Another long weekend

A weekend of “bagging"....

I headed off to Florida this weekend to visit my parents. They’ve lived part of the year in Zephyerhills for over 10 years and I hadn’t yet made the trip down. I’ve been really busy with racing but needed to head down to collect their tax info prior to the filing deadline, so this was the first available weekend this year. It also turned out to be my 45th birthday.

I got a taste of summer on Saturday, running at 6 AM in 70 degree temps. My noon run was downright hot with temps just under 90 degrees. In between we trekked over to the Pasco County High Point. It was unremarkable despite being one of the top 10 highest counties of the 67 in Florida. We walked around the edges of an orange grove looking for the highest point (301’) and were pretty sure it was highest right by the orchard sign. We then went over to LeHesup hill in Dade city. Some of the locals erroneously thought it was the highest point (240’). It did have a nice view and towered over the surrounding countryside. We finished the day with a nice dinner at a local steak-house (I had some great ribs).

The short trip was over early Friday morn as I caught a 7 AM flight back to Boston. I figured since I was already 30+ miles south of home that I’d head out for some Mass. Town bagging. I planned out four runs in eight towns. First I headed to Rehoboth and parked next to the fire tower on Long Hill. I don’t know how they would be able to spot any fires as the trees surrounding the tower were all higher than the tower itself! I got in a 3-mile run that took me from Rehoboth to Dighton and back.

Next up was a short drive to Raynham and a run on part of the Bay Circuit trail and a short stint on a rail-trail in the Great Hockomock Swamp. This was a nice quiet location despite being right behind the Raynham dog track. I got in three miles in both Raynham and Easton then quickly headed for run number three. I parked in a cul-de-sac and ran onto a rail-trail behind the Mansfield airport. The trail was paved after I crossed the road by the airport. It was also marked out in ¼ mile increments and had a surprising number of walkers on in considering the weather (40’s and drizzle/rain). It looked like this section of the World War II veterans rail-trail had been recently worked on and it had a nice crushed stone path along the paved part. I got in three miles covering Mansfield and Norton, and then headed for my final run of the day.

I headed to F. Gilbert Hills state forest in Wrentham and did a nice three mile trail run which included a run up to the highest point in the forest (High Rock). The rain/drizzle from earlier in the day had lessened and it was nice and quiet in the forest, even though I was just a stone’s throw from busy route 1.

Totals for the weekend: 6 hours of air travel, 254 miles driving, 1 county high point, 1 fire tower, 8 Mass towns, and 24 miles of running.

Week ending 03-29-09

Final full week of the month and I hit an even 80. The ankle was dicey all week long and I'm thinking that trail racing (and maybe even training) may be out of the question.

Mon - 4 at lunch on treadmill, 6 in the bird sanctuary with Dan

Tues- 6 at lunch on treadmill, 6 in bird sanct

Wed- 6 at lunch on treadmill, 6 in bird sanct

Thurs-6 outside at lunch (fast-638 pace), 6 at Winni with Ken Tripp

Fri-4 in am on treadmill, 6 more before heading to Florida

Sat - 8 in the dark 68 degrees, then 4 at noon 88 degrees!

Sun - Bagged 8 towns and a firetower, 4x3 miles

Picture= Me and Mom at the Pasco County (FL) high point

WMAC all-time

WMAC all-time leaders
Most finishes (10 or more finishes):
Rank----Name-----# Raced---First yr
1-– Konrad Karolczuk -- 99 --1998
2 -– Laurel Shortell -- 97 --2002
3 –- Bob Dion --93 --1998
4 –- Richard Busa-- 92 -- 1999
5 –- Laura Clark-- 86 --1999
6 -- Ed Alibozek Jr – 82 -- 1998
7 –- Edward Alibozek -- 76--1996
8 –- Ken Clark --75 --1999
9 –- Bob Massaro -- 73 --2002
10 –- Denise Dion -- 62 --2000

CMS runners
11 -- Dave Dunham -- 60-- 1999
29 -- Ben Nephew -- 33-- 2002
34 -- Richard Bolt -- 26--2000
48 -- Paul Low -- 22 --2003
51 -- Rob Smith -- 20-- 2003
55 -- Kelli Lusk -- 19 --2003
71 -- James Pawlicki -- 16 --2004
74 -- Tim Van Orden -- 15 --2008
75 -- Gregory Hammett -- 15 --2004
80 -- Tim Mahoney -- 14 --2008
91 -- Abby Woods -- 12 --2008
93 -- Dan Verrington -- 12 --2002
98 -- Stephanie Nephew -- 12 --2002
104 -- Stephen Peterson -- 11 --2002 (pictured above at Northfield)

Point leaders (Over 350 points)
Rank--name--All-time points
1 -- Bob Dion -- 7642.47
2 -- Ken Clark -- 6731.08
3 -- Edward Alibozek -- 5672.32
4 -- Dave Dunham -- 5588.63
5 -- Ed Alibozek Jr -- 4428.67
6 -- Jay Kolodzinski -- 4103.14
7 -- Mike Lahey -- 3662.16
8 -- John Pelton -- 3534.36
9 -- Leigh Schmitt -- 3439.54
10 -- Laura Clark -- 3253.57

12 -- Ben Nephew -- 3055.90
20 -- Richard Bolt -- 2454.67
23 -- Paul Low -- 2183.78
40 -- Kelli Lusk -- 1611.96
43 -- Rob Smith -- 1526.80
44 -- Tim Van Orden -- 1438.02
46 -- James Pawlicki -- 1385.18
48 -- Gregory Hammett -- 1366.08
51 -- Tim Mahoney -- 1336.64
69 -- Abby Woods -- 1071.12
73 -- Dan Verrington -- 1009.19
82 -- Stephen Peterson -- 885.08
97 -- Stephanie Nephew -- 746.99
111 -- Kevin Tilton -- 655.47
118 Alan Bernier 616.07
145 Jim Johnson 394.50

