Run to Win

This past weekend was the second annual Bradbury Scuffle. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and by beautiful I mean in the traditional sunny sense and not in the rainy way that it was beautiful last year. We still had plenty of mud, though, because before the race there had been maybe 4 days of sun in the past 40.

In fact, the trails were much more difficult to run this year because of all the rain that we have been getting. Parts of the snowmobile trail were especially washed out, making footing treacherous. We also had no fears about the knee deep puddles drying up.

The race was almost twice as large this year as last year, with 112 finishers. Almost everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, and nobody got too lost on the course. The one person I’m aware of that went off course was called back by the runners behind him after he ran right by not 1 but 2 large white signs with red arrows telling him to turn.

I ran almost a minute slower this year, finishing in 41:41.41. I attribute the slower time to not only the tougher conditions, but that I had nobody to push me. Eric Mauricette, who finished in 2^nd place, was over a minute behind me in 42:47.

In fact, other than about a mile during my warmup jog and about a 1/3 mile walk while cleaning up the course, I ran the rest of my 15 miles on the day by myself.

I turned back to look at the field when I was less than half a mile in, and I already had a 100 meter lead.

Nobody else was willing to take the pace out as aggressively as I did, and I had no interest in letting somebody cut off my view of the trail in front of me so I ran harder for the first mile than I did at any other point in the race. I wanted to be the first to the single track. So far, that strategy has worked out for me 2 years in a row.

This year, I should be running all 3 races in the Bradbury series, so if you get the chance I’d recommend coming out to the Breaker (9 miles) or the Bruiser (12 miles) later this Summer.

Other Race Reports:

• Photos by Don Penta
• Kevin Robinson
• (more to come as I find them…)

(More Info: Race Website – Full Results – Course Map [PDF])

Yesterday was the 1^st annual Bradbury Mountain Breaker, a tough 2 loop course up and down Bradbury Mountain that took the runners over some very rocky and rooted trails with knee deep puddles. As you can see in the picture to the right, the “Go Straight Ahead” arrows were more accurate than usual, also telling you to “Go Straight Up”…

I did not run; I got course change duty as the first two laps took different trails back down to the bottom and I had to change the course markings at the top between loops. My camera gave out relatively quickly, so I didn’t get too many pictures of the runners and most of them are as they are trying to summit, which involved more walking and climbing than running for almost everyone (read: the smart ones.)

Peter Keeney won the race in 1 hour 10 minutes and 41 seconds, after having run in second place for a good part of the race. He was followed up about two minutes later by Scott Dorrity and Floyd Lavery.

Katherine Creswell and Amy Ahearn led the women’s race, coming in together in 1 hour 18 minutes and 24 seconds.

There were no broken bones during the race, thankfully, although there was one dislocated finger and many cuts and scrapes. I didn’t need to use the first aid kit up at the top of the mountain, but the ones down at the finish line saw their fair use.

The post race refreshments were provided by volunteers and runners, so there were lots of goodies such as cookies and brownies and home made granola. I assumed that there would be plenty of sweets so I baked a couple of loaves of bread which disappeared pretty quickly.

(More Info: Trail Monster Running – Full Results – My Photos – Jim’s Photos – Don’s Photos)

If you are interested in a fun but challenging trail race, then the 2^nd of 3 races out at Bradbury Mountain State Park is this weekend on Sunday, August 10^th. There are still spots open in the race if you are interested in a unique experience. From the registration form:

Two laps of an exceptionally hilly, technical single-track trail loop that takes you up and down Bradbury Mountain more times than you can count. If you’re not begging for mercy after the first lap you will be on the second.

If that sounds appealing to you, then head over to Trail Monster Running where you can download the course map, register online, or print out the entry blank.

If you’d like to see how the Breaker course compares to the other 2 races, or if you just want to see what the elevation profile looks like, you can click below to see a very large and detailed image that tells you exactly what you are in store for:

Don’t let it intimidate you, though. Bradbury Mountain is really just a big hill, and the race will be well supported and a lot of fun, guaranteed. It is put on by the Trail Monsters, specifically by Ian Parlin, so you know that this will be a top quality event.

