Me, Myself, and I

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Alternatively: Me, Madonna, and Hybrid… at the Seneca Creek 50K.

So, WAY back when, IGGY had started the theme of Spring 50Ks, and I expanded her theme by listing an exhaustive compilation of spring races, from Holiday Lake in February, all the way to Pineland Farms at the end of May. Seneca Creek seemed to fit our collective Bimble sensibilities due to the “low key” nature of the race, although several griped at the lack of shirts. I liked the race for a couple other reasons, including the fact that I knew the general area well as it is used to be a frequent mini-vacation spot for the family, and it was also in the general neighborhood of the well liked HAT run and Foxcatcher 50Ks. I planned bringing the family for a long weekend, but my son’s busy professional schedule nixed that plan. Ultimately, other Bimblers realized the timing of the run was not great, being quite early in the spring, and they opted out as well. I was left with the option of going it alone, or bailing out. Having chosen to “bail out” on Promise Land LAST spring, I dug my heels in and committed to doing it.

Leading up to the race, I prepared by doing a SLIGHT taper, which I believe helped. I then packed an absolute minimum of stuff to bring, just to keep things simple. My biggest fear was the boredom of the drive there and back (about 335 miles each way). Fortunately, I had company in the form of Allstate’s dog Madonna, and IGGY’s new dog Hybrid. I didn’t know if they would be allowed on the course, but I KNEW I needed company for the ride. [singlepic=5537,280,200,,right]

Just before leaving work Friday, we had a building power outage which I was told would last until at least 10PM. This was my last and best excuse to cancel my trip. But, a coworker who knew how long I had been planning the race insisted I go, and that he would make sure all systems were OK. He wound up staying at the office until the sun came up dealing with the problem.

So, I hit the road at about 3:45. By 9:45 I was checked in to my hotel, with Hybrid and Madonna successfully sneaking into the room. I ate dinner in the room (yes, my Friday night favorite: Red Beans and Rice). Hybrid woke me up Saturday at 5:15 or so, although I had been up on and off dealing with the problems in the office anyway. By 5:45 (8 hours after check-in) I was checked out of the hotel. A short drive, with a stop for coffee had me as near to the finish line as I could park, which was about 1 mile away. In short order, I was picked up by a school bus for the drive “upstream” to the starting line, which took about 1/2 hour. On the ride, I got a sense of how laid-back the whole operation was, as a large manila envelope was passed amongst the runners, with instructions to deposit their forms, along with $10 or $20 as appropriate! Apparently, the honor system has proven to work just fine. I met several very nice road runners on the ride, all of whom I believe are actually trail runners, they just haven’t realized it yet. All spoke highly of the RD Ed Schultze, with whom I had a long string of e-mail correspondence and concur as to what a great guy he seems to be.

We got off the bus just in time for the “early option” start at 7AM. This was due to the “special circumstances”, namely, all the snow on the trail. Unfortunately, I was not doing the “early option”, so I stood around and shivered for an hour. Despite the extremely “frugal” nature of this race, I was pleasantly surprised to see mylar blankets available for us pre-race. Check-in was efficient, the lines for the porta-johns were manageable, and I noticed a LOT of snow all around. I would estimate the temperature at 8AM to be about 30 degrees.

At 8AM sharp, RD Ed said “go”, and that was it. We started along an undulating asphalt bike/walk trail through some sort of very “groomed” municipal park / school grounds. There was black ice where the trail had been shoveled, and about a foot of snow elsewhere. About 10 minutes into the race, we suddenly veared right off the pavement and uphill (what else?) on single track. The snow was hard and VERY irregular, making for firm, grippy, ankle twisting terrain. About 10 minutes later, we wound down to Seneca Creek, which would remain in view, under foot, or above the knee for the remainder of the race. Except for road crossings, bridges, and the final mile, all the rest was single track. At a little past 1/2 hour, the MAJOR water crossing, with rope for assistance presented itself. The water was perhaps knee deep, swift, and cold. It was good to get wet early and not worry the rest of the way.

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The snow was never very slippery, but it was often “bumpy”. When crossing fields, power lines, etc… you could run “wide” around the postholes and glide along the top of the snow. The “clydesdales” indicated that strategy did not work for them.

