Baggin Peaks & Raising coin for Cancer!

Mount Osceola (4,340') & Osceola East (4,156')

I got the weekend off from work, after a long couple weeks of "standby duty"(meaning being ready to return to work within a half hour.). A couple of storms making their way through the area adds a heightened sense of readiness to an already "Ready" group of people. Luckily upon request I was granted my normal weekend on-duty off. Special thanks to Shipmate John who agreed to take the watch for me while I was off. As a sort of night before/last minute decision I figured I would spend the day in Central New Hampshire climbing. I chose Mount Osceola because I would be going at it alone (Minus Wonder Dog), and it seemed like one of the easier peaks to summit. Knowing that the upper elevations have had some snow already this year, I decided to take a lot of layers for clothing and my micro spikes. I had originally bought the spikes for my running shoes but thought they would come in handy...which the most certainly did. I wasn't 100% sold on bagging both peaks, so I used the Tripoli Road trailhead. Tripoli is a seasonal road so I risked it being closed, but I really wanted to hike in from that side of the mountain. Around 8:30 I got to the trailhead. Looking around I could see that all the peaks in the area were socked in fog, aparently I bring the clouds with me. Aside from being in and out of the clouds the local high spots were all white with snow. This was slightly intimidating since for all that I knew, I may be the only person on the mountain for a few days. I filed a pretty detailed trip plan with my best friend Lee and Alisha, that included where I was parking and when I was expecting to be home. This likely stems from my carreer which as I mentioned above, is "Always Ready", and nobody wants to be that dope that everyone thinks is missing when in fact they were just fine. I paid my modest $3.00 to park my truck at the trailhead and, fueled on coffee headed upwards. The trail was a modest grade most of the way up with a few places that I needed hands and feet to negotiate. After about 2 miles The trail was completely covered in snow and ice and I could hear the wind really howling above me. After a few almost falls I put the spikes on and continued. In doing so I stopped my GPS watch and forgot to turn in back on until about 15 minutes later or 3/4mile. I was planning on using the watch to identify East Osceola because it is well known for "its view of absolutely nothing" as one writer put it. Therefore i was afraid I would go way out of my way looking for well....nothing.

After a few almost falls on Ice like this I decided extra traction was in order.

The Kahtoola MicroSpikes were perfect for this hike where Crampons would have been overkill.

 

 

 Wind from Above

 

 I summited pretty quickly, and just as I figured, couldn't see more than 5 feet. Since it wasn't quite noon yet I figured I would trek the one mile towards East Osceola (just so I can check it off the list) and maybe the view would be better in 40 minutes or so. The hike to E. Osceola was actually pretty tough. There were many steep scrambles and even a few nice lookout areas. At this point the snow was between 9'' and a foot. I couldn't help but contrast the difference between the trailhead and the ridge, trailhead being muddy and 50+ degrees and the ridge had a foot of snow and was probably around 20 degrees.

 

 

This Cairn was exactly 1 mile from Osceola Summit, I assumed this was East Osceola since it was all downhill afterthis point (towards the Kancamangus highway)

 

 

After returning to the Osceola Summit I was greeted with an AMAZING view! the clouds had lifted and I could see for what seemed like 100 plus miles. On the Summit there are remnants of an old firetower in the form of concrete blocks. I laterlearned this firetower was dismantled in 1984. I found some cool info here http://www.firelookout.org/towers/nh/osceola.htm .

 

One of the overlooks between Osceola & E. Osceola

 

 

This was the visibility the first time through.

 



 

This is the View I returned to!

 360 degree View of Osceola Summit

I was pretty pumped when I uploaded the data from this trip. Only 7 people have uploaded Mount Osceola, however of the seven people My ascent time was the fastest...I chalk it up to the Mustache!

MapMyRun info

 

4,000' + MO

I Am still collecting donations for mens health issues if you have a buck or two to spare please do so at MOVEMBER !

 

 

Easy Ten Miler

I set out this AM on a "short jog" that turned into a nice 10mi. run with a decent amount of elevation gain. why am I sharing? see below I thought this was awesome!

