In the days leading up to the race I had numerous life challenges and obligations that caused me to drop from the 88k distance down to the marathon. My training had me prepared for 54+ miles of mountain running, having done a 20+ mile trail run once a week for nearly six weeks leading up to race day. Regardless of my physical prime my mental readiness was shaky at best. If you don't know, my mother is fighting a terminal illness, and I have been away from my family a lot more with a last minute schedule change for the summer, where I went from a seemingly normal 10hr Mon-Fri job to standing 48 and 72 shifts. Picture a high seas firefighter/EMT/cop and that's what I have been up to. Andy seamlessly transferred my name to the marathon for which I was very thankful. With a heavy mind I showed up on race day...
Race Day...SHIT!
As any anxiety sufferer will understand, I set all of my gear out the night before. Goshen, VT where the race is held is about an hour and a half from my home in Sandgate, VT so I wanted to roll out the door. My pre-mixed home made gel packs consisting of VT maple syrup, organic honey and sea salt were loaded in the fridge and mixed to perfection. My Hammer Perpetuem was in another water bottle, and my caffeinated Tailwind was in another...watch out...I'm ready.
My drive was more relaxed than ever because I had very few worries, I knew I could race marathon distance no problem since I was planning on double that distance. Arriving in the parking area at Blueberry Hill Nordic center I reached for my bag of race gear.....yeah...I left all of that shit on my counter top about 60 miles South. F U C K....it seems that leaving critical shit behind for these events is my favorite party trick. In full panic mode i raced around asking people for gels or whatever they could spare, and no one had anything. I ran to my truck and yanked my bicycles hard bottle out of the cage and stuffed it into my race vest, which is designed for nice soft flask bottles that wont bruise your ribs over the course of 50 miles. So I have a way to hydrate, but zero fuel. A marathon with 5,000' of climbing will require some fuel. I found an aid station that had a bunch of sticky twizzlers and scrounged up a ziplock bag....SEND IT!
"Better get on the road quick and forget all my shit!"
Confidence and Adaptation
So I was slightly shaken up by the events leading up to the start but tried very hard not to let it wreck my state of mind. I kept thinking about all of the real world problems that happen around me and this is merely a comedy show. At the start I went out extremely conservatively and didn't really know where I stood in the field since it was a mixed distance mass start. I found myself climbing extremely comfortably and losing ground on the descents. The race course was MUDDY and very heavily trafficked. I spent a stupid amount of miles avoiding wet shoes and after about 5 miles decided it was a waste of time to try to keep my shoes light and dry.
8K
At the 8K mark I was greeted by the RD and volunteers and told that I was in second place in the Marathon, and first place was standing at the aid station next to. I took off trying to force him to leave earlier than he wanted hoping it would give me some sort of edge. he next several miles were relatively flat and the first place runner clearly had superiority over me in speed alone. I needed to catch him on the climbs, which I did and then lost again when a flat or downhill section came about. At ten miles, I knew I would have to really turn it on to try to hang onto the leader. Right as that thought crossed my mind I fell in a water crossing and really hurt my left hip. I walked for about a mile after that trying to loosen up the injury which eventually got better and I could run again.
Into the 8K Aid Station
Taking the lead back even if short lived
Downhill
I gave up second place on an extended downhill to a previous Infinitus winner who cruised past me like I wasn't moving at all. I shortly caught him on a climb and made what felt like a comfortable gap. Stopping at the final aid station around 22 miles he came in about 30 seconds after me. He pulled te same shit I did to the leader at the 8K mark and I never saw him again. I kept a steady and relentless pace to the finish and finished third overall. Andy told me this was an extremely close and quick race given the mucky conditions. I was pretty satisfied with a podium finish regardless.
Wrap up
This race was awesome! The swag was on par with my buddies at Nor'east Trail Runs, and the course design was epic. I really am thankful that dropped to the Marathon, even though I think I would've fared well in the 88k...If I had my gear! In hindsight, I would have utilized a better cleaning and draining shoe like the Salming OT Comp instead of using my trust Trail T5's. I suppose you live and learn.
Happy To Be here with these strong competitors
Mental Well Being
Over the last few weeks I have been under a dark shit cloud, and did something I have never done and sought after some help in the form of traditional counseling. While I am not an optimist in most scenarios, sometimes it's good to be able to bundle all of your life stressors for someone to review. While I won't elaborate on all of my complicated issues at home, work, and my other home I will say that we all need a little help sometimes. If that help doesn't come on a high summit somewhere, the bottom of a good bourbon, in the saddle of a bike, or whatever your poison is I strongly suggest you don't write off getting help. If this works out well for me I will likely be writing more about mental fitness in the future vice physical fitness.
Cedar Rock In Arlington, VT Short runs with a lot of value help the morale!
Onward!
Since my climbing legs served me well at Infinitus this year, I will be returning for my third Loon Mountain Race Presented by Acidotic Racing! REMEMBER THERE IS NO SAFE WORD AT LOON!
Happy Healthy Trails...
My boy is pretty pumped his dad can still hang at the long distances.
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