Presidential Traverse...aka....Death March report

Mt Madison climb

So what brings a person to do something like this? Well in my case it goes back to February where a group of us had a great idea to run the 50th Mt Washington Road Race. We all put our names into the lottery and formed a “Group” , which we hoped would all but guarantee us entry into the race. Now I’ve run this race 4 times before and at each attempt all I could say at the top was “Get me off this f’n pile of rocks”. So after the lottery was held we looked up our names and found out that we had “won” the lottery. That’s right our names did not get picked so we didn’t have to run up the “Rock Pile”. So what was our big adventure going to be? One of the guys, Tim Smith, comes up with the idea of doing the Presidential Traverse. So 6 of us decided to take up the challenge,

Tim Smith aka Shutter Bug & T-shirt design king
Joe Karner aka Mr. Organization
Ken Rousseau aka Eagle Scout
Keith Spinney aka Trekking pole challenged
Scott Graham aka Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.
Glenn Swanbon aka No Show

So what is the Presidential Traverse? It is a hike (scramble, crawl and fall) across the Presidential mountains in the Mt Washington National Forest. We decided to take the North to South route, starting up at Appalachia on Rt 2 and ending at Crawford Notch on Rt 302 in NH. This trail crosses 9 mountains, over a 20 mile span and has 8500 feet of elevation gain. Now you may be thinking that 20 miles for me should be easy, and you’d be correct if this was what I would consider a normal hike. This was NOT NORMAL!!!!! All the books and web sites that we read about this hike stated that it should take us 14 hours and 10 minutes to complete. For 20 miles? Come on now, back in this groups hay day we could cover that distance in a little over 2 hours and Keith could do it in less than 2 hours. WTF were people doing along the way?

So we started the planning. Joe was our lead man who spent countless hours researching different routes, getting us a place to stay in Woodstock at his sister’s cabin, arranging food, and countless other details. As a group we must have traded 100’s of e-mail on all sorts of details including:

Gloves
Shoes
Hats
Water purification
Shoes
Fleece coats
Socks
Shoes (we were very obsessive about this)
Food to carry
Route
Escape routes
Car placements
Car pooling
Hike Estimates
Strategy of how to pace ourselves
Who we were going to eat if the going got rough
Getting the 3 day pass from our wives.
Insect repellent
Rain Jackets
Rain Pants
Shoes (there we go again)
First Aid
Parking Passes


We even met as a group at Joe’s house a couple of weeks before to get agreement on the timing, route, and list of things we needed to bring. Were we anal about this? Yes, and for a good reason. All of us had run up Mt Washington and we all found it very tough and the weather to be horrible, and that was on the road!!! We weren’t going to be on any roads and would be longing for one at many points during the hike. We had all hiked together last fall and it was rough on all of us, but this hike had twice the distance, three times the elevation and three times the number of peaks. In addition we would be above tree line for almost 75% of the hike. But we had a plan, an audacious plan. Everything was set.

Keith for several months had warned us that he may need to pull the rip cord once on top of Mt Washington because of his knee. We hoped that he was not going to have to take the escape route we had planned because he was our food if the going got rough. Our first real speck of trouble was with Glenn bowing out a couple of days before. His knee was giving him trouble and he didn’t want to risk the trip. That’s was too bad. Glenn is always good to have on these men’s weekends.

On Thursday four of us (Keith, Joe, Tim and I) meet up at the Visitor Center up on Rt 112 to purchase parking passes and drop cars off at the Appalachian Mountain Clubs parking lots at the Cog rail way (our bail out point) and at Crawford Notch (our final destination). After completing our car shuffle we went over to Joe’s sisters place in Woodstock to make dinner and put together some food for the hike. Soon Ken would show up and Joe cooked us a fine dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. To help pay for our stay we agreed to do some work around the cabin. OMG the work that was planned was to move some rocks to predetermined locations on the property. We were having fun with this but it was back breaking work. We also spend a couple of hours sitting around drinking adult beverages and laughing about past adventures. We all crashed early, 9:30, because the alarm would be sounding at 3:30 AM.

