Grills Trail Race 2024

 

Westerly, RI

Saturday, October 26, 2024

4th annual Grills Trail Race!  The race started small in 2021 with 53 finishers, and has held steady with higher numbers these past three years with 89, 77, and 88 finishers.

Between a long line at the bathroom and a Race Director that got started a bit too late on race announcements (note to self for next year), the race got started four minutes late.  Liam Hillery and Robin Hewson have been winning recent WTAC trail races, and both took off well ahead of the rest of the pack.  Adrian Massie was also right there in the mix, but unbeknownst to me, he was running the 10K today (he had another race the following day).  I followed them and Nick Alge, and was running alongside Matt Sweeney.  Sometime before the course split Ben Q flew by me, and I went just ahead of Nick before entering the Polly Coon bridge for the 4-mile Hopkinton section.  Running up the hills on the Tomaquag Trail, someone was right on my shoulder and I couldn't shake them.  I thought it might be Matt.  Fortunately, on the downhill technical section, I was able to shake whoever it was.  After crossing the Tomaquag Brook bridge and entering the woods again, I was able to glance back at a hard left turn.  Bright orange shirt, but it was neither Matt nor Nick.  (It turned out to be a young guy from MA named Lucas who unfortunately had a medical issue just before the finish line.)

And we're off

The rest of loop was pretty uneventful.  I never saw anyone behind me nor ahead of me for the rest of the loop.  Re-crossing the Polly Coon bridge back into Westerly, Dave Goodrich, who was serving as course marshal, gave me encouragement.  I passed through the water stop (Mile 5) and saw a woman on the ground grabbing her ankle.  I asked if she was OK, and she indicated she was (rolled ankle) and I sauntered on.

Ran the fun yellow trail along the river, and coming back for the first climb up Big Hill, I started passing a few back-of-the-packers from the 10K event.  Descending back down, I was looking forward to the race-track section because that is where you see the competition immediately ahead of behind you.  I was frankly shocked as I saw no one when I entered the race track trail.  Making my way around the race track itself, I saw Nick on the opposite side.  Uh oh.  Running back on the race track itself now, I saw Matt and Sandy Spitler, but both were a way behind me.  It was Nick I was worried about.

Powered my way up the final (and harder) ascent of Big Hill, running afraid that Nick would catch me.  Passed quite a few more 10K'ers in the final two miles, making my way as quickly as possible around them (many were so polite they pulled off the trail for me) and onward.

Final result:  1:13:45, 4th overall, 1st in age group.  Full results here.

Ended up finishing just over a minute ahead of Nick.  He said I sped up in the last few miles, but it could be that he slowed.  Or maybe a little of both?  Ben Q was a full seven minutes ahead of me, and Robin and Liam (who finished in that order separated by just two seconds!) finished almost ten minutes ahead of me.  Yeah, that might be way I didn't see them on the race track lollipop!

Plenty of food this year, including Jersey Mike's subs

and several different varieties of pizza from
A Mano pizza truck of Newport

Anyway, another really fun low-key Grills race in the books.  So many compliments received, including these few gems that I pulled from Strava:

• Beautiful course!
• Big hill was indeed a big hill. Apple cider after a run tastes fantastic.
• Perfect New England day to run in the woods! Great race, great people! 
• Perfect morning for this race. Ran better than last year. 3rd in AG. Thanks to Jeff, Jana, CJ, Kim, Fran, Heather and all the other WTAC volunteers for putting this race on. Great day! 
• Beautiful day and a really nice course to boot. Complimentary pizza and subs was amazing.

Block Island Half Marathon

New Shoreham, RI

Sunday, October 13, 2024

I was looking for a fall tune-up half marathon about a month out from Indianapolis Marathon on November 9.  It came down to Hartford Half and Block Island Half.  Clearly Hartford is flatter, faster, more established, certified, all the bells and whistles, etc.  But it comes with a higher price tag (even after factoring in the ferry price to BI) and I was feeling spurned by the HMF RD not getting back to me after promising to respond to me on whether I could run in and compete for the M60+ course record for "New England Finest".  I was very clear with him that I was not looking for a free ride of any sort, but rather just the opportunity to compete for the M60 course record.  He said he would think about it and get back to me, but never did.  Frustrating.

