The silence of great distance – Women running long

I’m reading “The silence of great distance – Women running long” an interesting book about the history of women running.  The book is engrossing at times, the subject matter is often fascinating.  I’m finding myself frustrated with the authors style of writing which includes some of the longest sentences I’ve ever seen (perhaps I’m exaggerating?).  I hoping I can get through the book…

Here is an example that took up nearly an entire page and clocks in at an impressive 295 words!

“In order to understand the magnitude of this part of the coach’s job, it is only necessary to examine a list of some (but not possibly all) of the potential stressors that might affect the performance of an athlete on a university scholarship: the athlete’s personal ambition to succeed; a high level of anticipated or actual competition both within the team and from external competitors; financial dependence; peer and family pressure; media attention; the creation of a “public” self, which may diverge from the person’s view of herself, and create unrealistic expectations and characterizations; motivations provided by and through coaching, including but not limited to the desire to please the coach and not disappoint her/him; academic pressure; social life and relationships, real or potential; lifestyle choices related to the accumulation of the above factors, and from interaction with them, such as sleep schedules, diet, personality changes, the construction of defenses to stressful situations (e.g. a person might rein in her emotional responses to maintain an even keel, and in doing so, increase the pressure rather than release it); physical and emotional fatigue; the enforced structure of workouts; physical injury; the threat of physical injury; success itself, including the discovery that it changes life less than one expected; the time limitations inherent in a college schedule; the ever-dwindling number of years available to accomplish the task at hand (i.e., the reach of a four-or five-year college career and the sure knowledge that the chance to compete at this level will not come again and therefore must be maximized); the burden of individual psychology, attitude, frame of reference, and character; the self-imposed pressure from such things as an athlete’s internalization of a difficult situation; general relationships among and with team members and with athletes from other schools.”

Dark

....thoughts and morning runs

Black Canyon of the Gunison National Park

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park – 09/14/11 - drove the south rim drive and took in some of the views, then headed to the Warner Point nature trail at the highest point on the south rim.  The 1.5 mile out/back section had drops of over 2,700’ to the Gunnison River.

I ran 4 times out/back from 8,289’ to Warner point (8,300’) with 200’ of climb/descent in each direction.  I started out slowly (15:00) for loop 1 then decided that each lap would be faster than the one before it.  My next three laps were 13:50, 13:15, and 12:23.  I felt like I was flying on the last loop and man was my breathing ragged on the final couple of climbs!

Trip report - NC and VA

As always, when I’m traveling I try to find some interesting sites and hopefully a couple of county high points to visit. I headed to Virginia beach with Paul Kirsch (USATF NE mountain chair) and we got there early enough in the day to visit three county high points. The highest of the three was only 85’ and we had to climb about 2’ to reach the “summit”. It was an interesting drive through the countryside of both Virginia and North Carolina. We finished the day with a visit to the Great Dismal Swamp where we went for a great run on the very flat trails in the park. We ran on the Canal road (it ran along the canal) and on the Kim Saunders Ditch. I’m not sure I’d want a ditch named after me! Our timing could not have been better as we reached the airport as Richard Bolt (USATF OR mountain chair) arrived. Unfortunately Richard is still hobbling from a calf injury and was unable to do any running with us over the weekend.

Pics from NC & VA HP, Tower, and Swamp

PK at Great Dismal Swamp

Making friends with the wildlife at GDS

Our main focus of the trip was some very long meetings with the MUT (Mountain Ultra Trail council). I’m on the council as the Masters Mountain chair. We had some meetings that would be of marathon and beyond (time-wise) and as always at these meetings a lot was debated/discussed/decided in hallway meetings and at meals.

Other fun places we visited included a very cool run in the First Landing State Park. There were some great trails in there including some hills and some very funky looking trees draped in hanging moss. The trails were very popular even though we were in there just before sunset. We ran by a lot of groups of high school kids, looked like a neat spot for XC racing.

We also visited the Joint Expeditionary Base at Fort Story. It was weird having them check out the car including putting mirrors underneath. We only had a short visit checking out the First Landing Memorial and the lighthouses before heading on our way.

We also had a very brief visit to the Wright Brothers memorial at Kitty Hawk. Kill Devil hill is a possible candidate for the county high point and it is the location of the memorial, so we got a little history along with a peakbag (not much of a hill but quite a bit of prominence). We also visited Jockey’s Ridge State Park which is a wedge of mostly sand hills stuck between Roanoke Sound and the Atlantic. It was kind of interesting but way too cold and windy to spend more than the few minutes it took to get to the top of the ridge and back.

Bolt ascending Jockey Ridge

Clubs I've run for

GLRR - 1981-1982
Whirlaway - 1985
New Balance - 1987-1992
GLRR (again) - 1987-1991
Powerbar Elite- 1988 - 2002
Flynn Travel - 1989?
Mike Beeman's Total Sports - 1989 - Present
Winners Circle Running Club - 1989? - present
Hockomock Swamp rats - 1989-2010
Sandown Rogue Runners - 1990?
Gray Wolves - 1992-present
Sully's Ice cream - 1990 - ???
CMS - 1992-present
NEOC - 1992-present
UNO - 1994 - present
WMAC - 2000-present
Atlas snowshoe - 2002 - present
GLRR (yet again) - 2002-present
La Sportiva - 2002? - 2008 (pictured above)
Gate City Striders - 2007 - present
DRC - 2008 - Present

Week ending 02-01-09 & Stew Chase 15 km

This week was a heck of a lot better than the “flu” week. On Monday I got my re-tooled orthotics and a cortisone shot in my posterior tibial tendon. The injection site was brutally sore for a couple of days and I didn’t make things much better when I smacked it with a shovel while clearing the driveway.

It was still sore when the weekend rolled around and I headed out to Northfield (the story about the NF race is posted below).

I decided after Northfield that my ankle was not up to another snowshoe race. I knew that some of the CMS guys were doing the Stew Chase 15 km in Lynn and I hadn’t done that race since 2001. It seemed like a good idea to get in a longer run. I’ve been doing 70 mpw, but mostly doing doubles so it has been a rare day when I go longer than 10 miles. My plan was to run hard but I had no idea how fit I was. This would be my ninth race in the first 32 days of the year and I’d only done a couple of 5 km’s so I wasn’t sure where my fitness level was. I guessed sub 6:30 pace and hoped for sub 6:15’s.

Dan V, Joe S, Jim P, Ben S, and Mike Q and I went out for (what felt to me) a quick 20-minute warm-up. After quickly changing into race flats it was another ½ mile to the line. I was very surprised to bump in Dave Q at the line. He had decided at the very last second to give it a go. After some brief instructions the 35th running of the Stew Chase was under way.

