2018 Soapstone Mountain Trail Race

I intend to do as at least 6 races in the WMAC Grand TreeSeries this year and the next on my schedule was the Soapstone Mountain Trail Race.  This race has been on my list for a bunch of years, it just has never worked into the schedule.  Before the race, I looked up some old blog reports and looked at Strava data from last year’s event.  The course ended up being changed again this year, which made it over a mile longer than the previous year which was longer than past years.  So, I was looking for around 13.5 miles on the watch and I got just a bit more, which extended the time on the trail just a bit.

The race itself…it started out with Tim Van Orden, Kurt Hackler, myself and some younger dude.  We ran briskly on the downhill dirt road in the first half mile or so and then got on the single track, before even the mile the young dude was making moves for position, it was clear he was probably going to have a long day on the trails.

The pace on the single rack felt a bit too brisk for me and I stopped paying attention to the 3 ahead of me and from there on ran my own race.

By 4 miles, I had gone up the “Wall of Sand” that you had to traverse on all fours and then “Killer Hill” at just after 3 miles which I slogged up at 21 min mile pace, just to get to the top and drop down on a slick technical downhill.  Young dude took a tumble thee and I passed him on the next small up.  The kid that ended up finishing second passed me shortly after that and I ran the last 10 or so miles alone.

The rest of the race had its ups and downs, terrain and energy levels.  I felt like I was running as slow as one could possibly run in spots and I still never got passed.

The turning point in the race was coming out to a road crossing where two people were standing.  They told me I was in 3^rd (a surprised because I WAS in 4^th, but Kurt went off course) they told me I had a downhill coming up…YAY! And they told me there was about a mile and a half to go!  How much?!  Oh boy….  After the downhill you popped out into a parking lot that we were previously in, so now things looked familiar.  I knew we would get onto a dirt road and then there would be one last road climb to the finish.  There was no quickness in my finishing speed.  I simply just got through the last 5 mins of this race.  I finished in 2:06:48  FULL RESULTS

Photo: Scott Livingston

After finished, I traded war stories and watched Ralph finish, I apologized for inviting him to the race.  I drank 1 too many sodas, which really made my stomach unhappy and off to Willimantic Brewing Company for some food and beer.

I am happy I finally got to run this long standing race and it definitely kicked my ass.  I was very sore for days. 

I have a pretty busy June, from when I started this post like a week ago and now, I have decided to skip the next two races in the Grand Tree which I was going to do.  So, next up will be Gaspee Days 5k on June 9^th, Ribfest 5 Mile on June 17^th, my birthday!  Ribfest is the 3^rd race in the USATF-NE Grand Prix Series.  After that I will be running the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge in Boston for the first time.  That is on June 21^st. 

2017 Newport 10k

This was my 16th Newport 10k. It has probably gone through 16 names in that time too! I always say I hate this race, but I have run every year but twice since 2000, which I would imagine makes it my most run race. So, I guess I will stop saying I hate it. It is a great course, there is a team prize and Turtles for some reason or another come out to play, and we had 12 this year!

The week heading into the race was pretty good.  My training is ramping up and I am starting to feel better and better.  I did a good long run on Sunday and a light WO on Tuesday.  Thursday I had a solid trail run, despite the good weather though, I must say it was a bit wet!  Saturday was a nice little group run with some Turtles.

We had our first snow of the year on Saturday, but it started after our run, luckily the snow did not effect the course at all, which was a good thing. There have been years with black ice and other issues on course, but this year there were no problems.

We had a big group for a 3 mile warm and then we ran the 0.3 miles to the starting line.

There is generally a good group of runners around the same speed at this race and a lot of returnees year after year. In attendance this year was Bronson, whom was the clear favorite. Then the group I knew I would be running with, Zak Kudlak, Jonny Hammett, Steve Brightman….or is it Brightonman?...Mike Macedo and then Mark Leblanc, whom got 2nd last year and past me at 5.5 mile in 2016 to win the race.

The race went out slower than usual, other than Bronson, but he said he was going to go out at 5:10s and that’s what he did. There was a shirtless Santa that went out hard…the pack of the above went by him around a half mile.

Mark made the first little gap on us and I followed, I just can’t help myself in this race, very out of my traditional relaxed conservative approach. We weren’t cranking and he had a little gap on me, I just wanted to keep the pace in a happy place.

This meant I basically ran alone on Ocean Drive, cutting through the tangents like buttah…after some initial wind out there, we were pretty good. It was warmer than expected…and I felt like I was working pretty hard.

I passed the 3 mile in mark in around 16:47. I was please enough with that…I felt like I had a solid gap on the group behind, but after leaving the noise of waves and wind on Ocean Drive I could now hear breathing, I slowed down mine to make sure I wasn’t just hearing myself…DAMN! They are close. This did not give me the motivation to pick it up…it was the opposite. UGH!

So, the breathing got heavier and I was waiting for the pack to swallow me up. To my surprise Mike Macedo was the first to go by, I didn’t see that coming. Brightonman was next to come up on me, but before he passed we went through a puddle that crossed the whole road, well….I went through, Brightonman didn’t want to get his wee little feet wet. He must have avoided it because the last time him and I were near a puddle he lost his shoe! In either case, I was the one that lost out, as Steve beat me that time and he was able to beat me on this occasion as well. Shit, I spoiled the ending!

Anyway, after the puddle we hit five miles and a left hand turn, this mile is a gradual up and every year I feel like I come to a stop on this turn and I get gaped. The second half of this road I felt like I was starting to come back on Steve, but it was too little too late and I ended up 5th. 6th would have been a better place to finish as I have finished every spot in the top 8 other than 1st and 6th. Hell of a stretch for a stat!

Zak and Jonny were not too far behind in 35:28 and 35:39. Zak completed out top 3 for the team scoring, we won 1:42:26 to 1:57:30 over WTAC, so mission accomplished.