So I went with the charm of the Block Island Half.  It is a low-key half with very scenic backdrops, not to mention a friendly and responsive RD, Dave Sniffen of New Shoreham Recreation.  It is hilly, but this wasn't a goal race for me, so let's do it!

Race day:  With an 11:30am race start, I took the 9am ferry out of Narragansett, arriving on Block Island at 10am.  There were quite a few half marathoners on the ferry, and the two separate women sitting next to me engaged me in running conversation, which helped the time fly by.  Upon arriving on the island, my first time in two years, my first stop was WTAC Li'l Rhody long-time sponsor Block Island Sports Shop.  I had a good time catching up with owner Jim Ortel and his wife Marion, before heading out to the race start.

Picked up a sweet running hat
from Block Island Sports Shop
while I was there

First half:  After the short run to the Town Beach, check-in, change into race gear, and a few strides, I was ready to go, with plenty of spare time.  I actually had a childhood friend from SK (I lived in Indian Lake Shores, South Kingstown until I was age 12) recognize me and come up to chat and ask how my Mom was doing, which was pretty cool!

Debut of my New Balance New York City Marathon Elite V3.
Loved them!

The first six miles were an OAB on Corn Neck Road, north to the North Lighthouse.  At the start, a 24-year old blasted out and was gone.  I went out in 2nd place, but was passed by a 28-year old less than a half-mile in.  The weather was a warm 58°F at start, but there was a 15mph wind.  It was more of a cross-wind on the 6-mile north/south OAB, but would certainly be a factor later in the race.

Start of the 2024 Block Island Half Marathon
(Block Island Times)

Roads were open to traffic, but these are really quiet country roads, especially in the off-season.  I followed the guy in 2nd place (Sam) out to the turnaround, and he was in my sight the whole way out, although increasing the gap.

In the third mile coming into the turnaround, there was a 100' drop, not terribly steep, but greater than a 5% grade.  This would be my fastest mile in the whole race at 5:59.  I am not a fan of cone turnarounds, but at least this was at only three miles in, and now I could see my competition coming back at me.  Not to be complacent, but the 4th place runner was quite a way behind me already.

It was kind of fun to watch the runners coming at me, and the miles passed quickly until I was back at the start / finish / halfway point.  Just within sight of that point, an older spectator on my left evidently noticed I'm not a young chicken myself and as I passed by him as I was in 3rd place overall, he called out "Old Guys Rock!".  I loved it!

Splits were all over the place in the first half, ranging from 5:59 (downhill) to 6:38 (uphill).

Second half:  We turned off Corn Neck Road at sea level, and began a winding circuitous loop inland through the southern half of the island.  For a small island island race (126 finishers) in the off-season, there were more spectators than I had expected, but they certainly trailed off in the more remote second half of the race.

I brought and took one gel early in the second half.  The second half loop is the same as the Block Island Triathlon bike loop, except we run counter-clockwise, the opposite direction of the bike course.  I had done the triathlon enough times that the scenery looked familiar in places and I knew roughly what was coming next in terms of turns and hills.  I was in no-man's land for the entire second half, as I never saw another runner.

I had been running the last few miles at about 6:20 pace, but about Mile 10 it was time to face the music as we made a 90° turn to head uphill into the wind.  The 100' climb was pretty brutal into the strong headwind.  As I passed a couple (not in the race) walking their bikes up the hill, there was a slight temptation to just walk like them.  Mile 11 was my slowest mile of the day at 6:58.

