TEST RIDE FOR A NEW BIKE
8.8 Mile Ride at the Corning Preserve
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since the last time I was on one of my bikes... it should get a little easier to get in more riding as the days get longer, daylight savings time kicks in (hurray!) and the weather warms up a bit. A week and a half ago I took some money from my 2008 tax refund and bought a new mountain bike - another department store bike, but this time a hardtail. As much as I love the fully suspended bike Ann gave my for my birthday in either 2003 or 2004, it has a number of drawbacks, including the fact the the rear suspension just isn't stiff enough and I lose a certain amount of energy to it bobbing up and down as I ride. I had originally planned to get this bike to use in the National Duathlon Off Road race at the end of April, but even after cancelling my plans to attend the races in Richmond I decided to pick it up anyway, never realizing that I'd end up wanting to use it in a race this coming weekend - the Pineland Farms Winter Triathlon! So over the last few days I've scrambled to install a couple of upgrades on it - pedals, toe clips, seat, and so on - so that I could take it out for a test ride tonight and see what needs adjusting before I leave Saturday morning.



Overall I had a good ride - my legs grumbled a bit about pushing a bike at 10-14 mph after little riding this winter, but the Corning Preserve is short enough that they couldn't grumble for long. The bike handles well... I need to make a few minor adjustments but even without them it would be rideable for the 6 miles I'm planning to do on Saturday.



On the way back I passed a small herd of deer grazing along the path - 7 or 8 of them, when I used to see three or four. It was getting too dark for me to get a good photo of them, unfortunately. The ducks, crows, and gulls were all out on the ice on the river as I rode back into the parking area under 787. Didn't get any pictures on the way out, because I was racing sunset and didn't want to delay... but I did get some nice shots of the railroad bridge and the river when I got back.





With luck I'll have time Friday to make the adjustments to the bike... and hopefully Sunday I'll remember not to push the 6 miles too hard, since I'll still have 5 miles of XC skiing to do to finish the race, and that's definitely my weakest event.



JMH

ON THE TRAILS AGAIN!
5.2 Mile Run in the Albany Pine Bush
Tuesday, February 24, 2009

After over a week of no running it felt great to be out on the trails again, even if I spent part of the time trying to cough up a lung. With no substantial fresh snow for the last couple of weeks I knew the trails would be runnable, though a bit rough in spots, so I wore my screw shoes and planned to take it easy (I am getting over being sick, after all.)

Mostly ice and hard frozen snow, with a few actual patches of dirt. Could have used my snowshoes but the pounding would have been rough... definitely better this way. I was a little worried at first that I was underdressed, because with the wind it was very cold and I've been more sensitive to that since I came down with this bug... but within a half mile or so I was feeling nice and warm.

Best of all, as I came down the hill to the power lines on my way back, I heard owls calling. I've seen them twice in the Pine Bush... once one afternoon when I was over there skiing, and one evening last year when I was running... one of the cool things about running there at night is it's not that unusual to hear them, even when you can't see them.

JMH

Saratoga Martial Arts Festival
Monday, February 23, 2009



I would also be remiss if I didn't note that the Saratoga Martial Arts Festival (SMAF) is less than a week away. SMAF bills itself as one of the premiere non-competetive martial arts events in the northeast, and justly so. I've gone to four (2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007) back when it was held at Skidmore College and I always walked away impressed by many of the folks I met and almost overwhelmed by all the information I'd been exposed to. Several similar events have sprung up as a result of people's positive experiences there, and I can't help but think that the martial arts community can only grow stronger as a result.

I won't be attending again this year for several reasons, not the least of which is the festival has once again been scheduled during snowshoe season and I hate to miss a snowshoe race. But even writing this has brought back a lot of great memories of my four times at SMAF and I find myself a little bit regretful that I'm not going to be there this coming weekend. If you train in the martial arts and can leave your ego at the door, I can't recommend the Saratoga Martial Arts Festival enough - it's a great chance to learn some new skills (or refresh some old ones) with a fantastic group of instructors.

