Am I a Runner?

For the most part, I’ve been a solo runner. It’s easier for me to just head out on my own, run at my own pace, and not think about trying to keep up with anyone else. But on Saturday I arranged to go on a run with my friend Robyn, a hiking buddy from the AMC who has run a bunch of marathons but lately has become something of an insane rowing goddess. I decided not to hold that against her and we went ahead with the plan. As I pulled into Community Rowing (her home away from home) just before 10 AM on this beautiful fall day I spotted Robyn in her rowing gear, latte in hand. She gave me a quick tour of the place (it’s a gorgeous building) and went up to change into running gear while I stretched in the weight room. Robyn had just rowed for and hour and a half which gave me some hope that I could keep up with her on the run.

We started off in shorts and t-shirts at just under a 9:00/mile pace according to my funky new watch. We chatted about life, running, and birthdays (mine was the next day) as my watch kept track of the mileage, occasionally beeping to let me know another mile had past. She led me on past Watertown Square to a part of the bike path I’d never run on as we meandered along the Charles pausing only briefly to let Robyn check out the crew boats on the river. I was conscious of the fact that we were keeping a pretty solid pace, but more so that we were two athletes bonding over the simplest joys; shared interest and exercise.

On we went, trying to decide how far we wanted to go but knowing that the final distance really didn’t matter much. The pace and course was separate from the experience, a novel feeling for me. I’ve run with others before but I’d always felt that I was on trial. I know that it was coming from me, as none of my other running companions has ever put pressure on me to go faster or further. They’ve all been happy running at my pace and enjoying shared time. That’s the kind of friends I have, I wouldn’t have run with them if it was otherwise. But for this run I felt like I had earned my seat at the table. I knew Robyn was getting a good workout, I was as well, and we could also enjoy the social aspect of the event. It’s not that I was pushing the pace, but that she wouldn’t have done that workout without someone out there to push her. I think for the first time I felt like I was involved in a run where everyone benefited from the group experience, and that’s a new and satisfying feeling for me.

As we got back to the boathouse we were only at 7 miles and I wanted to go for 8 so we ran another half mile up the bike path and turned around for home. “Cool down?” Robyn asked. “No, let’s finish strong” I brashly replied and she mock groaned, shifted down a gear, and took off. I had been waiting for this and it still amazed me. I don’t have that extra gear that allows me to lengthen my stride, pick up the cadence, and rip off a 6:00/mile pace. My cadence increased but with a ragged, spasmodic gate that didn’t compare favorably to Robyn’s smooth strides. It’s also noticeably slower. But that will come with time, practice, and some great running partners.

I’ve wanted to do a Pemi Loop for a while, but have always felt it was out of my reach.  But this year I’ve started running, and trail running, and whipped myself into fairly reasonable shape so I thought I’d give it a try. My plans were to do it earlier in the summer when there was more daylight but things kept interfering.  Finally things looked like they would come together on Saturday, even if I was going to end up doing it solo.  My original plan would have been to have 2-3 others joining me, but I was fine going it alone.  It would be less organization issues and I could travel at my own pace without concern.  So I grabbed a hotel room in Lincoln for Fri/Sat nights after checking the weather forecast and ran through what I wanted to pack.  Mats decided to do a loop the same day, so he was going to crash there with me and leave later in the morning.  I set my alarm for 3:30 AM and tried to get some sleep.

I glanced at my watch which read 4:12 AM – shit, I managed to sleep through my alarm.  I quickly got up, dressed, grabbed my food from the fridge, and started eating my breakfast as I got into the car.  Very little traffic at 4:20 AM as I drove to Lincoln Woods, stuffing my face with a bagel and drinking water and OJ. I parked, fished out my headlamp, threw on a vest, and checked the thermometer: 48 degrees.  At exactly 4:40AM I started across the bridge and started my watch.

