2009 Race/Run Wish List

I can recall about this time of year--late October/early November--growing up, a couple large tomes would come in the mail. When the Sears and JC Penny Christmas catalogs arrived, my sister and I would snag them immediately, and lay down with pens circling dozens of Star Wars figures, bikes (different items in Susie's case, not limited to Strawberry Shortcake dolls), what-have-you, that would officially kick off the "wish list" for the upcoming season.

I miss the wish lists. And not to be completely cut-off from childhood (since I rarely feel like I am anyway :), I thought I'd throw out a trail running/racing wish list for 2009. Something to think about, drool over, get feedback on, and figure out how to train for.

In this case, it's not a pie-in-the-sky wish list. Like the childhood lists, it represents [races] that seem doable, driveable, in the realm of possibility. It would be fun to throw some of the way cool west coast races on there (I would LOVE to run the Big Sur Trail Marathon some time!), but I know that isn't likely to materialize this year.

I am starting/building the list around three staples: one per season, spring, summer, fall. I hope to throw another couple races on the docket, something early in the year and later, but this is a great foundation.

It is also open to interpretation and suggestions. The racing experience, for me, is enhanced by having others along to share it, participate in it, enjoy it. If my Rise Up Runner peeps have some different wish-list races of their own, throw them out there in the comments. Let's get a discussion going!

And the thought process comes on the heels of talking with Landy Cook, who has been working his way back from a torn meniscus this summer, with surgery in early September. He's been biking and swimming, and eyeing a return to running. Thinking about racing and running, he says he doesn't want to enter races just to enter races, rather to do races he REALLY wants to do, either for the course, the people, or the "soul" of the race. I wholeheartedly concur.

So here are my three staples. Three trail races, each between 30 and 35 miles. One in Maryland, one in Pennsylvania, one in Virginia--none of which I've run before, but each of which I have heard great things about. And for those interested in the races, but not quite the distance, the PA and VA races offer 18 and 13.1 mile options.

HAT Run - March 21, 2009, 50K (31 Miles). The Hinte Anderson Trail (HAT) 50K is a spring classic. Run in and around the Susquehanna State Park, it attracts runners from all up and down the east coast and was the subject of a big feature article in Trail Runner magazine, looking at the race's history, runners, and the course. It's a venerable and fun trail ultra, which provides great incentive for long, winter trail runs :). The race fills up every year, so early registration is key.

Rachel Carson Trail Challenge - June 20, 2009, 34 Miles. I wanted to do this for 2008, but couldn't make it happen. It's in Pittsburgh, PA, home of friends and family for us. It is conceived as a "challenge"--a full day "hike," which is frequented by trail and ultra runner as well as plenty of long distance hikers. The Rachel Carson Trail doesn't believe in switchbacks, so the trails go straight up and over mountains, making it tough beyond simply challenging. The balance of that is that it is low-key, with people taking it easy and pushing themselves to cover the distance in a day. I love the concept of hiking/running a trail from end-to-end vs. an arbitrary start and finish. I am a fan of the location and the excuse to visit friends and family. And there is an 18-mile shorter option, if Joel doesn't feel like training for the full 34 ;)

Great Eastern Endurance Run - last weekend in September, 50K (31 Miles). 2008 was the year of heading north to Vermont. 2009 could be the year to head south to Charlottesville, Virginia, one of the trail running meccas of the Mid-Atlantic. The Charlottesville Running Company and Bad to the Bone races holds some top notch races on the trails and roads around Wahoo country throughout the year. The GEER has three options: 100K, 50K, half-marathon. I'm thinking 50K because I am not yet at the point of picturing a 62 mile outing. But there is time for it to grow on me, perhaps (yikes, did I just write that?). Charlottesville is a great, fun town, could be a great weekend destination, a la Vermont, with lots for folks to do. And as to the course, go to the site and check out some of the many, many photos, that go along with this one...


So there is the beginning of my trail running/racing wish list for 2009. What do you think? What's missing? Anything to add in January/early February or November/December? Any takers for road trips? Put your thinking/wishing caps on. And now, there's plenty more adventures and races still to come in 2008!

Run For the Hills...

Hills and mountains are a challenge when you train on Maryland's notoriously flat Eastern Shore. At the end of the month, Sunday, September 28, to be exact, we take our Rise Up Runner team of Mike Keene, Katherine Binder, and myself to the Vermont 50 miler, to have a go at the 3-person 50 mile relay.

Katherine takes the 12-mile lead leg, then I run the 22-mile middle leg, before passing the figurative baton to Keene for the 16-mile anchor leg. You can check out the elevation gain and losses (aka climbs and descents) clicking above. Here's a course description from the VT 50 website:

"The Vermont 50 Mile course starts at Ascutney Mountain Resort in Brownsville, VT . For the first three miles racers will follow down a gentle downhill on gravel roads. After an easy road climb the course turns onto snowmobile - ATV trails, which it follows through gentle rolling terrain for the next 3 miles. Shortly after leaving the ATV trails, the real climbing and descending starts. The course will follow ATV and jeep trails, single track and roads through the top of the highest hill in Hartland, where racers will get an incredible view of Vermont and New Hampshire. From about mile 40 to mile 46.5, racers will have a nice snowmobile trail over rolling, mostly downhill terrain, before hooking onto the cross country ski trail system at Mt. Ascutney for the last 4 miles."

