Mt Greylock Race

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I don’t see what the big deal is? Everyone thinks Greylock is hard because of the hills. I only counted one significant hill the entire race! True, the hill was three miles long and most people would call it a mountain but let’s not overreact.

Guthrie, Suds and I met at the Roberts parking lot in North Madison at 6:00 a.m. to make the drive up to run the Mount Greylock half marathon. A few stops, a sighting of a road running Loopy, and a bit of navigational problems put us at the race about ten minute after nine. We registered, talked to some runners about the race and got ready to go. Charlie Iselin was at the race as was Elaine (otherwise known as girl who needs a Bimbler name! Get on that Iggy!).

The bad weather was holding off but it did seem that Greylock was the appropriate name for the race. It was grey and the race seemed ready to be locked in grey all day. The start begins with about 200 yards of open field scramble and then you hit a red light as the 140 plus runners all try to file into the single track trail leading to the summit. For the next three miles you are pretty much hiking a mountain. I was actually surprised by how much running I did manage to accomplish on the ascent but it still took 52 minutes to cover three miles. While I am sure there are many wonderful views at the top of Mount Greylock, today I was glad that I at least could get a sense of the vistas, plus a decent photo of the monument. I believe Suds actually went off the course and ran around the monument just for giggles. Way to go Suds! [singlepic=4199,280,200,,right]

The next two miles are a free fall down the mountain. After Seven Sisters I had decided that I needed to take more chances on the downhill’s so I flew. This beat the crud out of my legs but it was a lot of fun and I did not get killed. Both good things in my book! . After the descent, Deb Livingston and another lady runner passed me and I decided to stick with them for as long as I was able. Deb is about seven months pregnant and I figured if I was ever going to finish ahead of her in a race today might be the day. This proved to be true. After about a mile or two I pushed ahead and never saw her again.

It was at about this part of the race that I realized I had really been running to hard. My seriously delusional mind thought I had about two miles to go and a fellow runner told me we were six from the end. Ouch!! The trail was primarily downhill and old logging roads by this time so I decided to simply stay the course as long as I was able. Luckily, we emerged from the woods into this lovely open field with 360 views and that was just was the doctor ordered. The good news was the great vistas; the bad news was the trail was so nice I really had no excuse for not running hard. Upon reentering the woods I was reminded of another constant companion on this run. Water! It was not as ubiquitous as at the Escarpment last year but it was very early in the race when everyone said the hell with trying to stay dry and just started going right down the middle of the trail.
The rest of the run was your basic hold on for dear life. With a two mile final descent (are the miles adding up correctly? Can’t keep track) I simply thought the faster you are done the faster the pain will end. I emerged from the woods and completed the race under my goal time of 2 hours and 30 minutes (2:58:59). Guthrie won her division and was third women overall (2:22), which resulted in free strawberries but no pie. Suds finished with a flower in his mouth in just under three hours. Not sure what Elaine got, but she finished shortly after I did and seemed to run really well. After lots of food and a change of clothes we returned to Connecticut, playing car games most of the way home. Never knew how difficult it was to find a food that begins with the letter X!

Greylock is a definite must for all you Bimlers. It is a well run race with lots of good food and great training for whatever. It is a bit of a drive and it would not be a bad idea to make a weekend out of it.

See ya on the trails,

Lefty

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