Mt Mansfield down... AT on deck!

Well I ran the Race to the Top of VT Sunday. As usual, the weather could have been better for the time our family was away for one of my crazy races. It rained all day Saturday and overnight so we didn't get to do things like go soaring or ride the alpine slide like we had wanted to. This is the second time this year we planned to go soaring and rain and a low ceiling prevented it!

Because of all that rain, Sunday morning I ended up running up a soggy, muddy, dirt road into the clouds. At the summit you could see nothing but... clouds... since we were inside them! It sure would be nice to finish a mountain race one time and actually SEE something when I get to the top!

I finished 59th overall in a field of about 300 runners with a time of 50:52. Not bad but I had way too much energy left at the finish, which means I could have finished better. I'm not sure why but I had no game plan for the race, which is very atypical for me. I had no goal pace, I had no goal time, I just hadn't thought about the tactics a single bit... I guess I was thinking past this day to next week. Had I driven the course the day before so it was familiar, I would have been in a better state as well but the dirt road was closed the day before due to rain, muddy conditions, and poor visibility. I found that I ran a much better tactical race up Pike's Peak last year since I had hiked it the week before with my family and had a well planned out strategy. By contrast, my races up Mt Washington last year and now Mt Mansfield this year where I ran them both without ever having seen the courses, were tactically poor and I could have run significantly better times had I planned and known where to conserve and where to make up time. Oh well, I learn a little with every race. I had also hoped to break the top 10 in my age division but missed that by coming in 13th. The 40-49 division is so hard in national caliber races like Mt Washington, Pikes Peak and Mt Mansfield... there were 4 guys in the top 10 overall from my division! Many of the best trail runners in the world (like Dean Karnazes and Dave Dunham) are in my age group.

More important than my race, I am proud of Derek, Erica and Jan! We dropped Derek off early in the morning before the race at the intersection of the Long Trail and Rte 108 so that he could hike up Mt Mansfield on his own over the Chin and along face to see me finish my race at the Nose. In the wet weather he did great on his own and was there to see me finish! Jan and Erica opted to take the gondola up most of the way and then ascend a 150 foot rock ledge to get to the ridge where they could hike over to see me finish. What they didn't expect was how slippery and dangerous the ledge was between the moss and slime on the rocks and the rain water running down it like a stream. They made the full climb but not in time to see me finish. All four of us opted to climb back down the ledge after the race to get to the gondola, and I got to see how very steep and slippery it was. They did an awesome job of climbing up it on their own!

My one failure was I had signs (messages of encouragement) to take pictures with at the summit for a few special people listed on my shirt as usual, but I forgot to put them in my warm-up bag being sent to the summit. My fault, but I'll have Jan take some pictures as she drops me off in VT next Monday morning and also when she picks me up in NY a week later instead.

I am so proud of my family's adventurous side, and their indulgence of me in my crazy treks to run up distant mountains! What a lucky guy I am :-)

Ready for the Race to the Top of VT!

I am getting nervous! Only 3 days until the Race to the Top of VT and then 1 week later I am off on my grandest athletic adventure yet... a 7-day solo trek from Stamford, VT to Pawling, NY.

I am absolutely ready for the Mt Mansfield race but I am not sure how ready I am for the 145-mile trek. I have come to realize from a few shakedown runs lately in full gear that running with a 15 pound pack on my back is tremendously more stressful and tiring than running normally.

I am down to just under 145 lbs which is just where I want to be. I feel that my strength to weight ratio is best in this area... if I drop lower I am not getting enough nutrition to keep up my energy and if I go higher I am carrying weight I don't need... especially given the extra weight on my back.

I am concerned about maintaining my weight on the AT run. I have been losing on average 2-3 lbs on a full pack run lately and I will have to keep ingesting enough water and calories to make up what I burn each day.

In order to keep my backpack weight down I have had to give up a few cherished items in my pack like an air mattress, a real tent, and extra food. I will try and make a bed of leaves and pine needles each night underneath my minimalist tarp tent shelter for comfort and I plan to run through towns each day where I will buy my lunch rather than carrying an extra meal / day. I am trying out a new water filter and a sleeping bag which barely covers the temp range I will be in at night to reduce the weight so I may be sleeping in my tights and long sleeve shirt.

My biggest concern is rain. Having a rugged tent and footprint would be ideal but again weight is my enemy. I will hope for light rain during the day and clear nights for a worst case but somehow I think a hurricane will come through during my run with my luck. Bring it on Mother Nature, I'm on a mission just as I was on Pike's Peak last year when you threw everything you had at me!

I will write at least one more time after my race and before I head out on the trek. Until then, LiveSTRONG my friends!