Merrimack River Trail Race

When the alarm went off at 6:30am, all I could hear was the rain pounding on the rooftop. Ugh. Things did not look good. I was feeling pretty unmotivated for a 10-mile run in the rain, especially with Snowman not running. After about a half hour of mental back and forth about the pros and cons of running and not running, I finally decided to suck it up and tough it out, no matter the weather. Snowman said he was prepared to drag me into the car if necessary, but I knew that I would be more miserable if I didn't run than if I did. So off we went. And amazingly, despite the hard rain on the way to the race, the weather improved and the skies cleared as it got closer to the 9am start.

The venue was a strange one. The race started in the parking lot of a Wyndham Hotel right off I-93 in Andover. At the edge of the parking lot was the beginning of the Merrimack River Trail. Who would have known?

The course was an out-and-back. The first three miles, and therefore, the last three miles, were supposedly flat and right along the river. In talking with a few people in line for the Port-a-Potties before the race, it sounded like miles 4 and 5 were a series of pretty tough hills, which then, of course, you had to repeat on the way back to the start. I had already planned on trying to take it easy at the start, since I really had no idea what the course would be like, but after a few horror stories of the hills, it sounded like I should make sure to have a good amount of energy left for those middle four miles.

We lined up for the start, and promptly at 9am, off we went. There was a pretty good log jam at the beginning, as we all funneled into the woods, and immediately into the mud. For the first mile there was a fair amount of jockeying for a spot in the single file line along the narrow single track that was the trail. As promised, the trail was fairly flat, but there was a lot of mud as well as a few streams that had to be crossed. Oh well, might as well get wet right at the beginning and be done with it! The trail was right on the edge of the river, which was running pretty high. Around mile 2.5, one of the small streams flowing into the river had truly overflowed, and there was no option other than to just go right through the cold, knee-high water for about 12 steps. Brrr!!

At mile 4, as promised, the hills started. I'd compare them to some of the New York PUDs (pointless ups and downs) on the AT. Steep on both sides, and still a very narrow single track. Soon after the mile 4 marker, Kevin Tilton, the lead runner, who we know from North Conway, came screaming past in the opposite direction. This meant that in the same time I had run four miles, he had run six miles. D**m, he is fast. And yup, he ended up finishing 33 minutes ahead of me, and four minutes ahead of the rest of the pack. A few minutes after Kevin passed us by, the stream of runners in the opposite direction became pretty constant. All of us mid-pack runners did our best to get out of their way, but it was easier said than done at some points. I kept up a stream of "woohoo!" and "good job!" as they passed us by, so much so, that the guy in front of me pointed out that I sure had a lot of extra energy :-)

I hit the mile 5 turn-around and managed to pass a few of the guys ahead of me who stopped for water. From there on out, I was by myself. I tried to catch up with the two women who were a few hundred yards ahead of me, but couldn't quite close the gap. The hills were a bit more difficult on the return trip, and I was happy to hit the flats. At mile 7, my watch read 1:05. I was hoping to get under 1:30 for the finish, and knew I'd have to pick it up to reach that goal. I ended up finishing in 1:30:27. Oh those 28 seconds to get under 1:30. Oh well. I ended up 87th of 183 and 11th of 52 women.

Overall, I was pretty happy with how I ran the race. It was a good course and a fun group of people! Plus it was great to be running on dirt and not roads or snow! I actually ended up, after changing about 6 times, wearing an outfit appropriate for the temperatures, unlike many racers, as evidenced by the trail of discarded shirts and jackets that I passed on my way back to the finish! :-) Aside from taking off my gloves a few miles in, I was pretty comfortable as the temps rose and the sun came out later in the race.

When I came into the finish, Snowman said, "Good job! Can't talk now, working." After we all took off at the start, he kept himself busy helping the timing crew at the finish. I am sure it was pretty depressing to see us take off running and leave him behind, and he was a good sport to help out the crew.

They had a good spread of food and drink at the end, as well as a raffle, presided over by one of the race directors who just kept cracking me up. Certainly had lots of energy!

Overall, a great race, and I'm sure we'll be back next year, with both of us running! :-)