Here is my complete Newport 10k History…

2016 - 4th place - 34:24
2015 - 2nd place - 34:05
2014 - 4th place - 34:55
2013 - 3rd place - 34:13
2012 - 4th place - 33:49
2011 - 2nd place - 35:02
2010 - 3rd place - 35:29
2009 - 3rd place - 34:04
2008 - 4th place - 33:56
2007 - 5th place - 33:36
2006 - 7th place - 35:11
2005 - 5th place - 34:09
2004 - 7th place - 33:50
2003 - Didn't Run
2002 - Didn't Run
2001 - 18th place - 38:17
2000 - 8th place - 36:24

Newport 2012 (Alan B in the background)

After the race a bunch of us headed to Malt on Broadway for some food and beer. It was another solid year in Newport.

Next up…? I dunno. The 4th Season Trail Races are happening, despite what people what some people thought they knew. Mike has it listed on his site that it is game on….dates TBD I guess? I plan on running at least some of those this year.

I have a bowling tournament on Saturday, so that’s the next thing on the schedule.

With schedules on the mind, I wonder what 2018 will hold. I have been on a 2 year on 2 year off pattern as of late. 2014 and 2015 were good racing years.

2014 I ran a pretty well at Snowshoe Nationals, especially on the 2nd day, winning the relay competition with Mike Galoob and Steve Dowsett. I won my 2nd 4th Season Trail Series, I PR’d at 50 miles, breaking 6:30. That was all my body could handle in 2014 and the start of 2015 was tough, but as mid year approached myself and a bunch of seagulls won the Ragnar Trail Relay at Northfield Mountain, then full on marathon mode commenced with a 20 mile PR breaking 2 hrs and then running 2:36:15 at Baystate. I was able to follow that up with a 5k win and a win at the Busa Bushwack 10 mile Trail Race.

Then there were two crappy years in 2016 and 2017. There were some OK races mixed in, but overall the motivation and the performances were shit at best. So, I look forward to the 2018/19 cycle. This should all work rout so I am on my good cycle for year 40!

Post Baystate

What to do now?  The Grand Prix Series was kinda The Thing this year!  It was also kinda a bust…well the whole year was.  The good thing now though, I am pretty motivated and getting to 100% healthy!

The week after Baystate I took very easy.  Most of this had to do with getting ready for the 6 Hour which was held on 10/28.  It was the first time in a new location, so I felt like I need to use every moment that week to get ready.  I only ran on Tuesday.  A super easy 3 miles.  I also ran a loop at the 6 hour, plus ran while setting up the course.

The next week, 10/29 to 11/4.  I was hoping to get a good transition week going.

10/29- 3 miles upbeat.  I just needed to get something in.  657-627-555

10/30- 6 miles pretty easy

10/31- 8.1 mile at TNT.  A small Halloween crowd, made for a shorter run.

11/1- 4.1 miles easy

11/2- Super hard trail run...but overall it was a lot of fun.  About 6.5 miles

11/3- 6 Miles with Bob Corsi, felt super tired

11/4- Around 8 miles at Big River with a group of 6.

41.7 or so miles for the week.

I am already feeling better this week.  I hope it continues

I plan on running the Lil Rhody Runaround on 11/19.  It will probably be pretty slow, but hopefully a “fun” race.

After that I foolishly? signed up for a cyclocross race!  This is funny on a couple levels.  

#1:  The reason it came about is Warren Angell tagged me in a post looking for a teammate on a relay team at the event.  It is a 20 minute race.  While one teammate is riding, the other has to eat a donut…and so on.  I have a donut reputation, so I guess I am the man for the job?  Our team name is Kreme Filled Squirrel Nuts.  The name of the race is Secret Squirrel CX and there are donuts, so I thought that name worked awesome.

I also signed up for the novice race, since I will be there anyway!

#2 funny thing.  I don’t own a bike!  I need to figure this small detail out by 11/25.  EEK!

After that I will make the trip out to Newport for the Annual Almost 10k.  I have run it way too many times, so why stop now?

USATF East Region and NE Masters Championship

If it wasn't clear before that I focus much more on long distance events than short, it is now.  The fact that I was able to finish a marathon in October running in the 540's for my late miles, 2:50 to 2:55ish 1/2 mile splits and yet very much struggle to break one single 2:20 half mile clears that up for anyone that was unsure!

I went a bit outside my comfort zone and ran a track meet for the first time in many years this past weekend.  Since this event was right in the Turtles back yard we were able to corral a few others into showing up as well.

Dave Principe and myself ran the 3000, 1 mile, 4 x 800 meter triple.

Bob Corsi ran the 3000 and the 4 x 800

Brad Highcove went a bit bonkers and did the 3000, 60 m hurdles and the long jump!

Last and least...Dan Hawkins, the "non master" ran the 4 x 800 meter relay with us.

I knew this was going to suck, but I thought I could do relatively well and I know my ability good enough, that I don't generally set completely unrealistic goals for myself.

I thought sub 10, sub 5 and if the stars aligned sub 2:20 for the 800.

The 3000 was up first.

I seeded myself at 9:45, but thought I could run around 10 flat.

I felt that I got out well and ran through the mile pretty good.  Hitting that mark around 5:11 maybe 5:12.  Maybe in hindsight, that was a bit quick...but I wanted to get out and get grooving.  I ran alone pretty much the whole race in 3rd place...only to be passed in the last 2 pals and finish 5th and 3rd in my age group.  I finished in 10:03.34.  Just a bit over my goal, finishing pretty poorly in the lat 3 or 4 laps though.

Next up was the mile.  There ended up being two men's heats in the mile, which unfortunately meant I would not race against my High School coach Norm Bouthiller, I was however in the heat after his, so I got to see what he ran before I toed the line.

Me and Norm!

I felt like I raced a lot better in this one.  I got out slowly, stuck way back in the back and after going through the first lap in around 40 seconds, I made a move on the back stretch into 5th place and was able to pick off two more runners in the last few laps.  I went though the "half way" split in 2:31.XX and finished off on 5:03.05...so pretty even splits.  This was just over my goal of breaking 5 mins.  I finished 3rd in my race and 1st in my age group.

TNT 4 x 800 Team

Last race of the day was the 4 x 800 meter relay.  I was able to get together a full team of Turtles, which was pretty cool.  I wanted Dan Hawkins to anchor the team...but he wanted to go second...so the order ended up being Me, Dan, Dave, Bob.  We were in a heat of 3 teams.  The BAA and an  unattached team.

