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First, I can’t say enough good things about the Marines for putting on a fantastic race. They expertly and professionally handled logistics for 30,000 marathon runners plus 10K runners and spectators: moving us through the start and finish, all the water and food stops, mile markers, ran alongside hand-cycle and wheelchair competitors, and did an amazing amount of cheering as well. And, on top of all that, they had real-time “track a runner” splits available so my parents could cheer along.

Second, the course was amazing. Brian and I were only half joking when we considered running it “just for fun” to be able to enjoy the sights, rather than running for time. It was nice to run along the Potomac, through Georgetown, around the Mall and monuments and finish running toward the Iwo Jima Memorial, but I felt that I was only able to take in half of it between eating, drinking, getting splits, navigating runners and focusing on pace.

Third, kudos to Heather for hosting us this weekend and being a terrific “crew” and cheering section for us! She ran our “loosen up the legs” run with us the day before the race, then got up at 4:30am with us, drove us to the Metro, stayed with us until the start, and then met us at the finish with water, snacks and our gear. We are so fortunate to have a fellow runner and friend who was willing to dedicate her weekend to making our race a success.

Our strategy for the race was to start slow to warm up and get through the crowds, then maintain a steady pace that would enable me to qualify for the Boston Marathon, 3hour45min or less. Last year I went out way too fast and blew up, so I knew I had to hold back up front to run even or even negative splits. Brian worked the night before on a few scenarios so we knew just where we needed to be at various points in the race. He would also be my pacer to keep me on track, particularly in the first half of the race. We also had practiced fueling with Perpetuem, and knowing that I’m pretty bad at drinking and eat on the course, we had enough calories to keep us going through the race.

And, in short, we executed the plan. I would say there was one tactical error, when I got spooked coming through mile 11 at 8:38 – I really thought we were locked in at 8:15-8:20 at that point – so I picked it up and ran a sub-8 for mile 12. We both felt that one, and it’s unclear how much of an impact that had on our later miles. But overall, I ran pretty even halves: 1:51:34 for the first 13.1 and 1:52:01 for the second half, coming in at 3:43:35 (click the link and enter “Woodmansee” in the Find a Runner Last Name field), a Boston Qualifying time! I’m also very excited to have finished 64 out of 1337 women in my age group, top 5%.

So here are the details. It took us 4mins30seconds to get to the start and about 2 miles to get through the pack enough to settle into our 8:30min pace. We tried to hold back on the uphills (with Beej reminding me that we can’t win the race in the first 10K, but we can lose it!) and let gravity be our friend on the downhills. Other than a few inclines at the end of the race, the course was flat after the first 10 miles, so it was pretty easy to settle into the 8:15 – 8:30 range, a bit slower with water stops, and bit faster when we were inspired. Brian and I parted ways at mile 17, I picked it up a bit through mile 21, and then pretty much knew at mile 23 that I could run 9s the last three miles and make the qualifying time. I’m not sure how much of my slow down was that realization, my sore and tired legs, a slight urge to hurl, the wind that kicked up, or simply not knowing for sure how far I had left to go (so I should leave a little bit in reserve). I do know that the carnage of the last 5 miles of the race started to get to me mentally. Whereas last year I was part of it, this year I was trying to maintain my form and pace as others clearly struggled just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. About a quarter of the runners were stopping to walk or stretch, and at least half of them were slowing down considerably, while others struggled on but veered erratically, making it hard to pass. In that environment I started to wonder how much I had left before joining their ranks, and it was also tough to figure out my relative pace when folks I’d been running with for the middle section of the race were no longer as steady. Was I passing because I was going too fast, or because I was just not slowing down as much as everyone else? At any rate, even if I wasn’t able to maintain the 8:30 pace as intended, I did manage to keep sub-9s.

I had planned to give the last hill all I had – after all, it’s a memorial to Iwo Jima, and if others can fight for a month to take the hill, I can certainly pound out .2 miles at the end of a marathon. My body had other ideas, however, as my abs had turned to jelly. I expected to feel cramping, lactic-acid laden legs of concrete, but I didn’t expect that when I tried to pick up my speed with those legs on the last 0.2 miles, I would find myself bent over in half, lacking in core strength with no speed to be found. I still managed a solid finish, and made my way through the chute to receive my medal (of course from a friendly Marine) and meet up with Brian and Heather.