JMH

New Paddlesports & Outdoor Expo
Monday, February 23, 2009



The 1st Annual Northeast Paddlesports & Outdoor Expo will be held on March 6-8 at the Saratoga City Center in Saratoga Springs. It sounds pretty cool but I don't think I'll be going - either I'd end up spending money I shouldn't on something cool for paddling this summer (yeah!) or I'd end up bummed that I saw all sorts of cool stuff that was way too expensive for a beginner novice recreational paddler like me (who also spends too much money on gear for running, riding, snowshoeing, and XC skiing...)

More info about the expo can be found here.

JMH

BEING SICK SUCKS, Part 2 -
Hallockville Orchard 3.8 Mile Snowshoe Race DNS
Sunday, February 22, 2009

I set the alarm to go off this morning in time for me to make it to West Hawley if I was feeling well enough... if the race had been only half an hour away I might have gone, but the 3 1/2 hours round trip drive combined with how I was feeling to convince me that staying home today was the better plan.

So instead of close to 16.5 miles of snowshoeing this weekend I ended up spending a good part of both days sick in bed. Bleah.

But, with a little luck, taking it easy this weekend will pay off next weekend, with the Hawley Kiln Klassic snowshoe race in Hawley, MA, on Saturday morning, and then a trip to Maine for the Pineland Farms Winter Triathlon on Sunday. I'll just have to wait and see...

JMH

BEING SICK SUCKS, Part 1 -
Hoxie/Covered Bridge 12.5 Mile Snowshoe Race - DNS
Saturday, February 21, 2009

During the afternoon and evening yesterday I began feeling more and more like I had a bug coming on... but I spent a couple of hours after classes cooking chili for after today's races, hoping that I would get a decent night's sleep and feel a lot better in the morning. But when I woke up this morning that clearly was not the case, so I slept a little later than I would have otherwise and left the for Greylock with just enough time to get there right before the race.

They had a pretty good crowd when I got there, 101 runners total between the two distances. I dropped off the chili and spent a few minutes chatting with my friends, who were all very sympathetic that I wouldn't be running. That picked me up a bit. I stayed long enough to watch the start of the race, then walked around for a few minutes taking pictures - it was a gorgeous day for a run! - before heading out to run some errands and then make the drive back home.

I have to admit, I'm more than a bit bummed that I missed the race, though it was really good to see the gang. There's still a slight chance I'll maintain my streak of at least 1 race each weekend since the end of December - tomorrow's run is quite a bit easier than today's.

On the plus side, I stopped at two Wal-marts on the way home and found several pairs of compression shorts in my size on the clearance racks... I learned earlier in the week that they're no longer selling the ones I use, so I'm trying to stock up as much as I can and delay having to look for a new one that's both affordable (for some reason, paying $40 or more for a pair of shorts just doesn't work for me) and works for me (most of the other ones I've tried have chafed in a variety of tender portions of my anatomy... ugh.)

Just have to wait and see how tomorrow goes.

JMH

SNOWSHOEING, MOUNTAIN BIKING... AND XC SKIING?
Pineland Farms Winter Triathlon
Friday, February 20, 2009

Well, I did it... I signed up for the Pineland Farms Winter Triathlon in New Gloucester, ME, next Sunday. The 4k snowshoeing - cake. The 10k mountain bike riding on local roads - cake (though it means I do need to get my new mountain bike up and running sooner than I expected.) The 8k XC ski - is going to take a long time, probably more than the other two combined, because I'm slower than slow on my skis.

But that's what makes it an adventure, right?

JMH

No Run Tonight for the Turtle...
But a New Adventure May Be Looming...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

After spending the day sitting through a not-terribly-exciting seminar on Emotional Literacy for Educators (wahoo) and seeing the sun shining bright and beautiful outside, I was really looking forward to going for a run after work. At least, before my digestive system kicked in with some grumbling that made me think 6-8 miles of pounding the pavement wouldn't be the best plan for this evening. Bleah.

