Sleeping Giant Trail Runs 50K: Return to The Giant

The second edition of the Sleeping Giant Trail Runs 50K, put on by Steep Endurance, took place on March 29^th, at Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden, Connecticut. While not necessarily an “A” race, Sleeping Giant serves as a great season opener and stepping stones to some longer races I have later this year, including Cayuga Trails 50 in May, Vermont 100K in July, and Javelina Jundred in October. I would be back for the second year in a row, and with some unfinished business. Last year, for the inaugural edition of the race, I was recovering from the flu, and while I took third, I struggled the whole way through the technical terrain and the nearly eight thousand feet of gain the race features. I was miles behind winner, Justin Kousky, and second place, Lee Davis, and so I came in this year excited for the chance to see what time I could put down when healthy. I thought the win, and a time somewhere in the 5:15-5:20 range, just off of Justin’s course record of 5:12:47 last year, was certainly in play. However, I would have to battle multiple fast runners coming from out of state including, Darius Parker from Vermont, Christopher Petroff from New York, and Peter Bonito from New Hampshire. Not to mention a couple of other strong local runners from the great state of Connecticut.

Pre-Race

I would be running this race with my friend Nick L’Amoreaux, no stranger to long distance running, but who would be completing his second official ultra. We arrived at the start line at about 6:15 AM on a chilly morning where the temperature hovered at 28 degrees. We quickly grabbed our bibs and then beelined back to the car to prepare our gear. For the race, I would be using the Naked Running Belt with three 13.5-ounce bottles, two of which were filled with 50g concentrated Skratch mix, and then I would be supplementing with some Gu Gummies as well as Maurten Gels. Ultrarunning appears to be very much making the pivot away from the running vest and towards the running belt; as an example, Hans Troyer rocking the belt for wins at the JFK 50 and Black Canyon 100K. As such, I had spent a lot of time practicing with the belt with plans to use it going forward for the 100K and under distance. After pulling my gear together, Nick and I huddled around the starting area before gathering shortly before 7:00 AM for pre-race announcements. After a few announcements, we were off and running!

One thing I have learned after twenty-two ultras is that no matter how much experience you have, you can still make stupid mistakes. That was apparent immediately as about thirty seconds after the start, two of my bottles and half my gels went flying out of my belt all over the asphalt in front of a storm of charging runners. Total rookie hour. Apparently, I had accidentally put the belt on inside out and so the loose end of the pockets were facing outward instead of pressed up against my body. I guess all that practice didn’t pay off! Just like last year, the race started off hot and by the time I had collected my bottles and tried to salvage some of my dignity, four runners, including Darius and Christopher, had already taken off and were well on their way down the trail.

Before the Bottle Mishap

After a short technical section right off the asphalt, the course opens up for the next several miles to rolling, runnable singletrack and I had to work harder than I would have liked, barreling through a couple sections of frozen mud, to bridge the twenty second gap I had gifted to third and fourth place. Darius, and another runner, Justin Halmose, were already out of sight, but I had regained contact with Scott Greinig and Christopher Petroff as we ran in a tight bunch in third, fourth, and fifth. We were already moving way faster than last year’s course record pace, but I had no choice but to hang along for the ride. One of my goals over the next several months is to get more comfortable being aggressive and trying to survive a hot early pace. I was certainly in good company, with Christopher being a 2:37 marathoner, and Scott being a 2:31 marathoner. It’s wild to think about how the sport of ultra running is changing and how you can now have nearly half a dozen 2:30 something marathoners lining up for a local ultra!

I attempted to make a move by Christopher and Scott around Mile 4, holding the advantage for all of about a minute before I tripped over a rock and ate the ground hard, easily the hardest I ended up falling all day, and leaving a giant contusion on my hip. By the time I had shaken off the fall, and given myself a minute to recover, I had lost both runners down the trail. I tried my best to regain my composure as we hit a long, rocky downhill before the first aid station at Mile 5, right before we begin the infamous Headwall Climb, a lung busting rock scramble of 500 feet in just 0.3 miles.