We decided to start our hike out of the canyon by 6am, considering that the Bright Angel Trail is about 10 miles (vs. South Kaibab’s 7 miles) and that we expected temps on the rim to be much warmer than at the bottom of the canyon. Also, we had dinner reservations at El Tovar awaiting us! After the early 5am breakfast, we packed up and started out of the ranch, using our headlamps to light the way in the dark.

Dawn came later than expected through the clouds, and in fact we stopped to put on our rain gear about a mile into the hike as the mist turned to a steady drizzle. We said good bye to the river, now flowing much more rapidly due to the previous days rains, as we hiked up the canyon wall.

We encountered several “stream crossings” due to the runoff, but our west trek was rewarded when we turned around to see a double rainbow. We stopped to take lots of photos.



The views as we hiked out of the canyon were a lot different from the panoramas we saw on the way down, but were still expansive and impressive, especially given that we had spent more time in the canyon.


There was a bit of clearing as we arrived at Indian Gardens, the halfway point, and we decided not to dally at 3 mile house, the next stop, but by the time we got to 1.5 mile house – the last stop – we knew that the clouds were rolling in again.

Brian and Dan had hiked ahead and managed to get out before the rain. Brian took this same photo 16 years ago when he was here.
but Steve, Hanley and I got caught a bit in the rains, but were able to see the front make its way across the canyon.

We all met up at the lodge with congratulations for a strong hike and a beautiful venue. Then it was time for the best shower ever (at least it felt that way to get out of wet socks and muddy boots!), nap, and get ready for dinner. After a respectable 11 year run, my water bladder was retired. I had noticed the bladder was leaking during our red rocks hikes, and decided to be safe by “double bagging” for the canyon hikes. After a confirmatory diagnosis of multiple pinhole leaks, my trusty hydration bag was laid to rest.

El Tovar did not not disappoint. It was a slice of the early 1900s, easy to imagine how visitors 100 years ago would have enjoyed similar views and similarly prepared food. Our waiter Jaime was perfectly formal, yet friendly, and parried our jokes with his own wit. The food was delicious and overall it was a highlight of the trip to reflect on the week’s experience.

After that, we said our goodbyes to Steve and Hanley who were heading out early the next morning for CA. Dan, Brian and I took our time the next morning and drove out the east side of the park. The clouds and fog prevented us from seeing much of the canyon, so we picked out our own “vistas” to enjoy until the weather cleared and we could see down the canyon.

We stopped at Grandview Point, which honestly had better vistas that the Village at the south rim. It was the first location on the canyon to have a lodge, but when the railway came through it stopped a few miles away and thus few visitors made it to Grandview anymore. There’s a rugged trail to the canyon from there, so perhaps next time we’ll try that hike. We continued eastward to the last few stops – warming up in the car between stops because it was cold! – and the Hopi house before making our way back toward Phoenix.

The final two highlights of the trip were relaxing in the hot tub at the Hampton Inn to soothe our tired legs, and a FANTASTIC dinner at True Food Kitchen. Every dish was fresh and tasty, from my kale salad and baked squash to the guys’ carmelized onion and mushroom flatbread to the curry and beverages. A healthy and tasty end to the trip before returning to Boston.

After settling in, we found some benches in the creek and “iced” our legs in the cold water. As tired as we were, we feared that napping would hinder our ability to sleep that night (especially given the communal “bunkhouse” accommodations with likely snorers in our midst), and the canteen had already closed to prepare for dinner. So, Dan and Brian and I headed out to explore the ranch, and ended up walking a loop from the Silver Bridge to the Black Bridge. We enjoyed seeing the effect of the long shadows on the rocks and the moon rise over the river.

We came back in time for dinner: hiker’s stew with corn bread and salad and chocolate cake for dessert. The five of us managed to stay up a little while after dinner telling jokes and playing cribbage, but decided that 8:30pm was a fine time for bed. In the women’s cabin, I was the last one to settle in and turn out the lights. The women’s bunk house was pretty quiet until 4:30am, when the ranger came in to wake up the early (5am) breakfast crowd. A group of 6 women had hiked in from the North Rim and were hiking out the Bright Angel trail that day, so they all got up and chatted about their blisters, soreness, snacks, and excitement. They also killed a scorpion in the shower and warned me to wear my sandals, which I appreciated. I managed another hour’s sleep before they returned to pack up, and it was time for me to shower and get ready for breakfast.