Later in the evening I was looking at races in Maine (the one state in New England that I don't have several racing options for 2009) and stumbled across the website for the Pineland Farms Winter Triathlon on Sunday, March 1. 4k snowshoe, 10k mountain bike (on roads), and 8k XC ski... the skiing would probably take me as long as the other two legs combined, but it strikes me as an intriguing possibility.

JMH

Sunset Along the NYS Thruway
Monday, February 16, 2009

As I drove back to Albany this afternoon and evening, I was treated to the sight of a very colorful sunset, unfortunately mostly viewed in my rear view mirrors. But there was still a little bit of color left in the sky when I stopped at a rest area near Syracuse... so naturally I put my camera to work! Venus can also be seen as a tiny white dot in the upper left corner of the photo (it's easier to see if you click on the photo to view it full size.)



JMH

2.5 Mile Walk at Turning Point Park & Ontario Beach Park
Monday, February 16, 2008

Another day of deciding where to go, since the weather turned out to be sunny after all... ended up heading over to Turning Point Park to walk the Genesee Riverway Trail boardwalk through the Genesee Turning Basin (that's a mouthful!)

The hill down to the river was a bit icy but we made it without mishap... I wasn't counting on the wind blasting along the water, though, which made it a good deal colder than I expected. So it goes... out on the ice we saw a huge flock of gulls, along with a few ducks... tried tossing them some bird seed, but they didn't get it, guess they're used to larger chunks of food! Further away on the river was a flock of birds with white bodies and black heads. We'd left the binoculars in the car, but at first Ann thought they were terns and I thought they might be bufflehead. Looking at my pictures after we got home, I figured out that we were both wrong - they were mergansers (which was a "duh!" moment for me, given how many mergansers I've seen on the Mohawk... I should have figured it out fairly easily. Maybe my brain was frozen.)

We turned back around 3/4 of the way along the boardwalk; it was just too cold and it didn't seem likely we'd see much else. Since home was a good 30 minutes away, we decided to head up to Ontario Beach Park to use the restrooms and maybe briefly check out the lake and the beach.
No surprise we saw lots of gulls and ducks, especially in one sunny area along the river. We wandered down to the concrete jetty and spent a few minutes watching the waves come rolling in and splash against the mound of ice that built up along the edge of the beach.

Ann decided to get rid of the rest of the bird seed, so we started out giving some to the ducks (the gulls were interested to but didn't have much luck finding the seed.) And then a flock of pigeons descended on us... at one point I had a group all around me feet chomping up every bit of seed they could find. It was pretty funny to watch... I do wish we'd brought some old bread so we would have had something for the gulls and ducks, but we still had a good time feeding them what we did have.

JMH

3 Mile Hike at Mendon Ponds Park
Sunday, February 15, 2009

Mendon Ponds site
Mendon Ponds trail map (PDF)

Ann and I wanted to get outside today... where to go, where to go... eventually I settled on Mendon because I wanted to take bird seed over to the trails by the Nature Center and see if I could get chickadees to come and eat out of my hand.

Mendon turned out to be very busy when we got there... lots of walkers, runners, ice fishermen, and so on. And lots of deer - we spotted a trio not long after entering the park and across the road from them there were more bounding through the fields. The Nature Center parking lot was packed - guess we should have expected that on a sunny February afternoon - so we headed back through the park to the beach parking lot to hike some of the trails in the northeastern parts of the park.

After a quick trip down to the beach (the wind blowing across Hundred Acre Pond was viscious) we headed across the road to some of the trails I've run before during a number of the races at Mendon (most recently, the Winterfest 10k snowshoe race about a month ago.) I was surprised to hear that Ann had never been on these particular trails before. Not much snow, a little bit of ice in spots, but best of all - we were out of the wind. Walked up and down a few small hills and eventually found ourselves at Canfield Road, which we crossed so that we could walk a loop trail I'd run once several summers ago, through a nice pine forest at the edge of the park.

At one point I stopped to take a picture of the woods and was surprised to see a deer staring back at me... guess I shouldn't have been all that surprised, they're all over the place there. We ended up taking a shortcut and missed most of the loop, but got to see a group of deer go sailing across the path about an 1/8 of a mile ahead of us before we ended up back at the road.

