Seven Sisters Seduction

The first title I considered for this report was “Sadistic Seduction.”  This reflects a widely-known fact that I have now experienced:   Seven Sisters – while ‘only’ 12 miles – really is an ‘extreme’ trail race.  Just after the race I felt as if I had been lured or seduced into something truly sadistic.  I think I was seduced by two promises – of beauty and of a fresh challenge.  I wanted to see the beautiful views of the Mount Holyoke Range.  And I was curious to experience some new trails and hoped to meet the challenge of running the supposedly very technical, hilly, difficult course.

I had read reports on Seven Sisters by LostC and Lefty and knew the race was tough.  The night before the race, however, I googled the race and found more.  One report raised my concern a bit.  It concluded with a link labeled “Photos of the fools who ran this race.”  I looked at some of the photos, many of which were of the race start and the initial climb.  The first hill did look very rocky and steep and long.  I began to wonder whether the race was going to be enjoyable as a ‘run’ at all.  But I never doubted that I want to experience the race and decided to keep a positive, ‘enjoy the challenge!’ attitude.

Race day got off to a great start.  As with Northern Nipmuck, the weather was splendid and the drive was quick and simple, taking only about 70 minutes.  I arrived in plenty of time to check in and prep without rushing.  I noted that many of the runners appeared very athletic and had a serious, focused look about them.  I’m not exactly sure what goes into looking like a “badass” trail runner, but a lot of the competitors at Seven Sisters had that look!  I loved the race shirt; we had a choice of either blue or green.  As usual, I chose blue.  I went back to my car, enjoyed my pre-race rituals, coffee from home, and went to join the gathering runners.

At the start I recognized some of the usual elites up front – shirtless for the Sisters – as we all crammed into the edge of the woods, looking straight up a steep, rocky hill.  I saw Lefty there, made my way to him, and said that from the look of the first climb (the one I had seen in those photos!) I feared I was in for a long lesson.  He kindly encouraged me and said I would do great.  I could see that he was excited and eager, but – like a lot of the other runners I had seen – focused and ready for the serious business at hand.  Seconds later the race director announced the start and we were off.

We jostled for position in the narrowing trail and funneled ourselves onto the first climb.  The first hill is perhaps only a half mile long, but is very steep and technical – tons of roots, rocks, and logs.  Most interesting were the rocks.  The hill is cluttered with lots of loose shale rock that clinked and clattered constantly, making a chaotic music of sorts.  Runners surged to pass, pulling on trees and roots to speed their ascent.  I saw Lefty a few runners ahead of me air drumming to the tunes playing on his ipod, and I knew he was already in a Zone.  After reaching the top of the first hill, my legs were already screaming loudly at me, and I felt foolish for having kept to my regular training all week.  One guy a few runners ahead took a left that led several of us off course.  When he stooped to place a bottle for his own return route, he looked at us, startled, and said, ‘Oh, no, don’t follow me, I’m just stashing this bottle here!’  We were all frustrated with ourselves and rushed back to rejoin the now gasping stream of runners cresting the first hill.

As previous reports have said, after this point some version of this pattern repeated itself…THIRTEEN more times!   The hills are very tall, rocky, and steep; one has to climb some of the Sisters by running up a series of Northern Nipmuck-sized rollers that together form a kind of staircase.  Needless to say, this race keeps you working hard – often extremely hard.  It really is true that one is either running (or hiking, or climb-hiking) up hill or down the entire time, except for maybe 150 yards of flat running in between Sisters.

On the other hand, the views from atop the Sisters are truly beautiful, stunning at times. I stopped three or four times to take in the views and to let the wind cool me for a few seconds.  The sun was bright and the air was clear, and this allowed wonderful, sometimes nearly 360 degree views of the Mt. Holyoke Range.   I welcomed and briefly savored these much-needed rewards for all the hard, face-to-trail running.

Shortly before reaching the Lodge, we crested a Sister and passed a girl on the side of the trail forewarning runners that pictures were being taken at the top and urging us to check our hair!  This seemed surreal to me!  At that point I knew I was drenched with sweat and probably looked near death, so I ignored her polite cautions and slogged over the top.  After passing the Lodge, the route goes down hill toward the turnaround for what seemed like a long time but was probably about a mile.  I saw Lefty coming back from the turnaround a couple of minutes before I got there and we cheered each other on.  When I arrived at the turnaround water stop, I quickly filled my bottle and got going instantly, not wanting to taste a moment’s rest.  The pain was intense, and as I began the return climb I wondered if there was ANY way my legs would continue moving for the entire haul back over all Seven Sisters.  This seemed very unlikely, especially now that the sunny day had warmed significantly.

Fortunately, as certain Bimblers have told me, after a while, the pain does not and did not get any worse.  The only physical change after that was the occasional threat by my leg muscles simply to refuse to work at all.  Cramping was not a problem; movement itself was the problem.  But somehow as I worked my way back across the Sinister Sisters, I found a steady pattern: grueling hikes uphill, balanced by trotting downhill in hopes of just getting out of oxygen debt.  To my surprise, it worked fairly well.  Although I encountered quite a few runners at a full stop, hands on hips, sucking air, looking back behind them, somehow I managed to keep my face forward and my legs churning.  I’m not sure that was wisest, as on the return trip I nearly fell 4 or 5 times, as my jelly legs buckled under me and sent me sliding on loose rock, turning my ankle, or reaching for a tree to stop what could have been a really injurious fall.  In fact I saw clear evidence that someone had taken such a spill.  As I started up one of the last Sisters, there was one, lone huge drop of blood on a rock right beside the trail.  I hallucinated that I was being warned not to get too crazy on those downhills in THAT state of fatigue.

I kept up the churning and finally reached the last downhill toward the finish – the one with so much flat shale rock scattered all over it.  I felt very ambivalent about my arrival, at once thinking “Oh my God!  That hill!” and “Thank God!  That last hill!”    As I started down, I felt a surge of energy and picked up steam.  So did all the runners around me, and we jockeyed for the surest path down the rocks. Once we cleared a section of large boulders I found a clear lane and started taking long strides and pounded across the finish in 2:46:12.

I spotted Lefty on one side of the crowd at the finish and we quickly exchanged congratulations.  I then jogged around for a few minutes and went to the visitor center for water and food.  They had a great line up of bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, yogurt, cold orange juice, beans and rice, some other pasta-like food I don’t remember, and delicious bakery cookies!  I got juice, chocolate chip cookies, and water and headed for my car.

Seven Sisters was a unique experience, at least for me.  It is the only race I have run that is ‘extreme’ from start to finish.  The race is extreme in both terrible and wonderful ways, and each kind of extremity seems part of the point.  For those who want intense fun, beautiful mountain scenery, and the satisfaction of meeting a difficult challenge, I highly recommend Seven Sisters!  I really enjoyed the race! … And I continued to find that fact…interesting.  😉

-Catamount