After breakfast, Dan and Brian and I decided to head up the North Kaibab trail to the Ribbon Falls, while Hanley and Steve opted to try some other routes near the camp. Hiking along the Bright Angel Creek Canyon and seeing where the Phantom Creek joined it was quite a different hike than the South Kaibab Trail. There was even a swampy area with tall grasses, much different than the desert we’d hiked through the previous day. It started to rain on us about halfway to the falls, but our rain jackets provided sufficient coverage and it wasn’t too cold. I stopped at what seemed like the end of the trail while the guys ventured further to the falls themselves. They enjoyed the refreshing water while I enjoyed a snack break.

The day seemed to clear as we headed back to the Ranch, and we met up with Hanley and Steve on the trail on our way back. We once again cooled off in the river before heading to the canteen. Suddenly there was a loud racket, and we looked outside to see half-inch diameter hail falling. The temperatures also dropped about 20 degrees, making us very glad we were off the trail. Once the hail subsided we all had to leave the canteen, but this time there was a ranger program that Dan and I attended. The ranger opted to do a question and answer session due to the rain, but it was really interesting to hear about the history and infrastructure of the ranch, as well as his job as a ranger there. He studies cougars, and told some fun stories about tracking them with accompanying pictures he had taken. After dinner he did another program, this time on the history of the canyon and how it was made – the alignment of the rock layers being pushed upward, the turbid river cutting through and carrying lots of rock and sediment to form the canyon, and then the natural erosion that widened it over time.

After another tasty breakfast Monday morning in Sedona, we drove back to the Phoenix airport to pick up Dan. We then headed back north to the Grand Canyon. We arrived about 3:30 in the afternoon and our trip organizer, Hanley, met us in the parking lot with keys to our rooms at the Bright Angel Lodge. After a quick unpacking Susan, Dan, and I headed for quick walk along the rim before dinner.

After our hike all five of us headed to the lodge for dinner. Since we had a 5:30 breakfast call the next morning in order to catch the 7:00 am bus to our trailhead, we went back to our rooms right after dinner to finalize packing and get some much needed sleep.

The next morning we had a quick breakfast of bagels, muffins, and coffee and boarded the express bus to the South Kaibab trailhead. The day’s hike was a little over 7 miles with 5000 feet of elevation loss down the South Kaibab trail to Phantom Ranch where we would all stay for two nights. At 7:30 am the temperature at the rim was in the 40s and it was clear and breezy. As we descended the temperatures would quickly rise.

We posed for a quick “before” photo and then started down the switchbacking trail into the canyon. The trail started on the side of the canyon wall and quickly descended down through the rock layers until we reach the aptly named Ooh-Ah point.

Before we reached Ooh-Ah point there was some trail clearing equipment off to the side of the trail. I decided the pickax looked fun and posed for a photo to lighten the mood.

Once we reached Ooh-Ah Point we had a steady set of views that frequently spanned 270 or more degrees. We could see the trail ahead of us in many places until it descended off the plateau and disappeared from sight. We could also look far to the west and see the trail we would ascend two days later.

Just before we reached the halfway point of the descent we got our first glimpse of the Colorado River far below us. While we were stopped to eat and drink at the halfway point we were passed by the first mule train. Our trail was under maintenance and the only mule trains were those carrying supplies to the rangers at Phantom Ranch.

As we continued to descend we continued to catch glimpses of the trail and river below. Eventually we got our first glimpse of Phantom Ranch where we would be staying while at the bottom.

At one point in the descent I spotted two coyotes at a mule hitching point down the switchbacks a few hundred feet below us. We waited and watched as hikers rounded the corner and approached this area. From above we could see the coyotes go from scavenging mode into slinking mode as they checked out the newcomers from a safe distance. It was fascinating to see how the coyotes reacted and hid in the bush and rocks so they would not be seen. It was a great sighting and a reminder that we were in the wilderness.

Phantom Ranch is on the north side of the Colorado River and we were approaching from the south. In order to cross, there are two suspension bridges, the Black Bridge and the Silver Bridge. The South Kaibab trail takes you through a short tunnel and then across the Black Bridge for the final 3/4 mile into Phantom Ranch.

