Bear Mtn - Race Report

North Face Endurance Challenge: Bear Mtn 50K

Overall Difficulty 5/5 stars

Technical Difficulty 5/5 stars

Elevation Change 4/5 stars

Scenery 5/5 stars (right...see first two rating to see why you wouldn't have a chance to notice the scenery, :))

Joanne and I prerace. 

 I meant to do this race last year but, I busted my ankle before the race and had to drop out.  This year my plan was to do Jack Bristol, that was until I met my new Trail Besty: Joanne.  Oh how I adore Joanne.  She is the BOMB!!! The first day I showed up at her place to run she asked if I wanted to increase our run by an hour, since then we have been kindred spirits out there on the trails.  She pushes my pace early on and I keep her going later in our runs.  She is a machine.  So on one of our runs she suggested we do the Bear Mtn race.  I couldn't say no.  Ok I didn't want to say no.  So I said no to the 50 miler and we settled on the 50K.  I once again didn't do much research.  I knew from last year that the course was supposed to be technical.  In my head that meant it was much like the North Face Atlanta race from last year.  Well...maybe I should have read the course better or looked at the rating scale where it is clearly the hardest race they have.  Ahhhhh.........!!!!!! 

It had been raining all week here so the trails were all set up to be uber muddy and all of the water crossings had water ready to go.  NICE!!  At the beginning of the race I tried to hang with Joanne but, it was just too hard on that technical course to try and stick with someone and I was really worried about my legs.  I had no idea when or if they were going to poop out due to the previous weekends 50 miler (that was only 6 days ago).  I knew this would be challenging for me and I also knew it would be a superb way to test my fitness.  If I could do back to back ultras I knew I was on track with my training for VT.   I went into Jack Bristol wanting to blast out the fastest 50 I could and I went into this race hoping for survival and to not be last, lol. 

So Joanne dusted me from the get go.  By one mile into the race I couldn't see her and all I could do was really work hard not to fall and bust my booty.  The pack was moving fast so I just went with them, later on as things thinned out, I was able to get into my groove and that helped a ton.  I realized quickly this was going to be an extremely challenging race.  I had to watch my footing every step of the way, literally.  The climbs were brutal, the downhills were rough, the rock climbing was silly and the water crossings kept my feet nice and wet.  I have to say 50K seemed pretty dang short and that helped a ton.  At just 10 miles in I was 1/3 of the way done, now that made me happy.  I met a few really neat people but didn't catch names.  For the most part I just kept focused on moving.  At the aid stations I grabbed liquids, skittles and bananas.  I had a really hard time eating or drinking while on the run because I had to be so focused on my feet.  I did of course bust my ankle once really good but I got up, tested it out, it seemed to work so I just kept going.  Towards the end there was one brutal section that will haunt me forever.  It was over a mile up on loose rocks and once you got to the top you didn't even get to run down the other side, it too was filled with loose rocks that required very particular foot placement, so there we were, a pack of trashed runners, picking our way carefully down our last mtn. section in the last miles of the race where all you want to do is run, so frustrating, no really, it made me curse, one mighty curse and then I just moved on.  I was a muddy mess at the end.  My time was around 6:30 (not sure on exact but that is close) I came in 17th for women and I think in the 60's somewhere overall.  The race was so ridiculous I don't even feel like looking up specifics, lol. 

It was an extremely difficult course but guess what??? Yep! We plan to do it again next year.  Joanne is way more nuts than me, lol. 

Happy Running!

Joanne took my post race picture while resting on the grass.  The angle makes me look tall but I assure you I haven't grown.

