Recollection

Jul042019

The Least Suckiest

Happy July 4th to my fellow countrymen and women especially to those who have or currently serving  in the military which brought and sustains our freedom!

Somehow my next event clock got into the steroids as I was sure there was at least 2 or 3 months left before my next race and next think I know it is a mere two days away.  With the final training run in the books as of last night, at this point it’s all about getting some rest, doing a few more healing treatments on the tweaked ankle mentioned previously and then either put up or put the tail between the legs and admit defeat.  The good news is the ankle felt strong in the quick 6 mile test last night – forward direction seems to be recovered, just need to make sure I make the foot plants solid as the outer stabilizers are still a bit tender.  As long as I keep it warmed up during the race it should be fine and expectations are the rest of the body will be so battered I won’t even feel it.

However something will likely be sticking in the back of my mind and it all has to do with this.

Blue Chevy Classic Half Marathon Trail Run, May 18th, 2019

Yep, for the second year in a row, I took on the Blue Chevy Trail Classic back in May.  You can read all about my maiden run at this trail race on a previous post (link here).  If I remember correctly, that was my first official trail race.  Since that time I’ve added a number of others and have clearly grown to love this new venue.  It is definitely harder than the traditional road miles, but then again challenge is good for the soul (and my doctor’s and chiro’s pocketbooks).  With the extra experience from the other trail races and the luxury of having done several training runs on the same course since, there was a sense of more confidence than when I toed the line the first time.  Besides, this time the race coordinators stated there would be finisher medals this year which took the pressure off of having to place to get anything to show for the effort.

Blue Chevy Classic Half Marathon Trail Run, May 18th, 2019

Riiiiiiiigggggghhhhhht!   Turns out there was plenty to worry about that race day.

Hit the jump to read a bit more detail on how the race went.

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Jun162019

The Illini Half – 3 Makes 1

Evident by the fact this post has been published, I can officially say I once again survived Illinois’ Toughest 15K race which was held this morning in an absolute downpour.  I’ll save the details on today’s adventure for a future post because I need to get to the race queue before I get too far behind.  As a follow up to yesterday’s post on the Illini Marathon 5K race, tonight’s post brings us the main event.

Illini Marathon I-Challenge Half - Half Marathon April 2019

The morning after the 5K is the official Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K events.  Once again opted for the Half Marathon this year as there is already a big-ass race planned for July – no need to go crazy on this one.  True to course for this weekend, there were more early forecasts for cold, rain, wind … yep, the usual for late April in the Midwest. In a stroke of luck the rain moved through during the night and the rest pushed off until later that day leaving a cool but very accommodating climate for a long race.

Illini Marathon I-Challenge Half - Half Marathon April 2019

Hit the jump to read details on the day.

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Jun142019

Oh, That’s Why It has Cross in the Name

Another race is upon me – tomorrow to be exact.  As mentioned in the previous racing post, I hate to go past 4 races before getting the recollections out.  You never know what might happen during a race and I’d hate to have you miss out on recollections thanks to me being in the hospital ha!  After the Allerton race (link here).  Next up was the standard Illini Marathon race.  Once again, I was signed up for the I-Challenge consisting of a 5K on Friday followed by the Half Marathon the following morning.

Illini Marathon I-Challenge Half 5K Race April 2019

Since transitioning to Trail running, my enthusiasm for pounding out miles on the road has dwindled.  So many years of doing the same thing and now completely enjoying the new challenges of the trails dampened my enthusiasm for this race.  The good news is I already had a double race of the same distance under my belt so the body was physically prepared.  The mental part was the struggle for once again it looked to be another end of April crappy weather day.

Illini Marathon I-Challenge Half 5K Race April 2019

Hit the jump to read about how the race went!

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May132019

A Test Worthy of the Gods

Probably wasn’t a stretch to guess the topic of tonight’s post based on the foreshadowing in the previous one.  The Allerton Trail Race Weekend was a double event.  The previous work went into detail on the first of those two events, the Trail-Glo 5K.  I covered a lot of ground in that initial recollection knowing I would be able to skip over those details in the second race’s recollection.  So, let’s just jump right into it.

Allerton Park Trail Half Marathon April 13, 2019

The first race is really just a fun run – a quick warm up if you will before the big race the second day.  There are two race options to select from, the 10K version and the uber manly (I may be biased) Half Marathon.  I really shouldn’t be condescending on the shorter distance – everyone is a winner that makes it through any race distance, toeing the line is a victory in itself.  Note, like the 5K, they added the extra logs for those that made additional contributions to Make A Wish Foundation.

Allerton Park Trail Half Marathon April 13, 2019

Hit the jump to see some of Linda’s work from behind the camera and learn how the race went.

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May122019

Moon Singer

So there are some posts that whip out pretty quickly.  Image processing goes fast, getting them uploaded to Smug an added to the post goes seamless and the words flow through the fingers effortlessly. Then there are the posts that seem to take FOREVER.  This posts happens to be one of the ladder thanks to a multitude of image sources ranging from my cell phone, the real camera and Facebook (thanks to a race photographer).  For a while there, didn’t think I was ever going to get this post completed.  Not wanting to go past 4 races behind, decided it was time to hunker down and do this…so here we go.

