Better late than never, here are some pics from Miss Bethany's sprint tri two weeks ago. Unfortunately she missed signing up for the Cranberry Olympic distance, so she had to sign up for the Sprint distance instead. She's more a fan of the longer distances.
Miss Bethany coming out of the water.
Miss Bethany cruising along on her 'Pinkie.' (She's in the process of getting a pink helmet.)
She also had a great run (sub 7:00 min/miles), and she was too quick for me, so I couldn't get a pic of her! She ended up finishing well in 6th out of 36 in her age group, not bad considering we've been primarily focusing on running this summer and her tris have taken a backseat.
Now this weekend, I took on a new challenge and ran the Wapack Trail Race with a couple trail running buddies. Knowing how technical this trail race was, Miss Bethany decided to sit this one out. This race was UNREAL. It starts in New Ipswich, NH and runs 9 miles up, over, and down four mountains (Barrett Mt., New Ipswich Mt., Pratt Mt., and Mt. Watatic), and when you get over and down Mt. Watatic, you turn around and go back the way you came, for a total of 18 miles and 8 mountain ascents and descents. Some of these ascents/descents are like 40% grade. It's one of those trail races where your feet just take an absolute beating, and ankles get rolled, and people hit the deck all over the place. I rolled my ankles about 100 times each, and probably had about a dozen close calls where I almost tumbled down a mountain, but I managed to avoid totally hitting the deck. It's a brutal race, but it is just so much fun.
Coming into the finish line, back on normal terrain, still feeling good. Total time: 4:44, 18 miles, 8 mountains, 4000' of ascent, 4000' of descent.
The gang of trail animals after the race. What a good group, what a good day! These are some serious trail runners.
Here are some photos/elevation map of the race course:
(photo from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggz1qXYvuGNZf7o88e9u9-LXt_vDIYSzv9AAYTmwwbU30-FeG6YoGvAG3Rj36mVEkp8672eg5AqvAWWjS2_PoVOyZ_ajvsxtGPnmytLLxmcOa3-gIMWsiAWHHFcb0kqEyqBQaIs_GVcmo/s1600/IMG_1234.JPG)
NOTE: I've been kindly informed that our race on Sunday did not reach this point of the Wapack Trail. (All I tried to do was a quick GoogleImage search for a pic of the trail to give you guys an idea of what it was like, and I guess I failed - it all looks the same to me: roots, rocks, mountains, trees, etc.) Hopefully I WILL be able to run this part of the trail during next year's spring Wapack race which goes the length of the 21.5 mile trail. (Although Miss Bethany might have other plans for me, as the race is two weeks before our wedding.)
NOTE: I've been kindly informed that our race on Sunday did not reach this point of the Wapack Trail. (All I tried to do was a quick GoogleImage search for a pic of the trail to give you guys an idea of what it was like, and I guess I failed - it all looks the same to me: roots, rocks, mountains, trees, etc.) Hopefully I WILL be able to run this part of the trail during next year's spring Wapack race which goes the length of the 21.5 mile trail. (Although Miss Bethany might have other plans for me, as the race is two weeks before our wedding.)
(photo from http://www.wapack.org/)
Elevation chart. Ouch.
18 comments:
Cool report, and awesome being 6/36!
As someone who has NEVER done a trail race, I just may have nightmares about that elevation chart tonight.
I ran the Wapack race in 2009. Toughest race ever. Crazy elevation particularly at the turn around! There is a 21 miler Wapack race that is supposed to be even harder. COngrats!
Good job on the report! :)
That trail race looks amazing! :)
Great races for both of you! That trail race looks super fun. Congrats!
Hey Lovie, are u wearing white socks in that pic w/ kenny, kevin, Magda and Steve? Nice ankles/feet he he
Great race reports! That trail run sounds brutal!
Nice work on the Tri and awesome job on the trail race!! That is some rough terrain made crazy by the elevation!
That's a great performance on the tri! Well done! That trail run sounds awesome and I think your time is very good for that course. What we put ourselves through for fun...:)
Congrats to Bethany on the tri and Ryan on the killer trail race!
Just getting all caught up! Sorry!
Nice work on the sub 7's in your Tri girlie! Whoo hoo! And congrats on that awesome trail race Ryan! That is crazy climbing!
And...very cool on the honeymoon runs! So excited to follow!
And and...congrats on the new addition!!!
looks like a great race!
OK, what the heck on that elevation chart??? It makes me tired just looking at it. Good grief.
Congrats to Bethany on the tri!!
Wow looks like a GREAT race!! And miss Bethany is so INTENSE..
I will email you the link today to the Tall Mom 1,000++ sorry I have been out of it..
Wow this looks like so much fun!
Awesome job - both of you.
6th of 36 is impressive and 4000' of elevation gain/loss - yikes!
Hey... if your going to post pictures of the course you ought to actually post pictures of the part of the trail you did. That picture is on the south side of Pack Monadnock which is part of the spring Wapack 21/42/50 mile race... belive me the piece of the Wapack you did is fairly mellow compared to the first part. Come to do the spring race... it is a riot.
Anonymous, thanks for the headsup. I amended the post, with a note under the picture. I clearly wasn't trying to misrepresent what I ran (I just GoogleImage-searched and grabbed a Wapack Trail pic). (Honestly I couldn't tell the difference, roots, rocks, mountains, it all looked the same to me.) I was just trying to give people an idea of what the trail was like (bc not everyone is lucky enough to have trails like we do in New England). I hope I didn't come across as trying to brag/be boastful, I mean, hell I almost finished dead last, haha.
Great adventure, the race looks successful and the pictures are full of fun. I love it.
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