Till We Meet In Hell and the week 12/5 - 12/11

Monday - Rest


Tuesday - Presumpscot Trail, 7 miles.  Hit the trail to outer Washington and then all the loops on the way back. Ended up doing a few repeats on the last one before calling it good on a sluggish, low energy day.

Wednesday - Robinson Woods, 7 miles.  Real nice and easy, enjoyable run in the pouring rain.

Thursday - Winnick Woods, 8 miles.  Real cold, wet and windy run feeling sluggish and tuckered. Still managed to push a bit on the hills but not quite the workout I anticipated. Did two large loops and finished with one inner loop.  Headed to see Garry Bracken for some tune-up work after.

Friday - Robinson Woods, 11 miles.  Today's run changed from interval work and 5 miles to 11 and slow so I can flip flop the seventeen intended for Sunday and run the Till We Meet In Hell run.
Felt real tired and sluggish today and took it super, annoyingly slow to make sure I could get in some fun this weekend. Real cold at the end but otherwise an OK run.

Saturday - Presumpscot Trail, 8 miles.   Nice easy semi-hilly run with Zack. Catching up, planning, anticipating and looking ahead at the year of excitement.

Sunday - 'Till We Meet In Hell, 12.35 miles.  Incredible run with the Trail Monsters! Gorgeous area with a 1.4ish mile loop and 300ft of elevation gain. Finished 8 full loops with 1.15 miles in to the last.

Started mellow with Andy, Blaine and Ian. The hill at the start of the lap was a rough way to get the blood flowing and a clear indication the course was going to be awesome.  After the first lap it was Andy and I and my goal was to keep up with him or at least keep him in sight and eventually pass.

I kind of started to get it in my head that it would be fun to really race and maybe win.  I knew that with Ryan out, Jamie tuckered from an awesome run the previous day, Ian having had a full day previously as well, Blaine on the low training end, Jeff focusing on skiing, and Andy coming off an injury, (not to mention the other TM's that were not in attendance) that I might actually have a chance.  I knew that if everyone was at their peak it would be a different day so I figured I'd capitalize while I could.

After a horrendous bone-crushing fall early on I definitely worked to keep up with Andy on the downhills and flats, but noticed him slowing on the ascents.  On the 8th lap I made my move up the first hill and pushed the rest of the way. I thought I'd gone too early though and felt real heavy on the last few climbs, sucking wind as best I could to keep moving forward.  Really gave it all and left nothing.

Splits:
1 11:06
2 10:08
3 9:52
4 9:52
5 10:11
6 10:16
7 10:17
8 9:32
9 8:44 = 1.15 miles

This was such a fantastic race/run put on by Val and Rick and really well laid out.  It was truly great to see the amount of TM's that came out and the fun and energy had by all.  After the event we took over Gritty's for good post-race food, beer and the first ever TM awards hosted by Ian.  People voted on various funny and interesting topics for the 2011 year.  They graciously voted me most improved runner, and best finish.  Super nice group of people with such wonderful support, motivation and camaraderie that I'm happy to call friends.

Thanks to all for a wonderful 2011!!

Summary - 53.3 miles.