Jack Bristol - Race Report

Race Recap: Jack Bristol 50m

I wanted to run this race for a few of reasons: 1. It is local (and that is enough of a reason to do it) 2. It was almost on my birthday so it gave me my birthday miles 3. It was a great way to get some miles in preparation for VT 100 4. It was on the weekend of the Virtual fund raiser I was doing for JDRF.  I didn't really do much research on the course.  It was less than an hour from my house and that made it a great option for me.  After I signed up I realized it was all on pavement, ughhhhh, not great for the foot but a great chance to run fast.  The course took me around and around Lake Waramaug which is gorgeous.  My race had an out and back and then 6 laps around the lake.  As the race started off I was floored by the pace.  The front runners were frickin sprinting, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! A mile or so in I looked at my watch to see 8mm flat and thought "holy crap, I can't hold this."  I thought well maybe my Garmin is off, so I asked a dude near me what he had for pace and he had the same thing.  Oh no!  I just couldn't figure out why everyone was going so fast.  Thank goodness for Matt.  Matt was the guy running near me when I inquired about the pace and he commented the pace was fast.  We worked together to get our pace back under control.  It was easier to slow down with someone.  We got ourselves calmed down to a 9mm pace which mind you was still 45s faster than I wanted to be at the start, eaaakkkk! But it was a start.  So we just ran along and gabbed.  Matt was a great running partner for the first lap.  He was doing the 50K so I knew he would have to ditch me soon but it was nice to have a buddy while he could afford to run my pace.  This was his first ultra so we did a ton of talking about that and about his life and what not.  We found another 50K runner who seemed to be zipping along and Matt took off with him and that left me solo which I remained for the rest of the race.  Not to worry I had my Ipod loaded with a ton of podcasts. I ran into Matt again as he was finishing his last lap, it was great to see a familiar face.  By lap 4 I was getting tired of the lap and getting tired in general but I knew I was doing well so I needed to hang on.  I was eating minimally but drinking a ton. That going out fast was catching up with my legs.  They were really starting to hurt.  I began to walk the hills.  Then as I came through the chute on lap 5 I saw them...Doug and Chloe...YAY!!!!!! That is what I needed, the boost to power through and Doug yelled out the best news, I was in first...say what...I was in first, who the heck new...after I processed what he said I really put my mind and body to powering through that last lap.  I had been on pace to break 8hrs but, the last lap had totally busted that so, now I was set up to hit my original goal of 8:30-9.  My right calf started to cramp and I mean that cramp that means you will be lying road side screaming for help so I did my best to not stress it by adopting more of a shuffle.  My watch had died miles back so I was just guessing as to my pace and well I didn't care I just wanted to get back to Doug and Chloe as fast as I could and hopefully win.  How cool to win with Chloe watching.  So I dug deep, I mean really deep, put on my race smile and ran.  As I got to the final turn I got choked up.  I was about to win, yes win, an ultra in front of my husband and daughter.  I was so dang excited.  I told myself I wasn't allowed to cry I still had some work to do and so I charged as hard as I could and came across the line at 8:20.  Wahoooooo a 42min PR for me.  I was so happy.

That was one awesome race.  The volunteers rocked it was well organized and they gave out jackets to the winners, wooot wooot.  I will do it again for sure.  Now I need to run smarter and break 8 and well I think if I go into the race in better shape rather than coming off a winter of not much running I could do a ton better.  Fingers crossed for future Jack Bristol races. 

Final Winner Board - Virtual 5K for JDRF

Team Honey Badger (won for most entrants).  They ran for Ella.  Thanks!!!!

Final Winner Board

If your name has a prize next to it please make sure I have your address so I can get your prize out (I really need to get them out of my bedroom, they are taking over :)).  You can email me at mommysarunner@hotmail.com.