I thought if the stars aligned I could go sub 2:20.  I got out well, stayed behind the other 2 guys though around 400 meters in 67-68 seconds and then just faded a bit over the next two laps, finishing in about 2:21.

Dan had a pretty good gap to make up, which he did pretty quickly and then he extended it by a lot!  Dan is more of a mid distance guy and it certainly showed!  He came though in a split of 2:06.

Next up, a not so middle distance guy...Dave.  He was pretty beat up after the first two events of the day and after the first lap it showed.  He was slowing gradually and Chris Lawrence from the BAA was eating up the lead that we had.  Dave was able to hold onto our lead by a few meters, running a 2:28, but we seemed doomed with Mike Galoob anchoring their team against Corsi.

Bob hung in strong the first lap, holding off Galoob until right after the start/finish line.  With 600s meters to go after being passed, Bob only lost 4+ seconds to Mike, running around a 2:18.

So, we finished with a 9:15.45 to the BAA's 9:10.88, to place 2nd and 1st in the "open" division.

All in all it was a fun day, after that damn 3000 was over.  There were a lot of people we knew there, so it was fun to see everyone race and do random laps in between races around South Providence!

Check out the FULL RESULTS!

Group at Ogie's

When all that fun was over, we had a good group head over to Ogie's Trailer Park for some beer and food.  The day certainly ended on a high note....I then headed home and passed out on the couch!

Fool's Mile

The Fool’s Mile at the Foolproof Brewing Company in Pawtucket was born on a Sunday morning while sitting outside having brunch at the brewery in July. I had picked up the flags from the previous days Run with the Beaver Trail Race and then headed over to the brewery for some Raincloud Porter Donuts, some Borealis Coffee served on Nitro Tap and of course have a few beers. One thing led to another and we got talking about beer events and I mentioned we should do a beer mile, I gave a look around and said…I would think the perimeter of this lot is pretty damn close to a ¼ mile.

Fast forward a few days and a plan was made to make it happen! We kept it pretty low key, with only social media advertising and word of mouth…we were a little unsure as to what to expect as none of us had actually done a beer mile! Anyway, I won’t bore you with the details…but we pretty much just winged it and on race day everything came together well from an organizational point of view. And the fact that the Peanut Butter Raincloud Porter came out that week as well, made it even better!

Just AWESOME!

Start of Heat 2

I couldn’t have been happier with how smooth the event went…my race on the other hand, could have went better. I ran 8 miles that morning and got to Foolproof around noon to set things up. I had a Raincloud Porter pre-race because, well, it was offered to me and I was having a good time and didn’t really care how I did in the race. The first heat went well with no one throwing up, the second heat people were a bit more aggressive and three people threw up. I didn’t know what to expect for myself, I just wanted to get the beers down and see what happened. The third heat was made up of myself, Big Steve and Lesley Bunnell. We set off and Steve downed his beer quick, as expected. I wasn’t too far behind and caught him quickly and made my way around the Foolproof lot, probably a little too quickly. The 2nd beer was tougher, but went by pretty quick. I made another loop and started on the third beer, this one was TOUGH. When I finally finished, I started off  much slower and I could feel it. I made it around the building and started to dry heave…or something like that. Eventually some of the pesky foam came out and I now knew I had a penalty lap on my hands. I finished the lap off and told people I threw up and started on my 4th beer. This one was the worse…I had everyone watching and I now had a stomach that didn’t like me. I tried hard to get it all down…but my body again rejected what I was throwing at it. Finally I finished the beer (in hind sight I should have just drank the heck out of it, because it was coming up no matter what!) I set off to run my 4th lap pretty quick and ran through the start finish area pretty damn fast, this caught up to me a bit on the back stretch on wat was now my 5th lap…but it is only a ¼ mile…so I held on to finish in a stellar 9:57! haha I went by the finish line in 8:32 when I was heading into the 5th lap, that would have been a decent time…but alas…it was not to be. There seems to be a fine line between running and drinking too hard and keeping everything down in a beer mile…and I did not pass the test. The other two competitors in my heat finished pretty damn well, with Steve stealing the show coming through the finish with a 5th beer. Haha

Start of Heat 3

World of hurt...

The winners of heat #1 and heat #2 received a Foolproof T-Shirt and the fastest male and female of the day got some beer and some more FP merchandise. After the races, we headed to the Taproom to consume some PB Raincloud, among other beers and to overall enjoy the day with our fellow racers. After that we packed everything up, flipped some tires and headed out to grab some grub… running, beer, friends, beer, food and beer…sounds like a good day to me! Maybe there will be a Second Annual Fool’s Mile? 

Steve in flight!

Steve flipping tires

and Mark flipping tires?

Want to check out more race info? Check out Eric Narcisi’s Recap on Level Renner and check out Scott Mason’s Photos! Speaking of races that include consuming things, Mark and I signed up for the Krispy Kreme Challenge today, this will be our second year in a row heading down to NC. If you want to join in on the action…use this link to sign up, it will save me money!

https://www.raceentry.com/races/krispy-kreme-challenge/2016/register-referral/472668

Adirondack Marathon

    

This weekend I headed up to Schroon Lake, NY for the Adirondack Marathon.  This raced served as a nice little building block for JFK 50 Miler in November, but I still wanted to try and run well.  With that said, I have been having some issues with ongoing aches and pains and wasn't too confident that I would do that...and I was right!

I guess overall I ran OK for the first 18 miles, although the race went rather oddly for me.  I was all over the place with pace and felt like I was racing too hard early, then backed off, then tracked 3rd and 4th place down only to get re-passed around 18 and then slogging it in for the last 8 miles.

I was able to get 4th place back, but ran a piss poor race, finishing in 2:54:59 (they have since changed my time to 2:55:00)...but I did win some maple syrup, but in my heart I wanted a bear.

My prize for 1st place age group

The course itself is challenging, but not out of this world hard.  I would love to go back and race the marathon again, or even do the 1/2 marathon or one of the relay races, as the race has lots to offer.