We arrived at Phantom Ranch around 2pm and checked in. The Ranch itself is made up of a common area with a large kitchen (the canteen) where they have tables for approximately 50 and serve meals, sell light snacks and first aid items, and where people can sit around and play cards or chat. The rest of the Ranch is primarily small bunkhouses that sleep 10 people and have their own toilet and shower. There is also a ranger station, a corral for the mule trains, and a set of tentsites by the Bright Angel Creek.

Once checked in we unpacked into our bunks, grabbed a snack and a drink, and sat and chatted amongst ourselves about the hike down and the plans for the rest of the week.

Stay tuned for Part 2

Even trying to “sleep in” we both were plenty awake at 6am local time (9am east coast).

We decided to go for a run down to Red Rocks State Park (the back way, along Verde Vista Road). It felt really good to run after taking a couple days off and being stuck in a plane, plus we were surrounded by gorgeous views and enjoyed cool temps (mid 60s). We got back in time for breakfast at the inn – starting with coffee, cucumber water and a smoothie.

Followed by sweet potato and apple fritata, a delicious polenta bread (like herbed corn bread) and crisp maple bacon.

Then we decided to hike a loop that Whitney recommended for its variety. We started out hiking up to a mesa.

After that we hiked into and out of the Canyon. I found this nice spot to sit along the way.

There were natural caves eroded from the red rock cliffs.

We saw a spectacular sink hole called Devil’s Kitchen.

as we hiked over the saddle and completed the loop back to the parking lot.

For dinner we enjoyed a more casual restaurant, the Oak Creek Brewery and Grill. We enjoyed a plentiful Vortex Veggie Plate with brie, swiss, crackers, grapes, apples, strawberries, oranges, grilled zucchini, carrots and celery sticks. We also had to try the fried pickles. Their Baja Burger was also excellent.

Tomorrow we pick up Dan and head to the Grand Canyon!

We landed in Phoenix at 10am local time, meaning we had almost a full day ahead of us to enjoy Sedona and Oak Creek. Hertz surprised us with a red mustang convertible – perfect for an Arizona vacation! We loaded up our gear and were on our way north.

The Penrose B&B turned out to be an even better choice than we expected. It is set right into one of the red rocks, with big windows that allowed us to enjoy the views.

Whitney the innkeeper was thorough and friendly in orienting us to the area. After we unpacked a bit, enjoyed the cinnamon peanut brittle snack, and filled up with water, we headed out to Cathedral Rock for a short hike to stretch our legs.

For dinner we decided to try Cucina Rustica, another fortuitious choice for a delicious dinner. I tried a local Arizona wine, the Pillsbury Rhone style, which was delicious. From the bread with olive oil infused with cerrano chilies to our appetizer of radiccio, prosciutto, fig and cheese to the organic greens in the house salad with a light nutty dressing to the main dishes, Brian’s veal saltimbocca and my osso bucco, everything was delicious. We were just sorry to be so tired that we opted not to try dessert. After all, it had been almost 20 hours since we had woken up to start our day, so we headed back to the B&B to get some much needed sleep.

My September was not so exciting as Brian’s, so maybe I’ll start trying off-cycle updates. In calendar September I ran 180.5 miles. Here are some highlights (other than our races) since my last post.

A small personal victory was not skipping workouts while on business trips or due to weather. I ran repeat miles in Texas around a neighborhood in the dark and rain and I ran 3 miles on a treadmill (I really try to avoid them) at my hotel in Virginia. I ran 4 miles in the pouring rain one morning in Newburyport because I knew that was the only time I had in my schedule to go. I was proud of just getting up and making myself go, even if the run was short, so I didn’t skip as many workouts.

The first weekend of October we discovered the Middlesex Fells and will definitely be returning! I can’t recall if I mountain biked or hiked there while living in Cambridge, but in any case it is a great place to trail run. We both enjoyed the change of pace: figuratively, to be getting off the roads, and literally, slowing down to pick our way through steep and rocky sections and then pick it up when the trails were more forgiving. It was really fun and I expect we may try it out in the winter for snow shoeing as well.

Now it’s halfway through October, and it feels weird to be tapering. No speed work or hill work this week, the first time since June. We did 20 miles on Monday with negative splits, our last “long” run before the race. (Long for us is 20 miles – we ramp down to 15, then 10, then 7 over the next two weeks.) At this point my goal is to stay healthy, not get hurt, and enjoy our time in the Canyon. It’s a good time to be distracted by vacation, travel and work.