Name	Distance	Prize Won	Raffle Numbers
Bethany Becker	20K	hat	1 2 3 4
Cindy Behne	5K	1	134
Cynthia Berglund	5K	Socks and hat	5
Michelle Bishop	5K	Socks	6
Chloe Carroll	5K	1	7
Doug Carroll	5K	1	8
Vanessa Christensen	5K	Ear warmer by Kaci	9
Jimmi Clairmont	15K	Socks	83 84 85
Alyssa Coker	5k		26
Terri Corbett	5K	Ear Warmer by Kaci	104
Mary Cornell	10K	Bag & TallyGear	10 11
Cathy Crisp	25K	Socks and hat	12 13 14 15 16
Aimee Cronin	10K	Socks & scarf by Cindy	17 18
Kristin Cundiff	Winner of Most Registered	Socks and Tally Gear Belt	19
Liz Day	10K	Socks	27-30
Julie De La Vega	5K	TallyGear Belt	133
Emily Eliason	5K	1	31
Hope Epton	20K	Socks & Love to run Necklace	32-35
Matthew Falat	5K	hat	121
Sarah Falat	5K	1	120
Rea Fawcett	5K	Socks	36
Ellie Fincham	5K	Socks & Todd&Moore Sport Package	37
Christine French	10K	Socks & Headsweats Hat	78 82
Ross French	5k	1	132
Melanie Foster	5k		20
JD Foster	5k	Picture Frame by Hope	21
Courtney Foster	5k	hat	22
Stacey Gilbert	5k	1	111
Pam Gordan	5K	1	77
Rebecca Herrin	5K	1	119
Jeff Hall	5K	socks	38
Candice Hope	15K	Socks	79 80 81
Natalie Horton	5k	hat	24 137 135 136 138
Seth Hudgins	40K	Pottery Mrs B	39-46
Keith Johnson	20k	Headsweats Hat	123 124 125 126
Karen King	5K	1	47
Tracey Kite	5K	Socks & HeadSweats	48
Dave Maher	5k	1	49
Reyna Maher	5k	1	50
Bridget Maher	5k	Bag	51
Joe Maher	5k	Socks & hat	52
Kelly Marcuzzi	5K	Road ID & Ear Warmer by Kaci	131
Sydney Marcuzzi	5k	1	130
Tish Martin	5k	1	110
Grace Martin	5k	1	109
Kim Martin	5K	scarf	53
Mary McQuillen	5K	scarf	118
Shanna Moyer	5K	Felt Scarf by Susie	117
Dynamo Dave	5K	1	99
Kaci Nash	20K	Socks & hat	100-103
Lidsay Pelascini	5k	1	108
Matt Pelascini	5k	1	107
Debora Peters	5k		25
Jennifer Potvin	10K	Socks	73 74
Teri Prater	5K	Socks	112
Christine Rockey	15K	hat	54-56
Cindy Roerig	5K	Socks	57
Jake Roerig	5K	Bag	58
Cindy Roerig	5K	Tally Gear	59
Joanne Ross	20k	Socks	88 89 90 91
Anne Ryerson	30K	Quilt and Socks	60-65
Mom Scarborough	5k	Socks	106
Jaylin Seaman	5k	1	92
John Seaman	5k	1	93
Karen Seaman	5k	Road ID GC	94
Zorion Seaman	5k	Socks	95
Amanda Silverhorn	5k	RoadID GC	129
Howard Simpkins	15k	Compete	122 127 128
Anna Stein	31K	Bag & Necklace by Liz	66-71
Nikki Stevens	5K	Bag	86
Vol Stover	5K	Socks & Road ID	72
Summer Torres	5k	1	105
Melanie Tupaj	15k	Headsweats Hat	96 97 98
Tara Tosta	45K	9
Anna Volovsek	15k	Socks and scarf	116
Becky Volovsek	15k	RoadID GC	115
Jeff Volovsek	15k	1	114
John Volovsek	15k	1	113
Lisa Willard			23
Kara Wooldrik	10K	Socks & SweatyBand	75 76

Final thank you to everyone who helped by making items, entering the race, and/or donation money.  I really appreciate it.  This is an important cause.  More kids are diagnosed each year we need some answers as to what causes this disease and how it can be cured.  I am not sure if I will do the 5K next year might switch it up with some other running related event.  Need to think on it.  If you have ideas let me know.