I ran the Wilderness Trail to the Bondcliff trail, stopping only to take some Benedryl when I noticed that I’d broken out in hives, and once to pick myself up off the ground after tripping on a railroad tie. The bottom of the Bondcliff trail was rougher than I’d remembered, and I couldn’t really run most of it.  After meeting up with the stream I could run a bit more, but then the climbing started. The switchbacks up higher were great for keeping up speed, and the first views picked up my spirits. Just after 7:00 I hit the scramble and was on the summit by 7:10. There was a fellow out on the ledge and he asked me to take his photo, meaning I had to [I]backtrack[/I] and take a few shots. I said goodbye and took off for Bond, taking a few of my own photos along the way.

Mt Bond 7:55.  Guyot 8:25.  Along the Twinway I started seeing other hikers mostly headed north. The summit of South Twin was crowed with folks, I only stayed for about 3 minutes before heading for the hut below. I reached the hut at around 10:00 and took my first and only break of the day. I met Gokul and Alex, two AMC friends who were also doing a loop but they started earlier and weren’t doing any running so I managed to catch up with them. I ate my first sandwich, drank a liter of Gatorade and a half liter of water, filled up my 2-liter Camelback, and the three of us started out. They were hiking pretty fast so we stayed together until about the Franconia Brook trail junction when two folks sped past us. It turns out it was Dangergirl and Don, also doing a loop and doing it pretty darn fast.  I was inspired to start running again and managed to keep up with them during the climb to Garfield, at which point they sped into the woods at supersonic speeds.

Somewhere along here I noticed that it was just over 7 hours into the trip, which is the current record for the loop.  Yikes, those folks are complete animals. Lafayette is much higher than it needs to be.  The cool breeze at the Skookumchuck trail junction was very welcome, and travel above treeline is always easier on my spirits.  Lots more people up here though, ran into a Harvard FOP group, a few more folks doing a loop that Alex and Gokul mentioned were ahead of me, lots of folks headed to Garfield Ridge Shelter. I could see the summit of Lafayette was a zoo so I just plowed past not stopping to eat which had been my original plan. As I continued along the ridge towards Lincoln I ran into Hiker Ed, who mentioned that Mats was ahead of me.  How did that happen?! (He didn’t stop at Galehead Hut) At the Lincoln Summit I chatted with Ranger Garth and pulled out my second sandwich so I could eat while moving. Then I ran into Bob and Geri and Mike and chatted a bit before moving on. I made it to Little Haystack before taking a photo or two, probably a record for me.

The drop into the woods here was a little disheartening, as the travel above treeline was great. But there are some sections that can be run so that was good.  I was pretty conservative about running as my legs were sore and heavy, and I was afraid of tripping. I hit Liberty (and ran into yet another AMC friend) but was in the mood to move.  That was the last person I’d see for a while. The trip to Flume was a blur but it seemed to take no time.  I hit the top at 3:50 and took a few minutes to reflect on what I’d accomplished. It was a good day, and I felt good about how I felt. But there was a little work left to do.  At the Flume Slide trail I did a few quick calculations and realized that was just about 26.2 miles exactly.  Who knew? After a small rough section I started running until the ladders, then picked up again once back on the river. I decided to try to break 13 hours even though my feet were starting to hurt. But the trail running felt really good, using different muscles and knowing the distance to my car was closing fast.  On the Wilderness trail I saw a hiker in front of me and as I approached I thought it looked like Dave Bear.  Sure enough it was.  I said I could give him a lift back to his car but wanted to finish out strong so I kept running. Like Dangergirl I had to clear some people off the bridge as I ran across to my start/finish point.  The clock read 12:44:33.

Wow, am I sore today. My feet hurt and going down stairs is not a pretty sight. But there’s been a smile on my face for a solid 24 hours now. There’s probably a lot more I can (and will) write about this, but that will do for now.  Thanks to Mats, Dangergirl, Alex, Gokul, Hiker Ed, Bob, Geri, Mike, Garth, and Robert who said “hi” along the way.  Thanks to all the others who inspired me to set the goal and then reach for it.

