2011 escarpment trail run: race photos and results

my third escarpment trail run is in the books! it was a great day to be out on the trails - and plenty of familiar faces were there: emmy, todd, catherine, hiro, yuki, hiroshi, marge, lisa, chris and joe - to a name a few!

my 5:23:20 was well under my 5:30 target - and missed a course pr for me by just 3 minutes! it was a solid 20 minutes faster than my last escarpment (2009). it was a good day!

here is my race report. and here are the race results.

the rest of my photos posted on facebook,

2011 vermont 100 endurance run: race report

it's hard to believe my third vermont 100 miler is in the books. up until late last week i was still on the fence about running because i hadn't gotten in the training mileage. my longest training run had been just 19 miles, and my longest run had been 35 miles at the b.u.s. 6 hour run in early april. in between those two markers were a couple of marathons and 50k's. not what i'd consider an ideal training plan for a 100 miler. and, more importantly, i hadn't lined up a pacer.

be that as it may, things came together when hugo and i decided to split a room at the yankee village motel. i sent in an email request for a pacer to the race organizers. and, on friday afternoon, i car pooled up to west windsor with emmy, chip, and lucimar. under trained or not, i'd get through the first 50 miles (47 actually), and tthan see how things looked from there. as fate had it, i stuck it out for the second 50 :D

apologies for the long winded introduction - but i'd be less than honest if i didn't mention how ambivalent (fearful) i was going in to this one.

pre-race check in:

emmy, chip, lucimar and i got to check in about 3:30 - and there were plenty of familiar faces. hugo and hiroshi were just in front of me on the weigh-in/medical line. when the scale registered 180 pounds i realized it was a mistake (+5) immediately - but the number stuck. it would come back to haunt me the next day. the rest of the afternoon was divided into socializing, drop bags, the pre-race briefing.

after the briefing, i learned that i hadn't been assigned a pacer. there were other runners in the same boat - emmy and betsy, in particular. but john, the pacer coordinator, told us not to worry. he'd have pacers for us by the time we got to camp 10 bear (the second time around, mile 70). this development didn't really sink in because i was still unsure i'd reach mile 70 - much less power on beyond it!

race morning:

set the alarm for 2:30 - the plan was to leave for silver meadow at 3. at just before 3, tammy knocked on my door - i was the last one dawdling! emmy was already in the car and betsy was in her car, waiting to follow us. we got to silver meadow by 3:30 - plenty of time for the 4 a.m. start. we had great weather - and dry conditions this time around. i took a small flashlight, but didn't bother with my headlamp.

by the time we were halfway up desmore hill, to the first aid station at mile 7, the it was light enough to turn off the flashlight. the first 21 miles - to the pretty house aid station - were productive. my split at 21.1 miles was 4:18:12. the next 9 miles - to the stage road aid station at 30.1 miles would include the climb up and down sound of music hill! in between, my marathon split was 5:38:30.

i reached the stage road aid station in 6:30:12 - and changed my shirt for a second time. then on to suicide six just down the road. my next drop bag was at camp 10 bear - mile 47. by this time the sun was out in force and the temperature had climbed into the 80's. during this stretch of 15+ miles, my only objective was to get from aid station to aid station. the most pleasant surprise, food-wise, came at lillian's (mile 43.5) where little cups were filled with good & plenty! that licorice candy as magic!

half-way:

at camp 10 bear (47 miles) the scale showed that i had dropped 8 pounds! not only was i drinking an entire 22 ounce bottle of water between aid stations, but i topped it off with food and other fluids (coke and ice tea) at the aid stations! my 5% sit down number was 9 pounds and i was still one pound shy. i wasn't in the mood to sit down there and ingest food/water until my weight increased. as it worked out, i sat down to change my shirt (again), dig out my headlamp and flashlight, and eat!