At around 2:30 I was wide awake and went into the living room and just relaxed in the dark. At 3:30 sharp alarms started ringing all over the cabin. Everyone was up and ready to hit the road at 3:45. Not bad. We had pre-made bagel and egg sandwiches the night before and feasted on the ride. We arrive at our starting point at 4:50 AM….NOOOO we are already running 20 minutes behind schedule. By the time we got all of our gear, took pictures and answered Mother Natures call, it was 5:05. We needed to get going. The very last thing we wanted to be doing is hiking off the mountains after dark. So Joe lead our merry band UP. It was still dark and we needed to use head lamps for the first 30 minutes. Come to think of it, I lent one to Keith and I forgot to collect it after the hike. So we started up towards Madison Hut and a good pace. We tried to take it easy but I think we were all a little excited and the pace was quick. We did make a couple of stops along the way so Keith could leave his mark along the trail. We had all dressed light but the effort of going from 1300 feet to 4700 made all of us sweat up a storm. Then the trees opened up and we were at the hut and just about at tree line. The weather was much different. So different, that we all threw on jackets and hats. We decided to leave our packs at the hut and make the final ascent up Mt Madison without the extra weight.

As we started our climb another pair of hikers were right with us. They were experienced and managed the final climb like it was nothing. I on the other hand was nervous and starting to doubt my decision to do this hike. Mt Madison to me is not really a mountain as it is just a big pile of rocks that happened to be stacked up really, really high. As we climbed the wind really started picking up and I was afraid that I was going to loose my Mt Washington road race hat. By the time we hit the top I was physically shaking from fear of falling or getting my leg caught between the rocks and getting injured. The top was nothing more then rocks piled on top of each other. The view was great and we had made it up to the top in 2 hours and 30 minutes, wow that almost 2 hours faster then the hiking books predicted. As I looked over at Mt Washington I could see the auto road. I was longing for that road at this point and will never complain about how steep it is. As we climbed down I really started thinking about turning around and heading right back to the car. I was scared sh@tless as I crab walked back down to Madison hut. This was going to be a lot tougher then I expected. Then it got even tougher!!

After a quick (well almost, we had to wait for Keith to leave his mark in the Madison Hut bathroom), stop we were off to Mt Adams. Now we were above tree line for good and there really isn’t any hiking trails like I’ve known all my life. You know the kind with a nice soft pine needle surface and shady trees. No, this was just a pile of rocks you were walking on and had to focus on every single step or risk injury. To follow the so called trails we had to navigate using cairns, which are pyramid shaped piles of rocks every 100 yards or so that are maintained by the Appalachian Mtn Club. As we looked up Mt Adams we realized that the trail we originally decided to take up was very steep (Airline) so we went around the south sided of the mountain and once again dropped our packs and scrambled up the mountain. Once again the wind was howling and made for an unpleasant stay at the top. Once again I was the last one down the mountain. I was seriously considering heading back to the car once again but Mt Jefferson was next and didn’t look to bad. Boy was I wrong.

As we approached Jefferson, the trail went straight UP. Now we were climbing nearly vertical and were having trouble locating the next cairn. It was so tough that we took a break half way up. Once we hit the top we got socked in with some clouds and couldn't really see a thing. And of course the wind was killing us. This was supposed to be fun….NOT!!! I was suffering and couldn’t believe we were only 1/3 of the way done. The only good thing about Jefferson was the route we took made the decent was much easier.

Mt Clay was next. This is a small peak, in fact it’s not really considered a mountain because there is not enough elevation gain, but it did get our heart rates up.

Now comes the high point in the route, Mt Washington, standing at 6288 feet, which is 5000 feet higher then we started. As we looked up at the “Rock Pile” we could see that it was socked in with clouds, so our views weren’t going to be too good. But as we looked across the mountain range that we still needed to cover we could see that the 2nd half of our hike was going to be “relatively” easier then the first half. Yeah right!! We started are ascent. Joe took it out hard with Keith and I in fast pursuit. Tim and Ken were taking it a little easier. When we hit the Cog Rail we decided to just skirt the tracks and jump the auto road for the final 100 feet of climbing. Joe set a pace that I could not hold and was first on top. I was 2nd and Keith was DFL. Tim and Ken decided to stay on the trail and summitted shortly after us. The top was packed with people who had either drove up or took the Cog…what a bunch of wimps!!! I’ve now been to the top 5 times and always made it under my own power. We all grabbed a bite to eat. In my case I ended up eating my 5th peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We refilled our water bottles and headed out.

We were searching for the Crawford Path down and saw a sign for it. We headed in that direction and after making one small detour we were on the right path, jumping from boulder to boulder. The wind was 50+ miles an hour and the temperature was in the mid 30’s. Nice summer weather we were having.

Our next target was Mt Monroe, by way of Lakes of the Clouds Hut. We did a quick stop at the hut and off we went up Monroe. This was difficult but nothing compared to Madison, Adams and Jefferson.