Best average
Rank First Last Avg. # Raced
1 -- Paul Low -- 99.26 -- 22
2 -- Jim Johnson -- 98.63 -- 4
3 -- Leigh Schmitt -- 98.27 -- 35
4 -- Ethan Nedeau -- 96.48 -- 9
5 -- Tim Van Orden -- 95.87 -- 15
6 -- Mike Cohen -- 95.76 -- 6
7 -- Mathew Westerlund -- 95.55 -- 6
8 -- John Noonan -- 95.53 -- 8
9 -- Tim Mahoney -- 95.47 -- 14
10 -- Matt Cartier -- 95.43 -- 18

11 -- Richard Bolt -- 94.41 -- 26
13 -- Kevin Tilton -- 93.64 -- 7
15 -- Dave Dunham -- 93.14 -- 60
16 -- Ben Nephew -- 92.60 -- 33
17 -- Gregory Hammett -- 91.07 -- 15
22 -- Abby Woods -- 89.26 -- 12
23 -- Alan Bernier -- 88.01 -- 7
27 -- James Pawlicki -- 86.57 -- 16
30 -- Kelli Lusk -- 84.84 -- 19
33 -- Dan Verrington -- 84.10 -- 12
45 -- Stephen Peterson -- 80.46 -- 11
60 -- Rob Smith -- 76.34 -- 20
94 -- Stephanie Nephew -- 62.25 -- 12

All time WMAC wins

With my "w" at Catamount last weekend I moved into first place on the all-time WMAC wins list passing Kelli Lusk. List below. Note 5 of the top 8 men (and 3 of the top 6 women) are/were CMS runners.

1 Dave Dunham 19
2 Leigh Schmitt 15
3 Richard Bolt 14 (shown at right)
4 Paul Low 12
5t Josh Merlis 7
5t Ben Nephew 7
7 Ken Clark 4
8t Josh Ferenc 3
8t Kevin Tilton 3


1 Kelli Lusk 18
2 Abby Woods 12
3 Sheryl Wheeler7
4t Beth Herder 6
4t Chelynn Tetrault 6
6t Michelle Tetrault 4
6t Nikki Kimball 4
6t Tracey Van Dyke 4

County high points

After last week I've bagged 59 county high points in 13 states. I've also been to the highest point in 9 of those states. Here is the breakdown:
MA - 14
NH - 10
CT - 8
NY - 5
RI - 5
VT - 4
MO - 3
ME, HI, NV, KS - 2
NJ & DE - 1

Although 59 COHP's sounds like a lot, it is actually less than 2% of the 3,142 counties in the US. Here is a chart showing my progress (Green= state completed, Red=failed ascent, Blue=good ascent).

2009 WMAC/Dion Snowshoe series results

CMS had a fine showing in the WMAC series taking 4 of the top five spots. Ben beat me by .28 points, but I did take the 40+ title.



Rank First Last Best 6 finishes count
1 Ben Nephew 591.94 CMS
2 Dave Dunham 591.66 CMS
3 Tim Van Orden 587.56 CMS
4 Mathew Cartier 587.27
5 Tim Mahoney 577.51 CMS
6 Ken Clark 575.41
7 Edward Alibozek 556.53
8 Paul Bazanchuk 551.05
9 Larry Dragon 547.30
10 Brian Northan 543.75
11 Jay Kolodzinski 538.10
12 Abby Woods 538.05 CMS
Left to Right finished 5, 4, 2, 3 in the series (pic from Hawley kiln). Where was Ben Nephew?!

Week ending 03-22-09

Total = 83 miles (highest this year) + 5 county high points & 3 more Mass towns

m - Travel day, early morn 5m then to Kansas city 4m around a Lake and visited a County HP.

tues - 5am 8m o/b on a rail trail in KC, 5 pm - 4m around a Lake and 4 COHP's in MO & KS. Sunset in Kansas

wed - 5am 8m o/b on rail trail, 5pm - 4m along creek in KC
County High point on the KS/MO state line

th - 5 am 8m o/b on bike path, 4 pm - 4m on bike path

F - Travel day, 2 pm o/b 8m (long) with double-j

Sat - 730am 5m around Winni with group. 2pm - 3m in Sheffield/New Marlborough, 3 pm - 3m in Mt Washington, 4 PM warm-up and race at Catamount ski area. total for the day 17 miles.

Sun - 13 miles of rough footing in Bradley Palmer with big group....well mostly just me and Joe 10-30 seconds behind the big group :-)

Looking ahead: Rare weekend off from racing next week as i head down to FL to visit my parents.

Further off I'm not sure exactly where I'll be racing in April, I'm planning to compete in at least a couple of Orienteering meets. There are a couple of national level meets in the area, which would be fun to race at. The BIG race of the month is the River (Rivah!) 10 mile on April 11. I'm the asst. to the RD and oversee the timing and scoring that the DRC masterfully handles.

Catamount snowshoe race - wmac season finale

Wow, what a long day!

Met the guys at 730 and did 5 miles around Winnekenni. It felt fast to me and I spent most of the time just hangin' off the back.

Off to VITA for two hours of tax preperation, then headed west!

The drive was fast (not much traffic) and I was in New Marlbourough by 1:30. I did 3 miles in NM and Sheffield near three mile pond WMA. It was scenic and I loosened up pretty quickly.


The off to Egremont and a run on Mt Washington road in Mt Washington (the town). It was also quite scenic and very hilly. I did 3m and then headed for the Catamount snowshoe race in Hillsdale/Egremont.

