Arches East

Is Kentucky part of the South? I don't think so, not really. I mean clearly it's part of the Bible Belt, but geographically it's well to the north of south. Deep South, anyway. Is it part of the Northeast? Probably not. The Midwest? I don't know. Appalachia, for sure. But along with maybe Missouri, it's really kind of in the middle, refusing to be pigeonholed one way or the other. Regardless, I'm gonna write about it here at Northeast Adventures. Because I found something really neat there. Possibly peripheral, but plenty welcome.

A few weeks back (in late April), Jen and I took a quick vacation trip to Red River Gorge in Kentucky. We flew into Charleston, West Virginia, rented a car, and drove a few hours west on I-64. After a brief stop for lunch in Huntington (I now get all the "We Are Marshall" references), we wound our way into eastern KY. 

Red River Gorge isn't really in a mountainous region of Kentucky. It's well to the west/northwest of the Blue Ridge and the rest of Appalachia. Or at least, it's at the western edge of the Appalachian foothills. What it IS, though, is a canyon. Or rather, a connected series of canyons. With vertiginous mesas and cliffs and arches. Like something you'd find out in Arizona or Utah, only vegetated. Arches East. How cool is THAT?!?

panorama shot of the very popular Gray's Arch from beneath the rock shelter

L: Red River Gorge from Chimney Top rock. R: Expanse.

our ridiculously sweet cabin for the week (hot tub on deck and mid-week rates!)

wading out to Rock Bridge Arch

drizzly day wildflower walk

rich woods

solace cove

L: Suspension bridge over the Red River. R: A trailside iris.

stuff on the other side of Double Arch

L: Nada Tunnel. R: Where's Jenny?

Below the span at Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Apparently, this is normally an insanely crowded place, complete with a chair lift to near the top of the arch. Not that we would have taken it anyway, but the chair lift was closed (it was drizzly off and on). We hiked up about a mile to get here and saw a grand total of two other people the entire afternoon. Jen is about to hike up through a slot called Fat Man's Squeeze.

Hanson's Point, where we found the finest view at Red River Gorge. The ridge dropped off on either side and ended at a remote ledge with 360-degree views of the canyon (our lunch spot for the day). This unofficial, unmarked spur trail was a few miles into a 9-mile loop hike.

Somehow we managed to time this trip just right. Apparently the place gets VERY crowded, but we were there mid-week and saw almost no one the entire time we were out hiking or exploring; it really seemed like we had the place to ourselves most of the time. Also, spring had just arrived and the leaves were coming out and wildflowers were going gangbusters, but the bugs weren't bad at all and it was perfectly pleasant in terms of temperature. And finally, because we were there mid-week, we got a significantly lower rate for our cabin. 

Aside from the extremely cool arches and great hiking, we also enjoyed a few dinners out: local food and drinks at the Red River Rockhouse and laid back everything at the climber's paradise of Miguel's Pizza. Red River Gorge is a huge destination for rock climbing, and it often seems like you'll see everyone at either of these two excellent places at the end of the day. 

Special mention must be made of a highly entertaining radio station out of Morehead: Mix 106 ("The station no one can agree on at work" "Less Talk, More Head" "A bunch of songs that seem like they shouldn't go together, but strangely... do"). We listened to it all week. Still trying to see if I can stream it at home.

weekend update

On Saturday, I went up to Chesterfield, NH to take photos of the Chesterfield Fun Run 10K race. I'd worked out an issue I'd been having from time to time with the focus on my D600, and the shots came out beautifully. A gallery should be up within a day or so. Afterwards, I parked at the trailhead for Mt. Pisgah and Kilburn Pond, and went in to do a run on the infamous Kilburn Loop Trail; I'm giving serious consideration to doing my first ultra there later this year.

This morning I went to the base of Mt. Tom to take photos of the first few miles of the 51st Annual Walter Childs Memorial Race of Champions Marathon (note to race organizers: that is a seriously clunky long name! definitely at least consider shortening it some). After catching a bunch of shots of each runner (I'm very excited about how these turned out!), I zipped around across the river to catch the halfway point of the Seven Sisters Trail Race. After talking briefly with the volunteers at the halfway aid station, I hiked up about a quarter of a mile to a spot to take shots of the leaders coming through. Then I spent the better part of the next hour taking photos of runners descending the ledgy section in the powerline swath there. Again, I'm pretty psyched about how these shots came out! Anyway, after the final (or near-final) runners came though, I headed back over to the marathon to catch anyone finishing above a 3:30. It's a cruel finish, asking runners to climb for more than a mile to the end, under a beating sun with no shade. But the runners I saw looked fantastic. Strong, determined, and fit as hell.

