15 years ago

15 years ago: March 18, 2005 - My injured hip left me unable to run at all from mid-December through the beginning of Feb. Once I started running, I started looking for fun things to do. I sent out an email looking for suggestions and then settled on a run up Mt Kearsarge. I'm pretty familiar with the road to the summit from racing up it many times since the first organized race back in 1995. I had never been up the road in winter and was hoping it would be in good shape from the snowmobiles that zip up and down it throughout the winter. Richard Bolt was immediately interested in the run, as was Alan Bernier. Dan Verrington, my training partner on most days, was also up for the run. We decided that we would be better suited for a sunset run, rather than getting up to Kearsarge in the early morning hours. run).

I estimated that we'd need a little less than an hour to get up without missing the 6:02 PM sunset. We set off, and right away I was off the back. My aerobic form is not very good; the time off did not sit well with me. Al and Rich chatted away and Dan chugged along. Dan had thought we were hiking up but he is usually game for another run.  We got some breaks after the first mile with some flat sections and even a couple of downhill parts.  We took a very brief break at about two and a half miles to check out the view. There is a great open part on the road and you can see for miles looking out to the East. We had perfect weather, clear skies and views for miles upon mile. We could see the alpenglow and the shadow of Mt Kearsarge projected over the landscape.

We were getting close to sunset and it looked like we had it timed out correctly. We hit the parking lot (three and a half miles) in 39:34 and took a couple of pictures. Next up was the final push to the summit; this was a steep half-mile trail. I had never been up to the summit despite racing here a 1/2 dozen time.  I took a couple of pictures and hit the summit just missing it dipping below the horizon. It was very windy and cold on the summit and the sweat from climbing was quickly cooling us down. We took some pictures and enjoyed the panoramic view.

Running down the half mile to the parking lot was not particularly quick as it took me a good five minutes to get to the parking lot. It was slowly getting dark but the view was excellent. Rich pointed out Jay Peak and surprised us all with the sight of Wachusett Mountain. It appeared very close and was incredibly bright. We also had a clear view of Monadnock and could see lights from the metropolis that is Warner (highway rest area) shining below.  As we made our way down the crescent moon was bright enough that we cast shadows when we got into the tree-lined sections of the road. We made it down in 30:42 and it was fully dark by the time we got to the car. Our total time was 1:22:53 form 8 miles with nearly 2,000' climb and descent..