Rim to Rim at the Inaugural Many On The Genny

I’m not sure when exactly it was that #TrailsRoc cofounder Eric Eagan said "Hey, why isn’t there a race that circumnavigates Letchworth, like a rim-to-rim race around the Grand Canyon of the East?" When I first caught wind of the race last fall, I was beyond psyched. After a rambling adventure run around the park two years ago, I had a vague notion to organize a fat-ass run that circles the gorge and covers all of the most scenic park trails. The fat-ass idea never made it any further than thinking "Yeah, it would be cool to see the whole park in one day."

Many On The Genny is a point-to-point trail race that starts at the Mt Morris Dam Visitor Center on the northwest side of Letchworth. The course follows several different trails and a little of the park road southwest down to Lower Falls, crossing the Genesee on the only footbridge within the park. The aid station just before the bridge marks the halfway point of the course. After crossing the bridge, runners take some side trails and a dirt road to reach the Finger Lakes Trail Letchworth Branch, then follow the FLT northeast to the Visitor Center opposite the gorge from where they started. The start and finish are about a quarter-mile apart as the crow flies, separated by the Genesee River and a 500-foot-deep canyon. The quickest way to travel from the start to the finish is to

Bringing It All Back Home: Cayuga Trails Take 4

PC: Steve Gallow

I could hear the siren song of the Treman gorges calling me back. On a 50-mile course that’s thrice chewed me up and spit me out, it was inevitable I’d return to and face the known peril of Cayuga Trails. Lucifer’s Steps were calling, and the tune was nearly palpable. And hence my quest once again for a 10-hour finish. This was my fourth straight year running the Cayuga Trails 50, and the fourth time it's served as the USATF 50-Mile Trail Championship. In 2015 I narrowly missed going under 10 hours after a rough second loop. Last year, my training was there but some early nutritional mistakes put me in a hole and I finished way off my potential. Based on my training over the first half of this year, it was all but given. I fully expected to run somewhere around 9:15. That is, until I learned of some late course changes a few days before the race. Ian mixed things up a bit compared to previous years, leading to two significant changes in the route. A flat, half-mile of grass and park road adjacent to the start/turnaround was replaced with some hilly singletrack through an old growth forest a few miles in. Double that over two loops, and it meant two miles of rolling hills

Thom B 52k Trail Run 2017

With Cayuga Trails 50 just over the horizon, I signed myself up for the Thom B Trail Runs 52k. The small, local race is a four-looper around Hammond Hill State Forest. It would serve as a supported long run three weeks out from CT50, giving me a chance to test out gear and fueling in a race situation. One week prior to the Thom B, I committed to throwing caution to the wind and actually racing the 52k rather than running it leisurely. Hayley and I were leaving the next day for a week's vacation in the Pacific Northwest. I figured I wouldn't be running much during the R&R and would have plenty of time to recover from a harder 31-mile effort.

With that in mind, I find myself at the starting line on a drizzly Saturday morning, staring up a rutted-out, mud-soaked dirt road with the goal of running under 5:00.

T-minus two minutes to liftoff, and all of the sudden RD Joel,comes roaring up Hammond Hill Road in a rented box truck. He hops out the cab way too cheerfully for someone who's getting soaked in the rain at 6:58 a.m. and has already been setting up aid stations for the past hour. Joel—alter ego Mr. Hector, har har—hollers some pre-race announcements about how all us mild-mannered trail runners become fools the second we pin on a race bib, and reminds us not to do anything foolish like getting lost in the forest. Our main job is to ensure that the Search and Rescue team stays bored all morning.

Not Quite Dawn to Dusk at The Seneca7

The Seneca7 is like a scaled-down version of the Ragnar. Teams of seven race on the roads and circle Seneca Lake in a counter-clockwise direction, mostly sticking to New York State Routes 14 and 414, for 77.7 miles. Each team member completes three legs, passing the baton﹘or in this case, an early-1990s snap bracelet﹘to the next runner at the conclusion of each leg. The other six members who aren't running at any given time have a chance to rest while they travel from one exchange to next next in their team vehicle. (Unless of course, the team registered in the bike division. Then they cycle between exchanges and don't really get to rest at all!) The road route starts and ends in Geneva, NY, and runs through the heart of the Finger Lakes wine country while providing panoramic views of the lake and it's opposite shoreline. Several of the exchanges are even at some of the better known wineries.

