Laurel Highlands Ultra Race Report - Running With/From The Old Man Of The Mountain

Growing up in Central PA, the land of Park Barner, I have known the word "ultra-marathon" since my youth. I remember my Dad pointing out Mr. Barner in the grocery store one time . Back then the idea meant nothing to me. I had no clue. Fast forward to 2008 and Karl Meltzer's Appalachian Trail
attempt and that "ultra-marathon" word came back to me. At that time I started reading all I could about trail and ultra running and of course I stumbled upon the 70.5 mile Laurel Highlands Ultra. Back then I was loving backpacking taking an annual section hike on The AT, about 100 miles in 6 or 7 days. I thought, certainly The Laurel Highlands Trail sounds beautiful, but who would be insane enough to cover it end to end in one day. I had only thru-hiked one trail and that was the 31ish mile West Rim Trail and I did it leisurely over a weekend. My backpacking was evolving into something
strange, I'd finish each day in my tent wishing I had gone further. It came to a head when I
hiked The AT section from The Delaware Water Gap to Bear Mountain and I had miscalculated
everything and finished a day early (no I didn't figure it out, it was pointed out to me over the
phone by Janice as she told me which hotel to check into so she could come retrieve me the next
day) That was 2009 and in 2010 I ran my first ultra length trail race (The 28.4mi Susquehanna
Super Hike & Ultra Trail Run), I hadn't even run a marathon yet, but I was hooked. So here it is
2013 and I have run a few 50k's, a couple 50 milers and I was looking for something a little
longer that wouldn't conflict with Janice's softball tournament held annually on the first weekend in June. Well there it was, the historic Laurel Highlands Ultra; the second weekend in June and in Pennsylvania. Who was insane enough to try to cover it all in one day? Me.

 

Janice checking out The Youghiogheny River.

 

The falls in Ohiopyle, PA.

The race starts in beautiful Ohiopyle, PA. A haven for outdoor play. The raging white
water is the main lure, but the lands surrounding the roaring Youghiogheny offer endless
possibilities for outdoor fun. If you haven't visited, you need to. Stop at Wilderness Voyageurs
and arrange a white water trip. I recommend shooting the rapids in a "Duck", it's a hoot! You'll have a blast. We found a place to stay at the nearby Lodge At Chalk Hill, an old motel that was being refurbished even during our visit. Our room had a brand new TV, fridge, microwave and toilet. For 80 bucks a night, it was exactly what we needed. Right next door is the Christian W. Klay Winery, perfect for a pre-dinner wine tasting. The weather was pretty crappy or we may have returned to see the live band later. Looked like a good time. Hidden back a country road was Fabrizi's Restaurant which made for a perfect fueling place. I highly recommend finding it and eating there. We made a quick trip to Ohiopyle to play tourist and check out the rapids and the falls and then it was back to the lodge to pack up hydration vests before trying to get some sleep.

At The Lodge at Chalk Hill. That deck overlooked a small lake.

A new visitor center is being built in Ohiopyle on the location used as the start line. That made
for minor parking mayhem, but it was no big deal considering the 70.5 mile field is limited to
130 runners and there were only a few relay runners starting at the same time. Janice was perched
up on an observation deck meant for viewing the waterfalls and I was positioned near the back of
the pack determined to not get in the way of the fast folks. There was a brief prayer said and the
next word was "Go".

As I took my first step and I realized I hadn't taken allergy medicine or Ibuprofen. Janice said
the Jeep was unlocked so I stopped and gobbled it down. I was now the absolute last runner out of
Ohiopyle. No big deal, I had all day to establish a position/catch up. Little did I know I was
about to get caught behind a traffic jam when the trail kicked up just past the guide shop. I was
behind guys who were talking about where to get breakfast after thy finished at 3am and another
couple who wondered if they'd make the time cutoff at the first check point. I'm not fast, but I
knew I didn't want to be starting this way. (mistake)

5:30am start...at the back of the pack.

I had done some homework on this trail, but I never found a worthy elevation profile. Elevation
gain is very important to this old guy's planning. I knew there were 2 small climbs followed by a
much larger climb all in the early miles. I thought I was prepared for these hills and I felt ok
even as I charged up the big climb. The big climb ended up being longer than I expected and I
needed to back off on my pace before the top. There was an aid station at 11.6 miles. I have 2
Nathan hydration vests and Janice was prepared to swap out my empty for a full one at the check
points. She stood ready with a full pack at that aid station and I told her I'd hang to the one I
had till the checkpoint. With 2 miles left to the checkpoint, my bag went dry.(mistake) I had
hoped to reach the first checkpoint (19.6mi) in four hours and I arrived about a half hour late,
but I was still ahead of the cutoff and I felt fine.

My job on the day was easy, all I had to do was follow a well blazed trail with every mile marked with a cement pillar for 70 miles. Janice on the other hand had to find her way up and over the Laurel Highlands Mountains. Janice had her GPS with her, but we were relying heavily on the locations I had saved to the mapping software in my phone. (mistake) The remote region provided no cell signal in most places and roaming in all the others, draining the batteries in no time at all. No problem, we have one of those power inverters you plug in your cigarette lighter and it provides A/C power, so she could charge batteries right? Well that inverter decided to die a smoky death as Janice was now also running out of gas because I hadn't filled the tank (mistake) after the trip from Harrisburg. Needless to say when I met up with her at the second checkpoint (32.3mi), she had the most sour look on her face and I knew the day had become a nightmare for her.

 

 

Arriving at Checkpoint #1.

