Colchester, CT
Saturday, February 26, 2022
I believe this is a long-standing race, but was my first edition. I really only went because 1) it was the WTAC Clamshell race of the month (I can't remember who suggested it), and 2) there just isn't much out there in terms of "local" races for February. (I put "local" in quotation marks, as I'm not sure a race an hour's drive away is really local. I suppose that's subjective.) Looking back now, this race held a lot of surprises for me, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and am glad I went!
I arrived an hour early, went into the auditorium of Bacon Academy to pick up my bib, went for a solo 2+ mile run, came back to use the bathroom, and was just about ready to go as I noted the time as 9:51 (nine minutes to race start). Heard my name called, and saw it was Crutch, who I hadn't seen in quite a while, but I quickly apologized to him as I waved but peeled away saying that I need to get "dressed" (more like undressed) and of course he completely understood.
Went back to the car to shed layers, and stripped down to short shorts and a WTAC singlet, lightweight hat, and lightweight gloves. According to my Strava post, it was 22°F at start, with a 6mph wind out of the NNW, for a windchill factor of 14°. I definitely got some remarks on my attire as I made my way through the unexpectedly large crowd of runners heading towards the start line. As far I saw, there were only three of us crazies wearing both shorts and singlets: Dave, Paul, and me.
Start - Mile 3: Just before race start, the police very temporarily shut down the main road (Norwich Road) and let us use the full width of the road, which the timing company quickly covered with chip timing mats. Doing my best to assess the competition around me, I quickly moved to the very front, as did Dave. I never want to start in front of faster runners, but fortunately my assessment was accurate this time around. The proverbial gun went off (really it was just verbal commands) and we were on our way. One guy quickly took the lead, and then behind him it was our group of three: my WTAC teammate Dave, a guy in orange tights also named David, and me. (I'll refer to them accordingly as Dave and David here.) Out of the three of us, David is the only one who had run this before, so when he asked me what I was shooting for, I explained I had run Vermont City Half last fall in 1:20, and as he had run this previously, I asked what he thought I should add as a buffer for the hills. He suggested 3 minutes, so 1:23 was my target.
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| Do I actually have my back to the RD while he's talking? (WTAC singlet to far right). Pay attention, man. --- (Photos are official race photos provided free, unless otherwise noted. |
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| Ready to start (again, far right). Eventual winner to my right (wearing face mask). Note not many fools out there today even wearing shorts, never mind singlets. |
I mentioned that the lead guy looked legit, which David confirmed, but said there would likely be others coming up on us as well. After a half-mile, I felt comfortable pulling ahead, and we split apart. Just before one mile, we turned directly into the wind, and I was seriously questioning the wisdom of my chosen running attire, as I was COLD. My arms were freezing and my fingers were getting that painful cold sensation. Well, saunter on, as I'm most certainly not going back now.
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| Behind David in his orange tights, immediately after start. |
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| Very early on in race; between David and Dave --- Photo by Bob Kerwin |
At the next major intersection another half-mile later, we turned slightly out of the wind and had to work harder now as we started the first of four climbs greater than 100' on the course. Just at the start of this climb, I heard someone come right up behind me. As we continued our climb over the next mile, my body gradually warmed up, and by two miles in, I was now warm and would remain so for the rest of the race. At about this time, my suitor passed me and I saw it was David. We would trade places periodically for the next four miles, which really meant I would catch him on the downhills, and he would catch me on the uphills.
Mile splits: 6:03, 6:25, 6:28.
Miles 4 - 6: The next three miles had their own flavor, as they were downhill, on less trafficked roads, and had long stretches of snow and ice. I alternated following David, running next to him, and running just slightly ahead of him. It wasn't always possible to run the tangents here, unless you wanted to risk running on long icy sections at times. As it was, there were times where running over ice and snow was unavoidable. I saw David slip once, and I know I needed to press on, but just hoped I didn't fall. The pace was fast downhill, and I could feel it.
