2014. It happened

A very late and down and dirty year in review.

My year started with (3) main goals...

Run my best 50 miler ever at Pineland Farms 50 Miler, finish my first 100 miler...as fast as possible and run an even faster 50 miler at the JFK 50 Miler in November to end the year.

How did this all shake out?

Well, Pineland went great.  I ran over a 20 minute PR and was able to kick hard to break 6:30, finishing 6:29:57 and grabbing 2nd place in the process.  It was a great feeling to put together a great race in I think my 5th? 50 miler.

Vermont 100 miler.  Well....I started the race and had horrible quad pain really early in the race.  I was barley moving at 30 miles and finally called it a day at around 58 miles, instead of crawling in the next 40 miles...I went to the Harpoon Brewery for lunch and a refreshment.  Maybe I am not cut out for the real long stuff?

Post BR Trail Race.

After VT 100, I got back at it pretty quickly, wanting to run a decent marathon on the tough Adirondack Marathon course in preparation for JFK.  After Adirondack, I felt pretty burnt out.  The year of pretty consistent training and longer racing had gotten to me.  I decided to pull out of JFK and rest up for a month or so and get refreshed.

So, I finished the year 1 out of 3 for my bigger goals.  But, that doesn't mean other races didn't happen.

Some highlights for me in 2014 were...

Mike Galoob and I at SS Nationals

Winning the relay portion of the National Snowshoe Championship with Mike Galoob and Steve Dowsett.  Handing off to Mike after winning my lead off leg was quite the rush.

Winning my 2nd South County 4th Season Trail Race Series

Surprising myself by running under 16:50 at the Gaspee Days 5k 2 weeks after my 50 miler.

There were some not so great moments as well...mainly losing the Grog & Dog Jog by literally a bite.  We were going for our 7th title in a row...it was a hard loss to swallow ;)

On the Race directing side...The RTB Trail Race and the RI 6 Hour had their best turnouts yet and then there was The Quahog Mile "failure" everyone loved it...but it just didn't work out!

Eating like a Hillbilly at the Grog.

Hillbilly Turtles

2015 is an open year for me.  I am not sure what I will be aiming for.  I did start the new TNT Hard Shell Race Series for Turtles, so I will run at least six of those races. I will remain focused on running the best I can in the trail series...with the longer races coming up, I am a bit more comfortable.

In February, along with my buddy Mark Howard, we will get to run a race that has been on our radar for over three years, the Krispy Kreme Challenge!  It should be awesome.

Beer and coffee with volunteer extraordinaire M. Howard post Quahog Mile 

Dave Principe and I will run the COX Marathon at the beginning of May.  I haven't put much focus specifically on a marathon in a while, so I am hoping for a good showing there.

After May, who knows!  There are so many great races and I would love to do them all....

Resolution Beach & Trail 5k

I am a bit late on this...I tend to start blog posts and then I don't finish them, mostly because they are full of rambling randomness.  I have a post basically started and finished for the Mayor's Cup in October and the Newport 10k from December....maybe I will finish those up next.  In the mean-time, here are some thoughts from this past weekends race!

The second race in the South County 4th Season Trail Race Series, the Resolution Beach & Trail 5k was this past Sunday. I also chose this race to be the first race in the NEW TNT Hard Shell Race Series.

With that said, I am generally not a huge fan of this race. I don’t like running on the beach and I am not a huge fan of 5ks. This is my third year doing the race and I think I have finally come out of it, believing I actually DO like the race. The last three years at Resolution have all been a bit different. 2013 the course had a bit of snow and it was a gloomy windy day. I came away with the win, in a time of 18:12. Last year, it was a beautiful sunny day, with some wind, but mild temperatures. I was able to run a bit faster with an 18:00…yes, the dreaded ZERO ZERO. This year, I knew the race would be fast. Road ace Eric Lonegren would be toeing the line and I knew Garvin was in pretty good 5k shape. I was not so secretly hoping his recent illness would slow him down, but that was not to be.

When I arrived to the race, RD Mike Galoob had just gotten back from marking the course and he said the conditions were FAST. The sand was frozen and the wind was light. The trails had a bit of ice and snow, but nothing to worry about. One step onto the beach on our warm up confirmed Mike’s statements, the beach was firm. We had 15 Turtles show up for the race and most of us did the warm up together and most had on the Anti-WTAC shirts I had made up. We completed most of the course to make sure we knew what to expect and headed back to the cars to get ready to rock and roll.

Say NO to WTAC!

My plan going in, was to ignore Lonegren. He should be well ahead of me and I expected that to happen early. Well….the race didn’t play out that way. Instead Steve Brightman took it out hard. It was him leading with Garvin on his tail with me a few steps behind and Lonegren on my shoulder…well, maybe not shoulder, I think he comes up elbows…so with Eric on my elbow, we get to the turnaround, a half mile in and I took the turn better than most and came out ahead. We were all with in a couple steps. I kept creeping down the beach to make sure I was on the hardest possible sand without running into oncoming traffic.

Just over a mile in.