 

At that point I was at about seven and a half hours. I was almost at the half way mark and still
under 8 hours so I assured her that I was still after a decent finishing time and I took off
(mistake). Back to that elevation profile I never really got a good look at. The hills between there and
the next checkpoint hit me hard. On the tiny little DCNR elevation profile image they looked like
little rollers, but in reality they were serious hills (for me anyway). The time added as I
neared the fourth check point (46.4mi) plus the look on Janice's face equaled this race just
wasn't worth it. I love running, but I consider it an extremely selfish act and if I get the hint
that my running is ruining someone else's day, I have a tough time continuing. Going home happy
is far more important than making it to any finish line. I knew what I had to do so when I
arrived at the checkpoint, I explained to Janice that if I wanted to drop out I had to do it at a
check point. All I had to do was unpin my number and we could go the hell home. I had just
traveled the last 14 miles at a snail's pace and she was having a crappy day, but she refused to
support my dropping out. She said, "if you feel good enough to continue, you need to finish".

I had a hot spot on my left foot so a volunteer gave me some duct tape and I was good to go. A funny thing happened at this checkpoint, I sat down on a metal folding chair (the kind you might see in a school or church) to take off my shoe and the chair sunk about six inches into the mud. (Oh well, I thought it was funny. Guess ya' had to be there) Janice made a plan to meet me with dry socks at the next checkpoint and I was back on the trail. I was in no way assured that I was doing the right thing by continuing.

 

Happy to have survived to another checkpoint.

 

Checking the aid station for something good to eat.

 

The trail leading to checkpoint #4 (57.1mi) was far more welcoming (with less hills) and I was back

to running consistently. As I arrived at that last checkpoint it was getting dark and with 13
more miles to go I again suggested calling it a day. Again, Janice was having none of it. At this
spot she had one of our camp chairs and I changed my socks. I started the day in Drymax and would finish the day in Darn Tough - seemed appropriate. I had gone all day in a pair of Salomon XR Mission shoes and the thought of changing into a dry pair of Mizuno's seemed like a good idea, but my feet were a bit swollen and the fit is different and they weren't going to work so the Salomon's went back on. I had run all day with GU Roctane in my hydration vest, but for the last section I had asked Janice to fill two Nathan bottles with NUUN. One bottle was in a handheld carrier and I stuffed other in the pocket on my vest. There was one more aid station at 62 miles, but crew didn't have access. My plan was that I could drink those bottles and still have a full hydration bag to get me down the mountain to the finish.

Off I went, 13 miles to go in the dark following the beam of my Black DiamondStorm headlamp. I
had never run this far in the dark and I was now running when I'm typically in bed falling asleep
to the news. I was concerned I'd meet the sleep monster everyone talks about, but instead running in th edarkness turned magical as I lit up the dense forest. I had been eating a gel on the hour and taking a Hammer Nutrtion Endurolyte electrolyte tablet(or two) on the half hour. GU Chomps and PowerBar Gel Blasts filled in the gaps in between. I ate whatever looked appetizing at the aid stations. I like peanut butter and jelly and I reached for what I thought I thought was PB&J and it turned out to be bologne and cheese. It was in the same container with peanut butter and jelly and I obviously didn't look close enough. Nope I didn't barf. In the last hours I just couldn't stomach anymore gels. I ate only one more between the last checkpoint and the finish.

Running in the dark I paced along with a woman in a Newton hat for a while until I had a clumsy
painful fall at about the 65 mile mark. After getting going again I fell in behind 3 guys who had
made a wrong turn. They were walking and I joined their walking parade on a little climb, but
after that the trail leveled out and I had promised myself (and Janice) that I was going to run wherever I could so I told them I was going to run. Two of them (a runner and his pacer) went with me, friendly guys from Ohio. They chuckled at me when I told them I was running this event because I wanted to go further than 50 miles. I was asked "why didn't ya' pick some easy 100k instead of this tough thing?" We caught back up to the woman in the Newton hat, she had had enough of the rock dance in the dark and was walking in hopes of finishing healthy. We all understood. Soon the lights of the finish line were glowing through the trees. The fellas with me were psyched to pick up the pace to the finish. I wanted to finish on my own so I let a little gap open and finished a few seconds behind them. I got to take in that "I did it feeling" and before I knew it the race director was reaching out his hand in congratulations and handing me the coolest wooden trophy with a "70" on it.

It's after 1am and the race director was there to greet me with a hand shake & huge smile.

I made a lot of mistakes with this race, but the biggest was that I didn't do thorough research
on this trail. I knew about the early ascents, but I thought it would be easy sailing after that. I've since learned that the LHHT climbs more than 11,000' and descends the same amount across it's 70 miles, sapping your energy on the way up and chewing up your quads and your toenails on the way down. I have since decided that LHHT really stands for Laurel Highlands "Humbling" Trail. I obviously read too many flowery blog posts about wonderful days on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail with the beautiful ferns and sweet smelling Mountain Laurel. I should have checked those authors' finishing times. Well here's mine, it took me 19 hours 34 minutes and 23 seconds to reach the 70.5 mile finish line. The old man of the mountain who lives somewhere between Mile 34 and Mile 48 kicked my butt for not paying him the respect he deserves. I'll never go to an event without knowing everything I can and I'll always respect the mountain or the mountain will eat me.

All done & more than ready to be collected by an equally exhausted Janice. Now I could quit.

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 6/18/2013 06:41:00 AM

The Dirty German 50k Race Report - Run-Suffer-Repeat

Memorial Day Weekend, a time for cookouts, parades and opening swimming pools. Our holiday
weekend in the Harrisburg area was kicked off by a windy chilly Friday. Undeterred by the
inclement weather, Janice and I went to watch The Harrisburg Senators beat The Reading Fightins.
The stadium thermometer read 49°F and there was a towering wind blowing straight out to left field
where we were sitting. The Senators took advantage and hit three homeruns to the "cheap seats" we
call home at the local minor league ballpark. The cold windy weather persisted into Saturday (my
52nd birthday) so we postponed any cookout/party-like festivities. We took the dogs for a walk on
the mountain and that's when I noticed the ugly feeling in my lower gut. (perhaps the hotdog I had at the ball game) Like any malady, my first approach is to simply ignore it so we went to some friends' house so Janice could decorate for a bridal shower. I acted like it didn't feel like I had a bowling ball in my stomach and ate all I saw and I knew the nasty sick sensation would just go away. Of course step 2 after ignoring it is over eating, because everybody knows eating a bunch of good food will push out the bad. Ok, that didn't work either and now it was time to try to sleep, actually past that time.

