2011 Turner Trail Snowshoe Race

Starting area at Turner Trail

The Turner Trail race was probably my favorite snowshoe race from last year. In a season where snow was hard to find, the conditions at Turner last year (located in the Pittsfield State Forest) were near perfect. When you add the fact it was a very long and challenging course supported by great volunteers, there was no question I'd be back in 2011. Or would I?
The lack of any significant storms has kept the snow cover thin at best, even out in western Mass. Earlier last week Beth Herder (RD at Turner) indicated the course would be modified due to snow conditions. In fact, it wouldn't even be on the Turner Trail (which climbs Berry Mt via a nearly 3 mile switchback single track). I immediately started making other plans. I wasn't going to drive 333 miles for questionable snow conditions. So, on Friday I decided to head over to the Old Salem Greens Snowshoe Race (Salem, Ma) instead.
Two things happened late on Friday that changed my plans yet again.

1. Beth updated the conditions and provided a course map of the 'new' Turner Trail Race
2. The weather forecast indicated western Mass should get 6" of new snow prior to the race

New Turner Trail Course

The course would be a 5.4 mile loop on NEMBA-designed mountain bike trails and had 99% snow cover before the storm even arrived. If I could find someone to ride shotgun with me, Turner Trail would be back in business! A quick check with DoubleJ and I had my victim.
I really thought we'd be driving through a snowstorm early Saturday morning on the drive out. With the exception of a brief snow squall, there was virtually no snow at all, with clear roads for most of the trip. Although it made traveling easy, it did not give me any confidence that Pittsfield actually received the snow that was expected.
This time, the forecasters were right. By the time we reached Pittsfield, 4-6" of  nice, fluffy powder was on the ground. Phew. Snow for a snowshoe race, who would have thunk it?
Jim, John Pajer and myself did a brief warm-up on the finish of the course, to check conditions and to get an idea what the finish of the course looked like. I like to recognize something near the finish to give me an idea how much is left in the race. From what we could tell, the conditions would be ideal: hard packed base with fresh new snow on top, and LOTS of turns. It would be some of the tightest single track I've raced on, with the trail being the width of a single snowshoer.

photo credit -Berkshire Sports

At 10am we lined up for the start. It appeared very few wanted to be up front. Not me, I wanted to get in position on the single track as soon as possible and not worry about passing folks. If they wanted to pass me, fine, but they'd have to work for it. Within the first 50ft my position was set and wouldn't change for the next 5.4 miles. Jim, Tim Van Orden and Ross Krause took off up front, followed by high school xc star Connor Devine, myself and then John Pajer. The 3 of us ran fairly close for the first couple of miles (which generally went gently downhill). The entire course would be on super tight single track, with a gazillion turns. No need to ever look back in this race, just wait for a turn and chances are you'd be nearly running next to the guy behind you. Early on the snowshoeing was pretty fast, with good traction. At the last minute I switched to my ice cleats and early on it seemed like a good choice. However, the middle couple of miles were tough. No real elevation gain/loss, but the trail loosened up a lot, and we were breaking through the hard pack under the powder. The traction all but disappeared and we'd slide around every corner. It was noticeably slower and harder. Now I wished I stuck with my deep cleats!

photo credit - Berkshire Sports

During this section I could sense John was dropping back a bit. He was still in sight but the gap was increasing. I focused on keeping Connor within reach for the next few miles. I'd get really close at times and then he'd pick it up (or I slowed down) and gap me pretty well. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to pass him and was content with him pulling me along. The last 3 miles or so generally worked its way back up. Nothing steep, but enough that you noticed you were climbing. At one point we saw Ross on one of the switch backs but I couldn't tell if he was 10 seconds up or 2 minutes up because of the way the trail snaked around. It was the only time I saw another snowshoer in front besides Connor.
I finally started recognizing the trail as we neared the finish (thanks to our warm up). My position was set. I wasn't catching Connor and I didn't see anyone behind me. 48 minutes and 35 seconds after I started I crossed the finish line in 5th place (results), and second old guy (behind Tim). Some guy named Jim won I think.
Once again, Turner Trail did not disappoint. The course and conditions were some of the best I've snowshoed on in any race. Beth and crew did an outstanding job (at the last minute) putting together a top notch course. It was well worth the trip!


