Whilst many teenagers spent the memorial weekend holiday relaxing or playing video games a 15 Year old called Tobias set out with me on his birthday to set a 61 Mile Trail record in 91F heat.

Setting a Fastest Known Time on any trail can be a tough, miserable and grueling experience, and anyone with a record might tell you that the satisfaction of the time and record outweighs the fact that the experience itself can often be the opposite of why people enjoy trail running.

The team record that Tobias and I set was like no other ‘FKT‘ I’ve ever done and with a record set I find myself recognizing that the day and half spent on the trail was one of the toughest but rewarding and enjoyable trail running I’ve ever done.

It was like being in one of the most beautiful places in the world but with someone running chainsaws on your feet at the same time.

The Mattabessett Trail

The Mattabesset Trail is a 61 mile trail through the centre of Connecticut in the USA and part of a bigger New England Trail system that runs over 200 miles through all of Connecticut and Massachussets. Its Jewel in the Crown is the Metacomet Ridge that starts near where I live in New Haven and extends northwards. The area is famous for its huge biodiversity and superb views.

There are two superb fastest known times set on this trail for self supported and unsupported By Michael Lo Presti the founder of the CT Trailmixers and Race Director of the Spring Fling and Art Byram from the CULTRA podcast . There was no team fastest known time for this trail and so this became the focus of Tobias and my attention a while back. Its possible we may use this run as a recon and also run the Metacomet and the Metacomet-Modanock Trail that runs through Massachusetts to combine to form the New England Trail. There may be a time in the near (ish ) future where we then go out to combine the three runs and set a team record on the entire 217 Mile New England Trail.

There is no ‘right’ anything on New England Trails

I’ve learnt a lot since moving to New England. The ‘Beast Coast’ as its referred to by trail runners can be something of a shock to anyone that’s not used to rocks and weather that can change in 15 mins. I’ve learnt that no mater what clothing or shoe choice I make for a run here its usually wrong. I’ve also learnt that no matter what cleverly thought through tactics for pacing and planning are also nearly pointless. I had two major concerns for this run, firstly the need for water as we were planing to run unsupported and secondly dealing with very high temperatures.

11.59.59 – Go !

With one second left of Tobias’ birthday we set off from the Eastern end of the trail near Middletown. The thought process for this was a clever but was ultimately ruined by my own stupidity later on. We set off at this time so that Tobias got the bragging rights of an amazing run on his birthday and with the impending heat forecast the next day we had moved the start time back from a dawn start to midnight under the somewhat flawed thinking that 5 extra hours running in the cooler evening on fresh legs was an opportunity to bank some decent miles before the heat became an issue at 11am the next day.

Fast – In the wrong direction

The first half of the Mattabessett Trail is a meandering snake like rocky trail going through dense woodland with huge rock structures and peaks and going past various scenic lakes. Of course with my midnight start decision we enjoyed exactly none of that and instead ran in what felt like a tropical dark tunnel working hard to keep the blue blaze markers in sight and with me trying to ignore the ‘shadow bears’*

Around 3.30 am things were going fantastically. We were moving at a respectable pace for the terrain and I was just managing to avoid a heart attack trying to keep up with a 15 year old that has already run two 60 miles races despite being not old enough to drive himself to them or even enter them without parental permission.

Then we both had this steady creeping feeling that the trail felt a it ‘samey’ and after a brief look on my moving map on my phone the wonderful realization that I had made an error. The good news was we were not lost. We were in fact on the Mattabessett Trail. The bad news was we had got spun round at a hairpin section and managed to motor along the SAME section of trail we had just done. We had run for 1.3 miles back the way we came.

The hour spent going the wrong, then the right way again was probably the most soul destroying part of the run. We lost over an hour on our time there and although its funny now, at the time I wanted to punch myself in the face.

Bear Hill and Pyramid rock flew past, as did the Mica Ledges and by sunrise with our torches off and our biorhythm reset we made good progress again as we played a game called ‘ how well can Lee keep up with Tobias without needing a defibrillator’.

Things Get Hot and Ledgy

The second half of the Mattabessett Trail is very different. Once you get the roughly the half way mark you enter the TriMountain area and begin a series of stunning ridgetop runs along the middle of Connecticut. The heat rose to above 90 Fahrenheit and we were carrying up to 4L each of water to keep hydrated between streams. We used the streams to cool down by splashing in or even laying down in to cool down from the temperatures. We used every trick I had picked up running in heat waves and the Sahara desert to just stay healthy.

