Adventure and Maintenance

It truly amazes me how many ways someone can enjoy the same single-track trail. They can hike, bike, run, or ride a horse. I do not ride horses. They scare the poop out of me. They are beautiful creatures but they have a mind of their own and I do not trust them. I do run, hike, and bike on a weekly basis now. I had my mountain bike converted to a single speed which turns every ride into an adventure like no other. I have also been running Timba 5 days a week and hiking the rest of the time. With each different activity I feel like the trail is different. While hiking you get to look around and enjoy your surroundings much more. While running your body can sometimes zone in on the trail and you almost feel as if your body and movement has become one with the trail. And biking is more of a high speed adrenaline rush that is an excellent workout. They are all great adventures. And I would encourage anyone to try one or all 3.
Something I have learned lately is the maintenance that can be required for people to be able to enjoy nice single-track trails in any way they desire. Lots of trees and branches fall in the woods and they often block the trail  that was once a great path to use. So someone has to clear out these trees and branches so users can enjoy our natural resources for recreation. Recently that person has become me. I have tried to start doing whatever maintenance I can on a weekly basis to keep our side of Great Seal State Park open for all users.
Trail Maintenance creates a Zen like feeling because you know you are doing your part to keep the trails nice and usable. It feels like you are paying back the trail for letting you use it whenever you desire. It makes you feel like you deserve to be using them yourself. Which makes every run, hike, or bike feel that much more fun and enjoyable. It is like a cycle of positivity. I am loving it.

Happiness

I wake up and watch the sun rise out the front window. It is a struggle to keep my eyes open so early in the morning while I lay on the couch. I lay there and thank the Lord for such a beautiful life. I say thanks for Cara, Miles, Timba, and our beautiful home. Just like I do every morning that I wake up. Once I finally get up and get moving I clip Timba on the leash and before I know it we are running through the woods and expressing our freedom. This is a beautiful thing. This is happiness.

Free to a Whole New World

The day started with excitement. Our second big group trail run was set to start in a few hours and the best word I can use to describe my feelings was excitement. I was excited to see all of my friends and running partners from the past and present and also to meet new local runners and show them hospitality, a good run, and hopefully even better food. That is how the day started.

I let Suka out of his cage and wanted to get him fueled up for the run. I realized I had left over salmon and macaroni and cheese in the microwave so I just let him chow down on that while we waited for everyone to show up. He knew what was going on. That we were going to go run and explore. He was excited as always.

Everyone showed up and we gathered around and took a group picture before we hit the trails. Everyone was excited to be together again. The trails were a bit icy and it wasn’t the best conditions for a run. But no one cared because we all enjoyed each other’s company so much. We Started on the Hiker loop and headed up to the Shawnee Ridge. We were planning on running the entire Shawnee Ridge out and back but that wouldn’t happen today. As we ran the shoulder of Bald Hill Suka, Percy, and Clyde (The dogs of the group) chased four deer up the hill to the ridge. And as soon as they crested the gun went off. It was a bit scary, but no one believed that anything bad happened. There were no yelps or crashing sounds that made it seem like something died. It was a beautiful day in my most favorite place in the world. Who would kill my dog on a beautiful day in my most favorite place in the entire world? So we kept running. And I kept calling for Suka. He never came back. I thought he was spooked by the gun shot and ran off. Or maybe that a deer was in heat and he chased it down to Graves Road. I really didn’t even entertain the thought that he was shot and killed. We kept running and I kept calling for Suka. He never came back. We ran the Bald hill Ridge line three times looking for him and saw nothing. I asked the hunters if they had seen a Siberian Husky and they said “no”. I trusted them. They had actually just killed my dog and took his collar off of him to make it look like they killed a wild dog. They lied to my face, stuck their tale between their legs, and headed for home. I am hoping they never return again. I ran around the hills for 2 hours looking for my dog. I figured with the forest so open and clear this time of year that I would be able to see him somewhere. But  I had no luck and decided to go home to refuel. I lounged with friends thinking Suka had ran away and I was devising a scheme in my head to go find him. Would I be hiking all day shouting for him or should I get in my car and drive over to Graves Road to see if he was menacing some other dogs? It just all seemed strange because he had never ran away before. But I refused to believe he had been shot and killed by the people that told me that they had not even seen a dog.

