January 2020 Recap

January was a decent month of training, really from after the Newport 10k through Feb 2nd, was all pretty focused training.  It was not the most demanding training, or the most miles or longest workouts, but it was consistent and focused on running a good race at the Super 5 Mile in Cambridge, MA...the first race in the USATF-NE GP.

The first 3 weeks of January were pretty consistent and the last week was a low week, as I went on a cruise.  Picking a vacation the week before a goal race might not make much sense, but...that week would have been a slightly lower mileage week anyway.  I probably would have drank a bit less the week before the race, but I did not go crazy with drinking or eating on the trip and I got a ton of walking in.

Race prep...

Myself, Zak, Croft and Keven started the year off with a work out on New Year's day; we did 6 x 1k at Goddard Park.

Each of the Sundays we had some solid long runs of 18, 17 and 19 all in which we progressed and finished in low 6's or under.

I was healthy the whole month, with only a small tweak in my right hammy, which I took one day off for and did all the right things in order for it to not mess with any other work outs.

My total mileage for the month was 245.9, which was including a 30ish mile week at the end of the month.  I had 3 days off in there, two during the trip and one for the hammy.

Going into the race on Feb 2nd, I had a sub 28 min time in mind from Newport all the way to the race.  I figured if I could run 5:44 pace in Newport....I could get down to 5:36s.  So, that was the pace I based my work outs off of.

Come race day, I was a bit unsure.  I haven't raced too much in the last year...I was over 180 pounds and I have started coming down with a cold.  With all of those excuses out of the way (I didn't use any of those pre-race) I was focused and ready to race.

All of the GP races are packed with fast people, which obviously helps, but something a bit new for me, was to have multiple people that I train with all having very similar goals and being in similar shape.  That definitely adds some motivation on the roads.  Dave Principe, Steve Croft and Mike Daniels all wanted to run right around that 28 flat mark.

So.....a brief run down of the race action.  I went out in 5:33 (race marker split, not GPS) I felt pretty good but not amazing.  I felt like I was moving up the whole race, which certainly helps motivation.  5:31 through 2 miles and I start coming up and past Mike.  I could see Dave up ahead and passed him around 2.5 miles.  Through 3 in 5:26..I was very focused on mile 4, using the slight downhill to get the legs going again...5:20 at the 4.  There was a slight uphill after the 4 mile marker, nothing steep but enough that I made what I would consider my only mistake of the race and I got too content there. Turning on the next to last road, I regained the motivation to push and started passing people again and seeing people I knew that I would like to nip before the line. You turn on the last road and have maybe 0.15 to go and of course everyone is just cranking for every second at that point.  I passed the line in 27:19 (5:26 last mile)

Dave was not too far behind in 27:35, followed by Mike in 28:05 and Croft in 28:14.

Soooooo....overall a pretty successful day.

February will be more of the same, up the mileage a bit and stay consistent (most important).

2019 Year in Review

Year in review...
A short and sweet year in review.  Another pretty blah year on the running front....but there were some signs of fitness shining here and there.

Highlights of the year...

• February, ran my 5th Krispy Kreme Challenge.  I have run faster every year at the race and this year we had enough runners to enter the team race.  We won!
• June, won the Chesterfield Gorge 50k
• October, won my 10th Grog and Dog Relay

Here is my year by the numbers...

Races completed: 14
Race breakdown by terrain: Road - 7, Trail - 1, Indoor Track - 2, Cyclocross - 4
Best Finish: 1st
Miles run: 2,696.2 mi, up from 2,084.3 mi last year
Elevation run: 101,493 ft, up from 73,255 ft last year
Most elevation gain in a single run: 3314 ft
Time run: 335h 9m
Days with no running: 54
Lowest mileage week: 11.6 (injured)
Highest mileage week: 88.1
Highest mileage day: 33.5
Longest running streak: 90 days
Longest non-running streak: 4 days
Number of segment CRs: 9
Number of states run in: 4
Number of countries run in: 1
Run furthest from home: Raleigh, NC
Miles Biked: 120.2 mi

Yearly Strava miles/elevation/time:
2019:  2,696.2 mi/101,493 ft/335h  9m
2018:  2,084.3 mi/ 73,255 ft/258h 17m
2017:  2,494.2 mi/ 76,398 ft/307h 43m
2016:  2,603.4 mi/ 56,106 ft/314h 28m
2015:  2,992.2 mi/ 66,404 ft/365h 54m
2014:  3,079.9 mi/101,430 ft/399h 49m
2013:  2,311.9 mi/ 73,301 ft/301h 56m

An Unnamed Race in Newport

A blog post...only to keep updating my history in Newport.

After one of my slowest times last year (as expected, I was fat) I reluctantly returned to Newport for my 18th time...I only did this so Brightman would have someone to go out with after the race.