my appetite had returned with a vengeance and i ate two sausage & pepper sandwiches! ironically, while i needed to gain weight - emmy was in the opposite position. at her weigh-in, she had gained weight and the medical staff was concerned that her body may have started shutting down! it was more likely that she had taken too many s caps and was retaining water weight. as it turned out, when we returned to 10 bear later that day, i had gained back a few pound (up to 176) - and emmy lost weight. so it was all good.

this middle stretch - the loop out and back to 10 bear - was challenging because it included "agony hill" (which i thought was fun) and the 2 mile climb out of tracer brook (my least favorite part of the entire course - and i consistently run out of expletives to describe it). but it also includes margaritaville - probably my favorite aid station on the course. where else can you get a margarita (or corona) and cheeseburger! it was my longest stop - 13 minutes! - where i had a margarita, two cheeseburgers, and a cup of ramen noodles in broth.

my 100k split - leaving margaritaville - was just over 16 hours (16:04). the eight miles back to camp 10 bear would be broken up by a stop at brown school house (a/k/a the grateful dead aid station) at mile 65.1. just before brown school house it got dark enough to start using the flashlight. but with a full moon that night, i would never wind up putting on my headlamp! i got back to camp 10 bear in 18:41:36 - my pace had slowed significantly over this last stretch.

the final 30 miles:

fatigue had caught up with me on the return to 10 bear. at this point i had been running w/emmy and we both agreed to push on from 10 bear (exorcising any thoughts of calling it quits there). as mentioned, we both passed the weigh-in on the second go round. but the surprise waiting there (or not, as in this case) - john had no pacers available! by the time we were ready to head out (deciding to team up w/tammy and her pacer) - one pacer did become available. we were set to have him pace both of us - instead, he was assigned to a solo runner. emmy and i would pace each other until spirit of 76 (westwinds).

on the way to spirit of 76 (mile 77) the strangest thing happened. on the steep descent on the switchbacks leading to seabrook (mile 74.7) a moth flew into emmy's ear! she let out a scream and was hopping all across the trail trying to dislodge it! at first i couldn't make out what she was saying/what had happened. despite our best efforts, the moth crawled deep into the ear canal and we couldn't get it out. no one at the next two aid stations could get it out - so she became resigned to running the remaining miles w/it stuck there!

on the positive side, when we arrived spirit of 76, john had two pacers available for us! with 23 miles to go, and fatigue overtaking me, i really needed one. dave, a member of the shenipsit striders, agreed to pace me. within a few miles - where i alternated between sleepwalking and incoherent gibberish - he diagnosised my problem as bonking, not fatigue. the last solid food i'd eaten was almost 6 hours earlier, at margaritaville! he gave me a 12 oz. bottle of gatorade to drink - and it did the trick.

since i was in no mood to eat solid food, his plan was to keep me ingesting simple sugars and caffeine. it was one bottle of coke after another during the night - and it worked! after goodman's (mile 81), i finally got a second wind - and it stuck. we alternated running and walking during this stretch, trying to keep the pace between 17-18 minutes a mile. we reached bill's (mile 88.6) in just over 25 hours (25:04). i had 5 hours to cover the remaining 11.2 miles - very doable!

at bill's i left my windbreaker (which i never wore), my headlamp (which i never used), and my remaining gear (flashlight, gu's, glide) in the drop bag. all would carry to the finish is my handheld and my camera in the fanny pack. we had a couple of major climbs to deal with, but the end was finally in sight! it took another 3 hours and 40 minutes to cover the remaining miles - but it was sweet to cross the finish line again! given my pre-race training concerns, this was a big accomplishment for me :D

post-race:

emmy, chip, fran, and tammy were all at the finish line when i got there. tristan gave me a beer to celebrate (many thanks, tristan!). then i insisted emmy go to the medical tent and get the moth taken out of her ear! at first one of the technicians didn't think they could do it because it was too invasive a procedure. he suggested that she go to the emergency room to have it removed! luckily, a second ems technician decided to try and flush it out with saline solution. it was a success!

as for me, aside from a pair of swollen feet, i didn't seem any worse for the wear! in a first, i didn't have any chafing, or blisters. while it would be a couple of days before i'd walk normally again, i was a happy camper!

here are my race photos.

