Pack Monadnock 10m Race Photos

On Sunday the Wolfe family was out in force at Pack Monadnock. Five of us were in Miller State Park, Alec was working with the timing company at the summit while the rest of us were manning the water stop at the base. Technically Deb, Jess and Ben were manning the stop, I was supervising, also known as taking pictures. All are veteran water-stoppers so they managed fine without me. We also had the help of 2/3 of the Delahunty triplets (Delahunti's?)

Water Stoppers in Action

At around 10:30am I left my photo duties and moved on to my bonus task for the day: riding my mountain bike to the summit and shuttling the results back down in a timely fashion (pun slightly intended). For some reason many runners thought this was easy and I was lucky. It certainly wasn't fast (I think it took me 10-12 minutes to reach the top). For the record, I did not ride the last 100m. The ride down took 47 seconds (or something like that).

Pack Monadnock Photos

Hmm, I see a trend here...

Pack to Pack

Although I enjoyed taking pictures yesterday at the Bedford 12k, I really wished I could have been out there with my friends and team mates. Looking at the pictures, you'd have to wonder why actually...not a lot of smiling faces out there. Oh well, I'll be out there eventually.

After the race yesterday I headed over to Mt Uncanoonuc in Goffstown. I needed to get my heart rate up so I decided to speed hike to the summit and back. Most of it was just that: speed hiking, but occassionally I threw in some running. Oh the horror! Not really. Running up hill doesn't seem to affect me much (from an injury point of view). I went up, over and around the backside before coming back down again. Roundtrip of 1hr. It was the closest I've come to running in weeks.

Today I woke up and nothing hurt more than usual. Usual is me spending between 30 min and and hour each night doing various core exercises. To me this was a good sign. Whatever I managed to do yesterday didn't seem to have a serious affect on my phantom injury. So with that I figured I'd try my luck again.

Off I went to Temple, NH and Pack Monadnock. I parked on one of the side roads near Pack and headed up Raymond Trail, 1.6m to the summit. On the way up I did a combo of speed hiking and slow running. Since it took me less than 30 minutes to reach the summit I decided to go down the other side to the main parking lot on RT101 (Marion Davis Trail, 1.4m,), running nearly the entire way down. Feeling inspired now, I headed back up Pack Monadnock for the second time, this time taking the Wapack Trail to the summit, another 1.4m trip. I ran the sections that were runnable. When I say I was running, think more along the lines of slow shuffle and not some guy doing a trail race. After a brief stop at the summit for the second time, I headed back down Raymond Trail to my car for an additional 1.6m. Total round trip, 6 miles and 1hr and 35 minutes of hiking/running.

All in all I felt pretty good. No real pain, a little sore once in a while but that's about it. Not quite ready to hit the roads yet but I am enjoying getting out on the trails. I probably did more than I should have today but it was worth it. Beats hanging around doing nothing!

Northern End of the Wapack Trail

On Saturday I decided to run the northern section of the Wapack Trail as a warm-up for the Seven Sisters Race next weekend. The Wapack Trail is about 21 miles end to end, starting in Asburnham, MA to the south and ending in Greenfield, NH in the north.
I did an out and back from Mountain Rd in Greenfield to Rt 101A in Temple, crossing over North Pack and Pack Monadnock Mountains...twice. The trail signs indicated a 5.4 mile one way trip but some of the online Wapack Trail info indicated this might be closer to 5 miles.
I planned an early start and was on the trail by 7am. Weather was great, although a little chilly at the start (mid 30's). I wore a 40 ounce Camel Back pack and carried a cell phone (for safety and pictures). The plan was to run as much of the trail as possible although this got a little challenging only after about a mile on the trail. The trail is marked by yellow triangles but it wasn't always easy picking up the trail, especially when running. There was some pretty steep ledge heading up to the summit of North Pack so running wasn't always an option but the view of Mount Monadnock at the summit was worth the climb. After a brief pause to snap a photo, I headed south towards Pack Monadnock. Most of trail to Pack Monadnock was runnable so I continued on at a comfortable trail pace being careful with my footing. I summited Pack Monadnock, looked briefly for the trail and headed done to Rt 101a. This part of the trail had some steep sections which made running difficult at times, including some serious ledge right near the bottom where the trail crosses the auto road at the entrance of Miller State Park. I continued down all the way to Rt 101a, turned around and headed back into the park. I stopped briefly to eat a PowerBar and checked my 1/2 way time (1:36). The elevation gain so far was just under 1800 ft of climbing and I was a little tired but generally felt pretty good and was happy with the effort so far. Although the return trip started with a steep climb up the ledge from the auto road, it was generally a much easier run then the way out. I also passed several large groups of hikers on my return trip, but most were nice enough and moved to the side to let me run by. I'm glad I went with the 40 oz Camel Back, because I sucked it dry after about 2 1/2 hours of running. Thankfully the run back was MUCH quicker, finishing the return leg in about 1:02. Return elevation gain was roughly 1600 ft of climbing.
I have no idea how this will compare with Seven Sisters but I had a good time and was pleased with my effort. I ran somewhere between 10 and 10.8 miles, took 2 hrs and 38 minutes and climbed nearly 3,400 ft. Not a bad days work.

2010 New Hampshire Half Marathon Calendar

Updated 11/11/09

January
15th Annual Boston Prep 16 Miler (January 24, 2010)
Derry, NH
$40
Not a half marathon but a nice challenge for January.
Tends to sell out so register early.

February
3rd Annual Half at the Hamptons (February 21, 2010)
Hampton Beach, NH
$45

March
Run to the Border Half Marathon (March 28, 2010)
Rye,NH

April
Great Bay Half Marathon (April 11, 2010)
Newmarket,NH
Temple Half Marathon (TBD)
Temple,NH

May
Big Lake Half Marathon (May 8, 2010)
Alton Bay,NH
$50
Nice course, great finish area. Back in the hands of Keith Jordan (Endorfun)
June
Pack Monadnock 10 Miler (June 6, 2010)
I know it's not a half but your times will look like you ran one!
Wilton,NH
$30ish

July
None (that I know of)

August
CHaD Half Marathon (TBD)
Hanover,NH
$50ish

September
Swanzey Covered Bridges Half Marathon (TBD)
Swanzey,NH
Dixville Half Marathon (TBD)
Colebrook,NH
Applefest Half Marathon (TBD)
Hollis,NH
$45ish

October
Smuttynose Hampton Half Marathon (October 3, 2010)
Hampton,NH
$45
White Mountain Milers Half Marathon (TBD)
North Conway,NH
$40
Fast and mostly flat. Great post-race food.
Tends to sell out so register early.

November
Manchester City Half Marathon (TBD)
Manchester,NH
Seacoast Half Marathon (TBD)
Portsmouth,NH

December
None (that I know of)