C-Scape Dune Shack Week Two

This past weekend I had the great pleasure of having Lisa B. a friend and hiking buddy from Santa Fe, NM come visiting. She had been volunteering at a kids camp on the Cape and stayed with me for two nights at C-Scape.

On her second day we walked from the shack to the visitors center, down the bike trail past Race Beach, past Herring Cover to the jetty at Pilgrim’s First Landing Park . It is just over 5 miles from the beach shack, not terribly far, but the heat index was 101 and two of those miles are in soft sand.  The sand was blazing hot and we were pretty cranky by the time we got to the jetty, but as planned we got there at low tide. After walking out the jetty, we climbed down the rocks and looked for critters, specifically starfish.
There were loads of starfish almost immediately. I was really happy. At first I thought our trip was a bust and hated the idea of walking the 5 miles back in that terrible heat. We found starfish, crabs, loads of neat stuff I really did not know what it was. Wading through the low tidal pools, while very stinky was a nice feeling on my beaten up feet.

We walked back via Commercial Street and stopped to get iced lattes. That was a nice invigorator for the walk back. By the time we got home, we were only gone 5 hours, but walked almost 12 miles and we were hot, sunburn, blistered and exhausted. I barely remember going to bed.

I finished eight drawings. I made two drawings of this seaweed. I forgot the name of it and could not find it on-line so if you know it, please post it in the comments. Otherwise I will find out the name the next time I meet up with the ranger.  I could draw this stuff all day as it is really interesting and fun to do.

Read Full Post »

Second Coming of Age.

Runners Michelle Holland and Hilary Lorenz with Joseph Martinez, Rio Arriba County Recreation Director photo by Ginger Legato

March 21st and 22nd was the qualifying games for Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Senior Olympics and wow was it fun. Normally I am excited to age into a new  racing category, but I was not so fond of 50 until I joined the games. You can see  my last post on how it  transpired.

The above photo is of Michelle Holland who won the 10K at the local, state, and national games, setting a record in that placed her in the top 10 best times in the nation. Local qualifying is easy because there are few people in the 50-60 AG,  fewer runners overall and most of them are men. We ran, but there was no need to kill ourselves racing it out. Many of our distances were combined. We ran a 400 (1:24) but they also clocked us at 200 meters to get a qualify time, if we want to race it at state. We ran the mile, pretty easy pace, 7:00, and they clocked our 800. Next weekend we will run the 5k. After that we have 11 weeks to get in shape for state. With 11 weeks of training and dropping almost 4,000 feet of elevation, I plan to breeze in on a 6:00 mile or better.

Hilary Lorenz during 400m photo by Ginger Legato

The best part of the day was cheering for and timing the other athletes. A total of 82  participated, and most will go to state. I would guess the majority of people I met were between 75 and 87, with the oldest athlete  97, and they are kicked ass. Let’s face it, aging is scary because the majority of people don’t give a shit, are lazy and they let themselves fall apart. Most people around us, and many of our family members, do not exercise, have heart conditions, diabetes, high blood pressure, and are obese. What a terrible role model for aging, of course it looks scary, and it is completely unnecessary! Yes, some of these athletes are over weight and have heart conditions but it does not stop them. I watched an 80-year-old man kick ass, and I do mean kick ass, on the 100 meter run. He  won state previously and is going to nationals. After I congratulated him, while admiring his perfect posture and quick cadence, he puts on a big grin and says, “and I have a pacemaker.” He was not about to let his pacemaker get in the way of being super fit and compete hard. Another athlete running the 800 has a leaky mitral valve and atrial fibrillation, but so what? Is he suppose to sit on the sofa and “take it easy” until he dies? How horrible! No, he ran and then he biked 40K. People do not need to be  agile to compete, there are tons of sports to choose from. There is  an estimated pace 400 and 800. In this race, you estimate how long it will take you to walk the 400 or 800. You then walk it and whoever is closest to their estimated time without going over wins. So the woman who walked the distance a cane,and got teased for having a performance aid, may be a slower than a sure-footed walker but could win the race.

I am so proud to represent Rio Arriba County in the State Games at Roswell in June. I plan to run the 400, 800, 1500 and 5k. I am also very proud to be on the  Dashing Whippets Racing Team and of course I had to wear that shirt for inspiration, I am guessing it was the first of the Whippets runners to go in the Senior Olympics,  and my Front Runners New York sports bra underneath for that support. (no pun intended).  And as I said in my last post, my goal is to represent Rio Arriba in the Senior Olympics for the next 50 years and win several  national level races.  I have come of a new age and I am excited! Fifty is going to be all right.

