Ginkwunk Log

Events: Stone Cat 50 Mile Trail Race November 6, 2010 Middlesex Fells Trail Race December 4, 2010 AMC Mountaineering Committee Ice Program Winter 2011 AMC Mountaineering Committee Rock Program Spring 2011 Pictures: Album Running Data: 2010 2009 2008

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 An Idea so Bad It's Brilliant Last month I floated the idea of training for the hardest midnight stretch of the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run by undertaking an all-night speed hike in the Middlesex Fells. Last night, in the rain, from 8pm to 5am kZ and I were in the Fells covering ground on the Skyline Trail at a swift walk. The weather forecast was for showers turning to thunderstorms and a low of 50 degrees. Kevin and I conferred one last time about canceling: 'It could suck, or it could be great training for Vermont.' 'It'll probably be both. Let's do it.' I drank a triple espresso with a bit of coconut milk; packed the trunk with a homemade sports drink including electrolytes and maltodextrine, a change of clothes and shoes, a hydration pack with a minimal first aid kit (with a hypothermia focus); and headed out to pick up Kevin at the Oak Grove T station. He arrived with two large bags looking like he had packed for a week in Europe. He assured me that it was mostly liquid. Kevin awes me with his preparation. I have a recent tentative offer from Trail Pixie Emily to pace me the last 11 miles at Vermont, but as for gear supply, I was planning to just bring drop bags to leave at the aid stations; Kevin has a handler and pacer. Perhaps I should try to recruit a crew. Perhaps I just have crew envy. Since the Fells formally close at dusk, and we did not want to attract police attention, we parked on a residential street convenient to a trailhead. We were on the Skyline Trail by 8 pm, about a half hour before sunset. While we still had dim sunlight, we ran some of the first three miles, but as night descended and the headlamps and flashlights came on, it was necessary to slow to a vigorous walk. Since we had switched form the planned Reservoir Trail to the more challenging Skyline Trail, we dropped the aim of maintaining the 14:40 pace that would result in a 24-hour finish at Vermont. Skyline is brutal in the daytime. At night it's a real adventure. At night in the rain it verges on dangerous. Within 30 minutes my shoes were soaked. It became painfully obvious on the first loop that my headlamp and flashlight were totally inadequate, and Kevin led essentially all of this part (15 miles). Although we stumbled around a lot, we mercifully never fell. I did tear a nice slice of skin off my right shin on a tree branch. We chatted amiably for most of the first loop, but descended into silence on the second. Kevin, who had run a 50-mile race in each of the last two weekends, needed to rest a sore ankle after the second loop, and took a nap in the passenger seat of our car, while I set off alone on the third loop at about 2 am carrying his flashlight. About three miles into this loop the rain began to come down heavily, and I was drenched again, but there was still no sign of lightning as I climbed up to Wright Tower. The sights and sounds that had been cheerful landmarks: a boulder or stump in the trail and frogs calling to would-be mates began to feel more ominous. Alone and exhausted I was unable to correctly identify the frogs, and began to think I was being followed by a strange old man, before long I was thinking about the Blair Witch Project. Fortunately I had seen enough of Steve Latour's late night trail ultra videos to be able to diagnose my own fatigue. I cheered myself at the thought that I would be able to take off my shoes and let my feet dry out in just three miles. I ran the last nearly flat section to the trailhead and pulled up to the car at around 5 as the birds sang the dawn chorus. Kevin and I talked for a while before I drove him home. I expect he would have gone out for another loop. We left the Fells knowing we could run and walk through the night given Vermont's more reasonable footing and do it with joy. [/streph] permanent link