We went by Galoob and he said we had a good gap. Eric went by me as we approached the mile; this is where I thought he would be leaving us. But I made a few hard steps and stayed with him, I guess we went through the mile in around 5:13. Garvin, Eric and myself made our way through the two turns heading into the grassy trail leading up to Ocean Road and were all within a couple steps of each other. We made it up to the road and Eric created a little gap. Again…I thought this was it, but I pushed a bit and was right next to Eric once again. We made the turn into Black Point and I tried to push, as I thought this would be Eric’s weakness….but there was no separating, after the hard right hand turn, Garvin and Eric went by me and created a small gap. I pushed to maintain, hoping I would be able to make up some ground on the only tough downhill on the course, Garvin and I went by Eric here and Garvin gapped me a bit on the bottom…Eric followed right away and they both created the gap that ended up being the end of the race for me. I still pushed hard, getting through the house without much trouble and hitting the beach with a half mile to go. I finally took a glance at my watch and saw 5:33 pace! Whoa! This was going to be a fast one. Seeing this time on the watch gave me that little be of motivation I need to push it at the end even though I had no one near me. In the end I finished in 17:14, 46 seconds faster than last year. Everyone was finishing with super-fast times. Obviously the main reason for this ws the conditions, the sand was fast and the wind was blowing ever so lightly. The other big deal for me was running with people though 2 miles. In 2013 I took the lead early and never looked back, last year I was gapped early and was chasing just far enough behind that it was of no help. This year, I took a few chances and was able to hang tough trough 2 miles. I got gapped bad in the last mile…but overall I am pretty darn happy with the results. Mike had a lot of great beer prizes and there was a great turnout for the race, 173 finishers!! Taking a quick look at the results and there were around 70 runners in the race that signed up as part of a team. I love seeing the interest in trail running in RI expanding. We will see how many of these runners get out there for the longer and more technical races that are ahead!

Next up in the series is the Belleville Pond 10k, in Ryan Park.  Could we have dry conditions at this years race?

But before that, I have an indoor mile to...um...conquer? tomorrow and then the Super 5k on 2/1.

2014 South County 4th Season Trail Series

Well, the 2014 South County 4th Season Trail Series has come to a close.  This is the second year that I completed the series and my 2nd series victory.  Both years I was certainly not the fastest guy out there, but I haven't missed a race and I am pretty consistent.  So I have been pretty lucky to get these wins.

Here are my finishing places for all of my races over the 2 years....in Garvin Format.

And a brief recap of what sticks out for each of these races.

Race #1 - Old Mountain Field 5k Trail Race - 1/4/14 (Scott Mason Photos)

• Ran the Boston Marathon Course three days before this race
• Snow and cold...single digits.
• Felt oddly relaxed and made a big move at 2 miles to beat much faster competition.
• Won a mixed pack of Samuel Adams Winter Beer

Right after taking the lead.

Race #2 - Resolution 5k Beach & Trail Race - 1/12/14 (Scott Mason Photos)

• Water...it was everywhere.
• Fast start, Ryan Wooley took off quick..he has run 30+ seconds than me in a road 5k as of late so it was a good plan.  I was content to take second about a mile in.
• Great day down at the beach
• Won some BBC bombers

Group shot post-race.

Race #3 - Belleville Pond 10k Trail Race - 2/9/14 (Scott Mason Photos)

• SNOW!! Lots and lots...
• Horrible Trail Conditions
• Strip tease and overheating
• I miss that glove
• Long cooldown across the pond
• Another bomber from BBC won

Trail recon the day before the race!

Race #4 - Brrr-lingame 10 Miler - 3/22/14 (Scott Mason Photos)

• DIRT!!
• Beautiful day
• Fast start did me in
• Feeling like hell and looking at my watch to see we had only run 2.5 miles...
• Fun day overall

A small leap for man....you know the rest.

Race #6 - Big River 1/2 Marathon - 4/5/14  (Scott Mason Photos)

• Flag Thief!
• Water crossings!
• I saw Greg Hammett FALL! I didn't know that could happen! Well...I should say heard him fall.
• Ran faster than last year...goal accomplished!
• Great to get back on the Big River Trails.

There was a little mud...unless you tip-toed around it.

Now that the series is over, I turn my focus to getting ready for the Vermont 100 with a stop at the Pineland Farm 50 Miler before that.

In the meantime I will be preparing for the 1st Annual? Quahog Mile.  Please share this event with all your friends!  Post about it, link to it etc!  It would be much appreciated.  Pre-entry is ONLY $10 and there will be $1250 in prize money!  I hope to see some of you there!

Print and share!

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...

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!

Pre-Blizzard Post

Snow is coming...and lots of it.  Looks like we should be getting 10-20++ inches of snow here in Warwick.  Should be a blast...or not.

Stuff that has happened since my last post...I ran the Sidehiller Snowshoe Race and the Belleville Pond 10k Trail Race, you can see DJ Principe's Race Summary at the TNT page.  Both races went pretty well, although I was zapped of energy at the trail race after running Sidehiller the day before.

Sidehiller Start - Joe Viger Photo

I also went up to Canada and ran on the Sulphur Springs course, as I am scheduled to run that race in May...although, I am just not into doing that race right now, so it is pending at best.  I may choose another race closer to home.

This weekend is the Brrr-lingmae 10 Mile Trail Race...which will end up being a crazy run through some deep snow.  I have no urge on running right now...so I hope this race will bring me out of this funk, although it is going to take a lot more then a race to do that.  I was able to get out and get 8 miles in last night without being too blah about it, so that is a step in the right direction!

After this race, we have a longish run planned on the North South Trail and then?  The final race in the South County 4th Season Trail Race Series conflicts with another race that I wanted to do, so I will have to see how that all plays out.

I am hoping to get in a descent run today before the storm is in full force, but running alone right now will be a tall order...

I have been working on the RI 6 Hour plans and also the Run with the Beavers Trail Race plans, so news on those races should come out soon.