This past Sunday was the first Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge, which turned out to be 6 miles of slick, muddy, wet single track and bush whacking. The course was great; just to get to the starting line you had to walk through 6 inches of water. Of course, that stream wound up being [...]

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Continue reading → Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge (2008)

Looking for a good run this weekend in Southern Maine? The first Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge is this Sunday, November 16th, at 10:00 a.m. in Falmouth.
The course is about 10 kilometers long, there are no aid stations, and the course runs the gamut from narrow single track to wide snowmobile trail, from [...]

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Continue reading → Blackstrap Hell Trail Challenge

Last Friday night, Halloween, my wife and I took part in the Wicked Creepy Trail Run put on by Doug and Hana Welling. I have some video shot from the start and finish, but I haven’t even had a chance to watch it so it will be a little while before I put something [...]

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Continue reading → Wicked Creepy Halloween Trail Run (2008)

A few months ago, my wife ran in a trail race where a woman fell and dislocated her finger. She had to be driven to the hospital while the race director filled out an insurance form for the park with the information on her registration.
Thankfully, she was okay in the end, but [...]

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Continue reading → The #1 Reason Not to Bandit a Race

This week last year centered around two topics, the world championships in Osaka and trail running basics for beginners.
Ian Parlin and Jamie Anderson gave an excellent Trail Running 101 clinic at a local shoe store, introducing the basic concepts and rules of trail running to the crowd. You can read my notes on the [...]

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Continue reading → This Week Last Year: IAAF World Championships & Trail Running

If you are interested in a fun but challenging trail race, then the 2nd of 3 races out at Bradbury Mountain State Park is this weekend on Sunday, August 10th. There are still spots open in the race if you are interested in a unique experience. From the registration form:
Two laps of an [...]

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Continue reading → Bradbury Mountain Breaker » registration still open

Sad news today, as the Maine Woods Trail Marathon has been canceled this year.
The Maine Woods Trail Marathon has been cancelled for this year! A storm went over the area last week and took down many trees which made the trail impassable in many places. Six bridges were washed out, one cannot be found.
The race [...]

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Continue reading → Maine Woods Trail Marathon has been canceled

This morning was the Bradbury Scuffle, the first of 3 trail races at Bradbury Mountain State Park this Summer. The conditions were absolutely beautiful, and by beautiful I mean that it was raining at the start and it was pouring by the finish, creating puddles and mud galore throughout the course. Most of [...]

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Continue reading → Bradbury Scuffle (2008)

Anybody in New England that is still looking for something to do on Memorial Day weekend should look towards making a trip to New Gloucester, Maine, to participate in the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge.
There are 4 races along with volunteering opportunities. The 25k and 50k are returning for their 3rd incarnation, and [...]

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Continue reading → Pineland Farms Trail Challenge » This Weekend

Early results are in! There were 12 runners: 3 women, 8 men, and 1 dog.

Whoever decided to coin the motto, “No Fees, No Awards, No Wimps” for the “Fat Ass” races wasn’t kidding. The group got together at around 7:00 this morning to run between 1 and 3 loops of a 10.6 mile [...]

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Continue reading → Trail Monster Running » “Fat Ass” 50k (2008)

The Trail Monsters are putting on a “Fat Ass” 50k at Bradbury Mountain on Sunday, March 2nd at 7:00. Anybody in the Southern Maine area that is interested in a fun run should think about coming out for it. The vast majority of the run will be outside of the park (click here for [...]

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Continue reading → Bradbury “Fat Ass” 50k on March 2nd

I got lost in the middle of a lake today while I was out running. (If you have never done it before, then be sure to read the FAQ about Lake Running first!) You would think that it would be pretty difficult to get lost in the middle of a lake. After [...]

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Continue reading → Getting Lost while Running in the Middle of a Lake

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about taking advantage of your location for the month of December. This week, I will explain why you should take advantage of your local trail system.
This past Summer I wrote about the Trail Running 101 presentation put on [...]

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Continue reading → Take Advantage of Your Local Trails & Parks

The Bradbury Bruiser Trail Race was this past weekend on October 28th, and since I was out of town I was not able to be there. From what I have heard, the vast majority of people had a great time, even the ones that got to compete in the “Best Bruise” contest.
Stephen Wells has [...]

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Continue reading → Did you enjoy the Bradbury Bruiser?

Sometimes, your marathon preparation goes perfectly, your taper is phenomenal, and hopefully your race goes off without a hitch. Sometimes, things are not so smooth. I still expect my race to go off without a hitch, but my taper has certainly proven interesting.
The general goal was to keep up with 50 [...]

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Continue reading → An overly active taper

In the description of the Bradbury Bruiser Trail Race, I mentioned that the final course preview run and the trail marking was going to be tomorrow morning at 9:30 am and 7:00 am respectively. This has been changed to Sunday morning, October 21st, at the same times.
If you would like to run the course, [...]

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Continue reading → Bradbury Bruiser course marking moved to Sunday

The Bradbury Bruiser 12 Mile Trail Race is on October 28th this year. The race begins at 8:00 am. The race is being sponsored by L.L. Bean’s, and may be an introduction of more to come next year if things go well. The course is pretty flat, despite being held in Bradbury [...]

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Continue reading → Bradbury Bruiser 12 Mile Trail Race

There are thousands of runner’s who write about their training, their racing, and their sport. Some running websites have thousands of readers, others have hundreds, and the rest have only dozens. No matter how many readers a runner’s site has, though, they can still write passionate reports about the races that they have [...]

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Continue reading → Writing about your race results

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing about things that deserve more attention throughout the month of October. This week, I would like to start things off by addressing trail running for road runners.
Photo by Paul A. FaganCross country running in high school and college [...]

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Continue reading → Trail running deserves more attention from road runners

Last night, Ian Parlin and Jamie Anderson spoke for an hour or so at Peak Performance Sports about trail running, providing an introduction to the local trail options and a primer for those who are first making the migration to trails from the roads.
They described the popularity of the sport and defined some technical terms [...]

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Continue reading → Trail Running 101 at Peak Performance

Photo by Ian ParvinThe Vermont 100 Mile Trail Race was this past weekend on July 24th. The top three Maine finishers all belong run with the Trail Monsters, a running group in the greater Portland area that runs local trails every week and race in the local mountain series.
Stephen Wells was the first Maine [...]

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Continue reading → Vermont 100 Mile Trail Race (2007)