September was a good month for me. On the work side of things I put in more hours at the crisis center than I have in any previous month. I got to work with many new clients and also got to be involved in the grant reporting process for the first time. Additionally, I did my normal share of court days. It’s a good thing I put in a lot of September hours because we’re going to be travelling so much in October I won’t be able to keep up that schedule.

On the fitness front, September was also an awesome month. We raced in two different races (see previous blog entries) and had a great time with both of them. Marathon training continues to progress well. September marked a new high for me with 193.3 miles run. I ran 23 of the 30 days which works out to an average of running a 10k every day.

September also marked a weight loss milestone for me. On September 6 I weighed in at 192.4 pounds which is the least I’ve weighed since running my first marathon 10 years ago (and the least I’ve weighed since being married). On September 23 my average weight went to 191.4 which is a 40.1 pound loss from my peak of 231.5 back in 2005. I’ve tried to find pictures of me at 220+ pounds but as far as I can tell I didn’t let anyone take my picture. The closest I found was me at 213 pounds on a hike with Susan. I then took another picture of myself in the same tank for comparison. I shudder to think how I looked at 230 pounds…

I don’t really have a weight loss final goal. I’d like to get to 186.5 so my BMI (despite its limitations) will be in the normal range. I haven’t been actively dieting or counting calories once I got below 200, either. All the weight loss this season has been due to exercise and generally good eating habits. I’m hoping my body will settle in at a nice natural weight as I continue to exercise.

October should be a fun month. We will be going to the Grand Canyon in the middle and at the end will be racing in the USMC Marathon. We’ve been specifically training for this since the end of June and we’ll finally get to see if we can run our goal time of 3:45:00.

Once we saw Jamie off at the start, Van #2 went for lunch at a sub shop, which enabled us to cheer for Brian turning onto Rte 302 on Leg #2. We then continued on to Attitash, the first vehicle transition area. We scoped out what the transition areas look like – as Brian mentioned, the actual transition is marked by yellow taped-off area along the road, a few cones and a tent. While waiting for our turn, our van decided to tackle the scavenger hunt challenge, which involved visiting New Balance team vans to collect letters (silly bands) to spell “New Balance”. We ended up collecting all of them, but one of our Ns broke and we tossed it out before realizing we actually needed 2 Ns. It was still a fun diversion that allowed us to meet other runners throughout the event. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned van with speakers on top and a few guys playing catch with a football who evidently thought our van should play too, we had too much noise and interruption to nap much, and besides we were quite excited to finally get to start running.

Like Brian, I was the #2 runner in my van, making me the #8 runner on the team. At 5:30pm I took my handoff from Lou (who claimed he saw a black bear cross the road in front of him), running out of Echo Lake State Park down West Side Road. I passed many farms, heard cows mooing and generally enjoyed the beautiful evening while humming along to my destination, HAM’s arena in Conway. This was a pretty good warm-up run of 6.61 miles with rolling hills and a net loss of 55 ft, which was quite comfortable at an 8:01 pace. This was the first leg using reflective gear, and I did feel much safer running with the vest, though I didn’t need the headlamp – mainly I used my visor to shield my eyes from the low sun.

In Van #2, everyone kept pretty well to their target pace, enabling us to finish our first legs before 9:30pm. Unfortunately by the time we got rolling, it was too late to grab dinner at nearby restaurants, because they were all closed. We ended up going to the next Vehicle Transition Area at a school, where we ate some pasta and tried to get some sleep. A couple of us slept on the floor of one of the buildings, two more set up a tent on the lawn, and the other two slept on the back seats of the van. I don’t think any of us got more than a couple fitful naps, but at least we rested a bit before our second shift started at 2:30am.

The night legs were peaceful, with red lights bobbing ahead to let you know you were on the right road, and sometimes it was pleasant to not know how far ahead they really were. I found it irresistible to try to pick off a few runners on the hills, especially after one of the Grumpy Old Men (grand masters men’s team) picked me off in the first quarter mile, calling me his first “scalp” of the leg – he meant it in a friendly way. In fact, I have to say that all the runners seemed pretty encouraging of one another throughout the race, though it might also be a reflection of my own exuberance. My second leg featured a dip to start, followed by a three-tier uphill, gaining 900 feet by mile five, then a three-mile descent, finishing with a mile of slight uphill. I knew I had to take it easy on the first half, but once I saw my van mates waiting for me at the top and knew I was over halfway done, I handed off my water bottle and kicked it hard down the hill (802 feet of loss!) and then coasted into the Gilmanton School at an 8:15 pace for 9.23 miles.

