Muddy Sneaker 20km race report

After 5 years of rejection, they finally let me into the Muddy Sneaker 20km trail race in Naples, NY. Every year it’s a weighted lottery style system that is based upon how many times you’ve done the race and if you show up to the lottery night and if you send in your registration. For the last five years, I’ve entered with hopes high to get in and run this gem of a race, but each year, I inevitably hang my head in shame as I am severely unlucky when it comes to getting into lottery style races. So, each year I go down to help out the guys with setting up, tearing down the race in addition to running aid stations #1 and #3. It’s been my job for the last few years and I’ve done well at it.

Well this year, I was finally allowed entry (after an elaborate prank at the lottery night…) and was allowed to get a bib# and have my Muddy Sneaker debut. I’ve gone down to run the course with friends before and know the areas around aid #1 and #3 REALLY well, but never have I taken this entire course at full speed. I was about to find out that this course definitely eats you up and spits you out if you do not respect it.

I decided to run this race in my old high school uniform to honor a former cross country teammate and friend Nate Dunbar who tragically drown in Hemlock Lake a few weeks ago. I taped a small piece of cloth tape and inscribed the initials "N.D." on one of the straps of my singlet to have him run once more with me. I always looked up to Nate as a great guy and I hope he knew that because he was taken too soon from us. I dedicated this race to him even before I started. I knew it was going to be a good day.

Race morning came with a bang and I traveled down to Hi Tor WMA with several friends and carpooled and shared laughs on the way there. I luckily remembered to bring a cooler of beers for post race as there is always time to enjoy a few after a hard days work. We checked in, I FINALLY was given a bib number and I just had a huge smile on my face. It was going to be a good day. Unfortunately at check in we found out that a few good solid competitors hadn’t picked up their race bags yet and were going to be absent. Among those were unfortunately Carl Johnston and Jim Oberst. I was looking forward to racing those guys along with Al Evans and their names are often synonymous with good competition. To make matters worse, I saw Jason Urckfitz tending to a sore quad before the race and he advised that was due to a lengthy bike tour the previous weekend from DC to PA. Well, I donned the high school singlet, strapped on the trail shoes and warmed up a bit. My HR was a little high (most likely due to excitement) and we hit the starting line. Gun goes off and I take off like a shot. Apparently, I had forgotten completely about the course as I was leading on the dirt road and into the single track. Alan Evans was very close behind as we trotted into the tight turns in the woods. I only got off course once and quickly resumed and didn’t lose any space to Alan. We were bouncing off trees, and over streams and darting here and there thru the woods. It was a blistering pace and I was feeling it. Alan and I had separated ourselves from the rest and by the time we hit aid station 1, he had passed me up the giant hill and was pulling away. We exchanged a few friendly words about how it was a great day to be out there running and I tried to mask my labored breathing. Alan sounded like he was taking a stroll down the street, no sense of strain at all. Amazing. Aid#1 is about 2-3 miles into the race and that’s where Al broke me. I let him got a little bit and that was a big mistake. I never really saw him again. I got my breathing under control and started to fall into a good rhythm. I was passing by mile 4 and noticed that I was having a lot of sloshing in my stomach, not too good. This kept up from about mile 4 until at least #9 and was not too pleasant. I felt like I needed to pit stop in the middle of the woods and honestly for a minute thought briefly about how to execute such a maneuver mid-race. I trotted on and kept going. I hit Aid#2 at about ½ way thru the race and got some words of encouragement from friends saying, “Alan is only 200m in front of you, go get him!” to which I replied, “…and he’s gonna stay there, it’s Al Evans!” meaning that he is one tough cookie and there was slim to no chance of me catching him. Not feeling the way I was.

Next as I approached mile #9 after going up a HUGE uphill and entering single track again, I was starting to settle out with the stomach issues and felt actually okay. It was too late though to make a move as the most technical part of the course was still ahead. There is a LARGE and very steep downhill section that comes and to the right there is an expansive rock quarry, which I tried to sneak a peek at during the race and immediately caught my toe on a tree root and took a tumble. I somersaulted and kept on going, but landed on my left hip and there was dirt (now mud, due to my sweat) all over my back and arms. I looked ridiculous. I successfully navigated the intense downhill and had to use my quads as brakes to slow gravitational forces. The normal turn around at the bottom was no longer and Fetch took us across a stream and back up the wall of an uphill. This was the only section of the course that requires walking, you have to literally power walk up this section until it flattens out some, but you are still going up in elevation. Its nuts. I got to the top and finally started at it again and hit the flat “fire road” that marks the 1.5 mile climb to the finish…all up hill. After ten long minutes of uphill running, I finally hit the line in 1:30:41 and there was only 1 other runner that bested me that day. Al Evans. He deserved it though as he was a solid 2-3 minutes ahead of me. Muddy Sneaker is an awesome race and it kicks your butt for a few days afterwards. I was glad I ran for Nate and had a good result as well doing so. I stayed to help the guys load up the trailer and tear down the site and we had a few brews as well. Good times and good friends there. Now the next thing on the list is the Medved Madness 15 miler this Sunday. Should be a good one too! It’s trail running time to prep up for the Buffalo Half Marathon at the end of the month. See you folks on the trails. Take advantage of the good weather friends, cheers!