When Hayley first proposed the idea of getting a relay team together for the Seneca7, I was immediately intrigued. I'd never been on a relay team before, and I'd heard a lot of good things about the event. We were easily able to recruit four other local friends﹘Ruth, Norah, Juan, and Nate. Juan's father-in-law, Jack, took the final spot. Jack is a veteran runner who'd previously convinced Juan into to take up running by registering for a ten-mile mountain run somewhere in the northern

It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding: Scenes From the Breakneck Point 42k

Midway through the marathon, I looked down at the watch on my left arm and watched the seconds tick by. 3:04:59, 3:05:00, 3:05:01... "No BQ today. Ratz."

In fact, I was barely past the half marathon distance.

Then I took another good look at my right arm﹘the one I'd torn up into a bloody mess two hours and nine miles ago. "This ain't Boston. This is Beast Coast."

I'd been in a good groove on the first major decent around mile four, where the course drops 1,000 feet in just over a mile. One moment I'm enjoying the cool, crisp air as my legs can finally rest from the first big climb and the rocky, rolling slopes. The next moment I'm picking dirt from an open wound on my palm while the road rash (trail rash?) on my forearm tastes like burning. I guess it goes to show that at a race like Breakneck, you can't lose focus for even a split second.

***

Held in mid-April, the Breakneck Point Trail Runs 42k and 21k serves as the Upstate New York trail and ultra running de facto season opener. It's the first major trail race of the year to have a regionally competitive field and a large turnout

A Weekend on The Ridge

The Springlerack Fat Ass is basically a long, off-road group run through the Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska State Park on the Shawangunk Ridge. It's a chance to see some pretty cool scenery while completing a challenging route. On a clear day atop the 2,200-foot ridge, one can see the vast expanse of Hudson Valley to the east and the Catskill High Peaks to the west. Runner's can start at whatever time they want, with the goal of everyone finishing around 4 p.m. This was Mike Siudy's fifth year organizing the run.

The trails were closed in the western potion of Minnewaska thanks to a forest fire last summer. That meant this year's Springletrack was a modified, shorter course. We were to run from Spring Farm in the Mohonk Preserve down to the Jenny Lane parking lot on Route 44/55—a distance of about 20 miles. The traditional Springletrack course is about 25 miles, traversing over High Point, through Witch's Hole State Forest, and finishing further east at Berme Road Park in Ellenville.

I ran the fat ass with my friend Adam two years ago, and we ran together again this year. The weather was unbelievably nice in 2015, with some great views from atop the Shawangunk Ridge and trails that were mostly dry. We weren't so fortunate this time around. Temperatures were in the low-to-mid 30s and most of the singletrack was covered in mud or

Altra King MT Review

Altra as a brand is known for two things—all their shoes have a wide toe box and a zero-drop platform. Their newest trail model, the King MT, is no different. It's a shoe designed for wet, muddy, and gnarly terrain. Weighing in at 10.2 oz and with a 19 mm stack height, the King is Altra's lowest profile trail shoe and best compares with their Superior. It retails at $140. 

A few months ago I received a pair of King MTs to try out, with no expectations of a favorable review—or for that matter, any review at all. I've put about 100 miles on the pair so far, over various types of terrain, and here are my thoughts.

When I first slipped the shoes on, I was pleased to see that the King MT fits true to size. Previous Altras I've owned ran a half size small, but the King doesn't have this issue. Altra's new EGO cushion, which runs the entire length of the shoe, felt much softer and more comfortable that the brand's traditional EVA cushion. The roomy toe box allows the toes to splay—something I've really grown accustomed to since I first began wearing Altras a few years ago. 

The main attraction is the traction. With deep, 6 mm lugs and a sticky Vibram outsole, the shoe handles very well on muddy, slushy, and snowy singletrack. The aggressive outsole does well to prevent slipping and sliding on hilly singletrack,

On Going "Old School"

The drab, grey, winter morning in Upstate New York was nothing to write home about. As I coasted along the shoulder of the asphalt, I'd sometimes veer over a little onto the two-foot-wide stretch of dirt alongside the campus road. The feel of some dirt underfoot, combined with a little imagination, helped to mentally transport me to some faraway singletrack—away from the cars and the parking lots and the generically designed state office buildings. The daydream would only last a few seconds. Sometimes it was the sudden impact as my feet returned to pavement, and other times it was a 25 mile-per-hour blast of wind to the face, that would snap me back into the present moment. Whatever the reason, I'd find myself back at the University of Albany in the midst of another five-lap jaunt around around the campus roads.

