Labor Day Weekend, September 2, 2007
This is the toughest marathon course in the East with 5560 ft of total climb. No one will ever qualify for Boston here, but the beauty of this section of the North Country National Scenic Trail and the Finger Lakes Trail is worth the effort (and the fun!). The course consists of two identical out-and-backs of 13.1 miles each.
The day started with my drive from Ithaca, NY where my parents have a cottage on Cayuga Lake. It's 7:15am and the temp is about 44 deg's and kind of cold for September 2nd. 45 minutes of driving past farms and pastures on back roads, I am in the city of Virgil, well if you can call it a city. This was an incredibly small upstate NY town. I find the tiny bar/restaurant on the side of a country road with a dozen cars in the parking lot. This was the race start and a few people were milling about. There where no crowds that we typically see as city slickers in downtown Washington, DC. I found this race on the Internet, while looking for a group to run with while in Ithaca for the Labor Day weekend.
I went to the race registration desk, gave my $25 and find that at that point only 16 people had registered for the half marathon. But it was still early they told me. They wanted to sell me a race shirt with last years race date on it. That was strange?
This was a unique race in other ways, the biggest was they had handicapped start times. The half marathon started at 9am but since I was old (hehehe) I got to start early. A whole 3 minutes early. Many others started before me depending on age and sex. In fact some runners started more than 45 minutes earlier.
More racers begin to show and by my start time there where a whooping 40 registered racers. I was the only one in my heat and at 8:57am I was alone at the start line. The race director yelled 'GO' over the microphone, which he didn’t really need to do since I was right next to him and the only one at the start line. It was very silly, but I was off.
The first mile progressed toward the end of a dead end country road. I passed lift #5 of Greek Peak Ski area and knew I was in for some hills. Once on the trail, I was hit with 2 miles of a constant and steep uphill climbing of almost 2000 vertical feet. It was incredibly steep; I walked a few seconds here and there finally making it to the top and the water stop 3.2 miles into the race and 36 minutes later. Ouch thats about a 10 minute mile average. It’s gonna be a long day!
The next 3’ish miles to the turn around where rolling hills and numerous small stream crossings. I was warned of the ‘monsters’ in this Monster Marathon, and at about 50 minutes into the race, as I focused on the trail and placement of each step so as not to twist an ankle. I was running alone through a small field when a fully camouflaged ‘thing’ jumped out and growled at me! It scared the crap out of me and I may have even let out a little yelp. I had been warned at the start of monsters on the trail, but wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I laughed hysterically alone in the woods for the next 10 minutes as my heart rate returned to normal race levels from the scare! Hehehe, nothing like a small town race with monsters on the course.
Anyway, I finally get to the 6 mile turn around point, downed a GU with 2x caffeine, snag a cup of Gatorade and made the U-turn back toward the start. The enormous cheering section of 2-3 people at the turn around kept me going.
I picked up the pace for the return; I was feeling great and passed a few people here and there. No monsters on the return trip but I was still laughing about it. Got back to the dead and road and brought it in! Finish time of 2:03 which put me in 13 place overall. Not bad since we had the handicap start times.
AFter crossing the finish line, I got this really nice burlap necklace with a piece of cork attached to it that said Monster Marathon 2007.
It was a good workout and a great day. Now back to the lake for a swim.
I went to the race registration desk, gave my $25 and find that at that point only 16 people had registered for the half marathon. But it was still early they told me. They wanted to sell me a race shirt with last years race date on it. That was strange?
This was a unique race in other ways, the biggest was they had handicapped start times. The half marathon started at 9am but since I was old (hehehe) I got to start early. A whole 3 minutes early. Many others started before me depending on age and sex. In fact some runners started more than 45 minutes earlier.
More racers begin to show and by my start time there where a whooping 40 registered racers. I was the only one in my heat and at 8:57am I was alone at the start line. The race director yelled 'GO' over the microphone, which he didn’t really need to do since I was right next to him and the only one at the start line. It was very silly, but I was off.
The first mile progressed toward the end of a dead end country road. I passed lift #5 of Greek Peak Ski area and knew I was in for some hills. Once on the trail, I was hit with 2 miles of a constant and steep uphill climbing of almost 2000 vertical feet. It was incredibly steep; I walked a few seconds here and there finally making it to the top and the water stop 3.2 miles into the race and 36 minutes later. Ouch thats about a 10 minute mile average. It’s gonna be a long day!
The next 3’ish miles to the turn around where rolling hills and numerous small stream crossings. I was warned of the ‘monsters’ in this Monster Marathon, and at about 50 minutes into the race, as I focused on the trail and placement of each step so as not to twist an ankle. I was running alone through a small field when a fully camouflaged ‘thing’ jumped out and growled at me! It scared the crap out of me and I may have even let out a little yelp. I had been warned at the start of monsters on the trail, but wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I laughed hysterically alone in the woods for the next 10 minutes as my heart rate returned to normal race levels from the scare! Hehehe, nothing like a small town race with monsters on the course.
Anyway, I finally get to the 6 mile turn around point, downed a GU with 2x caffeine, snag a cup of Gatorade and made the U-turn back toward the start. The enormous cheering section of 2-3 people at the turn around kept me going.
I picked up the pace for the return; I was feeling great and passed a few people here and there. No monsters on the return trip but I was still laughing about it. Got back to the dead and road and brought it in! Finish time of 2:03 which put me in 13 place overall. Not bad since we had the handicap start times.AFter crossing the finish line, I got this really nice burlap necklace with a piece of cork attached to it that said Monster Marathon 2007.
It was a good workout and a great day. Now back to the lake for a swim.
4 comments:
Great write up! I loved the description of the "monster" jumping out at you on the run and your reaction to it. I can totally see you laughing hysterically as you ran! Also loved the guy yelling "Go!" into the microphone and standing right next to you. Sounds like a fun yet strange day in upstate New York!
Why thank you girlfriend! It was a silly/fun day!
Great write-up and fun race. This is Pete, I ran this as well. I think we met in the parking lot and chatted before the start.
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