I Wish I’d Had Trekking Poles
Winter Wild #4 Race Report
It was fifteen minutes past seven a.m. when I caught sight of Tyler in the corner of my eye. He was pulling away from me up the slope. His climb up the massive wall of snow before us was determined and robotic, and he was working the trekking poles with his arms just as hard as he was using his legs. Determined to catch him, I pushed off harder with each step to try to close the gap.
We were racing up Ragged Mountain in Danbury, NH in the fourth Winter Wild event of 2014. I was excited to have Tyler racing with me, as this was his first Winter Wild race. We have been training together since I began trail running. We are close friends and enjoy a healthy competition when we race one another.
The temperature was just over 20° F at the start, and after the recent cold snap, it felt downright warm. The snow conditions were pretty much perfect for getting up the mountain with my micro-spikes. The sky was clear with gorgeous sunrise unfolding before us, but I had no time to enjoy it—Tyler was getting away from me.
I looked up and quickly counted the people in front of me—nine. I was tenth. I snuck a quick glance behind me and saw my friend Mike close behind. Between trying to catch up with Tyler, and Mike closing in behind, I had all the motivation I needed to make a quick vow to myself not to lose my place.
The climb was getting really steep and I had to switch to power-hiking. I pumped my arms as if I had poles, and made sure I dug my toes in. We were nearing what I thought was the top, only to see a steeper climb ahead, revealed in the dazzling morning light. Lars Blackmore and Brandon Baker were battling it out for the lead, already a quarter of the way up this new rise. At this moment I knew this was going to be a real race for me.
I was hoping to at least keep my place in the pack, but planning to spend all I had to catch Tyler before the top. I thought to myself, “If I’ve got nothing left for the descent, then so be it. Let’s see what we can do.” However, every time I hit a particularly steep incline and had to downshift to a power-hike, Tyler would march on ahead of me, powering away with those damn poles! Thus, a pattern developed: I’d dig in and close the gap a bit, only to downshift and have it open back up.
Finally, I completed the ascent and rounded the top of the chair-lift to the cheers of some resort staff. My legs actually felt great, so I joked with them, hollering about how it was all downhill from here, as I secretly thought to myself, “This is the beginning of the hard part.”
I saw Tyler down the slope, way ahead of me. There was another runner between us. Unlike the last Winter Wild race, I ran as hard as I could down the hill to catch him. I passed the unknown runner just after a skier (also in the race) whizzed past us all. Lost one, gained one—I still had tenth place. Now I had to concentrate on keeping focused and strong, while running at an insane pace down a very steep slope.
I was gaining on Tyler. Every now and then, he’d plant the trekking poles into the snow, and slam both feet straight down, side-by-side, skidding to slow down. This was a sign for me that a steep drop was ahead. Trusting my micro-spikes, I simply leaped over these, landing on my toes and lengthening my stride to the point of what felt like an in-air split! All that stretching in yoga was paying off.
Just before the finish, the course led to a tight curve around the bottom of the chair-lift. I finally caught Tyler here and said, “Let’s bring it in together buddy.” But he was having none of that. He sped up, and… I fell down. In a blur, I lost my footing and tripped, almost getting impaled on the flailing poles in his hands. I just started laughing like crazy, popped back up, and ran it home with everything I had, finishing just one second behind Tyler. I did a forward tumble over the finish line just for fun.
Ear-to-ear grins and many high-fives followed as we cheered on our friends, and all the other racers we didn’t know but who now shared something with us. Even though this event turned out to be a competitive race for me, it was still all about community, embracing winter, and having fun. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see it was only 7:30 AM. I felt sorry for all the people who were at home, asleep in their beds, missing out on this celebration of life.
I could tell from the look on Tyler’s face that he was hooked—we’d be competing with one another over the rest of the series—only next time, I’d be using poles too!
Technical data
GPS Data can be found on Strava here: http://www.strava.com/activities/110371760/overview
Race results can be found here: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/14/nh/Feb1_Winter_set1.shtml
This story was written for the Far North blog and was also published there.
Tyler and Jeremy enjoy running the trails around the Upper Connecticut River Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont and are training to compete as a team in Madathlete Emerald Necklace 3 Day Stage Race in August of 2014.
Special thanks to Ben Kimball for editing/feedback on an early draft of this story.