2017 was my fifth time at the Hudson Mohawk Road Runners Winter Marathon, and the first where I was able to wear just shorts and a long-sleeve base layer shirt. Another year, another 26.2 miles around a campus with zero scenery in less-than-ideal running conditions.

Somewhere during the second lap my mind began to wander as I actively searched for a reason why I continued to run this marathon year after year. The only scenery is a bunch of brick buildings and some highway traffic and the occasional a

Cast-a-Shadow 6-Hour

It is a crisp, clear morning on the second of February. In a rural Pennsylvania town, a large crowd gathers around a nervous rodent, anxiously awaiting the critter's claim. A claim that may or may not clash with opinions of the country's top scientists. Confined to his tiny cell throughout most of the proceedings, the rodent is released from imprisonment by his caretakers—an elite group simply known as The Inner Circle. For the 131st time, the age-defying Punxsutawney Phil is placed atop a stump on Gobbler's Knob. It may be the truth, or it may be "alternative facts" drawn up to serve the self-interests of The Inner Circle—no man can say with certainty what the groundhog sees or does not see, and some may dispute how much of a shadow must reach his line of sight—that leads to an official decree across the land. To the rejoice of some, the dismay of most, and in contradiction to many a meteorologist, it is officially declared that winter will extend an additional six weeks.

So why the hell am I telling you this?!!

The Cast-a-Shadow 6-Hour Snowshoe Race has a few quirky rules, making it unique from a traditional timed race. The course is a 2.5-mile loop around Black Creek Park, located just west of Rochester, NY, in the town of Chili. The loop is pretty flat, with only 100 feet of gain. Like all timed races, the objective is straight forward—cover as many miles as possible within the allotted time. The low-key event is put on by Goose Adventure Racing, a race production business and

A Lesson in Attitude

[I originally wrote this in January of 2016 as a guest post for another blog, but it ended up never getting published. I've decided to publish it here, during the 2017 running of the BoB. My full race report from the 2016 race is here, along with some New York State history.]  

I never thought running 50 miles would be easy. Ever. But when the course is a pancake flat, double out-and-back towpath, it can't get much easier.

Just past the first turnaround, only 13 miles in, I already felt my strength slipping away. I knew that running out of gas was imminent, but to slow down so early by so much was almost embarrassing. Even the amount of effort it took to avoid slowing to a walk felt unsustainable. A mere three weeks into the new year and I was already about to fail at my number one running goal for 2016. Completely frustrated, I wanted this to be over after it had only just begun.

Let's back up a bit. Over the last several years, I've had the same primary goal for each year regardless of fitness level,

Race Schedule For 2017

With the huge spike in ultrarunning popularity, many races now fill up quickly and one must sometimes commit to events up to a year in advance. Planning race weekends and training blocks eight to twelve months in advance can be a daunting task. Fortunately, Upstate NY and the surrounding regions have a nice variety of events to choose from, with new races popping up every year. We're lucky to no shortage of beautiful and scenic courses. 

Jamaica Pond in Boston, during a New Years Day run.

2016 was a really solid year of running for me, with the race season ending on a very high note at the Oil Creek 100 in early October. The last two months of the year were kind of a setback, as I was slowed by Achilles tendinosis and didn't get to run much in November or December.

Getting back into a good flow in late December took a few weeks, but now I'm starting to build back up and capitalize on the strong base fitness that I had worked toward during Oil Creek training. I don't think I lost a ton of fitness during those two months—cross training and strength training served as damage control. Now I'm looking to gain some strength and speed for the upcoming season. Here's what's on tap for the year.

February 4: Cast-a-Shadow 6-Hour Snowshoe Race

I've yet to run a time-based race, a Rochester-area trail race, or a snowshoe race—so why not check off all three off in a single day? This is contingent on getting a few more solid snowshoe training runs in before then. The course is a two-mile

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

 Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

-David Bowie

January 8, 1947 - January 10, 2016.

At the risk of coming off as "all about me," I'll keep it brief. 