Dan went out at his usual slow pace at the start and he was only a couple of steps in front of me for the first ½ mile. That was surprising as he ended up running the first mile about 20 seconds faster than me. I hit the mile in 6:02 and felt pretty good. I caught Mike at 2 miles (6:04 split) and pulled ahead of him in the downhill third mile (5:44). I passed four miles, after barely missing getting hit by a bus, in 6:05 and started thinking about my place and how many people I might be able to catch. On the out/back uphill to 5 miles (6:19) Mike went blowing by me like I was standing still. I regrouped on the downhill and passed him and a couple of other guys to move up to 16th place. I passed six miles in 36:07 (5:52 split) and began thinking that I might be able to crack this thing in sub-6’s. Mike went by me again on the way to 7 miles (6:05) and I started to feel tired. I was struggling and cutting tangents like mad and passed Mike for about the 10th time. We really never ran together, he was passing me or I was passing him. I hit 8 in 48:23 (6:11) and started to think that I wished the race were a 12 km instead of 15 km. I was out of gas and although I only slowed a little (6:09) six guys passed me in the last 1.3 miles. I guess they all had kicks and I had nothing. Mike was the last one to go by, just after 9 miles. I was still pleased, crossing the line in 56:34 for 22nd place (4th – 40+). The CMS boys ran quite well taking places 4, 6, 8, 12, and 13. Dave had a strong effort, especially considering he didn’t do much of a warm-up. I checked after and was a little bummed that I missed my 40+ pr from 04-2004 56:19 at Bow Lake.
Running out of gas at the end

I took home an umbrella for my efforts. The Stew Chase is an old school type race, moderately tough course, not a lot of frills and a great bargain at $12. With the 1m warm-down I ended up with 71 miles for the week.

My Stew Chase results:
2009 56:34 – 22nd place
2001 48:09 – 2nd place (outkicked by Bryan Dunn by one second). The next day I won the Mid-winter Classic 10 mile in Cape Elizabeth in 53:51.
1992 46:58 – 1st place
1991 48:31 – 1st place tie with Lou Ristaino

July 4, 1986 - 1st place at the Andover 10 Km 30:50. Note the uniform....

Week ending 01-25-09

Picture from the past. Me and Gary Wallace in the early going of the East End Club five mile circa 1985.

Wow, this was a tough week. I got knocked on my @$$ by the flu and ended up with my first day off in 89 days. This is the first time I've missed a run for reasons other than injury in at least 5 years. I ended up with 0, 4, 5, 4, 9, 11, 11 for a total of 44 miles. That was my lowest week in the last 3 months. Ended the week with another snowshoe double, taking third on Saturday over 3.3 miles in Readsboro VT then finishing up the week with a third place at the 4 mile Curly's snowshoe race in Pittsfield MA. That gives me 7 races so far this year....two seconds, two thirds, a fourth, and two fifths. Still haven't got an elusive win, but at the current rate I'll get nearly 100 races this year!

Another weekend another double

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a while as I’ve enjoyed racing Curly’s record run before. It is probably the series race that is best suited for me (tough climb, run-able downhill). I won the race last year and although I wasn’t as fit as last year I hoped it would be one of my better performances.

Things quickly changed as I woke up sick on Monday morning. I’ve run through illness and injury before, but there was no doubt on Monday that I would not run. I slept from 10 AM until the next morning. Then I ended up staying out of work on Wednesday as I still was dizzy nauseous and just plain sick. So Monday was my first day off in 89 days and then I was only able to muster 4 miles each of the next three days. On Friday I started to feel slightly better, probably because I was able to eat again on Thursday night after not eating for over three days. I figured there are only so many opportunities to race on snowshoes in any given year and I didn’t want to miss any. My goal became to just get through the weekend and not get myself sicker.

On Saturday morning I headed out for the nearly 3 hour drive to Readsboro. I hit a couple of snow squalls in Greenfield and then some rough road as I drove through Heath (MA). I came out in Vermont and wouldn’t you know it, right in front of me on route 100 was Ed Alibozek and the gang from CT. I followed them the last 15 miles into Readsboro.

After checking in at the Readsboro inn (nice to have indoor facilities) I headed out for a warm-up. There really weren’t any side roads so I just ran out & back on route 100. This also gave me a chance to check out how far it was from the Inn to the start (about ½ mile). I felt okay warming up and thought that there was a chance this could be my day to pick up an elusive win. You never know, especially with first time races. I think it was right about that time that I saw Justin Fyffe and he mentioned that he brought Greg Hammet along. Oh well!

About 70 of us gathered at the Catamount ski trail and we found that Bob Dion was not kidding when he described it as single track. The trail was very narrow and it was broken out one person wide. That would make for an interesting start. It would also make for an interesting return as a good portion of the race would be out & back on the rail trail.

Conditions were decent, 20’s and sunny, when we took off in a desperate sprint for position and snow flying everywhere. Justin and Greg went right to the front and Ken Clark was in third with me right behind. I figured Ken would be the guy I’d be aiming to beat. After the race he noted that he “hated going out fast” as it took him out of his normal rhythm. I felt the same way, it was nearly an all-out sprint for the first 400m. At that point we had to jump a stream and there were two trails. I went left, Ken went right, and I apologized as I bumped my way in front of him. After that I tried to push really hard and get some distance on Ken. I could see Greg and Justin each taking a turn at the lead. Justin said he took the lead because he was sick of Greg kicking so much snow on him (or maybe it was the other way around?). Anyway, they seemed to be having a good battle up front. Meanwhile I tried to get into a “coast” mode. I couldn’t hear Ken behind me and I had images of me gapping him by a lot. I checked my watch as we passed the point we’d be coming back on and saw 11:34. Three minutes later I was exiting the rail trail and in the woods. This gave me the chance to check out where Ken was. Boy was I surprised, he was right on me, maybe only 10 seconds back. Ugh!

I started pushing harder, thinking “I’ll push to the rail trail then see where he is”. I was back on the rail trail at 18:06. Ken was still right on me and I was struggling. I thought “I’ll run 5 minutes hard then see where he is”. A long difficult 5 minutes later I snuck a peek and he was still right there. Ugh! I thought “Five minutes to go, don’t give it to him after you worked for 23 minutes”. I ended up pushing right up to the finish instead of maybe saving something for the next day and was very pleased to get third. Justin took his second win in as many races running 27:30 with Greg 23 seconds behind him. I came across in 29:18 with ken 14 seconds behind me and Paul Bazanchuk taking the 50+ age group and fifth overall a minute later.

After a warm-down it was back to the Inn for some soup and hot cocoa and a ton of awards. All category winners got a cool authentic rail spike and a pick of anything on the prize table. I got a huge box of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Justin took a Dion winter hat and seemed quite happy sipping away at a local brew with Greg, and it wasn’t even NOON. J

I headed off to Pittsfield for the afternoon. I had hoped to do some climbs or town runs or something, but being sick had really taken the wind out of my sails. Instead I just got something to eat and was in bed by 5 PM.

After a good night sleep I headed over to the state forest for Curly’s record run. The temperature was five-below zero as I drove through town. It did warm up to zero at race time and actually didn’t seem too bad in the sun. I had no illusions of a win on day two. My goal was to finish and I figured I’d aim to run with either Ken Clark or Abby Woods. I still wasn’t sure how much the flu had taken out of me and I had felt pretty beat doing a flat 3.3 mile the previous day.

I did 3 miles of easy running on the road and that did nothing to improve my predicted place. I felt pretty much dead on my feet. I decided to stick with my normal race warm-up (3 miles on road then a mile in snowshoes on the course) but I’d skip the usual strides. I figured I only had so much gas left in the tank and I didn’t want to use it doing sprints before the race. I saw Ben Nephew and Matt Cartier and Tim Mahoney who I guessed would be the top dogs, although rumor had it that there might be a bunch of William’s college kids showing up (they didn’t). I also bumped into Tim Van Orden (TiVO) who had also been sick all week and not run a step since the Greylock race the previous Sunday. Right before the start TiVO got a bunch of us to help someone who got there car stuck in a snow bank and were blocking the road. Nothing like ten 125 pound runners trying to move a car in snow!