I guess I've gotten this far without mentioning that Sunday I was entered to run a 50k at 8am in
Philadelphia. Yep, the grand plan was to get in one last long run on Memeorial Day Weekend in
preparation for the Laurel Highlands Ultra in 2 weeks. So here it was 3:30 Sunday morning, I
haven't really slept and there's no way I can maintain my race day ritual of eating an actual
breakfast a few hours before start time. The sick feeling in my lower abdomen was there to stay
and 127 overnight visits to the bathroom did nothing to relieve the discomfort. I started to
question everything at that point. Coffee tasted bad, Luna Bars were the only thing that seemed
palatable. I was also able to eat a banana and Gatorade was ok too. Why was I up for a race I
didn't care about, if this was March I would be back in bed. This was a training race in May and
I just couldn't scratch it. The dogs looked at me like I was insane.

With Janice at the wheel and me feeling feverish, we hit the road and I napped away a good bit of
the ride down the PA Turnpike to Penny Pack Park in Philadelphia. We arrived at The Dirty German
Endurance Festival and the air was all abuzz with the typical pre-race energy, but all I wanted
to know was if there was a line for the porta-johns. I picked up my number, visited my buddy john
a couple times and got busy prepping a couple handhelds with gels, chews and tabs. Nuun Tri-Berry
and Lemon+Lime would be the hydration mainstays of my day; however long it may last. No, nothing had improved in my upset belly; so on little sleep and with very little calories in my system I
stood waiting for the race director to get us on the way. I waited and wondered if I'd make it to
the first aid station (3miles).

I always get a kick out of the roadies who are so amused by the informal start of a trail
race. The race director simply yelled "Go" and I followed all the shiney Asics "Gel-something or others" across the park lawn to the trail head. There were three events on the day: 25k, 50k and 50 mile. Considering I was using this as training run for a 70.5 mile race in 2 weeks; I thought 50k would be a smarter distance than 50 miles for me today. The 25k and 50k runners ran together for the
first lap while the 50 mile folks had an extra little loop to do before they joined us on the trail.
I started a little fast trying to get warmed up and a feel for if I'd make it past the first
mile. I was feeling surprisingly ok, but I was going faster than I wanted. The course was so flat
and the trail so non-technical, it lent itself to speed so I had to keep telling myself it wasn't
a 5k. After the second aid station around mile seven I decided that the speedsters in the Boston
shirts and cute matching Reebok outfits were just going to have to go on without me tagging
along. Janice was there and I'm not sure, but she looked a little surprised that I was continuing and
not asking where the car was and how long till we'd be home. I fell in behind two women who were
maintaining a pace that worked for me so I forced myself to stay behind and not pass. I had
finally found something that made the upset stomach go away, running. I was pretty pleased with
myself, I just might finish this thing. I looked at my watch, saw I was just passing 9 miles and promptly rolled my left ankle. It was a bad one. [I broke that ankle a few years ago and it didn't heal correctly. There's a chunk off the end of the Tibia which makes it unstable and perfect for rolling at will.] While I'm used to twisting it and walking/hobbling a few hundred yards till the pain subsides, this one had an odd twinge in the front of the ankle on top of my foot. It was a false alarm and in about a quarter mile I was able to run again. The wheels had indeed come off though. When I rolled it, I felt immediately like I was going to empty my stomach in both directions. That didn't happen
thankfully and yes I was running again, but I had a sharp pain with every footfall and my mile
time slowed considerably. Oh well, I reminded myself I was here as a shake down cruise and I just
needed the training run. Janice intercepted me a couple more times, I told her the ankle news as
she got great photos of me walk/running.

I reached the start fnish area and now I was in for another test. Mentally I can't stand running
laps to begin with and now here I was feeling like complete crap with another lap staring me in the face. Easy, all I'd have to do was go over to the timing table and tell them it was all a mistake and I really only meant to run the 25k. That's when I heard Janice yell, "one down, one to go". Damn! Back to my original plan, another 25k lap, but not until I visited my buddy John again. (no, no stomach improvement) The second lap didn't start so well. I tried to kiss Janice and missed and then I made an
immediate wrong turn onto an incorrect trail. Thankfully another runner saw me and yelled. That
was to become a theme. At this point I was really feeling the lack of sleep and calories. I was
really slowing down. All day I had been gobbling Gu Gels on the hour and Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes tabs on the half hour, washing it all down with Nuun. I was able to eat a piece of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and orange slices without fowl effect. I dumped Coca-Cola and Mountain Dew in on top of it all. Cokes a comfort food for me and I've convinced myself that I benefit from the sugar in the Dew.

The trail runs along the Pennypack Creek. It's a pretty place and all pretty easy running.
Heck, a couple of stretches were paved. The only hills were easy ones towards the end of the lap.
The course was marked by pink construction ribbon and white powder arrows on the ground. The
first lap was a synch surrounded by all the 25k runners, but much of the second lap I was running alone and ribbons were disappearing. After that first bone head  wrong turn to start the lap, I made three more and one was pretty bad. I followed another runner up a hill and around a bend until
we dead ended on a busy suburban Philadelphia street. We had missed a turn, ribbons were gone and
a family of four out enjoying the nice weather with their bicycles had been standing on the
right-turn arrow.