Additional photos by Berkshire Sports can be found here.

33rd Peanut Butter Chip Chase 5k

Temple Town Hall

This race is the definition of a small town race (results) . It is in Temple, NH after all. Everything about it is low-key (which I like). It also happens to be the race I've run the most (8 times). I'd say running this race is the closet thing I have to a tradition, and by now it's an automatic. If I'm not injured, I'll run this race.

I was thankful to have my family in tow this year. They don't see too many of my races but I appreciate it when they do. At least the weather was nice this year (mid 50's, mostly sunny). Seems like it's icy cold or snowing most years. The nice weather also brought out a good size crowd (~200) which was nice to see. If you've come for a 5k PR you've come to the wrong race. The first 1 1/2 miles generally climbs, the next mile is mostly downhill and the final stretch punishes you with a deceiving difficult uphill finish. I don't know if it qualifies as a tough 5k or not but it definitely is a slow 5k. Very few folks run under 18 minutes at this one. Heck, in 8 tries I've never run under 19 minutes.

Start

I lined up in the front row and checked out this years competition. Fellow GCS teammate Joe Rogers was running for the first time. I gave him an overview of the course and thought he had a chance for the win. My plan was to go out fairly easy (since it's mostly uphill the first 1 1/2 miles) and just fall into position and then hammer the downhill. As expected, Joe was with 2 other guys up front and I was a ways back in 5th for most of the 1st mile. I eventually gave up a spot in the first mile, and another spot in the 2nd mile before gaining one back in the final mile. The mile markers ALWAYS seem to be off each year so I don't put a lot of value into my splits. I ran the uphill a little slow but really picked up the pace on the downhill and the short section of dirt road. The last 1/2 mile is always hard as it gradually climbs back up before finishing just below the town hall. It has to be the longest last 1/10th of a mile anywhere. This year it took me 1:15 to run that last '1/10th' of a mile. That comes out to something like a 12 min/mile pace (not bloody likely). Like I said, the mile markers ALWAYS seem to be off. Oh well, at least it's the same every year so I don't mind so much.

Finishing up

I really wanted to break 19 minutes and once again I just missed it, finishing 6th overall in 19:05 (my 2nd fastest time ever at this race). At least it was faster than last year (by 2 whole seconds!). Joe was in the mix right to the end, even leading around the 3 mile mark, before getting passed right before the finish. The top 3 all finished within 8 seconds of each other, good racing indeed. Thankfully Joe finished in the top 3, allowing me to take home the cookie medal for 1st master (40-49). Thanks Joe!

Deb was kind enough to take a bunch of pictures throughout the race. All pics can be found here.
Happy New Year!

Woodford Snowshoe Race

Let the 2011 snowshoe season begin! It's very confusing but trust me, this was the first race of next year :-) The 3.5m loop (results) around Adams Reservoir in Woodford State Park (just outside of Bennington,VT) always seems to have snow, which is probably why it's the 1st race of the snowshoe season each year. Chris Dunn and I tried to round up a few acidotic snowshoers to make the trip with us but instead I was stuck listening to Chris drone on and on about how he was going to beat me. Thanks guys! Just kidding, it was actually a nice uneventful drive, arriving 1 1/2hrs early, with 10-15 cars already in the parking lot. Me thinks some folks were itching to do some snowshoeing.

It seemed a little odd doing a race when I hadn't put on snowshoes since March. All part of the fun I guess. We chatted with some of the regulars and headed over to the start about 1/2hr early to check out the course a bit and try to remember what it was like to run in snowshoes. DD and JJ had marked the course and thought the course would be fast. Woodford isn't a difficult course, doesn't have any real hills but has been tough in the past. This is due to snow conditions. Deep snow, wet snow, deep, wet snow. This year it was just powder. Nice!