Then on to Franklin. Once again not to bad. With 7 done we were off to Eisenhower. From a distance this didn’t look to bad but as we finally reached its’ base we realized that we had some work cut out for us. This peak required us to do some real climbing up very steep paths but once we had about 200 feet of vertical left the trail was easy and even had log steps in places to make our footing much more consistent. Once again great views with high winds. At this point Ken was starting to Bonk and while we waited for him Keith suggested that we help lighten Ken’s load by each of use taking some of the contents of his pack. Then someone pointed out that this seemed like an Obama deal where we were all going to carry the load for someone else. It sounded really funny then but we were all very tired. This must have been the yuppie mountain, because there were even log ladders in sections. 8 down 1 to go.

Mt Pierce was the last on our trek and was kind of a let down. This peak is not above the tree line and it was tough to tell when you reached the top. Any way we were done…WRONG!!!

Now the toughest part of the hike was about to occur. We had been hiking for 17+ miles and only had 3.1 miles to go. But all 3.1 miles were down hill, and it wasn’t on a smooth pine needle path. Once again we had to step from rock to rock. Now this wasn’t a race but Keith had poked fun at me all day long about this so I figured I’d make sure I got down off the mountain before he did. I led the group and set a fast pace. I was on a mission. I quick stepped and even jogged in places to try and get down as quickly as possible. After about 2 miles I noticed that I was starting to bonk, but I just ignored it and kept pushing. Finally after 1.5 hours I finished the 3.1 mile trek down. The only problem was I popped out on Rt 302 and not at the parking lot which was about ½ mile away. DAM!!! Now I was running UP 302 back to the parking lot. Thankfully l got back to my car before Keith arrived. I won!!! We ended up taking 13 hours and 30 minutes with breaks. No speed record but we did beat book time.

Soon, Joe showed up followed by Keith then Tim and the guy who really toughed it out, Ken. Now we had to play the car shuffle. The 5 of us got in my van then dropped Keith, Joe and Tim off at the Cog to get Keith’s car. Ken and I headed up and picked up his car, and then we headed back to the cabin. 2 hours after finishing the hike we were finally taking a shower. Did that ever feel good!!

After cleaning up it was time to head into town (Woodstock) for a victory dinner. We ended up at Truant’s and filled ourselves with cold drinks and fine food.

Will I do this hike again? NO, NO, NEVER, NO MORE!!! But I’ve said that about a lot of things in my life.

Today is Monday and my legs have had 2 full days of rest and my quads are still in pain. WTF!!!

Next year I’ll suggest something like a whale watch or really go nut and take a garden tour.

Double Secret Training!!!

OK, I've been out of touch for quite some time now. That's because I've had my focus entirely on the biggest BHAG of my life. First of all I should tell you what BHAG stands for. Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Every year I challenge myself to achieve something that I had never down before. This is sort of like a Bucket list. As you get older this gets tougher to accomplish.

Last year my BHAG was to run 50 races in the year I turned 50. Well I got to race 46 and I was toast. It was not to be!! But I'm OK with that. If you don't set goals, any path will get you to where you want to be. So I was way ahead of most people.

This year my focus is on completing an IronMan. Notice I did not write the word RACE. My goal is to finish and live to talk (and of course write) about it. Now that my goal was set I needed to gain entry into one of the races. In road races this is an easy task. In IronMan races this is the first challenge you face. These races fill up fast. So you have to be quick on the key board right when the entry process starts or be at the event the year prior. I was on the key board. The event I chose is the Florida IronMan. Why this race? Well from the course profile it seems to have the flattest course. I'm not a very good hill climber running and even worst on a bike. I seem to be very good at setting a pace and holding it for a very long time so this course plays to my strength. They say that the hilliest part of the race is the swim!!! Then again this creates yet another problem.

You see I'm a very poor swimmer. How poor you wonder? Well at the half ironman races I've completed in I'm almost dead last out of the water. Yes out of 1600 swimmers in one of the last events I did I was 1582 out of the water. I swim like a rock, but that wouldn't be fair to rocks.

So my next challenge was to learn how to swim. I signed up at a local swim club in Westford and the instructor has worked wonders for me. I'm not fast but I'm improving. This has not been with out some hard work and a lot of laughs. There was one class where Ivana (the instructor) was trying to get me to kick correctly. I kept telling her that my kick was not important in an Ironman but she was determined. After an hour of working with her I think I finally got her to forget about my kick. You see, during the drills as I kicked I was going backwards. Ivana kept saying "that is not possible". Well it is and now I just kick to maintain balance. So my time when we first started was 3 minutes per 100 yards, now it's down to 1:50. I'm still slow but I'm much faster then I was. Thanks Ivana.

