The day started off rather inauspiciously with rain falling in the darkness as we left Ryan's parents house, and neither of us with rain gear, followed up with me realizing that I hadn't left Sam a note, something I like to do whenever we leave her for the day for a race, and Ryan realizing he'd left his watch back at the house 30 minutes into the drive, too late to turn back. The note wasn't a big deal and I just sent Irene a text to show Sam, but the watch, well, that was a bit more. There was a bit of a panic attack on his end, and anxiety on mine, as I knew he was not a happy camper and even worse, I was the one who had urged him to sign up for this race, which I knew probably wouldn't be his favorite style of course.
But regardless, we headed south, the rain falling, the sky lightening, the landscape along the highway finally showing signs of true spring as we crossed into Connecticut. Parking for the race was across the street, up along a steep drive into another park. As we didn't arrive until around 7:30 am, we had a bit of a haul from our parking spot to the starting area, but at least we were parked near a nice privy stocked with toilet paper - always a good thing at a race!
The rain had stopped but it was foggy and humid, with temps in the high 40s, as we hiked across the street and set up our chairs along the paved road that was serving as the race start/finish area. After getting our numbers, I made one more trip to the port-a-potty and shortly thereafter, it was time for the pre-race meeting.
I wasn't sure what was going through Ryan's mind as he stood there watch-less at the start, but we had talked about running together, so I figured, well, if it worked out, he could at least have my watch data! There seemed to be a pretty good group of runners starting out in the 50k race (start list says 113 starters; and final numbers on the course ended up being more like 33 miles), and after maybe 25 feet on the pavement, we turned right off and up the trail, making for a rather crowded initial climb. It was rocky and steep right off the bat followed up with some rolling ridge line and a neat stretch of trial through a large patch of mountain laurel. The rocks were slick with dew and humidity and a light rain began to fall again. There was a short but incredibly steep set of rocky stairs to climb along with some additional short descents and climbs, as the trail wandered through the woods and along the ridge. No views were to be had; all I could see was fog off to the left where I knew the view should be.
Ryan and I stayed mostly together for the first few miles, but I'll admit to feeling more anxious than I would have liked for a race that I was doing truly as a training run. My chest felt tight as we ran along jumbled up, one runner on top of the other, with one woman in particular being rather ridiculous about jockeying for position around us. After some climbing and rolling along, we hit a long muddy, rocky downhill near the first aid station and I actually just pulled over and let the half a dozen people right on my heels go ahead. Technical downhills are not my strength and I felt much better once I had a bit of space to pick my way down without feeling the stress of having several runners right on my heels. Of course, that meant Ryan pulled away, but I simply couldn't worry about that. It was early on in the race and he had to do his thing and I had to do mine.
First aid station was at about 3.5 miles, with some cheerful volunteers checking off our numbers and encouraging us on. I didn't need anything so early so I continued right along, although I was surprised to hear one of the volunteers shout out my name and say "Getting in some Western States training, huh?" and ask me how training was going. I truly was not sure who it was, so I shouted back quickly about things coming along before climbing up and out of the aid station, and then settling into a decent groove as the trail rolled along through the woods. There were a few times the trail crossed the powerlines, and then we were once again along a ridge before descending via an old road to the turn-around aid station at 5.5 miles. Stepped over a little curled up snake along that final stretch, who hissed at me with a wide open red mouth.
The course loops back on itself a few times, doing a sort of double figure-eight. There were a few awesome volunteers at those intersections, one cheery woman up at a viewpoint, directing us the correct way to and fro the far aid station, and one guy where the way back intersects with the trail out/back to the start/finish, blaring the Rocky theme song with his arms raised as runners come up the hill. It was great!
I enjoyed the route back better than the route out. While it still certainly had a lot of ups and downs, it seemed more runnable and less rocky for the most part, although it also had a whole lot more mud! In a few places, it reminded me of JFK, deep sloppy muddy sections that simply weren't really runnable unless you wanted to end up falling in! At one point, when the guy in front of me slipped and righted himself, mud splashed up everywhere, right into my face. Ha! Used my buff to wipe it off, laughed and just continued on. I was running here and there with a few people, and somewhere around the muddy stretch, settled in with a few guys, one of whom I ended up spending several miles running and chatting with back along a nice ridge at the end of the first loop.
I had a rough time goal of 7 hours for the race, which seemed realistic looking back at old results. The last stretch of trail was the same as the first, so down the hill back to the start/finish area and over the mat. They had a clock rolling there, which read 2:14 as I ran through, and my watch read 11 miles.