It was late August when I managed a huge, positive lifestyle shift in the form of a new job. For two and a half years I'd been commuting from Ithaca to Binghamton and back five days a week, working overnight every third weekend and sometimes getting home at 1:00 a.m. on weekdays. All that time in the car was beginning to take its toll, so I consider myself fortunate

A Look Back at 2016

Another trip around the sun, another 366 days of running full of ups, downs, plateaus, and everything in between. Overall, I had a good year with noticeable improvement in the longer stuff and a few PRs on the road. This entry is a brief recap of each race I ran during the year. So without any further ado, let's dive right in to one of those good ol' Year In Review posts. (Disclaimer: Since this blog is mainly about running, it will remain free of any political rhetoric, social commentary, or pining over our beloved lost celebrities. I actually found it difficult not to mix in any opinions about things unrelated to running.)

January 10: FLRC January Track Meet 5,000m and Winter Chill 5k #1

After ending 2015 with a two second PR in the 5k, I was still in the speedwork spirit come January. With that in mind, I ran my first ever track race—the 5,000m—at the Finger Lakes Runners Club's January Indoor Track Meet. I suffered hard through 25 200-meter laps to finish last in my heat in a pretty unremarkable time, at least for me. Deciding I needed some more tempo work that day, and not wishing to resign myself to the indoors, I drove across town to Cass Park for the first of

Latergram: A Retrospective Look at the 2016 Breakneck Point Trail Runs

Looking back toward early 2016, I realized I never wrote any kind of a race report about the Breakneck Point Trail Runs back in April. By now, seven months later, my foggy memory will have distorted the experience more than a heavily filtered Instagram post. When registration went for Breakneck 2017 went live a few weeks ago, it was a stark reminder of just how incredible that course is and how enjoyable the marathon was this year. It was by far the "longest" marathon I've done, and the only one that crams 10,000 feet of vertical into 26.2 miles. (There's also a half marathon option.) Rather than write an

When Eyes Collide Head-On With Graveyards: A Short Story

His confidence grew as he moved further and further along in his training plan. He felt the years of accumulated base-fitness and six months of race specific training were finally about to pay off. Still, he was wholly aware that his fitness goal was a difficult one. Sure, he'd finished a few ultra-distance trail races before, but the Oil Creek 100 in October would be a true test of endurance and perseverance, and his goal was to simply complete a 100-mile race for the first time.

With a promising weekend weather forecast, Lee Henry made the four hour drive

Strike Oil or Move On: The Oil Creek 100

Prologue

"Strike oil or move on." In those five short words, the race slogan sums up nicely what the Oil Creek 100 is all about. Just like the region's oil barons of the 1860s, you either make it happen now or keep going forward until you do. No excuses. No whining.

The 100 mile route is three laps around Oil Creek State Park on the Gerard Hiking Trail. Each loop is 50k. After the third loop, runners complete the Boughton Acid Works Going Home Loop to make it 100.6 miles. A single loop 50k race and a two loop 100k race take place concurrently, with each starting time separated by an hour. The 100-miler is a Western States qualifier and serves as the RRCA 100 Mile Championship for the state of Pennsylvania. Runners have 32 hours to cover the 100 miles, with intermediary cutoff times at specified checkpoints throughout.

The 5 a.m. start for the 100-mile race felt like anything but a 5 a.m. start. An all around jovial mood and lack of nervous air kept the atmosphere light. I figured I was suffering from either a severe case of hyperconfidence or hypopreparation.¹ Whatever the reason, the starting line felt more like a turkey trot with 170 of my best friends than the beginning of 100 off-road miles over the next 20 to 30 hours.

LED strobe lights lined the street behind Titusville Middle School. Any unsuspecting, low flying helicopter pilot would have spotted a hoard of headlamps bouncing down an illuminated runway just after 5:00 on that Saturday morning. There's no oil here, so let's get moving. And just like that, the first few physical steps toward a second belt buckle were now behind me.

I.

The first mile and a half of each loop runs through a residential neighborhood on paved roads and a bike path, before hitting the rocky, narrow singletrack of the Gerard Hiking Trail. Having learned the course a month prior to race day really helped with my pacing. I ran the asphalt section comfortably and reached the singletrack with only a few dozen runners ahead

Oil Creek 100 Course Scouting

With the Oil Creek 100 on the horizon, I decided to hunker down and get serious about preparing for the race in order to set myself up for a sub-24 hour finish. Two weekends ago, with t-minus four weeks until game time, I drove out to the course to get familiar with it. I'd never been to Oil Creek State Park in Western Pennsylvania, and only knew the course as it is presented on the race website. With Hayley out of town and me with no other commitments, it seemed like an opportune moment to get a few long runs in on the course during the peak of my training.

The Oil Creek 100 consists of three 50K loops around the park. Each loop starts and ends at Titusville Middle School. Runners follow a mile and a half of paved roads and bike paths to the trailhead, traverse the park loop comprised of mostly rolling singletrack, then finish the loop following the bike path and roads back to the school. Three such loops total only 93 miles, so runners then must complete the seven mile "Going Home Loop" to finish the distance. This mini loop follows the same bike path as before, plus five new miles of singletrack. The event also boasts a single loop 50K race and a two-loop 100K. The 100 mile race is a Western States qualifier, and serves as the RRCA 100 Mile Championship race for the state

Virgil Crest Obituary

Virgil Crest Ultras

September 20, 2008 - September 20, 2015

The Virgil Crest Ultras (née Iroquois Trail 100) of Virgil, NY, passed away last week at age seven following a year-long battle with local land owners. On September 20, after several hours of heavy overnight rain, Virgil's final running came to an end peacefully in the afternoon sunlight. It left behind several young children, including Cayuga Trails, age three, and infant twins Breakneck Point and Whiteface, plus a close older cousin, the Forest Frolic. Virgil Crest was predeceased by Virgil Mountain Madness in 2009.

Born in September 2008, the race was one of only a handful of 100-milers at the time, and quickly rose to prominence. The Iroquois Trail Ultras saw some high level of competition in it's 50- and 100-mile distances, and changed its name to the Virgil Crest Ultras in 2010. Known for its punishing ascents and descents on the Greek Peak ski slopes, Virgil Crest gained a level of notoriety as one of the most difficult east coast ultras.

The family would like to thank the runners and selfless volunteers who made the race possible over the years. Calling hours will be held year-round, 24/7, as the forest trails are never closed. In lieu of flowers, please remember to power hike hard up the slopes and avoid leaving trash on the trails.

Published on September 28, 2015

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Belt Buckle

It sits alone, one of its kind, longing for the companionship of others of its ilk. Yes, since taking up residence on a desk in a spare room last September, the Virgil Crest 100 Mile Belt Buckle has spent many a night alone, no other buckle in the vicinity. This buckle has many cousins in the form of finishers medals, pins, plates, and pint glasses. But the twelve ounces of solid pewter that is the embodiment of a hundred mile journey remains the first and only of its species in this abode.

Many months ago, I got to thinking of what I could do to provide a more nurturing environment for this treasured inanimate object, and so turned to Maslow's third level of human needs. With the beloved Virgil Crest recently departed from this world (see obituary below), it is impossible to bring home a brother or sister to the buckle, so a friend of similar nature will have to suffice. Something that represents hard labor, struggle, and sacrafice, at a level comparable with the Virgil buckle. Something that must be earned and is far from guaranteed. Something that, when looked at and held, will provide a catalyst for a great flood of memories—some good, some bad, and some ugly—that will make for spectacular campfire storytelling

On Monsters and Devils

The Monster 

 

You really can't find a better marathon for $35. No fancy swag, shiny medals, or chip timing. Just 4,000 feet of gain over singletrack and some park roads with some good people and good food at the finish. Welcome to The Monster Marathon.

The original Monster course was a double out-and-back on the Finger Lakes Trail at Kennedy State Forest in Virgil. For logistical reasons, including some trail rerouting and the closing of Gatherings Restaurant and Event Center where the race was staged, the race was relocated in 2015 to Robert Treman State Park in Ithaca. Despite the new location, the original race format remains the same - a double out-and-back, (or single out-and-back for the accompanying half marathon), low entry fees, and handicap start times. These attributes are what gives the Finger Lakes Runners Club's only marathon a unique flavor, setting The Monster apart from most other trail races.

With the age and gender-graded start times, runners start off in waves. Older athletes start earlier and the ladies go before the men. Some sort of mathematical formula is used to calculate each runner's head start over the "open field," with start times calculated down to the minute. This creates competition between older and younger runners. Final standings are