I've already booked my flight, booked transportation for my bike, and set hotel reservations. This Ironman stuff takes a lot of planning and $'s.

I also started a 26 week training program for and Ironman. The problem I've been having is it is way to easy for me at my level of fitness. I'm chomping at the bit to when I have to do "brick" workouts and other 2 a day work outs.

The race is 4 months from today. I hope I'm on the right track.

Boston Marathon Race Report

By taking great risks you can reap great rewards…or great misery.  Time will tell

 

After months of training through what I consider the worst type of weather most of the time (35 degrees and raining), heck I even did a 21 miler in that weather.  I was ready to toe the line.

 

Friday afternoon I picked up my number and managed to get out of the expo and only spend $5 on GU.  Saturday I headed back into Boston to work at the expo where I handed out the tech t-shirts to the official entrants.  Everything went well and this time I got out of the expo without spending a dime.  So far so good.  On Sunday my plan was just to take it easy and hang out.  However I needed to coach my daughter’s softball team practice in the morning.  No big deal because it was sprinkling so it was a very short practice.  Later on Peter Floss and I drove back into Boston to drop one car off across the street from the hotel we would be using after the race.  We were there and back in 1.5 hours.  The weekend leading up to the race went like clock work.  Sunday night I managed to fall asleep by 9 as usual but was wide awake by 2 AM (as usual).  I did manage to get back to sleep by 3 and woke again at 5….Perfect.  I felt good.

 

I cleaned up, downed a protein shake, downed 3 Advils and was out the door.  First stop was the Country Store to purchase 3 news papers for the bus ride.  Second stop, the bagel shop for 2 multi-grain bagels.  Third stop was to Matt Carrols house for the scheduled 6:05 pickup.  Fourth stop, Mike O’Connor’s house for the 6:10 pickup (I was late by 2 minutes).  Last stop was back to my house were Peter Floss was waiting to drive us to the bus.  We loaded up his car and were off to Lowell to pick up the Greater Lowell Road Runners (GLRR) bus.  In a short time the bus was rolling and we were in Hopkinton in no time.  Taking the team bus is absolutely the best way to get to the marathon.  In addition the team rents a couple of rooms at the Park Plaza hotel so after the race you can get cleaned up and have something to eat and drink.  Anyway we arrived in Hopkinton at 8:15, late by my standards but they wouldn’t let me drive the bus.  For the first time in 20+ years of taking the GLRR bus I got in the team photo, ugh, I hate these things.  Next I headed over to where the BAA buses were dropping off people.  I was looking for a good friend, Melissa Weiksnar who was volunteering.  Melissa is one of the most determined people I know and has been working on a Boston qualifier for a couple of years now.  I’m sure she’ll get her chance one of these days.  I really wanted to find her because she tragically lost her daughter, Amy, the day after Christmas.  I wanted Melissa to know that I would be thinking of Amy as I past by BC where she was a student.  Unfortunately, I was unable to locate her and headed back to the bus to get ready.  At, 9:05 it was “GO time”  I was all changed up into my racing gear, gloves, and pin with Phil Riley’s initials on it.  Phil had passed away the prior week.  Phil was coach of the Stoneham track team and was out on a run with the team when he suffered a heart attack, a week later he was gone.  Phil was 58 and was a highly competitive runner.  I had running 100’s of times with him and his wit and knowledge of running made the miles go by fast. Phil was a coach, mentor and most of all a friend.  I will truly miss him. Other things I had with me were a bottle of Gatorade, 3 GU packets, 3 Advil’s, a throw away shirt and a 50 gallon trash bag on to stay warm in.  As I was leaving the bus who was standing there?  No other then Melissa!!   I was so happy to see her and gave her a big bear hug and told her that I would be thinking of Amy.  We also decided that we needed to get together for a run after I heal up from the race.  She wished me good luck and I was heading off to the starting line with a smile on my face. 

 

I started the ½ mile jog to the starting line.  Now I’ve been doing this race for more then 20 years so I know the quickest way to get from the high school to the center, but the police wanted me to take the LONG way.  I wasn’t buying it and just ran on past them.  I wasn’t going to go any further then I need to that day.  I got to the corrals and located #3 and was the first runner to enter it, in fact I was the first runner in all the corrals.  I took a seat in the front and just relaxed.  At 9:30 it was time to take the 3 Advil’s and wash them down with the Gatorade.  Soon there were runners all around and the excitement was building.  I met a whole bunch of first time Boston participants who were really fired up and were looking to go sub 3.  I thought to myself that sub 3 was a little rich for me and a 3:10 was a better target based on all my training.  Well we’ll just have to see how this plays out.  The national anthem was sung and 2 fighter jets did a fly over a few seconds later.  I think they were in Boston in 3 minutes.  Oh to be young and fast!!!   Now it was really GO TIME!!!  I ate one of the GU’s and stuffed the other 2 in my gloves for later.  I ripped off my trash bag and threw off my shirt.  I was ready!!!