After some instructions and one question (“How did Curly get the name Curly” – “He had lots of hair”) we were off. The snow was solidly packed which would make for fast going. Ben went right to the front with Matt, Tim, and TiVO tucked right behind. I was off the back in the first 100m and had gapped 5th place by an equal amount. So much for running with Ken or Abby as I was in the lonely gap between groups. I started to feel a lot better as the climb progressed and I felt like the lead four were coming back to me. About ½ way up the hill TiVO started walking and soon after I was around him. I noticed that Ben was walking which isn’t unusual for him on steep climbs, but he seemed to be walking early and often (in my opinion). I was steadily closing the gap and thinking “Ben must be running a tactical race, biding his time”. Tim yielded the trail at about ¾ of the way up and I went into the powder to get around Ben soon after. I was feeling GREAT, but working very hard. I could see that we were almost to the top and I got it into my head that I wanted to be King of the Mountain, so with 50m to go I went around Matt and hit the summit in a little over 17 minutes leading the pack.

As expected, not even 50m later Matt blew by me and Ben went around as well. Soon they were flying out of sight. Tim was right behind me keeping me honest on the drop. I hit the bottom 4 minutes later thinking “17 minutes up and we lose it all in 4 minutes”. No time to relax as Tim was right on my tail. I like the last mile or so of twisting trail where you can get a look behind without really looking. I kept looking and checking my watch every couple of minutes. Finally I hit the half-mile to go where I had warmed up to (great way to check out the finish to the course so there are no surprises) and made one final push for the line.

I was surprised that Ben had not passed Matt on the Shadow Trail as I think of Ben as one of the best descent runners in New England. Matt ran strong on the down and Ben didn’t take him until a little more than ½ mile to go. Ben got his first win of the year and his 5th all-time WMAC win. Matt rolled in 10 seconds later and I took third 49 seconds later. Tim kept it close finishing 12 seconds behind me. TiVO had a battle with Paul Bazanchuk, taking him by 8 seconds at the finish. Paul had a heck of a weekend, taking the 50+ in two consecutive days and finishing 5th and 6th respectively. There were a bunch of age records set on the fast snow and Abby took 8th overall breaking her course record by more than 30 seconds.

Twenty-two runners doubled up this weekend, racing 3.3 miles in tough snow at Readsboro, VT and then taking on the fast snow but tough climb of the 4 mile course in Pittsfield, MA. Eleven of them also did the double on the previous weekend (bolded)!

Ed Alibozek
Ed Alibozek Jr
Paul Bazanchuk
Laura Clark
Ken Clark
Denise Dion
Dave Dunham
Martin Glendon
Bill Glendon
Paul Hartwig
Jamie Howard
Sibyl Jackson
Chris Johnson
Konrad Karolczuk
Walter Kolodzinski
Jay Koloodzinski
Mike Lahey
Jody Lahey
Bob Massaro
London Niles
Laurel Shortell
Erik Wight

With the second double-race weekend wrapped-up a total of 6 races have been held in five weekends. There have been 342 unique finishers in the six races (199 men and 143 women). The average age of the runners is 42.4 with the youngest being 8 and the oldest 79. 246 runners have done one race, 42 have done two races, 18 have done three, 18 have also done four, 11 have done five, and seven have done all six races.

There have been 101 races since Bob Dion won the first WMAC snowshoe at the South Pond shuffle back in Feb. of 2002.
Here are the All-time WMAC finish leaders
Rank Name
1 Konrad Karolczuk 89
2t Laurel Shortell 86
2t Richard Busa 86
4 Bob Dion 85
5 Laura Clark 78
6 Edward Alibozek 76
6 Ed Alibozek Jr 75
8 Ken Clark 66
9 Bob Massaro 65
10 Dave Dunham 55
11 Denise Dion 52
12 Peter Lipka 48
13t Walter Kolodzinski 47
13t Paul Hartwig 47
15 Jay Kolodzinski 46
16t Mike Lahey 45
16t Martin Glendon 45
16t Bill Morse 45
19t Lawrence Dragon 44
19t David Boles 44
19t Jim Carlson 44

All-time WMAC point leaders
Rank Name
1 Bob Dion 6980.23
2 Ken Clark 5927.91
3 Dave Dunham 5097.09
4 Edward Alibozek 5064.26
5 Ed Alibozek Jr 4164.81
6 Jay Kolodzinski 3694.55
7 Leigh Schmitt 3242.14
8 John Pelton 3129.14
9 Laura Clark 2946.52
10 Mike Lahey 2922.8
11 Ben Nephew 2761.09
12 Bob Worsham 2704.89
13 Laurel Shortell 2667.88
14 Bill Morse 2631.32
15 David Boles 2607.65
16 Peter Lipka 2585.9
17 Richard Bolt 2454.67
18 Lawrence Dragon 2390.29
19 Dave Hannon 2344.17
20 Paul Hartwig 2313.88

Some All-Time landmarks reached this weekend:
Bob Dion – 85 races
Ed Alibozek Jr. – 75 races
Bob Massaro – 65 races
Dave Dunham – 55 races
Mike Lahey, Martin Glendon, Bill Morse, Jay Kolodzinski – 45 races
Ben Nephew – 30 races
Peter Malinowski and Tom Mack – 20 races
Paul Bazanchuk – 15 races
Tim Mahoney – 10 races
Dave Dunham and Ed Alibozek both passed 5,000 points this weekend.
Chelynn Tetrault passed 1,000 points.

Ed Alibozek talks about the snowshoe series

Sorry about the less than sound, the wind was really blowing!

snowshoe double - with double (j)

The last snowshoe double I did was last years Cobble Mountain/Curly’s weekend. Well, I’m a year older and it shows. Double-J and I headed out to Adams on Saturday morning, giving ourselves plenty of time to get there without rushing. You never know what the roads are going to be like, but we had no trouble arriving a little ahead of schedule (and right behind Laurel). It was just above zero as we QUICKLY registered and got back into the warm car.

With the “standard” 50 minutes before race time we headed out to warm up. Everything takes longer at a snowshoe race, especially changing gear and never more so than when there are no indoor facilities. Most of the WMAC races are old school style with no indoor facilities due to the remote (and usually beautiful) locations. JJ and I did an easy three miles on the road that circles the Greylock glen. The air was clear and brutally cold but the view of the summit was spectacular.

I quickly changed into race gear, which for this race was the Atlas “bumble-bee” outfit and my direct mount Tubbs 10k snowshoes. I headed out for another 10 minutes of running and a few strides to shake things out while Jim did whatever he does before a race (mostly that is complaining about how lousy he feels). I found out just before the start that the course would be completely different from the other versions of the Glen course. Too bad, I really liked the old course, but I heard that a beaver pond had sprung up and made the old loop unusable. The description of the new course sounded interesting. It would be about 1.5 miles of climb then 2.4 miles of mostly downhill on snowmobile trails. That would suit me fine, I like a tough climb.

The field was the best assembled so far this year with Justin Fyffe the strongest road runner in the group making his debut. Ben Nephew, Matt Cartier, Tim Mahoney, Tim Van Orden and Jim Johnson all could mix it up in the front. I felt that my best strategy would be to get out well before we hit the single-track and try to do as much damage on the climb. I’m not known for my descents so I’d need every second I could get on the climb.

Over 70 runners gathered around the gazebo and after a few thankfully brief instructions we were off. Ben went right to the front with Justin and Jim right behind. Matt was next with Tim Mahoney right behind him and me slightly back. Dang! I thought I was really moving in the first snowmobile section but the guys were already pulling away. I sprinted around Tim just as we got onto the single-track and then around Matt soon after. I was hammering as fast as I could go and it just looked like the top three were moving with no effort at all.

