Summer Solstice Trail Run

Sunday, June 17, 2012
Got up early and headed out to Gay City looking for some action.
Wait a minute ...  let me try that one again:
Got up early and headed out to Gay City State Park looking for some trail-running action at the Summer Solstice 5.5 Mile Trail Run being held there.

Results here.  6th overall out of 207.  6:44 pace.
The first 0.4 miles were uphill on asphalt; not what I was looking for.  The legs were feeling a bit wobbly from running 15 miles fairly hard in Arcadia just 24 hours earlier and 8 miles with Tom the day before that.
The rest of the course did not disappoint.  Entered the trail just behind Helmet, who for some reason was wearing a bicycle helmet.  Did he realize he had it on?  Just ahead of us, a guy branched off the trail and took a bypass which we could see in the distance would cut a huge amount off our course.  Some guys yelled at him; I was upset too but just tried to let go of "Rosie Ruiz".


Part of the trail

When the trail widened to double track, I passed Helmet and about 3 other guys, when all of a sudden I heard a guy who repeatedly sounded like a cat trying to hack up a furball.  It sounded disgusting and I was thrilled when I passed Furball and put him out of earshot.  Next a guy in his early 30s with black knee high socks, "Socks", flew past a bunch of us on the left.
The trail meandered with a number of switchbacks and uphill climbs, before a long downhill section on a dried up stream bed of rocks.  I put it in gazelle mode and look who's around the corner:  Socks and Rosie Ruiz.  See you later, I'll take it from here, boys!
A bridge across a river and a long uphill climb through rocks brought me to mile 4, by which time my legs were toast.  I passed a few more through mud crossings and for the last mile I could hear someone right on me.  Finally as we came towards the end of the trail, "Lanky", a 6-foot plus giant, flew past me.  The trail finished and there was about 0.2 miles to go, downhill on asphalt the whole way.  I set Lanky in my sights and picked up the pace and caught him.  Uh oh, he looked at me and pumped it up a gear and ran side-by-side with the finish in sight now.  Sorry, Lanky, but as Jonny aptly put it regarding downhills, this is prime gazelle habitat, as I found yet another gear and picked it up past him sprinting through the finish.

Summer Solstice finish

My division award

Post-finish, had a Long Trail "Blackbeary Wheat", which was nice as it was ice cold as opposed to the warm water.  Caught up with the two people I knew, including Hartford Marathon Foundation executive director Beth who was discussing Surftown with me.