 

With 15 seconds to go they had not dropped the ropes dividing the corrals.  The runners started chirping at the officials, and with seconds to spare they had the ropes down.  The gun was fired, and we were off in a couple of seconds.  It took me 1 minute and 14 seconds to reach the starting line but I was in full stride in no time.  I was feeling light and fast.  It was at that point I decided to risk it all and go for sub 3 hours.  Now this may sound like a foolish decision but I felt I had the endurance, the question was, did I have the speed?  Also the group of people I train with on bikes and runs have a little side betting competition every year to see what order we’d finish in.  Now there are 70+ people in this group so there were a lot of opinions.  Based on how each of us trained the finish order should have been  Peter Floss, myself, Matt Carroll, Mikael Taveniku and last but not least Mike O’Connor.   Pete has been training like mad man.  He has been killing me all winter long on training runs.  Every long run we did he would finish 5 – 10 minutes a head of me.  By all logic Pete was the big dog to beat.  Matt had trained well.  As a matter of a fact he followed a marathon training plan to the letter.  He was ready to go.  Mikael is just plan tough.  He didn’t really train much but was in Japan the week before doing some special Japanese Monk ultra running classes  (LOL), so he was a mystery to us.  Mike, didn’t really run more then 5 times in the last 2 months.  How the heck was he going to be able to make it through this thing?  He had be injured and called me up on Saturday saying that he needed a lift over to the bus on Monday.  I was shocked, the last time he ran with me was 3 weeks before and he only managed 200 yards before stopping.  He was in serious trouble.  So that is how the logical order for our group was derived.   Then there was the smart money betting, which changed the order to Scott, Pete, Matt, Mikael and Mike.  I guess I just seem to get really lucky every year at Boston and always finish first for the group no matter how poor I trained or how good other people trained.  Time will tell.

 

What follows is my mile spits

 

Mile      Mile Splits

1          06:46.3  WOW I got off to a good start

2          06:29.5  That was fast but I’m feeling good

3          06:31.8  That’s a little more like it

4          06:21.6  SLOW down idiot

5          06:40.3  That’s were I want to be

6          06:29.3  Damn I’m all over the place today

7          06:34.2  OK can I just hold it at this pace?

8          06:42.1  I’ll take it

9          06:39.1  Good, now just keep it together

10         06:46.5  I’m slipping

11         06:55.3  Don’t lose focus

12         06:49.0  Working back in the right direction

13         06:58.9  Slipping again and I’m getting tired

13.1      00:46.0  At the half way point I was at 1:27:30  The last time I ran a half this fast was in 2005.  I was in trouble

14         07:36.8  I decided that the world was getting very dark and I needed to slow it down.  But this was bad.

15         07:39.8  OK I guess I’m stuck with running 7:30’s or worst

16         07:05.0  Down the hill and I started feeling good

17         08:01.5  On rte 128 was my buddies they handed me some Gatorade.  I was in tough shape.

18         08:04.0  Turn the corner onto Com ave and up the hill

19         07:44.6  Pulling it back together

20         08:57.0  I think I just lost four tires on the bus..NOOOOO  Now I’m starting to worry that Pete is catching me.

21         08:39.5  There goes the roof.  But I’m thinking of Amy to get me over this hill.

22         07:32.9  Amy carries me over the hill and down along BC.  I will finish this thing!!

23         08:13.7  I slow a bit but I’m pulling it back together

24         08:09.1  Hang on

25         08:41.4  That GD hill over the Mass Pike really hurts.  I stop for a second to regroup and my legs are jello.  I wobble a few steps and start running again.

26         07:50.0  I’m picking up a little speed

26.2      01:56.0  I turn the corner on to Boylston street and I wish I could say I was flying but it was more like a slog.