As we rounded the corner heading towards the Block Island Airport, the wind had a lesser impact as we changed direction and I knew that pretty much the final two miles of the course would be downhill.  Just after the airport, still headed downhill, I saw my childhood friend (Susan) again, who was out on a bike now cheering on her daughter running.  She called out my name, and said something to the effect that I was flying, which certainly made me feel good.  The final mile just flew by (Mile 12 6:09, Mile 13 6:11), and I turned the final left back onto Corn Neck Road for a short sprint to the finish.

Final result:  1:23:40 (6:23 pace).  3rd overall of 126.  Full results here.

The Block Island Times photographer asked us top 3 finishers to gather
for a quick photo, and we did quickly catch up on the race

I went over to thank the RD for putting on the race, 
and explained I needed to leave early
(He asked me to stay for just a moment while
he got me my medal)

And a pretty nice award shirt in a blend material

Just a short visit to "the Block" today
as I took the 30-minute high speed ferry back,
but had a very enjoyable time and I'll be back to race for certain.
Hopefully in 2025.
(Reminds me to get going on my 2025 race schedule)

September 2024

Running stats:

Miles run:  333.9

Elevation gain:  19,883'

Weekly miles (for weeks ended in month):  70, 59, 71, 81, 80

Elevation reverted back to normal.
Mileage, on the other hand, ramped up to highest month in
past 12 months, as part of fall marathon training block.

Primary running surfaces:  Roads (155), trails (147 miles)  Fairly evenly split.

Primary running locations:  Westerly (68 miles), Charlestown (58), then Exeter (31) 

Other disciplines:

• Walk / hike:  18 miles

Quick synopsis:

• Three long runs.
• Four races.
• Four states:  RI, CT, CA, OR!

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Interesting runs:

• Workout Wednesday, South Kingstown, September 4.  18 miles, with 10 of them at MP.  Didn't really hit the paces I wanted (6:20s) as was about ten seconds off each.  
• On Top of my Game, Westerly, September 12.  20 miles, averaging 6:55 pace.  Felt great on this marathon training run.
• Tour de Burlingame, Charlestown, September 18.  Fun 16-miler with Brady, with the usual pond dip.
• Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, September 22.  16 miles of trails with Matthew in very different landscape.  Write-up here.

  

  One of many burned sections in the park.

  
  
• Struggle, Stonington, CT, September 28.  The title says it all.  I broke this up to do the back half with the KP Saturday morning run, and I thought that would make it easier, but just had a tough time.   Glad to get this done at least.

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Races:

New Haven 20K (September 2):

New Haven, CT

After two consecutive years of wilting in the heat on this USATF-CT championship held annually on Labor Day, the weather swung in my favor and paid dividends for me!  Ran with Jared for the first nine miles before heading off on my own en route to a PR and an age group win!

Halfway through race, with Jared on my left
(Photo by Jana)

Race report here

Stavros Memorial Beach Run (September 9):

Westerly, RI

I know I say this repeatedly, but truly one of my favorite races every year!  This year was extra special as I lagging the leader (this year's top Westerly High School runner) for two miles, but I went ahead and won the race outright!  At age 60!

Race report here

IGT Downtown 5K (September 15):

Providence, RI

Ran this as part of the nascent RI Grand Prix.  In what would be my second and final road 5K of the year, I ran well in Mile 1 and Mile 2 and was hoping for something in the 17:40s (I ran 17:45 at ShamRock & Roll 5K in March), but couldn't hold the pace and was disappointed with an 18:02 finish.  Still won my age group, and still hoping I'll get a sub-18 road 5K in my 60s.  Time will tell.

Race report here

Three Sisters Skyline Half (September 21):

Sisters, OR

Ran this as part of my September California/Oregon trip.  Fun but not very challenging net downhill course in Deschutes National Forest.  Banged up my knee pretty badly on a collision with a giant Douglas fir tree, but got up, got going, and still finished 9th overall as first master.

Race provided photo

Race report here

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Miscellaneous:

Surprised and thrilled with this award and honor!

It was a good summer for cucumbers in the garden.
Unfortunately, terrible for tomatoes for some reason.

