that 70's show

2007 Grand Tree Series Race #5 - The Soapstone Trail Races 14.5 miler
People are asking if I ride horses because of my 'end of the weekend walk'.
It is a fair trade.
I'd expose myself to quite a bit of self torture for 70+ Grand Tree points. Yep - you read that right. For the first time, I finally broke the 70 barrier for Grand Tree percentage points and did it right ~ 74.5%.
(I always liked the 70's.)
The Striders made this course profile graphic and posted it on their web. Click for a larger version. Actually, click on any graphic or photo for an enlargement.
Looking at the chart, it is no wonder about the altered gait (let alone worked a soccer game).
I really like Soapstone not only because it is so close to home, but because it is a great course and Carolyn runs the Sampler at the same time and that is neat (see below).
We both awoke early on a surprisingly chilly and wet day. Heading east on Route 190, we couldn't even see the mountains due to fog.
We parked, got ready and I tried to do a few things to help this nagging achilles bursitis. But, the time came soon enough to head on down the path to the starting line for all involved.
Because of the chilly temps and overall moisture, I decided to leave the hydration sack for the first time in a year and go with the small fanny pack and bottle, refilling at most stops and dropping a nuun tablet every 16 ounces. I am a big believer in the 6P Rule and probably put way too much emphasis on the planning. But it has served me well so far since the disasterous first attempts at trail running years ago.
The Samplers start off on a Dipsea handicapped system so the 14.5 milers head off first. I found the pack of guys that I have run with at 7 Sisters, Merrimack and Northern Nipmuck. I saw them all day long too. They all seem like nice guys and that makes the trails a bit more fun. They all took off ahead of me, but we kept running into each other all day long.
The race starts off with a mile on some pretty easy fire road, then a turn onto some single track which takes you to the "Killer Hill". The chart says 310 feet climb in about 1/16th of a mile.
No kidding.
Truly hand-over foot and basically unrunable except by the leaders. Even more treacherous in the rain. But, it does thin out the pack. I'll have to go back, take photos and post them later.
Your reward for getting to the top? It is the time to make gravity your friend ~ right down a rock-laden drop from the top back to the road level (green) trail!
Once you get down there it becomes pretty enjoyable. Nothing impossible all the way to first water stop at 3.6 miles. Just some partially technical running avoiding the rocks that make up all trails in southern New England. I hit this water stop at 34 minutes. Plus, it was raining and staying cool. It didn't get better than this.
Then more of the same for another few miles all the while gradually dropping elevation all the way down to the almost half-way water stop at 7.15 miles.
Maybe that is why it is so enjoyable?
I hit this at 1:05 this year, and 1:04 last year when I did my PR of 2:16. But, I felt stronger this year with less desire to powerhike the ups. I think I finally have my leg cramp issues under control with the judicious use of the nuun tablets (thanks Lotto) and that is usually what stops me in this event. My chances at a PR didn't look to shabby. Plus, next was THE STREAMBED which always gets me going!
On a dry year, this combination farm road and stream bed is a good running creek. This year, it was awesome. It was 8 or so minutes of running through some pretty good deep flowing water. Darn cold water.
At the bottom, there is a sharp left turn up a hill that is well-marked, but first-year people miss it anyway (as I did in 2004). I called 3 people back from the farm field down the trail and I guess many people went that way for a spell before finding the error of their navigation.
There is a long stretch between this point and the next water station and although I was going at a good clip, I lost 2 minutes somewhere in these three miles. That will be make me wonder for quite a while exactly where and / or how.
I hit the 11.6 mile water stop at 1:53 and with the realization that the chance for a PR had been lost somewhere on the last stretch of trail. My time was still pretty good, but I'd have to make up a whole bunch of time in the very little left. This last part was the stretch that Carolyn and I (and some friends) run with some familiarity. That always helps the mind. You know when you can hike and when you can run and when you can fly down hills with reckless abandonment. There is this massive free-standing rock structure that splits the trail towards the end and when you see that, you've got very little left before the last 2 climbs to the road and the Quarry trail.
And that Quarry trail ~ even with fresh legs, it is tough to navigate in any assemblance of control. On legs that are shot, it is essentially keeping from flying down the hill.
But, it is a blast. Check out to profile map and it is easy to see where that rapid last drop off is right at mile 13.
A quick turn left onto the road is both pleasure as the end is only about a mile-and-a-half away, but absolute torture on the joints after all the soft stuff.
The road continues back almost to the start turning back into a gravel road and up two short grades. Someone had thoughtfully placed Sampler bib numbers with the distance left pinned to the side of the road. Who knows if it was accurate ~ it helped. At 2/10ths left, a quick right turn onto a dirt trail for about a 100-yards then the painfully long finish up the field to the end. This year, the finish line was staffed by cowbell ringers cheering for everyone. What an awesome touch.
I finished with a 2:19.25 - three minutes slower than my PR.
All the rest of the day I wondered ~ this is now 2 races with the new forest camo boonie hat, and both races, I've done 3 minutes slower than my PR.
PR+3? I'll take it - as long as I get 70+ Grand Tree points.

The Soapstone Sampler 6k (Carolyn and Shelly)
I am still waiting on a formal story and report from these two. I think that they just went out and had a blast. I know that Carolyn finally got to see Richard Busa when lining up for the race. The Striders webpage results have Shelly taking 2nd place overall for women, but I know that she had to leave before the awards ceremony to play in a soccer game! Yeah! I have a sneaky suspicion that you'll see these two at a few more events before The People's Forest.

conformity

The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself.
-Rita Mae Brown, writer (1944- )

yes, but does she have a sister?