For more information, you can visit the website here:
http://www.trailmonsterrunning.com/

This morning was the Bradbury Scuffle, the first of 3 trail races at Bradbury Mountain State Park this Summer. The conditions were absolutely beautiful, and by beautiful I mean that it was raining at the start and it was pouring by the finish, creating puddles and mud galore throughout the course. Most of the regulars that were there were happy about this because it not only ensured a fun race but also meant that the mosquitoes and ticks were not much in evidence during or after the race.

The course was well marked, so much so that the “Most Lost” prize was unrewarded at the end of the race. There was only one place that could have been at all confusing, and since you just went straight through there and ignored the crossing trail it wasn’t too confusing. One trail marker had fallen down since Friday night, but I stopped and laid it in the direction you were supposed to run on the way out and Ian (the race director) actually placed it back in the ground for those behind him and for the return trip in the other direction.

As soon as the starting bell went off, I made for the front of the pack. Within about 10 or 15 feet I was in the lead, which meant that I could run at whatever speed I wanted without having to worry about somebody blocking my view of the trail. Today was the fastest that I’ve ever run through the woods on single track, and was a much different experience than the 50k that I ran last year. I could feel yesterday’s 5k race within about 400 meters of starting, but I got a second wind relatively quickly and I don’t think that it impacted my race too much. My lack of a decent warmup probably had more to do with it.

Throughout the entire race, Patrick Cote was right behind me. Any opportunity that I had to pick up the pace or get out of sight, I tried to extend my lead on him. Within a few minutes, though, he was always close enough for me to hear him, and he pushed me hard throughout the entire race. The only other people I saw on the course was at the aid station and the few places where the course came close enough to previous trails that I could see folks through the woods.

I managed to navigate the course without taking a fall, and only rolled my ankle once about halfway through. My wife wasn’t so lucky. As she put it, she rolled her ankle and then rolled the rest of her. She didn’t win the “Best Bruise” prize, though, because she didn’t realize that she was bloody until we got home and she washed off the mud.

Coming up on the aid station, Patrick passed by me and then slowed down to get some water. He passed me again in short order, and led the way down a good portion of the snowmobile trail on the way back to the Knight’s Wood trails. It was here that I really dropped a few hammers to reclose the gap, quieting my breathing as I caught up to him in an attempt to fool him into thinking that I wasn’t working very hard. I did manage to put a little distance on him before taking the turn into the Knight Woods, and having a good idea of exactly how far I had left to go was certainly helpful through this stretch.

I thought that Patrick was right behind me the entire time, and I kept worrying that he was going to catch and pass me again. This kept me running hard right through the finish line, where I turned around and realized that he wasn’t there. I won the race in 40:58. It’s too bad that I didn’t think of diving into the puddle in the finish until this point; that would have been fun. I wound up winning the race by a bit over 20 seconds, and Patrick had an 80 second lead over Stephen Wells, who finished in third.

The women’s race was won by Katherine Creswell in 48:08, which was good for 17^th overall. She beat Emma Barclay by just over a minute.

I attempted to get photos of all of the finishers (excluding the first 5 or 6 who finished before I could retrieve my camera) but most of them came out fairly poorly. I was a bit of a distance off from the runners in order to keep my camera out of the rain, but a few of them came out passably.

It was a small race, but it was a lot of fun and the trail was easily able to support the number of runners. The second race in the series in the Bradbury Mountain Breaker on August 10^th, which runs as a 9 mile race over 2 separate loops up and down Bradbury Mountain.

I hope to see you there. Visit Trail Monster Running for more information.