Turning into the ski area was the first time I'd seen run-able snow all day. The ski area was open and the lot was pretty full for the first day of Spring. I met up with Tim V and we did an easy 10 min warm-up. I felt tired.

After a brief course description we were off. After a 1/4 mile it sounded like Tivo and I were on our own. I knew I needed to get some space on Tivo before the downhill or I wouldn't be able to hold him off. At the top (1.2 miles and 950' of climb) I guessed I was 30-40 seconds up and afterwards found out I was 48 seconds in front. I pushed hard on the down, but never felt smooth. I guess I looked like crap, that was how I felt. Tivo closed the gap to 32 seconds, but I held on and got my 2nd win of the season in 22:44 (14:48 t0 the top and 7:56 down).

After a short warm-down I was on the road home. Dang it was a long day, worth every minute!

Totals:
356 miles driven
6 Towns -Haverhill, Hillsdale, Egremont, Sheffield, Mt Washtington, New Marlborough.
16+ miles run
1 race win

Check out the course:
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=280021

Week ending 03-15-09

79 miles for the week was my best so far this year. I also bagged 3 firetowers and got a 40+ pr for 13.1 miles.

Mon - Flew home from OR. 5m Ind park loop

Tues - 6 @ Lunch & 6 @ Dan's

Wed - 6 @ Lunch & 6 @ Dan's

Thur - 6 @ Lunch & 6 @ Dan's

Fri - 4 in morn then out to Mt Grace ft for 3m then Northfield for 4m then Mt toby Ft for 5m

Sat - 4 in am checking NF course then 4 more clearing the course

Sun - 2 wup at New Bedford, 13.1 mile race (my longest single run this year) then 1m warm-down.

Pics from New Bedford from double-J

New Bedford

Wow, what a great day to race. The weather was perfect for the second race in the Grand Prix series. Dan picked me up at 8 and after a quick stop for a Dunkin's coffee and "old fashioned" we met the Quintal brothers and double-j at the River. The ride was fun with topics all over the board. We got to New Bedford and found our traditional parking spot (Dan drove a little way the wrong way down a one way street).

After getting numbers we hit we prepared for the race and did an easy 2 mile warm-up. I had to stop 100m into the run as my left hamstring was a mess. I'd been having trouble with a minor strain in the middle of the hamstring and it seems to get worse when I run a choppy stride (snowshoe) and I guess the 22 miles of snowshoe running over two days had tweaked it. It loosened up as we went and I pushed it to the back of my mind.

With 10 minutes to go we headed to the line and as in years past, there is no good way to get to the line. We crawled under the staging and jogged to the line. With nearly 2,000 runners you'd think they would have a better set-up (you'd be wrong). Soon enough we were off.

The first downhill mile was quick, even a couple of seconds quicker than my split predictor said it should be. I felt good and tried to keep the effort even. After the rolling miles we hit the turn around four miles and the splits we back to being fast (normal fast). I got into a good group for a little more than a mile. The group was big and included two of the top 50+ runners. They had both beaten me at the 10 mile so I wanted to stay with them. Around 6 miles Dave Oliver and the group moved ahead as Reno Stirrat and I slipped back. From that point on it was a fairly lonely run. Just me and a guy in a green long-sleeve the rest of the way. Only two guys passed us in the second half of the race (Matt Germain who was doing a "workout" and Larry Sayers who stomped past us at 12 miles). I felt good the entire way but never great, when the group pulled away at 6 it felt just a couple of steps faster than I could handle. I was definitely worried about running out of gas during the last three miles. I ended up running well (faster than the projections) for the last 3 miles. Probably because I was catching Terry McNatt and really wanted to get him and Scott Anderson. All in all it was a good day, I wish I had 7 more seconds in me as we lost to WRT by that margin. On to the 12 km in Beford.....


Splits:
536/556/600/605/541/543/546/547/614/550/553/600/640 (1.1m) = 1:17:11

40+ PR for me.

Mass fire towers

One of the many lists I'm working on is the Massachusetts fire towers. I've climbed nearly all of the towers in Western Mass. On Friday I cut out of work after 1/2 day and headed toward Northfield to set the course for the Saturday race. I stopped at Mt Grace in Warwick for a climb. The view was very good and the climb wasn't too bad with a fair amount of snow except on the fire tower road.

View of Mt Monadnock from Mt Grace

I then set a course at Nortfield with a little more than four miles of great nearly spring conditions. There were very few bare spots and only a couple of icy descents. The final stop of the day was Mt Toby. I had gone by the trailhead last year when town-bagging Sunderland but didn't have enough time to climb the mountain. At 3 PM the sun was high and it was about 50 degrees. The trails were a bit tough to follow but I eventually found the telephone trail which climbed steadily to the tower. I was surprised to meet a couple of hikers who had just had a late lunch at the picnic table on top. I quickly climbed the tower took some pics and headed down. So after about 15 miles of running and 3,000' of climb/descent I wiped out walking along the road to my car! D'oh!!

The 7-Sisters course looks "flat" from Mt Toby.

Mass state snowshoe champs

I put on the 2nd race of the year at Northfield today. The turn-out (46) was impressive considering most people probably thought there was no snow. The course (4.03 miles) was super-fast and folks got to see some trails we hadn't used in any past events. Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who helped out.