Love seeing white-tailed deer in the neighborhood.
Never gets old.  (Except when they eat my plants.)

New super shoes.  Ready to rock at Indianapolis.

Brady at Tippecansett

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Looking ahead to October:

Three goal races on the docket:

• Ocean Road 10K Road Race, Narragansett, October 6.  My first time; final race in RI Grand Prix series.
• Block Island Half Marathon, New Shoreham, RI, October 13.  Tune up for Indy.
• Grills 10-Mile Trail Race, Westerly, RI, October 26.  Love this low-key trail race!

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Monthly highlight: 

Being named the New England Runner / Marathon Sports Athlete of the Month.

Monthly lowlight: 

Disappointment of not breaking 18 at the IGT Downtown 5K.

California / Oregon Trip September 2024

California / Oregon Trip
Thursday, September 19 – Monday, September 23, 2024
 
Thursday, September 19

Uneventful flight to Sacramento, with a brief connection in Charlotte.  Arrived Sacramento airport just after Noon, and was picked up by Matthew to continue the journey north from there, as he had driven up from Los Angeles that morning.
 
Run:  Chico, CA, 10 miles trail.  We would break up our drive with a run in Chico, with the unfortunate realization that it was going to be a hot one.  Like 87°F hot.  Parked at Bidwell Park, where upon getting out of the car we saw probably 30-40 high schoolers out on a group run.  Likely the local cross country team practicing.  We wore packs filled with water and Gatorade we had just bought, and that move turned out to be prescient in the heat and very low humidity of about 30%.
 
I really struggled the first few miles, as despite being at the tail end of summer, these just weren’t conditions I was acclimated to.  Although it was only ten miles, I can’t imagine if we hadn’t brought hydration packs.

Neat views in a very different environment than New England!
Non-technical trails, but HOT.

Most of the upper part of the park’s trails were closed due to wildfire damage. I didn’t know it at the time, but wildfire damage would be a recurring reality on this trip.  About halfway through the run I became aware that my butt and backside were just soaked.  That seemed odd given the low humidity and also that my front side was dry.  Hmmm.  Stopped and examined my pack and found that the bladder had sprung a leak.  Not good, especially as I planned to use it in Saturday’s race.
 
Accommodations:  Hampton Inn, Red Bluff, CA.  Comfortable, clean, decent breakfast with fresh fruit.
 

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Friday, September 20

Broke up our 5-hour drive to Bend, Oregon, with a stop for a run about halfway.
 
Run:  Klamath Falls, OR, 7 miles road/trail mix.  Starting from a city park, Matthew had mapped out a nice loop that was both quiet and scenic.

Nice view of Upper Klamath Lake along the run

Accommodations:  Days Inn, Bend, OR.  Just awful.  My cheap Scottish blood booked the $99 option instead of a decent hotel which were running about double that, but the old adage “You get what you pay for” rang true.  Outdated motel with outdated rooms, sketchy characters in the parking lot who were quite loud, very old showers that weren’t the cleanest, and pre-packaged items for breakfast which we bypassed and went out to buy real food.
 

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Saturday, September 21
Race day!  About a half hour drive to Village Green City Park in Sisters.  This would be both the finish line and where we picked up our bibs and boarded the shuttle to the start.

Nice selection of bagels at Big O Bagels in Bend,
 on the way to the race!

 
Race:  After two miles of warm-up (one at finish line to check out the race finish, and one at start line), we were ready to go.  Unlike at my race the previous weekend (IGT Downtown 5K, Providence) there would be no Thunderstruck or any motivating music to start the race, but instead one of my least favorite genres, hip-hop.  Not sure why, but the race started a full three minutes early, and fortunately Matthew had returned from his strides.

School bus to take us from the race finish
to the race start

Pretty nice view from the race start!
Pretty much the best view was before the race even
started.

