Hampton, CT
Sunday, June 2, 2024
This was the same day as the Fairfield Half, the 4th road race of the USATF-CT Road Grand Prix. With a lot of road races coming up on my docket, I just wasn't into another road half, so I opted for the trail race over the road race. Besides, they offered a discounted $20 entry fee for seniors aged 50 and over! Bargain!
There were two distances in this race: 30K and 10K, starting at 9am and 9:30am, respectively. I target getting to races about 1 hour earlier than start, and there was no issue at this low-key small race with parking, check-in, or bathrooms, yet somehow I didn't have time for a proper warm-up and only got in 2/3 mile. I need to do better at this.
This was advertised as a cupless race, so I brought my Nathan hydration pack. (Some wore hydration packs, some hand-helds, some wore some waist belt device.) A big mistake I made at Quebec Mega Trail 50K last year (one of several) was not bringing a cup, which means while I had no issue getting water from my pack, I had no means of getting any Gatorade at the aid stations. This time I solved that and put a collapsible cup in one of the pack's front pockets, and two GU gels in the other. About 10 minutes before race start, I filled about half my pack bladder (2L capacity) with ice and cold water.
After studying the course and also reading comments that the two leaders last year went off course, I decided to download the course route onto my watch. This would turn out to be a smart move; more on that later.
The RD was enthusiastic and clearly a runner himself, and he gave a really good overview of the course and course markings, including how trickier course turns would be marked with extra flags, confidence ribbon markers, and several "X" markers which if you encountered them means you are off course. More on that later as well!
Race start: I chatted with Mike Daniels a bit at the starting line, especially as there was some delay (about five minutes). Mike is a previous winner of this race and was giving me a few pointers. I was already thinking the best I could possibly do at this race would be 2nd place. I mentioned to Mike that it's going to warm up quickly during the race, to which he responded, "It's already warm out!"
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| Chatting with Mike Daniels moments before race start (From race website) |
49 of us took off (almost triple that number in the 10K, as 144 runners would toe the line 30 minutes later), with a short uphill from Pine Acres Lake, before heading out on mostly easy double-track for the first few miles. We were only a 1/4 mile in when I felt no one wanted to take the lead. I didn't really want to either, but even this early in I just felt the pace was too slow so I reluctantly took the lead. Well, that didn't last long, as at about 1/2 mile one of the runners went past me. He (Tim) certainly wasn't in my age group, but another guy (Jon) caught right up to me and ran beside me and he most assuredly was an old guy like me, and was definitely someone I had raced before.
Over the next couple of miles Tim gradually pulled away and was out of sight. Meanwhile, at times Jon would be a couple of steps ahead of me, and other times right on my heels.
Change of terrain, and change of position (4M): About 3.5 miles in, the relatively flat and easy terrain morphs into hills and technical. Tim is back in my sights! I catch up to him, and as I'm just steps behind him, I hear "Let me know if you want to go by.". What a great sport! Now I'm starting to remember this competitor and being in the same situation with him before, but I can't place where. But I'm not feeling this is the time to make a move, so I follow behind him a bit longer. Then we hit a long 150' downhill. Now! I called out "On your left!" and go past him. Quoting from Tim's Strava post he penned later, "Took it out pretty steady because I knew the easy first miles would be my advantage. Jeff bombed past on the first technical descent several miles in and continued to pull away. "
At the next hard right turn, I glanced back and saw I had put a fair amount of distance on Tim, and couldn't see Jon at all anymore. But I certainly took nothing for granted, including either one of them coming back at me. And where is Mike Daniels? Is he going to be coming up on me at any moment?
We go through an open field section and I am noticing I am feeling really warm. Thus far I have avoided aid stations and have sufficient water in my pack and am taking GUs every 45 minutes.
Waterfall (7M): Coming up alongside a river, I saw the waterfalls that the RD and others had mentioned. It does look pretty, but I've got to focus, especially, as we're headed 100' uphill, steep, and all rocks. I feel like I am going so slow here. Indeed, my Strava post later confirms this is by far my slowest pace (12:35) the whole race, but what I don't know at the time (but can see now on Strava flyby) is that Tim is also slowing and it's at this point in the race that my separation starts to open up (again, totally unbeknownst to me).
1/2 mile later, we reach the bottom of the final lollipop loop. The course turns hard left, and the return is from the trail straight ahead of me. I miss the turn and go straight ahead in the wrong direction. Two things abruptly happen: my watch beeps and flashes "Off course" and I see a big "X" sign that the RD warned us about. Uh oh. Fortunately, I'm not very far off the course at all. I reverse direction back to the intersection, see the correct route on both course signs and my watch, and take the correct clockwise to start the final loop (or the "pop" on the lollipop).
I navigate a long downhill, and I'm back along a river for a couple of miles. This is the first time that I see buildings and people, but they're on the other side of the river and not involved in the race. Unlike the waterfall section of the river, this two-mile stretch is mostly flat and non-technical. I'm worried people will catch me on the non-technical sections.
Return home (10M): At pretty much exactly ten miles in, I reach the northernmost point on the course, and make about a 135° turn and start my climb up a 200' hill that will put me right up to an aid station in the field by the stone chimney at General Lyon State Park. There are several switchbacks on the climb, and at the final one, I look down and see no one else within sight.
