Peter Gagarin's Mt Washington Road Race
Pinkham Notch, Gorham, NH - June 18, 2011
Noted American orienteer, Peter Gagarin (Sunderland, MA) not only won the M65 category in this year's race up Mt. Washington, he describes how he felt, what he thought coping with both the issues facing the older runner and the feelings and concerns competitor's think no matter what age. What follows is his entry in his on-line training log (Attackpoint, look for June 18th).
He's a five-time national champ in orienteering, a long time ultrarunner and former editor for Ultrarunning magazine. He's also appeared on Wheaties cereal box (about the same time Wichita oilman Jim Hershberger also made the cereal box).
Anyone want to go for a walk/run next year? - Gene Wee
Entry on Attackpoint:
road running: elasped time: 1:42:34; distance: 7.52 mi (pace: 13:38 / mi) +1432m 8:34 / mi map
average heart rate:157 max:165; shoes: O-roc x-talon 212 #2
Mt. Washington Road Race. Quite a day. Quite a fine day actually.
I suppose the only really bad news -- not counting the fact that I walked more than I ever imagined I would -- is that I can now bypass the lottery for the 2012 race. Do I really want to do this thing again?
Results.
It is, as they say, only one hill. But it does go on for a while.
We drove up Friday afternoon, made contact with the two guys that we were giving rides back down to (have to have three runner's passes to be able to drive up), and made it an early night. At some point [wife] Gail asked if I was nervous (or apprehensive, or scared, one of those words). I think I was a little nervous, but not big-time. There have been many other times at the start line that I have been seriously nervous (most major O' events, nervous about how I would do)), or seriously apprehensive (most ultras/marathons/rogaines, apprehensive about how much I was going to suffer), or scared (most 100-milers, WTF am I getting into?).
But this was not one of those times.
I guess I was mainly thinking, it's going to be a little under two hours of just going up. Just keep plugging away.
My expectation was that I should do under 1:50. My hope was to do under 1:45. Under 1:40 would have been wonderful, but I didn't think it was really possible. Besides time, my other concern was doing well in my age group, for a reason beyond the usual fact that I'm just competitive -- The little blurb that local running journalist and old friend John Stifler had put in the local paper, well, he'd also put it into his preview article for the race. So, sensibly or not sensibly, I felt an obligation to show him that his words were not totally bogus.
One serious concern at Mt. Washington is the weather, especially above tree line. It wasn't supposed to be cold (upper 40s was predicted) or especially windy (10 to 15 mph was predicted), but some rain was moving through, and that could be rather unpleasant. But we got lucky, it rained during the hour before the start, and rained hard at the summit, but that was the end of it. It was still a bit warm the first half, and very humid, but then really quite nice higher up. The summit was in and out of the fog.
My race -- the first couple hundred yards are flat, and then you just keep climbing. 4,600', average grade 12%, 7.6 miles. Mostly paved, a couple miles of firm dirt. And just up and up and up.
I figured I would walk early and often. I did, though probably not early enough, ran the first mile. I paced myself mostly by how I felt, which was reflected in my heartrate, 158-160 seemed about right, anything higher and I was getting wobbly. So I kept it there for the whole damn race. And walked a lot. And ran as much as I could stand to. When I was walking I was walking as fast as I could. When I ran, it was usually very short stretches, but also at a pretty good pace. There were all sorts of different tactics on view in the folks around me, with some running a lot more. I think mine suited me the best.
The time went by pretty slowly. The second mile seemed especially hard, one long steep pitch, there was no way I could run, probably walked for the better part of 5 minutes straight. The third and fourth miles just kept going, maybe a little less steep, but every time you came around a corner it just kept going up. I was sweating a lot, feeling too warm, and breathing hard. But there is no choice, you just keep going. Most of the time I was running/walking in stretches of 50 to 100 yards and then switching. Run as long as I could, then walk until I thought I could run a little more, and then keep repeating. And just grit your teeth and keep going.
Miles 5 and 6, now above tree line, didn't seem as steep, but my pace was slower. Getting tired obviously. Also, by now the air was getting a little thinner. I remember times getting off a plane in Denver and trying to run and gasping for air if I tried to go uphill, and this was just the same. At least it was getting cooler. Along the way I was calculating and recalculating -- what was a possible finish time. And it seemed like 1:45 was just possible, and that was a real good feeling that kept me going.
Mile 7, more of the same, the air a little thinner, but the slope seemed not so bad. Ran more, but the legs were tired and I'm sure I was moving slower. But another mile was done. And I could see the summit buildings, and start hearing cheers.
Like all things, the hill eventually ended. I finished as well as I could, totally wasted. And totally delighted with the time, 1:42:26. I think I could have done the course 15 or 20 minutes faster some years ago, but for right now, this was excellent. And first in 65-69 was just icing on the cake.
The event is really quite something. The organization is superb. The karma is great. I'm not sure if I will do it again. I certainly could have been better prepared. But it was still a great adventure. And absolutely worth doing.