Wahaneeta 5K Trail Race

Westerly, RI

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Fall series:  Our second of three events in our Fall Trail Race Series.  This was the easiest to obtain approval, as the parking and course lie entirely on the private property of Westerly Land Trust.  The other two fall trail races are at least partially on state property, and thus both require state permits, which are much harder to obtain this year with a lot of additional requirements and stipulations due to COVID.  Fortunately, all three have been approved.  (Well, technically on Rhody, the state is waiting for Charlestown Police to approve before they sign off, but we're super close.)

2020 race background:  This was the 5th annual running of the race, and the most successful to date.  We have always billed this is a low-cost "old school" trail race, so with no state fees, no shirt fees, no porta-jons (there are outhouses on site), and only fees to SNERRO for timing and a modest fee to Westerly Land Trust, we have a pretty low break-even point.  We typically get 45-55 participants, so we were beyond thrilled to get a record 78 registrants this year (74 final finishers) and to have a pretty competitive field.  Not sure how much of the increase was due to changing from August (think biting bugs in the woods!) to October this year, versus pent-up demand due to COVID with few races going on.  Either way, a great result for the club and ensures continuity next year.

Thank you to the Westerly Land Trust CCC ("Coffee and Clearing Crew") for dedicating one of their sessions to cleaning up Wahaneeta Preserve specifically for hosting of our race (more at end of post).

My race:  Now to the race itself, as there are three loops (albeit all slightly different), that's how I'll write my own race report.  After some brief (I hope they were brief!) pre-race remarks, it was time to go.  Unlike Pumpkins, where I was seeded in the second wave, this time I made it to the big time in Wave 1.  Barely!

Giving pre-race remarks to a socially distanced field

Loop 1:  (1.8 miles, 40' climb, 60' descent, moderately technical) 

From the gun, the lead pack took off FAST.  We are on double-track for almost 1/2 mile, so there's plenty of room to pass here, but I'm struggling just to keep up at the back-of-the-pack and not get dropped. I know a number of the younger guys ahead of me are predominantly road guys, so I'm curious to see how they fare in the first technical section.

Start of Wave 1 (of 8).  I'm bring up the rear on far right,
and looking pretty creaky.

Sure enough, one we hit a greater than 90° turn that is immediately followed a tight section jumping over rocks and roots, the guy just ahead of me slows down more than I'm comfortable with.  This is no place to pass, but I know more techy sections are coming up quickly, so I've already planned that the first opportunity I'm going by him.  I yell "On your left", and he's fine to let me go by.  We're soon in a rocks and bog bridge section and I can sense I'm putting distance on him.

There's a steady stream of runners just ahead of me, including Dave Goodrich and Steve Brightman.  I'm doing fine on the technical sections, but there are some long straight easy sections as well and those are a real struggle for me not to get dropped.

Finishing up 1st lap

Loop 2:  (1.0 miles, 40' climb, moderately technical)  Runners are still in sight ahead of me, but we're starting to have some separation, and it's only the same technical sections that are keeping me in the game at all.  Just before the left turn headed across the bridget and back to the field, I pass the last of the back-of-the-pack runners on their first lap.

Loop 3:  (0.3 miles, non-technical, shallow stream crossing and re-crossing)  Coming into the field this year, for the first time, we have streamers completely roping off the path and pointing you down to the short out-and-back, so no runners this year inadvertently crossed directly to the finish line.  As I start down the orange trail, the 2nd place overall is just passing me in the opposite direction and finishing.  Dave Goodrich is in sight ahead of me, but not close enough to catch him.  We cross the stream (barely flowing, but it was dry completely for weeks beforehand), and then on the re-cross, I just jump the stream instead of taking the more precarious bridge.  It's a short distance uphill to the field, and we're done.

Stream crossing this year

At least it was flowing this year (it wasn't just a week earlier),
but hopefully one of these years it will be calf-deep.
You hope the same, right?

Final results:  21:33, 9th overall, 2nd in age group.  Full results here.

So how did the race go?  Awesome, overall!  No one to my knowledge got off course, no injuries other than a scrape here and there.  There was some confusion entering the field at the end of 1st lap and end of race itself, so we'll continue to work on that.  And again, super happy with a record field size and most competitive field ever.

So how did my race go?

Pretty happy with a return to the times
I posted the first two years.
I think the fast lead pack pulled me to a faster start
and having competition the whole way helped.

