Halloween spirit, fresh batch of Balm By Buck, & more rain coming

We had our first candy haul of season last night. Prairie Township had a trick or treat trail and the kids were SUPER excited to go in their new costumes. 

It has been so warm this month and I decided to take Evan to the zoo to enjoy the great weather. He fed the giraffes! 

Then we went to check out the new sea lion exhibit. That is a GREAT new addition to the zoo and we love going inside when they can swim next to you as well as above and below you. So fun.

Just trying to soak in the mild temps while they were here.  We have been above normal every single day for the first 3 weeks of October. We finally had a below normal temp day on Friday. That was also thanks to our Friday rain. 

I spent Friday making a new big batch of my balm.  I restocked the Clean, Mint, and Unscented variety. I should be getting my last essential oils to resupply my Forest variety today or tomorrow. If you want to check out my online shop, just go to BalmByBuck.com. For anyone who doesn't know. I make this balm using local beeswax and other organic ingredients like coconut oil, almond oil, castor oil, and shea butter. I have made it for about 6 years now and use it to style my hair daily. It also is great to lock in moisture for your skin, especially in the dry winter months ahead. And for runners, the oil and wax mixture works great to avoid chafing/blisters that come with the repetitive motion of distance running. Forest has a pine scent to it and Clean uses lavender essential oil. Those are the top 2 sellers.

Yesterday was damp early, but the clouds broke up some and we went to Lehner's Pumpkin Farm in Delaware County. Kids had a blast with all the activities. 

Lots of fun for the whole family. Love the food there as well! 

Good Sunday morning! We have light mist and drizzle this morning then steadier and heavier showers will move in for the late morning and afternoon today. A few rumbles of thunder are possible, but severe weather should stay at bay today. The band of steady rain will lift north for the evening and tonight. We may have a few light showers overnight, but a break in the rain for most of us for the majority of this evening and tonight. Temps stay mild today and tonight with highs in the mid 60s and overnight lows (Monday morning) in the upper 50s. Another wave or rain will swing in early Monday and we will see more scattered showers and storms on and off on Monday. Ohio may see a few strong to severe storms on Monday, mainly for the southern and eastern parts of Ohio. Damaging winds would be the main threat for any severe storms.

The entire system starts moving east Monday night and just a lingering shower or two possible early Tuesday, mainly east. Clouds will then clear some for partly cloudy skies Tuesday afternoon. We will see cooler temps following the rain with morning temps Tuesday in the mid 40s and mid 50s for highs on Tuesday. Even cooler temps Tuesday night and Wednesday morning with temps dipping into the upper 30s and outlying areas could see mid 30s and frost. Partly cloudy Wednesday and we warm into the lower 60s.

Clouds roll back in on Thursday and we see another period of rain for Thursday PM and this second system sticks around the region for on and off rain into the weekend. Highs will warm into the mid 60s ahead of the rain Thursday then we will be in the upper 50s with the scattered rain for Friday and Saturday. Some of the rain may linger into Sunday, Halloween, but it does look lighter and on the tail end of the entire system. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Shawnee 50, done!

That was rough!  I knew it would be a challenge to run the Shawnee 50 over the weekend, but I had to dig deep for this one.  I went down Friday evening and stayed at the lodge with a friend.  The race started Saturday morning at 5AM.  I figured I could finish in about 15 hours, but I went out strong and tried to stay as strong as possible and finished a little under 14 hours.

The trails were in really good shape. The early morning leaves were a little damp, but otherwise very runnable. 

The hills are no joke at Shawnee State Forest.  But the trail markings were phenomenal and it would be very hard to get lost for the race. 

I was a little surprised how dry the streams were for the run. It warmed up to around 80 in the afternoon and I did get lightheaded and dizzy a few times. This was likely due to some dehydration, but I was pushing fluids the entire race and actually had the slosh stomach feeling at times because I was trying to drink so much. I took a couple 30 second breaks to reset and then would keep pushing on. 

