At Long Last - Baystate Marathon 10.17.10

This was supposed to be the summer I spent doing 10K's and Half Marathons. Until my wife reminded me of my goal. I wanted to run Boston before I turned 40. Doh! That meant this past summer in mid June I would begin my training for the Baystate in Lowell. I knew that most people followed a program to prepare for this distance and had heard it reffered to as "the higdon" not knowing what that meant. Well, I found out that Hall Higdon is an accomplished runner and author as well as the creator of an amazing 18 week training program that has helped millions of runners reach race day. I chose to follow "novice 1" which is the plan as I describe it that will prepare you for the distance and prevent you , God willing, from collapsing on the course.

As I looked at the breakout of all the weeks I noticed week 15's long weekend run was 20 miles. Wow, overwhelmed by the thought of doing that distance I remained focused on the run ahead of me and figured if I stick to the plan and stay focused on my nutrition and health I will be ready when the time comes. It was true as many of my friends and peers from the running community told me, race day was the gift. Chris Dunn, captain of my race team acidotic Racing continued to remind me to enjoy the day, drink in the emotion of the event. After all I had worked 18 weeks for this and logged 456 miles in preparation for this one race. It was a worthy task as I can sit back now and reflect on the day and the fact that I felt very prepared. It was not easy, though I did not feel that it was difficult. I just felt prepared.

My ultimate goal as I began this training journey was to qualify on my own for Boston which would require a finishing time of 3:14:59 based on my age as of race day of 39. As I progressed through my training and as the long runs continuously involved at least 13.1 miles I noticed that my best split was right around 2 hours. In the interest of managing my expectations and emotions for race day I realized that based on the training plan I had chosen and my rookie status as a marathoner, finishing would have to do this year. I personally wanted to run a sub 4 marathon. I was proud to be chasing that goal considering where my health and athleticism was just a few years ago. I did run sub 4 with a couple minutes to spare. My gun time was 3:58:35 and my net time was 3:57:59. Although I did not earn my waiver this year I intend to do so next Fall in Lowell as a 40 year old I will get an additional 5 minutes - yippee! So I will need to shave 39 minutes off my PR.

I am happy to report that the day after Baystate I was selected to run for Children's Hospital in Boston as part if the Miles for Miracles program. I will be running in honor of my son Cameron and my Godson and nephew Maxwell. Our story is here www.couch2copley.com

I do have to thank everyone for their support and well wishes this past summer and moving forward onto the starting line in Hopkinton. Especially my friend Matthew Deveau who finished his first Half Marathon at Baystate as well. Congratulations Matty. Also one of my most dedicated friends, Billy Corey, who ultimately spent his entire day maneuvering around Lowell, Chelmsford and Tyngsboro in order to position himself for amazing pictures of my race. My wife and I are indebted to him for the effort he made to capture these memories for us. Thank you Billy. Please pass my Boston Marathon story around to anyone you can in order to inspire others and raise awareness and $upport for Children's Hospital in Boston. Thank you all.

Timmy, Cameron & Maxwell

www.couch2copley.com

Red's Race 5 Mile - 4.25.10

I am finally back out racing. Since the snowshoe series cancelled a few events due to not enough weather and then my left knee cancelled a few more at the end, it felt good to be wearing a bib again. This season on the asphalt started the way last season finished, with a partner.

Another one of my friends from Weight Watchers wanted to do her first road race. I told Amanda when she was ready I would be happy to run with her. She had some hesitation as the race grew closer but then decided she was ready after all. Was she ever ready! When I did my first race back in September of 2008 I merely took on a 5K (3.1 miles) and was thrilled to have completed it. Amanda should be very proud of herself, she ran a 5 mile race today and never once punched me in the face for "maintaining positive chatter" throughout the entire run. As someone once said to me before I set out on my first road race, "don't worry, you won't be last."

Sure enough Amanda pulled in at 1:00:04 which was good enough for 461st place and according to the results I was in at 1:00:34 - we were not last! It was a nice way to start the season and get back out there. I will be heading out next for the Hampton Falls 5 Mile on May 8th looking to better my time. In shocking news, the incomparable Jim Johnson won the event with a time of 25:56. Congratulations to him coming off of his amazing 76th place finish (2:30:00) at Boston last Monday. Thanks for checking out the blog and see you at the starting line.