 

My best 50k time to date was a 5:50 and this course was so easy, there was no reason why I
shouldn't have buried that time. So here are my excuses: I felt like that dung beetle who had
rolled the dung ball all day, my left ankle felt like it had a nail driven through it and that
last wrong turn had added just enough time that I missed by 1:45. Oh well, refocus, I was there
for the training run. The silver lining was that I was able to run nearly 6 hours feeling sick
and in pain. I've always believed that much of ultra running is being able to suffer and continue
and The Dirty German 50k presented an opportunity to practice that.

 

 

The day ended fabulously, I sat down on an old rickity bench and Janice handed me a Nathan
bottle, but this one wasn't full of Nuun; it was an ice cold Lager disguised to not upset the
park rangers. I didn't go near the yummy looking post race German food and we hit the road so
Janice could make it to the bridal shower.

I went for an easy road run today, my ankle's still just a bit swollen with some lovely purple
coloring. All in all I think I'm right on schedule to go have fun at the laurel Highlands 70.5
Mile Ultra. It's gonna be a hoot - stay tuned!

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 5/29/2013 08:41:00 PM

Edinburgh Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon - TeamREFUEL Goes To Scotland!

Sunday April 14th I ran the Edinburgh Rock 'n' Roll HalfMarathon, without exaggeration; the toughest road race I’ve ever run. The race was the culmination of an amazing trip to Scotland provided by GotChocolateMilk.com TeamREFUEL. I apologize in advance for the lengthy blog post, but considering I got to fly across the Atlantic to run a race; I didn't want to leave anything out.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED: Last spring I won sponsorship from TeamREFUEL. Team members were also eligible for 3 grand prizes after the 2012 season and one was a trip to Edinburgh Scotland to run the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, complete with flight, lodging, free race entry and spending money. Janice and I agreed that Edinburgh would be a cool place to visit and last July I somewhat jokingly said, “Honey, we’re going to Edinburgh”. She of course said, “Yeah right, we’re not going anywhere”. After an active 2012 running season, completing 12 events flying the TeamREFUEL colors, I received the email congratulating me and announcing that I was selected to go to Edinburgh. I couldn’t believe it, but that’s how it happened.

 

GETTING THERE:  I can’t report on this race without mentioning the travel to Scotland. We decided to take our teenage sons Cody and Nathan with us. We got our passports in order, bought the boys' plane tickets, packed their skateboards and with our dogs Mojo and Molly happy at the kennel we were all set to go. The afternoon of departure I looked at The British Airways App and saw that the first leg of our trip (the flight to Chicago) was canceled due to weather. I called the airline and we found a replacement flight to London through Philadelphia. Good to go, right? Nope, they called back to tell us our commuter flight to Philly got delayed and there would be no way we’d make the connection to London. We went to Plan C which was hopping an Amtrak train to Philadelphia. A kind neighbor/friend gave us a lift to the train platform, bought tickets from the conductor and we were off to 30^th Street Station to catch the SEPTA line to the airport. Phew! Yep, we made it and everything was OK, right? As we waited at the gate I noticed that the severe thunderstorm was now bearing down on Philadelphia. We boarded the plane, but it was too late. The driving wind and rain shook the jet and we sat on the runway for more than 2 hours. I’ll spare you the part about us now needing to be re-booked out of London to Edinburgh, but ironically we were now late enough to use the original connection we would have used had we flown from Chicago. Thankfully Janice worked in the airline industry for 16 years and I traveled way too much in a previous career. Rookie travelers would have ended up in a Motel 6 outside of La Guardia, eating bad takeout and left wondering how to get to Scotland.

One Last Hop To Edinburgh

 

BEING TOURISTS: As soon as we hopped on the double-decker bus at the Edinburgh Airport, we were in full-on tourist mode. I think we all said in unison, “The cars are on the wrong side of the road!” We wound through neighborhoods, past small shops and beautiful cathedrals and then the Edinburgh Castle came into view for the first time. Perched high on a hill, it was an amazing sight. Just past the Scot Monument we got off the bus and we were on foot for the first time in Edinburgh, dragging our bags to the lovely ApexWaterloo Place Hotel. “On foot” would become key to the next days. I’ve read guidance to not get caught up in touring while traveling to an exotic place to run a race. Everything we wanted to see and do in Edinburgh was in walking distance. Sure I kept an eye on leg fatigue, but I’m not one to taper for a race, so off we went. I enlisted the advice of on an old friend from Scotland who provided an aggressive itinerary of things we needed to experience while on his home turf. We visited the Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, Grassmarket, The Royal Mile, The Canongate, Cowgate, Calton Hill and Old Calton Cemetary, The Dynamic Earth Science Centre, walked up the Crags, learned the story of Greyfriar’s Bobby, made it in time for the One O'clock Gun, ate Fish n’ Chips at The World’s EndPub, descended Jacob's Ladder wandered in an out of Edinburgh’s countless “closes” and “wynds” and I’m surely forgetting a bunch of stuff. To say I rested my legs for the race would be an out and out lie. We got in some serious mileage; I should have worn my Garmin and logged it. To sum it up, we saw as much of Edinburgh as we could and we had an absolute blast doing it! (I have to mention that because the cars travel on the other side of the road, we found ourselves looking the wrong way when crossing streets. I was nearly whacked by a cab while out for a run and I lost count of the times I yanked Janice from the path of doom.)

Cody, Nathan & William Wallace

             

Janice & Cody High Above The City At Edinburgh Castle

"All done at the castle, let's go get my race packet"

 

EDINBURGH WEATHER: It was spring time in Scotland, a time to shed winter’s layers and admire blooming daffodils, right? This year however the Scots were experiencing one of their coldest wettest springs in quite a while. We arrived on a chilly grey day and that was pretty much the theme of the next day too, with temperatures in the low 40’s and a bit of drizzly rain added in. Listening to the weather forecasts in the UK only made it worse, 5° Celsius sure does make 40°F sound extremely cold.  Amazingly the Saturday before the race the sun came out and other than a building wind, with the temperatures in the upper 50’s it was quite a nice day. Those winds that came to visit on Saturday stayed for Sunday and they invited their friends “Howling” and “Hurricane Force” to join them. That leads me to my real race report.

