10 years ago: March 2010 - I started out the month on the sidelines finishing out my two week sentence on the injured reserves from the foot woes that had plagued me since mid-January. I tried to make the most of the weekend at Snowshoe nationals by planning out a bunch of visits to county high points along the way including the very scenic Crow Hills. (pictured below). On Friday I got in 12.5 miles of running with 2,500’ of climbing along with 425 miles driving. On Saturday I took about 400 pictures while watching the US Snowshoe championships. Pictured right with Richard Bolt.
On Sunday morning I headed out to help out at the Hawley Kiln snowshoe, but they really didn’t need any help. Ken Clark (who won the race at Constitution hill the day before) suggested that I run the race. I figured I could handle 4.6 miles if I didn’t do a warm-up (other than walking). Tim Mahoney and Tim Van Orden took off like they were shot out of a canon. I settled into 5th place and tried to stay relaxed. I moved into third just after the mile mark but could not see the Tim’s ahead. At about 2.5 miles I saw Tim, but I wasn’t sure which one it was. I caught TiMA just before we exited the single-track and got back on the snowmobile trail. Most of the last downhill into the finish I spent looking back to see if Tim was going to kick and catch me. I hit the line pretty tired but pretty happy to make it through. My foot felt pretty decent (no worse at least) and it was fun to be back out in the woods competing.
Results:
1. Tim Van Orden 38:58 CMS 40+ 2. Dave Dunham 41:45 CMS 40+ 3. Tim Mahoney 42:13 CMS 4. Ken Clark 44:07
The next weekend I headed up for the final race in the NH series in the pouring rain. It was a bit slow going down to Great Glen but I’d left so early I was still among the first to arrive. I felt pretty beat heading to the start and was kind of dreading 6.2 miles of snowshoe racing with my “long” run over the last couple of weeks being only 5 miles. My plan was to be conservative the first “flat” 5km then hope that my strength on the climb would move me up in the second 5km.
The field was pretty small (34) probably because of the nasty weather, but conditions were great for racing. JJ and Kevin took off quickly to the front with Geoff Cunningham in tow for the early going. I was in 15th place by the mile and working harder than I had hoped. The flat 5km was actually pretty rolling and I didn’t feel very strong on the climbs. It took me nearly a mile to get past Amber Ferreira. I checked my watch at the tunnel under Route 16, which was approximately 5km into the race, and was 23:33. The climbing started with a vengeance. I was definitely feeling better as we shifted into low gear and started climbing. I knew we had a good 400’ of climb in the next 2Km and wanted to work it. I was surprised when 10:47 seconds into the climb a gent on the trail noted “you’re at the top”. I couldn’t believe we were done climbing, had I studied the map a little better I would have known that the big climb was over but there would be a couple of “little” climbs to do before we were done. It was fun bombing down the hill and watching where the tracks went. The last couple of Kilometers were tough with some short climbs, even when you got back to route 16 you had a big climb back up to the stage building. Kevin and JJ finished in a dead heat with both of them not giving an inch to the other and actually diving across the line in 46:14. Pretty cool way to end the NH series for this year!
1 Kevin Tilton 46:14 CMS 2 Jim Johnson 46:14 CMS 3 Geoff Cunningham 50:49 Acidotic 4 Dave Dunham 51:38 CMS 40+
The following weekend I headed west for the final snowshoe race of the season. Eric Morse and I were planning on doing some hiking after the race then bagging a bunch of peaks on Sunday morning. I headed over to the race site at Catamount ski area and was the fourth person in line to sign up. I had a feeling this would be a small race. 70 degree temperatures felt way too warm for late March. This was the first time I’d done a snowshoe race in shorts/singlet but I was not in the minority dressed that way. I rolled up into second place on the first little down-hill, then the climbing commenced. We’d climb for 950’ in the first 1.2 miles then zip down over about 1.4 miles. By about 2/3rds of the way up the mountain I knew my chances of winning were gone. I figured that I’d need to beat Ross Krause to the top to have any chance of beating. I hit the top in 15:14 and was 29 seconds back at that point. For the most part I tried to just stay on my feet and hold second place on the descent. It took me all of 8:41 to cover the 1.4 miles back to the base. I was pleased with the effort but finished 1:11 slower than last year and 1:07 behind Ross.
