I had a great support team consisting of my wife and my closest running friends cheering me on and supporting me. What I did not realize is how many other peopl would be cheering me on and supporting me without me even knowing it that day.

My crew is awesome. I knew they would take photos of me throughout the day and they would have fun and post their adventures and fun to social media. I also knew my wife would likely be posting updates of how my race was going on her social media. What I did not know is how many people would be following along on social media and clicking the like button and posting messages of support while I was out there on the course. There was this whole invisible cheering section online. They were all sending me their good vibes and pushing me along the course.

After I got home and began the post race recovery process I eventually turned on my phone and got on social media. I don’t think I got on social media expecting to see anything from my race necessarily, but boy did I ever. There is so much positivity and good will flowing on social media it was amazing. It shows me what social media is really there for, building community and supporting your friends and family when you can’t be there in person.

I saw post after post after post about my day on the course. There were posts about the good, the bad, and the ugly of my race. I think just about every post was then followed by a trail of comments wishing me luck and congratulating me on being out there and spreading good will and positivity. To be perfectly honest it was all quite overwhelming as I lay in bed recovering and read post after post and comment after comment from all the friends and family I have out there supporting me. It became difficult to read all the posts as my eyes brimmed with tears of joy and then overflowed and tears ran down my face.

Seeing such an outpouring of support play out right before your eyes is something I never expect, but there it is. All the good, kind, supportive people that are a part of my life in one way or another are spending time letting me know that they are thinking of me. That is just so humbling of an experience.

Social media being what it is these days, even scrolling through my feed for long periods of time did not reveal all the posts about that weekend all at once. For several days after my race I would check into my social media account and in my feed would appear some post about my race that I had not seen before with a whole new string of likes and comments attached to it. Each time I encountered a new post with new comments to read I was overwhelmed anew with the emotions of that day and thankfulness for all the people I have in my life. My eyes did not remain dry seeing these new posts even days after my race. It means the world to me to have so much support out in the world.

I wanted to share this as a way to show my gratitude for everyone out there who took a moment to like or comment on a post from that weekend. You have no idea what it means to me. This post contains images and posts from that weekend shared by my crew and others while I was out there on the course including the likes and comments associated with each post. Thank you all for following me on this amazing journey. I look forward to the next adventure.

  • Image from a local photographer on the course.
  • Image from a local photographer on the course.
  • I got run over by the struggle bus
  • struggling
  • trying to get moving
  • feeling amazingly good approaching the finish
  • Finish line
  • Running through the finish with my wife
  • Th best feeling
  • A well earned reward
  • Finally done
PA, runner, Running

2nd Pine Creek Run

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I headed down to the Pine Creek Rail Trail for my second training run on the site of the upcoming Pine Creek challenge 100 mile event in September. The plan was to start in Blackwell, where the end of the out and back section of the 100 mile distance is, and run back towards the start finish line area. The goal for this run was 20 miles at a little faster overall pace than I am planning for the race itself. I would be running 1 mile then walk for 1 minute and repeat that every mile.

This was my second 20 mile run of the week. Something I had never done before. This was also only my second 20 mile run of the year that was not a race which were the only two other 20+ mile runs this year. This also ended up being the most miles I have run in a week all year. Maybe not the most traditional way to be training for a 100 mile race with less than a month to go. I was a little nervous it would go badly, but it went fine. And now that I am feeling much more confident and healthy I can start to taper a bit and reduce mileage. I think I will add in some biking. Then I plan to essentially rest or at least not run the entire week before race day.

Last practice run I ran in my Altra’s and didn’t really like how that felt so on this run I wanted to try out road shoes since the trail is pretty firm. I ran in my Saucony Kinvara 9’s. The run went pretty good as 20 mile long runs go. No major issues. A little soreness in the areas where it is to be expected. A little soreness in my hip which is to be expected at this point. But overall I was pretty happy with the run. The road shoes felt much better.

I won’t be running the race in my Kinvara 9’s though because they have over 200 mile son them and I cannot find anymore in my size at this point. I did manage to find a pair of road shoes with a similar profile to the Kinvara’s but with a little more cushion and a little wider toe box tha tI will try out for my next long run. Then hopefully I will have my footwear for the race solved.

I have found that 3.5 hours is apparently how long it takes me to drink 2 litters of water while out for a run. So that will help in planning for what I need to do on race day to manage my hydration. I have really started to think more in depth about how I am going to manage everything on race day and that makes me a bit more nervous. It’s funny because the running itself doesn’t really bother me as much. I know it is going to be hard and take a lot of toughness to finish, but planning for all the other aspects I need to have in place to make it happen makes me a little rattled. Luckily I have a great crew that will be out there to support me.

The weather was perfect for this run. It was so nice and the scenery was beautiful. I am really excited to see the whole course on race day with some early fall colors and then run on it at night.

