Thursday, December 8, 2011
2011 Summary
April - Traprock 50K
October - Nipmuck Marathon
October - Bimbler's 50K
November - StoneCat 50 Miler
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Western States Endurance Run Part 2

It’s been my experience that the shorter the period of time between finishing a race and writing the report the more effective in capturing the essence of the event. Since the WSER I’ve been balancing recovery with our family vacation to Yosemite, San Fran, Redwood Forest, Crater Lake, Oregon Coast, Mt Ranier and Seattle.,,so I took notes the day after WS which have now disappeared somehow on our travels, so here we go. There’s just no way around it, this is a long race report.
We arrived at Squaw Valley on Thursday and settled in at the Squaw Valley Lodge which is a stone’s throw to the pre-race activities and starting line. Amie’s aunt and uncle welcomed her and the girls for the night to their place on Lake Tahoe affording me the luxury of a peaceful night’s sleep.
WSER is steep in ultra running history and is the 100 miler that attracts some of the best around to compete against one another. I decided months ago that I wouldn’t let the hype of the event be a distraction, but to use it in my favor. After all, regardless of the popularity of the event I still had to be prepared to traverse 100 miles across the Sierra Nevadas. Friday morning I decided to soak in the atmosphere at picturesque Squaw Valley while checking in, going through the standard pre race medical check, picking up some sweet swag and finalizing drop bags for delivery. At 1:30 I attended the mandatory pre-race meeting, delivered by Tim Twietmeyer, 5 time winner of the race. Per tradition, the top 10 men and women runners were brought front and center and introduced. Between my daily cup of coffee, the energy of the meeting, and the anticipation of the race, I think I had enough energy to carry me 100 miles.
After issues with connecting flights, my pacer from CT, Steve Nelson, arrived just prior to Amie and the kids. Steve was excited to be at Squaw and part of the event. I gave Steve a tour of the starting area, Olympic village, etc..before a pizza dinner with the crew. The kids quickly gave their approval of Steve after meeting him for the first time by awarding him “cool” status.
My goals and plan for the race: I went in confident that if I could manage the heat, only two things could prevent me from finishing within the 30 hour cut off time, 1. Injury, 2. Deviating from my nutrition plan and putting myself in a deficit that I couldn’t climb out of. My plan was to move well early before the heat of the day would naturally slow me down. Focus on what I’d need heading into aid stations, get what I needed quickly, and get out. The goal was to move at a controlled pace, take what the day would give me, and hope that this would put me in a position to finish in less than 24 hours.
Saturday morning Amie and I headed over to the start area, took some pictures, and met up with Steve who introduced me to Michelle Roy from Massachusetts. After some brief comments by Tim Tweitmeyer and Gordy Ainsleigh we counted down from 10 and we were off and running.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Western States Endurance Run Part 1

