Archive for the ‘Run’ Category

« Older Entries

My Favorite Run In The World

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

My favorite run is not long.  It clocks in at a modest one hour and twenty minutes.

My favorite run does not climb big mountains. The elevation gain is less than one thousand feet.

My favorite run does not have lots of expansive views. It only has two viewpoints.

Obviously, based on what I’ve said so far, my favorite run in the world is not in Alaska.

My favorite run is not a secret, it is hiked by hundreds of people every week.

My favorite run in the world is not an exciting new route. I first did it when I was six years old.

squam

Most of my favorite adventures are off the beaten path. I like adventures that are little too long, too hard, or too far-flung for most people. But my favorite run in the world is none of those things. There is nothing epic about it at all. It’s comfortable, like an old sweatshirt on a Saturday morning.

On my wedding day, I made all the guests do this run (or hike) with me.

My favorite run is located on the shores of Squam Lake, NH. It starts with the Five Finger Point trail, then goes up East and West Rattlesnake “mountains.” Growing up, I spent all of my summers at a family camp on Squam Lake, and it is my favorite place in the world. I did this run at least a couple of times every week when I was in my teens. Nostalgia is a big part of why it is my favorite, but it’s also a perfect everyday loop. Interesting, but not overwhelming. Tiring, but not exhausting.  And while the only viewpoints are at the tops of the Rattlesnakes, the view-to-effort ratio is the best I’ve found anywhere.

Last month, while we were back east, we spent three days at the camp on Squam. I did my run every day. As always, I followed each run with a swim in the lake, and then a big meal at the dining hall. Maybe that’s why it’s my favorite.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in New Hampshire, Run | No Comments »

Tuesday Night Races have started

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Wild first race.  I missed the start by a minute or two, then took a wrong turn.  So I missed the excitement of the winner racing in a Speedo.  Results (and speedo pictures if you dare).

Tags: , ,
Posted in Anchorage, Asides, Run | No Comments »

Mountain Orienteering 2009

Monday, August 17th, 2009

2009-mountain-o

The turnout for the Arctic Orienteering Club’s annual Mountain O event is usually low (45 people this year, only 8 on the long course).  I think this is because people don’t really understand the Mountain O.    Orienteering itself confuses a lot of people.  Mix in some mountains as well, and people figure it best to avoid the whole thing.    But in my opinion, the Mountain O is the most fun race of the summer.  It’s basically a big treasure hunt in the mountains.  Plus, it only costs $6.  You can’t beat that exercise/price ratio!  Anyone who loves to run or hike in the mountains should give it a try.  There are usually short and long course options, to fit your fitness, navigation, and motivation levels.

As I sat at home last night feeling battered, bruised and exhausted from this year’s event, I started thinking that this little-known event can hold its own when compared to some of the most infamous mountain running races in Alaska.

Crow Pass Crossing: 24 miles, 3890′ elevation gain,
Powerline Pass race: 13 miles, ~4000′ elevation gain,
Matanuska Peak Challenge: 14 miles, 9000′ elevation gain
2009 Mountain O Long Course: 16.8 miles (mostly off-trail), 5600′ elevation gain

More than anything, I was just trying to justify the fact that the race had left me pretty wasted.

The start and finish were at the Glen Alps trailhead of Chugach State Park.   You know its going to be a big day when, twenty-five minutes into the race, you are standing on top of Flattop and you’ve only covered 1/10th of the race distance and found two of the 19 controls.  I ran most of the way with Ian Moore, who is both a faster runner and a better navigator.  There were a bunch of controls early on that were “tricky” at best, and “misplaced” at worst.  One by one, we’d all get to the spot where the control should be, then wander until someone stumbled on it.  That allowed me to stay within sight of Ian while we completed most of the climbing.  Then we ran together for a couple hours after that.  Ian and I have both been battling ankle injuries recently, so we ran a bit gingerly on our feet in the rocky terrain, wondering how long our legs would hold.

After three hours of racing, we had traversed the Flattop Ridge to Ptarmigan Pass, descended into Rabbit Creek valley, started up the base of McHugh Ridge, then crossed back through Ptarmigan Pass to Powerline valley.  As Ian and I crossed Powerline valley, we took slightly different routes.  I was sure we’d reconnect in a matter of seconds, like we had many times before.  But all of a sudden, I was alone.  I never saw Ian again.  I suspected that he had ankle problems and dropped back.  But I also knew Ian’s skills as an orienteer, and it was completely possible that he was ahead of me and I simply couldn’t see him.   As I approached the finish at Glen Alps, it would not have surprised me a bit to see Ian standing there, already done.   But, as I suspected, he had experienced a shooting pain through his leg and then dialed it back after that.   My legs, for their part, were sore but feeling as good as I could have hoped for at the finish.