Now I will get back to work and hope that I can get my shit together for November!

This guy has the life!

The award that eluded me.

Pineland Farm 50 Miler

This is more of a race ramble...than a race report...

Pineland Farms 50 Miler...I have been wanting to go to this race for some time now.  Everyone said it was a great time and it looked like it too.  What is not to like about 2 days of racing with beer and music while hanging outside all day?

Front of race shirt.

This year in preparation for the Vermont 100, Pineland fell at just the right time to work out.  So on Friday, Jackie and I headed up to Maine, picked up our numbers and promptly found a brewpub.  We went to Gritty McDuff's which was about 4 miles from our hotel.  I have had some Gritty beers in the past and they are in the just OK range...but they had a few "special" beers on tap and everything I drank was good (a porter and a stout)...oh, the food was good too.

Saturday morning, Jackie was running the 10k, so this gave me an opportunity to check out the race course a bit and also get a feel for the event itself.  I ran a warm up with Jackie and even though everything I read about the course said rolling, no flats, etc etc...I was still somewhat surprised at the amount of hills on the small section of course that I saw.

Saturday seemed to be more low-key than Sunday ended up being.  There was beer and BBQ and some music, but with all the races being short, people were out of there fairly quickly.  We hung out for a bit, eating and having some Shipyard before headed back to the hotel to relax until dinner time.

Dinner ended up being Gritty's again...I felt carbs are carbs, so instead of some pasta dish I had BBQ chicken tenders as an appetizer then BBQ pulled pork sandwich on a bulky roll for the main event along with 2 beers.  We got back to the hotel early enough and had some peanut butter cookies and off to bed I went for the 4:30 wake up call.

RACE DAY!

Now, although Pineland was not my main goal for the summer and I have pretty much kept the race out of my mind until the week of, I still had goals and still wanted to run well.

I pretty much had two time goals, one being to PR (under 6:52...really under 6:50 though) and the 2nd more aggressive to run 8 min pace (under 6:40) but most importantly, run a smart race and try not to get carried away with the pace like I have on the canal path at JFK.

The start of this race was pretty low key, they told us to get over to the starting line, said a few things about the course and rang some cow bells and we were off!

The race starts with a 3.5 mile loop followed by three 25k loops.  The 25k loop is kinda broken up into a big loop and a small loop though (10+ and 5+ miles) this became an important fact for the brain later in the race.

So, the race itself...I won't get into every blow by blow....but this is pretty much how it went.

3.5 mile loop.  One guy took off within a K...and I mean TOOK OFF!  Then another guy started moving at about 3k and one other guy flew down a hill at 5kish.  That left a pack of myself and three other guys.  The four of us stuck together though the first 3.5 miles and came through there about 2 mins faster than the fast side of my goal time.  But all was well, I felt great.

Now we start into the first part of the 25k loop (which included part of the 3.5 loop)  our group stayed together though the whole first part of this loop.  We had some separation here and there at the aid stations,  but for the most part we stayed together.

We then came though the start/finish area to head out to the 2nd part of the 25k loop.  When we crossed the main road there was a drop bag area and one of our group members stopped, shortly after that we lost one other guy as the course seemed to be mostly downhill and myself and fluorescent yellow shirt guy starting going a tad quicker.  During this section we caught and passed one of the early surgers and I ended up pulling away from both before heading through the end of the first 25k loop, approximately 1.5 mins faster than the fast splits I had figured out.

Second 25k loop.  The fluorescent yellow shirt guy had passed me back when I grabbed some aid at the end of the first loop and him and I started catching the 2nd place guy.  We both reminded each other that there was a lot of running left and we did not chase after this guy.  At one of the aid stations I was quicker to get in and out and was now alone and would not see fluorescent yellow shirt guy again, but I could see 2nd place guy and I caught him shortly after that.  The rest of this loop was pretty uneventful. I was passing some 50k runners, but overall I felt like I was running slower up the ups than I did when I was running in the group on the first loop.  I finished the 2nd part of that loop and was back at the start/finish area, this loop was about 2 mins faster than the first!  I grabbed a new supply of gels and although pretty damn tired, I hadn't had any bad lows yet and started the final loop and the count down of those kilometer marks.

Around 35 miles into a 50 is where I have previously had some issues, so although I felt good, I knew there would be some struggles ahead.  About 2k into the loop I found out I was about 13 mins back from the 1st place guy.  This pepped me up a bit, although a very big gap, it is a gap that can be lost by having 2-3 bad miles (I have been there)  SO, I just plugged along, making sure to take advantage of the downs, another thing I did throughout the whole race was run the shit out of the tangents.  This course was full of wide turns and over 50 miles of running, you can add a lot of extra unneeded distance.

About 5k into the final loop I was tired...I was definitely having some energy lows, I was barely moving on some of the ups, but having the 50k, 25k and lapping some 50 mile runners was very helpful, it would have been a very lonely loop without all those people out there and although my "good jobs" were a bit quieter as I tired, I still tied to say it to everyone.

Some course muck (Photo by Richie Blake)

