Post Ghost Train, I've been able to get back into a routine of sorts, and it's getting to where I'd hoped. The jobsites are closer, which means less travel, and I've forced the issue with getting my activity time in. If you can't set aside 30 minutes to an hour out of the day to do something that you truly enjoy, then maybe it's time to re-prioritize...and that's what I did. I also signed up for the CT50 again. Loved the race, loved the venue, and I'll be much more prepared. Plan on shaving several hours off my '16 time. So here's some pics from the days since Ghost Train! Have been having fun exploring new places, running with friends and solo, all on trails, and have at least one big run coming up before the final RI 6hr Ultra on 11/13. All good things...
10-25 - 3 Miles. DPNC trail leg tester. Everything appears to be functional!
10-26 - 2.6 Miles. Pine Swamp Corridor Preserve, Ledyard. Shitty power line trail gave way to some nifty singletrack, and right up the street from our newest jobsite.
A technical section of the trail, haha :)
Avalonia trails!
10-29 - 12 Miles. Groton X-Town trail out/back with Faith. Great day for a longish run, and we managed to do the entire trail out and back with no wrong turns! Huzzah!
10-30 - 2.4 Miles. Green Falls Pond loop. Just a short loop around the pond, and pushed it in the gorge to/from the dam.
10-31 - 7 Miles. Halloween Run, The Preserve, Essex. Had heard about this 1,000+ acre preserve, not far off I-95, and decided to give it a look with Faith. What a great place with some really nice, well-marked trails, totally runnable and scenic, and just awesome. Can't wait to get over there again!
Trailside on Samhain. Very cool!
Mossy trail in the Sun
Trail map. We covered most of the marked trails, but there are 20+ miles there to explore!
11-1 - 3.3 Miles. Lantern Hill. More fun on Lantern Hill!
11-2 - 5.1 Miles. Lantern Hill. Even more Lantern! Lots of people out enjoying some beautiful Fall weather.
Still some great color!
Lantern Hill Pond
Foxwoods in the distance
To the North...
...and the South
11-3 - 6 Miles. Woody Hill lunch w/Jeff. Crisp and cool, and a brisk pace (for me, anyway) in Woody Hill. I'm actually starting to know where the Hell I am in there!
11-5 - 0 Miles. Bought a new truck! No more blue F-150, now it's a black F-150!
Back in Black...
11-6 - 25 Miles. Goodwin Trail. The whole 4-town trail out (and back), starting from the East Haddam end. Faith and I had decided to run this, and she invited the Bimblers group, but Michele was the only one who could make it. She was running late, but started at the East Lyme end and ran out to meet us, and ran us back to that lot, where we reloaded our hydration packs, ate some food, and set out back toward the other end. Great trail, and we saw lots of people during the day!
This is New England. The weather can change in a minute, hour, day...and I should know that by now. That said, here's a recap of my first 100 mile attempt:
So I'd suffered the ill effects of peer pressure (again) and thrown my name on the wait list for the Ghost Train 100-miler, because fuck it, if I'm gonna sign up for a race like this, then I might as well be in for all of it! Then I got in. Whoops. I was excited and apprehensive at the same time. I even swore off beer for two weeks ahead of the race!
My mileage has been low and my work schedule crazy, but I thought I'd start slow and just cruise and see how things played out. We had tickets to a comedy show the night before, but we went right home after, got 6 hours' sleep, and I got up early to make the 2-hour drive to Southern New Hampshire for the race.
When I arrived, Claire and John G. had already set up a big tent and all their gear close to the starting line, and let me stow my things there. Claire was attempting her first 100, along with another friend of theirs (also named Mike). He and I chatted about goals, and he was looking for a faster pace than I was, so I wished him luck and said I'd see him out there. The forecast was for wind and rain later in the day, but everything was surprisingly calm before the 9 a.m. start, aside from the nervous energy of 400 runners getting ready for the day. Seasoned distance runners and novice trail runners alike, all signed on for distances of 30, 45, 60, 75 or 100 miles. Lots of excitement! Tents lined the main drag at the start/finish, food was cooking in big pots, people had crews supporting them, there was a Yeti...