 

100 yards before the finish line I noticed a couple of timing mats on the far left hand side.  So I hung tight to the left and ran over them.  Just after I did I hear the announcer yell out “And here comes Scott Graham from Westford Ma.”  And the crowd goes wild (maybe not the last part, but they did call out my name).   I finished in 3:13:41.  I was hurting but I was able to keep moving.  Twice the medical volunteers grabbed me and wanted me to go to the medical tent but I refused.  I quickly got my potato people blanket and my medal and started running again.  It’s 4 blocks to the hotel and if I stopped I figured I might not get going again.  Once at the Park Plaza hotel I was able to make it up to out team rooms quickly and got one of the first showers.  Then it was onto the massage tables to loosen up the muscles.  As I was getting worked on Pete came into the room and once again I was able to utter the words that my buddies hate to hear from me “What took you so long”?  Pete smiled and said he had a tough day.  But then again Pete is a big boy and I can’t imagine how he is able to move so fast.  Next to show up was a surprise, Mike OOOOO.  Holy $&!# how did he do that?  He is one tough SOB.  Now we were starting to worry about Matt.  GLRR had a PC in the room and were tracking each of the runners.  The last time we saw Matt’s status was at the 30K mark, but that was an hour ago.  Something was wrong.  On and on our watch continued, until Matt finally showed up in the hotel.  He ended up cramping and dropped out.  That’s really too bad, Matt had done everything right and obsessed over every detail.  I’m sure he is more motivated then ever and will kill the course next year.  Mikael ended up finishing but also had a lot of trouble.  I guess he got some bad water or something because he puked the last 10 miles.  But he’s tough and finished. So nobody got the exact order correct but it was fun with all the smack talk that preceded the race.  

 

So now I have 24 consecutive Official Boston Marathons in the bank (25 if you count the 1^st one I did as a bandit).  Every now and then I think back to that first race.  I was a newlywed and had a friend who did it every year and this guy was big and tough (a 250 lb lineman).  I figured if he could do it, I could do it.  Well I ran a 3:19 that year and after the race I was sitting in the middle of Boylston street in tears.  I was mentally and physically broken.  My mother and new wife were standing over me and through the tears I told them that I would never do something that stupid to my body ever again.  As my better half says: “Stupidity repeats itself year after year”.

 

So now I going to take it easy for the next 2 weeks then start my training on my next BHAG “Big Hairy Audacious Goal”, I’ve signed up for the Florida Ironman.  I can’t imagine how I’m going to be able to run a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles.  I guess I’ll just have to toughen up.

 

 

 

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Holyoke St Patrick's day 10K

I trouped out to Holyoke to hook up with my cousins the O’Connor’s at the 35^th annual Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day 10K.  As I drove through Chicopee I noticed that I was only about a ¼ mile from where I  lived as a kid on Pendleton Ave and figured I’d swing past the old house after the race.  Upon arriving in down town Holyoke I couldn’t help but noticing how rundown the city is.  Old mill buildings and 3 and 4 story tenement houses were in degrees of disrepair with most windows missing.  Now I’m thinking “what have I got myself into”, “where am I going to park my car”?  I drove to the location Dan O’Connor had given me “the corner of Chestnut and Dwight” and found that the O’Connor’s had commandeered a parking lot and were only letting their friends in.  Great, I will have a car after I finish this thing.  

 

I was greeted by Mike O’Connor, who was already enjoying a St Patrick’s day beverage, “No I’m not running, I’ve had 2 knee operations already” Mike said to me.  Soon I was saying hello to almost all of the O’Connor’s.  Tommy, Johnny, Jimmy, Judy, Irene, Michael, Danny and Kevin.  Francine, might have been there but I’m not sure.  Along with the O’Connor’s there was many of their kids (most are adults now), grandkids and many friends.  In all I’d say there were about 50+ in the group.  The weather was perfect, 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  However 75 degrees is perfect for drinking adult beverages and watching a race but not so good for running if all the running you’ve done is in below freezing temperatures or 35 degrees and pouring.  This was going to be one hot race for me.  

 

I asked around to see who needed to get there race number and discovered that most of the O’Connor’s weren’t running, with the exception of Danny and Kevin.  Most of their kids were running.   OK I needed to get checked in and get my number.  I jogged over to the start area and quickly checked in.  There were over 5000 people registered for this race, making it the 3^rd largest race in MA.  WOW.  As I jogged around I noticed that there was a pub on just about every corner and every one of them had outdoor taps running and people were packing them at 10:30 in the morning.  On the common across from where I was parked was a huge tent which was set up with more taps.  This was going to be one big block party after this race.  

