Pineland Farm Trails Challenge and the Sonic Death Monkey Crew

This was a great, very well run, fun, cool race, and definitely well-named! It certainly was a challenge.

Pre-Race:
There's something to be said about a race that starts at 10am. There was no rushing around in the dark yesterday morning in an attempt to eat and get ourselves out the door for some god-awful early 6am start time (well, there was if you were running the 50 miler, but who's dumb enough to do that? Oh yeah, except the 80+ people who signed up for it!)... We got in a good breakfast, and headed over to pick up Shannon, Finley and the babysitter as Nate had left earlier in the morning for the 8am start of the 50k. It was a beautiful morning, blue skies, no clouds and already in the 50s. The event directors couldn't have asked for a better day for a race and BBQ!! Us runners probably would have liked a little cloud cover and lower temps, but really, we couldn't complain.

We picked up our packets at the Y, and signed ourselves up for a team. I mean, we had 7 people running the 25k, how could we not do the team competition? Of course, the name is all Snowman's fault, and we were dubbed "Sonic Death Monkey." They have yet to come out with the results, so we don't know how we placed, but it will be pretty funny if we manage to place and the team name on the official results is "Sonic Death Monkey"! :-) After pick-up, we wandered over to "The Grove," this big wide open field area, where the start and finish, and the BBQ, were set up. Some of the 50 miler and 50k runners were coming through, and people were cheering and milling around, relaxing on the grass. It was a cool scene. We set up our blanket and chairs, and Tank and Willow joined us. We cheered on Nate as he came through, having run 10 miles of his first lap, and looked good! None of us were doing a warm-up, as the race itself would be more than enough, so we chatted and stretched and before we knew it, it was time.

The Race:
The race course wanders all through the Pineland property, weaving through open farmland fields and onto the wooded trails. There were some neat views of the waves of runners weaving through the fields, and many spots where you could see people either ahead of or behind you across the way. I managed to see Snowman 4 times during the race, and Peyron once in the fields by the yurt. The first three miles of this course are basically downhill. We knew this and were all hoping to take it easy. I tried, but it didn't quite work out. I think I went through the 3 mile at about 25:00, a bit faster than I could keep up for the whole race. Oh well. Nothing to do but just try to keep up as good a pace as I could. The fields around mile 4 and 5 were the worst. Out in the hot sun, on uneven, sloping ground. Ugh. Then a decent hill at mile 5 and back to the yurt for halfway. Hurry! But there was a lot more work to be done, and on I went.

I was wearing my fuel belt, and had one bottle filled with our typical raspberry Hammer gel, and the other with a chocolate Gu pack. The chocolate was a mistake... I took one sip and could barely keep it down. I was starting to feel the sun a bit more, and was feeling overheated and a bit lightheaded. I stopped at the next aid station and drank a glass of ice-cold water. ahhh... That's better. The course continued on through the campus loop, mimicking the start, but in the opposite direction, uphill instead of down... I slowed down a fair amount, willing myself forward and focusing on the feet of the people ahead of me. My run was more like a shuffle. Finally, we headed back into the Grove. Only 5+ miles to go!

We knew from our training runs on the course that the Oak Hill section, while having a few good hills, but more even terrain and that definitely helped. But I was tired, and the rolling terrain was wearing me down. I had to walk one short section around mile 12, but managed to keep running (or shuffling) up the other hills. I was in a spread out group of runners, and would pass some, and be passed by others. We were nearing the end... The final stretch was another field loop. Go, go, go. I crossed the street and could hear Snowman cheering. I pressed to the finish. Done.

Post-Race:
This was a tough race. There were no huge hills, but the constant rolling terrain and the time spent in the fields in the sun took their toll. Still, it was a great course, and the whole thing was well-organized, the volunteers were great, and it was just a really fun atmosphere.

It took a while for all of us to feel human again after the finish, but taking a good hot shower in the Y definitely helped, and then it was on to the BBQ! Veggie burgers, lots of pasta salad, desert, Maine-made gelato. Yum! I passed on the free beer from Ipswich Brewery (and they eventually ran out, to replace it with Bud Light, which Snowman said tasted surprisingly refreshing) but had more than my share of water and gatorade. There was a fun bluegrass/folksy band playing too. We all lounged in the shade, eating, drinking, talking about the race, and cheering on other runners as they came in. It was a great way to relax after a good race!

Results have yet to be posted, but I do know this:
Peyron came in 4th place, with a time of 1:48.
Vicky came in next, around 2:15.
Snowman, around 2:19
Me, around 2:26
Shannon, around 2:43
Willow soon after
Tank, around 3 hours
Nate, on his 50k run, came in at 5:15, and was pretty spent but having put forth an awesome effort!

A job well done by all of us, I think and a great group of Sonic Death Monkeys!

Although there was lots of moaning about how tough it was out there, I wouldn't be surprised to see us all out there again next year... although Nate may be doing just the 25k!

I'll post results when they come up.