So I tried to "max out" around mile 7 of my ten mile run, I got it up to 10 but was down to 7 by the time I got the ipod out to take a pic.

\Until next time!













Jack London Trail Race & Mustachioed Mayhem!

JLTR 10k (11-3-12)

Since I last posted we have had a Hurricane, and elected a President. Since then I ran the Jack London 10K Trail Race and started my "MO", Don't know what I mean by Mo? Well stick around, or skip all this running crap and scroll down. The JLTR was on Saturday 11-3-12 at Mine Falls Park in Nashua, NH. I waited until the very last minute to sign up, given my recent DNS for the Bay State Marathon. Last week I got my mileage up to a "satisfactory" amount and figured why not race JLTR again this year. Last year the event was cold and small. I really liked the way the race was organized so I wanted to make an effort to come back for the 2012 race. In 2011 a storm had knocked a lot of trees down across the trails in Mine Falls park so we raced an alternate route. With Hurricane Sandy striking just a week or so before the 2012 event I assumed more of the same, especially judging from my trail workouts in Haverhill preceding the race (Kenoza Lake trails were similar to a Spartan Race in some ways with lots of debris on the trails). Much to my surprise the original course was used. The park in Nashua is generally pretty flat which doesn't suit my training as of late, but fast races are fun races. The Goal was to finish  in under 43:00 minutes which for me is pretty fast for a trail race (for me of course, 40+ minutes in a 10k is not super fast for much more talented athletes. Before the race I noticed the Somerville Running club was out in full force, and the field was MUCH larger than last year. I wanted to start with a 7:00minute mile for the first mile. I got very clogged up at the start and spent the first few minutes trying to get into a pack of runners around the same speed. After the first half mile i was just under an 8min. mile so I tried to make up time to stick to the goal and pace. After that I wanted to be in the 6:40 mile range. I finally got into a solitary position and comfortable pace and basically tried to stay there. The course wound through the park and was very scenic and had surprisingly safe footing (Most trail races in the fall offer "surprises" under the leaves that tend to hurt). The final stretch had a very tall man made climb (20-30') that really burned for the remaining  quarter of a mile. I ended up crossing the finish line in 25th place overall (5 places BACK from 2011) at 42:20. I was expecting to do much better in the field, but you can't help who shows up. This year a lot of very talented people toed the line so I can't be disappointed. I hit my goal time and that's all I could ask for! The splits were as follows:

1-7:02
2-7:24
3-6:50
4-6:54
5-6:48
6-7:13

Jack London 10k logo

The course measured out on my GPS to be 6.03 miles which is a bit short for a 10k so the official results will show average pace slightly faster than actual. I have no complaints about this event, the price was only $20, I received another pair of JLTR socks, and at the finish they served DUNKIN coffee (my most favorite recovery beverage).  Anyone looking for a good value in a trail or road race in New England should check out http://www.3craceproductions.com/ . They have raised of $3million for charity over the last 10 years!
2012 Jack londond Trail Race results

MOVEMBER!
Those of you who know me, (electronically on Facebook or in person) probably know that I spend 1/12th of the year with a "MO" stache. Unfamiliar?

I have been unable to replicate the epic handlebars of 2010

 

http://us.movember.com/ is a charitable organization that promotes and raises funds for research for popular men's health issues like Testicular and Prostate cancers. Their main beneficiaries are the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Livestrong foundation (don't hate. Regardless of Lance Armstrongs doping allegations, the Livestrong foundation, while affiliated with him is a key player in marketing awareness and combating cancer). My work team "Merrimack Mo's" has raised over $4,000 since 2009, and $460 already in 2012. So guys grow a mustache and solicit donations from friends and family. It's a great (not to mention fun) program to participate in. If you would like to donate to me or my team please visit my "MoSpace" . Every little bit counts and you can donate as little as a dollar! I wouldn't ask if it wasn't for a good cause!

 

NOR'Easter

New England is currently experiencing a "Nor'Easter" right now so today I stayed off the trails, tomorrow may be a different story!