Timmy and Team Cameron

Snowshoe #7 - Horse Hill - 2.20.10

I got lost. I missed a left turn on the power line road and continued on ahead. One of the racers in the pack with me finally said "hey, i don't see any tracks ahead of us." An extremely disappointing moment, eclipsed only by turning around to see a dozen other racers bang the left and take the lead we had built on them. More on this later. Michael and the crew from 3c Race Productions put together another great event by shoveling snow onto the thin parts of the trail and supplying plenty of cornbread and kale soup after the fact. This was a GSSS event and the leader thus far held his own. Jim Johnson (1st/27:07) was in attendance so the outcome was somewhat predictable as it became a battle for second place among the high seeds. Acidotic teammates Ann Rasmussen (women's winner/33:59),Steve Wolfe, Richie Blake and Michael Amarello rounded out our contingent amongst the 46 that showed for the event. I was able to recover some ground after my mishap in the woods and finished a dismal 32nd in 40:40. After the race it was back to the house to shower, stretch and grab a quick nap before the nightcap. Next up the Kingman Farm 5K in Madbury.

Timmy & Team Cameron

S(no)wshoe #6 - Frosty's Dash - 2.14.10

No snow. No good. After other postponements I was happy just to be racing again. Frosty's Dash for a Cure to benefit Cystic Fibrosis turned out to be a road race in the end. The course which would have normally taken us up and down and around the fairways of the Atkinson Country Club gave way to a traditional asphalt surface of cart paths and roadways. Set to be a 5K or 3.1 miles it reportedly came a little short 2.9 miles I am told by those who ran with gps watches. Jim Johnson was among the few snowshoers who still came out for the race as this was part of the GSSS. He took the tape at 15:29 and was followed by my Acidotic Racing teammates Ann Rasmussen placing 8th at 19:29, Richie Blake 11th at 20:16 and Gary Rueter 43rd at 25:18. I pulled in at 21:59 for 17th place out of the 120 racers that showed for the converted snowshoe event. As always Michael from 3C Race Productions directed a nice event and Deb Fudge and her crew put together a nice pre and post party for all those that attended. Next up is a double on Saturday. If the projected snow holds up we should be shoeing at both Horse Hill 7k in Merrimack on Saturday morning and then Kingman Farm 5K in Madbury on Saturday night. It will be a long hard day. We'll see how it goes. Wish us all luck and remember we are always thankful for your $upport of JDRF during this entire snowshoe series.

Timmy & Team Cameron

Snowshoe #5 - Sidehiller - 1.30.10

This was slated to be a 4 mile race. That has been the distance in the past. Due to the rain we experienced last week race director Paul Kirsch was forced to change the route and the length. Rather than leaving the fairgrounds and crossing the street for some bushwhacking, we stayed on campus and did 3 delightful loops around the grounds in Center Sandwich, NH. Thank God - it was a dry cold. The temperature at the start of the race was set to be right around zero degrees and factoring in the bit of wind we had i am betting it might have been a tad below that mark. The Sidehiller was race #4 in the GSSS and also a part of the WMAC series. In addition to that it was the only qualifier for the US Snowshoe Championship to be run in NH. So all the stars came out to play. The front row of the starting line had the likes of Jim Johnson, Kevin Tilton, Ben Nephew, Dave Dunham, Josh Ferenc, Jim Pawlicki, Charlie Therriault and Chris Dunn. The nice thing about a loop course is after the first lap you know what you're in for on the second lap. Although when you are making the second loop and you realize you still have another one to go...well, at least we were warm at that point. Congratulations to Kevin Tilton from Team CMS/Inov8 he took the tape with a speedy finish of 31:08. Josh Ferenc grabbed 2nd and Jim Johnson "took the day off" and grabbed third snapping his undefeated streak this winter which had grown to 7 races until Saturday. Mind you he was running hurt. Still the man to beat at any race in any weather and a great competitor. My team Acidotic Racing was unfortunately without our best bet Geoff Cunningham sidelined with tendonitis. Here is hoping we get him back for the upcoming Exeter Snowshoe Hullabaloo at Fort Rock. It is a gnarly course and extremely technical, so I have been told. Acidotic was well represented in the top twenty by teammates Charlie Therriault, Tim Cox, Danny Ferriera, Steve Wolfe, Ri Fahnestock and Chris Dunn. I pulled in at 46:55 to grab 52nd place out of 91 ice cold racers. Still thawing out and getting ready to hit a training run right now. Fort Rock is going to be a test and I need to get ready. Thanks for checking out the blog and for helping my snowshoe races $upport the good work at JDRF all in the names of my son Cameron. See you in the powder.