 

I socialized with all the crew up until 12:30, then it was time to get ready.  I did some stretching and loosened up a bit with a light run.  I walked down to the start with Kevin and as I did a guy about my age grabs and says “Hey aren’t you Scotty Graham”?  I responded “yes”,  He introduced himself to me and said that he recognized me from my picture on my blog.  I was flattered because I recognized this guy by his name, Paul Bazanchuk, and he is one of the top 50+ year old runners in the country.  We headed over to the starting line together but the race officials wouldn’t let us jump in the front.  They wanted us to go around the side and to the back of the pack.  Paul and I decided that this was not going to work for us so we jumped over the barriers and got into the 4^th row.  Paul warned me to take it easy on the start of this race because we would be climbing to the 3.5 mile mark, and the big guns were going to take it out at 4:30 pace. 

 

Soon the “GO” command was given and we were off.  I was running hard, TO HARD, I was going to pay sooner or later.  About ¼ of a mile in I passed the O’Connor PARTY.  Then I noticed Danny up in front of me.  Dan had jumped in from the ¼ mile mark to avoid the crush of 5000 people.  He wasn’t going to win so why not.  I ran up behind him and gave him a slap on the back and encouraged him to hang with me.  No doing, and I continued down the road.  Soon we were climbing, and climbing and climbing.  I was toast.  People were passing me in waves.  There was one guy in front of me who would do a cart wheel every now and then to get the crowd going.  This really pissed me off.  I marked him for a kill.

 

Finally we reached the top of the hills by Holyoke Community College.  The homes up there were very nice and well maintained.  A huge difference from down town.  Now it was time to open up my stride and see how many people I could reel in.  I started off slowly and began picking people off.  As I continued I was catching loads of people.  At the 5 mile mark the O’Conner’s were on the side of the road cheering us in.    I even caught Mr. Cart Wheel.  Now I can sleep at night.

 

I ended up running 43:34 which works out to a 7:01 per mile pace.  I was 169^th of 5000 runners and 9^th in my age category and 12 Irish American.  This was my slowest 10K EVER!!  This was even a slower pace then I ran Boston marathon last year (6:55 per mile).  This was one tough race.  I got back to the O’Connor’s tailgate party and was the first runner back.  Soon Danny’s son was back then came Danny, Kevin and the rest of the kids and friends.   Soon the party was in full swing.  Food, soda, Gatorade, and adult beverages were flowing.  I spent some time speaking with each of the O’Connor’s.

 

When I say there was a big party in down town Holyoke, I mean really BIG.  It was 9 square blocks with all the roads jammed with people, and beverage tents everywhere.  It was the largest block party I’ve ever seen.  And to think on Sunday it was going to be 10 times larger with the parade.  WOW

 

Around 3 PM it was time to hit the road so I headed out and swung by our old house on Pendleton Ave.  Funny we moved out of there when I was 9 years old but I remembered the way from the old dinner like it was yesterday.  The road was pot hole city, I think there were more pot holes then tar.  The two houses on the lot hadn’t changed much but there was a fence in between them now.  I can’t believe that 6 of us lived in a house that size.  Thanks Mom and Dad for moving us east and giving us a path to allow us to achieve so much.  We are truly blessed. 

 

Time to really focus in on Boston!!!

 

 

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Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe 5K

This race is the highlight for me every snowshoe season. To run a race at
night in the woods with a head light on is a great experience. Not to
mention that this race is put on by one of the best race directors in the
area, Chris Dunn. Chris puts his heart and soul into making sure that
everything is perfect for his races. So when the lack of snow in the NE
area started to endanger this race, he and his team spent hours out on the
course trying to re-route it or shovel snow on the course so it would be
runnable in snowshoes. Alas, Mother Nature will not be beaten and at the
last minute Chris was forced to change the race to a snowshoe's optional
race.

I chose to run in my Yak Trax for better grip with all the ice that I
found out on the course during my warm up. As 50+ of us lined up for the
start Chris was very apologetic for the conditions. Most of use didn't
care because we were going to have fun no mater what the conditions were.
Chris gave us a 30 second warning and soon we were off.

Geoff C, Charlie T, Dan F, and Ri, when out like lighting. I settled into
the second pack (slower guys), and was running behind Austin S. One thing
that seemed funny to me is that we were working together like a biking
team warning each other of hazards along the trail. The sounds of "Roots,
Rocks, and Snow (funny guys we are)" could be heard from the group as we
flew down the trail. After about 1/2 mile I decided that it was time to
see what I had in me so I took over the lead from Austin. I was feeling
good as the trail wound around. However my sense of direction is poor at
best. Within 200 yards of me taking the lead I went off trail (totally my
fault). But in a blink of an eye I went from first in the pack to 3rd, as
Austin and Richard passed me. I was now running in 7th place over all and
worst yet I could hear the sound of snowshoes behind me.