GVCC Bloomfield road race report

So I finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago and renewed my Cat5 USCF license that I previously held in 2006. I figure if I am not doing a full Ironman this year, I might as well work on my weakness and get the cycling speed where it should be! As an added bonus and push to make me do this, the only bike that is functional right now is "The Tank" or the first racing bike I got after getting serious in multisport. She's a Trek 1500 from circa 2005 and is equipped with the latest and greatest shimano 105 components and a carbon fork and seatpost. I don't have a picture, but she's a beauty (note the sarcasm!) I'll try to get one up soonish...

But April 18th, noted my return to road cycling racing. I had dabbled into road racing before in 2004, I ventured out to Ithaca, NY on my birthday to partake in the Jersey Hill Circuit Race after watching the Tour de France for a few months and thinking I was hot stuff. I immediately got dropped from the main pack on the first hill and it was rather embarrassing. (Notice in the results, I'm 3rd from last....) Same thing happened at the GVCC Spring Classic at Perinton in 2005 and I stopped bike racing for a few years after that because I thought I couldn't keep up with anyone.

Fast forward to 2010 and I've done a few triathlons, gotten a whole lot more comfortable on the bike. I've learned how to properly carry speed thru turns and uphills too. I'm feeling good. So I renewed my license and looked at a racing schedule for the year. First up was a spring warm up of the GVCC Bloomfield Road race. My goal for the race was a top 5 finish in my category race and I thought I might be up for the challenge. Times from previous years weren't too bad and I thought I could do well.

All week it had been nice weather and sunny and 60 degrees during the day, I wake up race morning and it's about 40 with a wind chill of 30 and rainy. Not so ideal conditions for a bike race. I threw on all the warm and winproof clothing I had and prepared to be cold and wet for this ride. I checked in at Bloomfield Elementary School and saw soem familiar faces of Doug Mauro, Jochen Hoppert, and the Hoad.

I went out for the warm up and 5 minutes in, my toes were wet. My hands were cold, just not wet yet, I had a nice new pair of Manzella windstopper gloves on as per recommendation of a friend and they definitely worked wonders! I warmed up for about 20 minutes and felt ready. They staged us at the school and there were about 20 of us for the race piled behind a pace car. It was still raining pretty good at the start and we rolled out for the "neutral roll out" uphill and over routes 5+20.

We hit the intersection that the race started and people were getting squirrelly even before then. Cat 5 is reserved for those folks that don’t have enough race experience to race a higher category, so the bike handling skills can be shaky. We rolled thru the first loop and I looked around and our field was drastically cut down to about 10 riders. There was a large decent on the first loop and a sharp 90 degree right hander at the bottom of it and I let most folks go in front of me and then pedaled to catch up to the tail end of the pack once the turn was over just to be safe. Loop one was done and we hit some good rollers on this course (there were not too many flat sections on it at all) our field was thinned down from 10 to about 8 and then quickly to 5 riders with about 8 miles to go after a good set of rollers. I was surprised because that was me in years prior. :o) I recall saying something like, “Okay guys, we finish and here’s our podium” and we rode on The 5 of us had like 8 miles to go and this one dude in an Ommegang jersey launched off the front on an uphill and no one chased him down. I was hanging on the back just drafting and not doing too much work so I was unable to cover his move. He got about 300-400m on us and stayed there. No one wanted to chase him down and I was trying to get people to go after him, as I didn't want to give up the race.