The race starts on the access road to the park and goes off like a 5k, heads up the only real hill on the course and then turns into the woods onto some nice single track for the remainder. In my 3rd year running Woodford I thought I'd do something different; take it out a little easier at the start and wait until I hit the single track before picking up the pace. I tucked in behind John Agosto and one other guy early on and could sense Chris right behind me. By the time we hit the single track the top 5 guys were out of sight, never to be seen again. In the past I"d be sucking wind by this time but this year I felt good. The plan worked, who would have thunk it? I passed one guy early on and was content with John pulling me along, finding it easier to follow then to lead. As far as I could tell, Chris was right behind me. Probably a little over a mile in John peeked over his shoulder and slowed on a short climb so I made the pass. Turns out this was the last time I'd see either John or Chris. I'm not sure what happened, whether I got faster or they got slower but within a few minutes I had gapped them enough that I couldn't hear them behind me any more. For the remainder of the race I'd run alone. For the most part I felt good and didn't have any of those 'snowshoe racing is stupid' moments when you wonder why you're doing this. I peeked over my shoulder as I exited the woods for the final 1/3mile finish on the access road. I was all alone so I cruised in, finishing in 6th place o/a with a time of 24:10, nearly 3 minutes faster than last year. Chris and John finished less than a minute behind me.
Good start to the season.

Next up: Peanut Butter Chip Chase 5k on 1/1 and (weather permitting) Beaver Brook 5k Snowshoe Race on 1/2.

Rhode Island 6hr Ultra Relay

I had hoped to post something earlier for this event (which happened over a month ago) but delayed it until official results were posted. After a couple of weeks of waiting I finally got bored and forgot about it (NOTE: due to the timing company not the race director). Now my excuse is I barely remember this event. Good news: two of my teammates (Chris Dunn & Danny Ferreira) both had write-ups on their blogs so I'll defer to them for details on our effort. The crib notes version is we won the relay, setting a course record. Sounds impressive except the relay is only in its second year and the really fast teams haven't heard about it yet. However, a win is a win and we'll take it!

2010 acidotic RACING Relay Team

Pictures from the relay can be found here and here. 
I did want to post some of the numbers regarding lap times and such.

Lap info:

Lap	Runner	Lap Time	Lap Pace
1	Charlie	15:15	05:39
2	Al	14:49	05:29
3	Danny	21:18	07:53*
4	Steve	16:17	06:02
5	Rich	16:56	06:16
6	Chris	16:05	05:57
7	Charlie	14:58	05:33
8	Al	14:45	05:28
9	Danny	15:48	05:51
10	Steve	16:09	05:59
11	Rich	17:01	06:18
12	Chris	16:12	06:00
13	Charlie	15:05	05:35
14	Al	14:43	05:27
15	Danny	16:02	05:56
16	Steve	16:15	06:01
17	Rich	17:32	06:30
18	Chris	16:14	06:01
19	Charlie	15:07	05:36
20	Al	14:56	05:32
21	Danny	16:26	06:05
22	Steve	16:09	05:59

*got lost on his first lap

Runner totals for the day:

Runner	Total Time	Total Miles	Avg Pace
Charlie	1:00:25	10.8	05:36
Al	0:59:12	10.8	05:29
Danny	1:09:34	10.8	06:26
Steve	1:04:51	10.8	06:00
Rich	0:51:29	8.1	06:21
Chris	0:48:30	8.1	05:59
TEAM	5:54:00	59.4	05:58

Finishing up my last lap

Cherish Every Moment

It's a rare occurrence for me to post something that isn't running related. This is one of those rare occurrences. Every once in a while I need to read and see stories like this to put things into perspective, to remind me what's really important.