Some of Team WTAC that was here today:
(l-r:  Dave, Heather, Meriden, Nick, me, Schane, Paul, Al, Cliff, April, Erin)

Some interesting snippets from Strava that I read later:

• Very technical trails that were covered in leaves.
• Tbh the hardest 5k I’ve ever run
• Love these trails.

And I'll end this post both thanking our host, the Westerly Land Trust, and pasting a surprise entry from this month's Westerly Land Trust Stewardship Report on their properties, written by the outgoing President of WLT, who ran herself in the race:

Wahaneeta – An extra credit CCC crew met to clean up the trails within Wahaneeta for the Westerly Track Club’s 5k trail race (#4) that was held on October 18^th.  They had over 70 runners who followed COVID protocols and hunting season requirements.  Jeff Walker (CCC member, Board member and President of the WTAC) and his Board did a great job of organizing the race and making sure the preserve was returned to pre-race condition.  Looking forward to #5.

Weekly Log 19-Oct to 25-Oct-2020: Pachaug Week

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Weirdest thing this week was when taking Brady out about 10pm one evening.  Opened the back door of the garage to walk across the backyard with him into the woods to take a final pee (him, not me) before bed.  Except that as soon as I opened the door he sprinted out across the dark lawn.  When I caught up with him, he had a small opossum in his mouth!  We had good eatin' for the next few days.  (Ok, everything except that last sentence is true.)
• I'm not into Halloween this year.  I usually have a pretty decent display on the lawn by now, but this year, with the Governor asked that trick-or-treating be wrapped up before sundown and no contact between house hosts and the trick-or-treaters, I don't see the point of setting up my light display, or having my usual bonfire in the driveway while welcoming trick-or-treaters.  I suppose I'll still carve jack-o'lanterns, but it won't be the same.  :(
• This year I voted by mail for the first time ever.  I'm not afraid of wearing a mask and voting indoors, but between the mask requirement and Jana having to wait over an hour to vote in person this year right here in little old Westerly, why go through the hassle?  Despite the nonsense being spewed nationally against mail voting, I found it safe, secure, convenient, and easy to track the status of my ballot through the whole process electronically:

Monday:  0

Planned day off.

Tuesday:  9

Rainy run in Ninigret.  Had the whole place to myself.  Well, except for the deer that I came up on while running Foster Cove Loop Trail.

Wednesday:  13

Ran a hilly mix in Charlestown from West Beach.  3 x 2-mile hard sets, with a mile in between.  Pace in low 6s, but hard to compare exactly as some uphill, some downhill, some flat.  Warm and very humid.  Ended up with nipple chafing.  Ouch!  But still glad I got it done, and hope this will pay dividends at a road half marathon next month.

Thursday:  4

Squeezed this in between a very busy meeting-laden day and a business team outing late afternoon in Narragansett.  Ran the Rhody 4-mile course with Brady.  It's in good shape, except a very small section in Kimball.  On the way back, Brady paused on the dock and looked at me.  I knew he wanted to jump into the pond, so why not?  Ran and jumped off the dock into the pond with him.  Maybe the last time for this year?

Friday:  5

Barn Island morning run with Brady.  Took it easy with a potentially tough race in the morning.

Saturday:  14

Pachaug Trail Half Marathon.  Separate write-up to follow.

Sunday:  11

Recovery run with Brady.  Ran to Avondale and caught up with some of the RWYC ("Run While You Can") crew.  Ran an easy pace with Jeff V and Jeff A (and Brady) for about five miles, and then after Watch Hill Lighthouse, peeled off to run the beach home.  Late in the run, I was feeling the residual soreness from yesterday's race.

Weekly mileage:  57

Weekly synopsis:  Truly a good running week, on a number of accounts:  I exceeded my mileage goal, I got in a good hilly workout, and I had a great half-marathon trail race (more on that later).

Weekly highlight:  The Pachaug Trail Half Marathon!

Weekly lowlight:  Pretty minor lowlight, but it would be just sleeping in on Wednesday and squandering valuable running time.  It's hard to enjoy the running when I have to keep looking at the time on my watch and hustle back to get to some meeting.

Run for the Pumpkins 2020

Westerly, RI

Sunday, November 3, 2020

Another year, another great event!  

This is snipped from SNERRO's website, with a link
back to ours.  Pretty cool!
---
The three races are all coming to fruition,
but I wasn't always convinced of that.