Galleries will be posted for all three races later this week. And now... I get to go for another run!

L: My friend Patrick on his way to a marathon PR!

R: Cruising down to the turnaround at seven Sisters.

Weekend Update Update: Photo Galleries are now up for all three of these races!

Chesterfield Fun Run 10K

Walter Childs Race of Champions Marathon

2013 Seven Sisters Trail Race

five more races (a.k.a. one busy week)

After getting back from a quick but excellent vacation trip to Red River Gorge in Kentucky last week (special blog post coming soon), I shot four local races this past weekend. And have spent the better part of this week madly processing and posting the shots. Also on the processing plate was finishing off photos from the recent Cave Hill Classic Fiver Miler in Leverett. Anyway, galleries are now up for all of these races:

Cave Hill Classic 5-miler Leverett, MA  gallery
Annual Walk/Run to Remember 5K Northampton, MA  gallery
Sheriff’s Sprint Pool Triathlon Ludlow, MA  gallery
Daffodil 5K Fun Run Amherst, MA  gallery
Quabbin Classic Road Race bike race Ware, MA  gallery

Coming though Rattlesnake Gutter at the Cave Hill Classic

Start of the Run to Remember 5K in Northampton

Hammering on the bike at the Sheriff’s Sprint Triathlon in Ludlow

Just past mile 2 at the Daffodil 5K Fun Run in Amherst

Quabbin Classic Road Race

Traprock

Last Saturday I tried a one-two punch of running the Traprock 17K trail race and then turning around and photographing the second half of the 50K ultramarathon (which had started an hour before the 17K). And amazingly, I was mostly successful!

The 17K race (~10.5 miles) went pretty well. I came in 12th out of 70, and felt great the entire way. Upon finishing, I walked straight to my car where I changed shirts, socks, and shoes, and grabbed my camera and backpack. Back at the finish area I scarfed a burger at the grill (THANK YOU, volunteers!!!) and downed some water, then started shooting. 

The first round of photos, mostly of the tail end of the 17K, didn't turn out all that well. I was a little wobbly still, and not quite as confident as you have to be to get good shots. After heading back out on the trail a ways, though, things started to improve. I wanted to come away with a gallery that really represented the full diversity of the course, and I think I more or less pulled that off. I hiked a total of 6 or 7 miles, and got back out to Penwood Ridge, Lake Louise, the Stairway, the summit, the cool columnar-jointing rock outcrop beneath the hemlocks along the ridge, the "Freeway" section (where the mid-day sun came out for a bit to wreak havoc with exposure), and back again.

To the race directors: this is an AWESOME event. Thank you.

To the woman who shouted out "make me look skinny!" I should have shouted back "you make it too easy!" 

Apologies to the runners who I saw over and over again as I made my way around the middle part of the course. I know it got a little silly. Hopefully there's a photo or two of you in there to make it worth the overkill. 

The full photo gallery is posted here: [deleted at race director's request]

And I've included a few highlights below. 

black is the color and none is the number

Boston,

I don't know what to say.

As a runner, as a marathoner, as a Massachusetts resident, as a New Englander, as an American, and just as a person. I feel sick and angry and sad. It's exasperating. It's infuriating. And it's devastating.

I've read a lot about religious fundamentalism lately, trying to understand why this world is the way it is. On some level, I can conceive of why a suicide bomber would detonate himself. Because he sincerely believes the other faith is wrong and immoral and that there will be a paradise waiting for him after his act of "holy" horror. And that's one dogma versus another. It's still repugnant and despicable and inexcusable, but I can conceive of what's going through their minds. But attacking things that have nothing to do with what you oppose? What the hell is that? That's like the mean kid who punches anyone and everyone at random because he's kind of just a sociopath at heart.

[In no way do I mean to imply that ANY act of terrorism is OK, and anyone who knows me is damn sure I wouldn't excuse one in the service of religion.]

Whatever sick shit is going through the heads of the people who did it, and I'm sure they feel they did a good thing on some level, I can't help but wonder what kind of twisted mind could possibly convince itself that it's righteous to destroy people's lives when they aren't doing a damn thing to impact you on any level.