Read Full Post »

Third Boston Training Week

Carls’ Meadow

Is that right, the end of week three? Right now I am too tired to get up and check my log. I am not tired because I ran hard today, in fact I did not run, I printed.  It is not a bad thing that I missed my weekend long run, though it is hard to consider 9 miles long. But it is when you have a quad that does not fire.  I will run the 9 or maybe 10 tomorrow on my “rest day” I am not too concerned. I got in my other days.

Yesterday I had a magnificent time snow shoeing at the Santa Fe Ski Basin with my friend Lisa. More specifically we started at Aspen Vista Trailhead,  shoed up the Windsor Trail past the ski lifts, made a loop into the creek bed and back down and round to the Aspen Vista Road.  We started at 9,900 ft of altitude and climbed to 11,427 in 1.83. That is steep. We hiked for almost four hours,  at times we were up to our hips in snow.  It was great.

My runs are getting  better. No longer am I walking or running backward for 1:00 after every 2:00 of forward. I reduced it to 30 seconds. Also I ran 3 miles on Thursday without any turn around. That made me feel great! My quad is freezing up less and most of my run pace is close to 8:00 miles.

Today I had a big day of printing which is why I did not run. I was in the studio all day working on my 30 prints in 30 days series and just ran out of daylight to run.

Next Sunday I have a 3.8 mile snow shoe race. That should be interesting, running in snow shoes at 10,000 ft of elevation.   This will be like Elmer Fudd chasing Rabbit in slow motion.

I am taking bets at how long it will take me to complete this. My most recent marathon time is 3:49 (April 2014) best x-c time 22:30, 10k time 45:30, all at sea level. Whoever comes closest to how long it take me gets their choice of print from my 30 prints in 30 days project which you can read about here. Remember you want to win a print, not worry about hurting my feelings. There will be no ego in trying to complete 3.8 miles of running in snowshoes at over 10,000 ft. For reference the fastest male  in 2014 was 33:46, fastest female 43:25. I am going to try out the trail on Wednesday, and hope I can complete it in under an hour. Wish me luck.

Read Full Post »

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Adventureartist

Happy New Year from Adventure Headquarters. I have my new Christmas present ready to go, I just need some snow. Wishing you a Happy, Healthy, Adventurous 2015! Now get outside and have some fun!

Read Full Post »

Boston Week 2

In addition to having one of my best Christmas’s ever I had a perfect week of Boston marathon training. A Christmas brunch with 12 great friends, delicious food and an exchange of hand made gifts was followed by a delightful sunset run. In fact I had 6 delightful runs all between 3 and 8 miles each, plus two nights of rowing and 5 days of strength and/or flexibility training. It is minimal mileage and it is the plan I used in 2007 for my first marathon after not running for 20 years and that plan qualified me for Boston.

While I am qualified for Boston again, my right quad is only letting me run 2:00 walk 1:00 but this week I added a twist. I began walking the 1:00 backward and by the end of the week I was jogging the 1:00 backward, not only am I getting my front in shape I am getting my back in shape. I am also getting a lot of strange looks from the neighbors.

I think I know what is wrong with my leg, nothing. It is not my IT that has been bothering me these last three years, it is the femoral nerves  impingement. This would explain my right quad shutting down. To test this out I am doing a series of femoral nerve flossing like in this video:

Next week I will let you know how it goes. If all goes well I will reduce my 1:00 backward jogging to 30 seconds. Until then, happy running!

Read Full Post »

Art, Art and more Art

Hilary Lorenz at Wave Hill, NY

I was reminded today how little I  update my blog. This is true, but while I have not been updating this one, I have been updating my new art website blog at hilarylorenz.wordpress.

Mostly my excuse is that I have not been running, but rather making art, a lot of art, over 4,000 prints in the last few months to be exact. But now all my shows are up and I am hanging around NYC promoting them and running. Yes, I got back to running again. It is crazy how fast I can get of shape and quite frankly it is a lot more fun to run an 8:00 pace with a 150HR than a 9:30 pace with a 150HR. But that is my reality right now.

Last night I took my dog Homer and jogged 6 miles through the Bronx Streets and  into Van Cortlandt Park. It was completely dark, no street lights, warm but with a very cool fog lifting off the fields. I really needed a headlight as I could not see four feet in front of me, but oh I really loved it and I think Homer did too.