As Race Director, I was on pins and needles waiting for the state permit approval.  The town approval came in mere days and USATF approval in a couple of weeks, but the state approval took over a month.  This is why I normally apply for the state permit in March, but obviously that couldn't happen in this pandemic year when nearly everything shut down in the spring.  The state permit approval came through less than 48 hours before the event, and with it a caveat that no more than 75 participants in the 5K/8K combined, so we scrambled to shut down registration as we were already one over.

Despite capacity reached, registration closed, and all of this prominently on our home page, I continued to get e-mails and several phone calls asking how people could get registered.  We even had runners show up race day hoping to get the spot of a no-show, but every single person who registered showed up to run!  I felt badly turning people away, but it was necessary to follow the letter of the state permit.

WTAC registration setup & screening area

The Town Recreation Department had a table setup as well,
and was giving away town cinch sacs.
Really nice to have the town directly participating again.

Race morning went smoothly.  We had a great crew to show up and handle everything from course marking to parking to COVID screening and check-in.  Showed up two hours early, setup my annual 7' tepee out of sticks I could find, and once the rest of the crew arrived, we split into different tasks to mark the course with flags, signs, ghosts, and pumpkin mile markers.  All went smoothly and we had plenty of time before race we returned.  Another crew had setup the start/finish, including the socially distanced staggered start cones.

In COVID masks, from left to right:
Me, Westerly Town Manager Mark Rooney,
Interim Town Recreation Director Julia Beasley

First loop:  I was seeded 11th overall, based upon self-submitted recent 5K times or estimates, and as we were running in USATF-mandated maximum wave sizes of 10, that meant I was in the second wave.  I suppose as RD I could have gamed it and no one would have been the wiser, but that's not how I roll and I do have some integrity.  After getting the first waved situated, I turned over the mic to SNERRO and they ran the start from there.  As opposed to the 10-second waves at the NH 10-Miler two months ago, 30 seconds between waves here seemed long.

I'm on right, starting in Wave 2, as subsequent waves are lined up 
socially distanced behind me.

With a wave of only ten, we had plenty of room and didn't have to jockey for positioning going into the trails like usual.  A high schooler passed me on the uphill, and I didn't care as he was a 5K'er.  At the course split, Jeff V as always did a fantastic job recognizing the subtle difference in orange 5K bibs versus orange 8K bibs and directed each on their proper path with a wave of his yellow flag.

A masked Jeff V doing an awesome job
as course marshal at 5K/8K intersections

Passing a ghost on my left,
while giving a thumbs-up to videographer
Seth on my right

And here's Seth's video output.
You can find the neat short video here

At just over a mile in, I caught and passed Jonny.  This meant he wasn't having his best day out there, and I also knew he had been nursing a persistent injury.  He was still quite cordial with his trademark "What's up, Jeff", and I didn't count out the possibility that he'd be back after me.  I continued through the upper field with Jonny in tow, bombed the steep downhill, and that carried me back to the tepee for Round Two.

Second loop:  We turn off the wider XC course onto twisty, uphill single-track of "Pumpkins Connector".  At times I can see Muddy and another competitor but they're really much further ahead of me due to the twists.  This is the toughest part of the course and I'm hoping it will give me some separation.  Indeed, at switchbacks, I can not see anyone behind me, even in the distance.  We come out of the trail, pass Jeff V, and head into Woody Hill.

Halloween themed course marking

After crossing Woody Hill Road (dirt), the next mile is pretty flat and very non-technical.  What is the antonym of "technical"?   I think I let my guard down here and now running "as an island", I could have and should have run faster.  After one short twisty trail that we built (with landowner permission) a few years back to bypass rocky scree, we head into Hansel & Gretel trail with about 1.5 miles to go.  

It is on Hansel & Gretel in the pine forest that I start to catch up to back-of-the-pack 5K'ers.  It might have been a little earlier than normal this year due to staggered starts, but no issue at all as they hear me coming (or perhaps heard me breathing like a dinosaur) and they moved off the trail and out of my way.  I surprisingly finished Hansel & Gretel in my best effort ever, as I will find out later on:

Not that I don't love Hansel & Gretel, but now here comes my favorite part of the race:  a downhill finish!  We have a nearly constant decline for 3/4 mile, dropping about 140'.  Exiting the trails back onto the Bradford Preserve field, it's just a couple tenths of a mile to the finishing chute.

