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])

This Saturday a group of us went to Sunday River to map out some possible trail race courses and see what was available by foot. Most of what Erik knew about the trails came from skiers and mountain bikers, so it was important that we check out what was actually possible and workable by foot.

Ian just put up his report on the run, which included a video that he put together that can give you a small idea about what it was like to be running through there:

You can see more about the run over at Ian’s Trail Monster Blog.

This morning, my friend Erik Boucher picked me up and we went up to Sunday River to scout some trails for the Mountain Epic trail races next Autumn. The original plan had been for a half dozen of the Trail Monsters to head up and spend two days on the mountain, but with the Mount Washington Road Race this morning and a bunch of the guys running 33 miles on the Pemi Loop 2 days ago, we were only met by Ian Parlin (who did actually run the Pemi Loop a few days ago) and by a teammate of mine, Dan Crooker.

I’m glad that Dan decided to meet up with us; he knows the mountain very well and with his help we managed to scout just about all of the trails we wanted to run and didn’t need to stay overnight.

The original distances we’d been thinking of were for the most part a bit short of what we found out there. The 1-peak short loop will still be about 4 miles, but the 5-peak medium loop is closer to 11 miles than 7, and the 8-peak hard loop is about 15 miles instead of 11 miles. There’s a lot of fun terrain, though.

We started by hitting some single track and heading up to North Peak, which is pretty central to the routes for all 3 races.

We wound up running the opposite direction to Jordan Peak than we’d originally planned on by going up the Kansas Trail, but we decided that that was a good direction to be running in so the course will likely wind up going that way. (There will probably be a detour up to Spruce Peak before Jordan Peak, though, rather than after as we ran it.)

After hitting Jordan Peak, there’s a very quick descent halfway down to the bottom before climbing back up to North Peak. We got some pretty rapid turnover heading down there; Ian took some video so I’ll link to that if he puts it online.

At North Peak, our guide needed to head back home since he’d already been out there with us for 3 hours, and Ian went back with him to get the GPS coordinates of some different single track trails than we took on the way up. Erik and I continued on to hit the last few peaks before heading back.

All in all, we were out there for about 4 hours and 42 minutes, 3 hours and 31 of which were actually spent running (or walking, as happened in many of the steep places.) We covered just over 15 miles and managed to hit all 8 peaks.

(Photos – Map – More Photos)

Last year, the Mountain Epic took place at Sunday River, a race that brings the runner about 4 miles as they ascend and then descend a peak before going through an obstacle course and mud pit.

This year, there may very well be the existing 1 peak and an additional 5 peak or 8 peak option, and you could help find the routes that will be used!

This Saturday and Sunday some Trail Monsters will be combining with Tri-Maine to explore the trail systems and ski slopes at Sunday River in order to map out a few new courses for this year’s Mountain Epic in October. A group of us will be leaving Portland around 7:00 on Saturday morning and running once we arrive.

You can participate by joining me and some other Trail Monsters on Saturday 6/20 or Sunday 6/21. If you would like to run both days and stay overnight at Sunday River I can provide free accomodations — please contact me ASAP.

Saturday — Meet at the Back Cove parking lot on Baxter Blvd across from Hannaford in Portland by 7am. It will take about 2 hours to drive up there. We will all meet at the South Ridge Lodge at 9:30am near the wooden bear to go over the courses and split up into groups (if needed).

Sunday — Meet at the South Ridge Lodge at 9:30am near the wooden bear.

Requirements: You must be self-sustained for the entire trip and be prepared for foul weather — wind, cold, and rain. This means you must carry enough food and water and proper clothing. The terrain is rugged and trail shoes with a good grip are necessary. Two-person minimum per group. At least one person in a group must have a cell phone. Since one of the main points of this endevor is to document the trip please bring your GPS, digital or video camera.

If you are interested in joining us then email Erik@tri-maine.com for more information.

I love where I live. Maine is called Vacationland for a reason, with many state and local parks and trails for a runner to explore.

Unfortunately, one of the dangerous parts of taking advantage of such a setting is that you have to check yourself over for ticks.

A few days after running a local trail race, I noticed that one of my bug bites near my hip looked a little scabbed over. Closer inspection revealed that it was actually a small tick!

Large ticks I don’t worry about. They are easy to spot and don’t carry lyme disease. Deer ticks do carry lyme disease, though, and if they latch on to you for 24 or 36 hours then you have a chance of contracting it.

This feller was a little too small (especially after I tore him with the tweezers while removing him) to tell if he is a deer tick or not, so I had to make a visit the Doctor’s office.

If you ever find a tick dug into you and live in an area where lyme disease is rampant, then here are a few simple steps that you can take to protect yourself:
(Click here to continue reading…)

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