I opted for shorts and a t-shirt at the start, and tied a windbreaker around my waist just in case. After a few words by RD Steven Latour, we were off! I started jogging, and felt like most everyone was falling back quickly. Claire went right out to the front pack of about 8 runners, and I settled in next to other Mike. The pace was faster than I was hoping to start out at, but I told him I'd bank some time and then fall back. I ended up staying with him for the first 15 miles, which took 2:30. Maybe shouldn't have done that.
I changed clothes quickly at the turnaround, put on a compression shirt under my t-shirt, and grabbed a cotton pullover as an extra layer, as the rain wasn't supposed to start until later? I was already slowing down at this point. A light drizzle at about mile 18 turned into a soaking rain at mile 20, and suddenly I was drenched, and alternating between a walk and a jog. Many other people were as well, but my motivation was starting to wane as a chill set into me. I got cold, really cold. My friend John was on his way up from RI to pace me, and I texted him when I reached the 30-mile turnaround, to tell him not to bother making the trip. He was 15 minutes away, I changed clothes and got back out there...
All I can say about miles 31-45 is that as I got passed by a steady stream of runners, I had plenty of time to ponder all the reasons I wasn't going to finish 100 miles. I was way undertrained for this race and this distance, and hadn't done any runs of any signifigance since Cayuga. I went out too fast at the start, banking time but wiping it all out later. In spite of bringing plenty of rainproof gear, I put it on after I got wet and cold, after it was too late to have any positive effect. I stopped drinking beer! Anyway, I'd brought my phone on this loop, and sent John a message that I was dropping when I got back to camp. He suited up, ran out on the course to find me, and walked me in. Good friend. Tried to talk me into continuing, and I was having none of it. My lower shins were really bothering me at this point, never had that before? John joked with me, chatted and got me back to the start/finish, where I pulled the plug. 45 miles in 11:19 officially. It was dark, the wind had picked up, and I packed my gear and headed out.
Claire, on the other hand, crushed it. First 100, first female and third overall in 17:15, took 1:48 off the women's course record and had the 5th fastest time in the race's history! Way to go Claire!!! And the overall winner, who was flying effortlessly along the course, smiling and offering words of encouragement? Patrick Caron, 19 years old, winning in 14:51. Holy crap that's fast.
The race directors say that there are no DNF's at Ghost Train, but I signed up for 100 and did 45, so I'm calling it what it is. After having a few days to think about it, I know what I did wrong, what I need to do to have a good performance at a race like this, and whether my current schedule is going to allow for it. So it's back to the drawing board. My first couple of runs after this race were great. Short trail runs with no pressure, and I felt good!
Oddly enough, my next race is the final installment of the RI 6hr Ultra, and my 4th time running it. Trying to beat 32.4 miles. Lots of friends scheduled to race that day, should be awesome!!! Until then, gonna run and enjoy the changing weather as we transition from Fall to Winter.
This should be interesting - legs are good, knees fine, and I'm getting yet another forced helping of low mileage in the weeks leading up to this ultra. I do know that once I settle into my "comfortable pace," I can pretty much just go and go and go, which is what I plan to do. It's all good! Just feed me from time to time, and I'll keep moving as long as I can!
Monday - 0 Miles.
Tuesday - 4 Miles. Walden Preserve, Salem. Two miles from my current jobsite, and a pretty nifty Nature Conservancy property. I set out on some grassland trails, which took some time to figure out as they went in 50 different directions! Finally hit some good single-track, and made my way to the Pierce Arrow trail, where I thought to myself, "Hey, there used to be an awesome touring car called the Pierce Arrow," then came around a turn to find this:
Pierce Arrow!
Continuing on, I made my way to the two scenic ponds that tie this property together, which are really gorgeous and contain active beaver lodges:
I covered about 20% of the trails here, from what I can tell. Some very well marked, some not at all, and the Pierce Arrow trail was very overgrown but totally worth the effort!
Wednesday - Friday - 0 Miles.