2020 finish

2019 finish:
same time of year (1st Saturday of October)
in both 2019 and 2020,
and same approximate spot,
but look at the difference in grass,
showing just how dry it is this year.
(There is no irrigation at this field or other 
dependent factor to explain this.)

Finishing.  Note the difference in clock time
vs net time (below) is 30 seconds due to starting in
second wave.

Final results:  34:15, 9th out of 37 in 8K.  2nd in age group.  Full results here.

Although there was no awards ceremony today due to COVID, I was still able to catch up with a few runners, as well as my Mom spectating (my brother, sister-in-law, and niece were running as well), so that was good.  It was also great to have a kids' run for the first time this year (summer kids' runs were cancelled due to COVID).  Then it was back out in the woods with Muddy and Justin P to clean up the course.  I'll end this post with the same words as I started it:  Another year, another great event!

WTAC team pic, with most in masks.  A weird sight in any other year!
(l-r:  Seb, Chris, Rosie, Jeff, Schane, Justin P, Justin "Muddy" B, Paul,
Sharon, Steve, Bill, Rose, Erin, with several others already having left)

Weekly Log 12-Oct to 18-Oct-2020: Dad, Leif Eriksson, & Wahaneeta

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Channel 10 online news story headline:  "Connecticut woman accused of abandoning baby found alive in trash bin".  The woman was found alive in the trash bin, or the baby?  Pretty awkward use of English, especially for a communications firm.
• Why did Strava turn off Flybys for all athletes?  Privacy reasons?  I opted back in, but I'm guessing most didn't realize or take the effort to.  I enjoy occasionally checking it on casual runs, and definitely so on races.
• I don't usually listen to music later than 1991, as after that, they just stopped making good music, IMHO.  So listening to the local classic rock station this morning, it was both weird and so cool to hear the recently released 2020 song, "Shot in the Dark" by AC/DC.  Can I still consider this "classic" rock?  Yes, as it has the similar sound and vibe from their '80s hits.  I remember The Who's Super Bowl halftime show in 2010, and it was noticeable that Roger Daltrey was losing his voice, but Brian Johnson is still rocking the same sound!
• I get that we're not exchanging handshakes during the pandemic, but what's with elbow bumps?  They seems so awkward to me, and actually bring you physically closer to the person than fist bumps do.
• 
  

  

  (Embarrassing sign at the entrance of a local DD)
  But what if I'm NOT wearing a costume?
  Then how many are allowed in "te" store?
  

  
  

Monday:  4

Columbus Day holiday.  Although it's apparently controversial to mention that even as a fact these days.  So Happy Indigenous Peoples Day, or whatever you celebrate.  Looking to celebrate North American exploration?  Maybe it should be Leif Eriksson Day.  Aside from his historical atrocities, Columbus never set foot on US soil, and if you're considering North American soil, he was preceded by Leif Eriksson by 500 years!

Statue of Leif Eriksson in from of Hallgrímskirkja Church,
Reykjavik, a gift from the US to Iceland in 1930.
---
(I took this photo about 11pm,
while on a run with Matthew in July 2016)

Oh, yeah, about the run.  It was an easy recovery run on a mix of local roads and trails, from the house, on a dreary day.

Tuesday:  10

Went to CCC, only to find it was cancelled.  I knew that was a good possibility with the rain, but as the planned activity was to clean up Wahaneeta specifically for the WTAC race this coming Sunday, I didn't want to take the chance.  It ended up all working out, as I caught up with a few during the coffee hour and then went for a solo run in the rain.

Today was the 25th anniversary of my father passing away.  In my 56+ years, this has to date been the hardest thing in my life.  Yes, I was 31 when I lost my Dad, and for years I used to feel jealous of others who had a more normal lifespan with their fathers.  My youngest brother was still in high school at the time.

Beautiful foliage taken from my father's grave on Sunday,
two days ago.  My Mom and I agreed it reminded us of how
brilliant the foliage was on the day he was buried here.

Annual planting of a mum at
my Dad's grave.

My Dad and I at the house I grew up in South Kingstown
(I'm 4 months old here)

Thought of my Dad a lot during the run today.  Woody Hill was nearly empty in the heavy rain, but I oddly encountered one person walking while supporting a huge umbrella with one hand and carrying the cell phone he was talking on in the other.  I didn't go to my Dad's cemetery today, as it was pretty much pouring and we just went there two days ago, but I did stop at an all but abandoned historical cemetery deep in the woods on my run.  I noticed an American flag lying on the ground with a broken staff, and I replanted this at the grave of Ebenezer Rathbun, who lived from 1740 - 1822, served in the Revolutionary War, and had twelve children.  Made me feel good that I had done something worthwhile.