Results below:

Place Name Time Age Sx Town St Points
1 Leigh Schmitt 0:27:03 36 M Conway MA 100.00
2 Ethan Nedeau 0:27:21 36 M Amherst MA 97.83
3 Brian Rusiecki 0:27:58 30 M Leeds MA 95.65
4 Tim Van Orden 0:27:59 40 M Bennington VT 93.48
5 Ian Lutz 0:31:14 16 M Leeds MA 91.30
6 Ben Keefe 0:31:40 28 M Providence RI 89.13
7 Ken Clark 0:32:00 46 M Somers CT 86.96
8 David Loutzenheiser 0:32:15 42 M Cambridge MA 84.78
9 Erik Wight 0:32:30 49 M Amherst MA 82.61
10 Edward Alibozek 0:32:40 46 M Suffield CT 80.43
11 Eddie Habeck III 0:32:45 31 M Northfield VT 78.26
12 Larry Dragon 0:32:59 48 M Cheshire MA 76.09
13 Rick Pacheco 0:33:19 48 M Southampton MA 73.91
14 Allan Bates 0:34:08 60 M Pittsfield MA 71.74
15 Peter Malinowski 0:34:25 54 M Beverly MA 69.57
16 Bob Dion 0:35:09 53 M Readsboro VT 67.39
17 David Holt 0:35:17 50 M Pepperell MA 65.22
18 Phil Bricker 0:36:40 55 M Northampton MA 63.04
19 Chelynn Tetrault 0:37:01 33 F Ashfield MA 60.87
20 Bill Morse 0:37:25 57 M Dracut MA 58.70
21 Amy Lane 0:37:35 29 F Westfield MA 56.52
22 Paul Hartwig 0:38:20 52 M Adams MA 54.35
23 Pat McGrath 0:38:57 43 M Adams MA 52.17
24 Mike Lahey 0:39:32 57 M Adams MA 50.00
25 Pam Dooley 0:40:29 29 F Colchester VT 47.83
26 Howard Bassett 0:40:30 48 M Keene NH 45.65
27 Holly Atkinson 0:41:12 39 F Canton CT 43.48
28 Ed Alibozek Jr 0:42:16 69 M Adams MA 41.30
29 Darleen Buttrick 0:43:22 29 F Easthampton MA 39.13
30 Jeff Hattem 0:43:41 57 M Natick MA 36.96
31 Wally Lempart 0:43:41 63 M Florence MA 34.78
32 Frank Gaval 0:43:49 62 M Sugarloaf PA 32.61
33 Kathy Furlani 0:44:30 60 F Broadbrook CT 30.43
34 Ernie Alleva 0:45:05 57 M Northampton MA 28.26
35 Bob Massaro 0:45:27 65 M Chicopee MA 26.09
36 Dave Boles 0:46:03 62 M New Paltz NY 23.91
37 London Niles 0:46:57 11 M Shaftsbury VT 21.74
38 Jodie Lahey 0:47:08 30 F Savoy MA 19.57
39 Laurel Shortell 0:47:40 43 F Northampton MA 17.39
40 Denise Dion 0:48:43 50 F Readsboro VT 15.22
41 Ray Boutotte 0:50:33 63 M Pepperell MA 13.04
42 Doug McBournie 0:51:44 50 M Colchester CT 10.87
43 Jamie Howard 0:55:12 43 M Albany NY 8.70
44 Mary Lou White 0:56:19 53 F Bolton CT 6.52
45 Konrad Karolczuk 0:57:10 56 M Windsor Locks CT 4.35
46 Art Gulliver 1:01:58 70 M Leominster MA 2.17

New England and New York results from SS nationals

10K Championships-Men
Place Name City Age Age Group Time
1 Peter Fain Truckee CA 37 ***** M 35-39 44:30
2 Kelly Mortenson St Paul MN 38 ***** M 35-39 45:01
3 Charlie Wertheim Glenwood Springs CO 47 ***** M 45-49 46:11
4 DJ Snyder Idaho Falls ID 23 ***** M 20-24 46:34
5 Robert Bolton HILL CITY SD 49 ***** M 45-49 47:48

New England/New York results
6 Dave Dunham Ward Hill MA 45 1 M 45-49 47:54 Age Group Gold medal - CMS
7 Aaron Roberston Rouses Point NY 31 1 M 30-34 49:01 Age Group Gold medal
12 Richard Bolt Portland OR 39 3 M 35-39 50:54 Age Group Bronze medal - CMS West
14 Jeremy Drowne Saratoga Springs NY 32 2 M 30-34 51:27 Age Group Silver medal
15 Matt Westerlund Lacona NY 37 4 M 35-39 51:54
16 Nathan Huckle Rochester NY 34 3 M 30-34 52:10 Age Group Bronze medal
19 Andrew Kless Rochester NY 23 1 M 20-24 53:41 Age Group Gold medal
21 Charlie Andrews Rochester NY 52 1 M 50-54 54:04 Age Group Gold medal
30 Greg Crego Rochester NY 40 4 M 40-44 58:26
34 Jay Curry Lynn MA 38 7 M 35-39 1:00:17
39 Patrick Smith Salem MA 47 5 M 45-49 1:01:21
44 Steven Rivers Victor NY 48 7 M 45-49 1:04:00
47 Bill Morse Dracut MA 58 4 M 55-59 1:05:00
49 Tim Ratowski Fairport NY 37 9 M 35-39 1:07:47
51 Daniel Cooper Salem MA 37 10 M 35-39 1:09:43
52 Mort Nace Rochester NY 43 8 M 40-44 1:09:47
56 Ken Schaible Scottsville NY 46 8 M 45-49 1:10:07
59 John Pelton West Rupert VT 70 1 M 70-74 1:12:08 Age Group Gold medal
68 Richard Busa Marlboro MA 80 1 M 80-84 2:04:18 Age Group Gold medal

68 finishers

10K Championships - Women
Place Name City Bib No Age Age Group Time
1 Brandy Erholtz Bailey CO 112 32 ***** F 30-34 51:58
2 Sonja Wieck Greenwood Village 38 30 ***** F 30-34 58:37
3 Casey Shea Colorado Springs C 73 24 ***** F 20-24 58:39
4 Christy Runde Brush Prairie WA 82 41 ***** F 40-44 58:57
5 Cheryl Paulson Nederland CO 71 45 ***** F 45-49 1:00:58