The end of the first part of the 25k loop there is a bitch of a climb, it is the climb I saw on Saturday, I just wanted to get up this thing and get to the far part of the course and the downhills.  At this point in the race, around 44 miles, I was in a negative mind frame, thinking, if I can run 10 min pace from here on in, I can still break 6:50, that will be good.  I made it through the start/finish area, crossed the road and hit the aid station before entering the woods and at that moment had my lowest low of the race, it was unexpected, I grabbed a coke, walked 3-4 hard steps and got back into run mode, made it past the 17k marked of this loop and all of a sudden had some energy, I started running the downs hard, then sub 6:40 was a reality again.  I think it was at 19k that I did some math and realized that if I was able to run well over the last 6k, I could possibly break 6:30!  The only problem is....all those downs in the first part of this loop mean you have to eventually climb back out!  This just meant that I had to work every one of those suckers the best I could.  I got to the 23k mark and was still pretty unsure if it was doable....I just wanted to come around the corner and see that last aid station where that 24k mark was...soon enough I heard some noise and there it was...my clock was ticking away...I grabbed a coke quick and felt like I surged by the 24k mark.  You have to run around the perimeter of a field, back to the road crossing and then around a corner to the straightaway where the finish line was.  I could see the cop car at the crossing in the distance and it looked soooo far away, I glanced at my watch and it ticked over to 6:29, I didn't think there was enough time, but I had to try...I got to the road and onto nice hard dirt, I was cruising around the corner and I looked up and saw the clock...53...54...now I was in full out kick mode, I literally almost knocked down a woman finishing the 50k, but my eyes were glued to the seconds, before crossing the line I knew I had it, I didn't know the official time until about 20 mins later, but I knew I squeaked my way under 6:30!!  I was a pretty happy man.  In the end I finished in 6:29:57, 7:24 behind 1st place, which means I gained about 5.5 mins in the last loop and he is no slouch either, I had no idea WHO was leading until I saw the results, but he is the course record holder of the Stonecat 50 Miler and also ran 2:38 at Boston this year, (Sebastien Roulier).  My time is the 8th fastest time ever at Pineland, a list that is dominated by Brian Rusiecki and Ben Nephew...pretty darn good company.

The rest of the afternoon was spent outside, listening to music, eating food, drinking beer and watching other accomplish their own goals...there were some pretty happy looking people finishing. (happy to be done)

Any race with a beer can this big, is a winner.

After cleaning the muck off, we headed to Portland, had some grub at The Old Port Tavern and then headed over to Novare Res Bier Cafe for some treats.  On the way home we stopped at When Pigs Fly Pizzeria in Kittery...bother Novare Res and When Pigs Fly are highly recommend for all you beer lovers.

This is where it is at...

2014 Big River Trail Races

The 5th and final race in the South County 4th Season Trail Races is this weekend and is at my favorite location to run trails in Rhode Island, Big River Management Area.

This is a great trail race and there is a 1/2 Marathon and 10k option.  The trails are awesome.  The terrain varies throughout the race from some rocky technical trails with some decent short climbs and then there are twisty smooth single-track sections that you can run forever and ever!

Also, the 1/2 marathon will count in the RI Triple Crown of Trail Racing scoring!

Some people may have gone off course last year, but I assure you that the RD will be making every possible effort so that does not happen again.  But it is a trail race, you need to look out for those flags and make sure you are going the correct way!

Check out last year's 1/2 Marathon Results and 10k Results

Check out some of the stories from last year's race and SIGN UP today!

• http://southcountytrails.blogspot.com/2013/04/big-river-trail-half-marathon.html
• http://rootandrocks.blogspot.com/2013/04/big-river-12-marathon.html
• http://bethrunsinri.blogspot.com/2013/03/that-was-fun.html

Some sights...

2014 US Snowshoe Championship

A late blog post about a long weekend of Snowshoe Racing in Vermont.

Mike Galoob recapped the weekend pretty well on his blog and since I did all the same things, you can read his story and I will fill in my thoughts here!

The drive up went by super quick, talking about possible races to put on in RI and RD "war stories".  We went directly to the race site and I was immediately much happier about the course.  After reading and hearing stories of the course from 2 weeks prior, I was not looking forward to running/slogging my way through over an hour on snowshoes.  My least favorite snowshoe race ever was the last time I ran nationals, in 2010, outside of Syracuse, NY.  The course was so torn up that it was a miserable experience!

Fast forward to race day...a beautiful day in VT, blue skies and minimal wind.  The place was hopping, it was a great atmosphere for the race.  We got in a solid warm-up and before you knew it, it was time to get on the line.  I decided to go against all the rules and used a new pair of snowshoes with a pair of shoes I have never worn with snowshoes for this race, the national championship.  I have been racing in the other shoes for 5 years, so why not change it up on the most important race of the year?  All was well and they stayed on my feet throughout the race...whew....

For me it was a tale of two races...UP and DOWN.  I struggled on the ups and ran strong on the downs.  I started to get passed by a boat load of people around 3k into the race on the climb up to the summit, but when Ben Nephew started going by me, I decided to hang on.  This is where my race finally changed for the better, after struggling for about 2k, 2k that felt like 5!  I knew I could hold onto Ben atleast to the top and knew that the course would start coming down from there.  When we hit the top and had a big groomed downhill section, I took advantage and went by Ben.  Now we still had about 5k to go, but it was race time!  Ben and I passed a few people in the single track sections (I FULL RESULTS

used a passing lane once) and Ben then flew by me and one other guy right after the last climb on the course at around 7k.  From there I tried to keep him in sight on the single-track before popping out onto some wide downhill groomed section.  I was able to bridge the gap that Ben put on me on the single-track and went by again, at this point we could now see that we were gaining on some other runners, one of which was Todd Callahan whom passed me on the climb earlier in the race.  I promptly caught and passed Todd and the three of us were now in a race to the finish.  Anytime the course flattened or had a slight uphill the two of them caught up to me, but I was lucky enough to have another downhill in which I went by them again.  With around 300 meters left before taking a left onto the switchback single-track heading down to the finish the three of us were neck and neck.  I put on one last surge to get ahead right before the single-track and was able to hold them off on the last flat/down/up/down section that made up the last 1/4 mile of the course.  It felt good to cross that finish line.  I thought my race went OK, but wished I was able to climb a bit better than I did.  I finished 22nd in the US Championship (27th overall) and 2nd in the 30-34 age group.  See

Day 2...
4x2.5k relay.  I was pretty excited about the relay.  I thought the team we put together of Steve Dowsett, Mike Galoob and myself could do pretty well.  I knew we would be competing against the Central Mass Strider guys, but didn't know how many other teams would be there, or if any of them would be any good.

Day 2

We woke up that morning to a dusting of snow, it was a bit windier than the day before and the sun had disappeared.  We made our way over to Prospect Mountain and we found a good amount of cars already there.  I guess some people would be running the relay after all!

Long story short.  Mike was going to run two legs.  He wanted to only have one leg in between his legs so I thought him going 2nd and last would be best.  I figured nobody would outkick Mike, even on tired legs.  I then figured I would go first, I thought that would be better for me, since I would be able to key off people.