Art, athlete, Photography

Tyoga Running Club Collaboration

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Facebook memories reminded me that nine years ago 3/27/2010 I had my first pieces of artwork on display in an art gallery. That was the opening of a door to things I never imagined. Those photographs would be on display in the Artisan’s Shoppe in Wellsboro, PA. It is quite amazing that on that same day nine days later another door would open to me and an opportunity to take on something else totally new in my life would arise. Nine years after my first photographs went on exhibit I am back in Wellsboro, PA meeting with the fine folks at the Tyoga Running Club. I had been having this idea developing in my mind now about a project I would like to embark on. I finally got up the nerve to approach them about it via email and they invited me to attend a meeting and discuss my idea with them.
Leonard Harrison State Park PA_July 29, 2015_141
Leonard Harrison State Park, PA
 
I have really have been learning that the hardest part of the creative process is the ask. Reaching out to people to ask for support and or collaboration just fills me with anxiety and trepidation. It is the one thing that holds me back more than anything else. As the day went on I became increasingly nervous about this meeting. I do not enjoy speaking in front of groups of people. One on one I can talk your ear of, and some would say quite loudly, but group speeches are not my thing. As I sat in the meeting room with the Tyoga Running Club and they discussed their preliminary business before turning their attention to me. My hands were sweating profusely, and I continuously tried to dry them on my pants. I sat off to the side seriously reconsidering having passed on a beer from the bar. Thankfully when they turned their attention to my idea my brain and my mouth seemed to function relatively normal and for the most part I was able to express myself fairly clearly I think. I enjoyed sharing my ideas with them and talking with them.
 
Hills Creek State Park, PA_April 24, 2017_56
Hills Creek State Park, PA
 
If you have been following me here you’ve seen that my running has progressed to longer and longer distances and as I have explored different running challenges I have been in search of ways to document my adventures and share them with the community. I am always open to taking on challenges especially in the form of new creative ideas in my photography and new physical challenges through my running. I am always looking for ways to combine those two aspects of my life and do new things. As I planned for 2019 I knew I wanted to do a couple of big races. I wanted to run Worlds End 50k again because I loved that race last year. Then I wanted to use that training and race to propel myself forward into my first 50 mile experience at Finger Lakes 50’s 50 mile race. Despite those two huge goals for this year there was just this niggling in the back of my head that kept thinking “What about more?
I kept returning this idea of running 100 miles. 100 miles is pretty much the standard high water mark in ultra running for now. In all the challenges I have undertaken while I knew they would be and will be difficult and challenging but I have been pretty confident and remain pretty confident tht I can at least finish the race. 100 miles is a totally different story. I have no idea if I can actually run 100 miles and there really is no way to test it other than to do it. As a writer and photographer I want to turn any new adventure into a creative project, so that is what I sought to do.
 
Ives Run_April 24, 2017_62
Ives Run, PA
 
I don’t really like to travel and I knew there was a 100 mile race nearby in my area. That race is the Pine Creek Challenge hosted by the Tyoga Running Club. I have been to their events in the past and they always do a great job. This made sense to be the event that I would try to run. The Pine Creek Challenge takes place in the Wellsboro, PA area. The course follows a section of the Pine Creek Rail Trail. Not only does the running fit perfectly into what I like to do, the experience overall fits right into my wheelhouse. I have been to the Wellsboro area multiple times most of which involve exploring the natural landscape, trail running, or photography or some combination of those things. This is a beautiful region. I have seen some of it but not as much as I would like and I have not spent time on the Pine Creek Rail Trail despite frequently thinking about doing so. This would give me a reason to do it.
 
Leonard Harrison State Park PA_July 29, 2015_241
Leonard Harrison State Park, PA
 
One of the goals of my photography is to show off and generate support for our natural areas, our local communities, and our local organizations/businesses. I really wanted to collaborate with the Tyoga Running Club to show off their event and the amazing natural area it showcases and the community that supports it. I am really excited and grateful to have their support as I embark on this project.
 
 
The goal of this project is to create content about the natural area where this event takes place and about my experience competing in and training for this event. This will include trips to the area to photograph the scenery and probably writing about it. I would like to go down and do some running there. I plan to photograph the event as I participate in it. I will also shoot some video of the event. When I shoot video it is not usually centered on myself. It usually focuses on the scenery. On occasion I will film myself running. And even more rarely when filming myself I will speak to the camera. I know after reading this much verbiage from me it doesn’t seem like it but I’m shy and I don’t like to be recorded or speak on camera. But I think recording some of my thoughts as I am going through the actual experience of this race would be valuable in completing the project and be compelling, I hope.
 
Colton Point State Park PA_July 29, 2015_473
Colton Point State Park, PA
 
And to top it all off I will write an article about my experience that includes my photography as well that will be published on my website and potentially in a local or regional publication. (If you are a publisher and this sounds interesting to you or you know someone who is please reach out to me.) I will share a lot of this work and my process on my website and social media as well as in conjunction with Tyoga Running Club.
 
 
If you like the concept of this project and would like to see more work like this please support me on my Patreon page, KRNaturalPhoto, for as little as $1 a month. It helps me to be able to do this work.
 
Colton Point State Park PA_July 29, 2015_494
Colton Point State Park, PA