Plans for the next couple of months include, selling my NYC apartment, going to Northern Ontario for an art’s residency, closing my exhibitions at Wave Hill, NY and the Printmaking Center of NJ on December 7, closing my show at the Gallery at Pioneer Bluffs after a reception on December 12, then hunkering down in Abiquiu, NM until next August. And who knows if the stars align I might just stay out there in the high desert. Oh and I am in two holiday sales, where I will have a boat load of hand printed journals, one in Brooklyn and one in Los Alamos, NM. I will also post some here.

Happy Fall.

Read Full Post »

My Matfield Outpost Resideny

This past week has been quite dreamy at the Matfield Outpost Residency. I feel right at home in the cozy studio working on my Flint Hills Series of watercolors. I love walking from the house to the studio and then settling in to work.

Hilary in studio

Homer and Conrad playing fetch while I cut paper

The best part is having my dogs with me. We spent a lot of time out walking the hills and they stayed close by me when I was working.

It has been fantastic hanging out with Ton Haak and Ans Zoutenbier the Directors of the Gallery at Pioneer Bluff. And the good news is that I will be back in October for my own exhibition with opens on October 4th.

Today I walked just over seven miles at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. This place is beautiful and scary. It is part of the 170,000,000 acres of tallgrass prairie. The national park has over 40 miles of trail where you have to cross through cattle and bison fields. While I wanted to see wild bison I am glad I didn’t as I would have been afraid, I was terrified of the cattle, especially being 4-5 miles out in the prairie all alone. Three times I had to cross the path covered in cattle, one time they started trotting toward me and I was sweating like mad because I did not know how to get them to go the other way.

Bison alert

But if you can handle walking through the cattle you are in for a real treat, it is a sea of green for miles in every direction.

Miles of beautiful green

 

 

 

 

I am packing up all my stuff tonight and photographing the last of the work I made. It is to bad I only have my  cell phone camera, my nice Canon A100 (or could be nice) is broken again. This has been the worst camera I ever owned, first I got lens errors, now the shutter will not work, it was an expensive disappointment.

But I have my  cell phone to show you some of my work, these are all watercolor with collage of Italian printed papers, they are 12″ x 16″. I can’t wait to come back, Matfield Outpost is the most awesome place!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watercolor collage by Hilary Loren 

Watercolor collage by Hilary Lorenz

Watercolor collage by Hilary Lorenz

Watercolor collage by Hilary Lorenz

 

Read Full Post »

Walking the Lake

 

 

This is a collage drawing that I finished yesterday. It is 12″ x 16″ and made up of watercolor, lino print and antique Italian printed papers.

TodayI left Outpost Studios for a little drive to Chase County Fishing Lake. It is about 15 miles from the studio and 1.5 north of Cottonwood Falls. It is hot, 91 degrees and I knew a good walk was in order for me and a swim for the dogs. The Chase State Lake is 109 acres with a limestone shore and surrounded by lush green hills and prairies.  My phone was dead so I could not get any photos, and unfortunately my camera does not work. Here is a shot I got on-line from an aerial view. 

Conrad and Homer were very happy. I mapped the perimeter of the lake at 3.15 miles around, they swam pretty much the whole thing. Two fisherman were on the opposite bank as us and we chatted for a bit when I made it back around. The lake is beautiful and I really needed some walking time.  I am only here one week and I want to make art but really I need to walk and be in the landscape in order to do that. So my plan now is to spend 4-5 hours in the morning out running or walking, then do some work in the afternoon and see how that goes. I think this must be the greenest place in the country.

Read Full Post »

It’s all about the Journey

Matfield Green, Kansas

 

I am in Matfield Green, Chase County, Kansas, population 47. I fought to get here and now I am in a place where the endless green prairie meets the sky  giving me an odd feeling of being on the bottom of a fish bowl.

The fight? My car, traffic, my car, construction, my car. I had, yes had, a 1996 Subuaru Legacy wagon, 194,000 miles. After a goodbye dinner with my friends, turning over my apartment to a trusted subletter, I drove away and got 30 miles into New Jersey and my car died on the Turnpike. I was not even suppose to be on the Turnpike, I made a wrong turn. Calling AAA, a tow truck came, but they were not AAA, as AAA was not allowed on the Turnpike. So this tow took me 1/2 mile to a parking lot where I  waited for AAA who towed me to a very nice auto repair shop that was just closing. They recommended I go home, but I have no home now, so they recommended I get a rental car and hotel which I did. It was not easy NJ hotels do not seem to like dogs. After several “no ways” I found a hotel who charged me an extra $100 a night for the dogs. The next morning they tried to tell me it is $100 per dog but there was no way I was giving in to that.