We walked down the road a ways until we could find a relatively dry spot to cross the fields and then made our way along some more trails I'd run in various races, back to the parking lot. Made another trip down to the beach - fortunately the wind had died down a bit, so we spent a little while there before heading back to the car for the drive home. We went by the Nature Center again in hopes that it had cleared out a bit, but no such luck... maybe we can get rid of the birdseed somewhere tomorrow before I have to head back to Albany.

JMH

Season of the SnōShū 2009 - Race #11
Camp Saratoga 8k Snowshoe Race
Saturday, February 14, 2009

2009 Event Totals
Run
Bike
Snowshoe 40.5 mi, 9 hr 48 min

states visited: MA, NY, VT

MOOSE STOMPS DUATHLON?
Friday, February 13, 2009

For a while now I've been planning to head to Richmond, VA, the last weekend of April for the National Duathlon Festival, with the intention of doing an off-road race on Saturday and an on-road race on Sunday. I've really enjoyed all the du's I've done and it seemed like a fun opportunity, especially since they're trying to build interest in the sport and there are no qualifying standards that need to be met.

Unfortunately, the Muddy Moose 14 mile trail race in NH has been scheduled for the same weekend, and I've been wanting to do that for several years now... I even signed up for the last two years and didn't go, first because I wasn't in good enough shape and then last year because the race was moved to mid-May due to too much snow on the course and I ended up heading to western NY that weekend.

Suddenly I'm finding myself thinking about the expense of the National Du Festival, the 17 hour round trip drive, the possibility of bad weather that weekend... and so on. Perhaps that's my way of telling myself that I really would rather tackle the Muddy Moose instead, and maybe do the National Du's another year...

Decisions, decisions.

JMH

No More Diamond Hill Trail Race
Monday, February 9, 2008

One of the staples of the fall trail racing season in New England was the Diamond Hill 22.5k Trail Race which took runners along a variety of challenging trails in northeastern RI (and across the border into MA.) I ran it back in 2007 and found it to be a tough haul, but still had a good time doing it. Last fall I signed up to run it and then decided I didn't want to make the drive down there that weekend... another casualty of the Year of the DNS. Sadly (from my point of view) word has come down that 2008 was the last year for Diamond Hill... the RD wants to focus his energies on its sister race, the Wrentham Forest Challenge. I can certainly understand that... anyone who puts the time and energy into organizing even one race deserves enormous thanks, and doing two within a month of each other had to have been a bear.

I have to admit, I feel a little bit bad now about skipping Diamond Hill last fall... I had hoped to run it again sometime and see if knowing what the course was like would help me improve my time. But apparently that just was not meant to be... oh, well.

JMH

3.3 Mile XC Ski at Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary
Sunday, February 8, 2009

Canoe Meadows trail map (PDF)

Lots of options for where to go after this morning's race at Hallockville Pond in the Kenneth Dubuque Memorial State Forest... I considered exploring some of the trails on the opposite side of rt 8A (where we would usually run today's race) and also checking out several parks in the area, but in the end settled on visiting Mass Audubon's Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary, which I'd driven by many times back when I worked in Great Barrington but never actually stopped to see. There were several attractions to Canoe Meadows, including mention of lots of birds and wildlife in the trail guides I looked at and the chance to get in some skiing... but best of all, it's fairly flat, and my legs needed that after running up and down the hills of West Hawley.

The small parking lot wasn't as crowded as I'd feared, possibly because the "partly sunny" day had turned out to be grey and cloudy, with a cold wind blowing across the open spaces. As I donned my XC skiing gear I watched a group of snowshoers making their way around a small pond and out onto the first set of trails I planned to ski. The snow wasn't ideal for skiing... basically a layer of ice over the powder, and it had been packed sufficiently that staying on track was a bit of a challenge, especially going down the slight hill from the parking lot to the trails.

