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Anyway, Mikey, Jamey and I were talking about November... What to do? What to do? There's Philly BUT it's travel and some $$ since it would be late registration and Jamey and I would do multiple races there even tho Mikey didn't want to. There's the snooze fest Marathon at Flushing Meadow Park. Those guys always start late and that race is boring. And then suddenly, Ritchie came out with a "save the date"...
So, the deal is is that Ritchie has prostate cancer and some sort of a cardiac event going on and so, the BUS era is coming to an end. This is the last race ever under the BUS banner in true Ritchie fashion. Apparently the first race ever under BUS would have been a 60K in Forest Park. Permits fell through last minute and it got moved to Central Park under the auspices of NYRR who called it the Knickerbocker. That race has since, been renamed to the Central Park 60K and then completly eliminated by NYRR. Glad I did it already even though it was 9 loops of CP. So, how does Ritchie want to end it if not by doing a 60K in Forest Park. Permit issues again and this time we are at Alley Pond!!!
And so, the BUS Queens 60 Kilo was born and would offer a 30K and a 60K.
To summarize... A cheap race ($45 or so), no travel (7 minute drive), local (perhaps family visits) and see a) the BUS crew so we can thank them and see b) a bunch of runner friends in an intimate event. Hm... Not a lot of consideration here really. Of course, we are doing it EVEN THO Ritchie was gonna have us do 12 loops of the first big bad hill...
I truly think that Ritchie can be a real sadistic SOB...
The Freds signed up. I signed up. Jamey signed up. A little bird told me that Hammad wants to do a Marathon and so he signed up. Jean signed up. Others signed up.
The course: Start at the comfort station near the tennis courts and go up the big bad hill. Climb it to the Rock. Make a right turn and go up Colverdale and into Upper Alley. Take that route to 73rd/Springfield AP and go around the field. Climb back up into upper alley and turn left to go around the dog field and near the other comfort station and near the ranger station back to the road you were on. Snake down the hill back to the big bad hill and turn left on it to go back to the start. That's 5K. Do that 12 times and you get 60K or 37.2 miles.
In Ritchie's words...COURSE: The loop starts and finishes adjacent to the Fieldhouse and is 5K in distance. Attached please find a map (thankfully provided by Tim Ryan) of the race loop. For reference, the section to the left is called Alley Springfield and upper section to the right is known as Alley Picnic. The area between the two is the “woodsy” section. DIRECTIONAL AIDS: Your start will take you to a green dotted line and Motor Parkway (bike path). You will go up a hill and under a parkway overpass and at about .55 mile of the loop, you will turn right. There will be sign arrows (and monitor for your 1st loop) to a local street. On the street, there will be frosted green arrows on the pavement. Those green marking will predominately be throughout the loop. After just 3 blocks, you proceed back onto the Park paths and the woodsy section which includes some slope and maybe also leaf cover. There also will be some sign arrows and flagging to assist. PLEASE NOTE at about 1.9 mile of the loop, the green arrows will temporary stop and you will do a short narrow circuit in the Alley Picnic to connect back to the path with green arrows. That circuit will be marked with ONLY signage & flagging.
Now here's a little funny thing here. He did offer a regular start and an early start. I originally did the regular start but Mikey convinced us to do the early start and so I changed my registration. Then the funniest email came from Ritchie talking about how he thought 2 or 3 people would do the early start but suddenly there are around 30 people who want the early start and so because of logistics of doing 2 race starts and the fact that the comfort station doesn't even open until 7am, he changed things up. There will be 2 race starts. The early starts at 8am and the regular starts at 9am. Works for me as things get darker sooner now with the clock change.
Sunday morning came way too suddenly. Earlier wake up than normal and I get a text from the Freds saying that they won't be there because they are both sick. I "think" that the fact that it was in the 30s with a 25MPH wind, combined with the fact that Maria's Asthma gets worse due to the cold combined with the fact that they are not trained for the distance, kinda helped them being sick... Sucks. Haven't seen them in a while and was hoping to spend some quality time with them but it is what it is.