This worked out pretty well.  The gun went off, two guys got out quick and I stayed right on CMS's Kevin Tilton up the first hill then made a move by him and the 2nd place guy before the first single-track section.  We made our way through that and made a 180 degree turn onto a slight downhill groomed section, this is where I moved into first and opened it up. 
I pushed hard on this section knowing the other parts of the course were slow single-track, that is where Kevin would have the advantage.  Well, my plan worked, I was able to hold onto a 10+ second lead going into the second leg.  From that point we kept opening it up.  I ran around the course giving splits and cheering on Steve and Mike.  In the end we beat the team that won the team title the day before in the National Championship and CMS finished in third out of 24 teams.  It was pretty exciting! 

Now just because the relay was over and we were the champions, didn't mean the racing was over, one thing remained...the 80 meter uphill challenge.  We lined up drag racing style and charged up the hill two at a time.  This race ended up being all about getting a good line and staying on your feet.  I got a good line, but did not stay on my feet!  I think I finished in just under 20 second, well outside the top-3 which would receive VT Maple Syrup for their effort.  It was a great way to end a weekend of beating ourselves up on the snow.

After waiting around for a bit and picking up our medals, it was time to head south.  We stopped at the Gardner Ale House on the way home and then proceeded to RI.  For me, that ended a short 3 event snowshoe season.  Now we wait for the snow to melt and get ready for the Brr-lingame 10 Mile Trail Race on March 22nd, the 4th race in the South County 4th Season Trail Race Series.

You can check out Scott Mason's Photo's of the event HERE and there are links to photos and stories on the race website.

Upcoming Races
3/22 - Brr-lingame 10 Mile Trail Race
4/5 - Big River 1/2 Marathon Trail Race
5/11 - The Quahog Mile (RD)

Belleville Pond Death March 10k

Snow...it is getting old.



The lot

Snow was the story at the 3rd race in the South County 4th Season Trail Race Series, the Belleville Pond 10k Trail Race.  The day before the race, Scott Mason and myself headed down to Ryan Park to get an idea of what the conditions would be like for the race on Sunday.  50 feet into our run and it was plenty obvious, they were not going to be good.  I ran a little bit on the rail trail and also checked out the Root Run Trail and a couple other key places before heading out of there...well...before TRYING to head out.  That was after spending 30 mins getting Scott's car out of its rut in the un-plowed parking lot.  I spent the rest of Saturday brewing a milk stout and having a few beers with my buddy Mark, then heading out to Doherty's in Warwick to fill the tank for the race in the morning.

Come Sunday morning, I was one of the first in the lot, after Scott and two other cars (one being RD Mike Galoob's)  Scott was hiking around in his snowshoes trying to pack down some unbroken snow and Mike was out marking the course, also in snowshoes.

After a while more runners were arriving and Patrick Quinn and I headed out for a 2 miler warm-up...on the roads, I didn't want to see anymore of the snow covered trail than I needed too!  After some last minute preparations, we were on the line ready to roll.

Jonny Hammett took out the pace with Chris Garvin in 2nd and I fell into third place.  I was happy with my position and happy with the slowish early pace (after we settled in)...the only thing I was not happy with was how hot I was!  I generally don't over-dress and only had a long sleeve under my short sleeve top, but after about 2 miles, I just HAD to get that shirt off.  We were running in a line of about 8 guys and I started undressing.  I took my short sleeve off, shoved it into my pants, then took off my long sleeve.  As I was about to put my short sleeve back on, Garvin made a move around Jonny.  It ended up not being a big move, but I panicked a little bit and jumped by Jonny too, that got the heart racing a little bit.  Garvin started pushing the pace a little bit from that point on, I felt like I had to push too hard to not let a gap grow and tried to get back on him with every downhill, but coming out of the Route 4 trail section, he had a gap that was just enough that I couldn't latch back on.

Course recon on Saturday

We entered the single track trails that lead back to the rail trail and I worked hard, but I felt with every step I was losing a little ground.  Coming back onto the straight rail trail, I could see Chris and started pushing...getting the pace back under 7 mins, but the trail was soft and for every 5 good steps you got, there were a few shitty ones.  It was getting a bit frustrating!  I was happy to get on the Root Run Trail and up and over the bridge...up until I had to go around that stupid baseball field.  It reminded me of Snowshoe Nationals in 2010, just a whole lot of mashed potato snow.  After getting through that mess, the race was finally over.  It took approximately 10 mins longer than last year, but better than the hour that I thought it might take, the trails were in better shape than they were in the day before for sure.

After the race Patrick and I headed out for what ended up being almost 50 mins of a cool down, crossing the frozen Belleville Pond to ensure it wasn't any longer than that.  We missed the awards, but I picked up a bottle of BBC Golden Spike before leaving.  Check out the FULL RESULTS and PHOTOS by Scott Mason.

After the race Turtles headed over to the Oak Hill Tavern to enjoy some beer and food.  Definitely another successful race in the series.  Since the 4th race in the 5 race series isn't until March 22nd, I expect this snow will be melted and we will be happily be running on dirt!

Before that though, I WILL be running on more snow...but in snowshoes.  This weekend is my favorite snowshoe race, the Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe Race.  That will be followed by the National Snowshoe Championship on March 1st.  Hopefully the lower leg soreness that this race and the WTAC guys caused will be gone by then!

Catching up with some 2014 races...

Well, 2013 is behind us and 2014 has already gotten underway!

I started the year off with a jaunt from Hopkinton to Boston and felt it was a great way to start the year off. 

The first race in the South County 4th Season Trail Race Series was only 3 days later, but I wasn't too worried about running the marathon distance that close to race day, heck, I ran 25 miles with Ben Nephew the day before the opener last year!

The Old Mountain 5k Trail Race was on 1/4/14 and was the start to a bunch of races I have been looking forward to.  This years race was a whole different ball game from last years.  Last years race was basically a fast 5k through twisty trails where you just had to hold on for dear life!  This year we saw below zero temps on race morning with 6 or so inches of snow covering the course.

