CSU Girls Sweep Mt. Washington U20 Podium

What is so rare as a day in June?

The weather was perfect for this year's run up the auto road on Mt. Washington.  The air was cool and dry, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, there was no wind at all, and you could see for 90 miles.  Almost 1200 runners made the run this year climbing 4800 feet in 7.6 miles.

After the CSU boys took first and second in the U20 division last year (Lewis and Will), the CSU girls decided to put on a show this year with all five entrants making the top ten and in the process sweeping the podium.  Hannah Rieders was first, closely followed by sister Madeline, then training partner Gabby Vandendries.  A non-CSUer snuck into 4th, but Talia Seltzer grabbed 5th and Izzy Cole 6th.

Bravely defending the boys' honor was Jackson Hardin, who trained for the race by sitting down and pulling on an oar all spring.  He completed the race well, but next year might do a few training runs longer than two miles.

Thank you to CSU volunteers assisting at the finish line and providing rides down the mountain after the race.

Western MA adventure weekend

Some of us headed to western MA last weekend for a change in scenery. I think it was a weekend well spent. Tyler, Emily, Ella, Linden, Elizabeth, and coach Alex and Emily's dad Jeff convened in Savoy for a rollerski, in some perfect weather. We were joined by coach Perry and his crew of Abby, Adam, Aiden, Ian, Brandy, and one other guy whose name I forgot already. It was a perfect day for rolling, bright and dry. Two crashes and a little blood, but no tears.

We don't have road shoulders like that where we come from. Or pavement like that.


Next stop was a swimming hole in Adams. Ian showed that he's a pro at flipping off of ledges, doing gainers, front flips, and some twists. Tyler, Ella, and Emily all tried flipping, and got the hang of it pretty quick. The water felt awesome after a hot ski.




We stayed the night in the yard of the Taylors, who live in Williamstown. Their son raced against Lewis back in the day, and they were some of the most generous hosts I've met. We had quite the hammock city going on, as well as a pile of tents. The Taylors have a sweet fire pit. We took advantage of it and had some s'mores!


But the day wasn't over yet... we took a short walk to the hill behind the Clark Art Institute, and after some exploration of the local trees (pretty good for climbing), we did some yoga. Very relaxing.






Our yoga venue was the top of this hill.


We got some pizza after the yoga, and the pizza place was perched next to a river. Second dip of the day!


Sunday dawned hotter, and we headed over to the east side of Mount Greylock for the Mt. Greylock trail race. There were two options: 13 miles, or 5k. Alex, Jeff, and Tyler did the 13 miler, and Emily, Ella, Linden, Elizabeth, Linden's mom, and Elizabeth's parents all did the 5k. As far as I know, everyone survived, and there were no tears. Then we got ice cream, and headed back to the land of traffic and narrow roads.