On the longer night legs we stopped along the way to make sure the runner was ok, offer water, and cheer. Mike D had a pretty brutal leg after mine, 8.5 miles with 550 feet of gain and also noting it was about 4am; he cursed the faux top before the actual peak, but was definitely in the mood to tackle it and then enjoy his downhill. We kept leapfrogging through the early morning hours, with Mike A sprinting through his 3.5 mi at dawn, Sha pushing it hard up her hilly 6.2 mi, and Jason running his longest leg with a strong finish just before 9:30am. I chatted with Van #1 briefly to wait for Jason, but then the pancakes called and we enjoyed breakfast made by the firemen’s auxiliary before taking a break.

On this respite we found a bathroom with real running water (the port-a-john hand sanitizer + sweat + food residue formed a rather gross slime after 4 hours) where we grabbed some snacks and coffee and freshened up a bit. Thankfully, we had great navigators who knew the area well and allowed us to take a shortcut to the next vehicle transition area while the back seat dozed. We had another chance to stretch out on the school lawn, take a pit stop, snack, and chat until our final leg began. The last 6 legs were pretty short and the traffic was pretty bad, so we left Lou to start and hopped ahead to the start of my final leg to make sure we got there in time for the handoff; we’d already seen a few runners finish their leg to the dismal discovery that their teammates were not yet ready to take the handoff.

I honestly wasn’t sure how my legs would feel after 15+ miles and 20 hours in the car when it was time to run again at ~1:30pm. I had eaten steadily through the morning hoping that the calories would make their way to my legs. It turned out I had nothing to fear – my legs felt great for the 6.7 miles. On the rolling start, I was able to keep up my turnover rate to pass a number of other runners up the hill, and then whizzed down mile 4 to take advantage of gravity. I was very fortunate that another team’s van crossed the road ahead of me at a crucial turn, else I might have cruised right on by and gotten off course. I expected to run an 8:30 pace so I thought I had another 5 minutes to go when I turned the last corner and saw the transition area ahead. I finished hard for another 8min pace run, very satisfied that I had a little bit left in the tank and kept a steady pace for all three of my runs. The near-missed turn and miscalculated pace were probably due to my lack of sleep, but overall I felt I handled the challenges of the race pretty well.

From this point on to the finish we fought traffic, which was at least as challenging as the final running legs. Mike A barely got warmed up before it was time to take the baton from Mike D, we got a little bit of buffer for the next handoff, but then completely missed Jason’s finish because of traffic through Hampton. Luckily Jason’s wife and the other van were there!

We got a text saying he finished, and then finally got to the finish ourselves to congratulate everyone in person, get our medals, and share a few stories.

As I was talking to friends at church this morning, one of them asked what does one eat during a 28 hour race? Here’s what I ate:
breakfast (6am): Oatmeal with raisins and coffee
2nd breakfast (10am): wheaties fuel – free samples at orientation
(12noon ish) Lunch: Turkey and Provolone Sub with green peppers
(3:30pm) Pre-Run fuel-up: peanut butter and jelly sandwich
(6pm) Post-Run snack: minestrone and bread
(8:30pm) Tied me over snack: apple
(11pm) Dinner: Spaghetti and bread
(2:30am) pre-run fuel: Cliff bar peanut butter
(3:45am) mid-run snack: Power Gel vanilla
(5am) post-run snack: hot cider and a banana
(5:50am) “I’m still hungry” snack: Mojo bar mountain mix
(7:30am) “Make sure I recover” beverage: Ensure strawberry
(9:30am) breakfast: pancakes+ syrup and ham, hunk of bread, coffee
(11am) lunch: peach yogurt, cookies
(12:30pm) final fueling: trail mix and an orange
Throughout: Water and Gatorade
We packed a lot of snacks in the car but definitely appreciated the food provided by volunteers at several of the transition areas. Hot minestrone, pasta and pancakes hit the spot.

Our van definitely had a different dynamic than Van #1. Highlights for me were how considerate everyone was of one another, checking in to make sure we were fed, hydrated, cheered, encouraged, stretched, and generally in good shape for the next part of the adventure. We had excellent navigators and took turns driving. We shouted “NEEP!” to rally one another at the start/finish of the legs and when passing our runner in the van. I thought the legs were pretty well suited to each runner and everyone ran hard but within their own abilities. It was a really enjoyable ~30 hours with one another.

