Norfolk, CT
Sunday, October 1, 2023
I was asked by Mohegan Striders if I would run for them at the final USATF-CT MUT (Mountain, Ultra, & Trail) competition of the year. Striders are leading Manchester Running Club by one point in the standings, so whoever wins this race wins the series for the year.
Where on earth is Norfolk, Connecticut? I certainly didn't know. It turns out it's in the northwest corner of Connecticut. Based on the distance of over 100 miles each way and more than four hours round-trip (do I sound like a Rhode Islander?), I decided I would only go if we could field an open team, for which three members would be needed. Once we secured that third teammate, I signed up ($30 - what a bargain!) and was in.
Got up early and had breakfast before the two hour drive to the race. Got there with a good hour to spare. The race schedule for today was:
- Half Marathon: 9:30am
- 10K: 10:45am
- 5K: 11:00am
Apparently normally there is a field parking lot, but this year it was flooded from recent rains and parking was roadside only. No problem at all, as it was a very rural area, and with only the very small half-marathon field and volunteers arriving early, I parked very close to the start/finish line. It was clear and 56 degrees for the race start.
Check-in was quick and efficient. They used mobile check-in on RunSignup, which I paid attention to as we've also recently switched to digital check-in and no paper signups for both WTAC and Kelley's Pace. Went back to the car to pin my bib on my race singlet, then arranged my race singlet, race socks, and race shoes carefully in the car before heading out for a warm-up on the trails.
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| Pizza setting up under red tent, registration under white tent behind that, start /finish adjacent to blue tent in far background. |
I brought a second set of running gear, as well as separate clothes to change into post-race, and while three sets of clothes for one race may sound ridiculous, I'm so glad I did. Many section of the course were wet and muddy. Returned to the car to change into dry race gear, and walked over to the start with plenty of time to spare.
Race line-up: Where is everyone?? Although over 100 had signed up for the race today, only 24 of them were in the half-marathon division, and of those, only 18 showed up to toe the line! For a USATF-CT championship trail race, why were there only 18 on the starting line?! I feel both USATF-CT and USATF-NE have a strong pull in their road series, but for some reason not in their MUT or trail series. I recall the one year that WTAC hosted the USATF-NE trail championship at Li'l Rhody, and it drew about 15 USATF-NE members and after separating out the Rhody regulars, only about seven USATF-NE runners that don't run it regularly. Just so much extra effort for so little return and don't get me started on USATF-NE trail races not including USATF members from CT or other regions, but I digress. Anyway ...
I recognized and caught up with three of the runners there, although ironically those three run for Manchester Running Club and I didn't know either of my Mohegan Striders teammates today. Oddly, no one else was wearing their Strider singlet today but me, but that made me an easy target for identification for JP to come over and talk to me. Ok, there's two of us. Where's Jon (the 3rd)? JP didn't know him either.
One of the race officials started going through instructions, so it was time to pay attention. The explanation of course markings was helpful, but he clearly lost most of us when he gave detailed instructions on which specific trails we would take and which sections we would go through in order. Sensing others were lost, I sarcastically asked Joe (one of the Manchester runners I've known for years) if he got all that. Nope! Time to race.
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| There was intentionally no course map posted on line due to some of the course being on private property, but I wasn't looking to trespass and scout it ahead of time, just wanted a feel for it. The above is my Strava route from race day, but I was able to find same for some of last year's participants. --- We would start out running the right-most portion above for about 4 miles, before returning through the start/finish area and heading gradually towards Haystack Mountain on far left of this map. |
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| Similarly, it was good to know the elevation: an immediate 400' gain, followed several miles later by two different ascents of Haystack Mountain: 500' ascent and 400' ascent |
Race start (to 4M): Leaving the start line and muddy surrounding area, we immediately exited onto a paved road, and we are on that paved road for almost 2 miles and almost entirely uphill. JP shot out ahead, followed by Ryan Williams, and then a pack of about five of us, including my frenemy from Manchester Running Club, Brett Stoeffler. The pack was not cohesive for very long. Brett and one other from MRC steadily pulled away uphill, and my attempts to stay with them failed as they instead increased their gap on me. Then one other ran easily uphill past me, and I found myself at the back of our now broken up pack, with my poor uphill skills on full and pathetic display. Finally, the terrain leveled out, and with the turn off the paved road and onto single-track in sight, I picked it up slightly to go ahead of the runner close to me and I was in 6th entering the trails.