A bunch of runners were absent since it was the same date as Philly but it was nice seeing people like Mary Harvey, Gail Marino and others. I checked in, got my stuff and put my keys in Jameys car so I won't have to carry them around. Hammad rolls in with Ashley. We assumed that she was there to watch over him and he same day registered her. Jamey told me that earlier someone got into a big argument with Ritchie but he seemed ok to me and Ashley was signed up.
Some (nice) words were said about Ritchie, BUS and Ritchie. A cake and a plaque were also given to him. Personally, I can't say that I loved all his races but they definitly served a purpose for the ultra community and a big void will now be there in it's place. Sad but understandable.
We started. Jamey and I in the lead. What the hell is that about? We started talking to a guy named (quite surprising - NOT!) Michael. Michael Manna was with us and ended up staying the whole damn thing with us. We just worked together. The first 2 loops were done and as we were finishing up the 2nd loop, the 9am start left which included Regina (Pasquelle's girlfriend and Gail Marino). I didn't see Jean which was worrisome as he was signed up... Mind you, he ran Friday night and Saturday morning which didn't make sense to me and now a no-show so I was worried.
Talking about things that don't make sense, we have 2 more contendors. Jamey also ran Friday night (my prediction as he is short on miles) and ran 4ish with me on Saturday morning. That really didn't make sense because why start a chafe on Friday which will only get worse. But... Jamey has a lot of volume under his belt and he does this ALL the time and so I was not worried there. The other thing which doesn't make sense, actually it's just plain stupid, is us doing the race in the first place. We had done MCM50K 2 weeks before this and then 2 weeks after this, we are doing a hundred miler. STUPID!!! And Jamey is very freaked out worried about the hundo so this was real stupid but again, end of era and all that so here we are....
We eventually did see Jean. His wife told me that he wanted to start at 8am but it was too late (perhaps) to change the time. But I do think that he came late to the 9am start too. Bottom line, he was there and he looked just fine so that was good. No need to worry.
Anyway, the 3 of us ran. Chris Calimano did start with the 9amers. He did reach out to me a few days before saying it was gonna be cold. I joked with him that some of us will be there longer and even colder. He passed us quite a few times. He may have passed us twice during one loop which was crazy.
Hammad was there running and walking. Ashley was the face of determination personified. Mary Harvey was the smiling face. Gail was Gail and awesome is her name-o. The three of us continueed. We saw Regina. We saw the impropmtu (maybe) second aid station. Was there supposed to be one there? Later, the dude was replaced by Vladimir who OF COURSE(!!!) was only wearing shorts tho he did wear gloves. Dude kills me with the shorts thing.
It got lonely out there as people were either finishing the 30K or perhaps were way fast during the 60K. We continuued. I didn't see Mary at one point and so I thought perhaps the 30K. We did talk for a few before the race and she gave me a big hug. Turns out that she did the 60K after all. We just missed each other constantly.
Raina showed up and stayed with us a little. She commented to Jamey at one point that she no longer can keep up with him walking. Whoa...
Elizabeth made a showing as well. She got me better chemical handwarmers but I had brought the big mittens and so I was mostly ok.
Last few loops, they brought out these tiny cupcakes thingies. I got a picture in the images link if you want to see them. They were so good. Just melted on our tongues.
And just like that, last loop. Last uphill. Last downhill. That's it. We got to the timing crew and Patty said, "first person to me gets there first in the results" so jokingly I ran to her and ran behind her. We went inside and ate lukewarm pizza but more importantly, 3 cups of hot tomato soup. I missed that soup. IT WAS GOOD!
Took pictures and said goodbye. Just then, Jean's wife showed up with a headlamp for Jean. He was still out there. We said goodbye to her too and left.
It's sad. It really is. Will I miss the endless loops for 6 hours or 7 hours or 12 loops or someother silly variation? No. I really won't. Will I miss the people? The vibe? The community? Yes.
I did thank Ritchie. I did thank all the volunteers and the timers. I did thank and hug Patty. I did.
BUS is over. Who knows... Maybe someone will pick up the pieces... For now, the curtains have come down.
Peace out...
Still, haven't published this. Just re-read it. Still very sad. Big sigh.
