Weekly Log: September 21 to 27

First week of practice.

Monday: 5 Miles

Was bummed to find out I still had lab, which really shortened my running window/prevented me from making practice. Contemplated whether to run at all, but compromised between a real run and a day off by doing an easy 5. Asked to Mike to go, we ran cemetery laps together for 4 then I added on a mile. Easy run, felt solid.

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Went to morning "practice" only to find out I was the only one there and coach had no plans for me. Decided to take the opportunity to run trails, combined Oyster river trail, thompson forest and west foss farm to make a nice loop. Felt pretty good, run went by quickly. Nice cool temps in the high 40s.

Wednesday: 9 Miles

Made practice today, showed up exactly at 3 with Andrew. The other guys decided to start a minute early and not wait for us, so it was just us. Coach said trails so went exploring in East Foss farm, lots of turnarounds getting semi-lost. Ended up being unable to find the connection to Bennett road I was seeking and giving up. Felt pretty gassed towards the end and had no desire to add an extra mile. Quite warm out.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Hot again, coach wanted trails again. Bunch of guys this time, led them on a dino farm. Felt pretty good and ran a bit faster than I normally would. Unknown to me, everyone else didn't feel great and wanted me to slow down. Aiden and I added a 2 mile loop in college woods to get 10.

Friday: 10 Miles

Bennett with first part trails, last 6 roads. Earl pushed the pace and I had to reach a bit, not very comfortable. Did some strides which felt horrible.

Saturday: 16 Miles

Planned a nice coastal road loop in Rye and Portsmouth starting in Odiorne Point state park. Pretty nice run and felt very good strong the whole way. Missed the turn towards Newcastle and had to improvise and change the route a bit. Felt really good and ready to close fast the last few miles but for some reason Earl was worried about dropping the other guys by too much so I decided not to anger him and ran with him. 

Sunday: 11 Miles

Bear Brook state park in Allenstown. Attempted a specific route but got very confused to the high amount of trail and unmarked intersections (some were marked, many were not). Ended up adding extra mileage running in circles before more or less figuring it out (not really, but at least was no longer lost). The second half I was a lot less confused but mountain bikers were everywhere. Constantly running off trail if possible, many times stepping off the trail to wait for them. Was shocked that hardly anyone said anything, let alone thank you when I did this. Definitely some people who came off as rude. Fortunately some of the bikers towards the end were very friendly, but unfortunately I had to stop maybe 5-10 times/mile towards the end, really killing my momentum. Some fun trails here, will have to run here with Forest Mackenzie as he knows the trails well and when there's a lot less bikers.

Weekly Total: 71 Miles

YTD Total: 2,475 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Pleased to hit 70 for the first time in 6 weeks or so, and to have a pretty solid road long run for the first time in even longer. Except for a few runs, generally felt pretty good and mostly healthy which is hopefully the way things should be.

Weekly Lowlight: Nothing terrible. Hot days, feeling tights, still some foot discomfort, may have tweaked my other foot on Sunday.

Movies Watched: The Devil All the Time

Ranking Every Mountain I've Summitted: Part 1- The Bottom Tier (60-41)

Over the last few years, I've developed a passion for hiking, and more recently, running up mountains. It's been a lot of fun going around and summitting various peaks in the Northeast. Unfortunately, I have yet to have any mountain adventures outside of this region, but there's also a lot to see here. I hope to expand on my current list of summits and explore other areas of the US, but for now I still have a decent list of summits. Not all mountains are made equal, and that is quite clear when comparing small viewless mountains in southern New England with alpine ones further north. I enjoy rankings like this, and with many new mountains added this year, it seems appropriate to do this as I have no future mountain plans until next summer, and while I could add a few to the list, it's fair to say my mountain running "season" is over. To rank the mountains, I came up with 4 categories that represent how great a mountain can be: the views, the summit, the trails, and the elevation. I rated the first three categories out of 10, and the elevation was mostly used to distinguish bigger mountains from smaller ones. For example, some of the Acadia NP mountains would get high marks in all three categories but it wouldn't feel right to rank them ahead of any white mountains, as the whites are much higher. I assigned the following elevation ratings: 8000+ feet=5, 5,000+ feet=4, 3,000+ feet= 3, 1,500+ feet= 2, 0-1499 feet= 1. A perfect score would be a 35, scoring 10s in every category and being above 8,000 feet. 

Note that with all my rankings, this is completely subjective and based off my experiences there. I unfortunately had to exclude the following mountains as it was very foggy the days I summitted them and I am unable to provide a view rating: Moosilaukee, Jackson, Willey, Webster, Cannon, Bare (MA), Greylock, Holyoke, Hitchcock. Here are the rankings for the 60 mountains I've done, specifically the bottom 20 so the post isn't extremely long. I'll try to remember to update this if I end up adding a few in the next months. I tried to put photos where I could. All photos were taken by me except otherwise noted but I didn't add any photos taken by someone who wasn't with me.

60. Round Mountain (CT)

Elevation: 2,297'

# of Summits: 2 (July 2018, July 2020)

View Rating: 3

Summit Rating: 2

Trail Rating: 3

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 10

(Stolen from the Gazelle Running Blog)

Coming in last is Round Mountain in Salisbury, CT just south of the Massachusetts border. It really feels like a subpeak of Mt. Frissell and likely does not much prominence. While Round Mountain isn't a bad mountain, there's just nothing remarkable about it and it isn't one I'd recommend. There's only trail going towards it which has been horribly overgrown both times I've done it, the views are mostly obscured by small trees and the summit itself is simply a pile of rocks on the side of the trails. The summit is fairly tight and definitely not a great place to stop. Nothing wrong with round mountain, just one of the least exciting mountains on the list.

59. Saddle Ball Mountain (MA)

Elevation: 3,238'

# of Summits: 1 (April 2018)

View Rating: 1

Summit Rating: 1

Trail Rating: 5

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 10

As the second highest peak in Massachusetts, Saddle Ball mountain seems really cool but is nothing more than a high point in the middle of the woods, without even as much as a cairn to mark it. The worst summits are the ones you don't realize you summited until you start going down. There are no viewpoints anywhere along the way. However, the trail that goes over Saddle Ball and towards Greylock is still a cool ridgeline trail (just below treeline) through pine forest which gives it the edge over Round Mountain.

58. Mount Megunticook (ME)

Elevation: 1,385'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2018)

View Rating: 1

Summit Rating: 1

Trail Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 11

It's a shame to rank mount megunticook so low, because Camden Hills is a really nice area and has other great summits and views in the park. The trails around Megunticook are a lot of fun, technical and steep but minimal scrambling (quite runnable). While nearby Ocean Lookout is technically on the slope of the mountain and is a great view, the summit itself is nothing more than a cairn in the woods (there may be a sign as well). Since Ocean lookout is not directly on the way to the summit and there are many routes to the summit that could be viewless, it's not the most exciting mountain even if there are nice views nearby and great trails.