Saturday - 13.1 Miles. Course Marking, Warmup, Run For the Pumpkins Race, Course Clearing. #67 of 126. Perfect trail race weather! I arrived early to help mark the course, with the thought of just starting my watch and letting it run until we were finished. Great turnout and a really fun course, and I ended up getting 4 loops of the 5k course in, plus some extra, for a total of 13.1.
Sunday - 0 Miles.
Monday - 6.2 Miles. Groton X-Town trail with Faith. Great time on this trail system. We dropped a car on on end and drove to the other, and had a great run in cool, breezy weather. We're gonna have to talk BLS into joining us for this one soon!
Tuesday - 6.3 Miles. Airline Trail, Colchester. Awesome rail trail line that runs through a bunch of towns, is very well marked, and lots of people were out enjoying the crisp Fall weather and changing leaves. Turned into a progression run for me, unintentionally. Just felt too good not to!
Wednesday - Thursday - 0 Miles.
Friday - 4 Miles (Surf!) - K38/39, Point Judith RI. Thanks, Hurricane Nicole, for bringing perfect chest-high surf and offshore winds to Rhode Island! Caught 25 waves in 2 hours, according to my Strava data, and I'm torn between getting a run in tomorrow or milking the last bit of this swell for all it's worth...
The "K", bright and breezy and uncrowded...
...and the new trail shoes I won in the Kismet Cliff raffle came in! La Sportiva Bushido model, can't wait to try them out!
New trail shoes! Winner winner!!!
Saturday - 2 Miles. Testing out the new shoes at Lantern Hill. While they may be a bit snug, and I'd probably trade up a 1/2 size, I'm gonna give the Bushido model from La Sportiva a big thumbs-up. They felt sturdy, grippy and otherwise well-suited to the technical terrain that I enjoy. Great shoes!
Sunday - 8-ish miles. Borderlands Dark Sky Trail N-S with Jim. Dropped a car at the Canonchet Preserve trailhead, and drove to the state line, where the Narragansett blue-blazed trail merges with the yellow-blazed trail portion in Rhode Island. Easy pace, and I needed to stay there, although I'd love to try this section of trail again at a much harder pace after next week. Aside from the 1/2 mile or so of Long/Ell Pond, it's very runnable...aside from that, I told Jim it was 5.5-6 miles, and it ended up being almost 8, and his longest run ever? Sorry (not sorry), Jim! Hey, the weather was perfect and the foliage is awesome, so the longer the better. Ha!
Not gonna lie, Kismet Cliff did a number on me. Even my recovery after the Cayuga 50 was much better, and while the fatigue in my legs (and especially my knees, in particular the right one) has improved, I can still feel it. I can't pin it on one thing, but I do know that my knees got really achy after the descent off North Moat. All the pounding coming down could have had something to do with it? Either way, something got messed up. Ain't nobody got time for that! So I took the whole week off, withdrew from Nipmuck early in the week with hopes of salvaging the Cat's Tail race, but the work week culminated in me pulling out of that as well. I just didn't feel like it was a possibility. Better to stay local and ease back into some light trail runs here...
Monday - Wednesday - 0.
Thursday - 10.5 (Bike) - Rode to pick up my truck at the shop. Fun! One gear! Realized afterwards that I only have one gear because the clip under the frame that holds the cables tight had broken, and the cables were just swaying in the breeze...whoops. That could have ended badly!
Friday - 0.
Saturday - 5 Miles. Goodwin Trail, East Lyme. Easy trail run with Faith and Eric G. Getting my legs working again felt good. Eric wanted some easy miles, as he's doing a 100-miler in PA next week, and Faith was getting a last shakeout before Nipmuck. Good run, easy pace, and a decent chunk of this newly connected 14-mile stretch of trail through 4 towns. Have to do the whole thing at some point!
Sunday - 4 Miles. Green Falls loop with Jim. Perfect weather, legs felt even better!
