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| January Hike |
I started 2014, with a January 1st sunrise summit of Mount Monadnock. It was dark - about 6:00am. It was cold – about zero
degrees. It was windy – about 40 mph at the summit. And, it was snowy – about 1
to 2 feet of fluffy base to trudge through. It took me about 4 hours to summit
and return via the 4.5 mile long Pumpelly Trail off Lake Road in Dublin.
So, when I signed up for a Presentation at Keene State College for the last weekend of 2014
(and my travel plans took me right past the ‘Nock) I figured why not end the
year the way I began it? With another Pumpelly trip to the summit. A "bookend"
hike, if you will. Well, as it turns out, the conditions couldn’t have been
more different!
W
ith all my goals pretty much met
for 2014, the TARC Winter Classic 32m was
all about having fun. The 8 mile Skyline Trail in the Middlesex Fells is no joke,
even for just one lap. So, 4 laps would be a pretty sizable challenge. But one
which, given my results from this year, looked
like something I could handle with ease.
Then the rain came …
Hi
there! Sorry, it’s been a little while since I posted anything. I’ve been kind
of busy.
Part of what’s been distracting me is the 50k trail race I ran at the Middlesex
Fells last weekend. My TARC Winter Ultra race report will be coming
soon, but the reader’s digest version is: It was cold, it was rainy, it was slippery,
but I survived!
Another
thing that’s been on my plate as of late is that I’m in charge of putting together
(and keeping together) the Gate City Strider teams for the Mill Cities Relay race. And with 39 teams (and 181 runners) it was a lot more
like herding wild cats, than anything else. I’ve been doing it for 10 years now
and it’s without a doubt the most fun/stressful job I have with the club. My synopsis
of this year’s race is also coming soon (I promise) but long story short: It
was cold, it was windy, it was slippery, but we survived! …Actually, we did a
little more than survive. We won our 7th straight team title. Setting new point
and margin of victory totals in the process!
Finally,
what’s been taking the majority of my time lately is my book. Yup, I’m writing
my first book! I know. Crazy, right? Well, it’s going to be a collection of
stories that I’m stringing together in (hopefully) a cohesive manner. It’s
about friends, family and ultra-running. In short, all the things that
currently make my life worth living!
It’s hard to believe that it’s been four weeks since my 100 Miler and even harder to believe that
it’s been one full year since I decided to make it my Goal Race for 2014.
Looking back, it’s been a truly incredible year! And, I can’t
really think of anything that I would have changed. My first attempt at a 100 mile training plan exceeded even my
wildest expectations. I went the whole year without losing any time to injury.
My races, turned out great - with only a couple minor exceptions! I spent a bunch of time having fun in the mountains. And, I was able to add
meaning to my miles by helping raise money for a very worthy cause! In fact, the season went so well, I very much doubt that
I could ever replicate it. So, I’m not going to.
Instead, for 2015, I’m going to do things just a little bit
differently.
The incredible journey that I was fortunate enough to take, in both training for and running a 100 mile race, taught me many valuable lessons.
Here are 20 of them, in no particular order:
Shit! ….this
can’t be happening!
…I said while rolling down the windows of my car, desperately hoping the fresh
air would keep me from falling asleep at the wheel while driving to my first
100 mile race. I took another swig of Pepsi while wiping back the tears that
had already started to come. All that hard work wasted because of my stupid
pre-race anxiety. Anxiety that saw fit to keep me tossing and turning for three
straight nights before my 24 hour adventure in the New Hampshire woods. Damn. This is not going
to end well.
A mile, and a few more swigs, later. I began to formulate a plan, because
that’s what I do! I would start the race, as scheduled. Then, when I got too
tired to run any further, I would just nap in the car for a little while before
finishing up. I had expected to finish in around 22 hours, and the race had a
30 hour cut-off, so I could literally take a 6 hour nap right in the middle of
it and still finish this thing with time to spare! And now, with my new plan in
place, I resumed feeling good about my chances at the Ghost Train 100 Miler.
Turns out, this “plan” was just the first of many tricks I’d have to play on
myself that day (and night) to keep moving forward.
Last week, I wrote in this space that I thought there were three things required to finish a 100 Mile Race. "Hard work, patience, and faith".
This week, I'm here to tell you that I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Please don't misunderstand. Those three things ARE all very important, and I wouldn't want to toe the line of any ultra (let alone my first 100 miler) without them. But, if another critical item is not there with you as well, then those first three things are far less meaningful.
...and, that magical fourth ingredient is "support".
Hard work, patience, and faith.
That’s what it takes to finish a 100 Mile Race. Or, at least
that’s what I THINK it takes to finish a 100 mile race. Since I’ve never
actually run one. Oh, I’ve done the training. And read the best books on the
subject. And spoken to plenty of people who have gone the distance. But, the furthest
I’ve ever run at one time is 50 miles - which barely gets me half way!
So, what makes me think I can do it?
Hard work, patience, and faith.
So far, 2014 has been a very busy year…
I’ve logged 2829 miles through 41 weeks - for an average of 69 miles per week. Or, about 10 miles a day! My weekly average is 9 miles per week more than my biggest year. And, 17 miles per week more than
I’ve averaged over the last 5 years. Which works out to one extra long run,
every week! Speaking of long runs, my AVERAGE long run this year has been 24
miles.
That’s like running a near-marathon every week, all year long!
A few weeks ago I put out the call for Help, and that call was answered…
On Saturday October 25th, I will be running my first 100 mile race. And I’ll be doing so
with the help of 7 wonderful people who will be pacing me (in shifts) for the last 70 miles of the race. So basically, from early Saturday afternoon until early Sunday
morning, I will have a team of runners whose sole purpose is to make sure I get
to that finish line. I feel so very fortunate to have so many great friends who
have absolutely nothing better to do than run back and forth with me through the woods.
So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce my “Dream Team” of pacers for
the Ghost Trail 100m and a little info about what makes each
of them so special...
"October. And the trees are stripped
bare, of all they wear. What do I care?”
Autumn is a season
of decay. The grass turns brown, the flowers wither, and the leaves fall off the
trees. The bright warm days of summer are long gone. There is a chill in the
air, a frost on the ground, and a foreboding sense that winter is right around
the corner. Traditionally, this time of year is a melancholy one for me. As the
weather gets colder, and the days get shorter, my thoughts turn darker – like
the days ahead.
This year feels different, though. This year I feel hopeful. And, I’m not sure why.
When I mapped
out my 2014 Race Schedule back in
November of last year, I had originally planned to run the Pisgah 50k as my final tune-up race before Ghost Train. However, those plans changed when I became aware of a
low-key, 50 mile run taking place on the same day in my “home woods” of Mine
Falls Park. 50 miles in Mines?! I gotta be a part of that, right?
Of course, there
were other reasons (besides proximity) which ultimately lead me to choose the Mine Falls 50 over Pisgah. And they
mostly revolved around a single question: “Which race will better prepare me
for Ghost Train?”
