Tunxis Ultra Marathon Fun Run

Tunxis Ultra Marathon Fun Run lives up to its name

Me and my better half went up to check out the Tunxis Ultra on Saturday.The 6:a.m. race start translated to a 3:15 a.m. wake up. Ouch!

We arrived at the race site at about 5:10. RD Jim McCusker and his crew of volunteers were there to meet us with our race bibs, some nice swag and a “high risk to fall” sticker to put on our bibs as first time runners. Jim did give credit for this cute idea to the Nipmuck Marathon folks, who do the same for their race.

We got ready and soon enough we were called to the start line for a pre race meeting. The field for the race was relatively small and I would estimate about 50 runners toed the line for both the 30k “fun run” and the 60k, I guess I will call it “non-fun run”? “More fun run”?

We were doing the fun run and 6:00 came and off we went.

I had heard that the Tunxis race is minimally marked and almost right away this fact became an issue. At 6:00 it was still a bit dark on the trail and it was difficult to see the paper plates that were to be our guides during the run. Also, some plates said 60k, some said 30k and some had big x’s on them , meaning don’t go this way. The plates were definitely there, but they were just difficult to read so a bunch of us just took our time and checked each plate carefully to make sure we were not going the wrong way so early in the race. The trail itself was a mixture of rolling and easy running and rolling and technical running. I think there might have also been a dirt road in the opening section as well as a wonderful ravine with some cool rock formations on either side of the trail. All in all this opening section of about 3 miles through Nassahegen State Forest was a lovely introduction to the Tunxis vibe.

We pulled out of the trail to the first aid station and all of a sudden there were runners coming and going in two different directions. It seems some of the faster folks got off the course and added some bonus mileage. Never a fun thing to do and we redoubled our efforts to pay attention to the plates.

The course in the next section, up to about 10k distance, was similar to the first. A mix of trail all of which had the same sort of rolling nature. I actually thought the trail was much more runnable then I had anticipated. It seems like there was just a lot of nice runnable downhill with a sprinkling of technical trail or boulder hopping. We seemed to be keeping a pretty good pace and by this time we were alone in the forest, with no other runners in sight ahead or behind, so we just chugged along. If I remember correctly, this section ends in somebody’s backyard. Literally their backyard. It took us a second to believe that we would be running through this guys yard, but, sure enough we saw a volunteer up ahead on the street directing runners. Somebody should thank that family for letting us run through their property.

We ran on the road for a bit and soon realized we were about to take on the section of course we had run previously on a reconnaissance run. While it is arguably the hardest part of the course it is also one of our two favorite parts of the Tunxis course. Starting at just over 10k you are given just a beautiful couple of miles of rock scrambling that will make you glad you are a trail runner. Throw in a couple water crossings and voila you have some awesome trail miles! There were two spots that I actually needed to take a second to figure out the way forward not because of course markings , but, because of the difficulty of the section. Fun!

We basically hiked this section and eventually turned right on to the Tunxis Mainline Trail at about mile 8. From our training run we knew we were coming up to two of the landmark sections for the course. Tory Den and the Mile of Ledges. Tory Den is a really cool story and you should check it out! The Mile of Ledges is somewhat of a challenge, but, since we had run this part before, we knew what to expect and just got thru it. I would add I think it was in this area where we were entertained by a guy singing and playing the guitar. We only saw him for a few seconds , but, we heard him for about five minutes leading up to the sighting and five more minutes following the sighting. Sound travels a long way in the woods and I think we heard the word “Buffalo Bill”, a lyric of the song, about 15 times. It was also on the mile of ledges where we would say “it’s the mile of ledges, what did you expect?” every time we hit a ledge. It was funny at the time, maybe not so much in this report?

Ya know in a race of almost 19 miles some of the memories may get mixed up, but, I feel after we left the mile of ledges we hit a pretty sustained flat double track section. I was actually confused because I thought we would have a climb leading to Johnnycake Mountain, but, my memory is it was just pretty flat and those kind of miles that are not very interesting, but, you are glad to have them because you can move pretty well through the section. I actually had about five minutes of utter fear that we had gone of course, but, eventually we saw one of those beloved paper plates and I knew we were ok.

At about mile 12 we hit a road crossing and jumped on to a wonderful section of what seemed to be mainly downhill running. I think there was some water along our left and this section was another highlight of the day. We love making our way through the rock scrambling, but, not much beats smooth slight downhill single track. Makes you smile! It seems like from mile 12 to mile 16 was just a great section of trail. There was some climbing and some technical trail, but, my memory is just a lot of variety of trees, sustained sections with soft needle trails and while we were not going very fast it was a section that seemed to go by very fast!

Mile 16-18? Not as fun! I suppose part of the reason this section was tough was we were getting tired, but this section also has the biggest sustained climb of the day up to Perry’s Lookout. I had been commenting all day to Michele that there were not a lot of sustained climbs and this was the trail God’s paying me back for my hubris! Even this climb was not that huge a deal, but, it just surprised us and kicked our butts pretty hard! This section of the trail seemed to be also consistently technical AND IT WAS A FRIGGIN ADD ON LOLLIPOP LOOP that add a couple miles to the course instead of letting us finish early! Grr!!! Man it was annoying doing this loop just to end up where we began and have to backtrack to get to the end of the race. I am not complaining, just be aware of this little section if you plan to run the race.

Anyway, we did the climb, took in the view at the top, finished the loop and got back on the last section. The ending mile or so is primarily uphill so we did the hike/run/hike/run thing and with about a 100 yards to go the trail flattened enough for us to jog in to the finish.

Overall we had a good day. We ran slower then I had anticipated and I am not really sure why. I felt the course was challenging, but there were plenty of runnable sections where you could make some time. I am also not sure why the race does not draw a bigger field? Great trails and, if nothing else it is a good long training run right here in our backyard. Plus, it always is fun to chat with folks after the race and it was great seeing a bunch of runner friends from around the state.

Congrats to RD Jim McCusker on a wonderful race. Thanks to all of the folks who helped before the race and on race day. It is these folks who allow us to enjoy a great bimble in the woods!

See ya Down the Trail!