Packet Pickup At Run4It on Lothian Road

 

ROCK N ROLL SURVIVAL: Race day was finally here. During breakfast I stepped outside to see how hard it was raining. It really was only a drizzle at that hour, but the wind was not to be ignored as it ripped the hotel door from my hand and I watched a cabby chasing his hat down the sidewalk. Janice and I took the 1 mile walk to the start line village as the winds picked up. The winds swirled and subsided and rains poured down just before brilliant sun would then burst through the clouds. I knew it was a bad omen when I saw porta-loos (porta-johns) blown on their sides and smashed. Race crew was scampering. Thanks to the weather, things obviously weren’t going as planned. I looked at the wind-ravaged main stage and I wondered if the event would survive. Janice had to hoof it back to the hotel to retrieve a forgotten memory card for her camera (yes, she made the trip twice) and I sought refuge at the VIP tent. The pouring rain and screaming wind was constant now, but oddly every now and then it would take a break and the sun and a beautiful rainbow would appear. After a brief respite, it would be back to near hurricane conditions. Janice made it back to the VIP tent telling me she had re-instructed Nathan and Cody about where the bands would be playing and what time they needed to be at the finish line. I wondered if they would actually leave the security of the hotel.

Porta-Loos In A Bad Way

 

The MC with the brilliant Scottish accent called for all runners to get to their starting pens (corrals). Janice found a vantage point at the base of Arthur’s Seat and I found my way to corral #3. The weather had created an environment of semi-panic. Runners were streaming into the start at the front and trying to make their way to their corrals through corrals already filled with runners. You’re assigned to a corral based on your forecasted finishing time and your bib number. My number was 3434 and I watched as runners with numbers as high as 8,000, 10,000 and 12,000 hopped over barricades and lined up in the front corrals. I assumed they wanted to get to their race started in hopes of getting out of the driving rain sooner. With all this dire wind and rain, at 50°F it was at least somewhat warm. I wore my TeamREFUEL short sleeved jersey with a sleeveless base layer, arm warmers and shorts. As I waited there hopping from foot to foot to a booming mashup dance mix of local favorite sons TheProclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, I had a fun memory of old buddy Adrian explaining their lyric about “havering” (Scottish for talking foolishly or babbling). I was watching Janice juggle cameras and take on the wind and pelting rain on the hill without the aid of a few thousand runners around her and I hoped our boys stayed in bed. We all laughed as a dozen young guys ran up the grassy hill to pee and avoid the scary porta-loos. Just as I was enjoying these rain soaked day dreams, that strong Scottish voice came over the PA system and announced that he had some bad news for us and then he paused. I thought, “oh no, here it comes, the race is canceled due to the conditions, we came all this way…”. Moments after his pregnant pause he went on stating that due to the deteriorating weather, some things needed to be “sorted” on the race course and our start would be delayed. Now I’ve never been delayed by a race director, but I have been delayed by airlines and we all know how that turns out. After about 5 minutes (this guy clearly never worked for an airline), we were told the countdown to start the elite runners was imminent.
 

Never Did Find The Pot 'O Gold - Perhaps It Blew Away

"Hi Honey!"

 



In short order, my corral was at the line and we were off. I knew the opening miles were flat/downhill so I went out quick to get out of the corral crowd and get warmed up. We wound through neighborhoods heading toward Leith, passed by 2 bands rocking on in spite of the conditions and we then came to the water front. We were now exposed to the real winds for the first time as we ran along the Firth of Forth. There was a DJ along there and he was encouraging the runners, but then he decided to announce that sustained winds were 60kph and gusts were maxing out at 110kph. I was running next to a couple wearing Canada shirts and the man converted those numbers to MPH, I didn’t need to hear that, I knew those wind speeds sounded immense. My pace was increasing and slowing based on the winds. I knew now that any strategy of maintaining a steady pace was gone. I changed plans to drop my mile time anywhere the wind allowed and just gut it out in the head wind sections. I knew I was putting out the effort for an 8 minute mile in places, but my watch showed 8:30 or slower. Cross winds were no friend either, I saw smaller runners stumble and fall and twice my right foot was blown into my left mid-stride. Managing my pace based on the winds also meant running the hills differently. Did I forget to mention the hills? Yep, while the first few miles were flat and fast much of the rest of the course snaked through the old city and over the hills it’s built on. Instead of cruising the climbs I was going to need to push up them when the wind allowed. There

was also that downhill on the back side of Arthur’s Seat that many talked about later. There was such a crazy tailwind, you couldn’t slow down. I saw 6:03 on my watch and wondered if I’d have much left after sprinting down this thing. It was nuts, runners were actually leaning backwards trying to slow their pace.

It was very cool to run through historic Edinburgh, but the coolest was to finally arrive at that last downhill which was even somewhat protected from the wind and find Cody, Janice and Nathan around the last turns at the finish line. In fact in the last few hundred meters, Nathan and Cody chased along after me with their iPods filming my last steps between The Scottish Parliament Building and Holyrood Palace towards the finish*. There’s just nothing better than having the one’s you love waiting at a finish line.

 

Soaked To The Bone & Stopping My Watch at 1:47:24

 

It was unfortunate that the winds caused such mayhem at the race expo at Holyrood Park, so much so that the headline band wasn't able to perform for concerns for their safety.
 

*With all my whining about the weather, I was able to manage a 1:47:24 finishing time, just slightly more than 2:24 off my 1:45 projected time. (I secretly told myself I’d be happy with a 1:50 while climbing one of those cobbled hills, so I’m elated with my time.)

