2017 Chad Denning Memorial Fun Run
One hell of a 50k
I have wanted to run the annual Chad Denning Memorial Run 50K on Mt. Moosilauke in the White Mountains of New Hampshire since its inception a few years ago. On September 9th, 2017, I finally was able to run it. I’ll sum up the experience using a quote from Chad himself:
“In ultra-running, you experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.”
This was true on a couple of levels: I ran up and down Moosilauke three times, and mentally I went back and forth between joy and the dark place. The run turned out to be far more arduous than I imagined — a perfect Chad-style event!
Chad passed away on the mountain back in September of 2014. This event was created by Jerimy Arnold as a fat-ass style memorial run to remember Chad and how much he appreciated a sturdy run. It’s quite remarkable to me how many people Chad inspired! There were 11 of us who showed up to run 50 kilometers with over 9,000 feet of climbing this year.
The Course
Jerimy did a great job designing a White Mountains 50K that actually has a lot of runnable sections, along with the three massive climbs to the top of Moosilauke. The run begins and ends at the Ravine Lodge parking area. The basic course is: climb up near the summit, down and way around the east side, climb up again near the south summit, straight back down close to the lodge, and right back up again. The finish is by way of the first route up, only you pop off onto the ski trail halfway down to make the decent even longer!
The first climb is the gentlest: up the Asquam Ridge trail, to the top part Beaver Brook trail (A.T.). It’s 5.5 miles and ~2,000 feet of climbing. We all pretty much stuck together for this section. I got to know Jerimy a bit better, and enjoyed talking with Andrew Drummond about his recent trip to Chamonix, France to check out the UTMB races.
Then the course takes a really fast, downhill turn onto the Benton trail, which was a new trail for me. It was really fun, and if it had been dry, I would have really opened it up here. At the bottom, you turn onto a defunct road, that leads to the low-lying Tunnel Brook trail. It was runnable the whole way, and we passed by a few ponds and a beaver dam.
This route swings you way around the base of the east side of the mountain, and then connects to a forest service road at mile 13, where Jerimy dropped water, and then onto a short paved road section, leading to the Glencliff trailhead.
Jerimy, Lars and I had been running together up until this point. My buddy Joffery had hung with the fast kids since we spread out— Andrew Drummond, Tristan Williams, and Chris Dailey — but we found him cooling off in a stream near the Glencliff climb, chatting with a thru-hiker. Lars and Jerimy took off up the steep climb, and I hung back with Joffery, taking it at a slower pace, knowing that I wanted to have some fuel left in the tank for the downhill and next climb up. Joffery decided on the brutal climb up Glencliff that he would call it a day soon, and so at the top, he went off to tag the summit and come down Gorge Brook trail, saying he’d see me later on my way back up.
Trying to Catch Up
I took off by myself down the Carriage Road as fast as I could since I did not find Lars and Jerimy waiting at the top of the terrible Glencliff climb. I really wanted to catch up with them so I would have some company, and someone to force me to make the final climb up the mountain instead of calling it a day at mile 20.
In my time alone, I felt nothing but joy on this section of the course. With all the turmoil and change happening in the immediate world, the mountain reminded me that there is a much longer time-scale to consider. As often happens, I felt a deep connection to the wild, rugged place I was in. It was a great respite from the toil of the climb up Glencliff, and gave me time to re-focus mentally for the challenge that lie ahead.
Near the bottom of the Carriage Road, I turned left onto the Hurricane trail and headed toward the Lodge. I ran hard here, all the while saying aloud, “You’re going back up.” After a while the mantra changed into: “I’m going back up”. I was getting myself mentally prepared to arrive at the mile 20 water/aid stop without catching up to Lars and Jerimy. And that’s exactly what happened.
Ultra
The basic definition of an ultramarathon is a distance that is greater than 26.2 miles. I have a different definition: ultra is going further than what you think you have within yourself. And that doesn’t necessarily mean distance. I knew I could get up and down the mountain one more time, but I was determined to do it as fast as I could. To catch up with my friends. To push my limits.
After a quick water refill, I began the grind up Gorge Brook trail — 2,400 feet of climbing over 3.5 miles. I ran off and on, in spurts. Everything became about breath. I focused on my breathing and kept pushing. I resolved in my mind that I may not catch up with the others at the summit, and if I didn’t, it was just another test to see what I could do on my own. I shed all expectations. I focused on the moment. It is what it is, I told myself, and it could be worse.
I found Lars sitting off to the side of the trail just below treeline. He looked crushed. I sat next to him and tried to help put him back together. We ate some food, drank some water, and then we got up and hiked the rest the of the way up. After a few years of doing this sort of thing, you unfortunately learn that even at your darkest moments, you can keep going. So, that’s what we did. We kept going.
I Hate Al Merrill
The final part of the race does not even seem real to me now. Lars and I did not talk much. We just pushed on as hard as we could. We had to pick our way slowly at first back down Beaver Brook and the top part of Asquam Ridge. Then, as the trail got less technical, I sped up into a sort of controlled fall down the trail, complete with a lot of near-misses as my tired legs tripped on the rocks and roots.
We turned onto the Al Merrill ski trail for the final decent. I was looking forward to getting to this point because I knew it wouldn’t be technical and we could just get it done. I was immensely disappointed to find that the first switchback led us UP! I swore and yelled and power-hiked my way up. When the trail finally turned and headed down, we just ran as fast as was possible. It seemed to never end.
About 100 yards before the finish, I said to Lars that I didn’t think I had anything left. I was so very close to stopping. I had given just about all I had to give. But, we stumbled up to the finish anyway, a little over 8 hours since we had left that morning.
Andrew, Tristan and Chris all finished in under 7 hours. Jerimy finished in just under 8 hours, and Lars and I rolled in at 8 hours, 9 minutes. Dima finished the 50K in 10 hours.
Joffery, Emily, Norm and Tony all completed 20 miles of the course.
#explore4Chad
Details: 30.3 miles, 9,741 feet of climbing (3 summits), 8:09:41
Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/1176331362/overview