Anyway, I did a my 4th cyclocross race of the season on Saturday in Goddard Park.  It was definitely my worse performance of the year, I fell down, I cut my knee, I added to the multiple bruises on my knee....all good stuff!  I don't believe the effort on Saturday change how I would do on Sunday; my knee DID hurt, but only when running...so all good!  ;)

I planned ahead of time to go out conservative and see how the race played out.  I think I did that well for the first mile, then got going a little earlier than I would have liked, but was able to hold on to my pace and finish rather well.

After a couple years of complete shit on the running front, MAYBE!! just maybe this is the corner I need to turn to get rolling and have a solid 2020.

See FULL RESULTS

Race history....

2019 - 5th Place - 35:07
2018 - 9th Place - 37:09
2017 - 5th Place - 35:17
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

Times in order by speed...

2007 - 5th place - 33:36

2004 - 7th place - 33:50

2008 - 4th place - 33:56

2012 - 4th place - 33:49

2009 - 3rd place - 34:04

2015 - 2nd place - 34:05

2005 - 5th place - 34:09

2013 - 3rd place - 34:13

2016 - 4th place - 34:24

2014 - 4th place - 34:55

2011 - 2nd place - 35:02

2019 - 5th Place - 35:07
2006 - 7th place - 35:11
2017 - 5th Place - 35:17

2010 - 3rd place - 35:29
2000 - 8th place - 36:24
2018 - 9th Place - 37:09
2001 - 18th place - 38:17

Chesterfield Gorge 50k

I was not signed up for this race until very recently, but knew I wanted a longer, harder than training effort run prior to VT 100k.  This race seemed right up my alley; low key, not technical, mostly shaded, reasonably close to home and put on by Amy Rusiecki.  I also needed my volunteer hours for VT and since this race had runners running upwards of 100 miles, there was plenty of time in the day and night after I ran to get those hours in.

I knew the course was rolly, but no big hills, so it seemed reasonable to think running under 4 hours would be doable.  I had a stretch goal of 3:45 in my head, but didn't really know what to expect until I got on course.

Hanging at the 7.75 Aid Station

The race started at 6am and the course runs out on River Road for 7.75 miles to a turn around and comes back.  I would do this two times for 50k.  When thinking about the double out and back, it was just a matter of running the first out and back reasonably relaxed and then trying to run a bit faster the 3rd leg and then hoping to finish strong coming back to the finish.

The race starts and the first little bit is downhill.  One dude went out a tad ahead of me, but we settled into pace pretty quickly.  I was initially thinking 7:30 pace, but pretty early on the GPS was reading around 7:15s, so I just went with it, making sure I felt easy and not really pushing any of the small ups or downs along the way.

I felt pretty good separation after a couple miles, I took advantage and jumped off the trail for a quick pit stop and then got back into my groove.  The last part of the road is a more exposed area, which got pretty warm later in the day, but at this point it felt nice to be in an opening at is was breezy and still a little overcast. My first 7.75 was 54:33

The trip back was pretty uneventful.  I started seeing the people that were heading out to the turnaround, which made the race slightly less lonely, I waved and said good job to everyone each time we passed.

My main goal for the journey was to stay relaxed and easy.  At this part of the run it was easy to get too fast.  Far enough into the run that I was all warmed up and feeling good, but plenty of race left that I could do some serious damage if I got carried away.

I arrived back at the start/finish area and made a loop around the turnaround bush in 53:44, topped off my bottle with some Coke and down the hill I went to start my last out and back.

The route on the way out was generally more down hill than the way back.  I took advantage of that on the last out lap.  I Wasn't trying to run much faster than the previous section, but I guess I started to smell the barn so to speak.  That lap was 52:15.

I again just topped off my bottle quick and got back to work.  The exposed area was a bit warmer now, but it was definitely easier running then further up the course where there were generally more rocks etc.

I would guess that somewhere around 5 miles ago I finally felt like I was working a bit harder than I had been, but I never felt like I was struggling too much.  I was pretty sure I would be under 3:40 at this point and just ran hard all the way though, finishing in 3:34:55.

So, this was a great effort and I actually passed though the marathon split faster than Boston....even the BS GPS marathon split.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the 7.75 mile turnaround aid station volunteering until around 9:30 pm.  It was a beautiful day to be outside, but I was super happy to get back to the hotel and get some sleep.

It took me a while to actually finish writing this, but now a few weeks later, training has still been going well.  Since Chesterfield I have run two 25+ mile runs and a 20 mile run, with two good solid training weeks.  This week will be a back off week and then I will start the final push towards VT!

2019 Boston Marathon

This was my 4th Boston Marathon.  I definitely do not have a love affair with Boston like a lot of people.  To me, the race is a pain in the ass.  Logistics suck and if it is a bad weather day it can be miserable waiting for the start.  We were almost in that boat this year, but the weather gods were nice and we didn't have to stand in a downpour.