All the runners headed home and my brother-in-law Pat told me to head back to the spot where I lost him and he said Suka wouldn’t have made it far. He said to continue to make noise and Suka would return. Suka never even made it off the ridge line. I started to hike up to Bald Hill and shouted the entire time. I turned on my Pandora Radio on my phone hoping Suka would come find me if he heard some reggae beats that soothed the soul. His soul was already soothed as he rested in peace on the hill top. I hiked straight to the spot where I lost him and I found him almost immediately. He laid there lifeless with a smirk on his face. He was still the most beautiful dog I had ever seen. I cried and begged for him to come back. I couldn’t believe God would take him like that. I begged for forgiveness for whatever I had done wrong to let my dog get killed this way. I called my wife and told her the news. Neither of us could hardly get a word out. He was our best friend. And we lost him. Suka was the first thing that ever made Cara and I feel like a family. He was like our first child. He was our protector. He was more than you could ever imagine a dog was. And now he is gone.

I carried him all the way back home from that snow covered ridge top on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I cried the whole way and couldn’t stop telling him how sorry I was. How bad I felt for letting this happen to him. For letting him lose his life in his prime.

Cara met me about halfway to home. I was covered in his blood but that didn’t matter. We just had to get him back home to give him a proper burial. We have cried on and off for days. It still just doesn’t seem real. We atleast know that all dogs go to heaven and that Suka died doing what he loved, running free on the ridge tops.

Cherish life. Praise God. And love the ones you love as much as you can every day. Because they won’t be there forever. For now I would like to think that Suka and my Grandpa Bill are playing fetch somewhere on a mountain top just waiting for the rest of the family to see them again someday.

Welp....No 5k

I was pumped to race a 5k this weekend because to me it gives me a true sense of my overall fitness. But Cara and I have decided to stay home and relax. We will get some good hiking and training in. Cara has been running 4-5 miles a day and is feeling great. But we just  don't really feel like driving a couple hours to get to a race on Saturday. During Christmas our travel schedule is going to be crazy driving all over Southern Ohio to see family and friends so we think it is probably just best to stay home and enjoy the 40 miles of trails we have in our own backyard. I feel like we are making a decision that is better for us mentally. We will race soon and it will be fun. But not this weekend. I am guessing we will get at it in January when the holiday season is over. Columbus Running Company is hosting the Frigid 5k Series. www.columbusrunning.com ( check the link on the left.) So that will probably be a good place to start.
The Insanity videos have gotten much harder this week. Each video is anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes longer with extra circuits and harder exercises. On Tuesday I pushed myself to complete muscular failure on the Max Interval Plyo circuit. It was INSANE!
One thing I haven't talked about is that I am doing Insanity with no shoes on. BAREFOOT INSANITY. Barefoot Alex would be proud www.barefootalex.com  . But I feel great. My legs and feet feel awesome. I wondered how my feet would hold up to all of the high impact jumping and they have done great. I probably would have blown out a pair of shoes by now doing the exact some training. But with every hop, skip, and jump the soles of my feet just seem to be getting stronger and stronger. Am I going to turn into a barefoot runner? No way. But like always I will supplement probably 5 to 10% of my weekly running to running with no shoes on. Because it feels good! That is once I start running regularly again.
Speaking of running. I wanted to shout out to all Southern Ohio Trail Runners that we are going to have a big trail run on the morning of December 15th starting and finishing at my house. If you love to run you are more than welcome to come. Just contact me via some social medium or a phone call so I can tell you how to get to my place. We would really like for some women to come as well so Cara can have some gals to run with. See you on the 15th. Maybe. We are probably going to run in the ball park of 14-18 miles. But you can go as long or as short as you want too. Come on!