First Turns

Went to Bretton Woods on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. They finally got some snow, 12-18″ of heavy stuff that did a great job covering the grass that was there on Friday. We got eight runs in, my legs are a bit sore but it was great to be on snow again.

Not a bad sunset either.

Mt Washington Hotel sunset

Update the Trips page with some stuff from 2009, finally.

The muffled sound of church bells slowly penetrated my brain and woke me up. Groggily I recalled that I’d changed the alarm sound on my phone the previous night, and my brain kicked into gear. First things first, I got up and flipped on NESN to see if the Sox won last night (they did) and then started getting dressed. It was 3:00 a.m., I was in room 5 of the Four Seasons Resort in Twin Mountain, NH getting ready for a one-day Presidential Traverse. It had poured rain all night and thankfully the rain had stopped leaving us with a humid but otherwise fine morning. I finished getting dressed, packed up my overnight stuff, checked that Lei and Heidi were awake and getting ready, and waited for Geri to arrive.

In the Spring I set my sights on a Presidential Traverse for July 4th weekend. I’d tried one last year, but fell and sprained my wrist on the summit of Madison ending the attempt almost before it started. July 4th weekend didn’t work out and I had settled on the following weekend, but had a bit of trouble finding companions. Heidi had tried a Traverse 6 weeks ago but got a late start and had to bail. Lei had an ACL replaced 3 months ago and had been hiking on it for the past 6 weeks; this was going to be a big test for her. We all had something to prove to ourselves.

Geri pulled in with the Suburban right on time, and we loaded up. She had volunteered to give us a lift to Appalachia at an ungodly hour so that we could finish the hike at our car stashed at Crawford Notch without needing to drive back to Appalachia to fetch a car. We got to the trail head just before 4:00 a.m. and were on the trail at 4:04 under headlamps. We quickly fell into a quiet pattern, broken up only when I took the Fallsway by accident. By 4:50 there was enough light to turn off our headlamps, and our pace picked up a bit. I had “Ghost Riders in the Sky” running through my head most of the way to the hut. The glimpses we had of the summits weren’t all that promising; they were socked in, and we could hear the wind blowing. Just before the hut we made a group decision to skip Madison because of time and the rock hopping that gave Heidi trouble last time. The rocks were a bit wet and slick, the hut was warm and inviting, and we stopped in for our first break.

There were three thru-hikers in the hut waiting for breakfast to finish as we ate, refilled water, and adjusted clothing. After about 15 minutes (and one of the least appetizing Cliff Bars I’ve ever tasted), we were back outside and headed up Adams. Again, we fell into a fairly quiet routine, not talking much but making steady progress. The wind had died down considerably, but it was enough for us to put on our shells. On the way past JQA we got a glimpse of blue sky that quickly disappeared but gave us some hope for the day. We summitted Adams at 8:15 but only stayed up there for 5 minutes. There were no views, no other people, and plenty ahead of us. We rock hopped down to Thunderstorm Junction with a visibility of about 100 feet. I got a bit confused just before the arriving there, not sure if we’d passed the big cairn; that’s how little we could see.


The trail towards Edmands Col is much less difficult, and we made good time. During the trip we got more glimpses of sunlight, and our hopes began to rise that we’d eventually see the sky. I was concerned that the wind would pick up in Edmands Col, but it was for naught as the weather couldn’t have been more calm. Now we began the climb to Jefferson, and we got views of the Wildcats and the Auto Road on Mt Washington. Except for 4 hikers we saw near Thunderstorm Junction we hadn’t seen anyone else on the trail. We summitted Jefferson at 10:30, right on schedule. Leaving the summit of Jefferson is an interesting point in the journey. Before that, each step takes you further away from Appalachia. After that, each step takes you closer to Crawford Notch. No matter what, we weren’t going back to Appalachia. I liked that feeling.

