Cranmore Hillclimb

Sunday was the 4th race in the USATF-New England Mountain Running Series up in North Conway, NH.  The Mt. Cranmore Hillclimb (results) was the scene of last year's US Mountain Running National Championship (as it also was in 2007 and it will be again in 2011) and it served this year as the USATF-NE Championship.  The photo above - L-R: JJ, Kevin Tilton, Tommy Manning.

The course this year was again 2 loops (about 11.4 K total) of up and then back down.  The climb is
steep, rocky, covered with tall grass, and never a dull moment.  The downhill is steep, fast, and dangerous.  Two years ago I ran this for the first time (2008) and rolled my ankle badly at the top of the 2nd loop and it blew up on the way down.  Last year I had a good race against the top mountain runners in the country.  This year, I was anticipating a couple of good local guys, but it ended up being a lot deeper than I expected.

I rolled up to the valley once again (solo this time) on what ended up being a slightly humid but otherwise nice day to run.  I arrived up at Cranmore where Dave Dunham and the Mahoni (Tim and Abby) were already there.  Not too soon after, Mike Quintal rolled in and I spotted Andy McCarron and Kevin Tilton and knew it would be a pretty competitive race.  I figured Kevin and Andy were probably 1-2 material and thought 3rd would be up for grabs between a few of the rest of us... All of the above + Paul Bazanchuk (WMM) and Gina Lucrezi (Inov-8) joined me for

Mount Washington Road Race

Above, CMS at the summit.  Francis Burdett, Patrick Rich, Dave Dunham, Jim Johnson.

On Saturday we were once again up in the White Mountains of NH for the 2010 edition of the Mount Washington Road Race (results).  This year was the 50th running of the race and it once again (for the 4th time in 7 years...2004, 2006, 2008, 2010) served as the US National Mountain Running Championship.

Kris and I headed up on Friday morning

Redhook 5k

My appologies for the delay... I haven't gotten around to blogging about a couple of races, so I figured I'd go back and make sure I covered one of my favorite races of the year, which happened a couple weeks back.  The Runner's Alley/Redhook Brewery 5k (results) was a couple weeks ago and Market Square Day was this past weekend. I'll go in order, and summarize my experience at both races.  This one is for Redhook.

On Sunday, 5/30, I raced once again (4th time in last 4 years) up at the Redhook 5k in Portsmouth, NH. This is one of the more enjoyable days I've experienced on the racing scene, as it officially kicks off the summer season for me and has typically been fantastic weather-wise and performance-wise. It was one of the first real races I did

Pack Monadnock 10 Miler

Sunday was race # 3 in the USATF-NE Mountain Running Series for 2010 and it took me up to Wilton, NH to run in the Pack Monadnock 10 Miler (results).

This race was unfortunately the same day
as the USATF-NE 5k Road Grand Prix Championship down in RI, but I had already decided at the beginning of the year, that I'd run the mountain series no matter what.  Couple that with the fact that this race is a decent tune-up for Mount Washington in 2 weeks, and it was pretty much a no-miss.

The weather was pretty crappy once I arrived at the Wilton-Lyndeborough High School parking lot.  The sky was really dark and it was sprinkling a bit at first, then it started to come down pretty good.  After I registered, I ran into Mountain Series leader Eric Blake (BAA) who was going for yet another win, and Kevin Tilton who had shown up with Paul Kirsch.  I was now looking at no better than 3rd and was wondering who else would be challenging for a podium spot.

Wachusett Mountain Race

Saturday was race #2 in the 2010 USATF-New England Mountain Series and it took me about an hour west to Westminster/Princeton, MA for the Wachusett Mountain Race (results) put on by the Central Mass Striders running club.  Photo above - The Team Inov-8 crew modeling the new Inov-8 Wrags : L-R Gina Lucrezi, Kevin Tilton, Abby Mahoney, Jim Johnson.

This was my first time running Wachusett and this is the 2nd year that the race has been run on the 'new' temporary course, because of construction to the auto road, which is supposedly due to