New England/New York results
9 Lynann Lorenz Apalachin NY 81 30 1 F 30-34 1:05:17 Age Group Gold medal
13 Emily Flagg Scottsville NY 80 35 2 F 35-39 1:07:19 Age Group Silver medal
14 Sherry Hecker Rochester NY 4 38 3 F 35-39 1:09:21 Age Group Bronze medal
15 Kaitlyn Sennett Rochester NY 109 24 1 F 20-24 1:09:50 Age Group Gold medal
24 Denise Dion Readsboro VT 10 51 2 F 50-54 1:23:34 Age Group Silver medal
25 Stephanie Cooper Salem MA 32 41 4 F 40-44 1:24:20
28 Chary Griffin Cazenovia NY 50 61 2 F 60-64 1:25:00 Age Group Silver medal
30 Diane Gray Fairport NY 44 46 5 F 45-49 1:26:09
33 Mary Rivers Victor NY 20 48 6 F 45-49 1:36:09

36 Finishers

Course map from the first Snowshoe nationals in 2001. I won and Ben Nephew took third place.

Week ending 03-08

A solid 75 for the week despite a travel day. In addition to racing at the snowshoe nationals in Oregon I visited the fourth highest waterfalls in the country, the high point for the city of Portland, and the Willamette stone. I also got to hang out with Rich and Kelly which would be fun even without a race.

M – 10 on treadmill instead of snow run 72:02
T – 6 on treadmill at lunch 43:04, 6 in afternoon with Dan from his work 44:48.
W – 6 on treadmill at lunch 42:06, 6 in afternoon with Dan from his work 42:21
Th – 6 on treadmill at lunch 42:34, 6 in afternoon with Dan from his work 41:57
F – 4 on treadmill at 8am 29:34, 6 on treadmill at 11am 42:01. Afternoon flight to Oregon
Sat – 4+++ with Rich in Forest park on muddy trails 35:00, Afternoon snowshoe run checking out the course on Mt Hood 51:53
Sun – 2 warm-up, 1 more in snowshoes, 6.2m snowshoe race, 2 warm-down @ Mt Hood.

Next up: I’m hoping to run sub 6’s at the New Bedford ½ marathon on Sunday, it is the next race in the USATF NE grand prix series. I’m also race directing the penultimate race in the WMAC/Dion snowshoe series on Saturday at Northfield Mountain.

Local running pal Paul M, with his bio from the 1992 Olympic trials.

2009 snowshoe nationals

I woke up this morning to find a somewhat rare dusting of snow on the ground in Portland OR. Mt Hood got a fair amount of snow overnight. We headed out leaving ample time for the drive as the mountain road is popular with skiers and it would have a decent coating of snow. We hit the parking lot just as the junior race was heading out.

The weather was much nicer than yesterday, with the winds much milder and the snow not flying. The sun was even peeking out. The area looked totally different than when we struggled through the flying snow. You could see most of the first 1/2 mile of course climbing up the valley.

We headed for registration to pick up packets as they were not ready yesterday. The race management was sloppy at best and downright uncaring about the athletes at worst. Registration (I had pre-registered) was very slow and I was told "You'll be getting a large shirt, that is all we have". I thought about mentioning that I had ordered a medium when I had registered over a month ago, but just let it go. Rich had mentioned that the race management had a laid back style. Laid back was a nice way of putting it. I would call them unprofessional. I was mocked when I asked if they had an entrants list. So much for this being a "national championship".

We headed back to the car and to prepare for a warm-up. The ladies race took off on schedule at 11:00, with us soon to follow at 11:45. The course was a 2-loop 5km with 1,100' of climb (550' per loop). Unfortunately the timing of the events would mean that a lot of the women would get lapped out on the course. The described course from the website was not quite what was being run on. Rather than a mix of single-track and wide trail it was 100% single-track. Not a big deal, but it could be difficult for passing.

We did a 2 mile warm-up by doing many loops around the parking lot, there was nowhere else to run. After that a quick switch to racing gear and we headed off to do another few minutes on snowshoes. I threw in 4 or 5 pick-ups and it was time to go. I had seen Brandy Erholtz (US mountain team member) storm through the first loop under 30 minutes so it looked like the race was going to be (relatively) quick.

After a few words from USSSA sports director Mark Elmore we were off in a flurry of snow. My goal was a top 15 finish, I'd be disappointed with anything over 20th (based on past results and my current form). Within 100m of the start I was in a line of runners and I counted off 14 in front of me. Perfect. Soon the line began to slow a bit and I jumped into the powder and went by 3 guys. Around 1/2 mile into the race we got to the steepest pitch. I felt very good and asked two guys to let me pass. They willingly let me as they were walking. After cresting the top I reeled in a few other guys and by the mile I found myself in 5th place. This was a major surprise.

I pushed, but not too hard, figuring I wanted to have something for the second lap. I was just over 14 minutes at the top. The downhill was steady and had few sharp turns, which is great for me. The snow was packed well and the runnig was easy. I felt bad asking some of the women to step aside (yelling "track" as I approached). It really wasn't fair to them to give way but mark had mentioned at the start that slower runs should yeild the trail. I hit the 2nd loop in 24 minutes (10:35 for the downhill), and started the second climb. According to the time stamps on the pics Kelli took the leader was 1:49 up on me at the end of lap one. He had a seven second lead. Third and 4th were 50 and 55 seconds in front of me.