2007 Grand Tree Series Race #4 - The 7 Sisters Trail Race (listed at 12.1 miles ~ but it more like 87.4 miles).
There is a certain calm that passes over you the moment right before you really get nailed in life. Like before a sneeze when you know its gonna happen, but it hasn't happened yet.
For the 7 Sisters Trail run (aptly described as a 'cult classic' because the thing has a way of brainwashing you), this occurs on I-91 when you see the full range in the morning sunshine.
You just know this one is gonna hurt just to finish.
So, I thought why not wear my new forest camo boonie so that the forest spirits might not see me and allow me to pass unharmed!!!
So much for that idea. It was a great place to hold my roll of Nuuns through.
PMHx: I tried to run this course back in grad school with my buddy Scott. His wife Karen had to pick us up at the summit house. Then I tried again on my own the following summer and had to take the road back. 5 years ago, I was determined to do it fully out and back.
Walked funny for weeks, I did.
But was determined to do it again and do it right.
I signed up for the 2004 7 Sisters Trail Race and didn't sleep right for days before or after. It hurt BAD, but I somehow pulled out a 2:47:42 and good for 74th place out of 177 finishers. Yes - you read that right. I ran slightly faster than 14 minutes per mile and was very happy with the results.
Since then, I've done parts of it several times as a birthday treat, for great tortuous training runs and some of it every September with my Junior hockey team. Last year, Scott came back to challenge the beastie with me and he tells me that he is finally able to say the words "trail" and "race" together again in the same sentence without having a nervous breakdown.
It has that kind of impact on your psyche.
This year, I stayed as mellow as possible with my achilles still bothering me somewhat and now on my 4th different pair of trail shoes since March 1. I stayed back in the pack of 257 soon-to-be finishers and headed up the hill to the first mile mark. We got to the top of Bare Mountain in 10 and change which is amazingly fast for the almost 300 people packed onto the side of Route 116 and funneled down on the a narrow, very rocky singletrack.
The race then proceeds down Bare, up a good sized mini-hill which I know as "Boo-boo" as it is a little 'Bare'), then down and *all the way up* to the top of Hitchcock.
There is an awesome lookout there over the full range (see right), but we didn't have time nor energy to stop this time.
Then down the 4 descents to the Low Places - the only place on the whole course where you can run for more than 30 feet without either going up or down. Then the Sisters.
Sister #1 is a hand-over foot climb. First timers must think that the white blaze on the side of a rock face 20 feet up is a joke, because I sure did. See the picture on the right.
There is 6 more of these lumpy things - some slightly steep and some are out-and-out climbs. Each are only a few hundred feet long, some with several slower progressive steps to the top but all keep you from ever getting a rhythm.
And that is what makes this so difficult of an event.
There was no foliage this year and the trail was actually hot, windy and dusty (instead of the usual muddy, shady and soft), so the hydration pack was going fast. almost 4 liters of fluid for the event. Down the last Sister (#7), cross the summit road and right back up to Mount Holyoke and the Summit House.
I ran across the Summit House balcony at 1:01 which is alright considering I took the first part very easy.
As I started down the side of the peak (slowly at first), the leader Paul Low came flying *up* the side of the mountain already heading back up from the turn around! I think that if a UFO-ologist is looking for proof of extraterrestrials among us, they should check anyone that finishes under 2 hours for the 7 Sisters.
I figure the hill down to the Connecticut River and the turn around as a 830 foot drop in about 1 1/2 miles Gotta love them negatives. I hit the turn around at 1:21.
The rest stop was a great place to fill up my hydration sack, drop in a few electrolyte tablets, grab a few cookies, a GU, turn around and head right back up to the Summit House (who designed this course?!?!? )
Back to the Summit House at 1:47 with some familiar faces around me of people I try to stay near. You get to run right across the balcony of the Summit House and look north out over the whole Pioneer Valley and that is a great part of this race.
Then the return along the same trail whence you came. Or should that be wince you came?
The next part of the race gets to be more of a psychological challenge than a physical one. EVERYONE is hurting bad and those that want it more continue at pace. The rest have to take breaks. This year, I passed many more than passed me. I also ran within a few minutes of the trip out. Just a few too many.
Heading into Sister #3, I heard a few younger voices behind me. We seemed to be at a similar pace, so we talked along the final 3 miles or so. Turns out that one of them (Allen) stayed with me for the rest of the race, and as we were both aiming for a sub-3-hour finish, we were both pushing each other up those last few torturous climbs. Once we hit the top of Bare and knew we had a sub-3 finish all but locked up if we didn't break anything, we both started to allow gravity to be our friend.
That down hill was nothing but a blur and thinking back, I'm simply glad that we didn't break anything. The finish line came mercifully at 2:50:38, but only good for 104th. Good enough for me on a day like today. Almost 3 minutes exactly slower than my PR here.
The ladies in the State Park pavillion made some awesome homemade granola, yogurt and baked goods etc.
Sitting there absorbing and inhaling the food while watching and cheering on everyone else through the finish is one of those pure happiness moments that I really like about trail running the Sisters.
Kind of like the moment right after you sneeze.

"Anyone who does the Sisters more than once is nuts. Anyone can be forgiven for trying it once." - Semi-Anonomous friend

the mad ones

"The only people for me are the mad ones. The ones who are mad to love, mad to talk, mad to be saved; the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."
- Kerouac

After all of the ups and downs that the 7 Sisters (and Hitchcock, Holyoke and Bare offer), my quads will burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles alright....
....and it helps to be mad to accept that challenge more than once.