Allerton Park Trail-Glo 5K April 12, 2019

Now, if you had the opportunity to attend the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana of course) or simply like strange parks in the heart of Illinois, then you probably recognized the statue above.  If not, then I should mention that is the Sun Singer statue located at Allerton Park.  If you enjoy odd and eclectic this is the place for you.  You can see some of the artwork that is scattered throughout the1,517 acre park from my previous posts (link here and here).   Oddly enough, neither of those posts featured the Sun Singer which is definitely the signature piece when you think of Allerton.   The picture doesn’t relay the true size of the Greek sun god Apollo which is a 16′ statue sitting on a three tier pedestal (clipped out in my shot).  More on that later, because right now we have to get to the meat of the feature.

Allerton Park Trail-Glo 5K April 12, 2019

Hit the jump to read and see some recollections from the race!

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Jan052019

Our Amps Go To 11

LifeIntrigued Blog Summary 2019

Another full year of blogging is in the books!  I guess more literally, in the Word document that contains the annual collection of posts.  Hard to believe our little production at Intrigued has been going this long.  Most of that endurance is thanks to all my readers whose time and comments make the effort so fulfilling.  Over the course of this year I once again made new friends, some in far off lands (note, that includes basically anywhere outside the continental US). The world and the people in it continues to fascinate me on a daily basis.  I get a bit more knowledgeable with each new observation, more intrigued with each new find and every resulting introspection or recollection.  The experiment of breaking off my wildlife posts from the mothership has ended up becoming a flagship of its own taking command of a majority of blogging time.  I still tend to the parent with posts covering my other hobbies, social observations and when required commentary on a broken political system.  Meanwhile the Wildlife division has been busy bringing an amazing number of new birds to my life list along with forages into the larger and the smaller that walk, crawl, slither and fly past my camera’s sensor.

This year also brought new opportunities for me thanks to a lot of encouragement from my wife.  I agreed to give two presentations, one focused on birding and blogging to our local Audubon Society and then again later in the year to the local camera club (thanks to the president of that club being present at my Audubon talk) with more of a technical photography slant.  As I had feared those presentations took a tremendous amount of time to gather images and prepare the presentation, but in the end, extremely glad I took them up on those offers – two of the most enjoyable times I’ve ever had publicly speaking.  I have spent a career giving very technical presentations to small and large groups as part of my day job.  it was refreshing to talk about the hobbies that consume my free time outside of those hours.   That event also got my butt in gear to finally get most of the Texas birding shots processed and posted (thus the huge boost in my birding list).

Admitted, I am a few days late on this assessment tradition.  At the end of each year I like to take a moment to look back at the year’s output as a complete body of work.  Did I hit my self-imposed monthly quota, was there any progression on my photography, what posts did my readers like, and where did I miss the mark.  So with that, I bring you the 2018 year end summary.  Hit the jump below to see the individual stats and accomplishments.  However, before you do that, I do need to thank some people.  First of all, those that take the time to read my musing.  Without you, this would pretty much just be a long talk with myself.  Knowing that others are investing time pushes me to try and put out the best product I can.  It is also a way for me to share my experiences, learn from other perspectives and gather feedback on IDs and my photography – all things that add to my personal growth and for that extremely appreciative.  Next on the list is my brother Ron.  He was the catalyst for blogging and provides a tremendous amount of help with his post comments and even more behind the scenes.  He helps me research IDs and critiques my shots allowing me to at least act like I know what I’m talking about.  Not to mention a lot of the photographs that make it on the blog are a result of birding outings we go on together.  The person that probably endures the most thanks to this blogging affliction is Linda.  I cannot count of the number of times she has had to pull yeoman .. err yoewoman duties behind the wheel on long trips while I pounded out a post to keep my blog quota streak going.  Not to mention driving me around birding hotspots while I hung my head out the window listening for bird calls or worse, subjecting herself to embarrassment while I pulled out my camera phone to capture something that made me laugh (happens a lot more that I am willing to admit).  I need to do a better job in 2019 of making it up to her.

It is shaping up to be another big year at Intrigued.  There are new goals for running, new target birds and hopefully a number of trips to keep the hopper full.  Planning to make 2019 even better than 2018.

Thank You!

And now, the annual stats for the year’s worth of blogging.

Hit the jump to see the 2018 stats!