Staying warm for us, for 3 more days... A really nice day on tap today then we warm up more as the chance of rain goes up, but then turning much cooler for the weekend. Today will be partly cloudy with highs in the upper 70s and just a light breeze out of the southwest. More clouds tonight and a very slight chance for spotty rain. Partly cloudy for Thursday as well with a chance of isolated rain and temps warming up into the lower 80s. More warm air on Friday with partly to mostly cloudy skies along with scattered showers and a few storms. Temps warming to around 80 again on Friday. The best chance for rain will be Friday night overnight into early Saturday morning with showers and storms possible, as a strong cold front swings through. Early rain Saturday then the rain races to the east. Much cooler for the weekend with highs in the lower 60s on Saturday and then mid 60s on Sunday with a brisk breeze out of the west and northwest. Mostly to partly cloudy skies for Saturday then a little more sun on Sunday. Temps slowly warming back up to around 67 Monday and 70 by Tuesday with mostly sunny skies early next week. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Wrapping up my training & recent happenings

Good morning! Hope everyone is doing well. Between sick kiddos (all better now) and friends visiting the past couple weeks... it has been busy!  This photo is from the new trail that opened up at Clear Creek Metro Park.  I ran down there a couple Saturdays ago and the new area has some nice climbs and a run next to a lake.  

The views from the park are amazing, especially if you catch them at the perfect time of day. 

I ran early then had to get back to Ohio State to work at a tailgate for a couple hours. My good buddy, Luke, was visiting town as well. It was nice to catch up with Luke and watch the Buckeyes play.  

Recent heavy rains left water sitting on our basement windows and the slope of the ground has the water pooling up near the house. Not often, but when we have those really heavy storms. So I bought some window wells.  I had to dig down a pretty far way along the foundation of the house, but I finally got them installed.

This is when all the dirt was still there.  That dirt is all removed now and I did plant some new grass seed on top of the area where I tried to grade the soil so the water runs away from the house. Now I need a heavy thunderstorm to be a weird neighbor to stand out there and see what happens. 

We took new headshots at work! I don't have the photos yet, but this was what I shot of the computer screen of the images. Looking forward to seeing how they all look. So far, they look great!

Evan and I have been running a lot lately. I take him to a nearby park that runs next to a dam. We tell dam jokes and it is a great laugh. 

This past weekend I hit my new year's resolution goal of climbing 100,000 feet of elevation.  I didn't set a mileage goal because if you fall behind and try making up for lost time then it often results in an injury. So I wanted to get stronger at climbing hills and this way I could train for my big fall race... Shawnee 50. Shawnee 50 is this coming weekend.  It is 54 miles with about 12,000 feet of climbing.  So unrelenting ups and downs. And these hills are not easy rolling hills. Some of them are very steep and being smart about managing the course will be key to finishing strong. That's my goal... finish. No set time goal, but just to finish the grueling course. My best guess estimate of finishing time will be 15 hours, but if it takes me 17 hours then who cares...

I did go back and look at my logs to see how much elevation gain I did the past several years:
2017: 20,898 ft.
2018: 24,413 ft.
2019: 33,508 ft.
2020: 77,162 ft.
2021: 100,636 ft. and 3 months to go...

Not bad for the flatlands of Central Ohio.

More scattered showers today with a few rumbles of thunder. The rain will be on and off tonight through Friday and early Saturday. We have a huge low pressure system spinning over Missouri right now and that is triggering scattered rain across the Ohio Valley. So rain today will be generally moving from south to north with the scattered showers. Similar to yesterday, we may have a few cells strong enough for some lightning and thunder. Morning temps in the lower 70s and we warm to the mid 70s this afternoon with the mostly cloudy skies. We will go from a 70% chance of rain today to a 60% chance of rain Friday and then a 20% chance of rain Saturday because of some lingering showers, mainly early and to the east. We may see the sun from time to time, so you may want the sunglasses along with the umbrella. Highs stay in the mid-upper 70s for Friday and Saturday. By Sunday we will be setting up for a warm-up and a dry pattern for a couple days. Partly cloudy Sunday and Monday with a high of 80 on Sunday and 82 on Monday. There is a wave of rain that will try to swing through Tuesday, but with our dry air the rain breaks up moving across the Plains and we have a 30% chance of rain Tuesday. We will try to reach 80 again Tuesday before the wave of weakening scattered rain. Highs dip back into the upper 70s for mid-late next week. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael