Notes
I was invited to be part of the AGC Maine Ultra Runnahs team by Bob Poirier. This was the 6 person team. There was also a standard 12 person team the "Runnahs". Our team was me, Bob, Chad Allen, Dave, Christine, and Kristina. Christine's husband Jacob was our driver.
The 3 vans left at different times on Thursday to get to the condos at Attitash Village where we spent the night before the race. I rode in the first van that left at 2:00pm. I stayed in the biggest condo, where we all gathered for the pre race pasta meal, with Justin and Gene. Fun night getting to know each other and discussing running and the race. The team met at our condo at 8:30am for breakfast, organize all food and stuff, and decorate each van. Then we took off for Bretton Woods. We got checked in and got ready for the Runnahs to start at 11:15am. Joey was their first runner, a younger kid who was pretty fast. The first leg ran up and down the mountain. We cheered him at the start and at the 1st transition point. Hung around and ate lunch until Chad started for our team at 12:15pm. It was a bright sunny day and quickly warming up. Luckily I was the last one to run for team, which was scheduled to be a 9:20pm start, so I didn't have to run in the heat of the day. Chad took off at a steady pace and was second in his wave at the 1st transition. We cheered him through the second transition, which were trails around Mt. Washington hotel. Then he hit the road for 2 more legs. We rode in the van to support Chad he was really hot and just wanted to keep on running. We stopped at the transition area where Christine would start. There was a nice pond there for Chad to take a dip in when he finished. He was pretty overheated. Christine took off for the longest leg of the race. So for the rest of the race the mantra was support the runner about mid way between transition areas, then again at a pass through transition area, and again mid way if necessary. We slowed down as we drove past the runner to make sure they were ok. We always arrived at the runner exchange transitions in plenty of time. Below is the summary of my 3 segments which were each 2 legs.
Legs 13-14 – Started at around 9:20pm. I was pretty anxious to get going after riding in the van all day watching everyone else run. The exchange was at a school and the Runnahs team was waiting for us there. Denise had left about 20 minutes earlier. It was cool night but not cold, had on a tank top and wore my water belt with a GU. I took a GU just before I started. Got into the transition area and soon Kristina came along and slapped the bracelet on me and away I went. I ran pretty fast but knew I had 11 miles to run. Ran down the road and through and construction area before taking a right turn. Looked at my watch to check my pace and it was all zeros, shit! I forgot to start the watch. I wasn’t worried about the miles, it was a 4.5 mile leg, I mostly just wanted to keep tabs on my pace. Got passed, murdered, by a young kid right after the turn. It was the only time I got passed. There weren’t any other runners around, but soon I came upon a guy running slow and passed him for my first kill. But again, no one in sight. I thought I could see someone with a green blinker but it was really far away and figured it must have been the van with the obnoxious green blinking light on top, and I couldn’t see it all the time. The course turned right again and after awhile I could see the green blinker again, it was a runner. I took a while to reel her in but I finally passed. From then on the course had some rolling hills. A few times I would see red blinkers and think it was another kill, but it turned out to be blinkers on the signs warning drivers about runners on the road. Eventually I caught up with a few people and passed them but they were really spaced apart. I don’t remember the pass through transition very well, I think it was at another school but I just took some water and had my GU. Then I stopped my watch and reset it to track each leg separately. The van stopped down the road aways but I told them I was ok. I got passed by a couple guys but I passed a few myself. There were a few more runners on this leg. There were a couple good size climbs. Towards the end I was faked out by the street lights I thought were car headlights at the top of a hill and had a big climb, but the course stayed flat. The exchange was at a school and I cruised in and handed off to Chad. I was pretty beat but it was a fast effort. I rested a minute and then we had to go. I had my towel in the van and waited until the next transition to change. Bob told me when I started Denise had a 20 minute head start and now the gap was only 5 minutes.
We knew Chad would be able to pass Rob from the Runnahs in his leg, which he did, but Rob came in shortly after. Chad handed off to Christine who was up against Peter. This leg was all uphill. Peter passed Christine back but she did ok. The next match up was Dave against Joey. Joey is probably faster but we thought he would be tired, this was a 9 mile leg, and figured Dave could pass him. We stopped halfway to wait and give Dave some water. Just before he showed up Joey went by. He was still ahead but the gap was smaller. Dave took some water and said he felt good. We drove on to head for the next exchange but soon came upon a kid waving his shoe at us. Jacob stopped and asked if he had a blowout. The kid had rolled his ankle off the edge of the pavement and sprained it pretty bad. He needed a ride to his van waiting just down the road. He got in and was hurting pretty bad. Kristina said she was going to text Andrea, which I thought was strange, why would Andrea care. A short ways down the road the kid said there’s my van. It was a Northeastern Van. We pulled in behind and the kid hobbled over. As he was getting out Kristina said hey wait that wasn’t Joey. We laughed and said no! She thought it was Joey and that is why she was texting Andrea. As she was texting her back, Andrea called all wound up, but Kristina said it was a false alarm. It was hilarious. Later I asked Joey how his ankle was, he wasn’t sure what had happened so I explained it to him and he thought it was funny. Dave beat Joey by a lot and we stayed ahead of them the rest of the race. They caught up some and finished about an hour behind us.