Karl Meltzer Wins 2009 Hardrock 100

Karl Meltzer won the Hardrock 100 for the fifth time finishing the race at in 24:38, 2 hours faster than his previous best time. Diana Finkel is currently the first female and is third overall. Jim Campiformio, Race Director for the Grand Tree's Northern Nipmuck Trail Race left the Ouray aid station (mile 56.6) at 3:14 this morning per the last update.

You can get the latest live updates as the race progresses and some video of the race : Here

Live Twitter Feed: Here

Jaime and Meltzer arrive at Cunningham Gulch aid station:



Approach to Virginius Pass:

Weekly Training Update - Jun 29 - Jul 5

After racing almost every weekend between the last week in March and the second week in June, I haven't had anything going on for three weeks. Believe it or not, but I'm missing the race scene, especially meeting up with friends and sharing our passion for the trails. Historically a solitary runner, I now find great pleasure in long group runs or racing with friends.

This past week was a bit of a disappointment training wise. I missed my Wednesday tempo run at Lynn Woods due to heavy rush-hour traffic and cut my planned long run from 20 to 15 miles purely out of boredom. I've done my last four long runs on the same trails so I'm in need of a new location for my next one.

Weekly ReCap:

Total Miles: 35
Long Run: 15
# Of Runs: 5
Avg.Miles: 7

Making A Commitment

After months of talking about running my first 50K I finally made a decision. I had been thinking all along that I would run the Pisgah 50K in September. It seemed like the logical choice. It's a Grand Tree race, meaning I can accumulate more points in the race series. It's also a relatively short 2.5 hour drive to New Hampshire's Pisgah State Park. More importantly, a few of my trail running friends will be running it making for a fun day overall. It was settled, or so I thought. It turns out my wife's school has an event scheduled on the same day as Pisgah. Ugh! Time to come up with Plan B.

Finding an ultra in New England is not an easy thing especially when it needs to fit into your overall training plan. My 50K attempt is step toward running the Stone Cat 50 mile in November so the race date is of some importance to me. I would like to have enough time to recover from the 50K and still have time to ramp up my training for the 50M. After much searching I've committed myself ("committed myself", that sounds about right) to running the Green Lakes Endurance Run 50K in Fayetteville, NY. It's not my 1st choice but it's the best I could come up with under the circumstances.

Here's what I like about it:

1. I've never run there before so it will be new and exciting experience for me.
2. Based on the photos I've seen, the Green Lakes area is a beautiful place to run.
3. Most of the race course looks very runnable.
4. It's a multi-loop course eliminating the need for drop bags.
5. The field has been small the past two years so it should be a low-key fun event. (Note: Valmir Nunes, winner of the 2007 Badwater Ultramarathon, (where he crushed the course record), was in the area last year on unrelated travel. He entered the 100K race and won by 2 hours. Probably just an easy training run for him!

Here's what I don't like about it:

1. It's a 5+ hour drive to the race requiring an overnight stay at a minimum. Logistically, away races make things a little more difficult and stressful.
2. It's a multi-loop race. If I'm hurting it will be easier to drop at the start/finish area. On the up side, Stone Cat is also 4 loops so this will be good mental training to push pass the start/finish line when all you really want to do is stop.
3. The race is in August. Heat and humidity are very likely to be factors in the race. I am a terrible heat runner. If it's hot, I'll be jumping in the lake, not running around it! My hydration/nutrition intake will have to be spot on or I'll suffer greatly.

Picking the race was the easy part. Now I have to train for it.

Monthly Training Update - June

This was my best month of running in two years topping out at 164 miles. That’s the most I run since June 2007 when I ran 235 miles. Four days later I won the 50-59 age division in a 5K race on July 4, 2007. Then I didn’t run another step for seven months due to a few medical problems, some of which still persist. I’m so much slower now than I was back then but still I’m very thankful to be running again, at any pace. I don’t think I will ever regain what was lost, but that won’t stop me from trying.

June ReCap:

Total Miles: 164
Longest Run: 21
# of Runs: 18
Avg. Miles: 9.1

I saw three turkeys during my run along Muddy River today. It’s the same three that like to wander around the Campus of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They are big and ugly. No wonder I only eat them once a year.

Lynn Woods Run

Another Wednesday, another tempo run in Lynn Woods and another mad dash through Boston’s rush hour traffic. I made it to the woods 10 minutes before the start of the race despite leaving work 15 minutes early. Sometimes I wonder if trying to run a race from work is worth the stress involved in getting there. Once the run starts I forget all about the horrendous drive so I guess it’s worth it, maybe.

There was another good turnout for the race (127 runners) including the Lynn Woods Crew and several folks from GAC. I thought I might see Michelle or Emily this week but they weren’t there. I did see Paul Y who had just finished up a 2.5 mile warm up. I was happy to catch up with him after the race. It’s the first time our paths have crossed since Northern Nipmuck in early April. A cool guy and a fast runner!

It was wet, humid and still misting when the race started. The eighth mile course was mainly on dirt fire roads with one extended section of single-track on Boulder Path. The footing was good overall and really not much mud considering it has been raining off and on for four days. I went out slow like I have in the past few runs here. I just wanted to run 8 something pace and not get caught up in racing other runners.

After passing several runners in the first 1.5 miles I found myself in no-mans land. There was a large group of runners about 50 yards ahead of me. Their pace was just slightly faster than mine and I considered pushing it hard to close the gap and then try to hang with them for the rest of the race. Notice I said considered. After I thought about it, I decided to just stick with the plan and run even splits even if it meant running alone.

I ran 8:50s most of the way and then picked it up for the final mile. There were two runners ahead of me that I could have run down but I resisted the temptation to go all out and just brought it home with a strong, steady finish. Next week is Tour de Lynn Woods II. I am going to talk with the RD to see if he’ll let me set the course. If so, you’ll be in for a real treat!

Hope to see you there….