I completed the course in four hours.  Times on the long course varied up to six and a half hours, possibly even longer for those who didn’t finish.  A long day for everyone!  Congrats to Lindsey for being the only woman to complete the long course (3rd place overall) and Jen for winning the short course.

2009 Mountain Orienteering Results

All the participants deserve congratulations for surviving a challenging course that was made even more difficult by fog and tricky controls.  But it was still a lot of fun.  Come join us next year!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Chugach, Hike, Orienteering, Run | No Comments »

Off and Running

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

[Programming Note: I am hopeful that this will be the last extended post about my Achilles tendon tear.  I think I am passing the point in my recovery where I can stop writing about the stuff I wish I was doing, and start writing about the stuff I am actually doing.  Any subsequent posts probably mean I've done something very, very bad.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.]

Today I went for my first run since tearing my Achilles tendon in March.  Come to think of it, this was my first run since November.  That’s the longest layoff between runs since I was eleven years old.  It was the most pathetic run ever - twenty minutes on a track at a 10 minute mile pace - but it was a big step in my rehabilitation.

My biggest revelation during my layoff has been how much I love running.  I haven’t thought of myself as a runner for twenty years…

[Glory days alert]

When I was a six-foot, 150 pound high school sophomore in New Hampshire, I finished sixth in the state in cros-country running.  In the state championship race, everyone ahead of me was a senior.  My running future looked bright.   I began wondering if I should focus on running as my primary sport.  But over the next few years, I added twenty-five pounds to my skinny frame, and my running only got slower from then on.

[/Glory days alert]

I quickly came to view running simply as a training method for skiing.  Sure, I enjoyed running, but I never looked forward to it the way I looked forward to skiing, or a hike, or a long bike ride.  I did it almost with thinking about it.   Like breathing.  Or eating.  Running was always there,  it was an easy fallback.  Just put on my shoes and head out the door.  I took it for granted.  I could always go running.

Until I couldn’t.

I’ve said before that I’ve dealt fairly well with the mental aspects of being injured.   I ‘ve been able to stay upbeat even when I see or hear of people skiing, biking, or hiking.  But my heart sank every time I saw someone running.  It was an unexpectedly vicious blow to my psyche that surprised me every time it happened.  I think I had subconciously decided that, until I could run again,  I was still injured.   The biking and walking were just rehab.  In my mind, I wouldn’t be healthly until I could  leap forward with both feet off the ground.

On Monday, at my physical therapist’s recommendation, I went to the track to do a jogging pre-test.  I walked ten minutes to warm up.  Then I jogged for 30 seconds, followed by a minute of walking.  I repeated that for ten minutes.  My leg was feeling great.  I had to really pay attention to my pace.  If I let my mind wander, my tempo would start to increase  too much.  For the following ten minutes, I picked it up it to one minute of running, one minute of walking.  Still everything felt good. I finished with one full lap of jogging, which I did in a barn-burning time of three minutes.  I would have jumped for joy if I could have.

So after a few days of rest, I was ready to up the ante to a full jog.  Tonight I went back to the track and ran for twenty minutes straight.  My leg felt fine, which was a huge relief.  It was mentally exhilarating and physically exhausting.  Having passed those tests, the next task is to improve my fitness.

The irony of this whole situation is that my main purpose for doing the Iditarod Inviational was to get back into shape.  Yet here I am three months later, in the worst shape of my life.   There is a long road ahead and the next month is going to be crucial.  The doctor says that in 4-6 weeks I should be back to doing “anything your wife would have let you do before the injury.”  But not only does my leg need to be healed to do that stuff, but I also have to be in shape.  So this month’s task is to regain fitness without overdoing the Achilles rehab.  It is a delicate balancing act.  I’ve already found out the hard way that rehabbing an Achilles tendon requires patience and restraint.  Overdoing it, even just a little bit, can set me back weeks.

The training year starts now.  It’s about time.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Run | 1 Comment »

Last Tuesday Night Race

Friday, October 24th, 2008

Official Result: 30:17  (24th place)

Actual Elapsed Time: 27:55 

Since when do they start these races right at 6:30?

Race Results

Full Season Results

Tags: ,
Posted in Anchorage, Run | No Comments »

Confirmation Dust

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

Its funny that just last week I made this statement about my results in local fun races:

I could have a great race and finish 15th, and I could just as easily have a bad race and finish 4th, if no one shows up.