My Dad and I at the beach.  I am age 4.
(I know I've put this pic up in the past;
probably will again, as it's one of my favorites.)

Wednesday:  10

Procrastinated throughout the day and ended up running late afternoon since I was leaving the house anyway to meet someone at Junk & Java near downtown.  Parked there 1.5 hours before the meeting and ended up running two miles to warm up and cool down, with six hard miles in the middle.  A few good hill climbs and descents including Potter Hill.  Trying to keep up the Wednesday workouts.  Felt good overall.

Thursday:  5 run, 3 walk

AM:  Westerly Land Trust CCC special get-together to perform trail maintenance before Sunday's Wahaneeta 5K.  Trails are in really good shape.  Most of the efforts focused on clearing overhanging briars and clearing the path we use to park cars.

PM:  Easy recovery run with Brady at Wahaneeta and Woody Hill.  This was a good stress-buster, as mid-morning I heard from the state that they were not going to be able to approve our Rhody permit, so we were either going to have to cancel OR move to another state property and cap at 75.  Ugh.  It turns out there were multiple state agencies involved, and after a fair amount of back and forth during the afternoon, we got conditional approval for the event, understandably with a cap and additional COVID documentation required.

Tried a new trail shoe today.  Was looking for a very "grippy"
shoe to add to my arsenal.  Did some research on best "grippy"
trail shoes.  Many of the shoes featured on the reviewers' short list
were heavy (by my perspective) and expensive, so when I saw this
shoe (Merrell MTL Skyfire) on the short list weighing in at 9.0 oz
and found a pair on a clearance site for $69, let's go!
---
I can't judge these shoes after just one short run.  The fit felt tight,
they need to be broken in, and I would like to try them on a variety of terrain
and weather conditions.  I hope they live up to their review comment of
"Deep 5mm lugs excel on rocky technical trails and soft, dry mud."

Friday:  6

Canonchet Preserves with Brady.  Fun running through the leaves, but tricky to follow in a few places due to so many leaves down and covering the trail.  At one point, I slid on leaves and whacked my head into a tree branch.

Saturday:  8

Li'l Rhody course shakeout, with Brady.  As soon as I got on one of the long bog bridges near the covered bridge, my legs slid off the wet, leaf-covered bridge and I went straight into a thick briar patch as my forearm and torso crashed onto the bridge.  Ow, that hurt!  I lay stunned for a few moments until I got up, and realized I was fine other than some scrapes, bruises, and minor pain.  Onward!

Sunday:  9

Wahaneeta Trail 5K, including course setup, race, cool-down, clean-up, etc.  Busy, but fun and rewarding morning as both a runner and RD.  Separate write-up to follow.

Weekly mileage:  57

Weekly synopsis:  Great mileage week, surpassing my somewhat arbitrary goal of 50.  I got a road "Workout Wednesday" in for the second consecutive week, and the rest of my runs mostly on trails.  I find the trail runs in this fall weather to be just so enjoyable, and the road runs (run?) by comparison to be a chore mentally to get going.  I should probably balance more, especially with a road half coming up in three weeks, but if I can get two road runs per week, that's enough for me.  Come December with shotgun season, I'll likely hit the roads a little more.

Weekly highlight:  The Wahaneeta Trail 5K!

Weekly lowlight:  Two pretty good crashes on trail runs, in as many days.  It happens.

Weekly Log 5-Oct to 11-Oct-2020: Pachaug Prep

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• For a while, the second presidential debate was scheduled to be virtual (due to Trump's positive COVID test) before being scrapped altogether, and I figured that would make history.  I was shocked to learn that sixty years ago this month, there was a virtual debate, when JFK debated from JFK and Nixon from LA.
• Frustrating to continue to see so many races cancel or go virtual.  Finally signed up for two fall half-marathons so at least I have something on the race docket to plan for and look forward to:  Updated race schedule.

Monday:  0

 

Tuesday:  0 run, 2 walk

Trail maintenance at Grills Preserve.  Led a group clearing the low-lying, overgrown white trail just east of Big Hill.

Rest in peace, Eddie Van Halen

Wednesday:  10

Progression run 'round the pond.  Started at 7:45/mile, and intended to chop off roughly 15 seconds each mile for 8 miles, and then 2 miles cool-down.  What I didn't build into the plan was that there was a stiff wind out of the west, and my hardest and fastest miles would be into a good headwind.  Poor planning.