Dropping down to Gulfside again we started getting more views. The sun was breaking through the clouds, and we could see some clear skies to the north. Two of the hikers we met at T-Storm were skirting the summit of Jefferson via Gulfside and were headed down Cornice to Caps Ridge. I love Monticello Lawn. It’s sublime in its calm among the rocks and crags of the northern Presidentials. I always find it calming and today was no exception. We had planned to meet Jen on Clay around 11:00, so I wanted to push ahead to see if I could find her. Lei and Heidi were keeping a steady pace behind me, and I was loving the choice we made of the day. At Sphinx Col I found a message scratched in the dirt by Jen saying, well, something. We knew she’d been there (having come up Jewel) but weren’t sure where she’d went. We hoped she was on Clay or had gone to the summit of Washington.



On to Clay. This bump on the ridge is often avoided by hikers who assume it’s extra climbing, but the reality is that it doesn’t cost you much and the views into the Great Gulf are worth it. We summitted the north peak of Clay and took in glorious views of Washington, now completely clear of clouds! I pulled out my cell phone and found a text by Jen saying she’d gone to the summit of Washington and would be there until 2:00 p.m. We’d make it there in time, so I texted back where we were. Aren’t modern toys fun? We took a brief rest on the top then pushed on to the summit of Washington and prepared food. Just at the junction with Gulfside we spotted Jen coming down to find us. She got my text as she was headed out from the visitor’s center and knew where to find us. She’d already climbed Washington once and was easily outpacing us back up a second time. This part of the climb had really taxed me in the past, but it went surprisingly easily this time.


We tagged the summit marker and headed in to grab food. I set a time limit of 30 minutes, and we set about our tasks. I ate two hot dogs (couldn’t quite face a chili dog), drank a Powerade, changed my socks (heaven), hit the head, and filled up my water. We were back outside at 2:00 p.m. under sunny skies and headed down. This is the physical and psychological crux of the trip. You can see everything you’ve got left, and there’s nothing left to do but pick ‘em up and set ‘em down. As we left the top a woman came up to me and said, “I know you!” We met her on BobC’s 48th over at Madison; she was one of the Painted Toe Sole Mates. BobC and Amy were hopefully waiting at Lakes for us so Jen, the Energizer Bunny of the Presidentials, took off to find them. I was behind her, and Lei and Heidi behind me. We settled into our solitary worlds.

At Lakes BobC and Amy were waiting; Jen had met them before so there wasn’t a problem finding each other. We took our last big break (15 minutes); I drank two glasses of lemonade and stretched on a bench outside. Now our group was 6, and we started up Monroe at 3:15 and summitted 15 minutes later. On down the ridge, we tagged Franklin for yuks and covered the miles at a steady pace. We regrouped at the base of Eisenhower and topped out there at 5:00 where we met a group drinking beers and playing a windup radio tuned to WHOM, Top of Mount Washington. To our chagrin, they didn’t offer us one. AMC trail croo was working on the Eisenhower Loop, doing a great job adding wooden steps and ladders, and doing rock work. Our plan at that point was for Jen, Amy, and I to cruise ahead and do the car shuttle before the rest got down. Things didn’t quite work out like that as Lei, Heidi and Bob missed the turn off for Pierce. We waited for them at the junction after tagging the summit, but they were already past us on the way down.

As Yogi Berra said “If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much”. By the time I got to Pierce I wasn’t thinking all that clearly, but the emotion was there. It has been over a decade since I’d done a Traverse, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do one of these again. It was a solid feeling of accomplishment to be there and to feel like there was still something in the tank. I like the feeling of being exhausted but satisfied, pushing your body until you feel yourself digging deep.We started down the Crawford Path not knowing if the rest of the troop was behind us or not. We heard voices at the Mizpah Cut-off Junction and sure enough we found Bob and Heidi there, they had missed the summit of Pierce. Oh well, it counts in my book. At the cut off to the parking lot I was alone for a sec and two young hikers caught up to me. They were fit and obviously fast, and I found out they’d just completed a Traverse in 9 hours, compared to my 16 hours. It was deflating at first, but then I realized it didn’t matter. There’s always going to be someone faster than me; that’s a given. Comparing myself against others is not what this was about. Finishing a Traverse was a goal I set for myself, one that meant something to me and that I accomplished. That’s something I can live with.