This was the first time since early in the race that I could see the leaders. Peter Fain and Kelly Mortenson were well up but seemed to be locked in a great duel. I saw Charlie Wertheim as he caught Andrew Kless in the steep bowl. They were at least a minute up on me. When I hit the top of the bowl I looked back and figured I had a good minute on the next guy. I started thinking I might be able to hold 5th and make the US snowshoe team. I tried to push hard to the top, knowing that my downhill running is not the best.

I hit the top 13 minutes since passing the start line, which was a little better than lap one but we had not done a little section (100m) down near the start. I really tried to hammer the downhill. About half-way down I passed Rich Busa who offered some encouragement, he looked to be moving steadily and I yelled "give 'em hell Rich" as I went by. I felt a bit beat up on the downhill, my back and my bum ankle was giving me a lot of grief. I checked my watch twice knowing that the down would only be 10 minutes. I looked at 5 minutes and again at 8 minutes. I was also running out of steam. Maybe the altitude was getting to me (4,600' at the top) or maybe I was just tired. Whatever. With about a minute to go I heard footsteps and heavy breathing. I ramped it up as much as I could, but with about 25 meters to go he sprinted by and I had no answer. I crossed the line beat, but pleased with a 6th place finish. The guy who beat me was also in the 45-49 age group as was the 3rd place finisher. So I got 6th overall and was 3rd in the 45-49, yikes! From the times on the pictures, the guy who beat me came from way back. He ran conservatively on the first loop and I was 1:41 ahead of him after 5km!

Rich came in a couple of minutes later, running well despite his knee woes that have severly curtailed his training. We quickly changed into dry clothes and did another 2 miles in the parking lot. Results were somewhat posted but confusing as they had times listed from when the first race of the day started (example: Peter Fain 2:08:59 - he won the race in about 45 minutes). We didn't wait around for them to get results as it didn't seem like that would be happening anytime soon. After chatting with some of the Dungeon rock folks and the Dion's we hit the road.

All in all it was a good day. The course was fantastic and I'm sure on a clear day the views would be spectacular. I won't let poor race management spoil my day! On to the East coast where racing is taken seriously. :-)

Sort of results:
1 Brandy Erholtz
2 Sonja Wieck - 6:30 back
3 Casey Shea - 2 seconds behind Wieck

1 Peter Fain CA 44:43 (all times approx)
2 Kelly Morenson MN 45:21
3 Charlie Wertheim CO 46:27
4 Andrew Kless NY 46:47
5 ???
6 Dave Dunham MA 47:59
12 Rich Bolt OR 51:09

Oregon

First full day in Oregon today. I got in late last night (late for me). After a decent 8 hour sleep Rich and I headed out for an easy 4m run on the trails in Forest Park (http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?PropertyID=127&action=ViewPark). Then after a couple of very strong cups of coffee we were on our way to White River sno park on the slopes of Mt Hood. The 90 minute drive took us from drizzle to rain to snow as we went from sea-level to over 4,000'.

The race site was a parking lot and nothing more. We arrived prior to the time for course inspection, figuring to get in a trot around the 5km loop then pick up our numbers and head home. We headed out into a howling wind and blinding driving snow. With heads down we glanced up looking for orange flags which marked the course. Rich had run a trail race in the same area so he was familiar with where we needed to go. About a mile in, and after a good amount of climb, we ran into the course-setters and USSSA sports director Mark Elmore. Mark was making sure the course would be safe and accurate.

After a brief chat we headed on further up the valley, but with no flags to follow we kind of made our own way. A bit later we headed left and then turned back down the valley running somewhat parallel to where we had come up. This part of the run was nice as we had the wind at our backs and a gentle downhill helping us along. We returned to the parking lot then added on a bit more to get in a 4 mile run. This was a short day for me but there was nowhere else to run on the pass as the main road was not safe for running and I don't want to mess up my ankle (any worse than it is) by doing a lot of snowshoeing.

After getting into dry clothes we tried to pick up numbers but the race direction appears to be a bit scattershot and we were told we could get them "sometime later, or tomorrow". That was good enough for us and we hit the road.

We stopped for lunch in Hood river and marveled at the folks out on the Columbia river in the extremely windy conditions. The wind was so intense that the spray from the white caps caused a rainbow that hugged the ground. After fueling up Rich drove us to a touristy location, Multnomah falls (http://www.oregonwaterfalls.net/multnmh.htm). It was actually quite interesting and I'd enjoy going back for a run up the trail (1m or further up to a mountain pass).

We continued back to Portland and made a brief stop back at the house for a map of the highest point in the city of Portland. We headed to a cemetery on top of skyline drive and easily located the high point. Then we continued on and found the highest point on the Tualatin mountains. The final site to check out was the Willamette stone. This marked where all of Oregon was laid out from. It was interesting in a geeky map way (I'm really into maps). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Meridian

Figuring this was a pretty full day, we headed home for a quick soak in the hot tub and a relaxing evening resting up for tomorrows race.

Tomorrow.....USSSA national snowshoe championship race!

Freddy Braz - 1992

I love the old pictures and results. Here is the pic and bio of Fernando Braz from the 1992 Olympic trials.

Win streak

I’ve been fortunate enough to win at least one race every year since 1979. With my win this past weekend at Hawley Kiln I now have 31 years with a win.