The first six miles went according to plan and I was down to roughly a 6:30 pace.  Mile 7 was a battle to get anything lower and I finished the mile at 6:26 while talking myself out of continuing.  I somehow fought the urge to quit and while Mile 8 was a near sprint effort for me, I only eked out a 6:19.  So the numbers may not be there, but the effort was.

Oh, come on.  Yet another virtual race?
Cap the race for COVID, take the required precautions,
and put on a safe race outdoors.  Very disappointing.
Looks like now the closest Thanksgiving Day morning
races (that really are happening) are Cumberland and East Providence.

Thursday:  7

Wahaneeta course reconnaissance with Brady.  Also added on about 4 miles in Woody Hill.  Saw absolutely no one out there.  Trails are in great shape, and the CCC will take care of a few trimming tasks I laid out for both Wahaneeta and Moorehouse Preserves.

Friday:  9

Quiet work day before the holiday weekend.  Left the "office" early and went for an afternoon run with Brady at Grills.  Usual route from Hopkinton side into Westerly, and basically running the perimeter of both preserves.  For the first time (I think?) I actually read the rules on the kiosk at the Hopkinton side and was thrilled to see "Dogs must be on leash OR under voice command of their handler.".  Yes!  Left the leash in the car.  We encountered one person on Hopkinton side, and then in Westerly a couple with two dogs on leashes.  I didn't really even have to use my voice as Brady just stayed by my side on both occasions and didn't bother with either the humans or canines.

Really a beautiful fall afternoon on the trails.  I love having leaves and pine-needle covered trails, and the crisp air of fall.  It was quite warm for me at about 60°, but that humidity is gone.  The only downside is that I brought home a tick and only noticed it when going in the shower.  Ugh.

Saturday:  6 run, 2 hike

Westerly High School XC course setup, marking, and breakdown.  I had taken on this position and recruited several of my WTAC colleagues back when we devised the new course and moved it to Bradford Preserve (2016?), and then announced last year that I would "retire" at the end of the season, to make way for others to take the torch.  Didn't quite work out that way for different reasons, and that's just fine as I have the time and energy, and others stepped up to the plate as well, including the coaches marking the field, Schane setting up the start/finish flags and Justin P and I marking the trail portions.  The reality is that the course trail has become so established that it really requires a minimum of maintenance and marking these days.

Late afternoon Jana and I took Brady for a 2-mile hike in Hopkinton's Canonchet Preserves.  There are some really interesting boulders and stone foundations in there, which are great to see.  There are also some interesting dam and rivers but those are just completely dried up.

Sunday:  14

Pachaug Trail Race prep.  Ran the 1/2 marathon course with Brady.  Only got off course twice, and even then recognized it right away and got back on course, thanks to Strava routes.  That Strava route builder feature in of itself pays for the Strava subscription itself, not even including the Strava beacon feature where Jana was getting live updates exactly where I was in case something went wrong (injured, lost, etc).  This is from a cheapskate that skated free on Strava for years, while obviously it's a business and valuable tool that costs money to develop and maintain.

Last year I missed the Pachaug Trail Races completely as they were already sold out.  This year I got in by the skin of my teeth, as I snagged the second to the last opening (the full has a few slots, as does the 50K still, in case you have a hankering!).  Chatted with Crutch, who helps to organize this race, and then studied his Strava map and ended up creating as a Strava route.  I brought (electronically) a PDF trail map, a description of course turns, and the aforementioned Strava route, but in the end I only needed the latter, and never even looked at the former two during the run.

This Strava route builder is a great tool.
The blue outline is the route I built,
and the solid blue line showing my progress thus far
and a confidence check that I'm still on the course.

Here is a pictorial overview of the course and today's run:

The first mile of the course has a short dirt road section and then
goes right into the climb up Mt Misery.  It's only two 100'
climbs, but it's the steepness that had be panting as well.
Note to self:  get out for a short warm-up before race start.

After Mt Misery and a double-track,
Mile 3 is this rocky uphill climb that
goes on for a while.

Little cairns like this are pretty cool!

I saw so many of these red arrows that I mistakenly
thought it was laying out the course.  Paid for it here
when I followed the arrow instead of taking a right onto Pachaug Trail,
but again I quickly caught the error on Strava routes and back-tracked.
(Mile 3)

This fun mowed grass section is part of the Nehantic Trail
that Matthew and I missed a left turn on during a run
earlier this year.  (Mile 5.)