The first trail I skiied was the Sacred Way trail, a loop that started at the pond and made its way over several boardwalks through a wetland and then into the woods. I was hoping to see some birds but sadly none were to be found. The second part of the loop went along a ridge overlooking the Housatonic River - really more of a creek this far north - and then back through the woods and meadows to the bridge by the pond. Only saw one person while I was out there, an older fellow who was buzzing along on skis... he was skiing the loop repeatedly, because he passed me four times. What can I say, I'm pretty slow...!

From there I headed off on a carriage road that took me along the shore of the pond and through the meadows over to the edge of the park... easy gliding, and the only folks I encountered was a family out skiing with two small kids. I turned around at an old mill site and then headed up into the woods on the Wolf Pine Trail. That was both the toughest skiing of the day and in some ways the most scenic, since a lot of the time I was skiing through groves of evergreens. The Owl trail looped off of Wolf Pine and proved to be the most challenging of the lot, with some narrow twisty sections and a few short hills (including two that I felt it wisest to walk down, between how tired my legs were and the number of trees available to run into along the way... in one case my skis went down the hill without me after I unclipped!) before I rejoined the Wolf Pine trail for a straight shot back to the carriage road.

As I was nearing the end of the Wolf Pine trail the sun put in an appearance... it's amazing how much that can change the feel of a place! I took advantage of the better light to ski over to the wildlife viewing blind... didn't see any wildlife, but it looks like it would be a good spot to watch from in nice weather. I briefly contemplated doing another loop to get in an additional mile or so, but in the end decided I'd worked my legs enough this weekend and headed back to the car, with several stops to try to get pictures of the rather interesting sky that was developing.

Mass Audubon requests that people refrain from jogging on the trails to avoid disturbing the wildlife, so I won't be able to run there... but Canoe Meadows seems like a good place to visit later in the year when there will be more birds and animals visible, and it's small enough that the trails could be walked in a reasonable amount of time. I'm definitely going to try to visit again when I'm in the area in the spring, summer, or fall.

JMH

Season of the SnōShū 2009 - Race #10
Hallockville Pond 5.6mi Snowshoe Race
Sunday, February 8, 2009

2009 Hallockville Pond 1 results

2009 Event Totals
Run
Bike
Snowshoe 35.8 mi, 8 hr 50 min

states visited: MA, NY, VT

ICE, ICE, & MORE ICE
6.2 Mile Run on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Saturday, February 7, 2009

This was one of those weeks... between several evenings where I was totally beat by the time I got home and some bone-chillingly cold weather, I ended up being a lazy slug. So it was great to finally get out for a run this afternoon, even if it was on the Gerbil Wheel (aka the plowed section of the Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike Trail in Nisakyuna.)

Unfortunately, even though the path was plowed it was still mostly covered with a layer of ice... I really should have worn my screw shoes! At least I'll know for next time. Fortunately I'm slow enough that I had no problem being careful. I also ran a short ways on the packed snow just past Lock 7, where the screw shoes would have been a great help... but if I'd had them I'm not sure I would have been able to resist the temptation to explore the trails at Mohawk River State Park, and that would have resulted in a run that was a lot longer and more challenging than would have been prudent after a week of inactivity (and with a snowshoe race on the calendar for tomorrow!)

I was pleased to see that even though I've done darn little running since January 1, the snowshoeing seems to have done a lot to maintain my base - other than the ice, running 6 miles today wasn't at all a struggle. If anything, it felt really good to be out running without anything on my feet other than shoes!

JMH

LEATHERMAN'S LOOP REGISTRATION CLOSED
Wednesday, January 4, 2009

Wow. Registration for the 2009 Leatherman's Loop 10k trail race opened at 12:01 AM yesterday and closed 16 hours later with the race limit of 900 runners reached. I suspect there are going to be a number of disappointed runners who got closed out of this year's race; fortunately, I wasn't planning on doing it this year because I'm hoping to be in Richmond, VA, that weekend at the National Duathlon Festival. (Last year I squeaked my registration in shortly before the limit was reached, 33 days after it opened.)

