Bradbury Breaker, August 5th 2012

I'm finally sitting down to write a quick report regarding the Bradbury Breaker Race.  Not necessarily an epic race, but definitely tough and definitely a challenging end!

So it's two weeks after VT100, hot, and humid, and five of us head out to set the course.  Ian, Emma, James, Ryan and I.  It was great to catch up with Ryan as he was a key player for many at the VT100, crewing, and helping everyone out.  After the course was set a few of us headed off to run a lap or so, checking the markings and feeling it out.  I knew I was in trouble when about half way around one lap I was absolutely toast.  In fact I stopped short, cut through the woods to head to the parking lot a few hundred feet early. 

The race started out like most others.  Great catching up with people, a few jitters, some encouraging words from Ian, and Bam!  I thought I would break my time from last year and have a relatively good race, despite the humidity and fatigue from a few weeks earlier.  I usually have a great race following a longer jaunt and figured my fitness would even out the humidity and tuckered body.  Not so much...

Huffin' to the summit

The first lap was probably too quick, and I knew it but really hoped I'd hold on.  At the halfway point Zak yelled my time out and told me to "go for a negative split!"  My backup watch had died at this point, and my Garmin 210 was lost after Vermont so I really wasn't too sure how I was running except it felt fast.

About to get passed!

That fast feeling was put in check when a little bit in to the final lap two runners caught up with me to chat a bit, and continue to cruise along.  Great guys, but real easy for them to converse, while I puffed and puffed.  My goal now was to stay with them and try not to lose another few spots to anyone else.  Struggle, struggle.  Damn the hills felt tall and steep!


Fast forward to the end, and I was real happy for the race to be over.  I pushed as best I could from around the mile mark and hit the downhill and last straight-away with everything I had.  Then the clearing, and the finish line in view and 20 or 30 people wide-eyed, pointing behind me screaming Run!

Damn, now I have to sprint?  So I sprinted, and finished just ahead of who else, but James Poop-Dogg Demer!  Man was I impressed with his come back from illness and working abroad for so long.  I didn't expect him to come up on me so quick and if the crowd hadn't warned me he would have screamed right by me.  Just awesome.  He told me after the race that he was running as quiet as he could so he didn't alert me.  Brilliant racing tactics.  Lesson learned James!

Once again a fantastic race by Trail Monster Running and all those affiliated.  Thank you very much!

Time:  1:15:22, 11th

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