Beauty and the Beast

The rest of the trail to the finish was stunning but for a long distance run in one go it came at a severe price. Our feet got a constant pounding from the rocky terrain so they felt bruised and had been hit by hammers, the heat stripped all pace from me on the endless hill climbs and I looked like a Granny out shopping trying to get up some of the trails. Every ascent had sweat literally pouring off my face. By around 3pm a few things were clear….The records set by Lo Presti and Byram were INSANELY good and that our estimated finish time was getting pushed back more and more towards a horribly late in the night finish.

Nap Time

During the strongest part of the day for heat we took cover under a large shady Beech Tree on a high ridge with a breeze and took a 20 min nap to cool down and tend feet. It was a surreal and amazing experience. I often talk about moving with the landscape and not fighting it and the decision to stop and rest and cool down had a hugely positive effect when we woke up and carried on feeling much cooler and stronger.

A Drink That’s Not Tea That Has Leaves In

We took 5 Katadyn BeFree Bottles with us which allowed us to scoop up stream water and drink directly via the built in filter. Other than tea I now found a new drink with leaves in that I enjoyed. Eventually i got so used to drinking this stream water that the tap water the next day tasted awful. Those self filtering bottles made the difference between finishing and not.

Making the Right Decision When it Counts

I often feel like every decision I make is wrong on trail. Its often the ‘on the fly’ decisions you make on the trail that make all the difference. Around 11pm we had been moving for nearly 24hrs without anything more than 2 min stops and one 20 min nap. We were both tired and Tobias had got to a point where he needed a few hours sleep to continue to be functional. I wasn’t far behind him in the tired stakes.

Its easy to forget he isn’t an adult. When I run with others we are responsible for ourselves jointly and I can often push people when pacing them to the brink if a time or race position is important.

This situation was different. The decision for safety on trail were mine and I had been generously granted the trust to take care of Tobias from his rightly worried father.

My normal option would be to push on through the night and finish a very rocky high up Guiffrida Park with both of us exhausted, potentially with me creating a makeshift shelter and us sleeping for an hour or two. We would still bag a respectable time, being entirely self supported but the last 6 hours would be a horrible death march in the dark and take a huge shine of a positive experience.

The second option was to change the rules and switch the run to a ‘supported’ role. In a moment of rare intelligence I chose this and it was the right thing to do. It allowed us to stop at a nearby road with only 12 miles to go and stop the GPS watches, get Tobias to a safe place place to sleep ( and me !) and return in the morning, restart the watches (with the clock ticking all the time we were away from trail) but do the last leg rested and safe and not tired and enjoy the views. It meant out record time would be around 35 to 40 hours instead of maybe 30 hours but it would turn a horrible sick tired dark mess into something really memorable.

Father and Son

The decision made also allowed Tobias Dad Enrique to join us and run for the last leg. Frustrated by his sons speed and his inability to keep up ( on which I agree as I tried too) this was the opportunity for them to run at the same pace (Tobias on tired legs and feet and his dad fully rested). After a typically teenage breakfast of Ramen Noodles we set off back from where we left the trail earlier.

I’d like to say I dropped back a bit during that run to let Father and Son run through the stunning scenery towards the finish together. In reality I was pretty tired and enjoying the scenery too much and couldn’t be bothered to chase them down in places so on occasion I lost sight of them for a few minutes.

The last few miles of the trail are remote and peaceful. In all this scenery I also got to see a joy and bond between family that I felt almost embarassed to gatecrash.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. In this case it took a village idiot and a father who placed a lot of trust in me because he wanted his son to reach his full potential in a pursuit he is clearly superb at all ready.

This FKT could have been the usual sufferfest, but instead beyond the numbers and the stats and the temperatures I enjoyed one of the most difficult but rewarding long distance runs I’ve ever done. Tobias got his first ever FKT scalp and a positive experience and Enrique bestowed an enviable generosity to me by allowing me to be part of a very special father/son moment.

I run to enjoy the trails and push myself to the limit of what I’m capable of. But this run reminded me what its really all about when we go run the trails, its the scenery and the isolation from normal life and the companionship with likeminded people.

We ‘technically’ did the route unsupported but for one safety decision and even with Enrique with us continued to look after ourselves on trail for food and water so this record will get chalked up as a supported effort and in the grand scheme of things it really isn’t important.

Unlike a race there is no medal or goody bag at the finish. An FKT can be a big anticlimax sometimes. The time we set will surely be beaten at some point by someone else, but the real challenge for that team might be to have had an experience as good as our one.

*shadow bears are not bears. They are simply me being far too worried about nothing.

Click on the links for info on my Kit List Choices and Foot Care Guide.