Since I have not been in shape to run a good marathon since running 2:36 in 2015, I was back in the 7th corral, which I actually didn't mind because I never had any ambitions to run fast at this years race.  I basically signed up because I knew we had a good group going and it felt like a good year to do it.  I was hoping I would be in better shape by the time the race rolled around, but I was never able to get anything going...the lingering pain in my hip and weekly PT sessions left me less than excited about my daily runs.  With that said I had some glimmers of hope.  A few solid longish runs and a decent Foxboro 10 Mile race.

The week leading to the race was filled with a group message we have along with wetaherman extraordinaire Fred Campagna.  He kept giving us updates and also provided links to his newest venture, www.runweather.com.  Check it out!

Race day was down pouring and thunderstorms while waiting to head up to Hopkinton, all ended up clearing by the time we got  to thew athletes village and so the wait in the portajohn line began.  30 or so mins later and it was time to head down to the start.

Zak decided to come back to the 7th coral and run with me.  Since we were both going to suck, we figured we would do it together!  Interesting note with Zak.  He has now signed up for Boston 4 times and this was the first time he was able to race it, between 2 stress fractures and a baby, the Boston marathon curse was real for Zak (why did I agree to run with him?)  The Jinxed Unicorn tried to get him in the morning too, on his way to meet us a branch flew into his car knocking his windshield wiper off and then our bus from Hopkinton to....HOPKINTON, got LOST. 

Anyway....the race.

The 7th corral has some tight running.  The other 3 times I ran Boston I was in the first corral and although there are a lot of people there, it opens up way quicker then the 7th...the 7th corral you are continuously passing people or being passed.  There are far less people to pass up front, so it opens up into clear running room quicker and stays that way.

So, basically we were running on top of people at least through 9 miles, then there was a bit more running room.  Zak and I stayed together through 14 or so, he seemed to be having a rough patch and as I found out later, he stopped to use a portajohn. 

From 14 to 25 miles the race was pretty uneventful, I was getting slow and feeling like shit.....this feeling started early and just kinda got slightly worse the rest of the race.  Right around 25ish I saw Mike Daniels near the side of the road, hands on hammy, never a good sign.  Finally the ol' right. left and the roar of the crowd on Boylston.  I was happy to be done, happy to run easy on the slight downhill to the finish....and then....I feel someone go by me sprinting....it was Zak.  He had finally caught back and was moving pretty well.  It took me a second to comprehend that it was him, then I gave chase....swearing the whole way.  How dare he make me run hard at the end of this race and hurt more.  I caught up to him and passed his ass.....then slowed down and we went over the line together.  It was pretty funny...it was the two of us sprinting down the final stretch swerving in and out of people like 2 little kids in a crowd.

After that we met up with everyone, found out Dave finally broke 2:40...yay....got the hell out of Boston and got to eating and drinking.  Although there were a few mins in the race that I thought "man I would rather be at work" in the grand scheme of things, it was still a good day.  My race sucked, Boston will never be a race I like....but I was out there running with a bunch of people and got in some miles for the day.

Onto the next...

January 2019 Recap

January has been a pretty productive month on the training front.  I have continued to slowly work on increasing mileage and adding work outs into the mix.  My long runs have also increased and with a good group of guys to run those with, there have not been too many long runs that were us out there just slogging miles.

There were (3) long runs in the month.  The last weekend of the month I had a race and did not run long.  The first long run was 16 miles at 6:53 pace.  The weekend after that was another 16 miles at 6:51 pace finishing the last three miles around 6:18 pace.  Lastly; a 17 mile run with almost 1000 feet of climb at 6:45 pace.

I finished the month with 277.4 miles (up from December's 239.7).  Averaging 62.6/week and 8.94/day.  Nothing crazy, but a start!

I ran the USATF East Region and New England Masters Indoor Championships Meet in Providence on 1/27.  I knew it was going to be ugly, but I went in with realistic expectations.  I seeded myself at 10:15 in the 3k and 5:15 in the miles and ran 10:07 and 5:15.  Last year I ran 9:57 and 5:08, so really not too bad and most importantly I came out of it without any issues in regards to my injury...

We are now less than 10 weeks out from Boston, with lots of work to do.  Boston was never going to be a goal marathon with a PR in mind...but it would be nice to go into it in decent shape and run a well executed race.

Races coming up...
KKC # 5 (which happened this past weekend, write-up to follow)
Foxboro 10 Mile
New Bedford 1/2 Marathon

Ralph, myself, Dave...indoor tracking it.

November/December 2018 Training

After running the Dublin Marathon at the end of October I took a very easy week, then started my transition back into some sort of normal training.  PT was going good and my injury felt better and better, but I was good throughout November and still kept super minimal mileage, trying to gain some fitness.