I figured the race would turn into a tactical affair and that is the kind of race I like, especially when the guys I am racing against are faster.  The race went out a tad slower then last year and instead of entering the single track in an all out sprint, I settled on Chris Garvin's shoulder with Ryan Woolley on mine and we set-off to grind through the snow. 

The problem with this scenario is that there is practically no place to pass, as the course is pretty much all single track and the snow made it even more difficult, because other then the tracks put down by some park foot traffic and RD Mike Galoob it would be all fresh powder.  So the second we entered the woods I starting thinking to myself, where and when should I make a move?

Finally before 2 miles I remembered a downhill/uphill section that I had run on my warm-up and thought that would be the best place to go.  So as we hit the down (which was much shorter than I had hoped) I jumped through some snow and bushes on Chris's right and made a hard move with hopes that I would get a gap.  I hammered the uphill around the corner as well as I could and just kept pushing, hoping that I would "disappear" with all the twists and turns and that Chris and Ryan would just let me go.

In the end I held on to my gap and crossed the line about 5 mins slower than the year before, but 2 places higher and 20 seconds in front of second place.  I was pretty shocked that I pulled it off and was happy to get the win.  The WTAC guys were out in force though and TNT had no chance of winning the team title, as they took the next 6 spots behind me.

I won a Samuel Adams variety pack for my effort.  Turtles went to Fat Belly's in Wakefield for the post race beer and food.  Full Results HERE!

One week later we were at it again at the Resolution Trail and Beach 5k in Narragansett.  This is probably my least favorite race in the series...running on a beach can at times just be a pain in the ass.  But this year, the beach was firm and the trails were wet and soggy, so it made for a bit more fun.  Plus the waves were crashing nicely and it was 40 degrees out, so it was a nice day to be on the Rhode Island coast.  This race does not favor my strengths as it is a pretty fast trail race and I am, well, just not that fast at the shorter stuff!  Ryan Woolley took it out pretty hard and I was in third or fourth for a while until I started moving up.  Ryan almost went of course because of a sign that had been blown upright, I yelled at him to set him straight (this is the second WTAC runner in as many months that I had to point in the right direction :) !!)

This lessened the gap between Ryan and myself, but the legs just didn't want to go.  I held on to a respectable 2nd place and more importantly held on to the overall series lead.  Mike Galoob screwed me out of a 17:59 and gave me 18:00 for my time...haha.  I guess I should have kicked harder!  Check out the full results HERE

I won some more beer for my finish, this time some BBC bombers.

TNT headed over to the Mews Tavern with 14 people in tow to enjoy lunch and beer.

The next race in the series is on 2/9/14.  This is good, as it gives me more time to get in shape! 

Before the next trail race, I had some snowshoe racing to take care of in Center Sandwich, NH for the Sidehiller Snowshoe Race.  This was my first time back on the snowshoes since February of last year.  The week before the race the date got changed from Saturday to Sunday, so I had planned to get in 13 miles on Saturday before the race since I wouldn't be getting a long run in on Sunday.  I planned a loop that accidentally turned into just under 16.  Whoops!  All was good though, Scott Mason and I left for Center Sandwich at 6:40am and arrived in just under 3 hours to a windy, cold, white little town, in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire.  I did just under 2 miles for my warm up alone and got the snowshoes on and did a few strides out on the course.  It was a cool 6 degrees with a wind chill of around -14 at the start of the race, but once you get going in a snowshoe race you would never know.

There was a pretty fast field in attendance and I feared the race would go out wicked fast like it did last year (6:16 through the mile)  That was not to be.  The field went out slow around the first turn and up and down the first hill before it started to string out a bit while weaving though some barn like structures before hitting some more groomed trails.   Around a 1/2 mile I was in 7th place right on Ben Nephews heels.  It felt good to be right behind Ben, with Jim Pawlicki right in front of him.  We entered some softer snow that ended up being some single track and about 300 meters later I decided to go by Ben and Jim and move my way behind Steve Dowsett in the 5th position.  1st through 3rd were not too far ahead of Steve, so I stuck right on him through some deeper sugary snow though the mile and moved by shortly after that.  I was now pretty close to Kevin Tilton who was in third and this is where the race took a quick right, then a left down hill, then a U-Turn, back up the hill then a right into oncoming traffic only to then take another right down the same hill.  We would then have a short down hill then back onto some groomed trails, around a field and through the start/finish area...we then had to do it all again.

Heading into lap 2, I was within a couple seconds of Kevin.  Jim Johnson in second and Brandon Newbould in first were starting to get away from us a bit, but Jim was still in sight as we went though the barns again and then turned into a still wind.  It was cool to see Kevin and Jim in front of me running though some crazy snow that was blowing every where. The course had a slightly different look to it the second time around.  With over 100 runner in the field that very narrow tracks we went through before were wider and the snow was softer.  It was hard to make up any ground while slipping and sliding around.  Right before the 3 mile mark there was a slight downhill on firm snow and I made a small move to bridge the gap and got myself a little

closer to Kevin again, but once we got back to the soft stuff, he regained the gap he had.  At that point I became pretty complacent.  I tried to keep the legs moving down and up and back down the short little hill.  Scott was still there and got me going a little bit to give one more attempt to chase Kevin down, but the gap was just too much and Kevin and I seemed to be going at pretty much the same speed.

In the end I ran what seemed to be pretty even splits and was super happy to finish 4th in a strong field.  This is the only snow shoe race that I have done every year since I started snowshoeing back in 2009 (other than 2012 when it was cancelled)  I am pretty sure the course has been different every year, but it is always one of my favorite races.  Full Results Here

I hit the road with a big group for just under 4 miles for a cool down, which ended up pretty much being all up hill on the way out and downhill on the way back...on snow covered roads.

We all squeezed in to Mocha Rizing Coffee Shop for some chili, chips and some sort of baked good, then it was off to Milly's Tavern in Manchester for some well deserved beer and some more food with Scott and Warren Angell (whom also ran the race)

Scott and I made one last stop on the way home at The Beer Store in Nashua to pick up some "not seen in Rhode Island" beers.  We rolled into Scott's driveway around 12 hours after we left...that's a snowshoe race!