This is the story of Dax Locke. It is in fact a very sad, heart-wrenching story of a 13 month old boy who died nearly a year ago from a rare form of Leukemia. Doctors told his parents that Dax would most likely not make it to Christmas. It is a story of two very strong, loving parents who did everything they could to make sure their son would have One Last Christmas. It is also a story of how their neighbors and ultimately the entire small town of Washington, Illinois came together to make sure Dax Locke would see Christmas. The story of Dax Locke was put into words by a very inspirational songwriter named Matthew West. Matthew spent months alone in a cabin writing songs for his latest album, an album based entirely on the stories sent to him by his fans. The song One Last Christmas is the story of Dax Locke.

Cherish every moment.

Warning- this song will most likely bring a tear to your eye.

2010 Mill Cities Relay

MCR (results) is an invitation only (Merrimack Valley running clubs) 5-person 27.1 mile relay from Nashua, NH to Lawrence, MA. It probably has the highest member participation of any event all year. With 20+ clubs and 200+ teams, it's where all the cool kids go on the first Sunday in December.
I've run in the Mill Cities Relay every year since joining the Gate City Striders in 2005. I take that back: in 2006 MCR wouldn't let me run because of an idiotic 'rule'. Even though I was a dues paying, active member of GCS, I ran one USATF race in 2006 for the Moose Milers racing team (in March). This somehow made me ineligible to run for GCS. I'm not bitter though.... :-)   (For the record, that rule is no longer in place).I'll get down off my soapbox now.

For the 2nd year in a row I'd be running on a Coed Masters team. Last year I was fortunate enough to be teamed up with some fast teammates and we won the Coed Masters division. This year I was teamed up with all new teammates (hmm, should I read into this?). Just to be clear, I don't pick my teammates. The Gate City Striders pay Michael Wade big bucks to waste hours of his own time arranging 140 runners into 30 teams in 12 different divisions in order to put our club in the best position to score enough points to win the Mill Cities Trophy. All I have to do is show up. My kind of relay!

This year I'd be teamed up with Randy Macneill (leg 1- 5.6m), Julie Hanover (leg 2- 4.75m), Carla Chandler (leg 3- 2.5m), Joe Rogers (leg 4- 9.5m) and I'd be running the 5th leg (4.75m) for the 2nd year in a row. I had some reservations about running this year. The event is fine, but I've felt a bit off the last month or so. I certainly have not felt fast (mostly tired). I was actually thinking about taking a whole week off from running.....gasp!

I kind of like running the last leg. There is no stress in getting to my leg on time and I get to watch the entire relay unfold. This year I hung out at the 1st and 2nd transition areas and took some pictures before finally driving down to Methuen to hang out at my transition area, parking my car about 100m before the actual hand-off area. I really didn't know exactly when Joe would arrive but guessed it would be around 10:30am. I got dressed and was ready to go by 10:15am and was thinking about going for a short warm up (since it was bloody cold out). As I stood by my car talking to Keith Obrien I happened to see Joe running by. Whoops, I guess I'll have to skip the warm up and I raced Joe up the hill to the transition area, getting there just in time to snag the baton and head off on my run. That wasn't planned very well :-)

Leg 5 elevation profile

Leg 5 starts off fairly flat for the first 2 miles, climbs a decent hill in mile 3, descends in mile 4 and is flat as a pancake in the last mile. Last year I went out a little quick and suffered on the hill a bit. I had a decent time (28:30) but it wasn't easy. This year I tried to go out a little easier in the first couple of miles and work a little harder on the hill. I felt fairly comfortable as I hit the first mile in 5:43 (really?) but decided to back off a bit so I wouldn't repeat last years effort on the hill. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by my time. I decided not to check my watch again until the finish. I passed a half dozen runners in the first mile or so but generally ran alone the rest of the way. When you take the final turn you can see the finish but it's probably a 1/2 mile away. I saw another runner pretty far ahead and was definitely gaining but there was no way I was going to catch them. I crossed the line with a leg time of 28:07 (5:55 avg) and a team time of 2:48:32, good for 2nd Coed Masters team, 20th team overall. It turns out the runner I saw in front of me was the winning Coed Masters team. They finished 14 seconds ahead of us!

