Date: 26 Jul 2006 13:20:20
From: dwjones45
Subject: it's only one hill
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i found that running this race 4 times over the past 20 years took more out
of my body than any of the 9 marathons i have run.
on a side note. the guy who won the race this year's mt washington road
race and who happens to live
in my home town just set a world record for running a marathon on a
treadmill in the time of 2:21:40.
http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16833733&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10110&rfi=6
Only one (big) hill
Runners finish on top of the world at Mount Washington Road Race
http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/running/articles/2006/07/26/only_one_big_hill/
MOUNT WASHINGTON, N.H. -- John J. (the Younger) Kelley, the 1957 Boston
Marathon champion, gets serious when he recalls battling 90-mile-per-hour
gusts during the 1961 Mount Washington Road Race
``There's awe and fear of that mountain," Kelley said. ``You could easily
get blown off by that swirling wind at one of those high mountain curves and
die. You see those memorials like, `On this spot three hikers perished in
1938.' That doesn't do anything to fire you up."
Mount Washington demands respect. The highest wind gust ever recorded, 231
miles per hour, was recorded here in 1934 . In mid June, there are still
snowfields near the summit, and below the tree line there are black flies
that love flesh more than flying. The summit is shrouded in clouds
two-thirds of the year, with June temperatures hovering around freezing.
Kelley, 75 , the honorary starter for this year's 7.6-mile race, remembers
how race director Jock Semple dragged him up to New Hampshire. ``I hadn't
heard of a mountain race," he said. ``We thought he was kidding."
But Semple was trying to resurrect a tradition started when 18-year-old
George Foster completed the Mount Washington Carriage Road in 1904 in 1 hour
42 minutes, faster than the cars. The first official Mount Washington Road
Race was run in 1936, with a dozen runners finishing. In 1937, WBZ broadcast
live at the finish and grainy newsreels beamed the results to millions in
movie theaters coast to coast. But the race was discontinued after the
following year because of the war.
Semple, who finished in the top 10 in 1937 and '38, wanted to resurrect the
race in '61, the 100th anniversary of the building of the Mount Washington
Carriage Road.
``Semple said, `I've got good news and bad news,' " Kelley remembered. ``
`And the good news is the bad news. Remember there's only one hill!' "
The ``Only One Hill!" mantra has become the race's battle cry. The race is
capped at 1,000 runners chosen from a lottery almost double the size.
That ``hill" is the tallest mountain in the Northeast. The carriage road is
7.6 miles long, rises 611.8 feet per mile, has an altitude gain of 4,650
feet, and an average grade of 11.6 percent.
Battling the elements
In 1961, with JFK in the White House preaching new vigor, and gas prices at
just 31 cents a gallon, Kelley, a ``wing-footed schoolteacher" from
Connecticut, cruised past 78 other finishers to win the race in a
then-course record 1:08.54 .
He remains the only man to win both the Boston Marathon and the Mount
Washington Road Race. Three-time Mount Washington winner Jacqueline Gareau
is the only woman to achieve the feat. Gareau was more than gracious after
Rosie Ruiz initially crossed the Boston Marathon finish line ahead of her in
1980, only to be disqualified. However at Mount Washington, Mother Nature
got the best of Gareau. Newspapers couldn't print her comment about running
up the mountain and encountering the final and steepest 50 yards of the
finish -- estimated at almost 30 percent steep. But it started with ``Oh ."
``The road comes up to meet your face," said race director Bob Teschek.
``I've seen winners like Keith Woodward [in 1983 ] walking at the end,
turning around to make sure no one is coming. They are fried."
The race has a masochistic sense of humor; the first 300 meters is downhill.
``You're flying along and then it's like running into a wall," said Teschek.
``Ba-boom. And then you have to downshift, tell your body to forget what
just happened, downshift and start over."
The King of the Hill is Bob Hodge, 50, of Canton, who has won the race a
record seven times, including five in a row from 1976-80 . Hodge says
first-time runners typically start out too fast and get winded. ``You can
get oxygen debt, so you have to back off and stay within your limits," he
said.
Hodge says Mount Washington deserves its worst-weather-in-the-world
reputation.
``My first race was 1974 and it featured 60 mile-an-hour winds, and a
windchill of 10 degrees, and big golf ball hailstones," said Hodge.
``Jock Semple said we're not going to run the race and all the runners said,
`We're here, we're running,' " said Hodge, a soft-spoken law librarian who
this year completed his 21st race.
And off they went, toward the 6,288-foot summit. ``The views are fantastic,
and they take your mind off the pain," he said.
Said Brian Natell, 46, an MTV executive and hardcore runner, `` `The Run to
the Clouds' is all about guts. Plus it looks good on your résumé."
`It's definitely a grind'
Conditions for this year's race favored the Kenyans. The 46th edition
started at 10 a.m. under sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s at the
base and upper-50s at the finish with light winds. The visibility was 50
miles.
The prerace talk was of Zablon Mokaya , 32, a Kenyan who bragged in an
e-mail that he was going to beat the course record of 56:41 , set by New
Zealand's Jonathan Wyatt in 2004.