I came to the front of our little pack and started sprinting towards him, I was closing at 300m, then 200m, then my legs got a little tired and I flicked my arm to have someone else pull and no one came around…This was weird, so I sat up and soft-pedaled, no one came around...so after 10 seconds of reprieve, I attacked again hoping to drop the guys hanging off my wheel and bridge up to the Ommegang attacker. He apparently didn't think he could stay out ahead and started to fade and sit up and we caught him (In retrospect I pulled everyone up to him) and everyone soft pedaled to catch their breath and rest for the finish with about 1.5 miles to go.
So with a little over a mile to go, we were all bunched back together for the final sprint. I knew that there was one more roller and a right hander and then go up to where the finish was. In a recon mission down there a few weeks prior, I was told the finish was a sharp right hander and up a dead end street. (Turns out it was not, but that’s totally my fault for not knowing the course)

We rounded the final corner (apparently) and three guys got a jump up a hill and me and another guy were still in the small chain ring so got caught with our pants down. The other guy was a little ahead of me and I caught back up to him and blew by him as I wanted prime position on the last turn before the uphill dead end street finish. (or so I thought) Now, we were about 800m to the tent and as I watched up the road the finishing 3 riders crest by the tent and NOT take the right turn, I thought to myself, that's weird and at that moment the guy behind me sling shotted and LAUNCHED around me and I jumped to react, but he was already in front of me. I looked down and heard a "beep beep" and apparently that was the finish. I didn't even sprint hard because it was too late. So that was the exciting finish of my first bike race of the year.
On a positive note though, I medaled and got onto the tail end of the podium which was what I initially wanted to do anyway. I’m researching more and more races now and am always open to more bike races that I might not be aware of, so it you know of any, please let me know! It’s wicked fun and if you don’t crash, it’s mighty enjoyable :o) hahaha. Many thanks to Laura and Ian for braving the wind and cold rain to watch me race and snap the action shots above!! Thanks guys!!!

I ended up racing the Muddy Sneaker 20k this past weekend, but don’t have time to write up a report just yet. I’ll get that one up as soon as I can. Until then though, keep on the roads or on the trails, stay outdoors and I’ll see you all getting the miles in. Cheers.

Spring Forward 15k report

Spring Forward Sunday is always one of my favorite days of the year. Usually its great weather out, the sun is shining. Normally its warm enough out to run in shorts and the race is a challenging event and distance that it is a real test of the legs for the early season fitness. This year was no different.

I’ve done this same race for the last 4 years because I love it. The course is roller and relentless roller in and around Mendon Ponds Park and it’s just one that I enjoy. Race day came and I was running high off of a rest week and excellent result the week prior at the Johnny’s race. In the years past, I’ve gone:

57:47 – 2007
55:08 – 2008
56:33 – 2009
53:28 – 2010

Yes that was a spoiler alert for the result for this year, but since it’s my blog and not many people read it, I don’t care. You’ll see a general downward trend in the past 4 years (minus 2009 where I had a chest infection during the race) I was REALLY pleased with my result this year and the pace that I was able to hold too. But before I get into all of that, lets start at the beginning.

There were a ton of folks milling around the start of this race and it’s a great season opener for most folks to test their meddle in longer course running. There was however one runner absent from the mix that I really wish would’ve joined in the fun and that was Dr. Carl Johnston, or CJ, as we affectionately refer to him. He is an excellent competitor and I know he always drives me to run the absolute best I can (mainly because I’m always trying to keep up!) but I know there will be other races where our paths will cross, so I’m not worried :o)

Anyway, we start off and I’m not too comfortable with the first mile, I was trying to stay in contact with the lead runners (Neal H, Ryan Pauling, Dave Bradshaw) and I don’t know why, we’re just going out at a similar pace, which is frightening because I know I likely won’t be able to keep up! But I hit the first mile in 5:21 and it was quick. I immediately began to settle in and strolled thru the 5km mark in approximately 17:1X.

I was loosening up and starting to get into my groove. I kept on clicking off the miles and wanted to average 5:50’s but was going consistently under that barrier. I had a cushion of about 20 seconds at the 5km mark and it was growing. Going into this race I predicted being in the 54:30 range and just wanted to PR, little did I know I was going to lower that mark substantially.

Running thru the 10km mark, I was running about 200 yards behind Marcus Gage and a stray dog decided to come barking right up to Marcus. He had to stop and make sure the dog wasn’t going to attack him. Immediately after that a grey truck came and swerved RIGHT at Marcus. It was kind of scary, but a sharp realization that this is real and roads are not closed. I made it thru in a PR fashion which was a nice surprise. The kicker came at mile 7-8 when I heard Mike Insler coming up on me and couldn’t really do too much about it.
The pass was inevitable, and I tried to hang on, but was running out of steam. We entered the park again and made our way to the finish. I was REALLY surprised when we hit the line and he was about 10 seconds in front of me. I PR’ed by over 90 seconds from my college PR (ran at the Boilermaker in 2002) and was stoked to finish strong.

Next up is the Bloomfield Road Race, which is a change of pace from the normal, but a good way to work on my weakness….the bike. We’ll see how I fare there! I’ll see you folks out on the roads since we’ve got good weather now. Cheers!