I bypassed the aid station and went to our chairs, where I found Ryan just about to head back out. Well, at least I hadn't let him get too far ahead! One of other goals for the day was to attempt not to dilly dally at the aid stations and lose too much time that way along the course, so I quickly refilled my pack with water and gels, took a swig of coke and grabbed a PayDay to eat as I hiked back out and up the hill. The fog had burned off by this point and with the runners spread out after a few hours in, I was able to get into a bit more of a rhythm, although I was still leapfrogging with a few guys here and there, passing them on the uphills and letting them pass me on the downhills. Somewhere early on in the second loop, I fell into a leapfrog routine with a guy with glasses who would stay near me all day, eventually finishing just 10 seconds back from me. We didn't run together per say, but with all our leapfrogging, we had a bit of a banter going on. We both noted that it seemed to be feeling a bit warm as we got out along the powerlines and final ridge near the turn-around aid station the second time around. Oh, and how had I not seen that very large red chimney just off the trail the first time around?! Weird... Also saw one red eft somewhere along the way, which always makes me smile!
As we climbed the very steep gravel hill back up to the powerline crossing the second time, the question arose as to whether this hill or the rock steps were worse. I voted for the steps, and the guy laughed saying last year, he could barely climb this hill without cramping up, and the steps too. Gotta love the suffering of an ultra! The muddy stretch was just as bad the second time around, but along the final ridgeline, there were finally some nice views out into the distance and some glorious little light purple flowers blooming in the sunshine, their color a lovely contrast to the still mostly brown woods. I hadn't noticed them on the first loop so I can only assume that they had opened up once the sun and warmth hit them. I kept recalling a post on Instagram from photographer Jim Salge talking about these particular flowers but I couldn't remember their name. Turns out they are
hepatica, one of the earliest blooming wildflowers. So pretty and such fun to see!
It was warm enough that I was drinking a lot of water (for me), and I ended up running out about 2 miles out of the start/finish area. I had stopped at the midway aid station for a swig of coke, but hadn't thought to refill my bladder so this was a good reminder to myself that I need to keep a watch on that more closely! As I was descending the final hill to the start/finish area, Ryan was just heading up. Clock read 4:43. Not bad. Another quick stop to refill and then it was off again for the final loop!
Things were definitely heating up and the legs were starting to feel the time and miles a bit, and there was most definitely a bit more slogging on this final lap, but I was glad to still be moving fairly well and able to run the lesser graded stretches. On this last lap, I stopped at each aid station for a bit longer and refilled my bladder at the turn around aid station just to ensure I wouldn't run out. My leapfrog buddy with the glasses was there, having arrived shortly before me as was a woman in pink. They both left before me, but I was able to run along the slightly inclines gravel road while he was not, and she pulled ahead of us both. I followed her the rest of the way back to the finish, not able to gain on her despite having her there as a carrot! I kept waiting for my leapfrog buddy to pass me, but he never did, and I kept chugging along.
The woman volunteer up at the viewpoint was still there, and cheery as always. I loved her energy and thanked her profusely as I ran by. The guy at the midway aid station chatted with me again as I stopped for a few cups of coke and chips, and I still honestly could not place him. Eek! Made sure to look for the hepatica and then cursed the rolling ridgeline as it felt like it went on forever this final time around! There was a bit more walking and the finally, the turn-off that dropped us back on the final stretch of trail down to the finish line! Yay running!
Final time was 7:29:10, so most definitely a positive split and didn't manage to catch Ryan, who finished 10 minutes ahead of me, but happy with my effort! It was a tough course with the mud and hills and rocks and lots of elevation plus the swing in temperature (the weather app said 73 at the finish line!), but a good one! The course was well marked, the aid stations were well stocked and I loved the energy of the volunteers.
Very proud of Ryan for pushing through and finishing when he was feeling less than enthused due to lack of training and the watch fiasco. We were both pretty wiped at the end, and covered in mud and soaked in sweat, so we sat for a while in our chairs before packing up and hauling ourselves across the street. The walk back up the steep hill to the car might have been even worse than the race itself. We seriously had to stop twice for breaks 😂😂 After a quick change, we headed back to Irene and Dana's, finally arriving there around 8:15 pm, more than 15 hours after we left. It was a long day but all told, a solid day of training and running in the woods and enjoying some new trails!
RESULTS
7:29:10
36/80 finishers (113 started)
7/17 women
Sam had a great day with Irene and Dana while we were out, playing mini golf and pool. Many thanks to them, as always, for hanging out with her while we are off running through the woods all day!
Oh, and yes, by the way, it's Monday morning and my quads are still sore 😂😂 Guess 5,500 feet of elevation gain over 33 miles will do that to you!