Justin moved to the front on the first climb and eased away from Ben. Jim looked like he was having some trouble and took a couple of spills on the first steep section. I fell on that section as well as I hit some ice. Matt was right behind me and offered some encouragement. Mostly I was encouraged by still being able to see Justin and Ben, and Jim was in low gear and coming back. He actually pulled off the trail and stopped when I caught him. I hoped he was okay, but didn’t spare any oxygen to say anything (I was hurting too bad). I hit the mile in 8:40 and the top 1.5 mile sign in 15:30, so it took nearly 7 minutes to do the half mile of tough climb. That hurt!

The downhill was great, I felt like I was flying. It was my kind of descent, nothing too steep and no twists, and it was all great footing on snowmobile trail. For the most part I kept Ben in sight (on the long straights) but soon I heard talk behind me. I could see Matt out of the corner of my eye on a turn and then noticed that Jim was right with him. He had recovered well and was chewing up the downhill. Jim came by soon after and asked “how far?” I said two and a half and a few strides later saw the 2.5 mile sign, so I was pretty accurate. Unfortunately for Jim he told me afterwards that he was asking how far to go, so my info wasn’t making sense to him. To quote Marisa Tomei I was “dead on balls accurate”.

In the last ½ mile or so, Justin began to run out of gas and Ben began to close on him. At the same time Jim was closing on both. They ended up crossing the line in that order with only 14 seconds between the three. I kept Matt close but couldn’t quite reel him in as he took fourth four second ahead of me. CMS had a strong showing taking 6 of the top 7 and 7 of the top 9. Jim mentioned to Matt how good he’d look in a CMS singlet but he didn’t seem to take the bait.

There wasn’t much time stand around in wet gear with the temps still in the single digits. Jim and I quickly changed and headed out for another 3 miles on the road, with Justin along. He noted that during one of his 4:30 am runs this week it was 18 below zero, which made today seem comfortable! Jim took a bad spill on the warm-down, I guess we should have used a traction device on our shoes. Live and learn.

After getting some hot cocoa and some cookies we beat feet for Lanesborough. The short drive was made a bit longer due to a closed road cutting across the flank of Mt Greylock. We scouted out the old Brodie mountain ski area (Snowy Owl) but there didn’t seem to be a good place to park. We parked just outside of the entrance and changed clothes once again. I had hoped to hike up in about 45-50 minutes then run down in 10-15 minutes. I felt a bit tired but not dead-on-my-feet. Jim tends to move a bit more slowly than me (except when racing). He takes FOREVER to change clothes and complains the entire time. Unfortunately I’m still not sure when he is serious or not. For example, he told me he was really hung over and he complained about it all day. Later on during the trip he told me he hadn’t done any drinking at all.

Anyway, we hiked up Brodie Mountain starting at 1,400’ and gaining 1,200’ in 1.5 miles. The early going was the steepest going right up the ski slope, and then we hit a nice 4-wheel drive road that was much more gentle. Jim didn’t seem to have as much fun as I did. The conditions were perfect, it was cold but there was no wind and it was sunny although the clouds were closing in. We hit the top in 58 minutes and then spent 11 minutes on the tower which had a glass enclosed cab. The outside was coated in a couple of inches of ice which made the going a little tricky. There were some great views which definitely made it worthwhile. We quickly made our descent via a ski lift which was a lot of fun. There was a good 6” of powder covering the crusty base which was fine for shuffling down the slope. We were back at the car in 32 minutes, for a total trip of 2.9 miles with 1,200 climb and descent in 1:41

We headed for Albany to our hotel and some rest. Jim went on and on about how he set a course record and ran something like 22 minutes for five miles and how they probably don’t use the course anymore because everyone would be depressed at how slow their times were compared to his. He also went on and on about how slow I ran on the descent and how good he is compared to me. It was all true so I couldn’t really argue. I got us a room at the Hilton specifically because it had an indoor pool and (I hoped) a whirlpool. It did and soon after checking in we settled in for 20 minutes of hydro-therapy. After dinner I was ready to call it a night, but Jim ended up staying up ‘til all hours. Something about the room being cold, I don’t know where that came from. I slept with just a sheet and had the blanket thrown on the floor. I guess I never knew how delicate Jim is J

Race day #2 dawned with snow, which was something of a surprise. I had some hotel room coffee then some “lobby” coffee which ranks well below Dunkin’s but way above Starbucks. The drive to the race was very short and probably the funniest moment of the trip was Jim’s reaction to the snowman at the turn into the school. I dropped off my five extra pair of snowshoes (for loaners) and we headed out for a three mile warm-up. Jim noted many times that I was running “like and old man”, I had to keep reminding him that I am an old man! Racing the day after a race is much harder as you get older. I was already hurting just trying to get loose. We hit the gym and changed gear again; I went with a tights top and CMS technical long sleeve and a single pair of tights on my legs. Both choices were probably one layer short of what would have been comfortable. I did another mile on the trail and headed for the line.

An amazing 173 runners were lined up and nearly half of them had never done a snowshoe race before. Jim planned on going out behind Josh Merlis (the RD and last years winner). I hoped to just stay on my feet and get through the race. We started with a loop around the field that was all powder. It was wild as snow was flying everywhere and you couldn’t see at all! Jim went right to the front and had a lead by the end of the first 300m. I was back in 6th place and quickly made my way around a couple of fast starters. I could see Josh in front and his teammate further in front. The last time I saw Jim was on the power line about a mile into the race and he was already nearly a minute ahead of me. So much for sitting behind Josh J

Jim cruised to an easy 2 minute victory on a course that was definitely good for him (flat and fast). I stayed in fourth the entire way and except for long straight-aways couldn’t see anyone else. I was pretty much dead tired by the finish. Jim seemed to still have a lot of energy so we headed out for 2 miles before we got too cold to move. My gas tank was pretty much on empty by this point. We hung out for the awards ceremony where a lot of WMAC folks did well in age groups. Then it was off for a town-bagging adventure.

The final stop would be at the Pelham and Belchertown line where we’d get 3 miles and bag two towns. Jim swore that I never mentioned anything about a mountain or a tower at this site, but I’m sure I did. We parked at the edge of a driveway after scouting out a trail that seemed to go to the tower. The owner was nice enough to allow us to park on the edge of his property while we did the short run to the tower. It was something of a bonus to get part of the run in on the M & M trail. I’ve run parts of it in Agawam, Westfield, etc. but any time I can tower bag and town bag AND trail run at the same time is a major bonus.

The run was a gently climbing jog up the M & M to the Mt Lincoln fire tower. We both used Kathoola’s instead of snowshoes and they worked fine. We spent a few minutes on top checking out the view then ran down the access road and looped back to the car for a 24 minute run in both towns. This was a great way to finish the weekend (for me at least, I’m still not sure how Jim felt about all of this). This was also a rare treat as I’ve done almost all of my town bagging alone.