Headwall Climb – 1 – Mile 5.1, 5^th Place, 39:45 Total Time

Up the Headwall

I hit the Headwall Climb seconds behind Scott, who had stopped briefly at the first aid station, with Christopher out of sight further up the climb. This climb definitely caught me off guard last year with its precipitous 30-40% grade at times, so I’m glad I knew what to expect this year. I was also thankful that unlike last year, conditions were dry and crisp, instead of wet and slick. Despite the cool temperatures, which were now in the low thirties, I was feeling warm enough to ditch my gloves early, but still comfortable with the Vuori Strato Tech long sleeve I had on. Overall, the next three miles represent one of two sections that really take you through the meat of the course, featuring technical rock scrambles and sheer descents. This year, in addition to ditching the vest for the belt, I had made another gear change, switching out my HOKA Speedgoat’s for the HOKA Tecton X3’s, with the carbon plate. While I certainly think the carbon plate helped, and I plan on continuing to use it, there were points where I felt like the Tecton X3 did not handle rocky descents well, twisting and shifting more than I would like amongst the rocky terrain.

I ended up catching Scott shortly after the climb as we chatted for a few minutes continued toward the southern end of the park, briefly bisecting the Tower Trail, which we would finish the loop steamrolling down. Scott started to fall back over the next mile as I hit, in my opinion, the second hardest climb of the course with several wooden staircases, before a gentle singletrack trail took me down to the next aid station at Chestnut Trailhead.

Chestnut Trailhead (Yellow Trail) – 1 – Mile 8.3, 4^th Place, 1:17:10

I ended up running through this aid station as I still had sufficient water and was carrying all of my fueling. If all went according to plan, I would be aiming for about 95g of carbs an hour. I will say though, it certainly felt like a force to get fueling down on this course. Technical climbing and descending are unforgiving, and, at least in my case, if I lose my concentration for more than a second, I am hitting the ground. That made it feel difficult at times to get in the constant fueling that makes 95g of carbs an hour possible. Leaving the aid station, we entered the infamous Yellow Trail loop, which I would characterize as the slowest portion of the course by far. While it does not have some of the same massive climbs, there are an uncharacteristic number of sheer descents as well as what feels like unrelenting rocky terrain. Last year, these sections, especially on the second loop, were by far my slowest miles and where I bled a ton of time to Justin and Lee. I was feeling strong early, despite the hot pace, as my watch clicked into double digit miles. By now, I had begun to wonder where Christopher had gone, the discomfort of being in the fourth-place position weighing on me, when I finally got a glimpse of him about 30 seconds ahead when the trail opened up after another sheer descent. I seemed to be moving better than Christopher on the descents and more technical terrain, and I managed to bridge the gap to him by Mile 11, however, the opportunities to pass here were limited so I sat behind him. Finally, the trail smoothened out as we hit the White Trail, which is a little less than a mile or so of faster terrain, before we would hit Chestnut Trailhead at Mile 12 for the second time.

Chestnut Trailhead (Blue Trail) – 1 – Mile 12.2, 4^th Place, 1:56:37

Navigating the Boulder Field

Christopher and I both ran straight through the aid station as we began the two-mile climb up to the top of the park via the Blue Trail, where we would then pop out on the Tower Trail and begin our descent back to the start of the race at the Pavilion. Like last year, this stage of the race was a welcome relief, as it felt like, despite being nearly four miles to the finish, that you were closer than it seemed. However, it may have been those rose-colored glasses that lead me to misremember how difficult this section of the trail was as Christopher ended up dropping me pretty hard over the next two miles of climbing. He was out of sight as I finally made my way to the Observation Tower as I turned left off the Blue Trail onto the soft gravel of the Tower Trail, which would begin a 1.5 Mile, 500-foot descent back to the Pavilion. By far the fastest terrain on the course, I did not take advantage of it the first lap last year and I would not make that mistake again, as I came through this next mile in a bit under six minutes. As I exited the Tower Trail and approached the short uphill to the Pavilion, I could see Christopher just beginning to enter the drop bag area. I crossed into the drop bag area at Mile 15.7 in 2:27:59, about 46 seconds down of Christopher and nearly a full twenty minutes faster than last year, not to mention five minutes up on last year’s course record pace! Despite our torrid pace, Christopher and I were still down about six minutes to Justin and almost twelve minutes to Darius.

