From: "Dot" <dot.h@#duh?att.net>
Subject: Re: How I spent Last Sunday(50k)
Date: Saturday, January 14, 2006 3:11 PM
Quoted message said:I'm sure there must be one or two from upstate NY
somewhere (not ag, and Nikki moved to MT a couple years ago), but off
the top of my head, none spring to mind - could be oversight on my
part.
Daniel Cherniack and Nicki are the two that come to mind. John Geesler
is a NY boy. John ran second to Yiannis Kouros
in across the years with 263 miles. He is some running machine. he is
the most quiet person you will ever meet. he just shows at dozens of
ultra races a year and is usually in the top 10. We have Sue Johnson
but she is Mass I think.
Quoted message said:I think the Sri Chinmoy races are there but that's not trail. Then
again, I don't follow the east coast races closely to the point that
I'm
having trouble thinking of any well-known (and hence probably more
competitive) NY trail ultra (by distance). I'm obviously aware of
things
like Escarpment and Nipmuck across the border and I think there may be
one in western part of state.
Some don't consider the Escarpment an ultra because it is only a 30k.
You are right, we don't have any big local races. Central Mass. has a
bunch of varying distance trail races but very low profile. I do the two
Vermont races because we don't have anything closer.
Quoted message said:But I agree with your main point. First-timers on a rocky, rooty
single
track might eat crow for post-race festivities. Some wise and/or
talented ones can pull it off. (I'm being polite and stopping there.)
Very true. We have had rookies come and do well but we seldom see them
again. Then we have the egocentric come and only wish they had the
energy to eat crow after the race. 🙂
Quoted message said:Another point may be also that some people don't understand what a
trail
is. Our local planners consider the paved bike paths to be trails -
much
to our chagrin. (They don't make this mistake anymore.) I've also
heard
of people from cities on their first time in a state park or whatever
were surprised when they're expected to walk on dirt aka trail. (This
is
serious statement. I think it was a group of at-risk kids from Chicago
on a field trip or something that someone told me about.) And some
folks
distinguish dirt / gravel roads / fire breaks from trails.
All true and why people should do some homework about the race they plan
to do and then train in the same conditions. I know this is not always
possible. People come from places like Florida to do a hilly race.
Simple rapid trail elevation will eat you up if not practiced. When I
see Lance extrapolating his times across longer distances, I laugh my
ass off. Then again, he has been keeping us all amused with is abundance
of testosterone. 🙂
-DougF