This was a very dog friendly race!  In fact, the guy leading the pack out was running with his dog.  As someone who likes to run with Brady, I found that very cool.  We were on a dirt road for the first ¾ mile, and as Matthew had counseled me, I should try to get ahead of potentially slower runners before the turn onto single-track.  A number of runners blasted ahead of me at the start.  I feel this happens often, and while I think it’s largely runners who pace poorly, I’m not entirely convinced and wonder if I need to get better at race starts. 

Start of the race.  Matthew 2nd from left, me 4th from left, just behind the giant.

I was also feeling a little awkward at the start, as this was my first time racing with two soft flasks instead of a bladder.  (Note:  the REI in Bend did not have a Nathan replacement bladder despite carrying Nathan packs, but I was able to pick up an additional soft flask.)  There is a marked difference between the two scenarios, as the weight was on my front this time instead of my back.  That sensation would go away after a while, but it did add angst to my start.
 
I end up passing about five runners on the road, but once I turned onto the single-track, I wasn’t surprised to find that there is still a bottleneck for me.  With a repeated call out of “On your left!”, I passed another five runners over the course of the next mile.   At just two miles in, we are one of the few climbs on the course when a runner comes right up on my shoulder breathing pretty hard (harder than me).  I thought he would go past me, but once the course turned downhill I didn’t hear his breathing anymore and at the next switchback, I saw I had opened up quite a gap on him.

Several miles into the race
(Free race from race photographer)

This picture not as clear with shadows

It’s really pretty pine forests that we’re running through, but the view never got better than what we saw from the start line.  About five miles in we did have some views to the left and I quickly snapped a couple of pics while running before folding and returning my phone to a front pocket in my vest.  I was running as an island until about Mile 7 when I spied a woman running in front of me.  I was very gradually gaining on her when she stopped at the only aid station at Mile 8 and I went past her.

About five miles into the course

Crash!  I’m not entirely sure what precipitated this as it all happened so fast, but I stumbled over something in the trail.  A rock?  A root?  Nothing but a mirage or my imagination?  I struggled to recover my gait but failed as I crashed into the trunk of a large pine tree on the side of the trail.  Ouch, that hurt!  I found myself lying on the trail and coughing in the cloud of dust that I kicked up in my wipeout.  I looked around and saw two runners approaching me now.  I got up and shook it off just as the first runner reached me and asked if I was OK, to which of course I responded that I’m fine.  I was in fact, although my right knee really hurt (pine tree trunks aren’t very forgiving) and noticed that my fingers were also bleeding.

This ugly injury actually got worse before
it got better.
This took over 2 weeks to fully heal.

I continued with the runners in tow, trying to pick it up slightly as my watch beeped to indicate 9 miles.  Being hunted was the impetus I needed to not be complacent, as I hadn’t been passed in the race yet (except in first 50 meters) and I didn’t want to be passed now in the final quarter of the race.
 
Several mountain bikes were on the trail in this section, and all but one pulled completely off the trail while offering encouragement.  One stopped partly in the trail and partly off, so good intentions I guess, but still a little awkward for me to maneuver around as I’m racing downhill on tired legs now.  Crashing into a pine tree trunk was bad enough; I really don’t want to crash into a mountain bike.
 
Finish:  Every mile indicator beep on my watch is music to my ears, as I’m tired and just want to finish.  With about a mile to go, I see one runner ahead of me and don’t know whether the two runners behind me are in close proximity or not.  Eventually I see the place that Matthew and I turned around in our 1-mile warm-up, so I know I only have a half-mile to go.  I’m unable to catch the runner in front of me, but at least I succeed in holding off those chasing me.
 
Final result: 1:31:48, 9th of 269, 1st master.  Full results here.

Really nice bib!  This one is a keeper.

Finish line.

Finisher "medal".  (It's wood actually.)

