Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Trestle Run: Night Racing

After what felt like a long two month stretch of August and September, things finally settled down a little bit. I missed the first race of the XTERRA season due to traveling for work but got back into the fall race season with the Rise Up & Run 5k that I recapped in my last blog and then a couple of trail races on back to back weekends. The first one was the Iron Hill trail night race at Red Top Mountain State Park, my first night race. I know I said that race recaps tend to be boring last go around, but since this was something a little different I figured I'd include it here.

 Race Recap - Dirty Spokes Iron Hill 7.5 Mile Night Race
This was a pretty cool one. We actually ran Iron Hill earlier in the year. I ran pretty well there and had a nice bounce back after really struggling at River Gorge. It's a slightly rolling course - 3+ miles per loop - with nice wide trails that run along the lakeshore at Red Top Mountain. Not sure why it's named that. There is no mountain (insert shrugging guy emoji). Coming off of a good road 5k and knowing that this course suited me, I was looking forward to the race going in. Albeit a little apprehensive since I've never run a night race.

I wasn't really sure what to expect. I run with my headlamp a good amount in the fall and winter, but it's normally only for the first 15 or 30 minutes of my morning run until the sun comes up. I've also never run fast or hard with the headlamp, so I had no real feel for how it was going to be. The only real night run I've done was one at Magic Mountain with Ferenc a few winters ago and we were just running around, not trying to race. I figured I'd wear my Patagonia duckbill hat and pull my headlamp as tight as I could and just see what happened. Spoiler alert...it actually worked pretty well.

Wild Endurance is for the children

The fact that the race was at night made things a little wonky from a logistics perspective, but Amanda and I did our best to make a day of it. This race was on the Saturday of our Bye week, so that meant it was one of the few truly free Saturday's that I have from September to January (hopefully February).

We spent most of the day up in Chattanooga walking around and riding bikes to take advantage of the day. Around five, we started to make our way south to the park. We arrived about an hour beforehand, so that gave me plenty of time to warm up. That didn't take long because despite the mid-October date it was still 80 and humid. Once the sun set, darkness fell pretty quickly over the trails. I did a few strides just to try and figure out any last minute headlamp adjustments before heading to the starting line.

I don't know if it was the Red Bell or what, but I shot off the line and immediately into the lead. I was locked on to RD Tim Schroer's wheel (he was on his mountain bike leading the race). After a few minutes, I realized I needed to settle down and relax. Only being able to see a few feet in front of me made it a little difficult to judge effort, so it was all too easy to get sucked into following Tim closely. I tried to relax and find a rhythm and stay smooth through the first lap, but in all honesty, that ship sailed pretty early in the race. It rapidly turned into a hammerfest, where I was just going to be on the gas the whole time.

As I wound through the first lap I got a few cool glimpses of the line of headlamps across the lake in some sections. That was a really neat sight. In the spring, we ran this course in the opposite direction - and it was light out - so it was hard to pick out any landmarks. I knew there were a few bridges - two - or so I thought. Turns out there are four. That made for an interesting few minutes towards the end of the first lap. I was rolling pretty well thought the first lap and wanted to try and run negative splits, so I tried to stay on the gas into the second lap, but the humidity started to take a toll around five miles in.


Despite a real fear of blowing up, I ended up running fairly even and crossed the line in 44:14 for the win. It was an awesome experience. I don't know how much I'd love doing a night race on more technical trails, but I'd be open to giving it a shot sometime. This was a good way to dip your toes into it.



The best part of the race though...post-race smores




 What I'm reading/watching/listening to/liking
Shalane won NYC!
What more can you say about this? After Boston, after all the close calls she's had, Shalane just went out and smashed it. It's great to see someone's hard work and dedication pay off like this. I was working and didn't get a chance to watch the race but I caught the tail end and really had to control myself to not go crazy when she dropped the 'Eff Yeah' when she crossed the finish line. That's 100-percent the Masshole in her and I love it.

Speaking of women crushing in it in the marathon, Gwen Jorgensen announced that she's stepping away from triathlon to focus on the marathon and people have been dicks about it. What a shocker right?


I was reading about her decision to make the switch on a certain running focused website and while I probably shouldn't have been surprised, there were a ton of haters. Obviously, winning Olympic gold in the marathon is a very lofty goal, but when you are someone like Gwen Jorgensen, who has accomplished some very lofty goals why wouldn't you aim high?

If/When she makes the Olympic team in the marathon, she'll be the biggest story of the Olympics. How many others have qualified in multiple sports? Just the fact that she's going to go for it will make her hugely valuable to sponsors and even if that has nothing to do with her decision, she's made herself into the hottest topic in running outside of Shalane. I don't know if she can do it, but I'm excited to watch her try. One thing I do know. The 2020 women's Olympic marathon trials are going to be lit.

 I'm a sucker for some good content marketing...
It's true. I know companies spend a ton of money on marketing to try and entice you into buying their product or supporting their brand, but the ones that can story tell in a unique way really stand out to me. Again, I get that is the point of marketing but let me live. Take, for example, Tracksmith & Huckberry. Both of which recently put out amazing fall catalogs. Let's start with Tracksmith. Yes, I know their stuff is expensive...Rapha for running...yes, yes, I know.