Totals for the weekend:
2 races – 5th place and 4th place (top 40+ in both)
2 fire towers (I’ve now visited 38 of the 55 towers in Mass)
2 Mass towns (I’ve now visited 320 of the 351 towns in Mass)
double-j & double-d on Mt Lincoln

In all 23 hardy folk did both races (nearly 1/3 of the field from Greylock!)
Edward Alibozek
David Boles

Joe Bouck

Ken Clark
Laura Clark
Jeff Clark
Bob Dion
Larry Dragon
Dave Dunham
Martin Glendon
Bill Glendon
Jessica Hageman
Jim Johnson
Konrad Karolczuk
Mike Lahey
Jodie Lahey
Brian Northan
Jan Rancatti
Laurel Shortell
Richard Teal
Chelynn Tetreault
Stephanie Willie
Chris Winslow

Next weekend will be another double with the Hoot toot and whistle 5k snowshoe on Saturday and Curly’s record run 4m snowshoe on Sunday. I’m hoping to also finish off the last three towns in Western Mass (Mt Washington, Sheffield, and New Marborough) and maybe bag a couple of fire towers as well.

Racing schedule

Here are my planned races for the first half of this year. I hope to get/stay healthy enough to do all of these races. The “goal” races will be the Grand Prix and the Mountain series which leads into Mt Washington and the US championships at Cranmore. I’ll have to work on my descending! The current plan is to take two weeks after Ascutney to hike the Long Trail (271 miles from Mass-Canada, through Vermont).

1/17/2009 Greylock glen 3.5 mile snowshoe, the first of a two race weekend
1/18/2009 Brave the blizzard 4 mile snowshoe, the second race of the weekend
1/24/2009 Hoot toot & whistle 3.1 mile snowshoe, another two race weekend
1/25/2009 Curly's 4 mile snowshoe, a tough second race of the weekend
1/31/2009 Northfield 3.8 mile snowshoe (I'm the race director and won it last year)
2/7/2009 Sidehiller 4 mile snowshoe that is a qualifier for the National champs
2/8/2009 Moody Springs 5 mile snowshoe, another two race weekend
2/14/2009 Valentines 5 mile, a rare road race
2/22/2009 USATF NE 10 miles, I hope to run sub 60
3/8/2009 USSSA 6.2 mile snowshoe National champs in Oregon
3/15/2009 USATF NE 13.1 miles Maybe I'll be in shape by March?
3/28/2009 Gilmanton 3.1 mile, 3-4 km is brutal
4/5/2009 NEOC Orienteering meet
4/11/2009 The River 10 mile trail race
4/19/2009 NEOC O-meet
4/25/2009 NEOC O-meet
4/26/2009 NEOC O-meet
5/9/2009 The Bear 3.1 mile trail race (New race by Petey)
5/16/2009 USATF NE 7.4 miles, New England 12K champs
5/23/2009 Wachusett 4.3 miles, start of the Mountain series
5/31/2009 Pack 10 mile, race #2 of the Mountain series
6/7/2009 USATF NE 3.1 miles. Will it be hot? Yes!
6/13/2009 Northfield 6.4 miles NE trail champs
6/20/2009 Mt Washington - Only one hill
6/27/2009 Coventry 3.1 mile naked XC race
6/28/2009 USATF National Mountain championships
7/5/2009 Loon - Race #5 of the Mountain series
7/11/2009 Ascutney - Race #6 of the Mountain series
25 Years ago (in April) I ran my first 10,000 meters. Here is a proof from the race. I'm on the left and teammate Joe Regan is on the right. Note that even then I had my ankle taped up from some injury.

Results - Jan 1 & Jan 3

01-01-2009

I think the 5k was long (3.28) and the 10k may have been a bit short. Of course, I could have run like crap and the 10k guys may have run great!

5k course: http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=264381

Hangover Classic - FIVE KILOMETER ROAD RACE
JANUARY 1, 2009
===== =================== === ===============
1 ALEX BROWN 21 M 18:40 6:01
2 DAVE DUNHAM 44 M 18:55 6:06 CMS
DRC runners:

Rose – 30:14
Cathy – 32:45
Denise – 33:12
John – 33:14
Danielle – 33:18
Greg – 33:28
Martin – 35:28
Stephanie – 37:36

TEN KILOMETER ROAD RACE
===== =================== ===== = ======= =====
1 TERRANCE SHEA 35 M 32:37 5:15
2 NICHOLAS WHEELER 22 M 33:13 5:21
3 ANDY MCCARRON 26 M 33:22 5:23 CMS
4 DANNY GOUGH 40 M 34:31 5:34
5 JIM JOHNSON 31 M 34:50 5:37 CMS
6 DAN VERRINGTON 46 M 35:28 5:43 CMS
7 DAVID QUINTAL 45 M 35:50 5:46 CMS
8 MICHAEL QUINTAL M 37:52 6:06
9 JIMMIE COCHRAN 34 M 38:12 6:09
10 FABBIO PIERGENTILI 45 M 39:12 6:19

01-03-2009

Fudgicle series 5k (plus a little)
Tewskbury, MA, January 3, 2009 Sunny 22 Degrees
1. Jim Johnson 16:24 Salem, NH CMS
2. Dave Dunham 18:00 Bradford CMS
3. Dave Michaud 21:10 Billerica
4. Glenn Stewart 21:46 N. Chelmsford
5. Mike Hurton 21:54 Tewksbury
6. Rich Blake 22:24 Tyngsboro
7. Mark Blaisdell 22:37 Wilmington
8. Dave Tyler 23:00 Lowell
9. Mike Ferris 23:06 Litchfield, NH
10. Mike Sheehan 23:12 Lowell

Cathy Dunham 32:21 Bradford DRC

2008 - A look back

The year was kicked off with the now semi-traditional Ocean plunge at the Winners Circle Hangover classic race. I guess this race is a classic; it has been around for a long time, but what is up with races calling themselves a classic? Shouldn’t it be up to the runners to decide which races are a classic? Not to go off on a rant but, I really don’t know how a first year race can call itself a classic; unless they mean it in the sense “Coke Classic” used it. Like a throw-back to the “good old days” of racing. Anyway, I survived the plunge this year and the lifeguard never had to get up (although he kept a close eye on me). Dave Quintal and I began a year-long battle that had us close in every race.


Later that first week of the year I trekked out to Albany and stopped for runs that encompassed eleven towns in Mass that I’d never run in previously. This was a nerve-wracking ride as the gas gauge was well below “E” (even when I crouched down as low as I could in the seat) and I ended up coasting on all of the downhill sections. I didn’t run out of gas but it was the closest I’d ever gotten.

The next week I went with Dan and Jim Pawlicki to the Dartmouth relays. This race IS a classic, going back to the Big Bang (and possibly further). I’d first run at Dartmouth as a Billerica High (go Indians!) Sophomore in 1981. On that day I’d finished in 6th place in 9:41, breaking Kevin Curtin’s school record. Fast forward 27 years and I was hoping to set a masters PR for 5,000 meters (not 5 km, which is for road running). While jogging around the track I introduced myself to Jim Johnson, which from his side of the conversation must have been funny as he had run with me back when he was at U-Lowell. I invited him to join me and Dan for our afternoon runs as Dan had noticed from Jim’s blog that he trained with some of the MVS guys nearby. Club affiliations have never been a big deal for us; we both enjoy training with guys from any club. The more the merrier. Double-J ended up finishing in second place, Dan got 4th and Jim and I had a nice battle with Jim taking me by a little less than 1 second. I did get my 40+ personal best with a 16:28. We were joined by Eric Morse, who drove down to watch but not race, for a nice warm-down. I was impressed with Double-J’s memory of events long past that I had no recollection of. He seemed enthusiastic about running with us, little did I know.