I love sunsets,
Keegan

 I had another great weekend with my family. We had a lot of time to relax and spend time with each other. On Friday we saw Cara's family and watched her brother Chance play the first varsity basketball game of his senior season. He and his team played hard but ended up losing by two points in the end. The game was awesome to watch and both teams fought as hard as they could from the starting whistle to the last buzzer. I hope Miles plays sports that way some day. All out from start to finish!
We cuddled on the couch on Saturday morning then went on a run. After a few more hours of relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather we went for a hike. On Sunday we went and saw Santa Claus. Miles didn't think Santa was very jolly or fun to be around and there was no way he was sitting on Santa's lap. Because of the rain we knew we weren't going to be doing much outside so we rented a movie and had a wonderful Sunday. It felt awesome to just relax and enjoy the day.

I finished my active recovery week with my insanity training and now I am getting into the hard stuff. I took a peek at the video and I am scared. I have a fitness test followed

  follow by an hour long max interval circuit. If I fail to blog in the future it is because I am dead. If I manage to survive the new workouts then I can't wait to be able to use my new insane fitness in all of my athletic endeavors. I am running the first hard 5k this weekend that I have ran in just over 11 months. I have no idea what kind of time I can run. My training has been consistent for 8 weeks now but I have not been running much. I ran a total of 5.5 miles last week. and probably 10 miles the week before that. I want to throw out a time that I think I can run but I really have no clue what I can do. Remember when I ran the Reggae Run 5k in a flannel shirt and won the whole thing? What an awesome experience. I am so excited to go run hard. Let's get to Saturday already.

Insanity

Insanity, I believe is defined by doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results than what you had the last time. Well I have been doing Insanity Fitness Training and my results have been great. I do tons of exercises over and over and over again trying to get my body to change, transform, and turn into something stronger. Well It is working and I feel great. I just finished my first month of Insanity training and I am smack dab in the middle of my recovery week. After this week I have one more month of High Intensity Interval Traning and at the end of that I might be in the best shape of my entire life. I feel great and am enjoying training. Cara and I are registered for a 5k on Dec. 8th down in Covington, KY and I can't wait to see what I can run a 5k in. I am interested with basically all of my exercise being cross training how fast can I run a 5k? Sub 17 minutes? Sub 16 minutes? My training feels like an experiment and I like it. If I can run a fast time with out specific running training it will most definitely make me flip all of my past training on its head and change everything up. But if I don't run well then I guess it is time to start running 70 miles a week and cross training on top of that. Either way, it just feels great to be getting fit again and pushing my body to its limit on a daily basis. I definitely think I will be doing more Interval based training than I have in the past with more tabata style intensities. Less Mileage, but harder workouts. With some beautiful trail runs up huge hills thrown in  between climbing sessions and circuit training.

The Rathkamp Family Caravan : Larry Cox Turkey Trot 2012

Well, another year has gone by and I have kept up my streak of running every Larry Cox Turkey Trot since the races inception. I knew Larry very well and I see this race as a great way to pay respects for his many years of public service in our community, and I love the fact that he was a bad ass runner. Cara, Miles, Suka and I ran the race together. Cara plugged along while I maneuvered the Rathkamp Family Caravan. I had Miles in the stroller and Suka on the leash. It was hard to work my way around the crowds of people but we did it and I didn't kill anyone in the process. Miles fell asleep in the first mile and Suka pushed the pace. Suka was once again the fastest dog in Ross County and won a big bag of treats. Which he has eaten about half of at this point.
The weather was great for the race and I can't imagine a more beautiful day and way to start Thanksgiving off. There were friends and family all around. Many of my brother bears from Shawnee State ran the race and kept up the tradition of a Shawnee runner winning the race. Way to go Galen Dills!