I'm going to start this recap on Friday afternoon, after I'd joined the family at the inaugural NoSto Festival in our town. Really cool little small town gathering. Perfect Fall weather, and a great time to be living in New England. I wasn't itching to get on the road, but knew I'd better be driving by 2 or it might really be a slog to get to Conway. Made a couple of errors getting ready. First mistake: Lori's car was low on washer fluid, so as I was cleaning my truck to get it ready for the trip, I figured I'd fill the reservoir. Grabbed the big bottle of blue liquid, started pouring...and realized it was power washer concentrate for the house! Whoops...had to dilute it with water, run it dry (soapy!) and refill the tank. Second mistake: Hastily getting my gear together. In my mad dash to get on the road, I forgot to pack two critical pieces of gear for a run in the White Mountains: gloves and a windbreaker. Dummy. More on that later...
So...I finally got on the road, with plans to meet friend, WTAC cohort and fast runner Rhody Seth at the Moat Brewhouse for drinks and dinner. Coming into Conway, I was gonna miss checking into my room before 6:30, so I went straight to Moat. I also texted local friends Ryan and Kristina to see if they were around. Ironically, Ryan was on North Moat flagging the course (and did a fantastic job, it needs saying...I didn't get lost!) in a headlamp, as the Sun was going down. They both said they'd meet us! Coolness.
Moat was packed! Didn't realize how crazy it got, but Seth got us seats, the food was good and the beer better. Ryan joined us for a drink, Kristina stopped by to say Hi, and I cruised back to the motel at 8:30, where I was treated to a G-Bot IPA and a showing of "The Empire Strikes Back."
Use the Force, and the beer will come to you...
I had Yoda's wisdom stuck in my head during the race:
So there's that...call me Skywalker!
Next morning, I wake up to cool temps, partly cloudy skies, and a brisk breeze blowing. I've forgotten crucial wardrobe items from my list. My hands always get cold first, it's Sunday and all the shops are closed. But I work construction, and there's a Home Depot in Conway! Ha! One set of Gorilla Grip gloves, and thin poncho and a contractor's trash bag later, and I'm ready for whatever comes at me!!!
I arrive way early to Echo Lake. Just a few people there, and the lot gradually fills up. Seth and I get checked in, and do a short warmup around Echo Lake. This race is very low-key, and pretty much every runner in the field looks fast and fit, even for the short 5-mile option. Except me. After RD Gabe Flanders gives a short directive, we start and I'm immediately at the back of the pack. As in last. There's only about 40-50 people total, so I think "OK, just do your own thing."
Seth about to throw down. Cathedral, in the background, is the short first climb...
After a short cruise around Echo and some lower forest run, we turn and begin the ascent up Cathedral Ledge. A long, steep climb with peeks through the trees at a spectacular view across the valley and mountains. Basically, what I didn't see last year. I kept pausing to take it in, and it just kept getting better. After the Cathedral/White Horse ascent, we were offered a brief respite before the three-ish mile death march up North Moat Mountain. It just keeps going up. Last year, the fog kept tricking me. This year, I'd fallen in with two local women (Sherry and Katie) who hiked there all the time, and as you looked up Moat, you could see ever more rises and falls, and the summit way off in the distance.
Sherry and Katie
Frank!
Sherry and Katie
Wind was whipping up there, but the views are incredible
Another runner named Frank joined us as we were getting to the top, and we all paused for a couple pictures. Awesome. The wind was whipping, though, and we got off the top quickly, and I put on my Gorilla Grip gloves on the way down. The trail was bone-dry, a totally different course from the previous year. Wow. We could actually run the downhill to the creek!
Now it was new friends Sherry, Katie and Frank, and we all worked together as a group, stopped together, and stayed together until the big turn back up White Horse. The ladies had a time goal in mind, so they pushed ahead. Frank and I were happy to just cruise the rest of the course, shoot the shit, and finished the race (run) together. Great new friends!
Course totals for my increasingly erratic Garmin: 12.8 miles, with 4,700+ feet of climbing, in a bit over 4 hours. Not my dream race, but I finished one of the toughest races on the East Coast, and I'm cool with that!
After the race I was greeted by Seth, who had kicked ass and turned in a 7th place finish in 2:40 in a very fast field, and informed me that I'd won a pair of La Sportiva running shoes in the raffle! Sweet!!! I picked the Bushido:
Gabe and his crew put on a great race, a tough race, and I'll say it again: WAY too few runners for a race this badass. I can't believe that out of all the trail runners in New England, there are so few takers for this race. It's beautiful, brutal, and worth every minute!