This pine forest section was a blast!   You had to pay attention
with the fallen leaves and pine needles, but really well blazed.
(Mile 7)

And the road goes on forever...
Or so it seems.  It's actually a mile long, but after this, save for 
1/4 mile asphalt, you're done with roads.
(Mile 8)

Hell Hollow Pond
1st of 2 water holes for Brady.
(Mile 9)

Loved this pine forest single-track section,
on the way back now, headed south to finish.
(Mile 10)

Final water hole.  He scampered down the rocks and
jumped right in!
(Mile 12)

And here's the type of scampering we're doing at this point.
It'll be interesting to see how the old and by then tired legs
will do navigating this towards end of race.
(Mile 12)

Wore my Nathan hydration pack as I didn't know how many watering holes there would be for Brady, or where they'd be.  This ended up being a good move, as there were only two along the half-marathon route.  I had to stop a number of times anyway to check the route and where we were, but I was in no hurry and all worked out well.  Stopped and talked to a trail runner (Dan Phillips) who was out there getting ready for the 50K in two weeks.  That was a good chat.  The next one wasn't, as it was a guy and his wife who were out looking for their horse that got free and didn't come home overnight, and they were clearly emotionally distraught.

Weekly mileage:  46 run, 4 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Right around my weekly mileage goal of 50.  Got in a number of trail runs, volunteered two days for trail and high school XC efforts, respectively, and ran a road workout.  So all good in my book.  I want to keep up one medium long-run and one workout effort per week through my November half, at least.

Weekly highlight:  Today's Pachaug run, for sure.

Weekly lowlight:  Two consecutive zeros early in week, one planned, one lazy.

Trails to a Cure

Cockaponsett State Forest

Chester, CT

Sunday. September 20, 2020

This was my second consecutive year running this race.  Last year I ran, had an absolute blast, and even happened to win the race (caveats:  small field, and you race who shows up).

While most organizations and RDs are opting to cancel events outright or go virtual, when I talked to RD Charlie Iselin at People's Forest Race in late August, I learned he was going to try to put on the race.  I was psyched when registration was open, and seeing the state-imposed COVID limit of 75 runners total, promptly signed up.  (The race did sell out a few days before race day.)

When the race sold out, I researched my competition that was signed up.  That was one advantage of no race day registration this year; I knew who was going to show up.  None of the three guys that I trailed for the first half of last year's race were registered.  OK.  Teammate Dave Goodrich and I are about even and go back and forth at races, and I'm hoping the advantage goes to me because of some technical terrain.  But, wait, there's a guy named Chris Pagliuco registered, and he won the race in 2015, came in second in 2016 and 2017, and all three finishing times were faster than mine last year.  Gulp.  

It was only 45° when we arrived, and a mere three degrees warmer than that at race start.  The water temp at the infamous crossing will certainly be warmer than the air today.  Went for a 2-mile course warm-up with my WTAC teammates Nick, Kevin M, and Dave (and Brady!) before stripping down to a singlet (and shorts of course!) and heading to the start line.

Start of race:  I have to commend SNERRO's Pete and RD Charlie for keeping their remarks brief and interesting.  I can sometimes be long-winded and try to keep mine focused at WTAC races.  Pete explained the COVID-required staggered start process, which was already very similar to what we had been doing in WTAC free summer events, and Charlie had two interesting notes on modifications for this year:

1. Due to COVID, there would be no spectators or lifeguards at the chest-deep water crossing this year.  We were on our own if we chose the water crossing, which of course I would be as it saves a good minute or more.
2. Because a number of runners in the past purportedly remarked on the course being short of 8 miles on their GPS (like that's accurate in the woods), he added a section at the north end of the course and you would cross Old County Road (dirt road) and run a short section of trails there.  Sounds intriguing!

Tying my shoes as others stretch at the socially distanced start

I was seeded in the first wave and of course looked around trying to figure out who the 43-year old Chris P was.  The gun went off and three of us took the lead:  Dave in front, then me, then a guy who introduced himself as Rob Low and recognized me as L'il Rhody RD.  OK, so where the heck is Chris P?  Let it go and focus on the race.  The first half mile is on an old asphalt road, barricaded off from traffic, and kind of annoying, but I remembered it's the only asphalt on the course.  I passed Dave (it looked like he let me pass) just before turning off the road onto the single-track, and from there I put distance on him.

