ANNETTE BEDNOSKY'S BLOG:
This blog is about my observations,hopes,and experiences as an ultrarunner. Because ultrarunning overlaps with the rest of life, I also discuss work, school, my family and other assorted hobbies and essential elements of life!
The little rural county of Ashe in NC is having the 2nd running of a Spring 5k: Spring Celebration 5k on May 22 at 9am based out of Ashe County Parks and Recreation at Family Central. The registration form can be download here. A 1 mile fitness walk is also an option!
Last year the event was Spring Solstice 5k, and being in March, it was cold!....So we moved it to later spring with hopes of milder weather! Funds raised will go to a new scholarship fund to support youth and adult fitness in Ashe County...details on the fund available race day. Proceeds will also go to Ashe County Parks and recreation. For more info, please comment to me, email me at annettebednosky@gmail.com or download this form. I am one of the race organizers and pleased to be do so! Please come celebrate fitness in Ashe County!
Pausing to stretch is unwanted, yet sometimes necessary!
I had the privledge of pacing Jill Perry for the final 25 miles of her record setting 100 mile run at Umstead Endurance Runs last night. What fun and what a tough girl Jill is! I have known this, yet to run beside such a life filled person: determined, talented, dedicated and fun-loving, and assist in any way I could was a great experience! Jill broke her own CR last year and ran 15:58 (and won!) While out there I also got to watch speedy Zach Gingerich make mush out of the previous CR and get 13:23! Congratulations to both and to everyone! Umstead is not a mountain course, yet no one could ever fairly call it flat-it's got it's hills!
I witnessed many highs and lows this day...Jill hit a low after the race and that turned into another learning adventure...yet I'll let her tell the story as she is sure to post sometime this week on her blog!
Jill running happy and strong at mile 78ish!
I have slept only 90 minutes since waking Saturday morning and will leave this post short as Life must continue even with the inclusion of unexpected learning adventures! If time allows, I have so much to share, about pacing and connecting, witnessing the realities drama of "behind the scenes", wondering about avalalbility of post race IVs and the enormous responsibility in offering (RDing) and participaiting (running!) a hundred mile trail run!
I celebrate Jill! And everyone! I hope each runner and crew rests well and recovers quickly. Full results will be at the race website within the next few days.
Above: Race Director Anne (center in Hoody) with 4 of the "top 10 women"...I wish Nat'l Champ Yolanda was in the photo! (Jill's # 6 is visible and and I am quite covered in grey and green!)
I am a fortunate human. With planning I can take a couple days off of work to frolic to far away places (ok...I am exagerrating a bit-to drive to NY for a visit with Mom and a race!)
Yet I am serious-I am fortunate-a supportive husband (and kitty), Mom who is loving and healthy, dependable car and body which is strong and making me learn from that part of myself if I want to or not!
I left driving late morning Thursday (after another cancelled day of school due to snow) and drove north towards NY. The trip to Mom's on LI's North Fork is 12 hours, NOT counting NYC traffic or any sort of stops...So when I make this drive for a long weekend-I am willing to go "all one shot" one way and the other way stop part way through at a motel. I "moteled it" in New Jersey Thursday night and arrived on LI Friday mid morning-planning all travel around the "rush hour" times.
After arriving on "The Island" I drove up to Caumsett Park ran my scheduled 35 minutes on the race course. The course had been changed slightly since last year and I was pleased to get both a visual and experience on what I would be doing on Sunday at the National 50K Road Championships: 10 laps of the 5k. Cool!
The house where grew up and where Mom lives is 1:30 from there...so the journey continued.
Time with Mom Friday and Saturday was wonderful! We shared meals, walks, conversation, scrabble games and a walk on the ocean. I don't think I ever before remember the body jolting thunder of the magnificiant waves rolling in. Both Mom and I forgot our cameras and were bummed. Yet we celebrated the windy, but warm day by finding a warm place out of the wind to eat our picnic lunch. It was gloriously sunny and warm (45ish!) Ahhhhh!!