57. Mount Frissell (MA)

Elevation: 2,454'

# of Summits: 2 (July 2018, July 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 1

Trail Rating: 4

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 12

Coming slightly ahead of Round Mountain, Frissell is very similar (Round is basically a subpeak on the slope of Frissell). It's still fairly unexciting as the summit is completely wooded/viewless but it gets a few points over Round as there are some cool steep rock slabs going up to it and there's a few decent lookouts just near the summit. 

56. West Peak (CT)

Elevation: 1,024'

# of Summits: 2 (June 2018, December 2019)

View Rating: 3

Summit Rating: 3

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 13

There's nothing wrong with West Peak, in fact, it's a rather nice hilly running spot (Hubbard Park) in Central Connecticut. There's a solid viewpoint at the summit, although not panoramic and the area is too urban for the views to be too special. 

55. Mount Tom (NH)

Elevation: 4,052'

# of Summits: 1 (June 2020)

View Rating: 2

Summit Rating: 3

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 14

While Mount Tom is a 4,000 footer, it's quite lacking in views or epic trail sections as the trail (an OAB to the summit), including the summit is completely wooded. There's at least a cairn marking it and it doesn't feel as tight as some other wooded summits on this list, but it's disappointing there's no clear overlook anywhere to get great views. You can kind of peek through the trees and barely see the landscape in the distance but there's no special views to stop for.

54. East Peak (CT)

Elevation: 976'

# of Summits: 2 (June 2018, December 2019)

View Rating: 3

Summit Rating: 5

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 15

(Stolen from the gazelle running blog)

As the second peak of the Hanging Hills, East Peak is very similar and close to West Peak. However, the summit is better as it's more open, giving a greater degree of views to take in, and castle craig, a stone building with stairs to the top adds a bit to it.

53. Mount Norwottuck (MA)

Elevation: 1,106'

# of Summits: 2 (April 2017, May 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 3

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 15

(Stolen from the Gazelle Running Blog)

The Holyoke range in Western Massachusetts doesn't rival the Berkshires in height, but are quite cool and interesting on their own right. However, each mountain in particular is pretty small and unremarkable. The ridgeline is great, and Norwottuck is the highest point of that. It offers a small summit with decent views towards Amherst, although it's not a very wide viewpoint. Trails are fun and steep but nothing special and feels very similar to many CT blue blazed trails.

52. Ragged Mountain (CT)

Elevation: 761'

# of Summits: 2 (July 2017, August 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 5

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 17

Despite being the smallest non-coastal mountain on the list, Ragged has some surprisingly nice lookouts and trails. There's some nice reservoirs on the west side of the mountain that make the views nicer. The trails are very technical and hard to run on, not my favorite (beds of jagged rock) but certainly unique. It's definitely a cool spot but the mountain just isn't big enough to rank higher.

51. Mount Tom (MA) 

Elevation: 1,201'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2018)

View Rating: 6

Summit Rating: 2

Trail Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 17

As a state reservation, Mount Tom is awesome, with a great mix of wooded trail, some technical and hilly, but still some flat trails around a pond. The highlight is easily the portion of the Metacomet-Monadnock trail, a 180 degree open technical trail along cliffs that goes for a mile which is probably one of the best stretches of trail in Massachusetts. There's decent valley views at the summit and along the ledges, nothing special due to the lack of height/amazing surrounding environment but similar to CT and other MA mtn views. Unfortunately as much as I like this place, the summit is very disappointing. There's radio towers all over, graffiti, cement, fences, and metal railings in poor condition. It's quite unpleasant to look at and really takes away from the natural beauty of the place.

50. Prospect Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 2,030'

# of Summits: 1 (September 2017)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 5

Trails Rating: 3

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 17

(Stolen from the gazelle running blog)

Prospect Mountain gets points over the last two as the views are more impressive, mostly from the extra elevation and more mountainous area at the south edge of the Adirondacks. Lake George downtown and the lake itself offer some variety in the views as well. However the trails are quite lacking, with a dearth of options and certain trails being poorly established/marked. There's an auto road to the summit which takes a little away from the summit itself.

49. Mount Rowe (NH)

Elevation: 1,680'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 6

Summit Rating: 3

Trails Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 17

Mount Rowe is essentially a side peak of Gunstock Mountain. The summit is fairly lame as it's wooded and marked by a radio tower, but there's a decent semi-open nearby ledge view. The biggest draw is probably the trails as the entire Belknap has a very well marked/established trail system with many option for each summit and a single trail traversing most of the range. 

48. Belknap Mountain (NH)

Elevation: 2,382'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 3

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 17

A few peaks over from Rowe, Belknap is the highest peak in the Belknap range and highest point in Belknap county. Like Rowe, the summit is wooded, although Belknap has a fire tower which offers okay, if somewhat obscured views (the views off the south slope are much better). The trails are slightly better than Rowe as Rowe has a service road for its portion of the Belknap Range trail and there's some cool open rock running.

47. Loon Mountain (NH)

Elevation: 3,065'

# of Summits: 3 (July 2016, July 2017, July 2018)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 5

Trails Rating: 3

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 19

(Photo from my mom)

While Loon offers great views of the some of the higher mountain peaks for miles, it can't escape the mediocre category due to the lack of real trails. The ski area summit doesn't really do it any favors either. It's easy to enjoy the views but generally isn't a great running or hiking spot, the biggest reason why the race there isn't especially fun/unique.

46. Mount Sunapee (NH)

Elevation: 2,726'

# of Summits: 1 (August 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 4

Trails Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 19

Sunapee, as ski resort, is pretty similar to Loon. The resort is smaller, the summit is smaller and the views are slightly worse. However, Sunapee gets the edge, as being a State Park, there are several singletrack trails on both slopes of the mountain which is a lot more fun than running up service roads.

45. Brace Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 2,310'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 4

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 19

For a smaller mountain, Brace has pretty nice valley views and a partially open grassy summit, both significantly better than the ones on nearby Mount Frissell and Round Mountain. However, the trails are mediocre in at least 2 of the 3 directions (I haven't gone south from there). Going towards on the S. Taconic trail is a fairly lame doubletrack and poorly marked trail and going east towards CT is an extremely overgrown trail many times of the year. Solid peak, but nothing more.

44. Long Mountain (MA)

Elevation: 920'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 3

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 19

Long Mountain is the easternmost peak of the Holyoke range, and despite being smaller than Norwottuck, the viewpoints around it are somewhat better and certainly much more open. The summit is wooded and unclear where it exactly is, so far from dramatic. The stretch of trail is a little more fun and exciting than the one over Norwottuck as well.

43. Bear Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 1,283'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2019)

View Rating: 6

Summit Rating: 6 

Trails Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1 

Overall Rating: 19

Bear Mountain in the Hudson Highlands is solid in every category. Decent views, large summit, and quality trails. However, it's not great in a single category. The views are partially obscured by bush growth in every direction. Many of the trail are manicured doubletrack, including part of the Appalachian trail. The summit is full of tourists who took the autoroad up. It's an enjoyable and easy mountain to summit, but is lacking in certain areas.

42. Wachusett Mountain (MA)

Elevation: 2,005'

# of Summits: 1 (June 2020)

View Rating: 4

Summit Rating: 4 

Trails Rating: 9

Elevation Rating: 2 

Overall Rating: 19

(Stolen from the Gazelle running blog)

With a grassy, open summit with radio towers, and not a lot of views due to growing vegetation, summiting Wachusett isn't the most special experience. What brings it up greatly is a large and generally fantastic trail system. There are many miles of diverse singletrack, from flat dirt on the base to very technical rock hopping and scrambling towards the top. The amount of trail and the technical factor is uncommon for the area and height of the mountain, which makes it all the more impressive. It's no surprise many Massachusetts mountain runners opt to run here often when they can't drive further up.

41. Mount Pierce (NH)

Elevation: 4,311'

# of Summits: 2 (June 2018, August 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 3 

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 3 

Overall Rating: 20

To honest, Pierce probably doesn't deserve to be this low. It's a 4000 footer and has some pretty good views nearby. It's just hard not to compare to the rest of the Presidentials, which are easily some of the best mountains in the Northeast, and Pierce is significantly worse in every way compared to them. There are decent views just past the summit, but unlike the other Presidentials, there is very little above treeline trail around Pierce. Due to this, there isn't really any of the breathtaking vistas found in the other presidential peaks. The summit is wooded although the woods aren't quite as dense as some other peaks so there are still sort of views. The trail to Eisenhower is awesome, fairly gradual while the trails descending towards Crawford notch are standard, steep and technical White mountain slopes. Pierce is a nice mountain, it just doesn't compare with its neighbors.

I'll stop here to make these posts manageable to make in the future. None of these are bad mountains, they're just generally not fantastic either. The next tier will focus on the middle 20 which are all pretty solid.

Weekly Log: September 14 to 20

 A bit of a more normal week, with no big weekend mountain activity. Possibly going to shift focus to road races and track time trials, practice starts next week so I'll have to see how my body holds up to more road running and workouts. Still kept it mostly on trail to stay healthy, but mixed in some roads to test out my foot.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Ran after waking up from apartment. Explored a new route going into Rollingsford, some pretty quiet and scenic country roads in the middle. Felt really good after a few heavy miles and averaged 6:32 pace.

Wednesday: 11 Miles

Mid-day trail run from A lot, as I've been doing the last two weeks as well. Ran out the same way, but added on extension loops of Dino farm (Demerritt hill farm, but everyone on the team calls it Dino farm because there's a dinosaur nature trail with a lot of dinosaurs cutouts), Major Powder Farm (not entirely sure what this land is but saw this sign leading up to it), and a mountain bike singletrack loop. Ended up getting an extra mile and feeling beat at the end. I officially do not like running on mountain bike twisty singletrack. Slow and just doesn't feel good or smooth at all. I'll take very technical over very twisty any day (okay, not on a wet day).

Thursday: 11 Miles

8 AM miles, parked at Madbury town hall like last thursday but this time I ran north into the kingman farm trails. Felt very low on energy (despite eating the same breakfast I've felt great many times on) early on and accidentally looping back to the start at mile 2 when I meant to do 7-8 miles before returning really killed my motivation. Was able to find the route for the most part after that but wasn't feeling the last two miles and cut it short. Decent trails, nothing special but not a bad place to run either.

3 miles PM post-lab. Was on campus for the second time this semester so it was convenient to run after. Forgot my watch and had to run around with my big phone which was a pain. Was going to do 4 but every field was being used and I didn't feel like running an extra mile anywhere else. Mostly in college woods. 

Friday: 11 Miles

Planned out this week to have 2 road runs with 2 trail "rest" (for my foot, not doing any runs specifically hard or easy right now) days in between. Roads again, this time ran to Dover Point with Andrew. Went a little too quick the second mile then felt smooth and went with it, resulting in another fast run that felt good, 6:31 pace. Cool scenic section near the bay with some great views, including running on a bridge for a little bit.

Saturday: 15 Miles

Really didn't need a long run this week as I've been doing longer runs everyday, but I've enjoyed the long trail efforts over the last few weekends and wanted to run in a new area. Was between running in Pawtuckaway, Bear Brook, and Agamenticus. All seemed good, but Pawtuckaway was especially appealing as a perimeter loop came out to 15 while the other two had about 25 mile perimeter loops. Started from Fundy Boat Launch, just before noon. I decided not to bring or stash water as the high was 61 and I figured I would be fine. Started with a mile of smooth doubletrack, followed by 2 miles of fairly technically and slow singletrack on shaw trail. Took a left towards south mountain, followed by a steep climb to the "summit" (these are more like hills). Walked up the fire tower, decided I would ignore the sign not to continue to the top as it was open and I wanted to get the better views, then awkwardly turned around when I ran into a park ranger. Ran down the mountain, and took some trails up to and over North mountain, another steep climb. Got confused a few times and went the wrong way but was able to reorient myself with adding much extra mileage. It really helped that there were trail maps at many intersections. Felt very sloppy on all the technical ascending and descending all day, shoes are getting worn out and there's a noticeable lack of traction on loose pine needles. Found the views off North mountain to be better in March than september which is not a usual opinion for me. Actually I generally enjoyed the place much more in march. But maybe that's due to weather (not hot today but felt warm with low 60s versus 40s in march), lack of traction, my fatigue today and the place being very crowded whereas I saw two people in March (probably at least 100 today). Was pretty gassed after North mountain 9 miles in and was hoping the climbs and technical trails were over. Got a treat of smooth downhill double track for the next 3 miles which got me to 12 no problem. After that, the next 2 miles were on a twisty, technical and rolling trail in dense woods that really wore me out. Tired, low on energy and dehydrated at this point. Slogged my way to the finish and was happy to be done. Some old guy told me I should be wearing a mask.

Sunday: 9 Miles

Only needed 11 to hit 70, but I've never done 70 on a 6 day week, and now doesn't seem like the time to push it. I'll go for 70 mile weeks when I'm running all 7 days. Wanted to run easy trail and the majority of the trail options within 45 minutes are all quite hilly (and likely technical). Was between a road/trail mix in Portsmouth and Wells (ME), the one in Wells was further but seemed less confusing to memorize. Parked at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, lot was very crowded and I got lucky as there was one spot open (I didn't have a backup plan). Ran the mile loop in rachel carson which had great marsh views in many points and was on a flat, manicured gravel nature trail that was fun to run on. Unfortunately, it was also extremely crowded, had to pass a lot of people which most didn't seem happy about. Ran a mile on roads before entering Wells Estuarine Sanctuary, which has probably 4-5 miles of nature trail, this time with more variety, some gravel, some grass, some dirt, some boardwalk. Really cool place, ran what I thought was a perimeter loop (missed a decently long trail section) before exiting. Place also crowded although nowhere near as congested as Rachel Carson with more trails to spread out on. Came out to the beach and decided to run on it for a little bit. Really great views, but the best beach running I've ever done. Wide smooth beach, all very flat and hard with no soft sand around (several hours past low tide as well). Was running low 6s and admiring the awesome ocean views. Maybe Southern Maine has the best beaches in New England. A few miles back on road, still nice and quiet except for a brief stretch on route 1. Really fun route, would love to come back here and run more of the Estuarine trails and more on the beach (or go further south and run Wells beach/Ogunquit beach).

Weekly Total: 68 Miles

YTD Total: 2,404 Miles (should be between 3300-3500 on the year, depending on whether or not I up my mileage or stick with low 60s)

Weekly Highlight: Wells run was great, felt good and enjoyed exploring this new area. Also pleased with a better mindset towards mileage, 10 per day makes it a lot easier to hit mileage goals and makes the weekend more relaxed as I don't have to backload a bunch of mileage. Hoping to mostly continue this, been a while since I've run higher mileage.

Weekly Lowlight: Generally feeling really tired on runs, specifically Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Could just be cumulative fatigue from trying to run a little more, but not feeling great on 50% on runs is not ideal when it was 10% or so this winter. 

Poll of the week (trying something new out):

More Mountains: Weekly Logs- August 31 to September 6, September 7 to 13

 Falling behind on blogging, so I'll combine the last two weeks. Essentially fairly quiet through the week trying to rest my foot by running mostly trails then big weekend in the mountains, a Pemi Loop on September 5th and a mountain race in Maine on the 12th. I have some ranking posts of mountains, trail runs, FKTs, etc in the works as well that'll I'll try to get done at some point.

Aug 31 to Sep 6

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 8 Miles

Ran roads from my apartment in Dover, exploring a few different directions as I've never run here before. Got on some nice quiet ones for the first half, but on much busier ones in the second unsuccessfully looking for the Dover Community Trail (bike path). Ended up going pretty fast at 6:31 pace. Foot felt okay but I would end up regretting this later in the week.

Wednesday: 8 Miles

Ran from A lot and did Chain and back (mostly wide trails), except this time I crossed route 155 and did a small singletrack loop in Madbury. Had to run around the parking lot a little at the end to get mileage.

Thursday: 11 Miles

AM 6 mile run in Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Newington. Some cool trails but very small and had to do multiple loops just to get 6. Might be a decent place to run when I can combine with roads. Picked up some waffles and chews from Eastern Mountain Sports for Pemi after.

PM 5 miles from the track. About 3 miles warm-up/cool-down in college woods with Andrew and Aiden. Aiden and a few other guys were doing a 5K time trial and I figured I'd could help out by pacing. Wanted to run about 5:05 pace at least through the mile but preferably through 3k as that's what most professional 5Ks are paced until and having to race 3400 meters solo is not ideal. Felt extremely flat during the time trial, Mike took us out for the first 1K but was much faster than the target pace which threw me off a little. I got things back on track for a 5:05 mile and 9:33 3K. Felt quite bad and had to really grind to get myself to 3K, but knew everyone would be suffering much more as they had another 2k to go so I wanted to do my part. Foot felt pretty lousy during this evening session.

Friday: 0. Hate to do it but wanted to make sure I could get through Pemi without injury.

Saturday: 30 Miles

Pemi Loop. Massive PR in mileage and run time, slight PR in elevation from last week's Presi. Drove up with Slants and Aiden and we ended up starting just after 7:30. The lincoln woods trailhead was absolutely packed and we had to park about half a mile down the road. I felt really tight when stretching pre-run and was worried it would be an issue during the run. We ran together to the Osseo trail split, running low 7s pace on the rail trail. Aiden and I then ran together for 3 miles on a more gradual incline towards Mount Flume where we were still able to run sub-10 pace as the elevation gain was pretty reasonable (400 and 500 feet). From there, I began to feel extremely tight and I let Aiden go so I could alternate walking to stretch out my legs. The 4th mile was much steeper (1000ft) and I began to alternate walking/running which made my legs feel a lot better. Switchbacks allowed for brief running sections. The beginning of the 5th mile was very steep but the second half of the mile was more gradual below treeline ridge and very runnable. Came up to the Osseo/Franconia Ridge/Flume Slide intersection knowing I was almost at the Flume summit. The last part was steep and rocky and soon I popped out above treeline (sort of, it's only exposed on 1 side), saw Aiden, and ran the last little rock portion to the summit. I like the flume summit a lot, it's unique with its rock slope that's open on one side. It was cold being in a short sleeve and I ducked behind a bush as we waited for Slants.

Flume summit

Liberty from Mt Flume

Franconia Ridge from Mt Flume

The next portion was a blast as I took off down Flume and towards Liberty. I felt really good and enjoyed some of the terrain. It was only a mile to Liberty but it's mostly runnable except the steep scrambly part up to the summit. Liberty isn't as exposed and I enjoyed the minute of waiting for Aiden and Slants. I took my first gel before we took off towards Lafayette. I felt excellent running down from Liberty and then up towards Little haystack. A lot of the terrain is dirt and quite runnable, and much of the ascent is gradual. Except for a brief steep/scrambly section just before breaking treeline, I was able to run all of this. Came out onto the ridge and decided to keep going instead of stopping to put on a long sleeve as it didn't feel too breezy. Little haystack was extremely crowded and I had to completely stop as a woman couldn't get out of the way in time. It was mostly smooth sailing towards Lincoln and Liberty. I hiked the steep stuff just before each summit but otherwise enjoyed running on the exposed ridgeline. Encountered and passed another group of runners also doing the Pemi. Nearly had a horrible fall on a scrambly part before Lincoln but was able to save it by grabbing some branches. Got to Lafayette feeling strong, had a waffle then ducked behind a rock waiting for the other guys. I got a bit cold waiting around but didn't want to put on my long sleeve as we'd be going under treeline soon enough.

As soon as we finished regrouping, we headed towards Garfield. I was surprised Aiden was right behind for about a minute but then he fell back. It was extremely windy here and I was looking forward to going under treeline. At one spot with loose rock, I slipped and fell forward, saving my fall with hands but cutting up both of my palms. Being cold and falling shook me up a bit, but I got up immediately and kept going. However, my fear of falling had greatly increased and I ran extremely cautiously. We eventually got below treeline but the terrain was very steep, rocky (scrambles) and surprisingly wet. There wasn't any smooth running here, I didn't want to fall so the mile was really slow with a lot of hesitation. The few miles towards Garfield weren't any better. The wet steep descent seemed to never end. The final portion up towards Garfield was pretty steep and I power hiked most of it. I was feeling weak and my legs felt very wobbly/tired. Got to the top which was pretty crowded before once again hiding behind rocks. Stopped my watch which was nearly dead and switched to my phone. Had some chews and the last of my water. 

Views from Garfield

Franconia Ridge from Garfield (and flume and liberty on left)

The next 3 miles to Galehead hut was easily the low point of the entire run for me. The descent off Garfield was even steeper, wetter and with larger rocks which made it pretty miserable. I got pretty weak going towards Galehead and a seemingly constant small ups and downs made this portion feel endless. I was getting really weak in the last mile and with pretty rocky terrain, I walked a lot that was runnable. Eventually was very relieved to get to the hut and sit down, I was feeling pretty bad as I walked the flat non-technical trail here. Refilled my water and drank a lot. Felt absolutely defeated at this point, in need of many calories and my legs felt like they needed several days of rest before they could even walk let alone run. Aiden was only a minute behind which wasn't too surprising considering how much I walked and how bad I felt. We spent a decent amount of time sitting around and refueling in front of the hut. I was feeling negative and made a lot of jokes about how I was going to walk the rest, nap and/or check in the hut for a few nights sleep. 

We powerhiked the very steep section up to South Twin (1100' gain in .8 miles) and it was nice to be nearly done with the climbing even if we had quite a bit of mileage left. The stop at Galehead hut turned out to be just what I needed as after a few minutes of running off South Twin, I was feeling really good again. I felt strong/normal again. Ducked under treeline for some very runnable miles with a lot of flat/gradual dirt with bridges. I slipped and fell on a pretty muddy section and my knee landed on one of the wooden bridges. Like the earlier fall, it wasn't too serious and I immediately got up and continued running. However, since it was my knee, it hurt a bit for a few minutes and I walked for 30 seconds or so. Within a few minutes of resuming running, everything was back to normal. Came out of at Guyot intersection for a brief but really cool above treeline section that was quite rocky. Asked someone stopped how far it was to Bond who pulled out a map and said about 1.2. Not a lot of ascent up to Bond. Started to feeling a little weak getting towards the summit, but made sure to get there first before I stopped. Got to Bond, answered a lot of questions from one couple who was very curious what I was doing/my background and had another GU. Decent summit but a little smaller. Initially confused on where Bondcliff was as it was a hard right.

After regrouping, headed towards Bondcliff which was an awesome mile stretch of trail almost completely above treeline. Steep downhill to gradual downhill to a brief steep uphill to the summit. Passed the iconic "cliff" part of the mountain before stopping at the massive flat summit. Took another short break and GU before descending. After doing a lot of scrambly/technical downhills all day, we all assumed the Bondcliff descent would have at least one really steep/technical section. After a short scramble right off the summit, the entire trail was a lot of switchbacks and only moderately technical, quite runnable. My second mile off the summit was sub-9. It was pretty fun and miles went by quickly. It was about 4 miles to the Lincoln Woods trail (rail trail) where we were going to regroup. The last two miles I started to get really weak and wasn't feeling motivated to keep going. Walked across the several stream crossings and stopped to pee but mentally pushed myself to get to the end of Bondcliff trail before stopping which eventually came.

Bondcliff summit

The iconic cliff part of boncliff, mt bond in background

Sat at log at the beginning of Lincoln Woods and waited there, having another GU. We started off in the high 7s, but gradually kept it down. Aiden and Slants both fell on the rail ties at some point, the least technical running of the day. I eventually started to pull away slightly before Aiden caught up and started to drop me slightly. I had been feeling really good when we regrouped, but now with 2-3 to go, I was getting really weak again, likely from not having done this distance/time on feet before. I had originally wanted to progress and push the last few, but now I was just hanging on to finish as I got weaker and weaker, the trail felt endless. I can't imagine how long this must feel during an FKT attempt. We eventually got to the Osseo trail intersection which I was somewhat relieved to see as I knew there was just over a mile left. Aiden stopped for some reason there, and I passed him. After the last mile felt like ages, I finally spotted the bridge we started on, ran across, ran down the stairs and finished. Aiden was about 10 seconds back then Slants another 10-20. We sat for 10 minutes or so and agreed we were all absolutely spent. The half mile walk back to the car was horrible as my weakness was real and I began to think I was going to crash on the way home. Fortunately, I felt okay again after a gatorade and some food.

Anyway, really awesome experience. Each summit is great and all the trails are pretty awesome, except the Garfield Ridge trail in my opinion, as it's not very runnable at all and seems to be the wettest. I'm really glad I recovered from my low points on the trail as I was not feeling positive there. Not sure I've ever felt that finished and then felt really good later on any run. I'm pleased with the performance- 6:21 moving time, 8:42 elapsed, definitely a better effort than Presi which makes sense because it's more runnable. There's no way I could have run that fast without stopping, but I do think I could be sub-7 elapsed as a lot of the stops are simply regrouping. Within an hour of the FKT in terms of moving time so not bad at all (Presi is shorter and I was 1.5 hours off). Glad to pick some up top 10s in segments (mostly on Franconia Ridge, was top 20 on bondcliff descent). Interesting how much more frequently I got weak/started to bonk in the second half. Felt like it was every 2-3 miles in the second half where I got through the first 10 without ever feeling weak and only taking one gel. End stats: 30 miles, 9000 feet of gain, 8 4000 footers (4 new ones), 5000 calories according to strava.

Sunday: 5 Miles

Tired run in college woods. Probably would have taken the day off but didn't want to run just 4 days this week and I only needed a little bit to hit 60. Surprisingly not sore, have barely felt sore after any mountain runs this year. Pretty tight though and got really weak in the last few miles.

Weekly Total: 63 Miles

YTD Mileage: 2,275 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Pemi Loop

Weekly Lowlight: Foot issues

Movies Watched: Palm Springs

September 7 to 13

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 11 Miles

Wanted to get in a longer run, but am still trying to avoid roads somewhat. Drove to Lubberland Creek Preserve in Newmarket, and ran most of the Paul Sweet trail (a 4 mile marked singletrack trail in Newmarket/Durham), making a lollipop with Longmarsh, Durham Point and Dame roads to add some mileage. Pretty technical the whole way but still quite runnable. Felt on the same spot on my hand that I cut up during Pemi so bleeding a lot at the end. Would definitely come here again, probably better for a road/trail mix.