At one hour, I hit the first aid station, advertised at 7 miles. Despite the fact that there were MANY runners ahead of me, I had a bad feeling that my pace was too fast. Over the next section, I consciously paced myself a little better, and resolved to make a lengthy stop at the next aid station. The next aid station was out in the open, with a bright sun and rising temperatures. I took quite a while to eat, drink, and shed my hat, gloves, and jacket. After chatting with the aid station crew, I moved on down the creek.

During this next stretch, I realized how confusing this race was. Following the trail was easy, as it was a single “long distance” hiking trail, blazed blue just like Connecticut. The confusion came from the fact that there were two different race distances starting at two different times, making for 4 combinations. To make matters worse, nobody was sure who was running the marathon or who was running the 50K until aid station 3 at the 15 mile mark. At aid station 3, if you were doing the 50K, you went out around a large lake and back to the aid station (now aid station 4) and then finished the marathon course. I stopped to take a picture, and moved on. After aid station 3/4 there was minimal snow, but worsening mud. There were a few shoe-sucking stretches and there were some good falls witnessed.

With the different distances and starting times, I never spent very long running with anyone. I did run with a marathoner for a while, but I wasn’t sure that was smart. I then, after taking a side trail, caught up with a bunch of 4 other guys who pulled me along pretty good. We had a nice pace line going, then somebody came up from behind and somehow upset everyone’s rhythm, including his own. He sort of reminded me of a bowling ball knocking over bowling pins. I emerged unscathed and alone, and I never saw any of them again. Late in the race, for the last 10 miles or so, the snow all but disappeared, and the trail mostly hugged the banks of the creek. There were 2 long uphills, both of which were reasonable for walking, but I managed to maintain a mild jog on both.

After the last aid station, the Goldfish Aquarium (goldfish were a MAJOR if mysterious theme throughout the race) I eventually caught up to 2 guys moving fast. I had been warned there was a MAJOR hill with 3 miles left, so I hesitated to pass them. The anticipated hill failed to materialize, and I was tempted to speed up. Just then, 2 things happened: an unanticipated aid station, with 2.2 mile to go appeared, and one guy said to the other “here comes the hill”. Oh. This was a Nipmuck stairs kind of climb and nobody was going to run. One of the 2 guys ahead of me let me past because I was walking hard. We crested the hill, and shortly thereafter, the guy ahead of me ran off-course. We called repeatedly, and he turned back, but he was “broken”. Now it was just me and the other guy, pushing hard. The trail has mileage markers every 1/2 mile. My running partner knew the terrain and we both knew the distance. With a mile to go, we came out onto the dirt road where my truck was parked. I was tempted to throw my “extras” in the bed, but didn’t. I pushed him hard, but couldn’t close the last 5 yards or so. The last mile clicked by WELL under 8 minutes on a hard packed level dirt road. Ouch!

After the race, a short walk brought us to the banks of the Potomac, where a barbecue lunch was served. It was a very nice scene, and everyone was enjoying themselves in the relative warmth. After chatting a little more, I had a choice of walking a mile back to the truck, waiting for a bus, or thumbing a ride. I walked.

A quick change in the truck made me feel well enough to drive a while until I could get to the nearest branch of my gym for a hot shower and (truly) clean clothes. I felt MUCH better. Then, I resolved to not get out of the driver’s seat until I got home. The wise counsel of multiple Bimblers who were co-piloting me by cell phone convinced me to stop for food and drink, which I reluctantly agreed to do. One such lengthy conversation caused me to totally lose track of where I was, and resulted in my first ever visit to Philadelphia (oops!). A one hour wait at the George Washington bridge was an annoyance, but I still managed to be home a mere 30 hours after I left.

An excellent race, great people, a beautiful trail. Oh, and what about Madonna and Hybrid? Well, Madonna has accompanied me on long runs before, and proved, once again, to behave perfectly and look good doing it. Hybrid was, sadly, overexcited at the start, jumping all over the place, in and out of various pockets and pouches. He suffered a slight injury in his overly exuberant state and wound up injured, ever so slightly. The medical director generously offered to tend to Hybrid while I raced, so I reluctantly left him in good hands. The word is he will be back on the trail in no time.

Time: 4:36:06 I think. Place: TBD

To view more pictures click here:

Updates: A nice, and totally different, race report here: Run 192 from a nice guy I talked to at the finish. AND, once I found his posting, I found that HE knew where the race results were, which is here: Marathon, then 50K Results