I had a long drive ahead, so I called it a day and got on the road. I really like New Hampshire, the pace really seems like it fits me well, everybody is pretty laid-back and mostly seem to be there because of the incredible beauty of the area. We had hikers cheering us on during the race, and everyone I encountered was friendly. I really do need to get up there more often!!!
This should be fun...I'm at 95,000 feet of vertical gain in just over 860 miles for the year, which ain't easy when you live in Southeast CT. Most of that vert has been done on technical trails, which I just really enjoy, and anything that involves actual hand over hand climbing is icing on the cake. Gonna be over 100k by week's end, which obliterates my previous year's best (77,000 in 2014), with lots of running to go! That said, I really hope the weather is more conducive to an enjoyable race at Kismet Cliff this year, as last year's race was held in some sketchy conditions, and the gorgeous views were completely obscured by fog and sideways rain. So far, the forecast looks better for the weekend, but this is New England, sooo...Here's my short recap from last year and my DNF, the day before my bloodwork came back positive for Lyme:
9/13 - Kismet Cliff "Beast of the East" half marathon. So here it is: I picked the perfect place to stay! The Colonial Motel in North Conway. Clean, helpful and friendly, and three minutes from the race start. Room was super clean, the staff helpful, and I was totally set.
I awoke to fog, 55 degrees, rain, and no sight whatsoever of the mountains I'd be running...
Arrived early to find a hardcore crew already set up. I grabbed my bib, saw Ryan and chatted with him for a bit, then spent time talking with Kristina, Tony, Lise, and some other awesome runners before the race began.
After the race start and a short run around Echo Lake, we all turn onto the Cathedral Ledge ascent, which is 400'-1500' and a flipping tease. After that? A short descent, then the nightmare ascent up North Moat. It was raining, it was foggy, it was slippery as Hell. I was alone for a long time (I can deal with being alone, but this wasn't fun!), and also wasn't aware that there are about a thousand false summits going up to the top. It just kept going up!
I was nearing one of those false summits, questioning my sanity and qualifications for even being there, when I heard a runner behind me, approaching fast. I shouted "Please tell me I'm not getting lapped!" He replied "If it helps, I was in second place and took a wrong turn..."
He scampered up the hill and out of sight, and I continued on, alone and in the rain. I was looking for a bright side at this point. I was pretty sure I was in last place, pre-hypothermic (it felt like it), and looking at a 4-hour half marathon time. What the Hell...
When I finally crested the actual summit of North Moat and began the descent, things got even more sketchy! Ryan had mentioned that that side of Moat never gets Sun, and was always "greasy," in his words, and it had rained all night. Imagine a slick granite slip n' slide that goes down for two miles, and you get the idea. I slid on my ass, bushwhacked alongside the trail, and moved as well as I could...until I rounded a curve and saw fast runner dude (Ryan K.) helping a girl down the mountain. Her name was Amber, and she'd rolled her ankle pretty bad. I did the right thing and stopped, and helped with getting her down the slippery descent. I'd thrown my cell phone into my CamelBak as an afterthought, and we pulled up the Race Director's number and called him to explain our situation. We arranged to have transportation meet us at the Diana's Baths area.
The next couple hours were us getting down to level ground, walking Amber to the bailout near the stream, and getting out. Friends Ryan and Kristina and a couple other runners met us and we hitched rides back to the start/finish, where I DNF'd, but for good reason. I'll be back next year, this race is badass and had far too few runners for what it was, which was, in the words of runner Tony, who I met at the start, "Everything the White Mountains has to offer in a race." 7 Sisters was a breeze compared to this race. Yes, I said it.
No soapbox moment here, but hey: people passed this runner, who was obviously in distress, and she was too polite to stop them during the race. If you see a runner who's slowed to a crawl, just a quick "How's it going?" may be enough for them to say "Not so hot." Then you stop and see if maybe they need help. All I'm saying...
Added bonus this year! Seth's headed up for the race as well. Gonna be a good time there, and maybe gonna hit up Moat Brewery for pre-race hydration! Can't wait...
Monday - 0.