Wednesday: 8 Miles

Running from A lot (across from field house where we have practice) on Wednesdays, ran out towards chain and back route (very wide trails/dirt road like) while adding on some of the mountain bike side trails which are very twisty/slow (similar to woody hill, not as technical but probably twistier, definitely denser woods). Couldn't really figure out where the add-ons were and accidentally took a trail all the way to route 155A. Decided just to run roads back from there and add on in college woods. 

Thursday: 8 Miles

Parked at Madbury town hall, looking to run Kingman farm trails and trails south of there (Powder Major farm?). Got confused and was heading back towards Kingman at 5 miles or so. Decided to run a bunch of loops around the Madbury soccer fields which has a nice gravel perimeter loop, about half a mile, and came back with enough mileage I didn't need to run in Kingman.

Friday: 8 Miles

Lollipops in both East and West Foss farm. Have briefly run in both but only 1-2 times and not especially familiar with either (both fairly small, maybe 2-3 miles of trail). Was very to surprised to find out both were marked, which made navigation easier for sure. Felt mostly fine, some weird aches in a few spots and had to stop to poop.

Saturday: 16 Miles

Mahoosuc Ridge to River Challenge (Half Marathon), a mountain race mostly on ski area service roads at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, ME. First race in a month and the one mountain race I'll do this year. About 3,700 foot gain with two decent climbs and descents. Maybe 15% singletrack.

Drove up with Slants, arriving about an hour before the 10AM start. Got pre-race stuff out of the way, including a way too hilly warm-up where we scoped out the first mile. I remarked that the start would be very fast (net downhill) and based off my 6:20 first mile at Loon 2018, I think it'll be around 5:30 today. We separated into the socially distanced start line. I was seeded first (despite putting a slower seed than Slants), Slants 2nd, Dad 4th (maybe 5th?). I was fairly confident Slants and I would be the top 2 finishers, as I could figure out the seeding, given that only one person was between our 15:20s seeds and 17:30s (we were told to submit our 5k pr), and since he was only 16, I doubted someone younger would be very experienced.

(Photo by my mom)

We were able to take our masks off before start which was a relief as I didn't want to juggle taking it off/putting it away while trying to get out hard. I brought one gel with me in anticipation of a water stop after the first climb and descent. I got slightly nervous/antsy waiting around as the clock ticked down and we had a few moments of silence before starting as opposed to starting immediately after race instructions. I tried to get out hard and was just ahead of slants after the 100' climb which was tough to get going on. I transitioned to going faster and tried to push the following steep downhill of -300'. Hit the mile in 5:38, 7-8 seconds of ahead of Slants and began the first climb. Felt like I approached it as usual, but Slants was very quickly gaining on me even though I was still hammering. I briefly went off of course as I continued on the service road as the course switched to ski slope but easily corrected it cutting through the high grass. It took only half a mile for Slants to catch and he started to pull away. I kept him reasonably close until we turned onto singletrack which was not the most established trail. It was very steep in sections and I followed Slants' lead on when to powerhike and when to run. Slants was much quicker than me on the steep sections and was pulling away quite quickly. I grew increasingly frustrated as my calves became extremely tight and really held me from properly chasing him/trying to run more. This lasted pretty much the rest of the ascent, and Slants had several minutes on me at that point. The next half mile after the climb was fairly fun on rock slabs on top of the ridge. I felt extremely slow here and looking back, I really should have tried to transition to pushing it more again.

Top of the first climb (Photo by Joe Viger Photography)

Ridge running (Joe Viger)

After the fun ridge section, we ran down the service road for a few miles. Due to loose rock, I could never get going too fast and only managed low 6s (Slants dropped a 5:23 somehow and put more ground on me). I got my gel out in anticipation of the aid station but took it fairly late and was still getting it down as I approached. I quickly ran up to the table and briefly stopped to take the water, and put the gel in while leaving it on the ground. From what I can tell, I was much quicker through the station than Slants or Dad. The next singletrack section was switchbacky and fun before popping out onto the service road for the second climb. It was a long climb, but much more gradual than the first one, at 12% average grade or so as opposed to 18% grade on the first one. Due to this, and refreshing my legs on the downhill, I felt much better on this climb and was able to run 95% of it. I could see Slants ahead on the longer section, but he was at least 3 minutes ahead and already had the win in the bag. This was probably my favorite section of the race as I felt like I was really racing but still felt very comfortable. 

During the second climb (Joe Viger photo)

(Joe viger photo)

(Joe viger photo)

Before long, I hit the top which was immediately followed by a steep descent. I was glad to be done with climbing on the day, before a right turn up a steep hill added more ascent. Every thing after that was mostly descent where I was running fast since it was downhill but it never felt like race effort. Some reason, I just didn't push it to my limit and felt extremely slow on pretty much all the downhill on the day. With about two to go, there was a 200' climb which wrecked me as my legs were pretty dead at that point, and I basically slogged it in from there. While maybe 200 meters from the finish line, the course once again had a brief uphill climb which I had no patience for and really didn't put much effort into it. To be clear, I was quite tired at this point but didn't even bother checking the tank to see if anything was there. Did manage a small kick across the line. Finished in 1:53:08, exactly 3 minutes behind Slants. After doing some post-race analysis, it appears nearly all of his lead (90% or so) was done before the aid station at 4.5 miles, meaning I ran only seconds slower than him from mile 4.5-13.1. Steep climbs are definitely a weakness for me and he really capitalized on that to get the win today.

(Photo by my mom)

I wish I had been more aggressive on most of the downhills. I think my climbs were pretty good and there's not a ton of room for improvement there (aside from getting better on ups). I genuinely felt like I was jogging on any rocky downhill, being very cautious despite that it was a race. Even on the service roads, I didn't feel like I was completely hammering due to the loose rock but there's definitely a lot of time to take off there. Overall, I think this was a good but not great race. I executed the climbs as best as possible (not including the very late ones), I know I can be a good downhill runner, but I just didn't do a great job pushing out my comfort zone today. Definitely a fun race in the mountains, just wish it was a more trail-based race.

Sunday: 10 Miles

Trails with Andrew, tried to make a loop taking West Foss Farm trails out and returning via Oyster river/college woods with a small amount of roads. Got slightly lost and had to change things up a bit, but still got most of the route completed.

Weekly Total: 61 Miles

YTD Total: 2,336 Miles (this is about 10 miles short of my strava mileage, so I'll likely have to adjust at the end of the year. Guess I added wrong at some point. Also 2,336 is my yearly mileage PR so every run for the rest of the year will result in a new PR).