Big thanks to all the GCS runners (especially Michael Wade) for putting together an incredible team effort. The Gate City Striders took home the Mill Cities Trophy for the 3rd year in a row!

2010 Mill Cities Champs

2010 Stone Cat Trail Marathon

On Saturday I headed down to Ipswich, MA for the 10th annual Stone Cat Trail Marathon and 50 miler (results). I ran this race last year, had a good time, so it was a no-brainer signing up again. Next year I might want to look at my race calendar first. More on that later.
The 6:15am start slide into a 6:30ish start due to an accident on the road to the race. Either way, it was going to be a dark start and headlamps were required.
Last year I went out a little quick and tired in the second half so this year I was hoping for a slower start. Running on wet trails in the dark should slow me down...at least that was the plan.

Starting Line - photo credit Keith Magnus

Speaking of plans, I did have one this year. The marathon does two 12.5 mile loops of the 50 mile course (plus an extra 1.2 miles at the start to make it official). Along the way there are two aid stations, Al's Cafe around 4.2 miles and Fast Freddies around 7.5 miles. There are no mileage markers on this course so the only opportunity I had to check pace would be at the start/finish and at the aid stations. I wrote down some splits on a piece of paper and stuck them in my shorts (based on 7:30 pace). Plan was set, execution not so much. Technically, the plan was good for the first lap as I was fairly close to hitting my splits. In reality it is near impossible to gauge your pace on windy, rocky, rooty mountain bike single and double track trails so the fact I was even close is more due to luck than any skill.

	Miles	Plan	Actual
Al's	5.4	0:40:30	0:39:14
Fast Freddies	8.7	1:05:15	1:05:27
Start/finish	13.7	1:43:30	1:44:13
Al's	17.9	2:15:00	2:17:11
Fast Freddies	21.2	2:39:45	2:45:06
Start/finish	26.2	3:16:30	3:27:10

I hung with the lead group for a couple of miles on the first lap before slipping coming down a hill and hyper-extending my knee, bringing me to a limping walk for a few minutes. Heck, it was probably a good thing, otherwise the lead group would have driven me into the ground, making for a painful 2nd loop. It did make me a little more cautious with my footing as the leaves and roots were very slippery all day. The water crossing around mile 4 was a nice touch this year. Nothing like ankle deep ice water during a cold marathon to keep you motivated. I could have done without the motivation....twice.
I was around runners during most of the first loop with my 6th place position set fairly early on. The second lap was generally 30 sec/mile slower, and I dropped to 7th early in the 2nd lap, running alone for the majority of the loop. Other than that the race was fairly uneventful. I felt pretty good, no cramps or anything. My only complaint was my hip flexors were sore as heck. It was a little frustrating because my legs didn't feel tired, I just couldn't get my stride going. In fact, I knew I was slowing down a bit but I had no idea I had slowed so much. I didn't feel that slow and was a little surprised when I saw the clock at the finish.
I suppose it should have been expected. I hadn't done a long run in I don't know how long and I've run 2 marathons and a 1/2 marathon in the last month. Gee, what could go wrong?

No complaints though. I ran, finished well and didn't get injured. I'll take it.
Top ten finishers:

Place	Name	Age	Time
1	Keith Schmitt	42	3:11:32
2	Andy King	34	3:11:39
3	Paul Young	45	3:12:04
4	Wes Lassen	32	3:20:13
5	Brian Cullinan	30	3:23:42
6	Tommy Nagy	26	3:24:44
7	Steve Wolfe	46	3:27:10
8	Stephen Guillette	31	3:31:22
9	Paul Mandeville	32	3:38:03
10	Rob Martin	-	3:38:23

Race photos should be available later this week here.

I've mentioned it before but it's worth mentioning again (for anyone looking to run a trail marathon). Sunday morning I got up and went for a nice 5m run with no aches or pains. Try to do that after a road marathon!

Next up: Rhode Island 6hr Ultra on Sunday (team relay).