Start of wave 1

Dave and I take it out

Starting out on the road section, 
it was Dave, then me, then Rob Low

We had about 1.5 miles of net downhill on sometimes twisty, sometimes technical single-track to the southern end of the course, where you make almost a 180° turn and head north.  I remembered last year I was annoyed that the runners in front of me slowed down on anything technical (well of course they did, but I meant they slowed down much more than I would have), and this year I pushed it fairly hard and that paid dividends, as at the southern turn I could see the trail I just ran on, and nobody was within sight.

Another 1.5 miles back to near the starting area.  Between running this last year as well as earlier this year with Matthew, the territory was somewhat familiar to me.  The long 200' climb and then the only rock scramble on the course where I was also frustrated last year as I had to wait for the two in front of me that came to a stop and there was no room to pass.  After the rock scramble, it's downhill to the course split (near the end of the 4-mile course), and Jana and Brady were there waiting.  It probably wasn't nice of me to call out to Brady, who instantly wanted to chase after and run with me and pulled hard on the leash and ultimately on Jana.

Behaving himself while waiting for
me to finish
(all photos courtesy of Jana)

The second half:    Shortly after the course split, we come to a very fun and appropriately named segment (below).  

This was the segment snippet and my 3rd place from last
year, with my blog comment at that time:
"Very appropriately named segment!  And only 7 seconds off the CR!
That means I have to go back next year, right?"

So did I take the 7 seconds off this year, or not?

Took 15 seconds off and got the crown!  Ecstatic when I found out.
(I know some people aren't in to segments, but I don't get many,
so let me have my bragging rights until someone takes it away.)

Less than a mile after Rocks n' Shit, I reached Old County Road, where the race turned around in the past.  Not today.  Across the road for some new to me terrain and some really fun single-track.  I was expecting a short section, but the trail just kept going.  (Charlie actually added an entire mile of trails!)  I am feeling really good, so I'm figuring as long as I don't start to fatigue, this extra distance is benefitting me.  At one point, we ran across a really cool stone dam, and that was tempered by some loose gravel dirt road, but still overall really great new trail additions.  

Crossing back over Old County Road, we have about two miles left to go.  I remember that is generally one of the flatter and non-technical sections of the course, so while I can't see anyone, I better be vigilant.  I went quite a while without seeing any "confidence" flags and was getting nervous that I was no longer on the course and had missed a turn somewhere.  Maybe I screwed up at the last trail intersection and misread the flags?  This went on for a while, and I actually thought about turning around and running back to the last intersection, but fortunately I finally saw another flag.  Whew!  In truth, I had read the last marked intersection correctly and there was nowhere to turn off the trail after that, but I do like a good confidence flag.

We were soon running alongside the Pattaconk Reservoir, I could occasionally hear SNERRO over the loud-speaker, no doubt announcing 4-mile finishers, and I knew the water crossing was coming up quickly.  Saw the sign to make a 90-degree left turn if you wanted the water crossing, and that pretty much dumped me out immediately into chest high water and muck.  As with last year, I couldn't figure out if best to try to swim or pull myself along the rope and I kind of alternated both methods.  Not that I felt uncomfortable with no spectators or lifeguards this year due to COVID, but I did prefer having them there for mental support if nothing else.

And here's the water crossing!
(2019 picture of me halfway across it)

Out of the water and high-tailed it the 1/4 mile or so to the finish.  

Final results:  1:03:41.  1st overall out of 37!  Full results here.

Going into the water to clean-up post-race, 
with Brady behind me and Dave to my left.

So what happened to that Chris P guy?  A no show I figured, but I'll have to wait until I get home, as no race results posting allowed onsite to avoid crowding during COVID.  It turns out he was in the 2nd wave and ended up 2nd just ahead of my teammate Dave.  Sandbagger!  

While I missed the post-race camaraderie, brick oven pizza, and awards ceremony, it was still a really fun race!  Some runners I know have said that in the COVID era, races are just no fun and even "terrible", but I am certainly not in that camp by any means.  Huge kudos to Charlie and his wife Becky striving against the odds and putting this on in these odd times.  Well done!

Good turnout from WTAC, especially considering "so far away" (do I sound like a Rhode Islander?)
kneeling front row, left to right:  Me, Paul, Dave
back row, left to right:  Sharon, Bill, Rose, Kevin, Nick