Mile splits: 6:04, 5:48, 5:45
Mile 7: This mile deserves its own paragraph. The 200+' decline over the last three miles ended abruptly, as did the pavement. We took a hard left, and as I heard my name called, a peripheral glance told me it was Sam Alexander cheering me on. For the next 3/4 mile, we went uphill on completely snow covered dirt roads, for about 100' climb. At the start of the climb, I was just steps behind David, but this would be the last time as he pulled ahead considerably here and was clearly a superior hill climber. The coolest part of this mile was the very enthusiastic RD had driven out here, walked down part of the snow-covered slope, and gave me a high-five, saying something like "Let's Go, Westerly!", and confirming that I was in 3rd place.
The hill and the snow ended, the police stopped traffic as I crossed a major road, and I started a slight downhill on pavement.
Mile split: 6:42 (slowest mile of my race)
Miles 8 - 10: Mile 8 was the steepest uphill climb (is "uphill" and "climb" redundant? incline sounds better, doesn't it?). Mile 9 was a flat plateau, and Mile 10 was the steepest decline. At this point, David in the orange tights was out of sight, but what did keep me going was seeing the injured, but recovering, Bob Kerwin in the middle of the hill giving me encouragement. I never thought of walking (as apparently many of my successors did), but it was nonetheless very challenging. 150' climb in 0.2 miles.
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| Climbing Mile 8 hill (Photo by Bob Kerwin) |
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| Mile 8 hill |
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| A look down the hill, as I'm coming up. It was steeper than appears here. Honest! (from Bob Kerwin's video) |
After a mile to catch my breath, it was time now for a 250' drop. I could occasionally see David now on the steep straight drop, but he was actually quite a ways ahead by this point.
Mile splits: 6:36, 6:17, 5:41 (fastest mile of my race)
Miles 11 - finish: Mile 11 was another snow covered dirt road, but at least this one was relatively flat. No vehicles were travelling on this very rural wooded road. There were a few spots where dirt shone through and I could pick that for better traction, but mostly it was running on packed down snow.
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| Snow-covered road in Mile 11 (Pic taken by me post-race) |
The dirt road ended at a large farm, where a few spectators gathered. Turning off the dirt road, we had two miles uphill on a paved main road. I could see David in orange on long straightaways, but he was really quite a way ahead of me. The 200' climb was nearly continuous, but spread out over two miles fairly evenly. At long last, I see the sign for Bacon Academy, turn in the driveway, and I'm done. The announcer calls my name and hometown, and points out that the first three runners represented all the southern New England states.
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| Final turn before finish. Broken down form is reflecting how I feel after hill climb and 13 hilly miles. But I did hold off the competitors behind me! |
Mile splits: 6:03, 6:28, 6:39
Final results: 1:22:30. 6:18 average pace. 3rd overall of 442. 1st in age group. Full results here.
Went for a mile cooldown with Dave, and then inside to hit the food spread. And what a spread it was! I had vegetarian lasagna (there was a meat version also), mac and cheese, ziti, green beans, corn bread, and iced tea. I didn't even have room to touch the two different kinds of soups, pizza, quiche, coffee, etc.
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| Pass. I had green beans and orange wedges. |
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| Not that I really had any room leftover, but I just couldn't pass up brownies a la mode. (The brown containers are big containers of vanilla ice cream.) Fantastic! |
There was a volunteer marshal at every turn and you couldn't get lost. Major intersections had police as well. My own race went well and I'm glad I kept pushing myself, as I finished just 18 seconds ahead of 4th place.
Didn't end up getting a WTAC photo, but there were at least five of us there, maybe more.
I was secretly hoping that they would have awards for 1st / 2nd / 3rd, but it turns out they didn't have awards at all. No problem at all, and I don't need more "stuff" anyway. On my way out, I did make it a point to personally thank the RD for the great job. You could tell he really poured his heart and soul into it. He asked where I was from, and then said he's run our WTAC Clamdigger event and met his wife in Misquamicut. Small world. Great race.
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