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Sehgahunda Trail Marathon

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2010201120122013
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Location:

Buffalo,NY,

Member Since:

Aug 15, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Personal Bests
  • 1500m : 4:43 (May 2001)
  • 1 mile: 5:18 (August 2012) 
  • 5k: 17:39 (December 2003)
  • 8k: 30:02 (June 2003)
  • 10k: 37:21 (November 2003)
  • 15k : 59:48 (July 2012)
  • 10 miles: 62:39 (February 2002)
  • Half-Marathon (Covered Bridges): 1:23:29 (June 2002)
  • Marathon (Wineglass): 3:04:42 (Oct 2011)
  • Half Ironman (Tupper Lake): Swim 38:19, Bike 3:01:xx (with flat tyre change), Run 1:58:xx, Total time 5:44:44 (Jun 2004)

Short-Term Running Goals:

General Goals for 2013

  • Break 3 hours as Boston
  • Mile in 5:00
  • 5k in 17:30

Results and my 'A' Races for 2013 (Click for Race Report)

  • Y-10 10 Miler (February 9)
    • Goal: 63? (honestly, no idea)
    • DNS
  • Boston Marathon (April 15)
    • Goal: 2:57
    •  Time: 3:12:46
  • Springville Stampede (May 9)
    • Goal: 18:36
    • Time: 18:28
  • Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5 (June 6)
    • Goal: 20:30
    • Time: 20:30
  • Brian Moorman PUNT Foundation Blackbird 8K (June 19)
    • Goal: 30:00
    • Time: 30:03
  • Boilermaker 15k (July 14)
    • Goal 58:00
  • Mueller Mile (August)
    • Goal 5:00
  • Run into Buffalo 15k  (Sept 2)
    • Goal 57:30
  • Troy Turkey Trot 10k (Nov 28)
    • Goal 37:00

Long-Term Running Goals:

  1. Sub 3:00 Marathon
  2. 17:00 5k
  3. 1:20 Half-marathon

Personal:

Originally from the small town of Galway, NY (near Saratoga), I currently live in Buffalo, NY.  I'm a community pharmacist  I  graduated from the University of Buffalo School of Pharmacy with my pharmD in 2007 and my PhD in 2011. I'm married and have 2 dogs (Sadie, a lab, and Ralphie, a Eskie mix).  We enjoy anything outdoors from Backpacking and hiking to snowboarding.

my photojournal, and I will run

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Sadie's Lifetime Miles: 298.30
Ralphie's Lifetime Miles: 346.60
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
26.300.000.00
Brooks Cascadia 5 Miles: 26.30
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Race: Sehgahunda Trail Marathon (26.3 Miles) 05:11:30, Place overall: 17, Place in age division: 7
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
26.300.000.00

Sehgahunda Trail Marathon or There’s Mud in the Streets, It’s Up to My Ankles

Summary:  Finish time 5:11:30 (pace 11:51)

                      Place: 17 out of 114 (13th male out of 85)

                      Elevation gain: 2400 feet

I survived but good god it was brutal.  The course is a point to point along a technical hiking trail that runs at the bottom of a gorge but there are 8 checkpoints situation on the road that runs the top of the gorge.  To get to these checkpoints you need to run up a gas pipeline access road that is waist high grass.  This is all good when it’s dry but this May we’ve had 2x the normal rain.  This meant that the trail itself was at least ankle deep mud about 50% of the time and the access roads were shin deep standing water/mud along with the grass.  Combine this with 2400feet gain and 112 stream crossings and brutal is an understatement.  So brutal that they relaxed the 8 hour cut-off time (assessed at each checkpoint) to allow more people to continue.  Not me but shows the mud! (pictures courtesy of Tom Taylor Jr and more can be seen at facebook.)

I get to the finish and get my packet and drive off to the start to get ready and we are off a little after 8.   The send off the women 15 minutes before the men and the relay 15 minutes after.   We are moving along nice and start to catch a few of the women.  I figure I’m in about 7th place which is super amazing and I set up behind a guy and stay with him.  I was covered in mud about 2 miles in, there was no avoiding it.  The first checkpoint was hell and impossible to run it.  Soul sucking was a good description.   Ate some watermelon and continued on.  Same process with the route to aid station 2 and 3.  Aid station 3 was at about mile 15.5 and it was then I started to blow-up.  After that point it was pretty much just get through it.  It takes a little while but some of the men start to catch me and I try to stay with them.  Miles 16-22 involved lots of cursing and walking and frustration.  Finally after about mile 22 I start to feel a little better and run more and finally the trail picks up an old carriage road and follows this to the finish, NO more mud and I can pick up the pace to the finish.   I see the finish, power up the little hill and run it in (the song playing was Boomtowns Rats’ “I don’t like Mondays”, a song about a school shooting!)  I stumble around and walk it out.  Celebrated with a  delicious beer, ate some lunch and packed it home.


The ok: I wanted sub 5 but given the conditions I’ll accept my time. The average finish time was 25 min slower this year and last year was their inaugural race with a much weaker field that was ½ the size. 

The Good:  The experience was great, it was a totally crazy this to do.  The aid station volunteers were super sweet and cheered like crazy when they saw one of us coming.  Plus they kept me full of flat pepsi and red bull which was probably the only thing that kept me going.  My training prepared me the best it could have.  The elevation/hill were hard but nothing I was not prepared for.  The guy that beat me by 30seconds ran a 1:32:xx  ½ marathon last month and I figure that I’m in that type of shape right now so I guess I finished where I was supposed to. 

The Bad:  The mud was absolutely soul sucking.  If it was dry, it would be a completely different race and much more enjoyable.  I would NOT to do it again if conditions were like they were last weekend.  I also rolled my ankle towards the end of the race and pulled something in my foot.  I didn’t realize it until after the race when my realized I was gimping around.  I spent Sunday and Monday limping but it’s on the upswing now and should be better soon.

 

 

Brooks Cascadia 5 Miles: 26.30
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
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Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
26.300.000.00
Brooks Cascadia 5 Miles: 26.30
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
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