Congrats to Inov-8 Team Members Paul Low and Aliza Lapierre for winning the Pittsfield Snowshoe Marathon this past weekend. Also Inov-8 Team Member Ben Nephew took home 2nd place in the half-marathon. Great showing guys and gals! (race report included by Paul below)
Pittsfield Snowshoe Marathon- March 8th, 2008Having spent most of my life in some of the more ‘weather challenged’parts of the world (central Michigan and Western New England), I am oftenasked (by people who do not know me very well) on ‘bad’ weather days, “are you going to run in this?” My response to this question, which I developed only recently, is that if I only ran in good weather, I wouldprobably only run a couple of times per year. Really, with the exception of maybe one perfect day in the spring and one perfect day in the fall, itis invariably too cold, hot, cool, warm, windy, rainy, dark, gloomy,sunny, snowy, icy, muddy, wet, dry to go running outside. Having said that, I am almost never in a situation where the weather actually changes my plans for a daily run. Sure, a foot of snow or icy roads/trails/tracks can result in a rescheduling of the occasional speed workout, but you still get out there and run nonetheless. Sometimes, however, the weather is so bad that, although, you went out and did that run/workout/race thatyou were going to do regardless of the conditions, most of what you remember about the day was the weather.If you were present at the 2008 Pittsfield Snowshoe Marathon or remember what it was like in Central Vermont on March 8th, 2008, it will be obvious why I choose to begin my discussion of this race with a comment about thegeneralities of weather from the perspective of an endurance athlete living in the north. It is difficult to describe the conditions on thisday without using the words ‘Noah’ and ‘ark.’ Allow me to start from the beginning. I met 24-hr specialist, Ray Z. at the park and ride in Northfield at six for the ride down to Pittsfield; it was overcast and had rained a little bit but the roads were clear and the drive went smoothly.Registration went smoothly and we got setup for the race with time tospare. Due to the logistics of the race site, runners had to be shuttled the short distance between the main parking area and the start/finish area. Getting everyone to the starting line took a little bit more time than expected and the race started a few minutes late as a result. Thiswas not a big deal- it was announced well in advance, and it was warm and dry so standing around and waiting was not really a problem. Before therace, I saw fellow INOV-8 runner, Ben N. who had registered that morning.Ben is a fantastically versatile athlete who has won the national trailmarathon championship (2006, I think), run the fastest 50km in the country(in 2003, I think) and turned in one of the few sub 58-minute performancesat the Merrimac River 10-mile trail race. I figured that he would besomeone to run with but he said, in no uncertain terms that, “if it starts raining, I am dropping at the half.” A few minutes later, I saw Leigh S. and I instantly knew that I would have my hands full for the day. Leigh has developed an outstanding C.V. since making the switch to ultrarunninga few years ago- earning a reputation as a ‘beast of the east’ for hisseeming inability to loose races near his specialty distance of 50 mileseast of the Mississippi. Bull Run Run, Pittsfield Peaks, VT-100, VT-50,he has won them all. He also ran strongly at this race last yearfinishing second in 4:15.So, the gun went off and I tried to settle in for 4+ hours of running.This was not easy at first because it was really easy to post-hole on the frozen snowmobile trail at the start and there seemed to be a number ofinexperienced snowshoers (I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt here) in the field that failed to realize that if you run right behind someone in snowshoes, they are going to trip. I went down twice in the first 200mand Leigh went down at least once. A Canadian half-marathoner bolted intothe lead and Leigh and I had moved into second and third by the time thatwe hit the single track. The course for 2008 was quite different from the2007 race- it was run entirely on Joe D.’s land and it was almost all singletrack. There was about one km of snowmobile trail at the beginning of each lap (marathoners ran four laps of 6.55 miles) and then there was another 800 m (maybe) of snowmobile trails heading down to the aidstation- other than that, there was just a few short bits of snowmobile trail that would link up the single track. There was also more elevationgain (and loss)- 1,700’ worth per lap. After the warm-up loop through the field, the climbing begins. I tucked in behind Leigh and just chilled outtrying to expend the least amount of energy possible for the early portionof the race. The two of us immediately started to pull away from the packbefore taking a wrong turn, quickly correcting ourselves, and rejoiningthe field- still in the lead (of the marathon) but without the gap. We continued to climb with a few short flat and downhill spots, on winding singletrack with small stream crossings, and low-hanging, ice-burdenedbranches. It was a very challenging climb but I was concentrating on foot placement the entire time so I did not really notice how steep is reallywas on the first lap. We finally hit the aid station just before one hour into the race and I was starting to get worried about the length of therace. If we were going to run anywhere close to two-hour laps, I wasgoing to be in trouble! After the aid station, the course climbed up abig hill but did so on an aggressively switch-backing trail so the grade was actually pretty mellow. The big problem here was that we werepost-holing pretty often (a few times per minute) and this can be a hugeenergy suck and a great way to produce lactic acid very quickly. Leighand I had also picked up an additional competitor. A man that neither ofus recognized had pulled up right behind and began running with us. I had already told Leigh that the runner in front of us was (according to theRD) running in the half (although I said that as his pace, we need not worry because if he was running the full he would be coming back anyway). Leigh asked if he was (hopefully) running the half and he said with a very thick accent that he was running the full. I had no idea what to expect from this guy because I do not really know anything about the endurance scene north of the border- and he did not appear to be working very hardto keep up with us.We finally hit the top of the climb and got to see the downhill. It was nice and fast with plenty of sliding and a few obstacles. Leigh up and stopped at a fallen tree (he is pretty tall) and I moved into the lead and led us down into the start/finish area. I ran to my bag, downed anespresso-flavored PowerGel and some water, ditched my stocking cap, and took off. I thought that I had been really fast at the aid station but Ilooked up and was 100m behind the mystery Canadian and 50m behind Leigh!I