As I recover, gather some thoughts, and vacation I'll start to work on blog post "part 2" that will detail the race. This post focuses on my valuable experience with Steve Nelson.
Steve enthusiastically gave his time and incurred costs to travel across the country to pace me at WS. This alone was pretty selfless, but he gave so much more. I struggled and suffered over the last 25 miles or so of the race as Steve listened to my body rebel by moaning, groaning, and dry heaving for hours. He was my provider, dumping ice water over my head to keep me cool, ensuring that I ate at the aid stations even though I didn't feel like it, picking me up when I fell, was patient, firm and motivating. He endured the quiet of the night as I struggled and couldn't talk. We pushed and pushed for hours to be able to give breaking 24 hours a shot and during one of my low points when I said "I'm not sure there's going to be enough time", he wouldn't let me off the hook, and got me on track. He verbally pulled me the last few miles.
Even though I suffered immensely during the later stages of this race I was determined to get in under 24 hours. However, determination alone wasn't enough. Without Steve's generosity, pacing skills, and attention to details, there's no way I finish the WSER in under 24 hours. I will forever be grateful for all that Steve has given, done, and sacraficed for me.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Checking In
Overall, I've been pleased with my training for the WSER100. I've built a solid base of quality miles of trail runs, hill repeats, long runs, trail races, etc...I've logged several weeks of 50+ miles, a couple 60+, and a 70+ week. I've significantly backed off the miles the past few weeks as to manage some tweaks, discomforts, and a reoccuring IT Band issue. Sage ultra advice says it's better to show up at the start line a little under trained, than a little injured. So, while these current weeks are prime training periods, I'm spending my time stretching and strengthening, and hardly running. Since training has been solid I'm not overly concerned and am starting to build miles again. At this point, with only 5 weeks left to WSER100, my focus will be to balance continued progress with issues and increase training miles.
Since the temps at the WSER100 will likely reach 100 degrees, heat training becomes important. Fortunately my work schedule is fairly flexible, so over the next month I'll hit the office early and try to get my runs in mid day as often as possible. I recently read that AJW drives around with his heat on high as a way to prepare. I've considered this, but realized it might be tough to explain to DCF when the kids wither :)
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Going to California!!!
The Western States 100 Endurance Run is one of the oldest ultra races and challenging to get into. A certain number of participants are "invited" by winning other endurance distance races and other slots are reserved for those who have managed aid stations in prior year races. After these commitments, 270 slots were left and over 1,500 from all over the world signed up for the race. A lottery is used to determine the remaining slots leaving me with a 17% chance of being selected.
Today ,in Auburn, CA, a lottery for the 270 available slots was held at noon. While eating lunch with the family I had mentioned to Amie that the lottery was being broadcast live through the website so she grabbed her laptop and pulled it up to find out that my name had not been chosen. When we realized that the lottery was only half over Amie continued to watch and listen with anticipation while I headed out to run an errand as I wasn't too optimistic of getting in since my chances at that point were reduced down to about 10%.
While at my friend Ken's, cutting trim to finish a bathroom remodeling project, Amie called and I immediately knew I had been selected as her screams of excitement rang through the phone. As you can tell by the odds not many get to experience the 100 miler from Squaw Valley through trails once used by gold miners that end up in Auburn, CA. This section of the Sierra Nevada mountain range is absolutely beautiful and I'm pumped to have the opportunity for this experience.
Wow..only six months away..time to start training.
California, here I come.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Shenipsit Trail - End to End
I met up with Art in East Hampton about 5:15 to drop my car at the southern end of the trail. I literally met Art for the first time at this point as he had recently learned of the day's excursion through a trail running club I just joined, The Shenipsit Striders. After a brief discussion of logistics, plans, and expectations Art was eager to join and we welcomed him in. We picked up Scott at the Bolton Notch area parking lot of the rail trail, grabbed Mark in Tolland, and headed to the northern end of the trail on County Rd.
With hydration packs loaded with fuel we started our journey shortly after sunrise. After a couple miles we found ourselves in familiar territory of Soapstone Mountain. Scott, Mark and I have done a fair amount of trail running at Soapstone Mountain, Shenipsit Lake area, Belding Wildlife area, the rail trail, and Case and Birch Mountains. We moved well early on and I was pleasantly surprised to learn of some of the pieces of the trail that connect these unique and special places.
Mark, Bruce, and Art
Heading Through Valley Falls
We could see and hear the impact of the high winds as trees, limbs, and branches were strewn thought the trail. However, we were fortunate to enjoy comfortable temperatures and sunshine on our journey.
The branch that missed Scott by a nanosecond
After heading through some steep and rocky terrain at Soapstone, flat and straight at Shenipsit Lake, comfortable pines at Belding, and the rail trail we arrived at Scott's car which doubled as our solo aid station. After a brief stop to refill hydration packs, enjoy some oranges courtesy of Scott, and some other goodies, we said our goodbyes to Scott and continued on our way.



Art and Mark and Bolton Notch pond.
Our pace slowed as we continued on the ascent up to Birch and Case Mountains. Case Mountain was probably the area we experienced the most people enjoying the trail, which is no surprise as it's an absolutely beautiful track out and into the Meshomasic State Forest.
Throughout the day our only issues with navigation seemed to occur heading through the roads that connected the woods. Mark's internal compass proved trustworthy, but relied on his detailed maps when needed. We ended up off course a few times, but were able to get back on track without much of an issue.

Feeling the fatigue of the day, we were encouraged as we reached Rte 2, a landmark that we were looking forward to getting behind us. One of the busiest travel and traffic weekends of the year was kind to us as we had an opportunity to cross both lanes without much of a wait. Fortunately our crossing window was wide open as Art's leg cramped up as we made our way over the pavement.

The sun made it's way lower as we made our way through the "Mesh". We dodged our way through and around the standing water on the jeep roads of the next few miles. We continued into East Hampton and saw the sunset, climbed our way up over a ridge and experienced another sunset. As it grew dark we neared the end and were treated with an impressive overlook of Great Hill Pond and the surrounding area.



