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Volatile Stuff:Events:Stone Cat 50 Mile Trail Race November 7, 2009 Middlesex Fells Trail Race December 5, 2009 AMC Mountaineering Committee Ice Program Winter 2010 Crash-B Indoor Rowing Championships February 14, 2010 Friends:Breakheart DanTrail Pixie Trespas Kevin kZ Trailgrrl Michelle RunninRob Cookie Monster Steve Latour Pictures:AlbumRunning Data:20102009 2008 |
Tue, 10 Nov 2009I'll apologize for the length of this post up front, but I've been working toward this for a while. All this year I had intended the Stone Cat 50 Mile Trail Race to be my goal race for the 2009 season. After bailing out of the Fells Trail Race in March after only 24 arduous miles; and after losing several months of training to Lyme Disease; I was both determined to run my best at Stone Cat and worried that I had bitten off way too much. Breakheart Dan and I had discussed our concern that neither of us had a training day longer than 23 miles to prepare for this. He was planning to alternate running five minute with walking two. My strategy was to stick with people I knew to keep up my morale. My plan was to keep moving at whatever speed I could manage; to stay on course (walking in the right direction is better than running in the wrong one); and to avoid lingering in the three wonderful aid stations. The course is a 12.5 mile loop through Willowdale State Forest in Ipswich, MA. The terrain is mostly rolling with reasonable footing. It's a mix of carriage roads and singletrack trails. The race is held on the last day possible to qualify for the 2010 Western States Endurance Run. Dan, trailgrrl Michelle, and I have all entered the lottery for a spot in this most prestigious of American Trail Ultramarathons. Michelle had already qualified, but for Dan and I, an 11 hour finish at Stone Cat meant a shot at more serious personal deprivation. View Stone Cat Trail Races, November 7, 2009 in a larger map In order to avoid inconveniencing my family, I spent the night before the race at the Comfort Inn in Danvers along with many others of the 350 entrants in the Marathon and 50 mile races. Early race morning Dan picked me up and drove us to the start, the Doyon School in Ipswich. We parked at a reserved parking spot for teachers in the 'Extended Day Program,' an irony that was not lost on us. I had forgotten gloves, and in the 30 degree weather I was grateful for an extra pair of Dan's. We met Trail Pixie Emily, Michelle, Cookie Monster Steve Latour, and 'kZ Kevin in the school gym.
We ran the second and third loops much more slowly and grimly. We began to curse the alarm on Dan's watch signalling the time to end walk breaks. A high point came when Emily passed us on the second loop on her way to finishing the marathon. By the middle of the third loop, I had stubbed my left big toe badly a few times and was feeling the need to walk more of the singletrack. In order to compensate, I began to run the carriage roads a little faster at mile 30. Toward the end of the third loop Steve fell back a bit but caught up with Dan and me at the starting line aid station. We were late enough that we had to take lights with us on the last loop. We figured we had lost our chance to finish under 11 hours. Steve decided he would run a different pace than Dan and I had taken, and we split at the start of the fourth loop. At Al Cat's Aid Station Dan and I caught up with Michelle who was having a tough time. Kevin was ahead, and she asked us to give him a message at the finish. I can't speak for Dan, but I was concerned about the prospect of running twisting, root-filled, rocky singletrack in the dark. I wanted to be done with the toughest terrain while the sun was still up, so Dan and I started running through walk breaks. At trail intersection 44 we talked to a man who mentioned that he thought of this Southwest corner of the course to be the half-way point of the loop. I had always had a similar impression. Still running, I took out the map and mentioned to Dan that I thought we still had a shot at 11 hours. We picked up the pace. We cleared some of the toughest singletrack before the sun went down. There was still light in the sky when we hit the longest stretch of carriage road on the course. We picked up the pace and ran through walk breaks, slowing to short walks only when my IT Band began to cause problems. We put on lights for the turn onto the last singletrack sections. I began to pull ahead of Dan who soon appeared as a pair of lights about 100 yards behind. We passed one last runner a couple of miles from the finish. Nearing an abandoned car where we had taken a picture three weeks before, I called back to Dan to see whether he was up for a run in the dark on relatively tough terrain where he had fallen on a previous loop. He was. We pushed ahead reaching the last section of carriage road. Soon I could hear the cheers from the finish line less than a mile away. I ran ahead wildly calling back to Dan that we were reaching landmarks: the turn to the first climb of the course and the Jersey barriers. When I reached the soccer field and the people waiting at the finish line saw my headlamp I heard the call that a runner had entered the field and there was a chorus of cheers. You've got to love a sport where the winners wait in the cold to cheer everyone else. As I neared the finish I heard Emily call my name. She had recognized me from the effect my gait had on the bob of my headlamp. She had been waiting for hours and had donned a 0 degree sleeping bag over her shoulders as a kind of stole that looked quite cozy. Soon the call came that another runner had entered the field: Dan. I yelled ahead that the other runner was Dan Scotina, and cheers erupted at the finish. I crossed the line at 10:53:27 and Dan crossed at 10:54:35. Steve ran the last loop alone, mostly in the dark, a heroic and insane accomplishment as documented by his videos. He finished in 11:45:45; he may have to give up calling himself deadlastultrarunner. Michelle finished in just over 11 hours. Kevin passed through the finish long before the rest of us at 10:33:27. After the race I changed into dry clothes including my spiffy new Stone Cat finisher's jacket, stretched, and checked out my feet. The gaiters Emily had made me had done a spectacular job of keeping the trail out of my shoes. My left big toenail is blue from the multiple stubbings, and I expect I will lose it...again. Other than that, I feel great. Three days later I'm still tired and hungry. But I have a strange glowy satisfaction that wont disappear soon or easily. Thanks to everyone who participated in this adventure with me: friends, race volunteers, and fellow runners. We are a strange community, indeed. |