I was not going to be beaten by some who was wearing snowshoes, NFW!!! So
I pushed as hard as I could to try and break this plodder behind me. I
figured that I had a huge advantage when we hit the field, because there
was no snow. But even though I was just a few yards behind Austin and
Richard I was having a tough time following the flags. You see that red
flags work great when they sit on white snow. But place them in a field
with mud and dead grass they go invisible. I think I ended up stepping on
50% of them in the field, sorry Chris.

When we finally reached the snow on the edge of the field my running form
went to h3ll. I was post holing and was stumbling like a old drunk.
After we finally hit the equipment barn by the "snow bridge" I was able to
regain some form and run again, but the sound of snowshoes was still in my
ear. All of a sudden a guy that I had never seen before at a SS race
passed me like I was standing still. In a blink of an eye he was out of
sight. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!

Now I knew that I only had 1/2 mile to go and I wanted to make sure I
finished strong, but I was struggling. In addition I knew that the last
200 yards was up a small hill. My plan was to hold my form best I could
and push hard up the hill. It worked, and I managed to put a couple of
seconds between me and snowshoe boy (Chris Smith).

After the race most of us hung out at the finish area to cheer in all the
other runners. This is one thing I really like about this sport. Yeah
there are winners, but everyone in these races seems to be part of the
bigger picture and really encourages each other to do their best.

The awards were the best ever. Every person had a chance to win a prize
no mater where you finished. In fact every single person walked away with
something. Some even ended up with 2 prizes. I won a pair of micro
spikes...YES!!!

Charlie T ended up toasting Geoff to become the third winner of this race.

1. Charlie T
2. Geoff C
3. Dan 88.6 F
4. Ri F
5. Richard L
6. Austin S
7. Kevan C
8. Scott G
9. Chris S (first snowshoer)
10. Amber F. (first woman), Better half of 88.6
11. Jay C
12. Jay M

So, lets take a quick inventory of this race:

Lack of snow; bad
Quick re-route; good
Change to trail run; even better
Super fast start; bad
Working together to call out obstacles; good
Taking the lead of the 2nd pack; good
Going off course; Even better, the 200 yards of pressure was killing me
Being passed with 1/2 mile to go; bad
Beating the first snowshoer; good
First person over 50; only because the good guys didn't show
Soup and brownies; super (or is that supper)
Winning micro spikes; good
Spending time with some terrific people running around in the dark;
Priceless.

Thanks Chris Dunn for another great memory!!!

Where have I been???

Over the past several month I've kind of gone missing from a couple of
perspectives. First, I've haven't been blogging, because our IT
department has locked down our environment such that I'm not able to
directly access my blog. DAM IT GEEKS (hold on that would be my
department)!!! I could go around the firewalls but then again I have to
set a good example for the rest of the people in the company.

Second, I have not been attending any snow shoe races. The reasons for
this are two fold. 1st even before the Feel Good Farm race I wasn't
feeling well. I was running a fever and everyone at checking was telling
me I was pulling a "Jim Johnson" (aka sandbagging to the max). Well I
wasn't, and I spent that afternoon in bed and the following 2 days nursing
the fever and the next 2 weeks on a sick roller coaster. 2nd, my body was
not really happy with me after the race and I needed to give it a break.
Feel Good Farm was a total disaster.

Third, my wife decided to invite a whole gaggle of family up to our place
in Gilford and I have been playing the perfect host. I guess I had to
hang out with these people because they were my sisters and their
families. We did have a good time and I didn't have to run up any
mountains with screen doors attached to my feet.

Fourth, I've been doing some triple secret training for an Ironman I
signed up for in November. I am now swimming 3 to 4 times a week, or as I
like to call it "I'm taking don't DROWN lessons". I'll be blogging more
on this in the future.

Lastly I'm on a mission from god and I can't be stopped. This April will
be my 25th consecutive year racing in the Boston Marathon. I want to do
well so I've started my marathon training earlier then normal. Usually I
start my distance training in March but I'decided to start putting in the
miles starting in February. My BHAG for this years race is the same as it
was the last 13 year....to break 3 hours. The last time I was able to
accomplish this was back in 1996. Last year I missed it by 1 minute and 8
seconds. AAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Anyway, I'm back online, I'm feeling much better, no more company in the
plans, but the marathon training continues.

I hope to be at one of the SS races soon.

Test number 2

This is my 2nd test to see if I can use e-mail to update my blog