Tuesday - 6-ish miles. Pequot Woods 3 before work, Lantern Hill 3-ish after work. My Garmin is acting like a rebellious teenage girl (I know, I have one!). I'm very sure I'm getting shorted on mileage, which means a much slower pace than I know I'm working at. Or I'm just getting fat and slow. Either scenario is possible. So on top of the mileage fuckery, at Lantern it was recording pace/time, but a zero for distance, and I had to hard reset it and use my goddamn phone. Glad I got the high-end model! 659' elevation gain.
Wednesday - 0 Miles. Nothing like a work-induced taper!
Thursday - 4 Miles. Easy Hewitt Farm trails. Friday - 0 Miles. Saturday - 0 Miles. Spent the morning checking out the NoSto Festival in town, then got on the road to New Hampshire. 4 hour drive.
Sunday - 14-ish miles. Kismet Cliff. Report to follow.
So in a little over a week, I'm gonna attempt a "Fall Trifecta," to complement my "Spring Trifecta." But this series of races comes with a bonus! The Kismet Cliff race is first. Beast of the East! Brutal! The following week is the Cat's Tail/Nipmuck double marathon, which I'm most apprehensive about. Sounded like a good idea at the time? I'm all in for the Cat, but I may withdraw from Nipmuck, as I'm trying to keep the waters smooth on the home front and my body intact for Ghost Train, and maybe open a spot for somebody else. The GT race will be uncharted territory, and I can't wait to see what unfolds, most likely me. So here are my predictions: Kismet Cliff: I'll have a good race, and finish well, provided I'm still Lyme-free by next week and there are no damsels in distress at the top of the mountain this year! Last year I was over the top of North Moat before my watch died, and I pulled the plug on the race to help another runner. I did 8 miles in 3:02, in shitty weather and not feeling my best, with 3,700' of elevation gain last year. I plan to be well ahead of that this year, any sideways rain notwithstanding... Cat: I plan to do exactly what I did last year, but I'll have a drop bag at mile 9 with dry clothes, I'll have a better attitude, and some knowledge to turn to. Last year I was doing well until I hit the mile 9 aid station. This year I'll be in a better place mentally. No quit. Nipmuck: Jury is still out. I'll give it a shot if I think it's within the realm of possibility. I know the course, have done it three times, and it'll be gravy after the Cat. If I can still walk, and not piss off my family for being a ghost all weekend, then it's a go. Speaking of ghosts... Ghost Train: Uncharted Territory. I have lots of things going in my favor though! It's an out/back race, which I do well at (I'm usually a solitary person, but I'm a social butterfly around others, much to the amusement of my wife and daughter...). I can control my clothing/fuel/food options. I have friends on the course, both running and volunteering, and my buddy John has offered to pace me for the tail end of the race, where I'll likely be bitching about every little thing...sorry in advance, John! I wonder what the Vegas odds would look like on this.... Monday - 2.5 Miles. Long Pond beatdown.Short and sweet and technical, I hit the juicy bits of this trail, and a quicky after work. 700'+ elevation gain. Tuesday - 3 Miles (Hike/Work). CT Forest & Parks workparty, to re-route part of the Narragansett Trail.When part of this trail was suddenly obliterated last Spring, I was really worried. Fear not, runners (and hikers)! A new and awesome stretch of trail is on its way, with the blessing of the landowners and assistance of several volunteers. We were able to clear, in 5 hours, a substantial amount of distance and create a trail from nothing, and the Narragansett is on its way to being made whole again. I can't wait! Next workparty in less than two weeks, where we'll finish making the trail and blaze it, and post cool signs about the heirloom pigs and cattle being raised there. Wednesday - 0. Thursday - 8 Miles. Lantern Hill repeats, prep for Kismet Cliff.Best and closest place to train for a race in the Whites, run to the top, run to the bottom, repeat! Felt awesome. 1500'+ elevation gain.
Friday - 4 Miles. Even more Lantern Hill! 1000'+ elevation gain and stopped to help some wayward hikers, more good technical climbing.
Saturday/Sunday - 0. Gonna be gone the next two weekends, figured it was a good time to wrap up some things at the house.