This would be my 2nd year to run Caumsett Park 50k. Last year I ran with a goal of sub 3:50 as this was the qualifying time for a spot at the World Trophy 50k held in Gilbraltar in 2009. Last year I ran 3:47:59 and did get invited to the race-yet declined due to my lingering "itis" after Vermont 100.
When planning this year, I did not plan this race until a few weeks ago. When I learned my "1st runner up" status would stay that way for World's 24...I knew if I had a hope of running for USA in 2010, I'd have to try for it at Caumsett and Mad City 100k on April 10th.
As posted last week, Jill Perry (current US National Champion 24-Hour and amazing runner-human /woman /person ran together in AL at Cheaha...) We met again at Caumsett Park on Sunday AM. Jill is a tough, smart,strong woman and a Montrail Teamate of mine. I want all the best for her and have planned my training schedule around pacing her for the last 24ish miles at Umstead 100 on 3/27. We are friend and competitors. I love it! Anne Lundblad and I used to enter a fair number of the same races and I welcomed her presence-knowing that likely I would wind up following her...(only in "once in awhiles" did that not happen...)yet, if Anne were there, I would give my best. And I feel that way about Jill too! Thank you JILL! (Even when she outran me by 11+ minutes at Bandera 100k in January-I appreciate her helping me be a better runner and , I hope, human and friend!
Anyway...
...Caumsett Park weather was breezy ok,-windy-yet the wind was obvious only on parts of the rolling course.
Highlights of the race:
-A sunny day with a range of running temps from 32-48 degrees
-Supportive volunteers and aid station workers
-Howard Nippert was there and encouraged/informed me-thank you Howard for you support! (I must admit I didn't recognize him right off and asked his name (He'd grown a partial beard, had a hat on that covered his wonderful shiny head and was decked out in warm baggy warmups that hid his chisled physice. ) Yet after a brief moment of wide-eyed surprise on my side, I think the mistake was understandable!
(from left to right...Yolanda, me and Jill, lap #1....)
Without getting into technicalities of the race...My plan was 3:45 and I allotted 22:30 min each 5k lap. I started out WAYYYY too fast, with Yolanda Flamino-eventual 2010 Nat'l Champ and Jill and I crossing the timing matt for lap # 1 at almost the same time: 20:44-20:48. At this point I did a "reality check", centered myself and got back to plan-1 lap run with enthusiasm and abandon was okay...yet if I would reach my sub 3:50 goal or sub 3:45 hopes-Annette must slow down! So Jill and Yolanda took off and I cheered them on! I was not here to race women, yet to "race the clock" for a chance to participate in World Trophy 50k.That was all the reminder I needed (also-duh-I'd not been training for anything more intense than what I planned-and the LAST thing I wanted to do was get hurt. UGH...Round and round we ran!
Lap #9 was interesting...It seemed like a festival of ultrarunning diversity...I noticed: ...Michael Wardian had already won-Phil McCarthy-teamate of mine in Italy '09 and current USA National 24-Hour Champion would run into the spots for top 10 men...Jill is current Nation'l Champ for 24 hour too...and Byron Lane former Nat'l 24 Hour Champ was there running very well Scott Dunlap who authors an amazing blog and who is a terrific runner ran by me...then I ran by Scott Juruck-who was not there to race this day, yet there for his own purposes...And the RD Tim, from Mad City 100k was there running the 25k and was very encouraging and supportive to me. The participants, and crews and spectators made me feel special as "#18". Thank you all, that encouragement was greatly helpful during my dud laps #7 and #8. I was just hanging on to conistentcy-yet not yet "smelling the barn"
With one lap left-I ran it as my 3rd fastest and worked hard-yet still felt steady. I watched the fast boys lap me and studied their body positions, experimenting with mimicking their relaxed arms and body positon.Those dudes were amazing and sooo speedy.
Soooo...I was thrilled with a 2nd place finish of 3:43:48! Yay!
Yolanda ran a speedy 3:34:26 and Jill Perry took 3rd in 3:47:49. Complete results here!
Thank you to Jill and Howard and Carl and Tim and the bunch of otherfolks who offered high and enthusiastic encouragement. I don't mean to leave out the amazing men-there results are HERE too!