Now I turn my attention back to the 4th Season Trail Series before I start building up some base mileage for the Vermont 100 Miler in July.  Other races on the schedule will include the Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe Race (snow allowing), Snowshoe Nationals,  New Bedford 1/2 Marathon and maybe some random long trail races to get ready for VT.

2013 RI 6 Hour Ultra & Relay and Li'l Rhody Runaround

The 5th Annual RI 6 Hour was on 11/10/13 and was a great success.  It was the first year that I had over 100 runners enter the ultra and I had a record number (93) toe the line on race day!  With a near record amount of relay teams, at 23, it was by far the largest the race has been.

You can check out a story about the race on Level Renner.... http://www.levelrenner.com/2013/11/21/mullins-hribar-win-at-ri-6-hr-ultra/

You can even check out a short video that was created...
http://vimeo.com/79252822


The week after the 6 hour, I toed the line at the Li'l Rhody Runaround 8 Mile Trail Race.  This was the first race in the RI Triple Crown of Trail Racing.  It was also the first race since March that I was healthy enough to actually RACE.  I was excited about being able to try and actually compete after being injured in the Spring and spending all Summer getting healthy and now finally getting into shape.  I knew that I was not in tip top shape, but I knew that I would give it a go and hope for the best!

In the end, I went out too fast, struggled a little bit to get into a groove, but then was able to focus on racing and trying to catch Jonny Hammett for the last 4 miles.  I failed at catching him, but was happy enough with the outcome.  I have run this race 5 times and this was my 2nd fastest time...so that is encouraging.

2002-1:02:52 - 84th

2008-50:39 - 6th

2009-49:30 - 9th

2010-49:03 - 5th

2013-49:29 - 8th

 

Next up....the Newport Christmas Run for Hope Almost 10k on December 15th.

Gansett 17 Miler and a cool down

Well the Gansett Marathon did not go as planned for me.  Although, looking at the splits, the early part of the race went better than any other marathon I have ever run.  Dave and I were super consistent with the splits on every mile...this probably came from running together multiple times a week over the last 10 years or so.

The splits looked nice on the watch, but I never really had that "this is going perfectly" mindset.  The legs were moving and getting things done, but the way they felt made it clear to me that unless something changed, I was not going to be able to maintain what we were doing.

With that thought in my head early on, it was easy to convince myself to drop and not have to deal with a complete blow-up and then having to recover from it.  If I backed off I still would have finished in a pretty good time and probably would not have had a miserable last 8 or so miles.  At the time I just didn't want to do that though...of course I have second guessed, hell, third guessed my descision to drop, but it is what it is.  So I ran hard until 17 and took the foot off the accelerator from there until where I dropped out, somewhere arounf 18.6.

On a bright note, Dave held on strong with a minimal slow-down and placed third overall in a new PR of 2:42:11!  Something he has worked hard for all winter long.

I won't jump into another marathon to "redeem myself" but rather enjoy the fitness I have and jump into some other races...

Onto the next!

U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials

This weekend the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials will take place in Houston, TX.  These trials are shaping up to be one of the most competitive in US history.  There is a lot of speculation that records will fall, not only the fastest winning times in the history of the trials, but also the fastest times to make the team.

LetsRun goes into great details on their site about the competitors and how everything will shake out, see the links below and see the other links to interviews etc. they have up on their main page.

LetsRun Men's Preview
LetsRun Women's Preview

So how do I think things will turn out?  I don't believe that it will take a sub 2:10 to make the men's team as Ryan Hall has stated.  Not that I think it will be a much slower time, but probably in the 2:11-2:12 range.  The women's top three on the other hand, will have to have a great day.  I feel it is possible that 2:25 will be needed to make the team, will it actually happen, we will see? 

Picking the top three for both the male's and the female's is tough, a lot can happen in a championship race.  There may be some underdog's that go for it, which will shake the race up depending on when moves are made.   Anyway you look at it, there is great depth in each field, which will make for some exciting racing, too bad we won't be able to watch it live!

So here are my top three picks...

Men
1-Ryan Hall
2-Dathan Ritzenhein
3-Meb Keflezighi

I don't see any upsets happening in the men's race, with that said, I also would not be surprised if Meb does not make the team and the same goes for Dathan.  Meb is coming off of NYC and wasn't able to get back into full training as soon as he wanted to, but that might have been a good thing, maybe he will be fresh and ready to roll.  Ritz..I can see him out of the top three, but I can also see him beating Hall.  He hasn't raced a marathon in a while, but he certainly has not hit his full potential in the marathon.

So who can pick up the pieces if these guys falter?  There are many guys waiting for these guys fall apart...Mo Trafeh and Brett Gotcher are just two that could come though, but there are a half dozen other runners that I wouldn't be surprised if they were standing on the podium at the end of the day.

Women
1-Desiree Davila
2-Shalane Flanagan
3-Amy Hastings

Again, I think the women's race will have more ladies together late in the race.  I do feel the top two are a lock, and I pick Amy Hastings as a dark horse getting it done...Obviously if Kara Goucher has a normal day, she should be there and can also win outright.  And what about Deena Kastor?

Now the race up front will be very interesting to see, but I am also excited to see how the "ultra runners" fair tomorrow.  There is a good group of runners that mainly focus on distances greater than 26.2 miles, but they made the trials and will be toeing the line.  See iRunFar.com for a great preview of those runners.

Training 1/1/12 to 1/7/12

I don't generally do training posts week in and week out, but figured I would give it a shot.  However I will just touch on key workouts/"interesting" runs and not the everyday grind.

1/1/12 - Hangover Classic 5 Mile Race - This went poorly, just wasn't feeling it.  Jumped in the bay after the race with some Turtles, then grabbed some grub at Aidan's Pub in Bristol, RI.

1/2/12 - Great trail run around Arcadia Managment Area - 15 miles

1/3/12 - Turtle night...turned into an upbeat adventure with the last 3 miles in 18:30

1/5/12 - Hill workout with DP and DJ.  1,2,1,2,1,2,1 mins

1/7/12 - Fun trail run