One of the negatives of the increased interest in trail running is how quickly some of the races fill up, when there's a limit imposed by the nature of the course or even just the organizers wish to keep the race field manageable. Another negative is how crowded the courses can get... in many cases trail races are held on singletrack and the first few miles can be major traffic jams. That's been one of my dislikes at Leatherman's since I ran it again in 2005 (and one of the reasons I don't intend to run it every year) and I see races like the Albany Running Exchange's Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon and Squirrelly Six Miler developing the same problem. It's really a mixed blessing... having lots of new folks on the trails is good for the longevity of the sport... but there are times when this grizzled old trail turtle misses the days of being one of the few oddballs out there running through the woods.

In any case, as I read through various the articles on the Leatherman's Loop website (they've posted a wonderful series on the other parks and preserves in the Westchester area, in addition to info directly related to the race) I once again found myself thinking back to the three times I've run the race... and I find myself thinking not about how frustrating it is to be on a trail packed with people for the first 2-3 miles but how much I love running that course. There's just something about it that resonates with me... maybe because it was one of the first trail races I did, maybe because it's a wonderful set of trails, I really don't know, but I did find myself wishing a bit that I was going to be there in April slogging through the mud and sloshing through the stream crossings... I really think I want to try to get down there some time this year and run, even if it's not for a race.

JMH

3.9 Mile XC Ski Along the Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail
Sunday, February 1, 2009

I knew I wanted to get out for some skiing today, even though the weather wasn't quite as nice as I'd hoped for ("partly sunny" turned out to be chilly and grey.) Still, chances to ski are few and far between, and I had new boots to try out! So after running a couple of errands I headed slightly east of downtown Saratoga Springs to the Bog Meadow Nature Trail, following the directions in my copy of ECOS's Natural Areas of Saratoga County (my ECOS guidebooks have been an invaluable resource and worth every penny!)

The Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trails runs approximately 2 miles along the old railbed of a passenger railroad line that once ran between Saratoga Springs and Saratoga Lake. The railbed was converted to a nature trail 16 years ago by volunteers and members of Saratoga P.L.A.N. (a Saratoga land trust organization with the goal of preserving natural areas in the Saratoga region.) The trail is essentially flat and includes a bridge over the Bog Meadow Brook and a boardwalk through an open marsh. All in all it sounded like a good place to ski after a tough weekend of snowshoeing.

There were two other cars in the small parking area... not too crowded, fortunately. I geared up and particularly enjoyed pulling on my new boots, which fit much better than the old ones. As I was finishing my preparations some folks came walking out with their dog, which told me that the trail would be pretty well packed.

Railbeds are a mixed blessing for running, riding, skiing, and so on. On the plus side they're typically pretty level, but on the minus side they can be a little bit dull, running straight off into the distance. This one started out running through what would probably be a hardwood swamp in wamer weather, though as I got closer to the bridge over the brook one side opened up. Pretty nice overall. After that the surroundings grew more wooded and included some nice stretches under evergreens as the path gradually made its way around a bend. The main part of the trail had been packed by plenty of walkers, snowshoers, and (probably) skiiers... not the easiest going, since that made staying on track a bit of a challenge, but nothing too difficult.

Eventually the path opened out onto another marsh... I realized I was skiing over a boardwalk when I placed a pole a little too far to one side and it dropped off by a foot or more. After that I was a lot more careful! From there it was a short glide through more woods to the end of the path at Meadow Brook Road.

And then there was nothing to do but turn around and head back. I tried to get some momentum and flow going, but it never lasted too long, since I usually spotted something I thought would make a nice photo. The sun started to peek through the clouds as I made my way back, which was a really nice change from all the grey, grey, grey. When I finally got back to the trailhead I was really a bit bummed it was over. I even considered heading to one of the other parks I'd looked up to do a bit more skiing, but decided not to push it... after 7 miles of snowshoe racing, 8 miles of riding, and 4 miles of skiing I suspect my legs are going to be sore enough tomorrow...