Al Bernier and I took some time out of our busy racing/training/hiking schedule to take a shot at the record for the fastest ascent of all of the county high points in RI. We actually started the day with a Mass county high point and finished with three Connecticut county high points. Sandwiched in-between we ascended the five Rhode Island county high points in 2:44:06. I’ve heard others call attempts to do this “Into thick air”. Very droll, I wish I had thought of it. On the same weekend I began an improbable winning streak in snowshoe races. I was the surprise winner at North Pond, Cobble Mountain,

Curly’s record run (with a great warm-down to the Highest Natural Body of Water in Mass), and Northfield Mountain. I was surprised with each of the wins. At each race there was at least one guy who I think should have beaten me. I guess that is why we actually run the races. My sister gave me a lot of grief at the Northfield race noting “It is so un-cool to win your own race”. In January I ran 419 miles which would end up being the best mileage month for me in 2008. As is often the case, the year starts out with oodles of promise but fizzles as injuries get in the way.


The snowshoe winning streak was broken when Kevin Tilton toyed with me at the Sidehiller four-mile and eventually beat me by 6 seconds. Kevin did some sort of all day XC-ski the day before, so maybe he wasn’t toying with me as much as just making sure he won. Prior to the race I bagged a New Hampshire fire tower with a run up/down Green Mountain in my favorite NH town name – Effingham. It sounds vaguely like a swear word. My training was going well, so I skipped snowshoe racing for a weekend to head down to Martha’s Vineyard for a long race. This was a build-up to running the 50 km national championships in March. Ken Tripp and I went together and had a fun weekend that included running to the highest point in Dukes County and vainly searching for a fire tower. We also checked out where some scenes from Jaw’s were filmed and I ate the heaviest pizza (cheese burger pizza weighing about 10 pounds) I’ve ever had. The race went well, with Ken taking fourth and me taking 7th. Unfortunately I tweaked a calf muscle which put a major damper on my training over the next few weeks. I ended up having to pass on the 50 km race and even four weeks after the injury could only “jog” through the New Bedford ½ marathon. It was a weird experience starting way back in the pack and coasting along. Running a race without pressure to actually race is something I’m not used to. I also hope to NEVER get used to it.

One of the early spring highlights was the 17th running of the Merrimack River trail race. Steve Peterson is the director and I help him out (as do a bushel of other people). We’ve pretty much got this thing dialed-in after this many years. Dan shows up on Friday and we run the course with him putting down a white line along the trail. Some of the white line lasts from one year to the next. Anyone who goes off course is generally laughed at. On race day this year it was raining like crazy and the skies looked apocalyptic. Right before we started registration the rain stopped and it actually turned out to be quite a nice day. Kevin Tilton had one heck of a race running a very fast time and CMS took the top five spots and 10 out of the top 13. Tim Van Orden (the raw food dude) stayed over the night before and I thought a jet plane was taking off when he switched on his industrial strength blender. I think you can use it to create mulch.

In early May I went up to Vermont for a race and a stop at Eric Morse’s house. On the way I bagged the summit of Mt Cardigan (NH fire tower) which was a very attention-grabbing run due to spring snow at the upper reaches. Eric and I then bagged the fire tower on Mt Elmore in Vermont. The hardest part was the last couple of flights of stairs up the tower as it swayed in the breeze. I was surprised to find someone (Eric) more nervous about falling than I was. The morning of the race we did a short run in Montpelier to check out the tower just above the castle, and then I was off to Ripton to race. This is a point to point course and in 2007 we had a decent tail-wind, this year there was a brutal head-wind. I guess things do tend to even out. The following weekend was just as busy with an XC race in Canterbury that I jogged through in anticipation of the next day’s New England 6 km championships. I got 9th in the XC race, just out-kicking the lovely and speedy Christin Doneski. I had hoped for a top 10 40+ finish at the 6 km and gave it my all and could only muster 13th and 48th overall. The aforementioned Tim Van Orden (or T-VO) joined CMS that morning and assisted our master’s team against the always strong Whirlaway team.

Earlier in the year I had secured access to Croydon Peak which is a NH fire tower and a County high point. The available date coincided with the 6 km race date, so Al and I packed up and drove to meet the rest of our group. It made for quite a long day with nearly four hours of hiking to bag Croydon and another peak. We did get the added bonus of seeing all of the wild boar, which are hunted on this private game preserve, come out at dusk.

The final weekend of May saw the USATF NE mountain series kick-off. It seemed like the fields were especially strong this year as many newbies were testing the waters in anticipation of running Mt Washington (which was the mountain running national championships). A very strong field ran the Wachusett mountain race and we had more than thirty people do the warm-down around the mountain. This had to be the biggest warm-down group I’ve ever run with. It was great to meet and chew the fat with runners from a bunch of different clubs.

In mid-June I headed out to Western NY with Al for the US 24-hour Orienteering championships. We went out a day early to bag a few County high points in NY; it probably wasn’t the best way to “rest” the day before a 24 hour race. The race itself was tough due to rain which was prevalent throughout the competition. When it wasn’t raining you were getting drenched by wet brush. Just after sunrise (19 hours into the competition) we both had enough and called it a day. Despite being out less than the allowed time we were still able to muster a 3rd place, covering over 49 miles and climbing/descending a little less than 10,000’. The following weekend was the race that I always aim for, the Mt Washington road race. We went to Atitash on Thursday and I had my closest wild animal encounter ever. While running on the trails near the Saco River, I stumbled upon a mother bear and two cubs. The cubs climbed a tree and the mother stood about 30 yards away (30 meters for the metric-minded). I immediately raised my hands above my head (to make me seem more menacing?) and started calling “hey bear, yo bear” as I backed away. The mother did a 10 yard charge and pulled up as I kept backing away. I kept up my “hey bear, yo bear” mantra the entire way back to the condo. I think my pulse was higher then than it was during the entire race. The race had the deepest field to date and although I snuck under 1:10 I as not in the top 30. That is one reason that place goals are rarely a good idea, stick with time goals. You can’t control who shows up and how they run; you can only run your own race. As Bob Hodge once said at Mt Washington “It is really a personal challenge. You are running against yourself more than anybody else. If someone went by me I wouldn’t give a damn”. Classic Hodgie!

The wildest weather for a race this year had to be at Cranmore Mountain. It wasn’t bad during our warm-up, but as race time drew near the skies opened up and not only was it coming down in buckets there was also thunder and lightning to deal with. I ran little loops inside the ski lodge to stay loose and tracked down Paul Kirsch to see if he was going to delay the start. Paul felt it wasn’t going to get any better, so I went down to the base of the lodge and told the crowd that we were starting on time. Someone in the throng said “what about the lightning” and as the thunder rumbled I declared “there’s no lightning”. The race went off without a hitch and the 2-loop version of the course seemed to suit people a lot better than the previous year’s 3-loop killer course.

Loon trio - me, double-j, Kevin T


There were some surprises the following week at the Loon Mountain race. This is one of my favorite mountain races; the course has a very European feel to it. It starts out easy and just gets more and more difficult. The signature section is the Walking Boss trail which averages over 30% grade for over ½ mile. The big surprises of the day were Eric Blake (US mountain team), Eric Morse, and Craig Fram showing up for the race. I ran alone for most of the race, but started passing the remnants of the early lead pack on the upper reaches of the mountain. The Walking Boss section was wild; I could see Justin Fyffe (who was leading and eventually would win the series) on ALL FOURS making his way up the slope. It was one of my best runs of the year; I took 5th overall and 2nd in the 40+. This also closed the gap on T-VO, giving me a shot to win the 40+ category for the series and possibly take third overall.