Weekly Highlight: Racing again, glad to seize my only mountain racing opportunity of the race. Also not having to take 2 days off this week.

Weekly Lowlight: Good enough week, no lowlight.

Movies Watched: Sleepless in Seattle, Project Power

A few road runs next week, but no races likely until October. Starting practices soon, probably done with mountain runs for the year.

Camden and Presidential Traverse- Weekly Log: August 24 to 30

Pretty cool week, doing a lot of cool stuff in the mountains capped off by finally doing a Presidential Traverse as a run. Unfortunately, I also dealt with the left over foot pain from last week which was annoying at times.

Monday: 0. I'll get back to running 7 days eventually, just waiting to get 100% healthy but I definitely want to get back to the 75 mile weeks.

Tuesday: 6 Miles

Headed up to UNH for COVID testing before moving items into my apartment in adjacent. Was then picked up by parents as we headed to Camden Hills in Maine for a few days. I would have loved to go to Acadia again this year, but it was just extremely tricky with the restrictions (in park campsites closed, negative test required for state parks which are still a little ways outside the National park) so Camden Hills was like the mini/discount version of that. That's no disrespect to Camden Hills, which is an awesome park, but nothing really beats Acadia. 

Anyway, we went for a short run post tent setting up. Foot was messed up, quite a lot of discomfort/pain. Ran into downtown on roads, before running up Mount Battie on the trail followed by an auto road descent. I was really discouraged post run and thinking I'd be out long term/possibly had a stress but still wanted to see how it would feel on trails. Enjoyed the short steep climb up Battie, didn't feel so good on the out of control road descent.

Wednesday: 9 Miles

5 in the am on the local trails. Started with a good near-1K foot climb up to Ocean Lookout which was pretty fun, but accidentally missed a turn and descended to 200 feet. Didn't feel like turning around and running up the same way (trail was fairly crowded as well) so we cut the route short and added in a Mt. Battie and descent. Really fun trails, felt pretty smooth/strong and foot felt much better. 

4 evening miles around Camden Snow bowl mountain bike trails. Fun trails, but felt really weak and just wanted to be done with it. Still pretty hill as we ran 2/3 of the way up the ski resort. Foot feeling worse than the morning on the twisty descents.

Thursday: 0

Unplanned off day, didn't want to run in Camden in the morning as I'm trying to stick to trails but the ones here are so hilly and I didn't want to be gassed going into Presi. Run just didn't happen in the afternoon, spent a good chunk of the day buying things for my room and setting them up, and with a 7pm meeting for athletics I just never had a great window.

Friday: 19 Miles

Presidential Traverse. Woke up at 4:30am or so, Slants and I made the drive over to Crawford Notch. Aiden and Kenney had a second car which would be our shuttle service for the day, only they ended up going to Appalachia and we had to wait an extra 40 minutes for them, giving us a later start than expected. Pretty chilly the few times I stepped out of my car. Got over to the start soon enough, packed up our bags, took care of bathroom duties and was off. 

Wanted to hit the first climb fairly hard while I was feeling good and I was pretty satisfied with 11:35 and 15:01 splits (each around 800ft of ascent). Felt like I was moving well and while I was working hard, I still felt comfortable and didn't feel like I was completely grinding. Took the Valley Way for 2.3 miles to the split with Watson Path. Watson seemed preferable as I would skip the OAB for Madison that many runners do with the FKT route (it's much faster, but likely more boring). It didn't take long for me to realize why everyone takes Valley Way as shortly after I had to hike as the trail became very steep with many large rocks. I tried my best to powerhike, but mile 3 was much slower and had 1600ft of gain. Eventually broke treeline and the trail became even more challenging. Just like Daniel Webster, it was a large, steep boulder field with no clear trail other than the cairn markings. Very slow going. Summited Madison in 1:14, likely the longest time I would go without stopping the entire route. Waited up for Aiden who was just a few minutes back before making the descent to Madison Hut which I found very challenging to run as it was essentially more giant boulders. I noticed towards the stop of Madison that I had very sharp pains in my knee when trying to run and it felt quite bad going down, which was very concerning. I was happy my foot was feeling fine, but wasn't expecting this knee issue at all.

The Madison hut was closed for the morning but had a tap for water for hikers/runners. I initially wasn't going to refill as I didn't think I had much water, but was surprised it was half empty or so when I took it out. It's a little bit of a pain to take the bladder out, open it, refill it, seal it and put in back in the pack. I got chilly here as well and switched to a long sleeve. We regrouped soon and ran after Adams. I felt very sloppy and out of it on the next section of trail, most likely due to the major pains in my knee. Adams shortly became steep enough that we all powerhiked, this time together as there was no separation on the short runnable section up to it. I noticed my knees felt fine powerhiking which was good but was worried about the inevitable runnable spots later. We summited soon, and after feeling very warm on the protected side of the mountain, it again became very chilly and cold at the summit. Waited for Kenney a little bit, took my first gel and headed towards Jefferson. Very steep descent on large rocks was challenging and was more like rock hopping than smooth running (frequent breaks and hesitation). It's these kinds of sections that puts me really far back from the top guys as the more runnable stuff I wasn't too far off. I was surprised we all stayed intact here and felt some pressure to keep moving as Kenney and Slants were right behind me. Soon we took after towards Jefferson. While the rocks were much smaller, making the pace faster, it was still quite challenging as there were few points where you could see the dirt. I'd occasionally go slightly off trail before reorienting myself with the next cairn. 

I initially hated this section because it demanded so much caution. Pick your steps very carefully, or you're going to fall and smash some body part on sharp rocks. However, Kenney was right behind me the whole time which kept me trying to go fast and eventually I became more confident and less scared. However, I did have a few slips where I only got a small part on the rock, including a time where I bashed the side of my left foot against a rock pretty hard which I felt for the next part of the run. Anyway, it didn't take long for me to really enjoy the descent and eventually my knees complied and felt better. Kenney made the comment that this is what he imagines the Scottish Highlands to look like, which felt like it was taken straight from my head. It really did have that feel, with the high alpine grass everywhere.

Eventually we got to the steep Jefferson climb, which we were forced to powerhike. One guy I was behind told me if I wanted to pass just let him know. I kept that in mind, but shortly after he said that he had gapped me by quite a bit. Very strong hiker. Put in a solid mile of powerhiking as Kenney slowed to regroup with the other guys (I might have too, I can't remember). Somehow for this one, I was the fastest powerhiker and got to the summit well ahead of the other guys. Nice summit and fun climb, one of my favorites. Took the short downhill towards Clay with Kenney, like Adams there was a quarter mile or so of huge boulders before smaller rocks/trail that was more runnable. We separated at the start of the Clay climb. I alternated running and powerhiking here, and stopped at the last point of the Clay "ridge" as I wasn't sure where the summit was. Embarrassed myself by passing two hikers only to be repassed by one of them who was also alternating running and hiking.