Pavilion – 1 – Mile 15.7, 4^th Place, 2:27:59

Leaving the Pavilion

Executing a pretty rapid transition, I was able to leave the aid station only about fifteen seconds after Christopher as I set off on the second, and final, loop. I had refilled my water bottles and Skratch, grabbed more gels and gummies, and executed a shirt change, moving into my much lighter HOKA Aerolite short sleeve as the temperatures had risen into the low 40s. Last year, the second go on the single-track miles were a slog for me, but this year I was moving well, despite the copious amounts of mud that had now thawed, running about the same pace for these miles as I did on the first lap last year. Overall, this was probably the section where the HOKA Tecton X3’s helped the most. I was gradually closing down on Christopher, though still back about thirty seconds at Mile 18, when I spotted another runner just ahead, who turned out to be Justin Halmose. He seemed to be hurting a bit after the hot early pace, as I closed that gap within the next half a mile and pulled away as I began the descent down to the next aid station. I could feel some of the tenseness leave my body after moving into third, knowing I was now in a podium position and would need someone coming on very strong to pass me. Perhaps the trail sensed me relaxing, as I took another digger, and in nearly the exact same spot as the last loop. So once again, I moved myself gingerly down the trail, running through the next aid station, to begin the Headwall Climb for the second time.   

Headwall Climb – 2 – Mile 20.6, 3^rd Place, 3:09:23 Total Time

Headwall Climb

My legs were screaming at me as I made my way up the Headwall Climb for the second time, but I knew with this climb out of the way, there were only a handful of big ones left on the course, and more importantly, less than ten miles to go. I was a lot more confident on the technical terrain this year, but I could still sense the footwork starting to get sloppy at times as fatigue set in. However, my legs were still feeling relatively good and spirits were high, despite the fact that I had lost Christopher at some point during and immediately after the Headwall Climb. Shortly after, I bisected the Tower Trail again, dodging other 50K runners coming down the trail, and made my way east on the Yellow Trail, before hitting the second longest climb on the course, where the forest opens back up. I tried to power through this section quickly as it is one of the only spots in the middle of the race where you can really get a glimpse of your competitors if they are within two minutes or so. Third place is already an anxiety inducing spot to run in, and I would have liked to avoid giving away any sense of my positioning if I could help it. Despite what I felt was some pretty strong running (!), in my review of race splits, it looked like Christopher had put his largest gap of the day on me by Mile 24 of about three minutes as I made my way into Chestnut Trailhead for the second time.

Chestnut Trailhead (Yellow Trail) – 2 – Mile 24.0, 3^rd Place, 3:52:14

Outside of the Pavilion, I made my only other aid station stop of the day here, gathering a bit more water, as the temperature, while quite comfortable, was heating up a bit, and I wanted more for the slow, technical Yellow Trail. Last year, the second loop of the Yellow Trail was my undoing, only saved by a very strong finish on the Blue Trail. This year, I was moving much better and more confidently, though I ran into a traffic jam of 25K runners much earlier than last year. Consider it to be another challenging piece of the puzzle to try and run through exceptionally rocky terrain, taking 85-95g of carbs an hour, and also dodge 25K runners (who I will add were all very gracious and accommodating!), with fatigue continuing to increase. It was towards the back end of the Yellow Loop, where I moved around a 25K runner on a descent, where I fell forward bracing with my hands in a triangle position and just stopping a sharp rock inches from hitting my face. The technicality of these trails is absolutely no joke, and I always have to remind myself to snap back into it whenever I feel my concentration lapsing. As I moved through the meat of the Yellow Trail, I kept looking over my shoulder, especially with several sections that back-tracked close by one another, but I did not see anyone behind. I also did not see anyone ahead of me, but unbeknownst to me, I had begun to gradually close down on Christopher. I was feeling strong but knew I was running out of real estate as I approached Mile 27 on the White Trail, as the terrain eased up and I headed back to Chestnut Trailhead for the final time.  