The series closed out in mid-July at Mt Ascutney. I traveled to the race with Double-J who was training quite a bit with me and Dan. He was also doing a lot of the races we were doing and often talked about his clubs lack of enthusiasm for racing. Eric Morse surprised again by showing up at this race, but he and others took it out so slowly that I (of all people) actually led the race for the short time. Order was restored to the universe and Eric powered his way to a new master’s course record with his win. I held on for third place and garnered enough points to hold of T-VO and win the 40+ in the Mountain series. We had another huge warm-down (or really a warm-down-up) as we ran up to the summit and climbed the fire tower on top. Most of the guys chose to run down to the base as well after the awards ceremony was conducted at the finish line (unusual). Rumor has it that the race will go to the summit and possibly use trails part-way through the race. I hope not, I like the road race aspect and don’t really care for the couple of sets of ladders you have to go up on the trail. I don’t want to test myself on those under race conditions.
I think it was pretty soon after this trip that

Double-J decided he wanted to run for CMS after the road Grand Prix ended in October. He was never pressured by me or Dan to join CMS.

At the end of July I started having some back/hip problems. I missed a couple of days running because it looked like it might be a stress fracture, which you can’t mess with if it is located in the hip (as opposed to other locations where it is okay to continue running?). Anyway, it turned out to be muscular, most likely a problem around the SI joint. I was a bit tentative running the Yankee homecoming 10 mile, partly because of my back and partly due to a migraine that hit me that day. The race itself went okay, just slower than hoped for. At around 5 miles I caught (who I thought was) the top woman. Soon after that I heard a spectator yell to her “Third Woman”. Yikes, so much for beating the top woman!

Just over a week later I ran my best Grand Prix race at the Bridge of Flowers 10 km. I had a decent run, especially on the big hill. T-VO and I had a good back n’ forth race, he ended up taking me by 6 seconds with most of that in the last 400m. The only people to pass me or Tim in the last 3 miles were Norm Larson who is a great 50+ runner and the woman’s overall champ who outkicked us both in the last mile. I finally broke into the top 10 with a ninth place finish in the 40+. The highlight of the day, beyond the race, was a great warm-down with a dozen guys up to the summit of Mount Massaemett to visit the only stone fire tower in the state.

Dan, Dave Quintal, Joe Shairs, and I decided earlier in the summer to take a shot at the Lynn woods relay master’s record. Dan and I have talked about this a few times over the last couple of years but getting four master’s to toe the line uninjured is a Herculean task. This year things fell together and we felt the record was “do-able”. Joe led off with a quick 13:18, followed by Dave kicking in strongly with a 14:04. Dan started slowly as is his wont, but ran the fastest last ½ mile of all of us, running 13:47 for the 2.5 mile trail loop. I was the anchor leg and kicked liked mad hoping to break 14 and coming up just short with a 14:03. We broke the old record by just over a minute. My course record (12:05) still stands from 1991. I finished off the day anchoring the DRC team’s relay and finished just as it was getting dark. Two days later I rolled my ankle badly at the beginning of a run with Dan and Double-J. I think that favoring my leg after that may have ultimately been the proverbial straw that broke my back.

Me and Tim on the summit of Mansfield

On the final day of August I was headed to a race up Mt Mansfield (the highest point in Vermont) and as I walked to the car my back started to hurt a lot. It got worse as I drove to the race and felt terrible warming-up. I couldn’t bail at this point, so I raced and ended up winning. By the time I was back in the car for the 3+ hour drive home my back was not feeling good at all. It was murder when I got out of the car at home and I knew it was not good. I couldn’t sleep because every time I moved (and I move a lot) it would be brutal. I got an MRI and the day I was headed to Switzerland for the World Mountain champs I got word that I had (another) stress fracture of my sacrum. Needless to say I was quite uncomfortable traveling to and from the World’s. I was very pleased with how the team performed, but bummed that I couldn’t even walk the course with them. Our top girl, Alex Dunne, took the bronze medal which was our first individual junior medal. On the boys side we took fourth place with Tim Smith leading the way in 5th place. The men’s team also earned their first medal with a great showing to take the bronze. These were great accomplishments for teams that are not supported by USATF.

By mid-September I was finally given the okay to start running in the water. Petey even joined me a couple of times for a “run” in the mucky waters of Hart pond in Chelmsford. In early October I added some walking to my “training”. We headed to Hawaii for the Family Vacation. It was doubly tough as we were on the Island with the Iron-man race and there were people running, biking, and swimming at all hours of the day (Lucky Bastards!). I spent 2+ hours each day running in the water in the pool. It made for an unusual site as I’d complete a lap in the deep end in about a minute. That meant I’d do about 100 laps in the pool. I had a few people ask what I was doing and my favorite comment from one was “that doesn’t look like fun” to which I offhandedly replied “it isn’t”. I added biking to my repertoire at the end of the trip and slowly increased the biking as I phased out the water running. The temperature in Stiles pond was heading south of 60 degrees and I’m not very good with cold water. The only unfortunate side-effect of doing this was that I brought back some posterior tibial tendonitis. Heck, I thought it was impossible to get an injury while not running. Then again I have crashed a stationary bike so I suppose anything is possible (though not probable). The high point of the trip, literally, was ascending the state high point at 13,796. The exploding Doritos™ Bag experiment was hilarious, bought at sea-level and exploded at 9,000’.

Finally after 8 weeks of melancholy I was back to running in November. I celebrated being able to get out the door again with a great couple of hikes with Al. We went up by Baxter State Park and had perfect weather for bagging a couple of 3,000’ peaks. I truly enjoy the adventure of going somewhere I’ve never been before. Some of the views were great but ultimately that isn’t what I’m out there for. I got back on the town-bagging wagon with a trip to Nantucket in mid-November. It was a very quick trip that included a round trip on the “fast ferry”, biking 30 miles, running 6 miles, a fire tower, the county high point, and a lighthouse. I only throw the lighthouse in there for Cath and Rose who have this unhealthy obsession with visiting lighthouses. I can’t imagine what it is like to be obsessed with stuff like that J

I got back to racing, even though I wasn’t really in shape to race, with a windy and cold run around the lake in Wakefield. Double-J won the race and I survived with a fourth place finish narrowly missing my goal to break 18 minutes. I followed that with a good old fashioned ass-kicking (I was on the receiving end) at the Andover XC race. The race attracts nearly 400 and is quite a run, with a mix of grass, cart paths, quick up/downs, and tight turns. I battle throughout with the top woman but couldn’t quite get her at the finish line. Little did I know that as I kicked with all I had, the second place woman was also kicking like mad and finished only a few seconds back. I’m not sure who said it, but someone mentioned that time is irrelevant in XC. You just have to go after anyone who is in front of you and not let anyone pass you. Cross country is team running at its finest.

I went to Reno (the biggest little city – whatever the hell that means) for the USATF convention. I believe that it was my 12th convention since 1993. They really should organize a delegate’s race I think only two of the conventions I went to have had a race, too bad it is a missed opportunity. The highlight of the trip was getting a great run in with Richard Bolt the New Englander living in exile in Oregon. We did a great 11 mile run that climbed 2,100’ to the summit of Snow Valley Peak. The views were spectacular and it was my first county high point (on the continent) west of NY. I also bagged my highest solo peak, with a run up/down Mt Davidson at 7,864’ which nearly doubled my previous highest solo.