JMH

Season of the SnōShū 2009 - Race #9
Saratoga Winterfest 5k Snowshoe Race
Sunday, February 1, 2009

OK, that's what I get for thinking of Saratoga as an "easy" course. The terrain is actually pretty nice - mostly level, with two steep uphills and two fast downhills. And for the past three years, we've either had no snow and a trail race (2006) or a fairly thin layer that was just barely enough for snowshoeing (2007/2008) which made a hefty contribution to some of my fastest paces ever running on snowshoes. But one of the things that can never be discounted in snowshoeing is the type of snow, and this year Saratoga struck back with deeper, loose snow that made for one heck of a tough run, and my first "repeat" of the season where my time was longer than previous years'.

We had hints that the turnout would be good when RD Laura Clark asked that anyone with extra snowshoes please consider loaning them out to runners without. I got there around the same time as I always do and found the parking lot packed and the more distant lot starting to fill up. There were more folks than I've ever seen at a snowshoe race registration... fortunately it was very well organized or it would have been a real zoo. Headed back to the car, picked up what little gear I didn't have with me and made the decision to dress light (two long sleeved shorts, no vest) - it was feeling a bit warmer than the other races I've done this year. Also offered some advice to two fellows parked next to me who'd never run on snowshoes before (they were all set to dress good and warm and really appreciated my input that they should stick with lighter layers... I also gave them a quick overview of the course) then headed back to the quad for the very crowded starting area. Chatted briefly with some of my friends (Bill, Konrad, Rich, and Chris) while Jeff Clark tried to give some instructions, and then - it was time to run!

The initial loop around the quad always seems like it takes forever to me, and this year was no different, except that there were a lot more people running which presented its own challenges, in particular trying to find a spot where I'd be able to maintain my own pace. The snow was deep (for Saratoga) and loose... nothing I haven't run on plenty of times before, but tough going all the same. And the unbroken snow had a layer of ice on top, which made passing very difficult, so once we left the quad and headed along the various singletrack stretches (well... singletrack in that's what was already stomped down) the field didn't really start to spread out until we hit the first hill past the geyser. On the way up the hill the front runners came blasting by - they were flying!

I definitely started feeling the effort as we circled around the pool complex but couldn't really stop for any length of time for fear of getting stuck behind a group running slower than I was. Fortunately the road heading back down the hill was wide enough that I was able to take a break before running down and following the creek. Through the picnic area and then... ack, up the killer hill they introduced last year. It's not as long as the path up through the gully, but it's a lot steeper and rough going. On the plus side - it's pretty smooth sailing once you get to the top.

After that it was just a matter of trying to maintain as much speed as possible without breaking... not easy in these snow conditions. Through the woods and along the top of the ridge, passed one or two folks and was passed by one or two. There was one fellow running on a huge set of backcountry shoes (30" or so) who had an incredibly steady pace - he passed me a few times duiring the first half of the race when I stopped to walk, but I managed to stay ahead of him during the 2nd half - it would have been embarassing to have my butt kicked by someone on shoes that size. Finally made it to the last stretch through the pines and pushed as hard as I could to the finish, crossing the line at 41:32 - about three minutes slower than the last two years, but not too bad considering how much harder the snow made the course this year.

After that I stagggered back to the car to change into dry clothes, ruled out the possibility of doing a slow second run on the course to take some pictures and get in a few more miles (maybe if it had been sunny...) and wandered back over to the post-race gathering to try and find some food and chat with a few of the other runners. I smelled food but never saw where it was, but did get to talk to a couple of friends which is always nice, and then hit the road to run some errands before getting out on my skis for a bit.

In the end, Saratoga set an informal record for turnout this year, with almost 200 runners and walkers on the course... incredible! Great for them and for the sport in general... but I have to admit I'm looking forward to the smaller field at next Sunday's race in West Hawley (the Saturday race is 4 hours away in northeast NH... too far for me to drive to run a 4 miler.)

JMH

2009 Event Totals
Run
Bike
Snowshoe 30.2 mi, 7 hr 32 min

states visited: MA, NY, VT