the 2019 Wapack cookie medal, designed by Caroline Shreck
and baked by Christopher Agbay & Co. at Wicked Good Cookies
Jen and I got back from our super-fun but intentionally action-packed and exhausting Desert Southwest vacation week (blog post here!) on May 2, and I immediately jumped into a heavy week at work, with several different freelance writing and editing jobs at home on the side. And on May 5 I took race photos all morning at the Seven Sisters Trail Race (which required several days of processing afterwards), and I managed to get an armload of poison ivy doing that. And also I needed to finish and put out the latest SMAC newsletter, which ended up going out on the 7th. Anyway, blah blah the the point is I was basically working on various things non-stop all week before Watatic and barely got any sleep. Running on fumes. Not an ideal condition to tackle a notoriously tough trail race in.
We arrived at the Watatic terminus registration tent in Ashburnham, MA a bit on the late side (7:40) and had to park pretty far down the road on the side of 119, but it didn't matter. There was still plenty enough time to pick up my bib and unhurriedly hit a porta-potty there before I needed to jump on the bus, which left at 8:05. My bib was awesomely signed on the back by race director and badass ultrarunner friend Christopher "Christo" Agbay, who put together a terrific show for us.
We arrived at the Watatic terminus registration tent in Ashburnham, MA a bit on the late side (7:40) and had to park pretty far down the road on the side of 119, but it didn't matter. There was still plenty enough time to pick up my bib and unhurriedly hit a porta-potty there before I needed to jump on the bus, which left at 8:05. My bib was awesomely signed on the back by race director and badass ultrarunner friend Christopher "Christo" Agbay, who put together a terrific show for us.
The bus ride to the northern end of the Wapack Trail in Greenfield, NH took about 40 minutes. As soon it pulled to a stop at the parking lot there, everyone flew out the door and spread out into the woods. There's nothing like a collective need to pee to bring an entire group together on some level. After a few brief instructions, Christo's young son counted down from five and launched us off up the trail and into the wilds.
The first 50-mile runner (they'd started at the southern end at 5 a.m.) arrived literally the exact minute we started, and he looked so fresh you'd think he'd only been going for five minutes. The next ones followed just a few minutes behind, and one of them was my old friend Steve Reed from the Concord, NH area! The first half-mile is steady uphill, but not super-steep, so you could safely run it at a very gentle pace. But then the grade increased noticeably and there was a nearly mile-long grind of a power-hike climb to the top of North Pack Monadnock Mountain. Look at that stupidly sharp spike on the elevation profile!
After summiting North Pack, the trail drops quickly (about 300 ft.) and then rolls up and down along the ridge for a bit before the second big climb of the morning (up Pack Monadnock itself). By this point I realized that my sleep-deprived fatigue probably wasn't going to go away, and my body just wasn't really loosening up the way I'd have liked. So I resigned myself to doing what my bud Mark Trahan had suggested at the start when I asked if he had any last-minute advice from a veteran of the event (keep the heart rate in check) and just tried to keep a steady slow pace most of the way, and enjoy myself as much as possible.
The descent of Pack Monadnock mountain was by far the most challenging part of the day. Gnarly and tough. The slopes of perpetually wet rocks (beneath dark conifers up near the top) are a wildly tilted jumble of big shards and boulders, and running down them would be treacherous even in the most favorable conditions. It felt like it took forever to get down. But there was an aid station at the bottom, and several friends were out there with their kids cheering runners on, which felt like a nice reward after the drop.
The crossing of Rte. 101 proved shockingly dangerous. Cars whipped around the curve (which is blind in both directions) at top speed and you kind of just had to pick a moment and go for it. On the other side, the Wapack Trail climbs a steep, stony access road (for the former Temple Mountain Ski Area) for about a mile. I followed close behind three other runners here. At the top the trail heads back into the woods again. A bit further along brought us to my favorite section of the day (partly because it was one I'd never been on before), the "Cabot Skyline" miles. Here the trail popped in and out of semi-open clearings (above Sharon Ledges?) and then eventually dropped gradually down the ridgeline to the road in Sharon.
A nice volunteer helped me refill my hydration pack bladder here, and handed me a banana, and then it was off for five minutes of easy paved road miles before heading back into the woods for my least favorite section of the day, the gradual climb along an old wet woods road towards (but not up) Kidder Mtn. It would be nice if someday the Wapack Trail could go over the mountain instead. Eventually the trail popped out on a dirt road where it leveled off. Then there was a fun descent through the woods, across a powerline corridor, through more woods, and past someone's rocky yard (possibly with an old rope tow line?) to the next aid station just off Rte. 124 in New Ipswich.
I grabbed as many salty snacks as I could, then accepted a helpful police officer's assistance across the road. Then I briefly followed the shoulder of the road north to the Windblown Ski Area entrance. I'd been there before. Back in 2013 I ran the Wapack Trail Race (see race report here) and have taken photos several years since, and was now officially familiar with the rest of the route. Nevertheless, I still managed to feel like I'd lost the trail for a moment when, after about a mile of running down a rough XC ski trail, I arrived at a powerline swath where there was a major junction but no yellow triangle in sight to point the way. Instinct and memory made me veer right, which thankfully turned out to be the right call.