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Dec312018

Haunted Trail of Tears 2018 – Tear Down

Well, it has finally come, the grains of sands are just about finished falling for this year and the giant blog clock is just about to turn to year … wait for it .. wait for it .. TWELVE.  So many years, so many words, so many photographs and still enjoying every minute of it.  Well, maybe not those times when I am up against the wall trying to get the blog quota in before the turn of the month.  I haven’t finalize plans for the New Year yet (do not like to rush into that due to my absolute commitment to fulfilling whatever resolutions I come up with), but it feels at this point the blogs will be once again a mainstay in 2019.  As likely the last post of 2018, decided to close out the Halloween posts.  So far I covered the prep and two posts on the trail itself.  Only thing left is to talk about the tear down.  The way this usually works, is it takes a couple of weeks to get it all prepped, another 3 or 4 days to get it set up and then excruciatingly tiring hours to get it all hauled back up the hill once all the guests have left for the night. This year it went a little different thanks to the rain that started falling as the party was winding down.  We had to take the final pictures during the rain (thankfully the tree canopy kept us fairly dry).  By the time everyone left, the rain was coming down too hard to get the vehicles down and up the now very muddy hill.  Only thing I could do was put on the rain coat, turn off all the props, remove the sensor batteries and haul up a few of the smaller electronic decorations I didn’t want expose to the night of rain.  That took over an hour to do that resulting in one rain soaked Bri.

Haunted Trail of Tears 2018 - Tear Down

Hit the jump to see a few more shots from the tear down.

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Dec302018

A Race for the Birds

The end of the year is approaching fast and I need to get some things wrapped up so I can start the new year with a clean slate.  One of those loose ends is the recollection on the last run of the 2018 race season.  This race season was a new record for me as I completed 7 1/2 marathons this year thanks in part to adding 3 very tough trail runs into my schedule.  The first ever was the Blue Chevy Classic where I took 2nd in my age group (link here), then the Cry Me a River race where I placed in my age group (although they only rewarded the first 3 males and females overall – link here) and then the Sandhill Crane Half Linda found for me while we were looking for another 13.1 Wine race.

Sandhill Crane 1/2 Marathon Trail Race Vandalia Michigan, October 13, 2018

This one ended up being in Vandalia, Michigan back on the 13th of October.  The element that caught Linda’s eye was the fact it was named for birds that were commonly seen at the park they were holding the race.  That was pretty much a no-brainer in itself, but the fact this race only cost $27 was another.  That was such a good price ended up giving them a $5  donation.  Figured at that price, there wouldn’t be that much in the way of shirts or medals.  Wrong on both counts.  They recognized individual male and female divisions and the shirt ended up being a very nice long sleeve tech shirt.  More on the awards later.

Sandhill Crane 1/2 Marathon Trail Race Vandalia Michigan, October 13, 2018

Hit the jump to see how the trail race turned out!

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Dec292018

Nightmare After Christmas – Pt 2 of 2

We are on our way back from a short trip to Tunica Mississippi for some birding and gambling.  Birding absolutely sucked and gambling wasn’t that much better.  Tunica has gone way down since our last visit there over a decade ago.  There were at least 3 or 4 casinos completely closed down and the ones remaining are definitely on the decline.  We won’t be planning a return visit.  We hit the Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of getting another Bobcat or finding that Cougar we located last time, but missed getting a picture of – struck out on both counts and a lot of the refuge was closed for migration or hunting.  Luckily we had a fun time at the Memphis Zoo so it wasn’t a total waste.  The good news is I can finish the Halloween post I started from the casino a few nights back,.  Yep, gonna take you on the rest of the trail so turn off all the lights and lock the doors – it’s the spooking hour.

Let’s start where we left off last time which brings us to the smoldering groundbreaker.  Ron gave me this item as a gift last year.  It jerks randomly while emitting wailing sounds and lights up.  It is set up for a fogger to enhance the effects, but we didn’t have one to spare this year – picked up a couple more at end of season sales this year, so look for that addition next year.

Halloween Haunted Trail of Tears 2018

Think I bought  this hanging lady at last year’s clearance sale,.  She lights up and has eerie sayings implying it was your fault she was left hanging on that tree.  A lot of people missed this particular decoration this year due to it being somewhat hidden on a side of the tree.,

Halloween Haunted Trail of Tears 2018

Hit the jump to see more sights from this year’s Haunted Trail of Tears.

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Dec272018

Nightmare After Christmas – Pt 1 of 2

Hope everyone had a safe and merry Christmas or related celebration!  Thought I would continue my end of year stat pad .,..err, I mean Haunted Trail of Tears recollection posts.  If you recall on Christmas Eve I pulled a Tim Burton and provided insights into what it takes to bring our annual Halloween event to life,  All that hard labor is for a relatively few hours of entertainment for our friends and family.  That and Linda says it satisfies my Halloween obsession for a couple of months, well at least weeks.  This lights out tour ended up being a large post.  To keep your browser’s image cache from burning up, I’ve decided to break this into two parts.  Probably will keep the dialog to a minimum and focus on the images we took after the guests had left and just before that damn rain let loose.  Flip the switch off on the moon and queue the scary music, it’s time for a haunting!

Our trail started with Paul’s new blow-up dragon.  As mentioned previously, it was too big and too new to subject it to the woods.  A perfect way to start, tame enough for the children yet still impressive to see in the blackness

Halloween Haunted Trail of Tears 2018

Mr, Spider once again greets our guests as they begin the journey down to the bottoms

Halloween Haunted Trail of Tears 2018

Hit the jump to see the rest of the pictures from the first part of the trail.

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