Into the Wind

by vince October 7, 2010 Faces

“I’m not a dreamer, and I’m not saying this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer, but I believe in miracles. I have to.” – Terry Fox During my latest race south of the border (Arkansas Traveler 100-miler, report to follow…), I ran a few early miles alongside a couple of [...]

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Barefoot Running and Fixing Your Feet

by vince September 19, 2010 Book Reviews

« My feet are like gnarled old tree branches. »  – Dennis Rodman Does anyone else feel inundated, and frankly really annoyed by all the talk about the barefoot running craze?  Sure I’ve read and very much enjoyed Christopher McDougall’s bestseller “Born to Run”.  I’m also a strong advocate for minimalist shoes.  Whether I’m running a [...]

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Ode to Race Directors

by vince August 30, 2010 Monumental Efforts

    Our tenure as Race Directors has come to a close,So I thought I’d pay tribute with some poetic prose.For nearly a decade we have organized the Iroquoia Trail Test,With these duties behind us, it’s time for a well-deserved rest. If you’ve ever staged a run, you can appreciate the work requiredTo get every [...]

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Endurrun 2010: Team Monumental Effort

by Bill August 19, 2010 Monumental Efforts

15 years ago, in a drunken fog I made a bet that I’d run a marathon before my 40th birthday. In September of 2010, I turn 40.  I hadn’t forgotten my bet.  I’d began running a little in 2009 and managed to complete a 25K trail race and several shorter distances.  But the marathon eluded [...]

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The Yukon River Trail Marathon

by vince August 12, 2010 Places

“There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold.” The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service Seeing as my wife was travelling to India to visit her daughter, I decided to find a [...]

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Once a Runner

by vince July 31, 2010 Book Reviews

“In order to win you’ve got to avoid losing first” — Dick Doobey, football coach at fictitious Southern University Since I started writing reviews, first for the Burlington Runners Times newsletter then here at Monumental Effort, one book that has been recommended to me on occasion is Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr. [...]

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Rattlesnake Trail 50K – Another Finish, Another State

by vince July 10, 2010 Places

 “Aw-right, y’all.  Let’s make the official start line the back of my here pickup truck.” – Denis R. Hamrick Jr. – Race Director I wasn’t initially planning on writing a report of this event, but the RD’s pre-race instructions were simply too classic and needed to be shared with others as a reminder of what [...]

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Summer is heating up!

by vince July 8, 2010 Faces

“I bet many of you feel sorry for me.  Well, don’t.  Having an artificial leg has its advantages.  I’ve broken my right knee many times and it doesn’t hurt a bit.” – Terry Fox Over the past couple of weeks we were focused on Charlotte Vasarhelyi’s successful attempt at breaking the Bruce Trail end-to-end solo [...]

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Charlotte Vasarhelyi: New Bruce Trail Solo Speed Record holder!

by Bill July 2, 2010 Faces

Final Time: 13 days, 10 hours 51 min which surpasses the previous record by 23 hours 9 min Today, Charlotte Vasarhelyi set the solo speed record for running The Bruce Trail. The final time is pending, but Charlotte took approximately 1 full day off of the previous record (at least by our math).  For a full [...]

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100K To Go: Charlotte Vasarhelyi on The Bruce Trail

by Bill July 1, 2010 Faces

Done! 4:34pm July 2, 2010. A very sweet moment.   FINAL DAY: 10.  Almost there!  1.5K to go! ——————- 9.   5.3 to go. We’re heading to Southern Terminus. ——————- 8.  3:25pm and 7k to go! ——————- 7. 8.5 k to go at 3:03. ——————- 6. From Gary B: Charlotte ran the last 6k in [...]

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