Soon I arrived at what I knew was coming: the long, sustained grind back up to Barrett Mountain on the ridge. It was as tough as I remembered and expected. But I passed 2 runners on the way up, and managed to keep a steady pace for the next several rolling miles along the ridgecrest once I'd gotten up there. The weather continued to be perfect and the views from the many open ledges were terrific. This is a fantastic section of the trail, and I only wish my body had been in better shape so I could have enjoyed it a bit more in the moment. After a bonk or two I regained some steam (thanks, ViFuel!) and kept slowly jogging the flats and downhills, though on any steep descents my legs felt like they were right on the verge of cramping up. And my feet were starting to hurt too.
Then came the steep descent from Pratt Mtn to Binney Pond, the awesome aid station (blew through it fairly quickly), the clearcut area, and the long steady climb up and over Nutting Hill towards Mt. Watatic (leapfrogged with Chris Libbey here). The final drop down Watatic to the finish was grueling, mostly because my legs were thoroughly shot by that point but also because the trail is just so heavily eroded by zillions of users there (it is a "blowout zone" of overuse). I jogged into the finish in a time of 5:51:57.
Many thanks to the dozens of volunteers at the aid stations, as well as Jen (who ran 12 fun trail miles of her own at the southern end during my point-to-point journey) for being there for me at the finish. And huge congratulations to the 50-mile runners, most of whom looked shockingly spry and nimble after so many difficult miles. Seeing them finish their feat in such spirited form could easily fool you into thinking this wasn't an incredibly hard race. Overall this was a highly enjoyable event. I wish I had been a bit more rested and fit for it, and given myself the leisure of stopping to take photos along the way (there were a LOT of photogenic moments), but I'm also OK with how it went, and really relieved that the weather was as great as it was.
The crossing of Rte. 101 proved shockingly dangerous. Cars whipped around the curve (which is blind in both directions) at top speed and you kind of just had to pick a moment and go for it. On the other side, the Wapack Trail climbs a steep, stony access road (for the former Temple Mountain Ski Area) for about a mile. I followed close behind three other runners here. At the top the trail heads back into the woods again. A bit further along brought us to my favorite section of the day (partly because it was one I'd never been on before), the "Cabot Skyline" miles. Here the trail popped in and out of semi-open clearings (above Sharon Ledges?) and then eventually dropped gradually down the ridgeline to the road in Sharon.
A nice volunteer helped me refill my hydration pack bladder here, and handed me a banana, and then it was off for five minutes of easy paved road miles before heading back into the woods for my least favorite section of the day, the gradual climb along an old wet woods road towards (but not up) Kidder Mtn. It would be nice if someday the Wapack Trail could go over the mountain instead. Eventually the trail popped out on a dirt road where it leveled off. Then there was a fun descent through the woods, across a powerline corridor, through more woods, and past someone's rocky yard (possibly with an old rope tow line?) to the next aid station just off Rte. 124 in New Ipswich.
I grabbed as many salty snacks as I could, then accepted a helpful police officer's assistance across the road. Then I briefly followed the shoulder of the road north to the Windblown Ski Area entrance. I'd been there before. Back in 2013 I ran the Wapack Trail Race (see race report here) and have taken photos several years since, and was now officially familiar with the rest of the route. Nevertheless, I still managed to feel like I'd lost the trail for a moment when, after about a mile of running down a rough XC ski trail, I arrived at a powerline swath where there was a major junction but no yellow triangle in sight to point the way. Instinct and memory made me veer right, which thankfully turned out to be the right call.
Soon I arrived at what I knew was coming: the long, sustained grind back up to Barrett Mountain on the ridge. It was as tough as I remembered and expected. But I passed 2 runners on the way up, and managed to keep a steady pace for the next several rolling miles along the ridgecrest once I'd gotten up there. The weather continued to be perfect and the views from the many open ledges were terrific. This is a fantastic section of the trail, and I only wish my body had been in better shape so I could have enjoyed it a bit more in the moment. After a bonk or two I regained some steam (thanks, ViFuel!) and kept slowly jogging the flats and downhills, though on any steep descents my legs felt like they were right on the verge of cramping up. And my feet were starting to hurt too.
Then came the steep descent from Pratt Mtn to Binney Pond, the awesome aid station (blew through it fairly quickly), the clearcut area, and the long steady climb up and over Nutting Hill towards Mt. Watatic (leapfrogged with Chris Libbey here). The final drop down Watatic to the finish was grueling, mostly because my legs were thoroughly shot by that point but also because the trail is just so heavily eroded by zillions of users there (it is a "blowout zone" of overuse). I jogged into the finish in a time of 5:51:57.
the final few feet (photo by Jennifer Garrett)
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