Well, in this week’s Tuesday Night Race, none of the fast guys showed up.  And I finished 4th.  It wasn’t a bad race by any means, but maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophesy.  For most of the race, I was in the top three, but faded to fourth with a half-mile to go.  I guess I should have written that I could win if no one showed up!  Nonetheless, it was fun to run with the leaders and entertain thoughts of victory.  Even if those dreams were shattered when the top two guys picked up the pace with two miles to go.  TNR Results

After two weeks of finishing the same place in both TNR and cyclocross, I knew I had my work cut out for me going into Saturday’s cyclocross race.  If I was going to keep the streak alive, I had a long way to go to reach fourth place.  The course was rooty, muddy and very challenging on skinny tires.  The course had very little running, so it felt like an ordinary mountain bike race, exept I was on the wrong bike.  So I was not surprised when the eventual winner blew past me on a hardtail mountain bike.  But it was still fun.  I managed to get a good workout and finish 10th.  ArcticCross results

And finally the highlight of the week was a spectacular weekend.  The kind of crystal clear weekend we’ve been waiting for all summer.   I didn’t get away for any adventures, but I did manage to kick-off the weekend with a spectacular run around the Williwaw Lakes - Ballfield loop from Glen Alps with Rob and Chrissy.  The evening light lit up the fall colors and contrasted well with the confirmation dust on the peaks. 

Normally, the first snow on the mountains is called termination dust because it signals the termination of summer.  But this year I’ve dubbed it “confirmation dust,” because it confirmed that the summer of ‘08 is never going to happen.

Anyway, a few photos from our run, courtesy of Chrissy…

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Anchorage, Bike, Chugach, Hike, Run | No Comments »

Dropping Dimes (and dropping places)

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Well, last week was an eighth-place week.  It appears that this week’s number is ten.  I guess I’m slowing down.  The truth is that with these local races, it all depends on who shows up. I could have a great race and finish 15th, and I could just as easily have a bad race and finish 4th, if no one shows up.  That said, it might also be true that I’m getting slower.

Tuesday Night Running Race: 10th place

Wednesday evening Cyclocross: 10th place

I was just happy that I got to do the ‘cross race.  My bike broke while I was warming up.  The chain got snagged on the derailleur and snapped the hanger.  I walked back to the start, very dejected.  The race organizers, Bruce Ross and Patrick McGownd,  saw my situation and jumped into action.  First they tried to find parts to fix my bike.  When that was hopeless, Patrick loaned me his bike and they found tools so I could swap the pedals.  They did all this WHILE they were also running the pre-race meeting, five minutes before the start.  They certainly went above and beyond, and I really appreciated it.

The bike was small (52 cm, whereas mine is 58cm), but I was just glad to be riding rather than driving home early.  And I’ll leave you with a great photo.  I think the caption should be “I just realized I’m going too fast down a muddy, rooty, narrow trail on a bike that I’ve never ridden before.”  either that, or simply, “Uh oh.”

Photo: George Stransky.  Here’s more.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Anchorage, Bike, Run | No Comments »

An 8th Place Week - First Cyclocross of the season

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

This week I did two races. A Tuesday Night Running race and a cyclocross race. With all of these fall races, I try to emphasize the training benefit rather than the result. Often, this means not red-lining the whole way, but instead starting conservatively (under aerobic threshold pace) then getting faster if I feel good. I did a good job of that in the Tuesday race, and I finished 8th.

In the cyclocross race, I probably started too conservatively. I got intimidated by all the fancy bikes at the start, and the fact that there was a nasty hairpin turn 200 meters into the race. So I seeded myself way in the back, even behind most of the juniors and women. I realized after about 30 seconds of the race that this was a mistake. I spent the rest of the race playing catch-up, which admittedly was a lot of fun. Much better to be the pursuer, than the pursuee. By the last lap, I had moved into the top ten and, with a devastating sprint at the end, was able to nail down my second 8th place finish of the week.

Photos by George Stransky . A ton of great photos can be found here.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Anchorage, Bike, Run | No Comments »

Tuesday Night Run, GPS-O, but no ‘Cross

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

So after all my big talk about Cyclo-cross, I missed the first race of the season on Saturday. But for good reason. We were offered the use of a cabin in Talkeetna for the weekend. I wasn’t going to turn that down for a one hour cyclo-cross race. Now I remember why it took me so long to try cyclo-cross: there is just too much other fun stuff to do as well! But no matter, I still managed to get in two races this week.

First, the Tuesday Night Running Races started this week. These races are huge, but very informal. The courses are always on very interesting trails, but are not always marked well. Its seems like every week a few people take a wrong turn. This week, it was me. I was attempting to pass someone, and completely missed a marker signaling a turn off the main trail. The two of us lead a group of 5-6 other runners on a minute-or-so detour before we got back on track. Oh well, it was fun, and I got a good workout. Results here.