Timmy & Team Cameron

Snowshoe #4 - Pooh Hill Scramble - 1.23.10

"If nothing else this is beautiful!" I shouted to a guy out on the trail today, he laughed and we trotted along. This was race #4 for the season and race #3 in the Granite State Snowshoe Series. My team captain Chris Dunn of Acidotic Racing was not on the trail today as this was his baby and he did us proud. What a great event. I had never even heard of King Pine in East Madison, NH our hosts for the day. There is lots to do and see up there. Ski, ride, cross country ski and SNOWSHOE! It was a winding 8K course that lead us through some beautiful scenery and kept you busy on what seemed to be an endless roller coaster of mini hills. Chris took the liberty of creating some winding virgin single track in fields we could have clearly just run straight across, I'll have to ask him about that? :) As we neared the finish others let us know this was the last big hill. Excellent. Nothing better than cruising a downhill into the tape. Of course the tape was gone because Jim Johnson had already broken it minutes before finishing in 34:02. Congrats to Jim and the crew from Central Mass Striders for the log jam of racers in the top 5 - official results here. I pulled in at 51:41 which put me in 42nd overall out of a field of 82. Again a great race and after party thrown by my team captain Chris, his wife Karen and their family. Lots of great food and beer from our team sponsors at Redhook Brewery. A killer a grand prize in the post race raffle of some Kahtoola flightdecks that Scott Mason made off with in the end. Next up for the series is the Sidehiller 4 Miler in Center Sandwich, NH this coming Saturday. As always I am running to benefit children like my son Cameron with autism and juvenile diabetes. Thank you for your $upport.

Timmy & Team Cameron

Snowshoe #3 - Feel Good Farm - 1.16.10

No throwing up and no falling down. Two goals that I achieved without necessarily setting out to do so. The Feel Good Farm Snowshoe race is aptly named, as I was certainly feeling good when we finally left the farm. This was race #3 for the season and race #2 in the GSSS that myself and my teammates from Acidotic Racing are competing in and it was a test. Feel Good Farm in Lyndeborough, NH were our gracious hosts and both the setting and weather were great. Michael Amarello and his crew from 3C Race Productions knocked out another seamless event and made the grueling race a little more bearable.

This race was roughly an 8.5K comprised of 2 laps up and down Moose Mountain. The way up was steep and slow as the running was so difficult at times crawling on all fours might have been more effective. I had the pleasure of passing a few racers that decided to "lighten their load" on the way up - delicious! As for the way down, calling the terrain treacherous would be a gross disservice to the word treacherous. Many competitors met the ground with more than just the bottoms of their cleats. I was thankful to have my Dion 121's with the deep cleats in play, thanks Bob. If you have never snowshoed before I can only explain descending a trail like this as "organized confusion." You are throwing your feet so your tips don't drag while trying to center your balance all the while concentrating on your footing and maintaining a good pace. It is a relative pounding on the lower extremities and luckily I did not tweak anything until (left ankle) the second descent. Acidotic Racing had a great showing in numbers and we were lucky enough to have Geoff Cunningham take a step on the podium when it was all said and done placing 2nd. The overall results are here. Check out the view from the shoes of Scotty Graham , Steve Wolfe who raced with a heavy heart (RIP Molly) and our captain Chris Dunn in their respective blogs.

I had set one goal for myself in this race, simply to finish strong. I figured based on distance and difficulty the leaders would be in around the 35 minute mark. Sure enough 1st place went to Kevin Tilton from team CMS with a time of 37:19. I said to Gianina before heading to the starting line that she could expect me no later than 59:00 unless of course the first lap took me 55 minutes then she could adjust accordingly. When we finished our first lap I came out of the woods trailing Scott Mitchell from Team Blazing Turtles. He commented as we headed back in and up that we were horrifically far from done, I checked my watch for the first time to see that we were at the 29 minute mark and told him that we might want to pick it up. Not wanting to get much more conversational with him I made my move to pass and continue to push forward as we once again hit the delightful climb up Moose Mountain. The only benefit about lap 2 was we now had the knowledge of what was ahead of us. I hit the summit for the 2nd time at the 53 minute mark and knew that I had only 6 minutes to "get off" the mountain to maintain my personal goal. As I cleared the trees and the trail continued to wind towards the crowd and the finish we leveled out. A flat surface - what a treat! As we neared the parking lot I heard my son Aidan yelling GO DADDY! (audible on this video at the 5:52 mark) It really doesn't get any better than that.

I pulled in at 58:12 which gave me 53rd out of the 104 that toed the line. Four runners finished that first lap and figured that was enough. We have enjoyed more $upport from family and friends and thank you for visiting our donation site to benefit JDRF this winter. Next up on the schedule is the Pooh Hill Snowshoe Scramble at King Pine in East Madison, NH. I am not sure of the distance on this one, but it doesn't really matter after this week I now know I can handle anything that is thrown my way. Thanks again to my amazing family and friends for all of your encouragement and my teammates for helping me in my training.

Timmy & Team Cameron
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