Place: Talladega National Forest and Mt. Cheaha State Park,
south of Oxford, AL
Surface: dirt, rocks, pine straw, pinecones, steep rocks,
several wet creek crossings, little dirt road, little pavement
Trail: Mostly single track
Elevation gain: reportedly 7000'
Quality of course and race= TOP NOTCH!!!!
Years in Montrail Ultra Cup= 1 (and many more, I hope!)
It was with relief I came to Alabama from the High Country
of NC on Thursday before the race. After weeks of treadmill and road shoulder
running-due to inaccessibility of trails and dirt roads due to accumulated
snow/ice I got to bask in the sun and “warm” environs of eastern Alabama.
Though I had not planned to leave until after work on Thursday, the weather
again closed schools and I made it off the mountain, after stopping for a swim
and stretch out in Boone, NC by noon.
The drive was uneventful, even Atlanta, which I hit right at
4:30, was not too bad from the perspective of this native New Yorker… Traffic
was slow, yet still moved on the northern bypass. I reached Oxford, AL sometime
during early evening, while there was still plenty of daylight. The exit I was
on had many hotels and I wanted to find a good rate (I thought $50.00 a night
for 2 nights that included taxes would be a good deal). At The Jameson Inn I
asked the front desk clerk for what I wished and he readily obliged me. I was
set with Internet, breakfast/coffee/fridge/micro so I could prepare my meals in
room.
I spent most of Friday resting and exploring parts of
Talladega National Forest. A 30 minute out and back run on the race course gave
a taste of what to expect and driving to bib pick up Friday afternoon, gave
some more hints to the ridges and drainages in these small, yet steep, wintry
mountains. This day I spoke with Montrail teammate Jill Perry a few times. She
was dealing with lots of snow in upstate NY and might be challenged to get to
AL. Yet, alas after delays and being “bumped” I spoke with her around 8pm just
as she was leaving Atlanta for Birmingham. Whoop! I’d get to see Jill again and
meet her husband Vincent if only for a little while before race start.
I don't know how accurate this profile is...I found it on the web...
The next morning, an enthusiastic, yet travel-weary Jill and
I hung out for a bit and I met her husband Vincent and his traveling companion
Paul. Since this is point-to-point course, we left our vehicles at the state
park and were bused 35 minutes south to Porter’s Gap, the course start.
The race started in the trailhead parking lot promptly at
7:30am with the blaring music of Sweet Home Alabama-a rollicking way to start a
run to the state’s highest point. Runners were on an “honor system” to seed
themselves appropriately since we started straight out on narrow single track.
From my place about 15th from the front, it seemed folks made good
decisions. There was a front pack of fast boys and a few singles. Dink
Taylor-usually a fast boy was still in recovery mode after a recent 100. (He
did not tell me this –I over heard much of his conversation with Jill during
the first few miles) Dink and Jill ran together and I came and went following
them, catching them on the downs and falling back on the ups.
A beautiful course!
I was thrilled with the opportunity to see views and run
along ridges. The day was perfect-mostly sunny, light wind, about 28 degrees at
7:30am, with warm upper 40’s later on. The course and environs reminded me
Lots of Uwharrie 40
miler in NC. Rocks, roots, wet feet, relentless ups and downs. This course had
much contouring as well with at times some interesting, bordering on exciting
footing for those that weren’t paying close attention. We also got to duck
under/vault and sneak around several downed trees. All in the spirit of a trail
run, I misjudged one vault and wound up with an impressive abrasion on my left
knee for not going high enough. Another trail souvenir.
I discovered later I wasn't the only one not to jump high enough!
It was a joy to run this day! I appreciated the warm
weather, snow/ice free trails and rolling with the terrain. At one point,
around 12 miles in, one of my running companions who I’ve been acquainted with
for years wanted to know if I was injured-as usually I was far ahead of him. I
did not realize this. I told him I wasn’t hurt-just a little out of practice
pacing myself on a 50k trail run and I was aiming for steady. Yet, truth be
told, I was feeling stronger as the miles passed.