Starting out, it was hot for the runners. After the first quarter-mile, the
only spectators not waiting at the finish were those at the precious few
water stations. Above the tree line, the paved road turns to dust. There are
teasingly inviting pipes with flowing water, with signs stating the cool
water is suitable for radiators only.
Eric Blake , 27 , a track coach from New Britain, Conn., who finished second
last year, says the heat changed his game plan.
``My strategy was to take the lead at the mile mark and push the pace and
try to run away with the race to the finish," he said. ``I didn't stick with
it. At mile 2, I realized I still had a long way to go and it was hot, so I
let the other two guys lead for a little bit."
He didn't worry about the Kenyan. ``I know there have been Kenyans here.
[Four-time Mount Washington champion] Daniel Kihara ran really well here.
Other times they've gone out too hard and it cost them at the finish," he
said. ``You never know, a guy coming from a regular flat road race may be a
great runner, but not here."
Blake took the lead about halfway up the mountain and pushed the pace.
He looked pained as he hit the steep home stretch, glancing over his
shoulder to see Paul Low of Belchertown, 30 seconds behind him. Blake
climbed to victory with a time of 1:01.09 to win $1,000 and a silver bowl.
The triumph also made him the US national mountain running champion and
guaranteed him a spot at the world championships in Turkey in September.
``It's definitely a grind," Blake said. ``If you start thinking about the
race and how much you have to go, it can really be a negative image. I try
to take it mile by mile and get to halfway. Otherwise, each mile takes so
long 'cause you're running so slow. It can really affect your mentality
thinking about how long it is.
``It's very, very, tough."
Anna Pichrtova, 33 , of the Czech Republic, wore white gloves, a rolled up
T-shirt, and a nylon cap. She kept her head down the whole way up the
mountain and was never challenged as she recorded her fifth Mount Washington
championship.
``Everyone who finishes is a winner," she announced to the crowd at the
awards ceremony.
Mokaya was never a factor. Late arriving and detained with visa issues by US
Immigration at Logan Airport, he forgot to take his running shoes out of the
transportation car, which then climbed the mountain. Mokaya's shoes crossed
the finish line first -- he finished 11th in borrowed shoes.
Afterward, he sheepishly tried to explain his boastfulness. ``I was
traveling a lot," he said softly. ``I had no rest, that was the problem."
Most everyone who started finished. There is no real place to drop out, race
organizers said.
Some finish with a flair, including one man who did a handstand across the
finish line.
James Soucy, a police office from Candia , N.H., lugged an oversized
American flag as he headed skyward, pumping his fist at the summit. Asked if
he was crazy, Soucy pleads guilty with an explanation.
``I think to a certain extent everyone who runs up this mountain is a little
touched," he said. ``I do this to show I appreciate what we have here."
Age-defying challenge
Race organizers say Mount Washington has the oldest average age of any open
race in America. There are triple the number of runners in their 50s as
there are in their 20s. They are veterans who are looking for new
experiences.
Don't call them over-the-hill
John Ouellette, 52, of Storrs, Conn., runs to spite his dor. ``My surgeon
says I was too old to be running and I should be home drinking beer
instead," he said. ``I told him he needed to do the surgery because I was
going to run whether he did it or not."
Mary Natell, of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., who ran the Boston Marathon in 3
hours 28 minutes, says Mount Washington (1:50:46) was harder than Boston.
``I loved running Boston, I adored it," she said. ``The cheers push you
along. Here, it hurt the whole time. I was out of breath the whole time."
Hodge disagrees: ``For me, Boston is more difficult, I love the Boston
Marathon, but I prefer the mountain. But that's just me. Here the recovery
is much quicker, you don't have that kind of pounding."
Talk about pounding: Some runners even finish the race, touch the summit
sign, and then run down.
``I've done that every year I've been here -- 17 times," said three-time
winner Dave Dunham, signing and sitting on cartons of his new book, ``Only
One Hill!" which is a history of the race.
``On a day like today you can check out the view, it's awesome," Dunham
said. ``On the way up you've got your head down looking at your feet all the
way, it's different."
Dunham won the 1989 race by two seconds over Hodge in the closest finish in
race history. ``I did ask him if he wanted to tie and he said, `No,' so I
outkicked him," Dunham said.
The 42-year-old says he feels great. Recovery time is zero.
``We're gonna go get some margaritas, Mexican food, relax and watch the Sox
game," he said.
At the summit, 86-year-old George Etzweiler easily beat the three-hour mark
by nearly 15 minutes to get his medal. Who says the Old Man and the Mountain
is gone?
``It's all in the mind," he said, sipping orange juice and water. ``If you
put your mind to it and you're in reasonably good shape, you can come up
here."
Standing at the summit, on top of the world, Etzweiler's family stood ready
to transport him back down to earth. The road is about to be reopened to the
masses of tourists who travel long distances to get those coveted ``This car
climbed Mt. Washington" bumper stickers.
Etzweiler, for one, is not impressed.
``So what?" he said, standing on top of the world, breathing heavily
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