Look at this thing though - http://camp.tracksmith.com/

It's a thing of beauty. Ignore the fact that they are selling products and it's a brilliant photo essay and story about a group of talented runners getting together for a fall training camp. I don't know about you but I would love to get together with a few friends and spend two or three days training together. I think that's why I like what Tracksmith does so much. I feel connected to who they are as a brand. I mean they are all much faster than I am, but that aesthetic and vibe really speak to me as a runner.

That extends beyond their lookbooks and catalogs down to their products too. When they first launched, I really wasn't too keen on $60 cotton t-shirts but as they've grown and released more gear, they've done an amazing job of storytelling with their products. Every new item they release is comes with a story. Summer runs to swimming holes (Cannonball shorts), early morning/late night track workouts (session shorts), and my personal favorite - track meets at Northeastern (Solomon Track Pants).

The last one is very specific and personal for me. Solomon Track is located in Dedham, Mass. and is the home of Northeastern University. It's also home to a number of championship level meets for the state and region. My first time running at Solomon Track was during the summer between my senior year of high school and freshman year of college. I won the open men's 5k in 16:37, 50 seconds up on second place. Woot, woot!

That was nothing compared to the next race I remember running there though. One of my best running memories and one of the best races I've ever run was at Solomon Track for the NEICAAA or Open New England's my sophomore year of college. This meet was all of the New England schools, division I, II, and III (except for the Ivy League schools, because...Heps). Anyway, I ran an absolutely perfect race to PR in the 10k (31:46) and take the win. I executed the plan that my Coach, Pete Thomas, gave me before the race absolutely perfectly. I ran in second or third for the first four miles, running a calm and patient tempo before launching a move with two miles to go. I ran the final two miles in under 10 minutes to take one of the biggest wins I've ever had. I can still remember Mark Miller standing in lane eight yelling "Haley, you won't close in 65!" as I rounded the turn with 300 to go. FYI, I closed in 65. Oh those were the days. 

I realize that this is silly and fairly self-indulgent but that's honestly where the story that Tracksmith told about the Solomon Track pant took me. That's obviously a unique circumstance and no company would sell anything if they had to connect to people that personally, but I thought it was cool that their catalog brought up a fun memory like that.

 Side note: I just went down the rabbit hole of old results on Cool Running while looking to see if I could find those times. That was fun.

I won't dig into Huckberry's catalog because I just wrote War & Peace about a pair of pants, but check it out. If you are a fan of rocky coastlines and Fall in New England you'll dig it. Also, I'm buying that damn pizza oven.

72 Hours in Maine

 There is a college trail running team... 
Jamil Coury of Run Steep Get High had an interesting vlog where he visited Western State and its Mountain Sports team. Western State, of course has a very good cross country and track program but I thought it was pretty interesting to see that they've also got a trail/mountain/ultra running and mountain biking team. While it is probably not something that I would have been interested in while I was a student, since I was running cross country and track, I definitely think it's a great idea. I know a bunch of people that didn't run in college that have become big time trail runners. Maybe they ran in high school or they started later in life, whatever the case may be, I think it would be cool to see more programs like this.


I actually feel like I read something like this about a school in Vermont...

 opens a new tab and searches 'vermont college trail running team'

Yup. Sterling College
"Sterling is proud to host the first collegiate program in Mountain and Trail Running in the United States, established in October 2013. Students are supported to compete locally and regionally in events throughout the Green Mountains, White Mountains, and around the Northeastern U.S. Sterling students, staff, and faculty train in a supportive community of runners to prepare for competitions from an annual 5k trail series at the nearby internationally recognized Craftsbury Outdoor Center to 50 km, 50 mile, and 100 mile ultramarathons in Vermont and around the world."

 Okay. I need to stop. The wheels are spinning on how we could move back to Keene and start a mountain/trail running team at KSC.

 What's Poppin' on IG
A post shared by Cannondale Bicycles (@ridecannondale) on

SHOCKER. Another Cannondale Slate. I am loving the new orange CX1 model. I will have this bike. In this life or the next.



Shout out to Matt Johnson, who recently won the Sky to Summit 50k at Black Rock Mountain State Park. Matt is a local fast dude that I've raced a few times. He seems to have my number but it's always a good challenge.



A post shared by J U S T I N H A R D I G R E E (@justin.hardigree) on
Did I trick you with this one? It looks like it's probably somewhere in New Hampshire or Vermont right?  Wrong. That's the North Georgia Mountains. I've been traveling a lot and I haven't had a chance to spend much time up there but thankfully Justin Hardigree - a local photographer - has been taking cool shots like this to feed my habit.


A post shared by Austin Hittel (@ahittel) on

I am very fortunate to work with some really talented people. This shot is from the Brooklyn Bridge during my adventures with Austin Hittel and Trevor Lasso from a few weeks ago. Austin set up his a7s for a long exposure on the bridge just after the sun set.

That's all for this Trestle Run. This is what happens when I start one and then it takes me a month and a half to finish it. Some day I will get my ish together and make these shorter and more frequent. 
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