The Boston Marathon. The Marathon. The event has meant so many things to so many people, but a common theme for all is that it's a celebration of life and health and joy. There is no dogma. There is no religion. There are no politics. Yes, there's red tape and bureaucracy and the like. But that's simply because it's gotten so big and takes place in a major metropolitan setting; it has to be that way. In essence, though, it's just a festival of fitness, for everyone to either earn their place in or enjoy the spectacle of. The best of what we all can be.

To everyone who was at the marathon or in Boston yesterday, I feel so much heartache for you and you have all of my sympathy. Courage to you.

Love,
Ben

four new race photo shoots

Four new race photo galleries up this week! I ran around and shot a lot of races last week, and then processed a LOT of files. In order of most recent first, these were the races:

• Ron Hebert 8-Mile Road Race in Northampton, MA (photos)
• UMASS Dash and Dine 5K in Amherst, MA (photos)
• CSSR PTO 5K in Belchertown, MA (photos)
• Holyoke Lodge of Elks 5K XC (weekly series) in Holyoke, MA (photos)

The Rob Hebert 8-Miler was my favorite of the week. Run by my local running club, SMAC (Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club), it's one of the oldest road races in New England, and attracts a small but very fit group of runners. All of them seemed to be having a great time, and I have to admit I had a great time taking shots and even processing the photos afterwards.

The Belchertown 5K was very much a parents and kids affair, and all sorts of awesome because of it. While it was frustrating to find a good spot to shoot in town, the sight of all sorts of parents out there with there kids brought a big smile to my chilly cheeks. Special thanks to the race director for being so excellent about spreading the word on the photos!

The UMASS 5K started one hour after the Belchertown one, so it took a quick haul to get over there in time. Hundreds of runners threaded through campus, many of them students. I got a LOT of thumbs-ups and peace signs and big smiles at that one, there were a couple of spectacular costumes, and in general the mood was excellently positive; very fun.

The first Holyoke Elks Lodge race of the year got off to a late start (which I hear is not uncommon for that race), so by the time the runners got out to where I was by the reservoir (a very scenic spot in late afternoon light), it was 6:50PM and the sun had already sank behind the ridge just to the west so it was pretty dark. Adding to my irritability here was the fact that, although it had been a beautiful afternoon, the temperature had dropped fast and the wind was blowing about 15 miles an hour. I'd gone for a run around the reservoir beforehand and even though I was now wearing a bunch of extra layers and a hat I still got really cold standing around waiting. I ended up just giving up trying to take shots of the runners near the finish. I was up to 1600 ISO at f/4 and it was still too dark. Nevertheless, it's a cool race and I'll definitely go back later in the season.

I also managed to cram in 40 miles of running last week, about half of which were on trails. Psyched to run the short course at Traprock this Saturday (and hopefully take some shots of the 50K afterwards).

A highlight of any race is seeing parents out exercising with their kids. Seriously, it warms my heart, every time. I'm gonna do a whole blog post about this topic sometime soon.

Some favorite shots below

two from the Ron Hebert 8-Miler:

three from the UMASS 5K:

two from the 5K in Belchertown:

four from the first Holyoke Elks Lodge 5K of 2013:

 

big fish, little fish

Today was a tale of two wildly different photoshoot types. At 9:15 AM I shot the start of the Fast Friends 4.5 Mile Road Race up in Swanzey, NH. Then at 1:15PM I shot the finish of the Westfield Fast Flat 5K Run/Walk down in Westfield, MA. The similarities end at the fact that both were races.

For the start of the Fast Friends race I moved out into the road directly ahead of the runners and got this shot (at full zoom; I wasn't THAT close):

Nobody seemed to mind me being there, and I was able to scoot away well before the runners got near me. I had ample time to drive over near mile 3 or so and find a reasonable spot to shoot the runners once they'd spread out some. I parked near the small access road for Mt. Cresson (cool local conservation area; who knew??) and obsessively cleaned my camera filter glass until the runners arrived. 

Eventually runners came by and I was able to photograph everyone, first to last (except for three walkers who were 13 minutes back; sorry, guys!). There were 147 finishers.  

Afterwards I went to the finish and caught up with three old friends from my Capital Multisport days (from when I lived in Concord, NH). There was also a very cool police dog demo going on, and the good people at Fast Friends let me go inside and meet one of the greyhound rescues (Enzo; I wanted to adopt her on the spot). All in all, it was an easy, stress-free photoshoot. Here's the complete photo gallery. 

L: Enzo, the prettiest greyhound rescue; R: Deb Livernois, rockin' runner!

