Stowe, VT
Saturday, June 26, 2021
First of all, it was a relief to get back to Vermont. Last year during COVID, Vermont had one of the strictest out-of-state travel bans in the entire country. Prior to today, my previous run (and visit) in Vermont was Sleepy Hollow in April, 2019.
We arrived in Stowe on Friday night and opted for the early packet pickup that night, to make things more streamlined Saturday morning. We were staying at the Innsbruck Inn, which got mixed reviews, but we all thought it was just fine. Due to COVID, the breakfast buffet would be closed, but instead of using that as an excuse (as the Covered Bridge Inn in Jackson did last weekend), I give the management a lot of credit for instituting a process of guests ordering their breakfast particulars the night before and having them ready for you at the time you pre-selected. Set the alarm for 6:45am, put on my race gear which I laid out the night before, and made our way downstairs for the earliest breakfast time, 7am. After a breakfast of oatmeal, 1/2 bagel, 1/2 apple, yogurt, and OJ, took Brady out for his daily constitutional, and drove the short 10-minute trip to the famous Trapp Family Lodge (as in the von Trapp family from Austria, known for The Sound of Music). This would be the race venue. So why didn't we just stay there? The price of about $400/night was more than I was comfortable dropping money on.
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| Checking out the course start at packet pick-up the night before. |
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The famous Trapp Family Lodge
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| Rooms were clean, with plenty of room |
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| Lots of flowers, and the pool was nice |
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| Downstairs where breakfast served. Dated? Yes. But with charm. |
After a mile and a half warm-up, Matthew and I made our way to the start line and area corralled off for Wave 1 runners. Other than a runner in a full Wonder Woman getup, including tutu, cape, and fake metal headband, everyone seemed dressed in normal running garb. We were in the very small minority not running with either a hydration pack or hand-held bottle. One guy was actually carrying a hand-held Poland Spring plastic water bottle that you would buy. Whatever works. Yes, this would be another cup-less race, but the neat collapsible plastic water bottles that we got for Mt Wash seemed to work fine there and we took this same approach. My water bottle and a single packet of GU were secured in a zippered pocket on my race shorts, and I was ready.
Like Mt Wash, the bibs were rank ordered by time but yet there was no forced start order. Unlike Mt Wash, no one seemed to want to get near the start line and be first. I certainly didn't! With 30 seconds to go and a nudging from the RD (or announcer?), a few people got in the first row finally, and I jumped in (well, not literally) behind them.
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| Starting line. You can kind of see me in middle in blue singlet and blue hat, and Matthew in first row, leftmost, in black |
We took off across a mowed grass field and up a short hill. About 1/10 mile (?) in, when I could still see everyone, I counted myself at 9th place. I'll do that sometimes and then increment as I get passed (or decrement if I pass someone), but today that approach turned out to be meaningless, because with two waves behind me, I couldn't possibly know where I stood overall at any given time in the race, or even at the finish. I was disappointed that there was one guy pretty clearly in my age group ("Old") that was ahead of me already, but my the end of the first mile, I passed the old guy and fortunately never saw him again.
With the exception of a very short section of single-track, almost the entirety of the course was on a mix of double-track grass trails and dirt roads. This would be similar to Pinelands 25K, except that both the grass and dirt road sections were significantly rougher and more uneven than Pinelands. In Mile 2, I found myself in a pack of four: the two top women, a kid, and me. The two young women were chatting away easily while I was already panting. The kid had a bandaged up shoulder, while of course, under my hat, I had a bandaged up head. (My head bandages had loosened up, and Jana used surgical tape to affix them to my scalp in hopes of them making it through the race before needing changing again, and then fastened my hat pretty tight in order to keep everything "locked down".)
About Mile 3, the two women split up and both took off ahead of the kid and I. The #1 woman was quickly gone and ended up third across the line (although 4th when figuring the second wave?), while I could see the #2 woman on and off for the next mile or two. About this time, a guy came up behind us, was talking easily as he passed the kid and me, and then went ahead to pass the 2nd woman as well before going out of my sight.
From about Miles 3 to 7, the kid and I took turns passing me each other. There is a 700' climb starting about Mile 3, so you figure I'd be toast compared to a much younger guy. But the funny thing is I would pass him on the uphills (I didn't think there was anyone slower than me on uphills) and then he would pass me on downhills (I consider that to be one of my strengths). My first moron move was at the aid station about 5 miles in. As I crested a hill and came in view of the aid station, one of the volunteers was shouting "Good job, Chris! Way to go, Chris!". I was debating telling him my name wasn't Chris, until I approached him and he said to me, "Good job, Man.". I'm a little bit slow to catch on sometimes, but I finally got it: My name is "Man", and Chris is the name of the kid.
My second moron move was coming in to the aid station itself, and when asked what I wanted, and I said water, to which the guy asked what I thought was "tap or regular water". I paused and I'm sure I looked confused, so he repeated it again. What the heck is the difference between tap water and regular water? I said "regular water, please". I got out my collapsible cup, knowing this was a cupless race, and was really confused when the guy handed me a plastic cup full of water. As I ran past the aid station gulping my "regular water", I saw and finally figured out that what he really asked me was, "Untapped or regular water"? "Untapped" is a maple flavored athletic drink.
Over the next three miles or so, we dropped 1,000 feet. Chris passed me this time for good, although I still saw for the next mile or two. I'm guessing he is a local guy, as I heard his name called out by volunteers again. I should be bombing down these sections, but I'm still having some residual calf and hamstring soreness from running up (and down) Mt Washington. (Don't you hate it when people make excuses for their races?)
About Mile 9, the descent bottoms out and we cross a road. Here a blue guy in a ponytail passes me. I'm starting to tire here, so I try some mental exercises to get my mind off the moment. At 9 miles, I'm now 3/5 (60%) done, at 10 I'll be 2/3 (67%), at 11 will be 3/4 (75%), etc. I think it helps, as the scenery changes and I'm now at Mile 11, out of the woods and running a large loop on grass in a big field adjacent to Trapp lodging clusters. A guy runs past me with ease. Where did he come from? I can only fathom he started in the wave behind me (later sleuthing proves this correct).
In Mile 12, we go back into the woods, and have a 200' drop. The legs normally love this, but not so today. At the start of Mile 13, the descent again bottoms out, and we now face a 300' climb back to the start. Ugh. I round a corner and see the blue-clad ponytail guy again! I didn't expect to see anyone except more people passing me, so this lifts my spirits as I focus on him and the distance between us. Sure enough, the distance is shrinking! I'm excited. With about a mile to go, I catch and re-pass him. I don't want to lose the lead this time, and it gives me something to focus on. Once the course flattens out and is on a dirt road for the final 1/2 mile, I pick it up into the high 6s to finish strong. I hold him off. (Good thing, as it turns out he is also in the 50s age group!)
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| Picking it up into the finish, as I certainly don't want to get passed and lose my age group right at the end. Trapp Family Lodge in background. |
Final results: 2:01:42, 11th out of 253. 1st in age group. Full results here.
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| I love the race giveaway shirt: dark blue color and simple design |
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| The hat materials (giveaway at finish) don't do much for me, but again, you don't go to a race for its giveaways |
In hindsight, I erred in not giving enough recovery time after Mount Washington (just six days) before running this race. I enjoyed the race overall and especially the getaway weekend in Vermont. Had a burrito at finish and finally enjoyed several cupfuls of Untapped Maple.
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