Back in the Race
By: Kevin Harstein
It’s been 7 years since I first toed the start line for the Vermont 100 Endurance Race in 2016. I wanted to write a quick article to give a summary of my journey back to the Upper Valley, discuss lessons learned training for hundred-milers, and ask for your support.
A lot has happened since 2016! I married my wonderful wife Vanessa and finished my PhD at Dartmouth, sneaking in the Rio del Lago 100 with Vanessa in between these major events. We moved to California, and became proud parents to a rambunctious little girl named Pippa. We all weathered the covid-19 pandemic and decided to move back to the Upper Valley. It has been amazing reconnecting with everyone! We returned in August of last year and — other than some improvements like free pizza at Runner’s Night Out — it feels like we never left. We have also met a lot of wonderful new Upper Valley residents, both in the running club and through other parts of our lives. If you know me from the before-times and we haven’t had a chance to reconnect please reach out! I will try to make it to more Ramunto’s nights this Summer.
One great part of returning to the Upper Valley is that I’m familiar with the race scene. When I first joined the club in 2016 I ran all of the UVRS and NH Grand Prix races in the same year (check out my original runner profile here. I don’t plan to repeat that feat this year, but it has been fun to get back out on the Shamrock Shuffle course and head down to Southern New Hampshire for races like the New England Half Marathon. I decided to repeat the longest distance I have ever run: the Vermont 100. After signing up for a few other hundred milers that were cancelled for covid and wildfires while we lived out West, I am eager to have another go at the distance and thrilled to do it in my own backyard. If you’d like to dig into the UVRC Newsletter Archives, my race report is in the July 2016 issue.
This year’s race is right around the corner and I’m feeling excited! No sprained wrist this time and I will have Vanessa to pace me through the final stretch instead of running solo. I promise to recap the race in another report for next month’s newsletter, but I’ve grown a lot as a runner and as a person since my last attempt and I’d like to enumerate some life lessons that I hope will help me on race day.
- Taking care of an infant, who has grown into a speedy and unpredictable toddler is great training for ultramarathons.
- It’s helpful to actually run some hilly dirt roads when training for a race with 17,000 feet of vertical gain.
- “Don’t go out too fast” applies to the first 50 miles (at least) for this distance.
- Living in a place you love in community of inspiring people can put you at ease and motivate you to reach for big goals.
- Gratitude is great fuel for ultramarathon racing.
I’m so happy to be back in the Upper Valley and grateful to have members of the UVRC and Northwoods Athletics as training partners and friends. One change from 2016 is that, this year, I joined Team Run2Empower to raise funds for Vermont Adaptive, a charity that provides opportunities for youths and adults with disabilities to gain a measure of self-confidence and independence by participating in adaptive sports programs and activities. This organization was founded in 1993 by Laura Farrell, who also started the Vermont 100 and Vermont 50 run and mountain bike race. It is the only charity associated with the race, which is a huge fundraising event every year. If you’d like to learn more about them, please check out this link and watch some of their great videos: https://www.vermontadaptive.org/. If you’d like to learn more about the race, please visit https://vermont100.com/race-details/.
I would deeply appreciate it if you could be part of my race through your support of Vermont Adaptive and Team Run2Empower! Like I said, gratitude is great fuel for ultra running and I would be very grateful for your support.
To donate through my fundraising page, please visit https://www.pledgereg.com/360380. Any contribution helps! Even $10.
Even if you aren’t able to make a donation, please think positive thoughts for me and all the runners — including the UVRC’s Cara Baskin, Emily Cousens, and Sean Meissner — on July 15th and keep an eye on Strava or next month’s newsletter to see how it goes!