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| Start of the half marathon: So where am I? I can only see one of my orange VJ shoes in the pic, as I am behind Ryan Williams (#1120). Teammate and eventual winner JP is in blue singlet on right. |
And now it was my time to shine, as the terrain changed in my favor! Well, at least for the next mile and a half, that is. From uphill and paved road, to downhill, steep single-track with swollen steam crossings and lots of mud. I immediately passed one competitor before it got really narrow. 5th place now. After a few minutes, I came up behind Brett, called out "on your left" and barreled down the hill easily past him. I very quickly came upon his younger teammate, and seeing me quickly gaining on him from uphill, he yielded to let me go by, saying something like go for it if I wanted to. I wanted to! There were rocks and logs to jump and I was loving it! Splashing through streams and mud puddles galore. All good things must come to an end, and eventually we exited back onto the same paved road, just up from the start. I glanced back at the turn and saw no one. I heard a "Good job, Jeff!" and noted the good sportsmanship of MRC runner Dave Cowles (spectator today, as he would be running Chicago the following weekend) as he awaited the other MRC runners that I was now ahead of. Dave beats me at almost every race we're in together (to be fair, he is half my age), suffered worse than me at Blessing this year, and I was secretly glad he wasn't running today!
Middle miles (Miles 4- 7): At five miles in, we exit the trail onto a wide open grass field. Not as in mowed meticulously, but rather kind of like the open fields at Pineland Farms race. Two issues here: 1) we would be in wide open fields for almost a mile and I could now see the two guys behind me and they weren't far behind, and 2) I've lost any advantage that I had with the technical terrain now in the rear view mirror. Brett later told me post-race that he also looked ahead of and behind him at this point, and it was obvious "that the race was ahead of him."
We crossed a paved road (North Road) and after a very short trail section, we were back on another paved road (Haystack Mountain Road). Oh, come on; this is supposed to be a trail race. We ended up being on this paved road for about 1/2 mile; I was afraid both guys would catch me here, but somehow I held them off.
Double ascent and descent (Miles 7 - 11): I'm guessing this first ascent of 500' was the private property section, as it just seemed unmarked and not really well established. We made a sharp right turn and then headed pretty steep straight uphill. At the sharp turn, there was a course marshal ringing a bell, and it was very soon after "my" bell ringing stopped that it started again, and again. Uh oh, I know what that means (my two competitors are right behind me). Despite this knowledge, I walked this steep section. It was short and would be the only part I walked all race. At the next switchback, I glanced back and saw the two of them were walking as well. OK, that's good. From there, it was a short run to the summit where I took a water from a couple and their dog. Downhill ascent #1 put us back on the paved mountain road. We would be on this road for 1.3 miles. Ugh. I just hammered that mile, knowing I was being chased closely.
Ascent #2 was 400' elevation gain on a more established, but at times technical trail. Strava shows that my two competitors ran a good 30 seconds faster than me on this climb. I saw the same couple and dog manned water stop, and asked them if I made a mistake coming through here a second time, but they said no, I was on the right course. OK, good. Made it to the top again, and then this time as I started descending the road once more a course marshal flagged me onto a trail on the left. How she knew which runners were on their 1st versus 2nd descent I don't know, but top marks.
Final descent. I pushed hard, and fortunately, looking back at the Strava segment later, I saw that my downhill skills came through as I ran faster than my competitors and widened the gap.
Final miles (Miles 11 - 13): Re-crossed North Road, and then back to the wide open field. I hadn't seen my two chasers since I started the first ascent, but now all was revealed, and once again, they weren't far behind me. Oh, come on. What I really needed now was more of Mile 3 (the steep technical downhill through mud and streams), but unfortunately what I got was a flat, fast, easy double-track section. In fact, excluding the two descents, Mile 12 was my fastest mile at a 6:38 pace and I didn't know at the time that somehow I put an additional 30 seconds on my competitors here. The final mile was not difficult but the course returned to single-track (fortunately) and was twisty in places. At switchbacks, I could no longer see my competitors, but I certainly wasn't resting on my laurels. Pushed the final mile and finished with no one in sight behind me.
Final results: 1:45:28, 3rd overall, 1st in age group, and 1st overall age-graded. Full results here.
Caught up briefly with teammate and winner JP. Changed out of my muddy clothes and shoes and bought a slice of pizza while watching the next runners come in. My two competitors ended up coming in together about two minutes behind me, and with the 3rd Strider coming in 8th, it was enough for us to beat Manchester for both the race and the USATF-CT MUT series.
Did I have fun? Yes. Would I run this race again? I don't know. 4 hours round trip and 4 miles of pavement in a trail race. To be fair, the RD was asking the top finishers, including me, what they thought of the course and whether there was too much road. I prefaced my answer with "since you asked", but was blunt about my opinion, that YES, that's too much road for a trail race! It sounded like mine was a minority view, though, or maybe the others were just more polite and positive than me. We'll see if any of that changes, but otherwise, I'm probably a no.
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| Random finisher crossing the line. You can see this is a pretty low key trail race, which I do like. Reminds me of Grills Trail Race. |
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| As does having fresh baked pizza at the finish line! |
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