Chestnut Trailhead (Blue Trail) – 2 – Mile 27.8, 3^rd Place, 4:34:59

Photos by Dan Brehant 

I hit the Chestnut Trailhead for the last time and took a left turn, beginning the final two-mile slog up to the Tower Trail. As soon as I made this left turn and the trail smoothed out a bit (and I was able to actual look straight ahead instead of at the ground for the first time in miles), I finally saw Christopher about 30 seconds ahead. There was about a half mile of quicker rolling terrain that I used to my advantage before we would take a sharp turn and begin the meat of the climb. I tried to close as much distance over the next half mile as I could before that climb, and without letting Christopher know that I was coming up on him. As we approached the turn, I managed to bring the gap down to about five seconds before I was spotted. As I caught up to Christopher on the beginning of the climb, he put in a bit of a surge and held me off as I took a breather and power-hiked for a few seconds. I really wanted to avoid another battle down the Tower Trail like last year, but I also didn’t want to blow my legs with three miles to go. A lap ago, Christopher had pulled away from me decisively on this section, but as I caught up to him for the second time on this climb, I decided I had to make my move now, a little more than a mile from the Tower Trail, and try to put the race away. I went by hard, trying to put some distance between us and using the numerous 25K runners we were going by as buffers to snap the connection. Looking behind me, it seemed like I had bridged a sizable gap, but I did not want to let off the gas until I hit the Tower Trail and could reassess.

The last climb up to the Observation Tower is definitely sneaky. It has several false peaks where you expect to see the Observation Tower up ahead, but you end up dipping down on the trail and then climbing again. I finally hit the last peak and turned left on to the smooth ground of the Tower Trail and started making my way home, with little more than a mile and a half to go. It was here that I checked my watch for perhaps the first time in hours and was pretty stunned to see about 4:56 elapsed on my watch. I knew it was little more than ten minutes to finish and thus it looked like I would be under Justin Kousky’s incredible course record time from last year of 5:12:47 by five minutes and change. I was relieved that I didn’t need the same all-out final mile of 5:23 that I needed last year to snag third, as it looked like my second-place position was secure as I could not see Christopher behind me. So, I figured a little bit more relaxed Mile 31 of 5:49 was in order for this year! I made my way down the last of the switchbacks on the way back to the Pavilion and began the final climb up the grass hill. I finally crossed the finish line in second overall in 5:06:48, about six minutes under the course record from last year!

Pavilion – 2 – Mile 31.4, 2^nd Place, 5:06:48

Peace

However, the course record was not officially mine as Darius had run a mind-altering 4:43:03 to win going away; a time I didn’t even think was possible prior to the race! Christopher ended up rounding out the podium in 5:09:13, with Peter Bonito finishing fourth in 5:30:37. Shortly after, Brian Vanderheiden called the three of us together for a podium picture where we got some amazing swag from several of the sponsors including CT Run Co., Athletic Brewing Company, TrailHeads, and Twelve Percent Beer Project! I also had the opportunity to talk with Darius, Christopher, Peter, and a bunch of other friends following the race. It was great to share stories, discuss training, and talk about upcoming races. In fact, I’ve got a rematch with Christopher, who lives in Ithaca, in two months’ time at the Cayuga Trails 50! We all chatted until my friend Nick ended up finishing his race in 6:43:49, good for 18^th Overall, and an incredible time for a second ultra on this course.

Overall, I would say I was extremely satisfied with my time and race on this course. While I hung on to the podium last year despite recovering from the flu, I found myself pretty disappointed in how far back from Justin and Lee I was, so this was a great personal redemption run for me on this course. You always want to be able to win, but I was beat by someone who I expect is going to be mixing it up with the big dogs of the sport over the next couple of years, so I can’t complain about second place! Additionally, I would say I was very happy with the pacing consistency after the hot first half in 2:27:59, still coming home in 2:38:49.  

I have a pretty packed schedule for the rest of the year that begins in haste with the Boston Marathon (and hopefully a sub 2:35 time there!) followed by the Breakneck Marathon in early May, Cayuga Trail 50 in late May, and then the big “A” races of the year with the Vermont 100K in July and the Javelina Jundred in October. It’s definitely a bit away, but I also registered for the Black Canyon 100K in February 2027 as I have been itching for more opportunities to see how I stack up regionally and nationally.

A final shout-out again to Brian Vanderheiden and Steep Endurance, as well as all of the volunteers, for putting on what I think is one of the coolest races in Connecticut and the region! Third place last year, second place this year, that means next year must be my year, right?