Westerly, RI
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Background: One of my favorite races of the year had arrived! This was the 15th running of the Run for the Pumpkins, but only the 3rd installment on trails. In 2003, the Town of Westerly Recreation Department started this run on local roads starting and ending at Cimalore Field. Not being in the "running business", and with 5K road races in October being rather ubiquitous, the race numbers seldom got north of 40 or 50. When a record low entrants of 17 was recorded, the Town approached the WTAC and asked if we could co-host the race and manage logistics.
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| These flags are shown before we cleared the new 1/3 mile Pumpkins Connector trail, but nonetheless you can see the terrain is fairly hilly with some rugged features. |
Race day: Showed up at 7:30am (2 1/2 hours before race start) and met up with partners in crime Muddy, Jonny, and Mikey. We came armed with 800 flags (yes, 800!), about 25 directional signs, and Mikey brought 6 mile markers (4 for the 8K, 2 for the 5K). Only these weren't ordinary mile markers; each one was a real pumpkin. Not sure how, but Mike lugged 5 of these pre-painted beauties out into the woods. The 6th one he asked me to bring, and fortunately I was able to shirk my duties and con Muddy into carrying it. This time we gave enough time and I wasn't running around at the last minute trying to finish things.
Mile 1: After my RD pre-race remarks, we also lined up on the starting line. Then some idiot (that would be me) looked down and saw that he didn't have his bib. That should have been grounds for DQ, but fortunately the crowd tolerated me as I quickly got my bib (thanks Jana!) and pins (thanks John!) and lined back up. The bell (yes, a bell from timing company!) went off, and a number of us went out pretty hard to jostle for position entering the woods. After 1/4 mile, we exited the field into the woods to start the 100' trail climb. After I passed an unknown runner, I was passed by Muddy and Jonny, putting me in 5th position. A 31-year old guy from Providence was leading, with Tommy 5K in tow. At the top of the hill, Jeff Vuono did an awesome job as course marshal at the course split for 5K and 8K. The next 1/2 mile is a slow incline on the XC course. I could see Jonny a little ways ahead of me, but no one else. 6:51.
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| Start of the 2017 Run for the Pumpkins: Tom on far left, shirtless Jonny behind me, and me to their left. Looks like Mikey B in a cap a few places back. |
Mile 2: As we entered the upper field, I pulled up very close to Jonny. I was feeling good, but knowing the next mile would drop over 100' (which plays to my advantage), I held steady. Once we left the field and got into a downhill, I passed Jonny. He gave me some encouragement, but I told him he'd like me retake me on the uphill. I accelerated downhill and soon saw and caught up to Tom (Muddy must have passed him somewhere along the way). I know I should pass on the left, but I was on the ragged edge of control on one of the steeper descents and just yelled "On your right" as I went by. When the trail flattened out, I could hear Tom right on me and thought he'd pass, but I made it to the end of the 2nd mile just ahead of him. 6:12. Very fast trail mile!
Mile 3: The hardest part of the course would be the next 1/3 mile of twisty newly cut trail, and I would both suffer and revel in it. At switchbacks, I could see Muddy ahead of me holding down 2nd place, and when I glanced who was trailing me, it was Jonny on my heels! Not a good thing to be hunted by him on trail uphills. I had home course advantage knowing every single turn on the course, and maybe that was a factor as I held my position through the Pumpkins Connector climb and the rest of the mile, bring us into Woody Hill. 8:05. Not surprisingly my slowest mile.
Mile 4: This mile brought us into and through the Hansel & Gretel twisty trail. We started to catch the back of the 5K'ers at this point, and all were graceful to step aside where appropriate. I feel I'm reasonably fast on this, but just could not shake Jonny. Muddy was not far ahead of me, but the distance wasn't narrowing either. Passed Beth towards the end of this mile and somehow had the strength to mumble "Thank you". 7:12
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| This year I extended the rock portion of the Hansel & Gretel section of trail by exposing more rock (above), but also gave the anti-rock crowd a bypass option. |
Mile 5: Fearing that Jonny was about to run me down, I knew I had to push real hard this mile to stay in the game, and fortunately it was another downhill. I caught right up to Muddy on a downhill and was about to try to pass, but we got jammed up with about three 5K'ers that he was working on going around himself. Fortunately, I got one more chance on a final downhill and passed him. Knowing the hill was ending soon and we'd be exiting onto a flat field where both Muddy and Jonny are faster than me, I just hammered with everything I had and hoped for the best. Success! In my sprint, I not only held off my chasers but also narrowed the gap on the winner and finished just 5 seconds behind him! Muddy was 8 seconds behind me in 3rd, Jonny a mere 1 second behind Muddy in 4th, and Tom came in behind him, with a number of WTAC runners to follow suit.
Final split: 5:54 pace!
Final results: 33:19. 2nd overall out of 44 finishers in the 8K. 1st in age group. Full results here
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| Would wearing trail minimus shoes have benefitted me in my performance at all? I love the light feel, rotate them in with other shoes, but this was the first time ever wearing them in a race. 7.2 ounces. |
Super psyched with the results! I gave it my all, and came out with better than expected results. For the event overall, we had about 100 paid entrants, and over 100 total finishers in the 5K, 8K, and Kids' 1K run. The rain held off until afternoon, and the next two days were washouts, so we got lucky. I love the whole fall feeling to this race (ghosts, pumpkin mile markers, apples, cider, pumpkin muffins, etc), the family event with the kids' race inclusion, and the fact that this 100% on trails, some with a good challenge.
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| Fall decorated trail race course |
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| More fun decorating the course |
Excellent Race! I never expect anything but a warning to get off the trail conservative pace runner (or slow poke or old lady or ON YOUR LEFT, whatever works). Great job with the set up and well the bib thing, maybe we can forgive you....
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