Here are some stats:
The average field size in my wins = 209
Biggest field = 3,122 @ Charbo’s (03-24-1996)
Smallest field = 1 @Winnekenni snowshoe (12-25-08)

By type:
Road-178
Outdoor track- 40
Cross country-33
Indoor track-32
Trail-27
Snowshoe-22
Mountain-18

Wins by year
1979 -3
1980 -13
1981 -22
1982 -18
1983 -4
1984 -10
1985 -7
1986 -3
1987 -7
1988 -16
1989 -12
1990 -10
1991 -38
1992 -20
1993 -35
1994 -13
1995 -18
1996 -24
1997 -8
1998 -7
1999 -7
2000 -11
2001 -14
2002 -6
2003 -3
2004 -1
2005 -1
2006 -2
2007 -9
2008 -7
2009 -1

Longest stretches without a win:
05/03/05 to 11/04/06 =550 days
03/20/04 to 05/03/05 =409 days
07/02/97 to 05/24/98 =326 days
01/26/02 to 10/27/02 =274 days
2/2/2008 to 7/16/2008 = 165 days

Most races without a win = 75
Favorite wins:
09/24/79 - 14:21 – Dracut, MA – JV XC race 2.4m – My first win
05/03/80 - 9:47 – Wilmington, MA - Freshman/Sophomore 2mile – My first trophy (and I still have it)
02/20/82 - 9:15.6 – Cambridge, MA -State championship 2mile - My only state championship victory
03/26/83 - 14:27.7 – Gainesville, FL -Florida relays 5,000m – Outkicked Mark Platjes for the win
09/13/87 - 14:08 – Concord, NH - NEAC 5K (Couples) – My first New England road title
06/18/88 - 60:50 - Greens Grant, NH - My first Mt Washington win
05/05/91 - 49:36 – Worcester, MA - NEAC 10M - Took Dennis Simoniatis in the last 50m.
03/08/92 -1:38:03 – Boylston, MA - NEAC 30K – Beat Sheehan and Dillon in final steps (top 3 in 3 seconds)
12/12/92 - 2:20:51 – Huntsville, AL -Rocket city marathon -1st marathon win
03/21/93 - 1:05:02 - New Bedford, MA - NEAC 13.1 - 1 second win over Simonatis
10/18/98 - 2:21:36 – Tyngsboro, MA - Bay state marathon -Won in front of hometown crowd and qualified for Oly trials
01/22/00 - 25:53 – Adams, MA - Greylock Glen 5km snowshoe - 1st snowshoe win
07/29/00 -15:45 – Greensboro, NC - Take pride in your hide - 5k XC - 1st naked race, record for fastest naked 5k XC.
10/08/00 - 6:46:39 – Boston, MA - Chancellor's challenge 100km - 1st Ultra
02/10/01 - 50:50 – Plattsburgh, NY - US snowshoe championships - 10km
10/06/07 - 23:51 – Fayston, VT - Stark Mountain – 1 mile straight up the mountain. Great sick fun!

Snowshoe rankings

It looks like Ben Nephew has wrapped up the WMAC/Dion title. Only a couple of races to go and only a couple of guys who could mathematically catch him (if he doesn't race). Congratulations to rookie snowshoer Jim Johnson who took the New Hampshire series title last week.

Minimum of 4 results
Rank--Last wk---Name---------Weekend Result
1tie--1tie----Jim Johnson------Idle
1tie--1tie----Ben Nephew------Idle
3-----3------Matt Cartier------2nd @ Hawley
4-----5------Dave Dunham------1st @ Hawley
5-----4------Tim VanOrden-----3rd @ Hawley
6-----6------Tim Mahoney------4th @ Hawley
7-----7------Matt Westerlund--Idle
8-----8------Josh Merlis--------Idle
9-----9------Steve Wolfe-------6th @ Hawley
10----10-----Ken Clark-----------9th @ Hawley
11----11-----Paul Bazanchuk-----Idle
12---14-----Brian Northan------7th @ Hawley
13---12-----Abby Woods--------Idle
14---13-----Danny Ferreira-----Idle
15---15-----Jay Kolodzinski-----14th @ Hawley (broken shoe)

Others who would make the list but they have got enough finishes
Justin Fyffe
Josh Ferenc
Kevin Tilton
Corey Watts
Joseph Hayter
Jeremy Drowne
Leigh Schmitt
Andrew McCarthy
Robert Jackman
Andrew Rickert
Dave Quintal
Greg Hammet
Jim Pawlicki
Tim Cox
Ahmed Elasser
Chris Dunn
Brian Rusiecki
Ethan Nedeau

Feb. update

This was a pretty solid month for me, with 305 miles. That is my best Feb. since 2002 (and my 13th best out of 32 Feb’s. The most I’ve ever done in a Feb. is 480, which I’ll probably never hit in a 31 day month never mind a 28 day one! Since the stress fracture in August I’ve run for four months with totals of 197, 312, 288, and 305. I feel that I’m just starting to hit my stride again, although I’m not quite back to the shape I was in before getting injured. I think the lower mileage and increased intensity is paying off.

I raced six times in Feb., which is the third most trailing only 2007 (8 races) and 1982 (10 races).
The Stew Chase was a surprise as I had raced the day before, but figured I’d see how my legs felt on the road. Sidehiller was one of the deepest fields in the WMAC series this year and I was very happy with my third place. The second place just behind Ben Nephew the following day was also a result I was quite please with. I then hit the roads again with a top 10 finish at the Bradford Valentines race. The New England 10 mile championship was an eye-opener. 77th place may seem terrible, but it is a couple of places better than I got at Newburyport last summer and I was 16th master, just missing my goal of top 15 at Grand prix races. The final race of the month was the Hawley Kiln snowshoe race. The Kiln race was my first snowshoe race back in 1999. With the win, I continued my streak of at least one win every year for 31 consecutive years. I also pulled a little further ahead of Tim Van Orden for the top master’s spot in the series. He could still beat me depending on how the last two races of the series play out.

Here are the races and results from Feb.:
02/01/09 22 9.33 Stew Chase Lynn MA 56:34
02/07/09 3 4.10 Sidehiller Sandwich NH 33:53
02/08/09 2 5.60 Hallockville Hawley MA 43:12
02/14/09 9 5.00 Bradford Valentines Haverhill MA 28:49
02/22/09 77 10.00 DH Jones USATFNE champs Amherst MA 59:56
02/28/09 1 4.60 Hawley Kiln Hawley MA 38:32

The “high point” for the month was climbing the Moats with a huge group and celebrating Al’s final 3,000’ peak in New Hampshire.