I ran a total of 150.2 miles with a long run of just under 9 miles and only 3 days off from running.

December, I kept the progression of longer and longer runs going.  I ran everyday but one, I raced once, I did a couple short work outs and I did some long runs.

I ran a total of 239.7 miles, ran two 13 mile runs and a 14 mile run.

Looking back to my runs in the middle to the end of November, I was generally averaging 7:15 to 7:30 pace with a few runs more upbeat.  I ran the TNT Thanksgiving morning run a hilly course in West Greenwich and was happy to run 7:05 pace...but was beat doing it.

Fast forward to the middle to the end of December and my pace has gotten faster in most runs, with much less effort.  I have been able to finish some longer runs fairly strong.

The race went better than expected at the start of December, I was surprised top be able to run lowish 6's for 6 miles.  I also ran Nooseneck under 7 min pace, feeling good.  That was a great improvement over the TNT Thanksgiving run.

All in all the last 2 months were productive.  I was happy to get back to doing regular Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday group runs.  Hopefully January will continue in the right direction!

Knead Donut Run

Wall outside Knead, Downtown Providence

2018 Year in Review

Year in review...
Training and racing wise, this year was a bust.  A stupid downed tree that I thought nothing of jumping over back in May pretty much crushed all dreams of running fast this year, it also gave me the most zero days I probably have ever had since I started running.

The last few weeks I have been slowly building fitness, run by run.  I am still as fat as ever, but hopefully with more continued training, that will alleviate itself sooner rather than later.

Here is my year by the numbers...

• Races run: 15
• Race breakdown by terrain: Road - 8, Trail - 5, Indoor Track - 2
• Best Finish: 2nd
• Miles run: 2,084.3 mi - Lowest year since 2013
• Elevation run:  73,255 ft
• Most elevation gain in a single run: 2290 ft
• Time run: 258h 17m
• Days with no running: 81 (WOW!)
• Lowest mileage week: 2.0 (injured)
• Highest mileage week: 79.5 (that's pathetic)
• Highest mileage day: 26.7 (marathon and WU)
• Longest running streak: 74 days
• Longest non-running streak: 5 days
• Number of segment CRs: 12
• Number of states run in: 4
• Number of countries run in: 2
• Run furthest from home: Ireland
• Miles Biked: 369.9 mi

Soapstone Mountain

Frank Nealon 15k

Merrimack River Trail Race

Doyle's Emerald Necklace 5 Mile

2019...

Same ol' same ol' here.  Get back into shape and try to race well.  I have a great group of guys to train with on pretty much a daily basis, so I have no excuses, other than ensuring I don't ramp up to quick and mess shit up.  I am still going to PT for my injury and I still have some pain/tightness in that area...but it is getting better.

We have a huge group of runners doing Boston this year, so that is the first "bigger" race on the calendar.  First, I have the KKC.  I really need to start ramping up the peppiness in my runs to get ready for that race, which is a month away.  We have 7 guys running in the challenge race this year and will be taking aim at the team title.

Later in the year, who knows.  The USATF GP will see some attention for me before and after Boston.....  and hopefully I will be able to jump in some other fun races throughout the year....not going to plan too far ahead.

Good luck to everyone in 2019, especially Brandon Vulnerable. 

Run for Hope 10k

That's what we will call the race this time around, although we know it has many other names.

This was my 17th time running this race and my 2nd slowest time, but one of my most successful races.

After a long road back to returning to some normal running, including  5 mile week the week after Dublin, I was able to string together weeks of 41.6, 31.6, 42.7, 37.7 and I had my biggest week, the week of the race with a 51.1.

This is not much training, but it was consistent, getting out the door almost every day running on the same borrrrrinnnng roads over and over again.  I am still a fat bastard, but at least I am under 190 almost every day now.

I knew going into the race that this would possibly be my slowest run ever in Newport.  I have not run a mile under 6 mins since June, but thought I would be able to run somewhere around 6:10 pace.

As usual we had a solid group of Turtles and we headed out for a warm up, again on boring roads and then headed down to the start.  It was a beautiful day with minimal wind, so a singlet and gloves it was.

Although, I was thinking I could run somewhere in the 6:10 range, I didn't really have a time goal, I just wanted to run an even pace and I really wanted to be 3rd Turtle.  I knew what the other guys have been running in races lately and thought I would be able to probably pull that goal off, depending on how the race shook out.

A quick broken up recap of the race itself.  One of the slowest years in race history, no one went out very quickly.  I was just under 6 at the mile and only a bit back from the chase pack. 

I went back and forth with Turtles, Nick Fox and Bob Corsi early, but then they faded and I ran most of the race yo-yoing with Fred Campagna; this ended up helping my race tremendously.

At 2 mile I thought I was in over my head, as my legs were screaming and I was hacking up a lung from being sick all week, but I was able to basically hold on to that pace/effort the whole race.