 

BOSTON: Normally it doesn’t take me a week to post a race report, but this one has special circumstances. It’s been difficult to write about something so special to me during such an upsetting time in the US and the running community. We arrived at O’Hare on the way home to see televisions plastered with a bomb blast. All we saw was smoke, international flags blowing and crowd mayhem. While overseas, the UK was a buzz about the millions of pounds being spent on Margaret Thatcher’s funeral and we wondered if a protest had gone wrong. We soon found out about the tragic event in Boston that continued to unfold into the week. It was shocking to know that just the day before we were all at a finish line together and I was incredibly thankful we were all safe and ok. 

 

CHOCOLATE MILK ACROSS THE ATLANTIC: Yes I refuel with low fat chocolate milk. It’s been my recovery drink of choice for quite a while now. It is truly “MyAfter” and I recommend it to all. Janice was surprised when I told her it was not likely that there would be any chocolate milk at the finish line in Edinburgh. Accepting that challenge, she promptly froze a container of low fat chocolate milk and packed it safely in her checked bag. While they had all sorts of goodies at the Rock 'n' Roll finish line and VIP tent, chocolate milk was missing, but I had mine thanks to Janice! My TeamREFUEL attire didn’t go unnoticed, even in Scotland. Every race in the US, someone calls me the "Chocolate Milk Guy" or asks if I have any so it wasn’t a surprise that the accents of people commenting in Edinburgh sounded to be more from New Jersey or Ohio. One young Scottish fellow did tell me I was his rabbit and he chased my chocolate milk jersey down off the Mound to the finish. That was cool!

 You Can Count The Rock N  Roll Marathon Folks For The Coolest Medals

 

This was an amazing experience and I can’t thank the kind people at GotChocolateMilk TeamREFUEL and The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series enough for getting us there, hosting our visit and providing me the opportunity to run a race around such a cool city!

Heading Home

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 4/23/2013 06:51:00 AM

Tune Up For The Edinburgh Rock N Roll Half Marathon With TeamREFUEL - Chambersburg Half Marathon Race Report

Take the energy of a well attended community 5k, add about 10 miles and you have the Chambersburg Half Marathon. The Chambersburg Road Runners Club has a genuine family feel. I live an hour away and only know a couple folks from the area, but felt right at home with this extremely friendly crew. Their volunteers were great and those running were just as cool. I always laugh when I go to a run and the crowd is full of super serious game faces talking about their PR's and their split plans. Those guys were there, but they were out numbered by chatter about families, kids getting tall, the weather, etc. A half marathon in Pennsylvania in March? Sure, why not? It was positioned as a perfect tune up race for me. Truth be told, I had scratched 2 events this year and I was really Jonesin' for a race. I needed to run against the clock to get my year started. When I was looking for races, I couldn't believe the registration was still open on  Wednesday before the event. I asked Janice if we had plans for that day, she said "no" and I was in. 

 

The big story here though, is that the cool people at GotChocolateMilk.com selected me to go to Scotland and fly The TeamREFUEL colors in the Edinburgh RockNRoll Half Marathon. I get to take Janice with me, with our flights, 4 nights lodging and $200/day spending money paid for by TeamREFUEL. I was notified that I was chosen early last month and needless to say it was difficult concentrate on anything else that day. Running the Edinburgh Rock N Roll Half has dominated many of day dreams since. With that said, I wanted to see if I still knew how to run 13.1 miles at my best pace before I ran in Scotland. There's no true test to your fitness and pace management abilities than the atmosphere a race provides.


Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon Edinburgh - mackenzie films HD from mackenzie films hd on Vimeo.

 

I ran into Bill Dann, a co-worker from Chambersburg and he had Danny Mowers in tow. I know Danny through ultra trail running and Facebook. Bill had concocted a contest to see who could make the silliest face to the on-course photographers. I was definitely all-in. I knew Jim Grove would be there too, but I never found him in the crowd before the start. Jim I met in a beer line at a Harrisburg Senator's baseball game. He was wearing a Pittsburgh Marathon shirt and I was wearing a North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile shirt and we were destined to talk. Jeff Reed, an old friend I graduated from high school with was entered in the same race. I hadn't seen him in many years so I was pretty psyched to see him.I recently found out Jeff had taken up running by seeing a post on Facebook. It's been nice to know that another guy my age was enjoying the same addiction. I was looking for a spot to stand as the race pack formed for the start and I ran into Jeff. We started talking, heard no race instructions and suddenly somebody said "Go" so we hit our watches and took off. I'm a solo runner. I really enjoy the solitude of running miles enveloped in my own thoughts, but when you're immersed in this kind of warm comaraderie that running provides; you realize you can't duplicate it many places.

 

This wasn't an ultra and I told Janice she should probably just wait for me at the finish line, but she wasn't having any of that. Janice was hot on her plan on how she could drive out to points on the course and still make it back for my finish. Heck, I guess she didn't need to worry about my whining for Gels and Coca-cola at aid stations so she must've thought this would be a sinch. I saw her stationed along the course with camera clicking and of course she was right there at the finish line too. 

When I see our Jeep along the course,
I know Janice and her camera can't be far away

 

Speaking of the course, I asked about it and Bill Dann said, it's got some nasty little hills. A
friend of his said there was hill at this mile and that mile so I thought, "ok this shouldn't be so
bad". I had run The Sol Lipton Half Marathon in Pottsville, PA where they have a mammoth hill climb in the early miles so I thought if I survived that with a 1:50, I could do ok on Chambersburg's "couple of hills". Well, I was told about 2 hills, but some how my trusty informant had forgotten about all the other hills. This thing was a roller coaster and I really saw it chew up some runners and spit them out. There were hills throughout, but somehow I found them as a welcome taper to my pace. I had to slow down on the uphills so oddly after I got my breathing back under control, I felt refreshed and even somewhat rested at the tops. In all the trail running I do, hills are a constant so perhaps I was prepared. The race route winds through beautiful countryside, passing numerous farms. There's an out & back stretch and the cows along that section were mooing loudly. I'm certain they were cheering for me in my GotChocolateMilk jersey. We definitely interrupted the country Saturday morning, but many folks were outside cheering us on with their children and their dogs. I did see a guy target shooting with his rifle and wondered what he really had in mind for a target. There was also a guy restoring old furniture in his front yard who didn't even seem to notice runners going past. Children clanging cowbells at the one hill-top was certainly an inspiration. The course wasn't closed to traffic and that got a little dicey in spots. There was even some yahoo in a white pickup truck who seemed hell bent on running over a course marshal and then he decided to see how close he could get to the old guy in the TeamReFUEL jersey. Sorta' reminded me of my lunch-time training runs on the roads around my office. The weather was beautiful and people were out everywhere.