(Full Results – Photos – Satellite Map)

Other Race Reports:

• Patrick Cote: 2^nd Place in 41:21 (scroll down to the bottom for the Scuffle report)
• Stephen Wells: 3^rd Place in 42:40
• Ryan Triffitt (Snowman): 8^th Place in 46:35
• Kevin Robinson (Pathfinder): 39^th Place in 57:17
• more to follow…

Early results are in! There were 12 runners: 3 women, 8 men, and 1 dog.

(Click here to continue reading…)

The Trail Monsters are putting on a “Fat Ass” 50k at Bradbury Mountain on Sunday, March 2^nd at 7:00. Anybody in the Southern Maine area that is interested in a fun run should think about coming out for it. The vast majority of the run will be outside of the park (click here for the map) following the snowmobile trails and the power lines. The course is consists of a 10.5 mile loop, so there are options for 1, 2 or 3 loops. I’m planning on running 2 loops of the course.

I’ve run the majority of the course before and conditions can vary depending upon how much snow we get this week and how many snowmobiles are out to pack it down between snowfall and “race” morning. I ran out on the majority of the course this morning and the footing wasn’t too bad for the most part, but still quite obviously slicker and more effort than running on the roads. The race starts at 7:00 in the morning, and you can read about the course at: Trail Monster Running » Bradbury “Fat Ass” Test Run

For those who are unfamiliar with Fat Asses, it’s basically a “race” that has no entry fee, no prizes, and folks bring their own goodies for the aid station(s). In this case, they’ll probably designate somebody’s vehicle as the aid table and just put all the goodies there – something like the back of a pickup. For me, it’ll be a long training run with hopefully a few more people than I’m used to running with on the weekends.

The Bradbury Bruiser Trail Race was this past weekend on October 28^th, and since I was out of town I was not able to be there. From what I have heard, the vast majority of people had a great time, even the ones that got to compete in the “Best Bruise” contest.

Stephen Wells has written a very thorough write-up of the day from both a race director’s and a competitors perspective. You can read it over on his site, Live Strong Maine.

There are a lot of great pictures and he covers the race from first thing in the morning right through finding the last lost runner hours after everyone had left.

Tom Tero sprinted to the finish ahead of David Roberts and Tom Page in a near photo finish. Out of the 130 people registered, 108 started the race and 98 finished the race. That is really good for the first year of any race, and doubly impressive because of the grass roots nature of this race. Two months ago, the race had not even been conceived of yet. The race raised over $2000 for Bradbury Mountain State Park to help with trail upkeep.

(Race Report w/Photos – Race Results)

Sometimes, your marathon preparation goes perfectly, your taper is phenomenal, and hopefully your race goes off without a hitch. Sometimes, things are not so smooth. I still expect my race to go off without a hitch, but my taper has certainly proven interesting.

The general goal was to keep up with 50 miles per week through this week, and then workout as normal through Wednesday or Thursday. My mileage this week may have been near 50 miles, but only if you count a couple of miles of hiking and lugging sign posts around the woods after getting done with my run. Of course, whether I cut back on the mileage or not is a moot point, since I followed up the run and hike with 3 or 4 hours of raking about 2/3 of my lawn. Maine foliage is beautiful at this time of year, but raking up after a storm is less than easy.

I was out on the Bradbury Bruiser course today, and it is looking great. The race directors spent a lot of time raking anywhere that the course was not obvious and it is looking good. After running the course today (I skipped the “O” trail loop given the marathon in a week) they divided the course up into sections and sent people out to leave sign posts and flags to mark the trail.

The trail is in great shape. Where there are leaves down, it is still obvious where the trail is. It is relatively dry despite the rain that we have had recently. Jamie Anderson wrote up his thoughts from the day and included an elevation profile for those who want to see how flat the course is. Bear in mind that the scale of the profile only goes from 240 feet to 400 feet above sea level at the two extremes.

For anybody running next weekend, good luck and have fun. I would love to be there if I had not already made plans to be out of state for the Marine Corps Marathon. I’m looking forward to reading race stories, so feel free to send me a link or an email with your thoughts on the day.