This weekend Susan and I competed in the Reach the Beach (RTB) relay. The 2010 course was 209 miles from Cannon Mt. to Hampton Beach over 36 legs. We ran as a 12 person relay team which means each runner ran 3 legs with a distance of 12.5 to 22.5 miles. Some legs are relatively flat and fast while others feature long multi-mile uphills and downhills. The terrain is varied enough that every runner gets a unique experience. If you’re interested in detailed information, the complete set of course maps and distances can be downloaded here.

Susan formed the team primarily with coworkers from her company. The other runners were spouses (me!) and some old friends. We ended up with a wide range of running speed (7:20 – 10:00 min/mi), experience (5 miles to ultramarathon), ages (28-40s), and sex (10M 2F). The result was a nice mix of personalities with old friends to catch up with and new friends to enjoy. This also meant there was also a set of legs that suited everybody pretty well. The end result was Team NEEP which had to compete in the Mens Open Division. We finished 173/430 teams, 58/118 in our division (top 50%!!!), and covered the 209+ miles in 28h 54m 04s for an 8:17/mi average pace.

Competing in a race like this requires a lot of logistics. We ended up borrowing a minivan from Brian Hone’s parents to contain runners 1-6 (Van 1). We then rented a Ford Flex to contain runners 7-12 (Van 2). Beforehand we made up first aid kits, bought water and gatorade, stocked up on various foods to snack on, etc. About 6:15am on Friday people started arriving at our house to leave their cars and load up the vans. The end result was 2 vans stuffed to the gills with 6 people, tents, sleeping bags, clothes, running gear, food, water, maps, course guides, etc… We ended up leaving about 15 minutes late but mostly intact.

When we arrived at Cannon Mountain 2.5 hours later we checked in, got our safety equipment certified (reflective vests, blinking lights, and headlamps for the overnight legs), sat through the orientation, got our race numbers, and got our team photo taken. This process took well over an hour in the light rain and fog that had descended on the ski area for the start of the race. The result was 2000+ cold and wet folks waiting around a muddy ski slope for their start time. Thankfully this was the worst part of the weekend. Once the race started and we got in the groove of things everyone dried out, warmed up, and had a lot of fun.

Runner 1 was Jamie who was easily our fastest runner. After he started at 11:40am we all raced to our vans. Van 1 headed to the next transition area while Van 2 had a 5 hour break before their runners were up. This was essentially the flow of the whole race — one van would drop a runner, see them start, and then immediately leave to drive to the next area while the other van was off for 4.5 hours and could sleep and/or eat. Since there was so much vehicle traffic (430 teams x 2 vans each) there was not a lot of time to dawdle.

I was runner #2 which meant I had to be ready to go as soon as Jamie finished. There was so much fog and rain we were required to wear our reflective gear so vehicles could see us. I suited up and waited in the runner transition area (cones on the side of the road) for Jamie to show up. Jamie ran a very fast pace (6:45/mi for his 8+ mile leg) and I grabbed the “baton” from him and took off. In reality the “baton” was a reflective wrist bracelet that could be handed to the next runner and easily snapped on.

My first leg was 8.96 miles, 279 feet of gain, and 132 feet of loss. The first 4 miles were mostly downhill followed by a 5 mile long moderate uphill. I was a bit worried about running too hard on the downhill and burning myself out for the uphill so I settled into a fast but easy pace and let the rain and fog roll by. After 1h 11m (7:55/mi) I rolled into the transition area and handed the baton off to Justin. The next leg was short so we had to hop in the van and get moving quickly. Despite my leg being my longest of the race it turned out to be the easiest. The hills were all moderate which meant the uphills didn’t take too much out of me.

I managed to dry off and change clothes in the car on leg 3 so I could drive the van for a while. I also knew I had approximately 9 hours before I’d have to run again so I got to just enjoy everyone else’s experience. The legs continued on and after our last runner (runner 6) was on the road we drove to meet the next van and prepare for our 4.5 hour off time. Our last runner came in at about 4:30pm and we loaded up the van and immediately drove to find a sit down dinner. Mmmmm chicken, black beans, and cheese in a tortilla wrap.