Thursday was a GPS Orienteering event. Usually you don’t use a GPS for orienteering, but this event was a little different. Instead of punching controls hanging in the woods, when we reached a control location we just punched a waypoint into our GPS. At the finish, our routes were downloaded onto a computer to confirm our score. It was a neat new twist, but I missed the satisfaction of finding a control and punching it. Without the actual controls, there was no positive feedback during the event. It felt more like a guessing game. And with the margin of error of a GPS, it turns out that guessing once you were in the general area was usually a good strategy. It was fun, but I’m glad that the entire sport of Orienteering has not gone this direction. (Results aren’t up yet.)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Anchorage, Orienteering, Run | No Comments »

Mountain O Fun (and Pain): Orienteering around McHugh Peak

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Two of my favorite summer activities are running in the mountains and orienteering. So I always look forward to the Arctic Orienteering Club’s Mountain Orienteering event each summer. It’s like chocolate and peanut butter. Two great tastes that taste great together.

This year’s event was on August 16, held in Bear Valley above Anchorage. It was organized by Trond Flagstad. Trond was this year’s Alaska Mountain Running Champion, so we knew it would be a challenging course. Trond also recruited a few fast runners to show up as well. It was shaping up to be an great event.

The race started with a 1500 foot climb to the ridge above Bear Valley, where the first control was located. When we reached the ridge, I was in fourth place and had a perfect view as Ian pulled off one of the best orienteering moves I’ve seen. He and Patrick (a very fast runner doing his first orienteering race) were in the lead together, chatting a bit as they ran. The trail headed uphill, just above a small band of rocky cliffs. Patrick headed up the trail, while Ian knew from reading his map that the control was at the base of the small cliff. Ian skirted below the cliff, as if he was merely avoiding the excess elevation gain on the trail. In the few seconds he was out of Patrick’s sight, Ian swept down and punched the control, without hardly breaking stride. He then rejoined the trail, and he and Patrick began chatting again. Ian let a couple minutes go by before he kindly told Patrick that he already found #1. D’oh. As Patrick turned around and headed back to find #1, he said “I didn’t know trickery was part of this.” I was so jazzed up by the great fake-out, that I could help but respond with a little smack about how we weren’t “going to hold his hand the whole way.”

We all had a hard time finding #2. The ridge line was moving in and out of fog, and it made the navigation more difficult. Ian, Bastien, Andrew and I were all wandering in circles looking for #2 when Patrick came by and asked if I needed him to hold my hand. Touché, nicely played.

Eventually all those other guys managed to find the control and slip off into the fog, while I was left wandering. Maybe I should have held someone’s hand. It wasn’t until another group of orienteers including Karl, Jen, Eeva, and Lindsey arrived, ten minutes later, that I was eventually able to punch #2 and move on. By then I was way back in the pack and pretty bummed. I didn’t know it at the time, but it turns out I was in last place for men doing the long course. Ouch. I had been looking forward to chasing Ian and Bastien through the mountains, and now I was all alone trying to catch people I couldn’t see in the fog.

I picked off the next few controls cleanly and also passed a lot of people along the way. As I descended off the ridge towards control #7 on a mix of scree, snow and tundra, I could see Patrick at the control about 5 minutes ahead of me. Bastien was about 5 minutes in front of him, climbing back up the ridge towards #8. Maybe I could catch those guys! Ian was out of sight, well on this way to an easy victory.

The second half of the race was almost all nasty side-hilling. My shoes were filled with gravel from the scree descent, and now my feet were screaming in pain with every side-hill step. I could feel the blisters forming, as the skin on my heels and forefoot moved independently from the rest of my feet. I was envisioning a shredded mess of blood and skin at the finish.

I caught Patrick at the next-to-last control. We said a few words (no smack this time, I learned my lesson) and departed on different routes. He went down the valley and up the other side, while I decided to side-hill (Arrrrgh!) around rather than lose elevation. I was confident that my route was faster, but my feet were so painful that I was barely limping along. When I reached the last control, I thought there was a chance that I was ahead of Patrick. But that hope evaporated as I descended out of the fog towards the finish when I saw him about a minute ahead of me. Bastien was three minutes ahead of Patrick, and Ian was way ahead, winning by twenty minutes.

Oh well, fourth place for me. I had been hoping for second, or even to challenge Ian for first, but it was a pretty good recovery considering my bad start.

When I took off my shoes at the finish, my feet were indeed riddled with blisters. But shockingly, none of them had popped. Ten minutes before, I never would have believed that to be the case.

The day after the race, I could not walk very well. When I did walk it was like I was stepping on tiny waterbeds. Very painful waterbeds. As I write this, two days later, the swelling has gone down and I am walking again. The pain has been replaced by thoughts of a great day racing through the mountains with friends.

Who knows, I might even be ready to run in Wednesday’s orienteering meet.

Results Here
Watch Ian school me in RouteGadget (we’re the only two who put in our routes)

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Chugach, Run | No Comments »

« Older Entries