Over one hill.

                                                                       

Hard right turn

                   .

And over the next.

 

I'm getting better at running within myself and not making the mistake of allowing the excitement of the race ruin my pace. Just before the half-way mark I looked at my watch and decided I felt good enough to maintain my pace at about 8 minute miles and finish under 1:46. There were some considerable hills remaining so this required me picking up my pace at about the 11 mile mark. With one last turn and the finish line almost in sight, I couldn't believe it, I was kicking and with a glance at my watch I thought I may just get that sub 1:46 finish. There was only one thing in my way and that was my own belief in runner etiquette. With just a few hundred meters remaining I was over taking another runner. I'm a firm believer that you don't pass someone as the finish chute appears. I think it's rude, bad form, poor sportsmanship, all of those things. So now I was faced with the dilemma of, "was I far enough from the finish to pass him?" We had a good distance to go and I wasn't changing my pace or sprinting, I was legitimately over taking him so I decided to pass. I thought, "well that wasn't so bad" and with about 50' to go he tried to beat me into the chute. I wasn't having that and I picked up my pace to maintain my position. Long story short and lesson learned(again), not everyone believes in that same runner etiquette.

 

I was happy to see that I finished in 1:45:something - my fastest half-marathon on a pretty tough  course. I met up with Bill Bann and Danny Mowers afterward who had run pretty darned impressive times and I hung out to cheer on Jeff Reed as he pushed it to the line. Later on I found Jim Grove and we laughed about seeing one another on the course and made plans to hookup at Senator's games. I ran into the guys who had been asking me for chocolate milk out on the course and now they wanted to know why my Jeep wasn't a milk truck and why I only had 2 Rockin' Refuels and I wasn't sharing.

2 Fast Guys & Me

 

Central Dauphin HS - Class of '79

I had a blast representing TeamREFUEL throughout 2012 and I hope to rejoin the team with a sponsorship for 2013. I'm especially stoked about running for them in Edinburgh Scotland next month! I've never been there much less run there. I'm hoping I'll be able to handle the excitement of travel and pull off a half-marathon too. I can hear them now, "look at the silly American who just tripped and fell 'cause he was gawking at our beautiful scenery"...I sure hope not. The race is Sunday April 14th in beautiful Edinburgh. Part of my being selected to travel to Scotland The Brave is to blog about my journey so stay tuned for coverage of my exciting trip overseas!

 

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 3/11/2013 05:52:00 PM

Keeping Warm & Dry On the Trail In Vasque Snowburbans - My Review

The nice people at Vasque sent me a pair of their new Snowburbans. They released 3 insulated
boots in the fall of 2012 and along with the lighter Snow Junkie and Snowblime, The Snowburban is
the behemoth of the three.

Let's back up a bit. I've been using Vasque boots and shoes for quite a while now. I feel they're
the toughest to hit the trail. I've worn and wear other brands, but my dogs always feel most at
home when I'm wearing Vasque. My go-to hikers are the Vasque Breeze GTX and I've run in the
Aether Tech, Velocity VST, Mindbender and Transistor. Add the Velocity, Blur SL, Mantra and even the Watergate when I'm paddling and you could say I'm a little biased about wearing the shoes with the golden logo with the V on the mountain. Yes I'm a huge fan, but this was my first chance to wear an insulated boot by Vasque.

Right out of the box, The Snowburbans were ready to go. There was none of that stiff/needed to be
broken in feeling about them. I loved the fit, especially the extra-high ankle support. We hadn't
gotten any "real" snow falls in my area, but have had some pretty cold temperatures. Pretty cold
in Pennsylvania this winter means temps below 20. I've been out for extended periods, both hiking and simply standing around at the muddy dog park in temperatures in the low teens and the 3M™ Thinsulate™ Ultra Insulation kept my feet toasty warm. I've worn them with a basic boot sock from Gander Mountain. The thinsulate does a great job of keeping your feet warm, but not too warm. I thought that if my feet were warm simply standing around in frigid temps, what would happen if I
were hiking? Were these boots going to get too hot? I was pleasantly surprised when hoofing it out
across a mountain trail with my dogs, my feet weren't cooking. Instead of sweating they were
comfy and warm as they should be at 16°F.

Snow, rain, freezing rain and freeze and thaw makes for a sloppy mess on my favorite nearby
trail, I've worn the Snowburbans through snow, ice, mud and water. Yes, the are "Ultra-Dry" and I
would welcome the Venture out sole tread on tires for my Jeep. The Snowburbans will slop through
a stream and stay dry and cross rocks with confidence.

Snowburbans On The Rocks With Mojo & Mollie

 

Probably the coolest thing about this monster boot is that it isn't a monster. I've worn other
insulated boots that are apparently trail ready and you get that Napoleon Dynamite moon boot
feeling from them. The Snowburbans fit like a hiker. I could easily see backpacking wearing these
in the winter. Vasque lists the weight at 3lb 3oz and says the Snowburbans are built same
articulated hardware as their backpacking boots. Although I haven't used it, they have a handy D-ring at the base of the lacing to hook gaiters. The toe cap that Vasque calls a toe rand (must be shoe industry jargon) is super tough protection for coordinated hikers like me who are especially skilled at catching a toe on a rock.