Looking ahead:
I’m hoping to keep on the 70 mile a week program for the month. I’m doing a lot of traveling this month, starting with snowshoe nationals in Oregon this weekend. I’m also going to Kansas City for a week for work and finishing the month with a trip to visit my parents in Florida.

I’m hoping to get in two snowshoe races, a road race, and a cross-country races.
03-08 Snowshoe nationals – Portland, OR
03-15 USATF NE 13.1 mile champs – New Bedford, MA
03-21 Catamont snowshoe race – Hillsdale, NY
03-22 Olde Salem XC – Salem, MA

Week ending March 1

Decent week....
02-23 6 at lunch 43:04 took the afternoon off, recover from 10m road race
02-24 6 at lunch 43:05 & 6 in the afternoon 42:04 (with Dan, Kimball, Behan)
02-25 6 at lunch 43:05 & 6 in the afternoon 40:39
02-26 6 at lunch 43:07 & 6 in the afternoon 47:20 (with Dan and Greg Putnam)
02-27 6 at lunch 43:04 & 6 in the afternoon 41:16
02-28 3 warm-up with Dan/Tim Mahoney, 1 in snowshoes, 4.6 mile race, 1.4m warm-down
03-01 Short 8 to county high point in NY 59:02 at 6 AM, then 5 miles at 830 AM watching the 50 KM.

Week = 77 miles

Hawley Kiln

I've been getting mentally prepared for Hawley for a few weeks now. I feel like I'm finally starting to round into shape. Back in August when I stress-fractured my sacrumm I figured it would be April (at best) before I was back in pre-injury shape. I'm not quite there but I feel like I'm ahead of schedule.

I picked up Dan at 6 AM and we head West. Dan was tagging along as I was going to be his transport and housing at the US 50KM road championships that would be held on Long Island on Sunday. We got to the Hawley fire department right on schedule and were surprised to see TIVO alread in the parking lot. He usually shows up late and seems to do very little warm-up. He is also drips of positive vibes. Dan and I hoofed it to the Kiln. Word is that there may be some mystical properties to the Kiln and I could use all the help I can get.


Dan joined me and Tim Mahoney for a three mile road run warm-up. It was a bit chilly and windy and I felt like crap on the way back as Tim and Dan buried me on the uphill. I was doing a lot of mental imagery of the course and I had read over Ed's course description a number of times. If not physically ready I was mentally in the game.


I changed into racing gear, put on my snowshoes and headed out for another mile. The snowmobile trail was firm (even a bit icy) and seemed to be pretty fast going. I also heard that the single track might be tough with post-holing being a problem. That was fine with me, slower and tougher means better for me. I figured my best bet was to hammer the first .7 on the snowmobile trail and get the lead by the single-track. I haven't had a great start this year (my best start was Northfield) and seem to get left a bit flat footed at the beginning of the race. I did a couple of strides and headed to the line.


Ed gave us some final instructions and the field of about 75 was off. I put it on the line from the start. I was hurting within the first 100m and tried to keep the pressure on. The first .7 has a bit of climb and I was huffing and puffing heading up the little rise. I could see TiVO off to my left and knew by sound that Tim Mahoney and Matt Cartier were right behind me. I pushed really hard when I saw we were coming up on the turn and hit the single-track in first.


TiVO was a step behind and Matt was behind him. Tim M took a spill right away as he post-holed. I was doing pretty good with staying on top of the snow but it was a bit rough as you never knew which footfall would land you 12" deeper than the last one. I was a little worried about crashing through on a downhill and having my momentum break a leg or tear a knee. I also could hear that the footfalls behind me were falling back, so I threw caution to the wind and hammered the downhill.


I love the section of the race from 1m to 2m which is twisty and turny and has a fair amount of run-able downhill. Ed had also put up markers every half-mile which is great as you get some feedback as you move along. My knowledge of the course was also helpful as I knew the topography pretty well. Just before 2 miles I exited the woods and hit snowmobile trail for about 50m then a sharp left brought me back into the woods. I glanced back but didn't see anyone. That didn't cause me to ease up, just the opposite....I tried to work harder.


The next mile plus was a bear. It seemed like every fourth step was a post-hole and I kept coming to a complete stop to extract my leg and get going again. Each time I did that I imagined that the chasers were closing in. I didn't panic but I was worried. The next section on the snowmobile trail would have been fast (the footing was) but there is a fair amount of climb. There was also a good long straight stretch where I glanced back to see if anyone was close. I didn't see anyone and pushed harder. I didn't want anyone catching sight of me and then reeling me in.

The last stretch of single-track wasn't bad, the footing was pretty good but it was a fairly tough climb. I just kept thinking "get to 3.9 then it is all downhill". I got to the top and turned on the snowmobile trail. I didn't ease up, I really wanted to make sure I had this one.

I was surprised and happy to get the win by a little over a minute with Matt taking second and TiVO third and Tim rounding out the top four.


Dan and I headed out for a quick warm-down and cheered on the racers coming in. I saw Jay K had a broken shoe and had run in the last 2.6 mile with only one shoe. He must have post-holed like mad!

It has been ten years since my first snowshoe race which was at Hawley and it is still as much fun as the first time out!


Here are my half-mile splits:
431 (a bit long as we looped the kiln) then
316 (747)
447
332 (819)
508 post holing a lot
419 (927)
437
430 (907)
351 (.6 miles)
Total 38:34 for 4.6 miles
Pic from bershire sports foto