Complete Photo Album

We had big plans for the weekend, staying at Barnes Field with a group from VFTT, hiking up Six Husbands and spending time above treeline, but Mother Nature had her way.  The forecast was for rain on Thursday night and Friday morning, so I headed to B&G’s trailer in Twin Mountain for a solid roof and a shorter drive the next day.  We headed up Mt Tremont and Owl’s Cliff, with a loop around to Sawyer Pond.  We didn’t see a soul until the end of the day, which is a rarity on July 4th weekend.

Tremont Album

I headed over to Barnes Field and had a pretty quiet night with just a few folks. The rain had scared most folks away but we had a fine time. The next morning I met B&G, Chris and Chris, and Amy over at the Davis Path trailhead for a hike up to Mt Stairs. We started hiking in fairly clear weather but it was clear that some rain was coming in. I was ahead of the group and walked right past the Mt Crawford spur trail but got to chat with a backcountry ranger on her way out. On the second set of ledges the heavens opened up and we had rain on and off the rest of the day. We stopped at Resolution shelter, then up to the Giant Stairs. We had a nice view, then the rains came back. The walk back to the trailhead was a bit damp.

Stairs Album

The race was set to start at 9:00 a.m., and it was probably a 30 to 45 minute walk from my house, so I made sure I got to bed early for a 7:00 a.m. alarm. Unfortunately I can’t control work, and I got a disk space alert at 3:45 a.m. that required 15 minutes of my time and then another 30 minutes to get back to sleep. When the alarm went off I decidedly did not feel well rested. I ran my last 5K back in December, and it wasn’t pretty but I finished without resorting to walking. At the time, with very little running under my belt, I considered that a victory. There was a big crowd and lots of folks dressed up in costumes for the holiday season, and that was enough to carry me through. This time I trained for the past few months and had higher expectations.

When I left the house there was a slight drizzle and it and felt a bit muggy.  I put on my mp3 player and tuned it to NPR.  There were few people on the streets as I worked my way through Harvard Square and towards the river.  As I approached JFK St., I saw a stream of runners walking in the same direction as me.  The little tributaries formed a stream of walking runners, some with their numbers already pinned on their shirts or shorts, others wearing sweatshirts and carrying small backpacks.  I kept my headphones on and fell silently into the pack.

At the Marsh Legion Post, the HQ for the race, there were a lot of folks milling about and standing on line for the porta-potties.  My nervous energy began to kick in so I headed the 1/4 mile up the street to the startling line.  I met up with a friend I knew was going to be there, and we chatted for the 10 minutes leading up to the start time.  I put on my headphones again, walked back to the 12:00 minute mile pace sign, and went back into my own little world as the muddled sounds of the race announcer blared from the distance.  At 9:01 the crowd moved forward and stopped.  At 9:03 we started moving for real.  One minute later, at exactly 9:04 , we crossed the start line.  On my headphones “Boss Lady” by The Detroit Cobras was playing.

The pack was moving at a good pace, and I fell into a rhythm. I had no real idea how fast I was running, so I didn’t concentrate on that—I just kept my eyes on a few people who looked like they were running well and fell in behind them.  The next song I remember hearing was “Fat Sam from Birmingham” by Louis Jordan—motivation for sure.  This felt so much different from the race in December, as I was able to watch the people around me and even enjoy myself.  As we hit the 1 Mile sign I looked at my watch—10:54.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it.  The goal in the back of my head was to run 12 minute miles, so this was a pleasant surprise.  Two folks with a sign saying “You can do it Kim” were on the side of the road. I told them I wasn’t Kim but that it worked just the same.