Guess I Should've Used Gaiters

 

The pair I got are Beluga and Old Gold so they even look cool. The only negative I've found on
this boot is that they're a bit too big to fit in my particular type of snow shoe. I have the MSR
Evo Tour Snowshoes and the Snowburbans just don't seem to fit. That's ok, my Vasque Breeze fit in
them just fine.

I admitted my bias for Vasque boots and shoes early on, but please believe that I've used these
boots and I've given my honest review. I'm not a hunter or a snow mobiler, but I would recommend the Snowburbans to my friends who are. Don't let cold temperatures and snow keep you off the trail when this new warm dry boot by Vasque can take you there.

The ground hog has predicted an early spring and dreams of summer trail running are already dominating my thoughts. Until that permanent thaw I'll be hiking in my Snowburbans.
Speaking of trail running, Vasque has just released their new trail running shoe, The Pendulum.  I plan to be running the trails this season wearing Vasque Pendulums, so look for my review when I do.

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 2/24/2013 06:21:00 PM

A Minimalist Start To 2013 - Mizuno Wave Universe 4 Shoe Review

Last fall The Hershey Medical Center announced they needed runners to participate in a barefoot
running study. I'm not a barefoot runner or even a minimalist runner, but I thought it could be fun
so I offered up my services. The study requires that you run 30% of your mileage barefoot or in a
minimalist shoe and complete a survey monthly answering specific questions posed by the
facilitators. The questionnaire focuses on whether or not you've experienced different running
related injuries since running barefoot/minimalist.

I was surprised to find that the study would not be providing the minimalist shoes for
participants. They did however provide a pretty complete list of shoes they approved of for the
study. All the shoes cost around $100 or more and I really wasn't interested in explaining to
Janice that I needed to buy another pair of running shoes so I could be a barefoot running lab rat.
I decided to take a different approach and contacted every shoe company on the list and even some
retailers and explained my situation and asked for their support. I got some responses that seemed
positive, but went nowhere and others that were flat "no". I won't share any of them, but I was
really amused by the response of one of the companies who's shoes are notoriously expensive -
totally cracked me up... I was getting ready to email the facilitator of the study and tell him I
was pulling myself from the group when I got an email from Mizuno. To make a long story short, the
kind folks at Mizuno provided me with a pair of Mizuno Wave Universe 4 minimalist shoes to use for
the study. They arrived the day after Christmas! Thank you Mizuno!

I focus my running on the trail, trail events and longer distances like 50k, 50 miles or more, but
I do about half of my training on the road simply because of schedule and life constraints. Joining
this study and adding the Wave Universe to my stable of shoes, I decided that my road mileage would
be run as a minimalist.

Right out of the box, the Wave Universe are eye catchers, nothing is lost on their design. They
come in different colors, but the pair Mizuno sent me are Royal Purple with Lime Punch trim. I
could see the LSU Cross Country team running in them or for us Pennsylvanians, a West Chester Ram
would be proud in these purple speedsters. Mizuno presents the shoe as a racing flat, but with only
a 4mm drop from heel (18mm) to forefoot (14mm) and a feather weight of 3.8oz, it's no surprise they
were listed as one of the approved shoes for the minimalist study. That light weight is the next
thing you notice when taking them out of the box. I think I own heavier socks. Putting them on,
they give the feel of a laced up bedroom slipper. I must say, my first few steps in them made me
wonder what the heck I was in for with this minimalist running thing. I used one shoe previously
that was scaled down in its support and protection, but nothing like this. That 14mm's of rubber
under my forefoot seemed like nothing, but I already run with a forefoot strike so I was confident
these shoes wouldn't adversely affect my stride.

I didn't ease into this change, I simply replaced my aging road shoes with the new minimalist
shoes. Probably not smart, but hey that's how I did it. I do have to admit my first steps were quite
awkward. The start of the route is a slight downhill and I'm sure I looked like a chicken
scratching downhill. One of the first things I noticed was the semi-slapping sound with each foot
fall. Secondly and I'm sure that real minimalist runners already know this, but if you step on
debris, man you really feel it - yep it even hurts sometimes! The 6 mile road route I run around
Carlisle PA has a short stretch of rugged dirt trail through a local park so I have technically
used them for trail running too. I like the feel of the minimal sole on dirt. Maybe it's the soft
surface respite from the 4 miles of black top that lead to that trail. The shoe does have that 18mm
heel and I find myself using and appreciating it on a steep little downhill where I guess I use a
heel plant for stability. Of the 212 training miles I ran in January, 104 of them were on the road
in the Mizuno Wave Universe 4 in rain, snow, mud and extreme cold. The sole wear is minimal and the
upper is showing no signs of give.

The Wave Universe has been the perfect minimalist shoe for me, I'm a bigger/older runner who has
had my share of running related maladies so I think having at least that 14mm of protection was
just what the barefoot doctor ordered. If you're looking to try minimalist running and you're not
sure you want to go barefoot or the five finger route, give the Wave Universe a shot. If you're one
of those "fasties" who crowd the start line at your community 5k/10k, these shoes feel like wings!

After a solid month of minimalist running, I submitted my questionnaire with pride. As January came
to a close though I developed a little tightness in my left calf after a snowy 10 mile trail run.
It feels like all the other running related calf strains I've experienced, so I'm not going to
attribute it to the minimalist running. Unfortunately the stiffness in that calf muscle comes just
a couple of days before The Squirrely Tail Twail Wun Trail Half Marathon. I'm sure I'll still have
a fun time running around the lake at Gifford Pinchot State Park with all the other crazies even if
I am a bit gimpy. Stay tuned for my race report coming soon.



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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 2/01/2013 09:31:00 AM