Waited just past the Clay summit, ducked behind a rock to avoid the cold wind. It didn't take long for the other guys to catch up and Kenney and I ran down the short downhill before a long uphill towards Mt. Washington. Started the powerhike, and instantly started to get really weak. I'm not a great powerhiker, but was much slower than usual and maybe after just a 100 feet of climbing, Slants blew past me like I was standing still. Aiden and Kenney passed me shortly after, before I stepped off the trail completely and sat down as I felt horrible. Sat for a few minutes, took a gel, and started very slowly walking back. Fortunately, it only took a little while for the gel to kick in, as I was soon walking faster than before. One time when a group let me pass, I saw Kenney just ahead of me and felt inclined to run up to him (just past the railroad crossing). However, I was still quite cold and really hoping the summit building was open.

I ended up waiting for a while (20 minutes or so) to get into the summit building due to COVID restrictions. They would only let people in who made reservations (if only I'd known) or when others left. I got extremely cold in this wait and probably would have been better off not stopping at the summit. Then again, maybe I needed the food post-bonk. Spent another 20 minutes in the building eating whatever I could get my hands. I was very disappointed the building was not warm at all. Sure, it was better than low 40s and stiff winds, but it didn't feel warm in there at all. My time in here seemed to make Slants unhappy who wanted to get going although apparently the other two guys were pretty cold as well. After I finished up my food, we got out of there and headed towards the Lake of the Clouds hut. The downhill wasn't as technical as the others (think rock staircases) but it wasn't super fast either (11 minute pace). Took me a little while to get into but then it was a lot of fun. I noticed my knees now hurt when I'd stop for a long time and then once I got running for a while they felt okay. Took another short break at Lake of the Clouds where I was too lazy to refill my water. I suggested that we could potentially run the whole way up Monroe as it was fairly short, but I quickly gave up and power hiked most of it. 

I felt slightly weak with some stomach discomfort for the next few miles. The rest of the run was really enjoyable as it was mostly downhill with each climb being very small in comparison to the earlier ones and the terrain was much more runnable than earlier. Still not breaking 10 in any mile, but no super slow splits anymore. I don't remember much of it, except another fun downhill down monroe. I remember hating Eisenhower climb in my 2018 hike, but today I was surprised to run 90% of it, and that the climb itself was fairly short. We all regrouped the top again, the last time I'd see everyone until the finish. 

Kenney and I again ran together on a long downhill section where I was surprised to briefly go under treeline several times as I remembered the whole hike being above treeline until Pierce. This section was also quite fun and more runnable, but with less views than before. There were also quite a few bridges that were fun to run. At some point, Kenney just wasn't there. It was unclear whether or not he had fallen off or stopped, but I planned to wait up at the next summit like I had been doing all day (except Washington, the only one I wasn't the first to). I was feeling really good at this point and had no trouble running the full climb up Pierce which wasn't too hard. Stopped at the summit which was only semi-open and waited. I ended up waiting at Pierce for half an hour or so before realizing they likely had continued straight on Crawford Path and missed it. I had initially figured that wasn't the case as Slants should know the route, but I suppose not. While waiting I was passed by several hikers, one of which asked me if I was okay, and another group who I had gone back and forth with on the last few summits (they hadn't stopped at all) remarked that they may have gone straight on Crawford and also "How do we keep passing your friends?" which was pretty funny. 

After a long period of waiting, a group of hikers that we had last seen on Eisenhower summit showed up where I realized there's no way they were slower than these hikers, so I continued on. Webster Cliff was runnable, then steep then runnable but it took no time to get to the Mizpah Spring Hut. I was out of water and a little thirsty due to my refusal to fill at Lake of the Clouds, so I filled here and used the bathroom. Finished on Mizpah Cutoff and Crawford Path which was sorta runnable (I say sorta because I'm still doing 11-12 min miles, but certainly the most runnable stuff the whole route) and went by pretty quickly. Thought I was doing better than 11 minute pace, but I couldn't tell as I was now recording via my phone since my watch died on the top of Mt. Wash. Eventually got out on the road expecting to wait for everyone else, but they had taken the wrong turn and had been here for quite a while. 

Anyway, that's what happened on the day. Here all the respective splits you need to know. I'll put in the current FKT holder, Jordan Fields splits, who is an absolute beast, for comparison as well as Ryan Atkins the holder not too long before. Note than we took an a somewhat harder route as most FKT attempt do not utilize Watson Path or Star Lake as they are steeper and more technical than Valley Way/Airline and running to Mizpah hut adds about .5 mile. Additionally, these are my moving time splits. My elapsed time is quite slower, but I definitely could cut down that down quite a bit if I intended to race this.

Here are some Miscellaneous thoughts on the day:

-Kenney is probably a better technical downhill runner than me, at least when it comes to the really unrunnable stuff. He often came up right on me and seemed to be able to pass easily. On the other hand, he was breathing much harder than me...

-This route is 60-70% above treeline. It'd probably be hard to find many other routes in the Northeast that are even 20% about treeline. Pemi Loop seems to be about 10%. It makes for a stunning experience as you have panoramic views and are on top of a visible ridgeline, but also makes for worse weather being so exposed.

-This route is extremely technical. Except for some stuff in the Adirondacks, I doubt I'd do many mountain runs as slow as this one.

-The first half is quite of bit of power-hiking, about 30% of the total distance, whereas I ran probably 99% of the second half (pre/post washington). This makes sense as the vast majority of the elevation gain in the first half, although the terrain is still much harder in the first half.

-I improved and pushed out of my comfort zone on the downhills, likely due to Kenney being right on me.

-I felt very strong at the finish, feeling like I could do more mountain miles if I had needed to.

Saturday: 7 Miles

Easy college woods recovery with Aiden with an OAB on oyster river trail. Knees and foot a little sore, but overall recovered very well.

Sunday: 10 Miles

Out and back on the rockingham rail trail with Andrew.

Weekly Total: 52 Miles

YTD Total: 2,212 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Crossing off doing the Presi as a run, a lot of fun.

Weekly Lowlight: Normally I'd put something running related here, like my on-off foot pains/discomfort this week, but that really pales in comparison to the death of actor Chadwick Boseman. Maybe the first time in my life where a celebrity died that I really admired and will feel the loss almost personally. Absolutely gutting to hear about that Saturday morning. Going to be hard to watch marvel movies knowing he's no longer here. RIP Chadwick, I'll miss you greatly.