Fred and I kept passing people that start out too fast and at 4 we were able to catch the 3rd place Turtle, Steve Croft.  From that point on I was running scared and got a little gap on Fred.

After the left onto Carroll I was surging telephone polls to keep me engaged and it seem to work.  I saw Jeff Walker ahead and with a cop just standing there doing nothing it looked like Jeff almost took a right at the last turn instead of the left.  The cop just stood there for me as well...

And down the hill to the 6 and up the hill to the finish and it was over.  37:09 right around 6s for my 17th finish.  Full Results

I couldn't have been happier and I am excited to get in shape!

We have a group of 8 or so do a cool-down.....then we grabbed our prizes and headed over to Pour Judgment where we hung out for the next 5 or 6 hours.

All and all it was another good day in Newport.

Bronson in the background, monitoring my finish

Race history....

2018 - 9th Place - 37:09
2017 - 5th Place - 35:17
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

Still Kinda Running Again

Good news; the Dublin Marathon did not injure me anymore than I already was!  The week after the race I took super easy, basically all off.  I got back on my PT and stretching routine and the 3 weeks that followed, I ran everyday but one, which I took off on purpose.

I am still a fat bastard, but I feel like I am getting range of motion back in my right leg and the pain has gotten more and more bearable.

10/28 to 11/3
Run: 2 days: 28.3 miles, 26.2 mile long run
Days off: 5 day

11/4 to 11/10
Run: 7 days: 38.3 miles, 8 mile long run
Bike: 1 day: 2.7 miles
Days off: 0 days

11/11 to 11/17
Run: 6 days: 32.6 miles, 6.5 mile long run
Bike: 1 day: 7.7 miles
Days off: 0 days

11/18 to 11/24
Run: 7 days: 41.2 miles, 8.2 mile long run
Days off: 0 days

On Thanksgiving I did the TNT run per usual, that was the biggest test my ol' hip/groin has seen yet, 8+ miles but on hilly terrain and I came out of it ok.  I fell off the pace a bit at the end, but overall I felt pretty good.

Hopefully things continue in this direction and I can start doing some work outs and hopefully racing to full capacity in the spring!!

Kinda Running Again

I have been banged up since the last week of May after taking what seemed like a harmless tumble over a log on a group trail run, turned into my longest "break" from running since I started running.  I am also at the heaviest weight of my life...so I need to get my rear in gear!

I still have some pain, but with some help from PT, things seem to be looking up and I have kinda started to run more on a consistent basis.

I was also signed up for some cyclocross races, but I decided to forego those as well, to ensure I get healthy and running again before the snow falls.

Here is a weekly summary of the last four weeks...starting with Sunday of course.

9/30 to 10/6
Run: 5 days: 16 miles, 3.5 mile long run
Bike: 2 days: 15 miles
Days off: 1 day

10/7 to 10/13
Run: 5 days: 18.9 miles, 6.3 mile long run
Bike: 1 day: 8.3 miles
Days off: 2 days

10/14 to 10/20
Run: 4 days: 18.7 miles, 6.3 mile long run
Bike: 3 days: 13.7 miles
Days off: 1 day

10/21 to 10/27
Run: 4 days: 13.6 miles, 6.3 mile long run
Bike: 0 days: 0 miles
Days off: 3 days

10/28/18
Dublin Marathon
3:20:53
1:39:48/1:41:05

Held together reasonably well considering I have averaged 9.33 miles per week the 10 weeks proceeding the race with a long run of 6.3 miles.  Dublin is a great city, the race was awesome.  People love the crowds at Boston...Dublin is better.

Hopefully I did not make my injury worse!  Some rest now and back to trying to train...

ENDURrun 2006

Since it is ENDURrun week and I only started this blog the year before the last ENDURrun I ran, so I never did any posts about it, I thought I would link to Brad Cunningham's blog from 2006. 

It was fun reading these posts during the event that year, getting a story every night from the guy I was racing.

The race has come a long way since that year, which was the lowest turnout ever for the event...

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 7

2018 Run with the Beavers Trail Race

The 2018 Run with the Beavers Trail Race has come and gone.  This year the race served as the USATF-NE Trail Championship and was also in the USATF ATR and WMAC Grand Tree Series.  I feel like overall the race was a great success.  Here are a few takeaways.

Yapping away...

•  Lots of people! I had approximately 374 people signed up for the race this year, yet in the results there were only 271 finishers! 176 in the 10 mile and 95 in the 5 mile. I had more than 50 people tell me prior to the race they wouldn’t be there, so that still leaves a whole bunch of no shows. 

• There were 11 states represented in the pre-registrations. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. 

• There were 16 teams represented.

• Both the male and female 10 mile course records were broken. As was the male 5 mile record. 