 
Crater Lake hike:  I’ve repeated this many times before (that’s what old people do, after all!), but Chris Garvin once remarked to the effect of, “I guess Walker vacations are not for relaxing!”.  No, they’re not!  They’re about maximizing what you can see and do.  So after a two drive to this famous national park, which all four of us had previously visited and hiked in eleven years ago, we went on a 4-mile OAB hike to the summit of Mount Scott at 8,934’.  OK, now my legs are totally cooked, and the drive to the next hotel seems long and late before we arrive at 10pm, but is mercifully punctuated by dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

View of Crater Lake from Mount Scott

 
Accommodations:  Red Lion, Redding, CA.  The only nice thing I can say is that it was better and cleaner than the Days Inn.  That’s not exactly much of a litmus test.  Chalk up this poor decision to be cheap to my Scottish blood.  Again.  The included breakfast was so bad and worsened by the breakfast host’s condescending attitude with us that we walked out and sought breakfast elsewhere.  Lesson learned, Jeff?  Time will tell.

 

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Sunday, September 22
This was supposed to be a day that we had a lot of free time and got to the next hotel early.  But that presumed a relatively early wake-up, breakfast, and departure, which never happened.  Part of that was due to the breakfast debacle just mentioned and the extra time to Einstein Brothers Bagels for “real food”, part of that was due to just being so tired from yesterday’s activities and sleeping in, and part was due to just lollygagging thinking we had all the time in the world
 
Run:  Lassen Volcanic National Park, 16 miles.  So what should one run the day after racing a half-marathon in the mountains (albeit net downhill) followed by a hike at altitude?  Maybe a short and easy recovery run at lower elevation?  Nah.  Do I need to repeat the Chris Garvin quote?  We were already down to an elevation of about 500' at the hotel, but what’s the fun in that?!  We drove about an hour east to Lassen Volcanic National Park, and then the fun began.
 
Disclaimer:  Up until a couple of years ago, I had never heard of Lassen Volcanic National Park, and I suspect I have good company there with many (or most?) of my fellow Americans.
 
We filled our packs, or more accurately, our soft flasks, with water and Gatorade and were off.  Inside my pack I carried my cell phone (no service, but for photos), my Solomon XA filter (for replenishing water from lakes and rivers), trail mix, two Honey Stinger waffles, and three gels.
 
Two posted signs struck me right at the start:

We never saw a mountain lion (thankfully!), but we saw so many hundreds of acres (thousands?) of burned areas.
 
The scenery and environment was nothing I had ever encountered before and it was captivating to me.  I trailed Matthew by quite a bit but was thoroughly enjoying the environment and my run, and he was gracious enough to wait up for me every couple miles or so and not ditch the old man.   I can only guess that many hikers turn around 2.7 miles in at Big Bear Lake, as after that, the trail was overgrown until we reached the Pacific Crest Trail when it became much more established and clear.

Early on in the run through one of many burned sections

Dip in Lower Twin Lake

Intersection with the famous Pacific Crest Trail

At about the halfway mark, I was getting tired.  We had reached Lower Twin Lake, where I took off my socks and shoes and waded into the cold water.  That was all I had planned until Matthew one-upped me by going fully in.  Took a run and dive in.  That was sure "refreshing"!  Had another GU gel and ate a bunch of trail mix before continuing on.  Truth be told, I'm already getting tired.

Fortunately, I brought my Salomon XA filter flask,
so we were able to fill our water supply safely from ponds
and streams along the way

A good run in a great place.  For this national park that until recently I had never even heard of, there was so much more that we never even had time to check out.  Sometimes the lesser known spots truly have so much to offer.

Towards the end of our run.
This was actually pretty easy to cross.

Not all of the park was burned!

Accommodations:  Hilton Garden Inn, Folsom, CA.  Nice accommodations, clean outdoor swimming pool (probably my last outdoor dip of the year), good breakfast buffet.

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Monday, September 23

Just had a few hours here before flying back to the East Coast.

Run:  Folsom, CA, 8 miles bike path.  Mostly paved bike path, with a little bit of manicured gravel path mixed in.

Nice paths

Interesting view and shadows along the trail on the American River

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Trip highlight:  Running in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Trip lowlight:  Stay at a sketchy Days Inn in Bend, Oregon.