The Rock Pile Awaits

Why am I doing this? My first attempt up the Mtn was back in 1990. The weekend prior to the race I pulled a groin muscle and was unable to take long strides. I can remember being at the bottom with my wife and 3 month old son wondering what I was going to do. That morning I got some advise from Jim Concannon of the GLRR to just stay under control and when I got to a point where I could see the top with about 400 meters to go, hold back just a bit until I hit the WALL and then give it all I had. Little did Jim know that armed with this knowledge I would go on to pass him on the WALL and beat him by 3 seconds. Just 4 seconds in front of me was Mike Beeman, and just after he finished he started panicking because for some reason he was unable to see. I along with DD grabbed him and helped him out. I also remember it being very warm at the bottom and once we got under the trees the green house effect set in and it got even warmer. But by the time we reached the top I was COLD!!! All I could think of was that I wanted to get off this mtn and I would never do this race again. I road down the mtn in the back of a pickup truck with 5+ others including Tom Carrol (aka Crazy).

At the bottom, my wife had spread out a blanket and set up a picnic for the 3 of us. Petey stopped by and proceeded to play with my 3 month old son for 30+ minutes. After he left my turns to me and says; "Who the H3!! was that, is he safe to have around kids". I assured my wife that Petey was one of the nicest people she'll ever meet and is a little kid in his own right.

At the bottom I realized that this was not a race but a survival test and I would NEVER do something this STUPID to my body again!!!

1999, 9 years later a group of friends convinced me to go back for a "Men's Weekend". We decided to have a little competition amongst us. Two on Two, based on combined time. Loosing team buys the food for our cook out later that night. It was Keith Spinney and Ken Rousseau VS. Joe Karner and myself. We knew this would be close, Keith was a strong runner in his day and once ran a 2:33 at Boston. His team mate Ken could hold is own. My team mate Joe was in super shape and I was hoping that he could give Keith a run for his money. I on the other hand was a slug and was hoping that I'd hang in to edge out Ken by just enough to nullify any advantage that Keith got on Joe.

During the race I remember thinking "what am I doing here"? You'd think that I was smart enough to stay away from this race. I remember hitting the top and quickly getting changed and ran down the mtn in 52 minutes. I beat all the cars down and was the first person on the massage tables. My quads hurt for days because of the run down.

Our plan worked out perfect, Joe kept on Keith's tail the entire race and I was lucky to edge out Ken. Those steaks on the grill sure tasted great that night. Thanks Keith and Ken!!

2007, 8 years later. What was I thinking? 1 week before the race I hurt my back on a 50 mile bike ride and was in so much pain that I was crawling on all 4's until Wednesday. My crawl was so poor that my youngest child got down along side of me and said "Daddy, you don't know how to crawl, watch me and I'll teach you". Kids are to funny! Later that afternoon I decided to go see a doctor. The doctor check me over and determined that I had strained a muscle in my lower back. He suggested that I lay down for a week or two and take mass quantities of Advil. So I asked him if it was OK to run Mt. Washington in 3 days. He shook his head and said; "Oh NO, you're a runner"? I proudly replied "YES". He then stated "You're not going to lay down and rest are you"? "NO" I replied. He just shook his head and walked away.

Friday night Joe Karner and I headed up to Jackson to pick up our numbers. We went over the carriage house to listen to DD give a talk about the race. I was sitting on the floor and in tears because DD was so boring...Just kidding, My back was killing me. Joe and I headed over to our hotel and all we needed to do was cross rt 16 to get some dinner. Sounds simple but I think it took me 30 minutes to complete this 50 yard walk. I was still in some serious pain. The next morning I filled my body with Advil to try and loosen up. I was laying next to my car at the base of the mtn wonder not only how I was going to run up this massive pile of rock, but how I was going to roll over so I could stand up. If you've ever injured your back you'd understand what I'm talking about. If not, you are lucky and don't know pain.

As I took the long walk over to the starting line I was bent over and hoping for a miracle. As I reached the starting line I quickly realize that I need to move further back in the pack then I usually do. In fact I went all the way to the back. After the cannon was fired, I was the last person to cross the starting line. How was I going to make it up this thing? Every step added pressure to my already fragile back.

Once we left the flats and started the climb I started to get some momentum. Because my back was already bent it kinda helped me and because everyone was running so slow I was passing people. At about the mile marker I caught Joe. He looked over at me in amazement. "What the @%@% are you doing" he shouted. I thought for a split second and realized that I was doing something very stupid and almost stopped dead in my tracks. I just couldn't keep the pace going. I backed it down and then proceeded to do a run a little, walk a little routine until I reach the WALL. I finally gathered the energy to try and finish strong. I kicked it into what felt like HYPERSPACE and passed several people on the WALL. When I crossed the finish line I was in more pain then I ever experienced in my life. Once again I swore I'd never do this race again.

They took a photo of me at the finish line (the one at the start of this blog). It was so funny that a bunch of friends, purchased it and had it placed on the front of a Wheaties box. It was presented to me at our annual holiday dinner as the "First Annual PHAT Award". PHAT stands for Pain...Heavy At Times. Which is my nick name. Every year these guys give it out to the person in the group (ROAG, a story for another day) who puts themself through the most pain to complete a race. I'm sorry to say I've won this award 2 years in a row.

My times are listed below along with my prediction for this year.

Year Place Time Pace Age

1990 74 1:20:40 10:37 31

1999 195 1:32:47 12:13 40

2007 326 1:50:26 14:32 48

2009 100 1:29:00 50 Predicted!!

Let's all have some fun Saturday!!