In terms of distance/mileage, training is on track. This past Sunday I logged a 21+ mile run to the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry and back to Easton in 3:12, followed by a 10-mile day with negative splits, ending up on about 8:00 minute mile pace for the last several miles of the run. We've even been throwing some speed work in for good measure.

Hill training though, still needs some work over the next couple weeks. We've had a decent streak of Tuckahoe State Park Sundays, even throwing in some hill repeats, and I think there is more in store there.

We certainly want to get up there and look respectable (for a bunch of flatlanders :), but the main thing is to go have fun running through the mountains. Vermont in the fall is beautiful. A new state to run trails in, and with good friends. That's what running trail races is all about.

And races keep me getting out there for long runs. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to go out and survey Tuckahoe, post-Hanna. Perhaps I should take along a life jacket! ;)

A Tale of Two Races: The Delaware Trail Marathon Report

Amongst the crowd, just after the start at the Delaware Trail Marathon, one of four races during the Triple Crown trail race series. Photo by Joel Shilliday.

In any race of 26.2 miles or longer, my goal is to finish and enjoy as much of the race as I can. Having said that, the marathon is not my best race. Yet. It may never be, but I think I'll keep plugging away at it. And if my marathon endeavors can be mostly on trails, so much the better.

One of us will be updating the Rise Up Runners blog with photos and a more holistic look at the day--Joel was a masterful photographer, waiter, fastpacker, you name it, and ran a smoking 10K on a difficult course; Mike Keene ran the "Triple Crown," which consists of a half-marathon, a 10K, and a 5K, consecutively. He has a great race report on his blog; and you'll hear a bit here about fellow trail marathoner Landy Cook--so this post is dialed in pretty closely on the marathon.

The Delaware Trail Dawgs have a running playground of a course that may be the envy of the Mid-Atlantic states. Hilly (REALLY hilly if you train on Maryland's Eastern Shore), wooded, great singletrack, creek crossings, and open meadows--a diverse terrain for running. The marathon course is two loops of the 13.1 mile half-marathon course.

The trail marathon started at 7:35 a.m., 5 minutes after the half-marathon. We tramped across a field, before turning downhill, then winding through the woods on twisting singletrack. I am a runner who is compelled by gravity--I run falling fast down the downhills and quickly through wooded singletrack, while struggling on the steep uphill climbs.

A 5-minute lag in start times, meant that many marathoners would catch and intermingle with slower half-marathoners pretty quickly. That was the case, and I got stuck behind people throughout the first part of the course. This could well have been a blessing, as it made me hold back and pace myself.

Crossing the White Clay Creek was a high point of the race--a high point we hit 4 times, each more refreshing than the last. The "other" side of the creek had some superb singletrack, which finally emerged to a long, gravel, and dirt climb. Uncharacteristically, I ran the climb, pushing past a number of runners, until we emerged onto a winding, sunny meadow trail. On the first lap, I enjoyed the meadow, since it got us away from climbing.

The meadow marked the far point of the loop, and on the way back to the creek, I found myself feeling great and passing people consistently, particularly on the more technical sections. As I approached the creek to cross back over, I caught up to Landy, who I ran with pretty well from the second to the third crossing, when I was feeling fresh and motivated.

We hit the half-marathon mark at 2:08, without ever pushing the pace, and feeling reasonably well. Landy had been recovering from the flu for the past week, and was questioning racing at all until Friday. As we hit the halfway point, a conversation worth noting:

M: "You know, this would be a great day, finish a half-marathon, enjoy the cookout, and I'd feel great going home, cut the grass, work in the yard, whatever."

L: "Yeah, that would be the common sense approach, wouldn't it? Then again, long distance running and common sense don't generally go together, do they?"

I ran at a consistent pace up until crossing the creek for the third time. At that point, my nutritional sins from the first lap caught up with me. I had only eaten two gels and been drinking water, and taking S-Caps for sodium. I simply wasn't taking in the calories I needed for the second half of the race. I stopped to re-tie my shoes on the far side of the creek, and Landy pushed ahead, "I'm gonna keep moving, and I'll let you catch up to me." That was the last I saw of him until the finish line.

My tank hit bottom empty, and when I stumbled out to the next aid station, I loaded up on boiled, sliced potatoes and M&Ms. I struggled with low-t0-no energy and debilitating leg cramps for the rest of the second lap, strategically running where I could, and power-walking when my legs were too cramped to run, or I came to a steep uphill. Some of my best and fastest stretches or lap 1 were my toughest stretches of lap 2.

That said, I was running a trail race, and was having a blast. I tried to stock up at aid stations and shuffle along in between. With a couple miles left to go, you could hear the crowd at the finish, without being able to gauge how close you were. But pushing up the final hill and turning the corner to the grassy finish, my legs came back and allowed for a reasonable hundred yard dash, past a trifecta of smiling and cheering Rise Up Runner comrades, for a finish time of 5:02 and change. My slowest marathon, but on undoubtedly the toughest marathon course I have run, and certainly the most fun.

The final stretch of field to the finish line, with renewed energy and legs. Thanks to Joel Shilliday for the photo.

I have some work to do on the nutritional end, to get stronger on the second half of a marathon. I'm not so much worried about time as running a complete race. I'll have one or two more marathon chances this year, so stay tuned.

The Delaware Trail Marathon was my first Trail Dawgs race, but certainly won't be my last. A great crowd of people, a fun race, awesome aid station volunteers. And probably the most fun, which isn't touched on in this post, is that this was the first race since the Rise Up Runners group was formed, and four of us made the trip to race. I hope this is the first of many races together. We'll see which one is next.