The end of the trail for 2011

Since I am unable to run, or even be at, the Bluff this year I have been looking to the Nipmuck Marathon as the end of my racing season for quite some time now. I am not sure what it is about Nipmuck but it is a race, and a trail, that calls to me every year. As the day approached it looked like a good crew of Bimblers would be participating and so it was, as El Toro, Hillary, Nadia, Catamount, Miles (he needs a name) Shelly Girl and I toed the line to take on the Nipmuck trail.

At the start, I noticed almost all the Bimblers lined up together. This caught my attention but it also sort of made sense. Personally, I had low expectations for the day. I have not really trained this entire year but have run a bunch of stuff and the combination has left my gas tank a bit on the empty side the last part of the year. In addition, Shelly Girl has been struggling on and off with various injuries and decided to run less than 12 hours before the start. Catamount and Nadia were coming off a smokin performance at Pisgah 50k, El Toro was trying to convince himself to make this a training run ahead of next week’s Grindstone pacing duties (for Loopy), Miles was another guy in training mode and Hillary was attempting her first trail marathon (I hope that is true Hilary, I think that is what Thomas told us) So, right from the get go it seemed that this might just be a bimble training run.

Clinton Morse, and the Shinipsit Striders have taken over this race from Nipmuck Dave and they did a great job, even allowing Dave to have a bit of his usual pre-race shenanigans, but the start was kind of funny. I actually think Clint said, “okay get out of here” and we were off!

My predication did indeed become reality as me, Shelly, Nadia, Catamount, Miles (he needs a name) and even El Toro went out together for the first leg. Nipmuck is a 10k out and a 10k back to the start, followed by another 7 out and 7 back segment heading out the other way from the start. On a dry day Nipmuck usually is quite technical and…well… mucky. Today, it was mucky squared! At some point the rain came and this made things even more fun. We all stayed together but the four eyed runners (me and catamount) definitely were dealing with the added challenge of foggy glasses. it seemed to me that Nadia led most of this first section but we basically stayed together for the first 10k. At some point El Toro had enough of the mid pack tempo and took off, never to be seen again, except at turn arounds. On the way back to the start, Nadia, Shelly Girl, Catamount and Miles (he needs a name) started to get ahead of me. The trail was quite technical and the mud, caused by the rain, really was playing havoc with my legs so I just let them go. The remaining part of this section was your typical trail race for a guy of my ability level, walk the bigger hills and run the rest of the way. I got back to the start, about 12.4 miles into the race just behind the gang of 4 (Shelly, Nadia, Cat and the guy who needs name) and Shelly and I got to our drop bags to resupply for the back half of the course.

It was at this point that I lost touch with the gang of 4 for the rest of the race. I am not exactly sure what happened but I just took way to long to resupply, get my ipod on, blah blah blah and they were gone. In addition, I was just feeling pretty sore and unmotivated so I soldiered on, alone in the woods, for the remainder of the day. The back half of the Nipmuck Marathon is actually about two miles longer than the front half and there are two hills that are pretty tough. I have run the race before and I knew I should just take it easy until the final turn around. The Nipmuck Trail is a wonderful trail and the day was beginning to clear up so I simply did the best I could and enjoyed the day. I noticed I was now passing people and this is usually a good sign so I just kept going. There is a bit of a road section (easier on the way out) then lots of rolling single track. I found this section much less NipMUCKY than the first half. I had to laugh when I saw Ben Nephew coming up the road at almost the exact same spot I see him every time I run Nipmuck. We were about 16 miles into the race and he was about 8 miles in front of me! About this time I started to see some struggling runners and thought how incredible these people are to keep going with sprained ankles, sour stomachs and the rest. I know that you don’t have much choice when you are in the middle of the woods but still, I was proud of these folks. Soon enough, I started seeing a bunch of people coming towards me and I knew the final turn around round was getting closer. I must admit I was a bit upset when I saw Catamount, Nadia and Shelly Girl, soon followed by the guy who needs a name, coming at me but I was as happy for Shelly that she was having a good day. The worse part was I figured they were all about 15 minutes ahead of me. I am not sure how they put 15 minutes into me in seven miles but I got kind of mad at myself for my lackluster performance. I made the final turnaround in 1:40, from the second half start, and said to myself “okay let’s go” At this point I really thought I was going to catch my fellow Bimblers. I was smokin people and must have passed 20 runners on the way back to the start, which would now be the finish line. I skipped all the aid stations and just pushed it. I saw Hillary, who was looking great heading up a hill to the final turn around, as I was in the middle of free fall after tripping on a rock. Hillary, I was not running that fast, I simply was trying not to get killed! By this time the day was just beautiful, with fall temps, sunny skies, heavy breathing and single track. What’s better than that?

I even chugged up about 75% of the monster hill that I always walk. I think Ben nephew runs the whole hill. 🙂 I got to the final aid station (2.5 miles from the end) and just went as fast as I could the rest of the way. Somewhere in this section I realized I was not going to catch the gang of 4. This did not surprise me. I gave away too much time and they are Bimblers. The people I was passing were not. Translation? The Bimblers would not fade! Eventually, I charged down the final hill and that was that. I ran the last seven miles 15 minutes faster than the way out but it was not enough. I had only made up about five minutes. I was totally fine with this because I soon found out that Shelly Girl had had a great day, just eking out Nadia and Catamount by a minute in what must have been an epic battle. She PR’d, won her age division and won pie! A good day.

El Toro, who kept saying all day he was only training for Grindstone, finished in 4:30. The guy who needs a name came in sometime after the gang of three and before me, all under the 5 hour mark. Hillary came in under 6 hours. I know this because she seemed happy about that fact. yay Hillary, you rock!

Well, that is it for me. I am tired and going to take a break. It has been a great year, considering we had no goals this year. While my year peaked at Escarpment, and I have been barely hanging on ever since, I am just so happy to be a part of the Bimblers. Shelly Girl and I are both better runners because of the group. I would also like to hope we are better people due to folks like all of you. Here is are a couple “top” lists for the year in no particular order.

　

Bimblers

1. Mr. Bimble for the vision.

2. Iggy for showing us that running is nothing hard at all.

3. Suds for his mountain madness.

4. Guthrie for allowing us to play a small part in an incredible achievement.

5 To Diana for today and every other day I see you out there supporting Nadia , and the rest of us

6 To everybody who we have run with or followed through the web-site this year. Whether a 5k or a 100 miles all honor goes to those who toe the line in an attempt to face the challenge of the day.

7 To Shelly Girl you are Marvin’s daughter and my hero.

　
Personal

1. Escarpment PR

2. Pemi Loop

3. PR at Bear Mountain with no training

4. crewing/pacing Guthrie at VT100

5. Any run with Shelly Girl

see ya on the trail

Lefty