• 300+ flags were put out on the 5ish mile loop. That is an average of a flag every 0.017 miles or every 90 feet or so. (Obviously this # is skewed because of flag clusters on turns) But, there are a lot of flags on the course. 

• We went through around 40 gallons of water. 

• I am still in search for a large inflatable beaver…please find one for me. 

• Josh Fields took over 5000 photos, check them out!

• Check out the FULL RESULTS

See you next year!

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. 

Doyle's Emerald Merrimack River

Two races have happened in the last two weeks, so lets recap them.

The first race was the Doyle’s Emerald Necklace 5 Mile Road Race on April 8^th.  This was my 8th year in a row running this race.  I was hoping to crack 28 mins and came close with a 28:10.  I ran the 2^nd half of the race faster, which is pretty much the norm at Doyle’s with the topography of the course being as it is.  I still felt like I was on edge with the lack of work outs, but was able to keep it together and not crash and burn.  I was lucky that I was caught around 3 miles and had someone to battle with all the way until 400 meters to go.  I lost that battle, but it definitely made my time faster.

Photo by Scott Mason

As usual the after race party was a lot of fun.  It was a chilly day, but the sun popped out occasionally and we had a big group to have some fun with.

The week between Doyle’s and my next race, the Merrimack River 10 Mile Trail race, I took pretty easy.  Just got in some miles and did a light work out on Thursday.  I wasn’t going to do a work out, but Dave wanted to get something in, so I said I would join him for some of it.  It was a bit too close to the race, but I doubt it hurt me much if any.

Race day was a beautiful morning, a little chill in the air, but perfect for racing.  I have only race at Merrimack once and that was back in 2010.  I remember struggling a bit at the end of that race and not being overly happy with how I did.  I ran 1:05:16 that day, so I wanted to run faster than that this year.  I thought I might be able to crack 64.

The race played out a bit funny for me.  I felt like the start was not as frantic as in 2010 and after going under the over pass I settled in in 4^th place behind Tim VanOrden, Kurt Hackler and to my surprise I was right on the shoulder of Brandon Newbould.  We stayed like this quite a while.  My legs felt great, on the little ups my stomach was for some reason unhappy with me, but overall I felt like I was running within myself.  There were a couple spots where I let a little gap grow but without trouble I bridged it.  I could feel that Pat Rich and another runner were on my tail, but had not caught me yet….But then, the damn hill happened.   The hill going up to the powerlines just wrecked me.  I was crawling up that thing.  I made a segment on Strava and I ran 14:32 pace for the approx. 0.10 section.  People I beat by 10 mins in the race went up that section faster than I did.  Pat and the other runner went by me going up the hill and got a pretty good gap by the time we went through the powerlines into the new trail section.  It took me a while to get my legs back.  On the way back I felt like I had some good sections and not so good sections.  I was alone pretty much from the powerlines home, but kept catching a glimpse of the runners ahead.  After the hill at 7.5 I caught up to the runner that was with Pat and passed him, he was not running too well at that point.  Definitely in a world of hurt.  With less than a mile to go, Colin Carroll came up and passed me.  I didn’t know at the time, but I guess himself and Jim Pawlicki and some others “missed a turn” near the new hill section and cut off around 0.1 miles and 50’ of climb from the course.  He ended up ahead of me by 4 seconds in the end.  I finished in 1:04:44. So technically I was 5^th place and not 6^th ;)  But it does not affect the Grand Tree % results, so I am not overly concerned with it.

Photo by Denise Underwood

My take a ways from Merrimack are pretty much the same as my other recent races.  I need to get in more work outs and more specifically for any of these races with steep climbs, I need to start doing some work outs with some steep trail climbs.  They are so different than the big rollers on the road that I am generally good at.  Either way, work needs to be done.

I was happy to get in a decent mileage day with a 2 mile warm up and cool down.  Stuck around for the ridiculous (fun) raffle and then made a bloody mess in my car.  Which reminds me I forgot to mention I almost hung myself on the race course.  I mile in there were some hanging vines and as they got knocked around as we went thru them, somehow it got caught around my neck and actually yanked me back.  I still have some pretty red marked that go half way around my neck!  Good times!!

Frank Nealon Boston Tune-Up 15k

Here is a down and dirty race report for the 2^nd race in the USATF-NE GP.  The Frank Nealon Boston Tune-Up 15k.  A race I have never run and a race it seems pretty much no one I knew had ever run it either.  I read run course previews and I thought the course would be somewhat similar to the Old Fashioned 10 Mile in Foxboro, MA.  In hindsight, I think the course was a tad harder than Foxboro, border lining on Amherst….without the really big hills that Amherst has.

The race itself for me went pretty well.  I was hoping to break 54 mins and get as close as I could to 53:30 if all went well.  I ended up running 53:47.  So, pretty much smack dab in the middle of my goal range.  I felt like I executed the race reasonably.  My first mile was 5:45 right on pace and I raced well against the people that I was around.  I think the biggest take away for me was that I finished closer to a pack of runners that were around a minute up on me at New Bedford and also beat some others that were ahead of me there.