Eric and I did a two mile warm-down then headed out. Our plan was to do a run/hike up Alander mountain and bag the county high point on the west slope. The trail was in great shape for the first day of Spring, there was a mix of bare ground, wet ground (a lot), and packed snow. We ran it in our regular running shoes and had no problems with traction. A couple of hikers called us “hardcore” as we ran by on a particularly wet and snow section. We passed some guys camping along the way, at 6 PM it was still in the upper 60’s. We hit the hut below the summit in 42 minutes then continued on the summit and quickly over to the county high point. We had a quick stop about ½ way down to put on our headlamps, but it really wasn’t too bad except in some of the darker piney woods. We were back at the car by 7:40 and headed for Great Barrington for food and rest. It was a pretty cool day with a little bit of racing and some fun time on the trails in the woods.
I woke up on Sunday morning a bit sore from Snowshoe racing (up and down Catamount) and running up Alander Mountain the previous day. We met up with my High School teammate, and great friend, Jim Sullivan. I hadn’t seen Jim since my 100,000 mile run back in 2007 but we keep in touch at least monthly. The first part of the Mt Frissell trail was wet, VERY wet. We hit the top of Round Mountain (2,293’) in just over 20 minutes. There wasn’t much of a view but we could see our next goal (Frissell right in front of us). We signed in at the log took a few pictures then headed down the south and slightly west flank to pick up the Connecticut state line. It was a quick 10 minutes later that we were standing at Jim’s first state high point and Eric’s 8th. This was my second time standing at the highest point in CT but it had been nearly 10 years and I had very little memory of the trail.
All of us on top of Frissell (right)
After some picture taking we were off again, we hit the CT/NY/MA tri-state marker in another 11 minutes (total time 1:06) and again stopped for some pictures. Next up we climbed up out of the coll to the top of North Brace and the connection with the Taconic Crest Trail. The view from this 2,200’ peak was great we could see the NY farmlands that seemed to be right at our feet. We could also see the peaks we’d climbed earlier and off in the distance Mt Everett that we planned to hit later in the day. We did a little running on the ridge and ascended to the big open summit of Brace which also had a huge cairn on top. This was my 99th county high point. We took a couple of pictures and zoomed south to pick up South Brace. The rocky drop to the cull between Round mountain was slow going but we were back on the top of Round in 15 minutes and from there it was an easy 18 minutes back to the car. The entire trek took us 3:25 and it was a perfect day to spend three hours out in the woods!
For the final weekend of March I planned on visiting my parents in Florida, so of course I had to add on some side trips. I headed out early on Thursday, flying from Manchester to Hunstville. A quick 91 mile drive got me at my first goal at 11:15 am. I stood on the unimpressive summit of Woodall Mountain, the highest point in Mississippi. I lingered just long enough to take a picture. With this summit I’d reached my 100th county high point (and 26th state high point).
I settled in for the long drive from Iuka MS to Cheaha State Park in Alabama. The driving went by quickly with some good tunes and only a few areas where the speed limit was less than 70. I covered the 240 miles in less than four hours. It was eerily quiet on top, except for the hum of cell towers. The stone tower was pretty neat, but there was no view from the top due to a lot of rain clouds Next up I drove down to the Pinhoti trailhead and headed out for a nice relaxing run. It was a bit rocky in spots but mostly very run-able. I bagged the summit of Hernandez peak (Clay County High Point – 2,344’) and continued on to McDill point (2,188’). The round trip was a little more than 5 miles.
Back to the car and off for a 256 mile drive to Andalusia AL for the night.
Day two of the trip was another early rise as I hit the treadmill at 5am and was on the road by 6. It was only a 40 mile drive to Paxton Florida and I arrived about 10 minutes prior to sunrise. I stopped briefly at “the second highest hill in Florida” then continued on to Britton hill. There is a really nice park on Britton Hill (345’) with trails and maps and High Point information.
Next up was the Washington County high point on Barden hill (331’). I arrived around 9am and walked up the long dirt driveway. I kicked around in the woods a bit to pick out the top then headed for the car. I had about 300 miles to go to get to Tampa. It didn’t take long thanks to the 70 mph speed limit. I turned in the rental car with just under 1,000 miles on it in just over 29 hours. In all everything went smoothly and I picked up – 3 state high points, 5 county high points, a state park high point, the second highest hill in Florida, a fire tower, and a couple of other random hills. I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with my parents and enjoying my birthday. Mom also joined me on a couple of runs (she on the bike) which was a lot of fun. Picture at right with my “birthday banner”. Below that is a sunrise shot from the summit of Britton hill.
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