figured that I would try to catch them before the climb but without expending too much energy.When racing a guy like Leigh, I feel that I have a definite advantage up to about three hours; above five hours, the advantage is definitely his.In between, it probably comes down to 1. who has a better day and 2. how much time we are out on the course. Our first lap had been 1:19 and so Iwas really hoping that the footfalls of almost 200 snowshoers had beaten the course into something significantly faster for the remaining three laps. I was not disappointed. The trail conditions were much faster forthe second lap. I would have preferred to run with some company at thispoint but I was pulling away without working very hard so I decided tojust run my own race from there on in and hope for the best. The second lap was really fun. The course that Jason H. designed was fantastic-steep but runnable ups with steep but safe downhills. After the aidstation, I started lapping a lot of runners and probably ran a little bittoo fast during this section. Almost everyone moved over to let me by andit is difficult not to speed up when this happens since I want to get themback on the trail and moving as soon as possible after stopping to let memove as fast as I can through traffic. Somewhere near the top of thesecond lap, I noticed that is was raining (there was dripping water on the first lap but this was from melting ice in the trees). At least it wasnot a hard rain…The downhill end to the second lap went well and I hit the half-way markin 2:26 after a 1:07 second lap. I quickly grabbed another espresso PowerGel and water, put on my stocking cap, and headed out for the secondhalf of the race. I was happy about running a faster second lap and felt confident that I would be going under five hours but then I remembered that 2:26 is my exact marathon PR and that was the half-way spilt for today’s race- I tried not to think about that any more. The third lap was pretty uneventful. The trail conditions were very similar to those that Ihad encountered on the second lap and there were far fewer runners outthere so there was less “comin’ thru” and such. The big differences werethat I was starting to feel the rain and I was starting to feel slightly fatigued. I certainly had fun on the third lap but I remember thinking on that final climb that I would have liked to have felt like that on thefourth lap instead of on the third (if that makes any sense). I hit the end of my third lap in 3:29. Once again, I grabbed an espressoPowerGel and headed out for the final lap this time. I was pleased withmy 1:02 third lap but 3:29 represented another ominous milestone- 3.5 hours is the longest that I really ever run in training- so, everything from here on in would be ‘extra.’ When I started up the hill for thefourth time, I immediately started to feel bad. I had very low powercoming from my legs, my calves were beginning to tighten up, I wasstarting to lose the feeling in my feet and hands, and I was getting lightheaded and nauseous. To add to my exertion-related discomfort, this iswhen the rain really started to come down.The initial climb on the fourth loop seemed to take an eternity. I wasworried about a repeat of my race here last year when I blew up really badly toward the end. Last year, my melt down was timed really well. I went from feeling great at the bottom of the final (and very steep butvery short) climb that day to being rendered almost incapable of running within a space of about a minute. It was so bad that my vision was going grey! Fortunately, this happened with only a little bit of climbing leftand then I could sail down the hill and onto the finish. My big worrythis year was that something like this would happen earlier in the raceand I would have to walk it in from much farther out. I was also worriedbecause I know the kind of athlete that Leigh is and if I fell back toomuch, he would be there to come in and take the win.I told myself that if I could get to the top of the hill leading to theaid station that I would be able to finish well. I hit the long (800m?) downhill and cruised into the station and grabbed some water and drinkbefore heading up the final climb. The switchbacks were not too bad (norwere they all that much fun). I was just waiting for the dark section of spruce forest that would signal that I was close to the end of the climb.By this point, I was looking at my watch every few minutes. I saw 4:30 goby so I knew that I was slowing down on the final lap- I had no idea byhow much and I also had no idea what was going on behind me. I came outof the spruce forest and knew that I only had a few minutes before thefinal descent. I also knew that if I was in the lead at the top of the hill that I would be able to win the race. I have been running straightdown the face of Paine Mountain (an old ski hill) several times thiswinter and I have a lot of confidence in my ability to manage treacherousdownhills rather quickly on snowshoes. I hit the top of the hill andheaded down toward the finish to find a lot more water. It was not too bad but it had certainly changed since my third trip. The water bars were huge, there were extended portions of ankle-deep slush, and the muddy sections were much longer. I was happy that it was my final trip down andI enjoyed it nonetheless; in fact, it was the only part of the final lapthat I enjoyed at all.I finished in 4:38 meaning that my final lap was 1:09- my second slowest but much, much faster than I thought it would be. Someone took my bibtag, another handed me my finisher’s award (a very nice personalized framing hammer) and I headed inside with all of my wet gear. I changedinto the driest clothes that I could find and then proceeded to standabout six feet from a propane jet heater for the next 30-40 minutes getting warm and drying my clothes. Seriously, it took me 30 minutes infront of a propane heater to warm up! Aftermath: Race staff and volunteers, of course, deserve a hearty thank for their service at any event- without them these events would notfunction (or exist). The staff and volunteers at the Pittsfield SnowshoeMarathon, however, require additional comment. The weather conditions outthere on Saturday were perfect- for curling up by the fire and reading abook. They were awful for running outside and much, much worse for being outside while not running. My sincere thanks to everyone who was outthere at the aid station, the start/finish area and out on the course- I hope that they all have access to some combination of fire, sauna, hottub, hard liquor to warm them following their awesome service to the snowshoers today. I also hope that they take comfort in the fact that, itwas really only raining hard for the final eight hours of the event ;)Special thanks to Andy W. for directing, Jason H. for designing a fun and challenging course, and Joe D. for allowing us to use Riverside Farms and for his work related to transforming Pittsfield into an endurance racing destination.
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