North Face Endurance 50

Yesterday Mark and I ran in the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Trail Race. The event took place in Bear Mountain, New York. The race course was truly a challenge. The course had it all: slick rocks, momentum stopping mud, brutal climbs, steep decents, wet roots... It was an intense day of running that beat me up pretty good. 150 runners started the race and less than half (72) finished. I managed a solid finish time of 11:41 (41st place.) Mark finished in 10:33 and won his age group (and took home some cool North Face gear as a result.) An incredibly tough run but satisfying in the end.

Mark's ready to go

Not sure if I'm ready to go...

Headlamps were needed with a 5 AM race start

Race start

The finish line

I'm finally done!


Well earned medals

New favorite drink

Northern Nipmuck Volunteer

Bruce and I volunteered today for the Northern Nimpuck Trail Race, satisfying one of the qualifications for entry into the VT100 Endurance Race. We had a great time and enjoyed being on the other side of the table. A big thanks to Jim C. for letting us work at his race.

Clint at the registration table

Bruce setting up the aid station

All set and waiting for some runners

Bruce started off the race by identifying to each runner, which drinks were the gatorade, water and soda. I said "Bruce, you're gonna drive me nuts if you say this to every runner in the race. They know the difference between water and gatorade." So he stopped. Shortly after, a runner came through, grabbed a drink and then quickly spewed it out saying "That's not gatorade!" She got it mixed up with the mt. dew. Bruce just looked at me, "See." Ha ha...

Clint with under 4 miles to go.

The aid station was on a dirt road that saw a few cars during the race. Coincidentally it seemed the cars passed by when there were no runners at our station. So to those who didn't know a race was going on, it looked like Bruce and I were out in the middle of the woods selling lemonade. Apparently we never learned about "location, location, location."

Long Run On The Rail Trail

Another great long run this morning. I met up with Mike, Bruce, Clint and Mark at the Rt. 30 intersection of the Rail Trail in Vernon. We knocked out the first 11 1/4 miles in 1:32 (8:10 Pace). We refueled at a 7-11, made the turn and headed back. When we hit the Valley Falls area, we ditched off the RT onto some single track. We tacked on 7 to 8 miles by completing a loop on each side of the Rail Trail. After the single track, we hopped back on the RT and finished the run back to our vehicles. In the final 5 miles of the run, Mark led us into stupid mode and we pushed it to the finish with an extremely painful sub 7:00 pace. In the end it was a 4:45 run and I'd say at least a 30 miler...

4:55 AM. Mike and the Electric Blue Dolphin Man

Mike, EBDM, Bruce and Clint

Mike picked up some gatorade and pink bunny ears

Hmmm... What to get...

Fueling up for the trek back.

On the Rail Trail

Bruce, watch out for the iceberg!!

Clint, Mark and I at a lookout point along the single track

Trail Run On The Nipmuck Courses

Mark, Bruce and I hit the trails this morning (5:30 AM) for a long run on sections of the Nipmuck Trail Marathon and Northern Nipmuck Trail Race courses. We parked at the Northern end of the Nipmuck Marathon course and ran south (7 miles) to the start. It was dark and it was cold (sub 20 F), but we were having a good time. We then repeated that section back to where we started to complete the 14 mile roundtrip. We reloaded our fuel and then headed north on the Northern Nipmuck course. We picked up the pace a bit and worked hard as we traversed the difficult trail heading north. Once we reached 6 miles out, we turned back and finshed up our run back to our vehicles. 26 miles in 5:10 on some tough terrain. Excellent way to welcome in Spring.

Bruce is rather happy for 5:30 AM on a Saturday...

...and Mark isn't

It was dark

Mark

Me

Bruce

Me...

... Mark

... and Bruce approaching "two pipes"

"Two pipes"

Me heading up the ridge

Lots of terrain like this on the Northern Nipmuck trail

Mark finishing up the run

Heading home

The Wee Mile

The kids ran in the O'Hartford Wee Mile today:

A trail run and a parade

Today's events:

4:30 AM - Alarm went off and I dragged my butt out of bed.

5:10 AM - Met up with Mark, Bruce and Clint at Case Mtn. for a long trail run.

5:15 AM - As we set off for the trail, one of Manchester's Finest pulled up and lowered his window. The ensuing conversation went like this:
Me: "Good morning officer."
Officer: "Hi ya doing fellas?"
Me: "We're headed out for a run. Would you like to join us?"
Officer: "No thanks. I just chased some guys and I'm tired. I'm looking to get some rest. Hey, be careful out there, we had to shoot some.."
Me: "Runners?" I interjected.
Officer: "Ha ha.. last week. No. Some Fisher cats. They were going after some hikers."
Us: "Thanks for the tip. Mark, keep your knife handy."

9:45 AM - Finished up with a 24 mile/4:15 run. Clint guided us through a whole new area for us. Good stuff.

10:15 AM - Arrived back at the house, showered up, changed, grabbed the family and headed out shortly after 10:30 AM for the St. Patrick's parade.

11:00 Am - Got into Hartford just in time for the start of the parade. We went down a one way street that had nowhere to park and the only way out was to drive on the parade route under police guidance. Shannon freaked out. It was pretty funny. We parked, found a great spot and enjoyed the sights and sounds. The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast. Here are some pics and video clips of the festivities:

Cool Alex and his crazy sister...