Started just after sunrise, finished just after sunset, total of 46 miles. It was great to experience the Shenipsit trail from end to end.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
StoneCat 50 Miler
The StoneCat trail races are held at Willowdale State Forest in Ipswich, MA. The course is a 12.5 mile loop consisting of a mix of single and double track trails. Clint, Mark, and I woke about 4:20, arrived at the race a little after 5 a.m., and were ready to rock for the 6:15 start. After a quick pre-race briefing about 300 of us were off an running. Half the group would detour off of the main 12.5 mile loop to pick up 1.2 miles that would be added to their 2 loops for the marathon distance race. The 50 milers would run the 12.5 mile loop 4 times.
Uncharacteristic of me, I didn't head into the race with much of a game plan for pace and nutrition. As usual the high energy levels drove a quick pace early on. After a few miles Mark and I settled into a pace with a half dozen other guys. The single file train helped carry us and kept our pace honest. The trails were comfortable and enjoyable with slight rolling hills and changing scenery throughout. The trails were absent of rocks but plenty of roots and stumps existed among the fallen leaves.
The train continued to roll along pushing the high end of my pace tolerance. I decided to stay aboard and hang on for the ride.
A decent pace and bypassing the 2 aid stations on the course allowed us to finish lap 1 in about 1:48. We didn't spend much time at our drop bags either. After trading out empty water bottles with prepared ones it was time to head back out for lap 2. Wish I could have stayed longer as Keith was on site. He came by the race for a brief stop to lend some encouragement which was much appreciated.
Heading out into lap 2, the train was now gone, and Mark and I continued to cruise along without another runner in sight for a while. We came across, ran and chatted with Ian, of the Trail Monsters Running Club, and race director for the Pineland Farms 50 I ran on Memorial Day weekend. Over half way through lap 2, around 20 miles, it was time for me to ease off the pace and I ran solo for a while. It was clear that I was starting to fatigue as an invisible stump caught my foot threw me to the ground so fast I couldn't get my arms out, as I fortunately hit with my shoulder and rolled onto my back for a comfortable landing. Lap 2 took about 2 hours.
A couple miles into lap #3 my legs muscles started to tighten, and I experienced some cramping in my quads. Then it began, time and time again I'd catch my foot square into a root or stump hidden in the leaves, sending a surge of energy through my body causing muscles to tighten even more. As they tightened my steps were lower, and the cycle continued.
I stopped at my first aid station of the race and was greeted by a volunteer offering me all sorts of food and drinks. The look on his face was of great concern; did I look as cruddy as I was starting to feel?
There seemed to be absolutely nobody on the course with the exception of an occasional runner I'd pass that was clearly on their 2nd lap. I struggled with nausea and intense muscle tightness the remaining 10 miles of lap 3. I battled through mentally and physically, staying focused, reminding myself that ultras bring peaks and valleys, and was hopeful my situation would improve. Lap #3 took a little over 2.5 hours.
I was greeted by Clint at the end of the lap. As in the few other ultras I've run in, I was reminded that anything can happen. Clint ran into a fairly severe health issue and made the right, but tough decision, of backing off the 50 miler, and still gutting out the marathon distance. I won't go into details about Clint's issue as it would probably leave your stomach feeling like mine did during lap #3.
Magically, my stomach issues disappeared and my legs had loosened a bit. As I rolled into a celebratory atmosphere at the first aid station on lap #4 I was amazed how helpful, encouraging, and friendly the aid volunteers were....their level of service seemed to increase as the day went on. The race's main sponsor is the Mercury Brewing Company and I think being an aid station volunteer came with the perks of sampling some of the sponsor's fine products. Seems like a win-win for everyone.
I rambled along the course and came into the final aid station with the fatigue that 46 miles can bring. The first thing I saw on the table was a platter of recently grilled hot dogs. Hot dogs never looked so good in my life. As I cautiously considered demolishing one the volunteer says "I've got Manwich's also". Are you kidding, Manwiches during a race...that could tear you apart. I had not had a Manwich in 20+ years..., once I saw them it was like love at first sight. I grabbed one and started walking as I ate, I was in heaven. Even better, all of a sudden I had more energy and felt better than I had in about 25 miles. For future runs I gotta figure out how to get Manwich meat into gel packets. I cruised the last 4 miles and finished the last lap in about 2.5 hours for a total time of 8 hours and 57 minutes. At the finish I was rewarded with some applause and a really nice finisher's jacket.
Mark stayed solid all day and turned up the pace the last few miles to break 8 hours with a time of 7:57. He's a stud.
My hats off to Gil's Athletic Club for putting on a well organized and supported race.