After dinner we sped ahead to transition area 12 where we would be meeting the next van and starting our 2nd set of legs. We got there in enough time that we had about 2 hours to kill. Most of us grabbed our sleeping pads and sleeping bags and sacked out in the soccer field at the school hosting the transition area. The sun had just set and there were a ton of stars out along with a gorgeous moon lighting up the surrounding mountains. I managed to sleep for about 30 minutes before some rude other team drove into the driveway with a speaker on top of its van blasting Barracuda by Heart. It wasn’t technically quiet time yet, but it’s crap like that that gets the race kicked out of certain towns forcing the organizers to re-route the race every several years. Plus, it’s just inconsiderate to the 4000 other runners who may not necessarily want to hear your music. Once awake I stayed warm in my sleeping bag and watched the night sky and rested my legs.

My 2nd leg went off about 10pm. This leg covered 7.79 miles but featured a very hilly 610 feet of gain and 563 feet of loss. This was very different than my first leg in that I started on 4.5 mile long uphill followed by a steep downhill, another steep uphill, and a long steep downhill into the finish. Moderate downhills are nice, but at a certain point downhills pose their own challenge as you try not to hurt yourself either going too fast or hurting yourself trying to slow down.

This leg was part of the transition from the mountains where we started to the hilly lakes region of NH. Every low area was marshy and very foggy. At times I could only see about 20 feet in front of me with my headlamps. At other points the fog lifted and I could see a long string of blinking red lights going up the long hill in front of me. I don’t run a lot at night so it was a very surreal experience. I really enjoyed this leg despite it being more challenging on my legs and required paying a lot of attention to not twisting my ankle in a pothole or falling off the shoulder of the road.

After my leg I took over driving until runner 6 finished again and we could think about sleep again. We finished about 2:30 am and immediately took off for Bear Brook State Park for sleep, food and ultimately transition area 24 and our final running legs. We arrived about 4am, found a flat spot in the trees upwind from the portajohns to lay out our sleeping bags. Despite the noise of the generator (running the lights in the makeshift kitchen and runners transition area), the banging of the portajohn doors, and other runners arriving in their vans we all were so exhausted we easily slept for 1.5 or 2 hours.

Once awake it was time to grab a quick breakfast (they had pancakes for sale although I just ate a bagel PB&J from our supplies), take care of any other biological needs, and get ready to run again!

My final leg started at 9:30 in the morning. The day was bright and sunny which was quite a contrast with the previous day’s fog run. This leg was only 5.12 miles but was very steep featuring 552 feet of uphill and 331 feet of descent. This was broken up into 2 long uphills (2.5 and 1 miles) and 1 long downhill (1.5 miles). I’m not sure whether it was the sun, the long steep hills, the lack of sleep, the previous days 17 miles, or some sick combo of all of these but this run was very hard for me. Since I knew this was my last leg for the race, I worked very hard on the last hill and managed to pass 6 or 7 people in just that mile. I ended up running a respectable 8:08/mi pace and was more than happy to be done for the day.

After van 1 finished our legs we were close enough to my house that we could drive there, get hot showers, and sit down food before heading to the finish line to meet Team NEEP’s last runner. Jason hit the beach about 4:30 pm on Saturday afternoon and Van 1 joined him to cross the finish line in one large group. We found Van 2 (who was stuck in traffic) and handed out our finishers medals and recounted some stories. To give you some idea how bad traffic was Jason ran the 4 miles from transition 35 to finish faster than the van could drive the same distance. I’m very glad van 1 managed to meet him so we could celebrate as a group.

When all was said and done I covered 21.87 miles in 2h55m (8:00/mi pace) with 1441 ft. up and 1026 ft down over 20 hours. Every leg was different and challenging/rewarding in its own way. There were hills, exhaustion, lack of food, lack of sleep, long legs to overcome but it all combined to form an unforgettable experience.

The other really fun part was the 27 hours I spent in a minivan with 5 other people. I didn’t talk a lot about what went on in the van because I’m not sure how well it would translate to paper. Let’s just say that 6 guys in a minivan all running hard and trying to meet their biological needs spawn a lot of interesting conversation (and smells). Everyone seemed to have a good time and despite not knowing everyone to start I think we had a good mix of personalities in the van so everyone could enjoy the event.

Thanks to everyone who put on RTB and all of my teammates who helped organize and pull off this event and make it fun!