I finished out the cross country season with the always tough Assault on Mt Hood. I think the title should be changed to “I was assaulted by Mt Hood”. I felt beat up for a week after the race. This was the third time I’d raced it and every year the course has been different, usually due to the footing. Last year there was snow, this year we were post ice storm and unfortunately a fair amount of the race was on paved cart paths. It was still a great challenging course that was listed as 3.5 but was much closer to 3.8 miles. I took tenth place and fifth master, but kept Dan under a minute ahead of me. I believe I have raced Dan more times than anyone else. He is going to end up with about 55 races this year and I’ll have 40, even though I missed nearly three months. We ended up in the same race 16 times this year with Dan beating me 14 times. One of times I beat him was Gilmanton when he was so sick he shouldn’t have run and the other time was Mt Washington where he has only beaten me once in 13 times. Anyway, lifetime Dan and I have raced 208 times with me beating him 113 times and him beating me 95 times. In the last 5 years I’ve beaten Dan 6 times and he has beaten me 69 times. The pendulum has definitely swung in his direction. He has got to slow some time, doesn’t he?

2008 Highlights
3, 506 miles or an average of 9.6 miles per day.
41 races covering 191.5 miles or an average distance of 4.7 miles.
Nine snowshoe races ties my all-time most in a year.
7 wins gives me a streak of 30 consecutive years with at least one win.
60 days off including 54 in a row starting on Sept 1 due to a stress fracture.
103 Mountains climbed this year from 111’ Sankaty hill to 13,796’ Mauna Kea.
29 County High Points
125 Mass towns bagged and only 33 to go and I’ll have run in all 351 towns/cities in Massachusetts.

Lifetime totals:
104,110 miles or 9.48 miles per day for 30 years.
1,471 days off or 1 day off every 7.4 days.
1,037 races over a total of 6,333.3 miles (average of 6.11 miles per race).
349 wins = a 33.6% winning percentage
Total races by type:
474 road
117 XC
109 Mountain
103 Indoor track
102 Outdoor track
68 trail
62 snowshoe
2 triathlon

BU Mini meet

A few of the CMS team ran this morning at the BU Mini meet. It was a good chance to get indoors on a lousy day. I seeded myself at 10 flat with nothing to really give me any idea of what shape I was in. I ended up running completely alone and hit 10:01.

Mixed 3000 Meter Run ================================================================ Section 1
1 vassallo, dan Unattached 8:30.60
2 revvell, liam Unattached 8:38.20
3 clark, matt CMS 8:44.40
4 life, james Unattached 8:46.30
5 mccarron, andy CMS 8:50.10
11 tilton, kevin CMS 9:07.80

Section 2
1 mahoney, chris Unattached 9:11.40
8 pawlicki, james CMS 9:39.80
16 dunham, dave CMS 10:01.10

Mixed 1 Mile Run
Section 1 1 jenkins, nate Unattached 4:15.20

Section 2
2 vance, james Unattached 4:34.70
3 whitney, darrly Unattached 4:35.70
4 taylor, alexander Unattached 4:36.10
5 tilton, kevin Unattached 4:38.70

Here is a video I shot of Kevin Tilton running the mile

Sunset

Although today is not the shortest day of the year (Dec 21 - First day of winter), today does mark the earliest sunset for Andover, MA. Since Dan and I are running by 3:30 and only doing 6 miles it really hasn't been a concern, but on dark and dreary days it does get a bit tricky running in the woods. By the end of the month we'll have gotten back 8-9 minutes for sunset. That gives us another mile or so of running in daylight :-)

Be careful out there!

This week

Well, after 7 weeks of running I’m up to 70 miles. I’ve steadily increased mileage each week and tried not to rush back, the last time I ran over 70 was August right before I got injured. I’m still struggling with Posterior Tibia Tendonitis but it has maintained at a 5 (on a scale of 10) and I don’t appear to be favoring it. Although some may argue that my form is so bad it would be hard to tell if I am favoring.

I’ve been tired all week, partly from the travel back from Reno and partly from a late night Thursday. Cath and I went to Tupelo and saw Carbon Leaf. They were really good; they played most of the favorites and as a bonus gave us all a greatest hits mix (for free) at the end of the concert. They said it was for coming out on such a lousy night (it was the night of the big ice storm).

On Saturday the CMS team did well at the Assault on Mt Hood. I felt like I’d been assaulted afterward! We took the team title again with Joe getting outkicked for the win. Ben led the race in the early miles, and Dan in typical fashion had a lousy start. Actually for him it was worse than ‘normal’; he didn’t go by me until at least ½ mile in. Word was he got caught behind the Malden Catholic XC team and they may have been mad as I had inadvertently flipped them off before the race. The race was billed as 3.5 but had to be more like 3.7. It was hilly as usual, but if possible had more paved than ever. I thought the Andover XC race took the prize for the most pave XC course but now I think it is Melrose. In their defense, they had to avoid a lot of ice which made for some interesting sections where you’d run for 10 yards on grass then on the path then right back. You really had to pay attention to where the flags where at all times. It is a wonder Dan found his way as all he ever sees is his own feet.

CMS masters results from the weekend are below

Snowstorm Classics 5K
Springfield, MA, December 13, 2008
1 Brian Nelson…………….28 16:57
2 Tim VanOrden CMS 40 17:16
3 Paul Fratini…….GSH 43 17:31



Mount Hood X-Country 3.5 (?) Mile
Melrose, MA, December 13, 2008
1 Ryan Gattoni…………….23 20:46 Caliente
2 Joe Shairs……………..40 20:51 CMS
3 Ben Strain……………….30 21:02 CMS
4 Henry Scollard……….45 21:07 Camb RC
5 Terry McNatt…………43 21:21 CSU
6 Dan Verrington……….46 21:35 CMS
7 James Pawlicki………..34 22:06 CMS
8 Dave Hannon……………37 22:10 NETT
9 Chris Van Cott………..28 22:27 Caliente
10 Dave Dunham…………44 22:33 CMS
11 James O'Malley…….37 22:37
12 Chris Smith…………..42 22:49 NETT
13 James Goodberlet 47 22:54
14 Tom Dmukauskas….33 22:59
15 Shane Sherwood….36 23:28
16 Barry Petzold……….32 23:32
17 Mark Blaisdell……….51 23:41
18 Ryan Hunt……………..36 23:50 NETT
19 Martin Bures………..28 23:54 NETT
20 Tsrian Tinger……….31 24:01

Teams
11 CMS
36 Caliente
38 NETT
47 Camb RC
100 Highland city

Finishers in the top 20 last year and this year with times compared.
Scollard +3:59
Hannon +4:25
Verrington +3:42
Pawlicki +4:06
Dunham +4:25
VanCott +3:31
Hunt+4:24
Sherwood+4:00

Orienteering meet club champs results

Beaver Brook

Beaver Brook is a great location for orienteering meets. There is a great variety of terrain and plenty of those helpful New England stone walls to assist when you aren't too sure of where you are. I remember the early versions of the map were hand drawn color maps that Pete Bundschu created. Here is an example from 1991

You really have to be passionate (or paid well) to make an orienteering map. It involves a ton of field work, not to mention all of the drawing. It also opens you up to criticism for any short-comings of the map. I always assume it was something I did wrong, not something the mapper did. Here is a late 90's version of the map.

I ended up running 1:17 for the 6.6 KM red course which is a bit slow for me. If I can average around 10min./kilometer I'm happy. I was surprised to find out that I was the UNO club champion! Below is the current version of the map.

Red Course results

Dave Dunham M40 1:17:45
Darrell Scott M45 1:55:00
Dave Yee M45 1:59:41
Mark Webb 2:09:21