Napping near the start...

I do think I got a bit complacent in the last mile or so, I was OK with breaking my goal time and certainly didn’t give it “all I had” in the last half mile or so, you can see by my "taking a nap photo" You can check out more of Ted Tyler's pics HERE

Napping near the finish...

The next race in the GP isn’t until June, so I have plenty of time to either get in better shape or lose motivation all together!  I have a lot on my plate before then to keep motivation up though.  Next up is Doyle’s Emerald Necklace this coming Sunday, followed by the Merrimack River Trail Race on 4/14/18.

2018 New Bedford 1/2 Marathon

First race in the USATF-NE GP happened.  That’s about all I have to say about it!  Overall, the conditions were pretty good.  It was cold at the start, but felt warm in the back stretch.  The wind was typical New Bedford wind.  It sucked, but it was WAYYY worse last year.

I went in thinking I could run sub 5:50 pace, but it was evident early that I was not running as comfortable as I would have liked.

Miles 1 thru 4 I started well, not getting pulled out too fast and didn’t attack the hills, just got through them.  I was 543-555-605-608.  I was really surprised with miles 3 and 4.  I thought they would be slightly faster.

After 4, you have the fast section of NB.  I still didn’t feel overly comfortable.  I thought it should feel a bit easier than the effort I was putting out.  But, I was able to get into somewhat of a groove and finally felt like I was at least giving it an honest effort.  I was 535-540-532-553-545-554 through 10 miles in 58:12 or so.  I was happy with the 10 mile split, but I definitely had to work way to hard for that time.

Now the fun begins…9 to 10 was already windy and you have to fight it through 11 and then on and off all the way up the hill through about 20k.

The mile 11 mark was put in the wrong spot, but I was 1215 10 to 12 and then 603 for 13. 

Official finishing time of 1:17:19, a tad faster than last year, but still shit slow.

With my lack of any real work outs, I am not overly surprised that the pace felt like it did, I have OK general fitness right now, but I really did not do my self any favors over the last month with neglecting the longer work outs.  I blame the cold and snow.  Yup…that’s what it was.

New GP race is in 2 weeks.  Not much time to help the fitness, but I will give it a whirl!

2018 Old Mountain Trail 5k

Old Mountain Field is a deceiving place. You would never think that these fun little trails are back in this small area. I was pleasantly surprised the first year I ran the race in 2012 and every year has been a little different, between course changes and weather.

December 2012 - 3rd place – 18:57 Fast dry year

January 2014 - 1st place – 23:32 Snow year

December 2014 - 3rd place – 19:08 unmemorable year

December 2015 - 6th place 21:34 Hungover year, TNT Christmas Party the night before.

February 2017 Did Not Run

I felt pretty good going into this race. My training has been uneventful, but consistent. No work outs to speak of, a few solid long runs and a few shorter races.

If I were Eric Lonergan, I would take out every one of these trail races the way he took this one out. FAST. This certainly made me suck wind early, but I said fuck it and went with it. Eric and Greg had a good gap pretty early and I followed Brightman. After about a mile I went by Steve and felt like Greg was coming back a bit, but I think it was just the twisty nature of the course that made him feel closer than he was. I still felt pretty good as we started through the “swamp area” it is twisty and not much of a defined trail. I never felt over my head and was making good progress and then BAM I went down. It was a solid fall but I was up pretty quick, but it definitely took my legs away from me, it took a while to get going again. Once I did I was quickly caught by Garvin and Ronald McTall guy. We headed towards the rock bridge creek crossing, where we were met by the same stupid guy with his two dogs off leash on trail. It was a good thing they were off leash, but this was the second time in the race that these dogs brought us to a crawl, I had to put my hands on the dogs and move them out of the way; fun times. After that we started uphill downhill flat hill who the hell remembers and Garvin and Mr. McTall man went by me. Garvin was passed shortly after. We hit the faster, wider trails on the course and the slick bridges. My new Inov-8s that seemed so sticky and grippy on the ice were basically, as Garvin put it, like roller skates on the bridges. I slid right off one of them. Out onto the field before re-entering the woods, Galoob was yelling at us. I was being caught by Old Man Brightman and Jonny was within distance. There is a hard left-hand turn when re-entering the woods and of course I slipped there too and we head back up the next to lastish hill and that’s when I was just fucking done. Brightman went by me after the stairs and I stayed close, but I was gassed, nothing left.

February 2018 - 6th place 20:18 Wet and muddy year

We did a group cool-down with the WTAC guys and headed over to The Mews. We had a pretty solid Turtle group, plus Brightman and Leslie OD. After that some of us headed up to Proclamation Ale
Company and one thing led to another and it was 7:30pm. A fun Saturday I would say.