I waited for the auto shop to call, and by noon I had to check out so I went back. Turns out they had to replace my fuel pump. A little detail that I left out is that they suspected the fuel pump which could mean taking the seats out of the car, a car filled with materials for my artist residency. I had to unload about 250 pounds of stuff into a back of a pick-up truck stored on their lot. Anyhow, they fixed the car, and anticipating a bill that was higher than the price of my car ($2,500) I was thrilled when it was only $450. They did a tune-up, tightened some rattling bolts and by 2pm I was on my way again. Two hundred and fifty miles later, the tachometer dropped, accelerator dropped, temp gauge dropped, and engine failure. I called AAA, they came and got me, again. This time the young ambitious tow truck driver said he would take me to a Subaru dealer/service center, then to a hotel. Homer, who was too afraid to jump into the tow truck was carefully lifted in by the driver. It was about 9pm as we drove to the dealership, then to his auto body shop and finally the hotel. He watched the dogs as I got my room, I gave him a handsome tip for being kind, entertaining, and getting me safely back.

I figured it was the car’s computer, but could be total electrical failure. I would have to wait until they opened to find out. In the meantime I got on-line and checked out cars. I knew I needed a new car but I thought I could wait until I got to NM, and I was not about to be sold something I cannot afford in my state of duress. Most all the cars were 2014 and too expensive. There was a 2006 Subaru Outback, 103,000 miles, and affordable if they still had it. I called the next morning and the service center only did oil changes on the weekend. The Subaru techs would not be in until Monday. I was not about to stay in that PA hotel two more night, plus my artist residency in Matfield Green, Outpost Studio, was beginning on Sunday. I asked them to send someone to come pick me and the dogs up, I want to buy a car. Yes, I was about to walk into a car dealership, something I have never done in my life and buy  a car.

My new car

The dealership was quiet with several sale’s people, salesmen and one saleswoman. I went right to her, to Katie. I told her the problem, what I want, we talked, I tested the car I saw on-line and we made a deal. They began the paperwork as I got on-line and ordered a duplicate title for my car. You see, I am leaving my old car at the dealership, and will have a charity organization tow it away for a tax credit, but I must have the title. The title is packed away in some box in NYC and I was not going back for me. Katie and the staff worked with me. I have to pay NYC sales tax but I am not going back to NYC. The check would be cut from the dealership and the title information sent to me via Fedex once I got to where I am going. For now, that is Matfield Green Kansas.

I did make it on Sunday, not at 11am but at 7pm. The artmaking has begun.

My cute little studio on the side of the prairie

Read Full Post »

Thank you to my rock star supporters!

Hilary at Coast Trail Runs, Canyon Meadow 50K, March 2014

Friends, the baton is nearing New York. One Run for Boston (ORFB), the epic non-stop running relay from LA to Boston in aid of One Boston Fund that began on March 13 is currently in Stonington, PA  will cross over in NYC tomorrow, Friday, April 11 at 4:50pm at the 911/Memorial. The baton will be carried up into the Bronx where a 52 member group stage will be run in Van Cortlandt Park, (you can still sign up!) then I along with 6 others will run stage 311 (yes you can still donate)  up to Larchmond, NY, handing it off at approximately 10:50pm. The baton will continue on until it reaches Boston on April 13th. The long journey has raise over $381,000 and money is still coming in.

I want to thank those who supported me in ORFB. You are my rock stars! You are the ones that I will be thinking about Friday night as I run. You are my support and I thank you so much.

My Rock Stars:
Ben Ko, Shelley L. Hanson, Mary Jo Vath, Andy Winnegar, Suzanne Garney, Anonymous (ADK-N), Victoria Nordgren, Kevin Lohman, Richard Ervais, Anonymous (Jan 7), Peggy Thompson, Mark Mascolini, John Shorb, Lisa Studier, Claudia Cummings, Scott Harrison, Jim Brown, Tom Singleton, Les James, Daniel Lu, Amy Cooper, Anonymous (Jan 30), Patrick Rogers, Elke, Dominic Clarke, Bernd Erpenbeck, Anonymous (March 30), Cindy, Lori L Baird.

Read Full Post »