Run to Win

Ian put together a video of last weekend’s “Fat Ass” 50k for your enjoyment:

Now you, too, can enjoy the excitement of 30 miles in the snow but without all the wet feet and scraped shins!

The next TMR Fat Ass is scheduled for March 28^th at Bradbury Mountain.

Here is another video from the Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge, this time from gIANt Parlin. As in yesterday’s video, the transcription is after the break:

(Click here to continue reading…)

A video is now available from the Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge last month, put together by Jeff Walker using my footage and Ian Parlin’s photographs. He did a great job, and it’s too bad it took me so long to get him the video footage in the first place. I’ve also transcribed the spoken words in the video which appears below it:

(Click here to continue reading…)

This past Sunday was the first Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge, which turned out to be 6 miles of slick, muddy, wet single track and bush whacking. The course was great; just to get to the starting line you had to walk through 6 inches of water. Of course, that stream wound up being very convenient later for washing mud off, although it was rather chilly…

The race packet consisted of a laminated card with a trail map. It wasn’t as confusing as the course map for the (now defunct) Mystic Places Marathon, but it came close. I especially loved the part of the map where the trail stopped. After some pre-race instructions, everybody went up to the starting line where they were started in reverse seeded order. Rather than having everybody starting at once and jockeying for position on the single track and then standing around cold and shivering after the race, the goal was for everybody to finish together. Since it took 28 minutes to start everybody and we all came in within about 10 or 15 minutes of one another, it worked pretty well.

There were numerous stream crossings, and the ascent per mile on the course was the same as at the Bradbury Mountain Breaker earlier this Summer. Many of the climbs involved going up trails that provided a natural place for the water to go from high place to low, although we didn’t have to run down the actual waterfall on the course. We just got to run alongside it for a quarter mile. There was one section where you had to scramble on all fours up a rock face, which was fun (and doubly interesting given that I only had one hand available.)

I didn’t really race; instead, I carried my video camera and shot footage of the runners as they went. I’ll post a link to the video once it is edited and available online. Scattered throughout this report are screen captures from the videos. I finished dead last, behind the injured folks who just gritted their teeth like true trail runners and got themselves back to the line.

There were even a few canine competitors. I saw Maurie run by me early in the race as he tried to catch up to Django, who had started earlier. Maurie’s owner, James, was calling for him as he came up to me, but there was no way that James was going to catch his dog. Not that that should be surprising; last Winter Maurie always had to run with whoever was in front. Even after he caught up to Django, he decided to keep moving up to the faster folks. Once he was done running, he did head back up the trail to find James and run him in to the finish.

After everyone was back, we broke camp and the majority of us headed to Jeff Walker’s house, who was the driving force behind the race and put almost everything together. Cacky must have a lot of patience to put up with so many runners, although most of us had thankfully changed into dry clothes ahead of time. There was plenty of pasta salads, bagels, moose meat chili, home made bread, and beer to finish things off while Jeff figured out the awards.

At least half of the people who came to the after party got to win something. There were some good prizes; a Run for your Life DVD, Moeben sleeves (I need to try those out some time before my 50 miler – if I’d known they’d be up for grabs as a prize I’d have raced!), a book on ultramarathoning (I didn’t catch the title) and plenty of water bottles and shirts from the Bradbury races.

Here are some relevant links about the race for those interested:

• Race Video (w/Transcription)
• Race Video 2 (w/Transcription)
• Full Results
• Ian Parlin’s Photos
• Ian Parlin’s Race Report
• Danielle Triffit’s Race Report
• Ryan Triffit’s Race Report
• Chuck Hazzard’s Race Report

Looking for a good run this weekend in Southern Maine? The first Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge is this Sunday, November 16^th, at 10:00 a.m. in Falmouth.

The course is about 10 kilometers long, there are no aid stations, and the course runs the gamut from narrow single track to wide snowmobile trail, from open woods to rivers, ponds and waterfalls. The trail is covered in rocks, roots, mud, leaves, and contains some wicked steep uphill climbs and lightning fast descents. As the race notice reads:

Hell has no water stations.

I’m going to have to change my weekend plans so that I can take part. If anybody is going to be in the area and wants the details on the race, then leave a comment below or send me an email and I will forward you the race information.

The race requires pre-registration, but the only cost is bumped shins and bruised egos. There will be a pot luck BBQ at the race director’s house afterwards.

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.