The thing I thought was funny is how people were so impressed with me pushing a stroller and having Suka on the leash. I got so many compliments on how hard it must be to run like that. It is kind of funny because I got more compliments for pushing my kid in a stroller for a 27 minute 5k than I did for breaking 15 minutes in the very same race a few years ago. (Trust me, breaking 15 minutes is way harder!)

Being Thankful Every Day.

My life is great. I love it. I have a family that I love and I am happy with my life. Every day that I wake up I think about how thankful I am to be able to live the life that I live. I have a beautiful wife that I love more and more every day. I have a son that is the absolute most amazing thing in the world to me. I get to spend lots of time with my family in a house that I love. And we are backed up to so much wilderness that I get to walk out my back door and spend a lot of time outside getting in tune with the natural world daily. I have been getting fit and exercising lately and I am thankful for my body that I can use to create works of art, to build things, to climb like a monkey, to jump like a kangaroo, and to run like a deer. I am thankful for my son's Brown Bear Costume that he got to where for halloween. I am thankful for the climbing tree in my backyard. I am thankful for the beautiful Sunsets. I am thankful for hiking and exploring. I am thankful for my son's excitement the first time he saw a pumpkin. I am thankful for the love we receive from all of our family and friends. I am thankful for Suka and his wild nature that could never be tamed by even the most domestic style of living. Wild Dog! I am thankful for long trail runs with good friends. I am thankful for a nice cup of coffee when I wake up. I am thankful for the love and support that my parents have always showered me with. I am thankful for every single day.

A Brief Shot Of Winter

 With the market closed for the second day in a row I got a snow day today. It was wonderful to get to spend the day with my family. Hurricane Sandy gave us a brief shot of winter here in Southern Ohio. I feel sorry for all of the victims of the hurricane and I pray that they can find happiness in the struggles that they are going through. I hope that all of the families are doing alright if they have lost a loved one or the storm has effected their lives in a negative way.
Luckily, we got a beautiful day of snow here in Chillicothe.
I started the day off by heading in to work and finding out I could go home for the day because the market was closed. I hurried home and played with Miles and Cara for a few hours. When Miles took a nap I grabbed Suka and we charged to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. I have been to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain probably 50 times or so and today I could see why they named it Sugarloaf. When I reached the summit there was snow everywhere and none of it had been touched. The snow was  piled atleast 2 or 3 inches deep on everything and with the way the top ridge is formed it looks like a big Sugarloaf. It was a pristine place to be on top of the mountain with my dog. It is just a short 3 of 4 mile Jaunt from my house and it was the perfect adventure on a snowy day. I felt like an explorer blazing the trail. I got fresh tracks through the snow for the entire run. It was wet, slick, and awesome. Sugarloaf is so steep that I was almost skiing down on my heels at points. When I got back we ate lunch and let Miles get some fresh tracks of his own.
It was awesome to get to spend the whole day with my family. We have so much fun together. But as I am writing this, the snow has been melting. I do not know if it is supposed to snow more tonight or if today really was just a brief showcase of winter runs and snowy days. A brief showcase of the good memories to be had with the ones that you love the most. Here are some pics of Miles playing in the snow for the first time ever. He loved it! I had to take him inside and throw him in a warm bath after he got cold and was ready to warm up. The only thing that could have made this day better would have been some Hot Chocolate. Oh Yeah Boy!

A Year Goes By

 Hello everyone. Another year has gone by. Miles is 1. He is a wild man. His motto is ALL FUN ALL DAY. He smiles during breakfast. Is ready for his cool guy shades by lunch time. And is always outside playing with Suka in the afternoon. He loves it outside and is constantly exploring, climbing, and figuring out everything around him. He is a baby pioneer and I love it. I am so lucky to have such a healthy beautiful baby boy in my life.