The crowd thinned out a bit, and I would occasionally pick out a person in front of me and try to reel them in.  While I wasn’t successful in all cases, I had a few successes.  It was warm enough that there was a good crowd at the water station, but I was feeling good enough to continue.  The 7.5 milers split off after that, and we crossed back over the river.  At this point I noticed a 12-year-old kid walking.  Soon after I passed him he sprinted past me.  Two minutes later he was walking again, then he sprinted past me a second time.  I passed him for the last time as we turned onto Greenough Blvd.  Soon after that I spotted a woman down on the pavement, another runner and two race officials with her.  It looked like she had passed out, and as I ran by her a cop car with its lights on came running up the other side of the road.

I had been looking for the 2 Mile sign, and according to my watch I should have been there already.  Instead, I saw the 7 Mile sign (from the 7.5 mile race course), so all of a sudden I had 1/2 mile to go.  There were two women who’d been ahead of me most of the race except for when they stopped for water, and I decided that I was going to finish ahead of them.  I started running faster and caught them in a few hundred yards. But then I had to keep up that pace, and because I couldn’t see the finish line I thought I might have made a strategic error. But soon enough I could see the Legion Post ahead and the folks with the “You can do it Kim!” sign again, and I thanked them a second time.  “Ca plane pour moi” by Plastic Bertand, a song I’d put on my mp3 player just because I loved to run to it, was playing for the last 1/4 mile.

The final turns took us along the bike path and across the finish line by the river.  Volunteers handed out metals and water; I took one of each and wandered over to the food area.  There were runners walking around with bananas and bagels, and the smell of grilling burgers and hotdogs filled the morning air.  I found my friend and two other folks with him, and we grabbed some snacks to munch.  We eventually got in line for a burger and sent Juli over to the posted results to get our time. I figured I was around 33:00, and my time came in at 32:54, a 10:36 pace.

Naturally, I posted my time on Facebook right away.

It was a very different experience than the race in December. This time, I felt some anxiety, but it was more about how I’d do compared to my expectations rather than an abstract concern over whether I could even complete the race. Minutes after I’d finished I was thinking about when I wanted to run my next race and what my goal would be. My sense of accomplishment wasn’t really about my time—I didn’t finish in the top half —it was that I felt like a runner. I’ve got a long way to go before I can even think about a longer race distance, but it’s no longer an abstract concept. At this point, it’s just a matter of time.

Skiing in Japan

Tourist in Tokyo

I went skiing in Japan in February of 2009 with Heather Paul of Ultimate Groove and had a fantastic time.

Reyann in the deep powder

Looks like a nasty weekend coming up, so no trip north for me.  Maybe a dayhike in the Blue Hills if I can find a window of relatively dry weather.

This hike was to celebrate BobC’s 48th on Madison, so naturally we started on Jefferson where Bob and Geri and I met up with Bob and Mike who we kidnapped and brought along with us.  We started early from the Caps Ridge trailhead and were on top of Jefferson by 10:15.  We had nice weather so far but there were some nasty clouds on Washington.  Off to Adams and we started running into lots and lots of folks doing the Traverse.  It was a good morning but I wasn’t sure the afternoon would be so nice.

We hit Adams a bit after noon and only stayed a short while.  Down Airline to the hut, but BobC and his crew, who were coming up King Ravine, weren’t there yet.  After a lunch break at the hut we decided to beat the rain and run up to the summit and back.  We saw lots of folks there to celebrate with Bob who came up different trails and all directions.

On the way down we finally ran into Bob and crew, and there were lots of them.  It was around 4:00 so we decided to head down the Valley Way and get back to the trailer for dinner.  We were out by 5:40 and met up with HikerBob and Sunshine Kris who gave us rides to various places.  At the trailer we had burgers and beers, along with some great desserts, and celebrated BobC’s journey.