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| from Nathaniel Lyon Wikipedia article Attribution: By Morrowlong - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14892883 |
Wow, did this chimney look familiar. That's because Matthew, Brady, and I went here a year and a half ago when running the 19-mile Natchaug Trail E2E. It turns out this is all that remains of General Lyon's birthplace, who has the infamous distinction of being the first Union general killed in the Civil War.
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| Interesting historical photo of same location. Gen Lyon was born in 1818. Source: ozarkscivilwar.org |
As I came up to the aid station, another runner was leaving the aid station, but running in the opposite direction as me. I asked one of the aid workers if he was in the race. He responded that he was, but they got word that a few runners missed the turn, and were running the final loop I was on in reverse, and they were letting them continue, as it's essentially the same course. That got me fuming, as that's just not right at all. It's not the same course if you run a portion in reverse, and it's not fair to the leader that ran the right course (me) and is thinking I'm in first place, when in reality I don't know where I stand now. I spent the next few miles borderline angry and trying to figure out how I would react if someone running the wrong direction was crowned the winner. I finally convinced myself to lighten up, run my own race, keep pushing, and that mathematically that outcome was not likely, based on doing some mental math in my head of my position in terms of my miles down versus his.
As I came into the aid station at Mile 14, I grabbed a GU (my two were finished) and asked one of the aid station volunteers to fill my collapsible cup with Gatorade. I was back on the main part of the course now, past the lollipop, and I asked if anyone had come through yet. The answer was "no". OK, that laid those fears to rest (that someone running the lollipop in reverse had gotten ahead of me). Drank the cup of Gatorade, asked for another, and then was on my way. No time to waste. I had no idea where the legitimate second place position runner was.
The last few miles were just a grind, as I was really worried I would get caught and passed. I ran through a clear cut section, uphill no less, and open sun was just brutal, with the temps now in the mid-70s. With one mile left to go, in my tired and weakened state, I wasn't lifting my feet up enough as I was getting sloppy, and tripped over a rock, and fell right into a pile of rocks. My knee was bleeding, but it wasn't bad. Get up and get moving! You're almost there. You can't lose this thing now.
With about 1/4 mile left to go, we made a hard left turn off a dirt road onto single-track and now I knew exactly where I was, remembering this section from where Matthew, Brady, and I ran it back in fall of 2022.
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| About to cross the finish line. 1st place overall! Photo from race website. |
Final result: 2:38:37, 1st of 44 finishers. Full results here.
As soon as I crossed the finish line, I just let my body collapse onto the grass. I was exhausted. One of the race officials came over to check on me, and also collect my bib tear off. (Old school; no chip timing, which was just fine in a race like this.) I told him I was fine and just wanted to lay down for a few minutes. Mike Daniels came over, explained he DNF'd at Mile 8, helped me get to a picnic table to sit down, asked me what I wanted, and went up to get me a bunch of food and drink. What a nice guy! There were sandwiches, pizza, oranges, and a bunch of other stuff. Besides two slices of pizza, a sandwich, and chips, I ended up eating five oranges. Not five slices, but five whole oranges! They were smallish, but still probably the most oranges I've eaten in my life.
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| My race equipment. Shoes were disgusting and I couldn't wait to get out of them and just walk barefoot. But my trusty VJ XTRM2 shoes held up well, and got the job done on all terrain today. |
I hung around for a while, watched Tim come in six minutes later, and Jon ended up the next person in my age group, 20 minutes after me. Jon wasn't very chatty, and just said he really faded. On the other hand, I had a really nice race conversation with Tim, and I figured out where I remembered him from: the Norfolk Half Marathon last fall, where similarly he was ahead of me for the first few miles, but then on a technical downhill section I went past him. During that race, I could often see him behind me for nearly the entire race, and he finished less than two minutes behind me.
Due to so much separation during the race, it was quite a while before awards ceremony, but I ended up hanging around for that and glad I did. While I was waiting, the RD came over to talk to me and we had a good chat about the several runners that went off course, and I told him frankly my opinion that they should be DQd. He felt badly that they went off course, and I get it, but in the end they were not DQd and it didn't affect me. I won outright. I told him I thought the course was well marked, and the one place I momentarily went off course, besides my watch beeping at me, the big "X" was right there exactly as he described during pre-race instructions.
What went well:
- This was a very fun low-key trail race atmosphere. Exactly what I had been looking for.
- Race Director pre-race instructions, both via e-mail and in person just before race. It was clear he was a runner and passionate about the race. (That isn't the case in all races.)
- The course was well marked! (I'm sorry about the runners that went off course, but they didn't follow directions or markings.)
- Nice post-race spread.
- Fun awards. An apple pie, and a small wooden custom award.
- Fun and challenging course, with a mix of non-technical, technical, flat, and hilly.
- Very friendly and helpful volunteers, both at registration and and at aid stations.
- Did I mention the race cost me $20?!
- Did I mention that I won overall?!
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| My prize for overall win |
What could've gone better:
- Not too much, really!
- I struggled in the last few miles, especially in the heat I'm not acclimated to, but that's all on me, and apparently at least I struggled less than my competitors.
- The drink and GU choices at the aid stations worked well for me, but the food choices did not. I love M&Ms and Fig Newtons, but had trouble eating both on the run. The former I choked on and spit some out, and the latter were just too dry even when I tried to wash down with water. "Wetter and softer" food at Quebec Mega Trail worked better for me, such as watermelon and moist fudge.
Awesome race!
