TMR TNR

This week finally had the right combination of dry weather and me actually remembering to bring my camera to capture the brook crossing at the TMR TNR.




Since finishing Escarpment on Sunday my lungs had been feeling a little weak from all the heavy breathing of humid air, but they were fine tonight. I didn't do any of the sprint lines since this was supposed to be a recovery run but I did let the pace creep up (or is it down) getting slightly faster with each mile. After a little more than 5.5 miles Jeff and I ran 1.25 miles barefoot through the playing fields which always feels great.


time: 1:00:04
distance: 6.98 miles
pace: 8:37

weather: sunny, 80's, no humidity

conditions: very dry by Twin Brook standards

gear: Inov-8 Mudroc 280, wright socks, shorts, t-shirt

Escarpment Trail Race 2009

This is just a preliminary report here, hopefully I'll find the time to do this race justice and write a real race report.

Emma and Jim warned me not to run on Saturday before the race, but I attended our regular run at Bradbury anyway. I got in a nice, easy 5.5 miles. It wasn't the physical act of running that was a problem for my race preparation, it was the amount of time that it took and the fact that it lead me to do a half-assed job of packing for the 600 mile round trip to the Catskills in NY for Escarpment. Jim and I left Portland at 10am Saturday morning and it was only after driving for 5 hours and getting to Jim's friends house that I discovered I had forgotten to bring my glasses, I had not packed my Trail Monster singlet or any other shirt suitable for running in, and I did not bring the screw-on closure for my hydration pack bladder. This was not a good way to get me in the right frame of mind before a big race.

photo by Emmy Stocker

The trail conditions on the race course were very wet, incredibly muddy, and littered with slippery rocks. But after the spring and summer that we've had here in Maine I was soooo prepared for running in those conditions. What I wasn't prepared was the heat and humidity that left me feeling like I was functioning with only one lung, not good when you're trying to run up mountains.

elevation profile

Based on my training - months of mud running experience and a lot hills and mountains - I felt like I should have been able to complete this race in well under four hours. Nope. I suffered a lot and finished in 4:22.

time: 4:22:38
distance: 18.7 miles
pace: 14:02
place: 43/188 starters

weather: mid 70s - mid 80's, humid, mixed sun/clouds

conditions: wet, muddy, slippery

gear: Inov-8 Roclite 295, cycling socks, shorts, borrowed shirt, hat, Source hydration pack

Yeah, it's still muddy at Twin Brook

Apart from when the trails are completely frozen and covered in snow Twin Brook has been muddy for at least the past 2 years. That's just the way it is, and we're okay with that.

Four

Gnarls

gIANt

Joining Emma and I tonight were, James, Jim, Four, Erik and Nicole. Nice to see that people weren't put off by the rain. It was actually pretty good weather for running, and it's not like we weren't going to get wet anyway.

As is now the standard we did our 5.6 mile loop and then took off our shoes for about 12 minutes of barefoot running around the playing fields. We've been doing this for about a month now and I've been doing a little running in Vibram Five Fingers which is helping to both strengthen my feet and toughen up the skin on the bottom. I find that I'm not bothered so much by running on the short gravel stretches, the grass is much nicer though.

time: 1:00:22
distance: 6.93 miles
pace: 8:44

weather: low 70's, light rain

conditions: wet, muddy

gear: Inov-8 Mudroc 290, cycling socks, shorts, t-shirt, hat