Climbing the Steps

Sorry to anyone that received a spam related direct message from me on twitter. I received a message from my old college roommate and clicked on the link not knowing what it was. It appears many of my friends were tricked into clicking the link as well and before we knew it many of us had been spammed. Sorry. I have deactivated my twitter account out of frustration and I am not sure if I will reactivate within the 30 day limit they give. I don't need no twitter. I got the country. We don't have any spam to fight at home just a few snakes and critters to keep away from the baby. Anyhow I just wanted to give an apology.

The house is coming along nicely. We finished painting the front of the house and stained the front door this weekend. Now we still have some landscaping to deal with and the rest of the house to paint. I can't wait to stain and create a piece of art with the stump in the front yard. I also have some of my climbing holds up in the basement. I screwed them into the exposed joists in the basement underneath the steps. It is extremely overhung climbing on rails, pockets, and crimps. This boy is going to get strong! True Story!

Fall Already?

Well this summer flew by. Miles is walking, running, talking, and getting ready to turn one year old. Cara is back to another season of coaching soccer and I have been working, working on the house, playing with Miles, and exercising a few times a week. It is amazing with how busy I have been and how fast this hot summer passed by. Now it is 40 degrees in the morning and is only going to get colder from this point on. This summer I :
-Cut down two trees
-Ripped out a bunch of bushes
-Painted the bathrooms
-Installed a new sliding glass door
-Installed a new front door
- Cut lots of grass
-Ran to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain and Bald Hill 10 or 15 times
- Layed a new tile fourier
-Burned lots of wood
-Killed 4 snakes that were living by our house and trying to get in.
- Watched Miles act like a crazy animal
- Did lots of finishing woodwork to the inside of the house
- Ripped out a deck
- Painted a bunch of stuff
- And probably did plenty of other things to the house I am not thinking of.
-We also went to the USA vs. Jamaica soccer game in Columbus which was AWESOME!

Plans for the fall are to paint the entire house, build Miles a sandbox. Replace some fence panels, finish the landscaping, and build a sweet climbing area for myself in the basement. And start running and riding the mountain bike more. I will try to post some pictures of the new place at some point. But that is kinda what I have been doing all summer.
 When you own a home it feels like the work will never be finished, but we are getting much closer to being at a point where I will be able to relax and exercise more after Miles goes to sleep. It is a labor of love and finishing projects on the house can be very rewarding. Thank you to all of my friends and family that helped with all of the projects.

I can't believe it is Fall already and that Miles is almost a year old. It has been so amazing to watch him grow and learn every single day. He makes me so proud no matter what he does.

Cowboy

Last night I was sitting on the phone chatting with my mother about the best way to stain wood. The painter expert at Menards told me to use a special brush. That guy had no clue what he was talking about. Spreading stain with a rag is what it is all about. You massage the stain into the grain of the wood rather than spreading it like you would paint. Ragging the stain makes the job go by 10 times faster and it is a lot more fun! Anyway, I was talking to my mother on the phone and my wife started to rub my back and my arms.
She said "Whoa! You are turning into a cowboy."

She said my arms and shoulders felt stronger from cutting down a tree last weekend. I guess I should probably by some boots and a couple horses. Oh yeah and if anyone wants to buy some firewood. I got plenty.

Coon Huntin'

Suka nabbed his first raccoon this morning when we were on our way down Sugarloaf Mountain. His prey drive is strong. He ran with the coon in his mouth for about 100 feet and then I had to put him on the leash and he dropped it. We hit Sugarloaf and then ran the Spring Run Trail.
I had a good weekend working on the house, Mountain biking, hanging with the family, and Cara and I finished our first week of insanity training. We are beginning to restore the woodwork in our house to English Chestnut. It is going to look great, but it is going to be a lot of work. Oh Well, we have the rest of our lives to finish it.

Into the Darkness Out To The Light

Ben, Suka, and I ran into the Darkness this morning hitting Bald Hill and Sand Hill before the sun came up. The light finally emerged as we were within 2 miles of my back door. It feels good to be drumming the earth again with the pitter patter of my feet along the Shawnee Ridge. I couldn't think of a better way to start the day. Now off to work and make a living.