2018 Krispy Kreme Challenge

Here is a brief recap of my 4th Krispy Kreme Challenge.

As usual, we arrived on Friday, the day before the race. The day is filled with travel, then eating and drinking in Raleigh. This year we had a couple addictions to our crew. Fellow Turtle Ralph Lufkin came down and convinced his friend Jason Gilmore to travel in from Washington DC. Also, a fellow Toll Gate alum, who had run the race a few times prior to us came down as well.

We ate and drank in a responsible manner (well I did). This made race day morning an easy wake-up and I felt ready to roll. This was by far the coldest year of the race with the starting temp around 23 degrees. No big deal for a normal road race…but at Krispy Kreme it meant for frozen water cups at the donut eating area and very frozen/numb/burning hands for the run back.

The race went out per usual, with the herds of college kids going out like it is a 100 meter dash. I went through the mile in 5:27 and felt good. I was running with the multi time KKC winner Nick Oltman for a minute or so before pulling away, if I could only figure out his donut eating secret, I could be a contender for the W.

After he mile I passed a few more people and then one more around 2 miles to end up in 7th place heading into the eating area.

Same ole, same ole in there. It’s a wet, sugary dough dilled experience. I could see Ralph and Mark whom came in after me eating away. Ralph finished about 10 seconds before me and I took off after him and passed him before leaving the zone, he said I made a lot of grunting noises and I was off to the races.

New for me this year was that I had someone around the same speed leave the eating area at the same time as me. We had an elbow to elbow race all the way back. He would put a few steps away from me and then me from him. With just over a mile to go, we passed one of his friends and it gave him a boost. I think it was too much of a boost for his body to handle though; I passed him shortly after and was able to open up a 4 second lead from there til the finish.

 

I have had a goal since my first KKC to finish in the top 10 and have been pretty close in my previous three attempts. I wasn’t sure what place I finished when crossing the finish line and had to wait a bit to find out as I ran back to the hotel quickly to tend to my frozen literally frosty hands. After I took care of that issue, I ran back to the finish line and met up with everyone and headed to the result tent and got my print out………..drum roll please……9th place!! I was pretty excited. I also ran 4 seconds faster than the previous year, keeping my streak of running faster every year alive!

 

2015 – 19th 37:17
2016 – 13th 35:13
2017 – 18th 34:45
2018 – 9th 34:41 <---official time

The rest of the trip was great as usual, lots of great breweries and food was had. The most amazing part about the 2018 edition, other than getting 9th place was that we had no flight issues. We made it to Raleigh and back to Warwick without issue.

Next year, I WILL be in better running shape and I might….figure out how to eat faster, probably not though!

2018 USATF East Region and NE Masters Championship

Another January and another USATF East Region and NE Masters Championship that I did not plan on running, nor did I train for, yet I ended up at.

I was pretty positive I was NOT going to run this race this year, but I ended up deciding to run it about a week and a half out. I did not decide what to run until about 4 days before the race though

I settled on running the 3000, mile and 800. I have no desire to run the 5000 on the indoor track and will never do it no matter what!

I figured I would give the 800 a whirl, because why not!

Here is a very quick run-down of each race.

3000 meters
First race of the day for me, I felt like I got out well and fell behind a big group of guys that went out behind Scott Leslie. I knew Scott would win and would probably be a minute in front of me. After a couple of laps I caught up to the group that was ahead of me and I settled in. When I felt like my stride was getting hindered, I move by 2 or 3 of them and fell in behind 2nd place. Same deal with 2nd place, after like 3 more laps I went by because I felt I was being slowed. I didn’t want to be the one doing the work, but away I went. I was able to hold on to 2nd place running just under 10 mins in 9:57. Mission accomplished.

Excuse me...

Pardon me...

1 Mile
I was pretty spent from the 3000 and I did not get out too well in this race. Of course I wanted to get as close to 5 flat as possible and went out just over pace in around 38. I went through the half in around 2:33+ and kinda just held onto that running 5:08. I was able to run some people down in the 2nd half of the race, so that was good.

800 meters
Hahaha….yeah. Well. I had a stretch goal of breaking 2:20. It was not that long ago that I would end 800 meter work outs in the low 2:20s….but hey, you are only as fast as what you train for and I don’t train for the track. With that said, I felt I got out great in the first 100 meters. I wasn’t sleeping like I was in the mile. I went through the 400 in around 70/71 and damn my legs hated me. I brought it home in a 2:24 and was happy to not be running around a track again anytime soon.

Overall the day was a success in my opinion. I got the legs turning over and I got to have some “fun” racing. Next year...I will do some work outs prior to race day!

Full Results

Per usual, a big group of us hit Ogie’s Trailer Park for after race food and drinks. It has turned into a pretty nice tradition.