Up and down and around, little leaping, slipping on pine
straw, splashing through creeks. Gathering liquid and nourishment from the
helpful aid station volunteers, following little flags as we adventured along.
A couple miles after Aid Station 3 I saw Jill and eventually caught up. We
chatted for a few seconds. She reported she was okay, just in a lull and tired
from the previous day’s travel. We wished one another well and continued our
own paces. At aid station 4, one of the volunteers, Ken, told me he is a friend
with my former boss, Bradley McNeil who was principal of Ashe County High
School and lives in my town. I like and respect Bradley very much and was
buoyed by this connection.
From roughly mile 22 to “the road section” I was in trail
running heaven concentrating, yet it wasn’t all consuming, then the road
presented itself. Don’t get me wrong. I like roads and grass and tracks and
treadmills anything I can run on. I used to only like trails-yet after being
hurt several times and finding the value of training on mixed surfaces-I do
have an appreciation for all. The road was long and straight and uphill. I told
myself this was going to be a good break for my muscles and a way to run steady
for a few miles. I tried to pick out a good song from my mental play list to
play in my head to keep up the energy on the road. After 2 tries I wound up
with an acceptable one: I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack (I have a “dance”
version in my running list). This helped maintain happy, hopeful energy
slogging up the road. Then I caught sight of a runner in white ahead of me and
didn’t need the music anymore. I found a rabbit!
Entering the final aid station, I saw the white shirted
runner dart into the woods. Again helpful volunteers supplied me with Heed and
ecaps and I grabbed a peanut butter square and darted off. The “darting” didn’t
last long for either of his. Shortly we found the section of the course
commonly referred to as Blue Hell. This is a steep section of the trail marked
with blue markings. It is steep, necessitating using hands to help oneself up
in places. The runner in the white shirt-I asked his name, yet do not recall
it, he and I marched in line, up up, up! Reportedly some 850’+ feet of climbing
in ½ mile. I was grateful the day was dry, as scrambling over these rocks in a
rainstorm would have taken 2x as long.
The route took us underneath a rappel site and finally into the
developed area of the state park and onto the summit. The course ended with
about a mile of single track on the “Mountain Express Trail”, dumping us out
around a corner from the finish line in front of Bald Rock Lodge. I finished in
a CR time of 5:09:41 with “white shirted runner” prob’ly less than a minute
behind me. I had enough energy
left to click my heels once-yet otherwise I felt pretty worked-yet happy to
feel good and find a 1st place finish!
Jill came in 5:29:00. She appeared sprightly as always, yet
the stresses from the long day previous and sleepless night obviously took its
toll. Sally Brooking, 53 and experienced Cheaha runner came in at 5:47:46. The
top men appeared well before all the females with course shattering…Dane (super
crazy fast guy) Mitchell 4:00:25!!! DeWayne Satterfield 4:36:22 and Alex Darth,
4:39:22! Yikes! Go guys go!!! Full results to be posted at http://www.pinhoti100.com/mountcheaha50k/ soon.
Mt. Cheaha 50k is now on my list of favorites…On Saturday I
fondly referred to it as “East Coast’s Way Too Cool”… They are not really
alike, yet are the same distance, same running season and now both part of MUC.
Both:
have very runnable terrain w/ plenty of ups and downs.
have a version of “Blue Hell”, where tenacity and patience
often overtake fitness.
have a fair number of aid stations (WTC =5, Mt C=6)
Finishing times are Way faster w/ WTC…yet terrain more
rolling and wet and precocious w/ Mt Cheaha.
I am an “east coaster” and by realities of $$$ and time
constraints tend to do most my racing within a ½ day drives from where I live,
yet to be fair, I have sample a number of mid-country and west coast runs. Yet,
I can say, this run is superbly executed and designed. There are small parts
you curse and larger parts where one celebrates their privilege of being alive.
Come to Alabama to discover more of who you are!
Thank you to all volunteers, race director Todd Henderson
and staff from the USFS and Alabama State Parks, you have a high quality event
tucked away in those Alabama mountains!
