On Friday, someone at work asked me if I was doing the half marathon this weekend. Actually, they asked me if I was doing the marathon or semi marathon or whatever because someone they met on another floor was running something like that. I definitely wasn’t planning a semi marathon, but I was curious which race it was, so I looked online and I could only find two which seemed possible. One was in Virginia Beach and the other was in the middle of Upstate New York, north of Ithaca. The Virginia one was a massive road race, part of the Rock n’ Roll marathon series. The one in Virgil, NY was a trail race and promised the most difficult course in the Northeast with about 2700′ of vertical gain on single track for the 13.1 mile course.
Then I remembered that Torch, manager of CrossFit Brooklyn, had posted that he was racing a mountainous half marathon this weekend when explaining why he was skipping Thursday’s 5K workout. The goal of running the most difficult course in the Northeast fits Torch’s personality. I’ve wanted to do some trail running for a while now. I read a few trail running blogs out of envy since it looks like fun, but I only really get time on the Central Park Bridle Path. The Bronx has some better trails that the Van Cortlandt Park Track Club races on. I was suddenly really interested.
CrossFit Brooklyn before we leave
leaving the usual path
And so on Sunday, Torch, another trainer, Max, and I made it to the Finger Lakes region and the Monster Marathon and Half Marathon. The start area was a tent by a local restaurant with some vehicles around and a huge digital clock to mark the different times for the age-handicapped starts. We registered, rested a bit, did some mobility work, and watched the different runners go out. I think there were probably about 80 racers there for the day, it was hard to tell since a lot of the marathoners had already started. With a 13.1 mile course, the marathoners had to go out and back twice.
start/finish
Being old, I got to start two minutes before the pack, trotted about a mile down the road to a spray painted arrow pointing at the woods, ran through a stream, and headed onto the single track. The first part of the course was tough, it was about 1000 feet of vertical climb in just over a mile on a very narrow and muddy path. The guy I started with stopped running a few minutes in when it got too steep and I felt the relief that I wasn’t really expected to trot up that hill. Inexperience can really make you have stupid expectations. This isn’t to say that we weren’t soon passed by the leaders from the main pack, including Torch, as they went running by, but we weren’t doing anything wrong. Our legs were fresh, so while it was too steep for me to run the entire way up the hill, we alternated running and walking until the path leveled out close to the summit around mile two.
Aside from some muddy patches, most of the next bit wasn’t bad. The path wound its way up, down and around into the valley on the other side of the mountain we had summited. Max passed around mile 3.5. This was two or three miles of comfortable, controlled running at an easy pace through beautiful forest. The mixed terrain forced me to have an easy, choppy stride that kept me from feeling really burnt out. Aside from a few slips in mud, the only threat was the mentioned possibility of bees or a bad fall. I was really starting to think that trail running was an easy alternative to road racing, at least the way I was doing it.
easy bit of trail
Yellow jackets stung my ankles around mile 5. I really picked up the pace and spent the next few minutes yelling obscenities and warnings at any runner I could find. I soon joked that I wasn’t allergic since I wasn’t dead, but I heard later that one runner did have a reaction an hour after he was stung and had to be treated with an epi pin that was rushed to an aid station. The sting felt like a piece of glass in my ankle for the rest of the run and didn’t feel better until late at night. I’m not a fan of having this happen. I do not recommend it. I’ll have to speak to the race director about eradicating the local wildlife. Torch got stung too. He passed on the return around this point and Max was heading back just before I hit the 6.55 mile mark.
I’m guessing I reached half way after around an hour and a half and quickly turned to repeat the course. Which meant heading back to the yellow jackets.
It was around this point that the men’s marathon leaders were passing me on their final leg. They were amazingly fast. I was trotting. They were striding and flying regardless of the slope or surface. They were mostly older guys in their forties and fifties. It’s really impressive to see the specialists. In contrast, I freaked out on the return to the yellow jacket sting site, started to sprint and rolled my ankle. At least I have enough mobility that I wasn’t hurt although I am feeling a few later slips and falls.
I found Max limping up the path around mile 7. He had broken through a tree root into a patch of mud and sprained his ankle very badly. I stuck with him for the rest of the race, no so much on account of my leave no man behind policy or because it let me take it easy, but mostly because the prospect of Torch and I having to head back up that first hill to find his body seemed more and more impossible as time took its toll.
Max just wasn’t going to give up. His ankle was swelling and didn’t have a lot of stability, but I had an ace bandage on me, so he secured it and we started alternating runs and walks for the next three miles to get him back up the hill to the summit. He really should have DNFed and stopped at an aid station for a ride down, but he wanted to finish. I wasn’t doing much other than providing moral support and giving him the more disgusting flavors of GU gel that I had on me. He ran when he could, but most importantly kept moving.
The really hard part of the race for me was the descent of the first hill. Now it was 1000 feet down in a mile. At the start, the mud was spongy and there was some grip, but racers had been all over every patch for a few hours. The slick stuff was slicker and the deep stuff was churned up and deeper. Now my flats were coated in slippery mud and my knees wouldn’t bend normally any more, so it took me a long time to pick my way down. I had to work to catch Max despite his injury. This was just me. The marathoners who passed us on this stretch were speeding down sections of trail that was worried I’d have to sit on and slide down. Finally, we hit the bottom and rejoined the road at around 3 hours and 20 minutes. My legs felt done after the climb down and Max was finally crashing from injury, lack of breakfast and too few carbs along the way, but the promise of getting in under 3:30 motivated us to head down the road quickly to the finish — 3:28:40 for him, 3:30:40 for me.
glowing, done.. ready to head home
A brief restaurant review: The Gatherings on Route 392 in Virgil is excellent. I don’t only recommending it if you are in a race that starts in their parking lot, I recommend it any time you’re even vaguely in the Virgil area. They’re about 10-15 minutes off exit 10 on Route 81. Good soup, good coffee, good burgers, good salads, and nice staff. They let mud-covered runners in without complaint despite the clean dining room.
So, what worked and what didn’t…? The Mizuno Wave Ronin 2s are great for dry trails, but too slick once they get covered in mud. The Nathan racing vest worked well for carrying needed extras like ace bandages and gels without the bouncing of a fanny pack. The Amphipod handheld bottle let me carry water without a belt and meant I didn’t have to worry about the aid stations. I’m basically happy with the gear.
Torch and Max seemed a bit starved for carbs during the race. They’re optional on a road half, but the effort on steep trail makes it more up in the full marathon time and caloric need range in my option. I had a gel just before the race and about every 50 minutes during the race and didn’t crash or have any discomfort. I think there are a lot of CrossFitters who are afraid of sugar during endurance events because they otherwise avoid it, but during a race, your body really makes direct use of sugar and you don’t have the peak and crash insulin spike you’d have otherwise. You have to constantly take the carbs in though, you can’t play catch up late in the race.
muddy legs/shoes
I was very happy to get the trail racing experience. This was a bit too much course for someone of my non-existent skills, but I would definitely do another race of this distance or longer on a slightly less steep or less muddy trail without hesitation. Maybe a course which doesn’t prompt passers by to ask if we went for a run in swamp. The change of terrain really keeps you from physically and mentally burning out the way you can in a monotonous road race. The organization of the race, the staff, and the volunteers were excellent in every way. The course had been well marked, the aid stations were well-stocked and helpfully run. The Finger Lakes Running Club can really put on an event.
All in all, a great weekend away from the city. Hopefully Max’s ankle thing works out. I’m a bit itchy and limpy, but not too much the worse for wear. Maybe I’ll try another of these next year if I have time.
