Race the Cog

 Finally, it was time to head to the “other” side of Mt Washington and take on the Race the Cog.  I’ve had this race on my radar for nearly a year.  There was some big money bonus up for grabs for the top 3 combined time with the Mt W race from the previous week.  The field suddenly went from just a few entrants to a few more but all of them FAST!  I went into the race with no expectations and just a hope to not get hurt.  I took Friday off and had a great day getting in a couple of nice runs before heading to the Cog to get a peek at what the footing would be (rough cat-track mostly) and then headed over to Appalachia for a short run testing out my new Inov-8 trail shoes.  I stayed at the Mt Jefferson View Motel which had (as advertised) a fantastic view.  It was a very short night, and I was up at 4:30 trying to get fully awake before the 8 a.m. start.  I met up with Christin Doneski and Ed Sheldon and we got in a 3 mile warm-up trying to avoid doing too much climbing/descending which is hard to do since the road to the Cog is a dead end at 2,700’ and there is nowhere to go on the road but down. We did a bunch of loops then caught the brief meeting at 7:30.  I got in another mile trying to stay loose.  The day was bright without a cloud in the sky and temps were already in the 60s.  It wouldn’t be hot, what a change from the previous weekend!

 

The race was broken up into three waves, elite, intermediate, and chill.  The Cog would run at different speeds for each wave.  I was pretty sure that I would be nowhere near the Cog.  My hope was to run around 15 minute miles but I had no idea if that was possible.  The course would be 2.75 miles with 3,588’ of climb.  The average grade was 24.7% with the “Jacobs Ladder” section at a grade of 37.4%.  The first wave was the smallest with only 21 entrants.  With the train whistle we were off.  Joe Grey shot out and I found myself in 10^th place right away.  Ed Sheldon was right with me for the first ¼ mile (I had my watch set to beep every quarter mile as I figured that’d be helpful, getting feedback every 4-6 minutes).  I slowly gapped him as I passed the first woman (Sarah Canney).  Mostly I kept my head down as it was important to plan out where you would be stepping.  There seemed to be a lot of weaving as different parts of the cat-track had better footing.  The train caught me around ¾ of a mile and went on by.  I caught back up when it stopped at the 1m station. I also caught a guy at that point and moved into 7^th place.  I’d look up every once in a while to aim for the next turn in the road or false summit.  It felt like a good way to break down the race.  I knew that once I reached 2 miles we would be on the summit ridge.  At that point the grade lessened (but the footing became a bit trickier with a lot more rock underfoot).  As I closed on the 6^th place guy I kept wondering “where is Jacobs ladder”?  I found out later that I’d already passed it.  On the steeper grades I’d make gains and just before 2 miles I got within a step and he said something like “way to go”.  I think he assumed I’d pass him, but that was the ridge and BOOM he was off like a shot.  I was stuck in my low gear and could not get going.  It was interesting seeing the summit building from the other side.  I’d run up the mountain 30+ times but never from this side.  I hit the finish line in a little over 51 minutes and trotted over to the true summit (dodging the line of people waiting to get a picture on top) and tagged the summit sign.

 

Luckily it was a beautiful day with no wind and 100 mile views as it’d be another hour until the first train down.  I had some time to take in the view and chat with fellow runners as they finished.  A bunch of guys ran down (and one of the women RACED the Cog down the mountain!) but my ankles were feeling pretty bad from the uneven surface so I chose to ride down.  It was fun watching the “chill” wave runners heading up along the tracks.  I got in my warm-down a few hours later on the Northern Rail Trail and closed the day with a very nice 15 mile bike ride.

 

Overall Pl	Time	First	Last	Sex	Age	Wave Pl	Pace	Wave
1	0:39:14	Joseph	Gray	M	38	1	0:13:05	ELITE
2	0:43:12	Everett	Hackett	M	32	2	0:14:25	ELITE
3	0:44:17	Stephen	Kerr	M	30	3	0:14:46	ELITE
4	0:47:41	Birhanu	Harriman	M	17	4	0:15:54	ELITE
5	0:49:26	Jeffrey	Allen	M	21	5	0:16:29	ELITE
6	0:50:46	Drew	Taylor	M	36	6	0:16:56	ELITE
7	0:51:19	Dave	Dunham	M	58	7	0:17:07	ELITE
8	0:53:47	Keith	Nadeau	M	32	8	0:17:56	ELITE
9	0:54:17	Sam	Wood	M	35	1	0:18:06	INTER
10	0:55:26	Ed	Sheldon	M	57	9	0:18:29	ELITE
11	0:55:48	Christin	Doneski	F	51	10	0:18:37	ELITE
12	0:56:24	Meghan	Underhill	F	40	11	0:18:49	ELITE
13	0:58:38	Richard	Fargo	M	63	12	0:19:33	ELITE
14	0:59:18	Kelton	Cullenberg	M	30	13	0:19:47	ELITE
15	1:00:35	Kevin	Higgins	M		2	0:20:12	INTER
16	1:02:04	Ryan	Litwin	M		3	0:20:42	INTER
17	1:02:37	Sarah	Canney	F	39	14	0:20:53	ELITE
18	1:04:31	Draa	Mackey	M	26	15	0:21:31	ELITE
19	1:04:35	Jonathan	Kovar	M	52	4	0:21:32	INTER
20	1:04:44	Lukas	Janulaitis	M		5	0:21:35	INTER
21	1:05:43	Len	Hall	M	69	1	0:21:55	CHILL
22	1:06:18	Sophia	Reynolds	F		6	0:22:07	INTER
23	1:06:54	William	Hogue	M		7	0:22:19	INTER
24	1:07:54	Jessica	Soroka	F	43	16	0:22:39	ELITE
25	1:08:07	Freddi	Triback	F		8	0:22:43	INTER
26	1:08:20	Matthew	Dibiasie	M		9	0:22:47	INTER
27	1:08:46	Taylor	Rosenblum	M	28	2	0:22:56	CHILL
28	1:10:13	Kara	Haas	F	51	17	0:23:25	ELITE

 

102 finishers in three waves