2011 vermont 100 mile endurance run: race photos and results

this year's vermont wasn't easy, and at 28:44 it was my slowest 100 miler - but i got to the finish line!!

i was especially lucky to get dave, at mile 77, to pace me. dave got me through a rough patch were i could hardly keep my eyes open, or string together a coherent sentence - between miles 80-85. then came my second wind!

here is my race report.

here are the preliminary results (including the 100k)

a few more photos posted on facebook.

and here are my pre-race photos.

2011 vermont 100 mile endurance run: pre-race photos

i drove up to vermont on friday, with emmy, lucimar, and chip. it was a fun road trip, and when we arrived at silver meadow for race registration, we met up with plenty of familiar faces. it seemed more like a reunion, than pre-race check-in/briefing.

the only glitch, from my perspective, was the weigh-in. the scale tipped in at 180 - a weight that i haven't seen in well over a decade (and i knew was at least 5 pounds too much). that number would come back to haunt me at the first camp ten bear weigh-in on saturday! but that story will be in the race report :D

here are my race photos and results.

2011 norwalk summer series 5 miler: race photos and results

it was a hot and humid morning to run a hilly 5 miler. despite the tough weather conditions, the second race of the norwalk summer series had a great turnout. i missed this one last year, the first year of the revised course layout - so the initial loop around the high school parking lot at the start was a surprise! my 37:50, 7:34 pace, was a disappointment (and probably my slowest finish for this race).

despite the poor finish, i still had a great time. what better way to spend a saturday morning than running miles w/your friends :D

here are the results from lightfoot runners.

2011 wlf putnam county classic: race photos and results

this morning was the 34th running of the putman county classic - a challenging 8 mile course around lake mahopac. in a first for me, i was the co-race director, with emmy! we had just under 320 runners cross the finish line in some pretty hot, humid conditions. we had over 40 volunteers: spread across race registration, food prep, water stops, course marshall's, finish line timing, and ham radio operators. they made the event go off without a hitch!

i'll write up a short race report. here are the race results from trrc

2011 westport summer series, 2.2 miler: race photos and results

the 49th annual westport summer series kicked off this morning - with a record turnout for the first race, a new woman's course record, and - in a real first - first place, overall, went to a woman! a fantastic way to kick off the race series!

i missed my target of 15 minutes over the hilly 2.2 mile course by 6 second (15:06, 6:52 pace) - well off my 2010 finish. but i was still pleased with the result. afterwards, i squeezed in a long run by doing most of the 10 mile course after the race!

i'll add a link to the results once they're posted.

july 2011 race schedule

is it possible that 2011 is now half over? the time has flown!

this weekend is the 33rd running of the putnam county classic on the 4th of july. this year i've been enlisted as the co-race director, together w/emmy. so i won't run the race. but i'll enjoy it just the same - especially watching everyone else run the hilly and challenging course :D

my major running event of july is the vermont 100 mile endurance run. it's been a staple, for better or worse, on my race calendar for the last 5 years! this time around i'll be heading up there on the decidedly untrained side :O

another highlight of july is a return to the escarpment trail run - one of my all time favorite trail runs. unfortunately, it conflicts with a new b.u.s. event the night before - a 6 hour pajamas run in queens. argh!

the rest of my july races are shorter distances, and include a pair of xc relays (vctc and new canaan) plus a couple of norwalk and westport summer series races. no nyrr races on the calendar for july.

here's what it looks like:

7/2 - westport summer series, 2.2 miles
7/4 - wlf putnam county classic, 8m [rd]
7/7 - vctc summer series relay - [w/emmy]
7/9 - norwalk summer series, 5m
7/12 - waveny summer series relay - [w/emmy]
7/16 - vermont 100 mile endurance run
7/23 - norwalk summer series, 7m
7/31 - escarpment trail run

as always, if your at any of them, say hello!