Then I drove down to Westfield. There was plenty of time and the drive was easy, but soon I realized this would be a very different shoot. For starters, it was a first-year 5K. And it was a run/walk (one that attracted both top regional talent and stroller-walkers alike). And there were 1114 finishers.  

And there was an official, downtown Westfield-based race photographer that the announcer kept promoting on the loudspeaker. There's no rule I'm aware of that says I can't shoot the same race, but I'd like very much to not step on anyone's toes. Anyway, I caught the first two finishers as they came across the line at Mach 1, then missed the next dozen or so top runners as I made my way back a quarter mile or so to the last turn in the road before the finish. Here, I took photos of runners and walkers non-stop for the next hour. My upper body was pretty kinked up and sore by the end! Full gallery here. 

Congratulations to all the runners of these two races. I'm so impressed with how many New Englanders turned out for great causes and good exercise on a late March weekend. 

L: whee! R: whee!

Vamonos, Muchachos!

Berkshire Photoshoot Pentathlon

The 2nd Annual Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon was held up in Charlemont, MA this past Saturday. Athletes run, bike, kayak, run/hike, and ski/snowboard. All before the end of March. In New England. I don't know of too many other local race events with so much photographic potential!

I tried shooting this event last year, and learned a few lessons along the way. This year I went back armed with a better camera and a faster lens, and, um, yeah... learned a few lessons along the way.

Just strategizing locations for shooting was a challenge. I ended up catching runners as they came through Charlemont in the first mile, and also as they came out of the woods at the Warfield House around mile 4. That first location wasn't the most scenic setting on an overcast, dirty-snow, late March morning, and the second location was where the best shots came out. I also shot the bike leg, mostly out on the scenic section of road between Zoar and Monroe. Parking along this stretch was really difficult as there were still foot-high snowdrifts lining each side of road. There was literally no place to safely pull over for miles (the road was still open to traffic). I ended up parking in some shallow snow and walking half a mile up the hill to where I wanted to get some shots. For the kayak leg, I pulled over above the snowy boulders downstream of the Zoar Picnic Area and put my emergency blinker lights on; got a few shots there. For the hill climb and ski legs, I just walked up to the finish line and did catch-as-catch-can. The photoshoot was kind of an event in itself!

Exposure was much harder this year. The bright snow made it very difficult to expose for the athletes, and to add to the difficulty the sun kept coming and going behind gauzy clouds. The shots I got reflect the challenges, with some appearing overexposed and some appearing underexposed. Three cheers for Photoshop CS6!

I'm super impressed with the athletes who completed this event. I can't even imagine how cold the Deerfield River must have been for the kayakers. Even the best must have gotten a little bit wet in spots. Hats off to you guys. You are officially awesomely badass!

The full photo gallery is now up at Ben Kimball Photography. 

hot damn...

I set my half-marathon PR by over 2 minutes today at the 2013 Oleksak Half-Marathon in Westfield, MA. My previous best had been at the same race a year ago when I ran 1:36:25 (a 7:21 pace). Today it was 1:34:22 (a 7:13 pace). And I felt good the entire run. As you might imagine, I'm feeling really good about this.

The winds were biting during the warm-up run, but I remembered how much I usually heat up regardless so I stripped down to just shorts and a t-shirt. This ended up being a good move as the sun came out and it warmed right up to the low 40's by mile 2. I did wear gloves most of the way, though.

The first mile is flat and I hit it right on my goal pace of 7:21. Mile two was a little slower, but that was OK since it had some uphill. 7:27. Mile three is almost all ascent and has the steepest hill of the race. That one was a 7:53. Fine. Mile four levels out but still climbs. 7:32. Again, fine. Mile 4-5 is mostly flat, and I began to make up the time. 7:05. Mile 5-6 has the biggest downhill. 7:00. From there it's a very gradual downhill/flat trend (with a couple of short hills) all the way to mile ten. 7:12. 7:09. 7:22. 7:08. Somewhere around mile 8 the effort began to catch up with me and I started to flag a little, but another Gu and some extra water at the next station perked me right back up. Then you get to the flat final three, through neighborhoods. Here I methodically picked off a couple of the guys I'd been behind for a bunch of miles, and I have to admit I felt pretty good doing that. It just all felt right. Nothing hurt, nothing felt tight, and I had the energy to just stride away. Love it when that happens. It's not all that often, but I love it when it does. The final three mile splits were 7:02, 6:52, and 6:30. Hot damn.