08/22/2022:
How should I start? Hm. Let's talk about what it is. At it's base level, it is a 7 hour timed race at Forest Park. Problem is, how do you do social distancing (Covid Term) in a small area with potentially a lot of people? And so, Ritchie came up with a 7 hour race. The race has 3 parts to it. There is an East loop, a West loop and the Home Stretch. Each loop will be done for 3 hours and then will merge for the final hour. Here is how he described it.
COURSE INFO: Please note that the two loops are the East Loop and the West Loop. East is about 1.6 miles and the West is about 1.45. You will navigate each loop for about 3 hours. The final hour will be on The Homestretch. That loop is paved and is about 1.28 miles.
Course Descriptions
The East Loop is about 0.6 mile of trail and 1.0 mile of bridle path. It would be considered hilly and the challenging of the two. The trail portion in the beginning will be soft dirt in the beginning, and there will be some rocks and roots. After the merge with the West Loop (see later), the trail will smooth out for the next 600 yards. The main trail will go left, but you would stay right along the railroad tracks. The trail for a brief portion will get technical with rocks & roots. After bearing left, you will make 2 rights to junction with the bridle path. You will go through a tunnel and the surface (like a carriage road) will be like hard pack cinders and runner-friendly, but still with ups and downs. The main hazards are flood boards and some railroad stones that you can veer over or around.The West Loop will be all on the bridle path. Though it's smooth footing and easier than the East Loop, the trek would be rolling to hilly. The first 300 yards is an out-and-back section, and then you would stay right and would circle the woods on the Park's west side to join the out-and-back section to finish the loop. This trek too will have flood boards and railway stones and an occasional obstacle.
The Merge of the two loops will like merge and veer away from each other. This will occur after about 1/4 mile on each loop. There should be cones separating the two trails. Those on the East Loop should stay right of the cones and remain on the trail portion. Those on West Loop, stay left of the cones and remain on the bridle path.
Another hazard... There may be horses at sporadic times. The horses are usually trotting, not galloping. Stay to the right and give the riders the right of way.
The Homestretch... After about 6 hours elapsed, you will be transferred onto a paved loop. It also will be hilly. Half of the loop is blacktop and macadam and the other half is a cement sidewalk.
There has been some requests for a course or area map. Please click on the following link. It's like an interactive map of the Forest Park trails. The attached map is not exactly to scale but can serve the purpose. Our staging area is where the blue, orange and grey meet the white in the middle of the Park.
To plot the East Loop is to take the blue trail north towards the Jackie Robinson Parkway. As the blue trail is turning, there is a short white connector to turn right on the gray trail. The gray is the bridle path. Then, just follow the gray around to where we started.
To plot the West loop, use the same starting point, and take the gray trail (bridle path) north paralleling the blue trail. (Do you note the merge of the two trails?). The gray trail will move away from the blue trail and will be bearing left. Just follow that and circle back to where you started.
So, assuming you digested all that, let's get to it. I don't know how Ritchie decided where to place people. You could argue that people have an advantage if they do this loop first or that loop first but that's not here or there. I believe, from reading the descriptions, that I started on the West loop. Again, is that fair? I don't know but I didn't pick it so that's that.
Besides me in that loop, again best of memory over a year later, were Julia and Shane (finally met him), Bill and his daughter Christina (both superstars), Alexis, Joseph "Joe" Grasso and others. Mikey and Matet, Hammad, Albert Lione, Eva Casale and others started in the East loop. I don't remember the reason but Jamey was not there.
Hammad offered and I accepted a ride. We got there and he got a good parking space. We got our stuff and got ready. It was good seeing people we haven't seen in a while. That's the Covid thing. Suddenly seeing people that you haven't seen in what seems like 40 years.
I started and did my thing. The course was a little confusing in the beginning but we soldiered on. Things went well until... I saw Alexis down on the floor. It was a mess. He wasn't feeling well and it was a little warm (for some people) and maybe a misstep and man down. The results suggets that he was actually in the East loop but I thought he was in our loop. Whatever. Long story short... He was evacuated out of there and finished with a respectable 15.96 miles all in all considering...
I started talking to this guy named Joe who I have never met. He was some loops ahead of me and we talked and talked. Turns out he was training for his first 100 miler and was VERY keen to hear what I had to say. In his credit, he was traveling to Utah so decided to do it at Zion 100 which is a very hilly race. Wow. Anyway, I sent him a bunch of stuff and when he did the race, his girlfriend now wife updated me and it was nice to see they listened to whatever wisdom I might have imparted. He finished that race...
Anyway, 3 hours later and I was switched over to the East loop. Donald showed up (nice but unexpected even thought he said he will show up) and we ran a few trail loops together. That section was harder and I was tired and so I was glad for the push.
I must say that Julia kinda ruined things a little for me but in a way helped too. Apparently, for the Marathon Maniacs, you need at least 31 miles for races over 6 hours so that hung over my head as she kept mentioning that. Oy...!
Jamey and Raina showed up too and that was good. Ritchie handled aid stations by having individuals bottles but I remember Raina had a Snickers bar which I "kinda" took. AND IT WAS AWESOME! Shared it with Donald. Shane came up on us having done the minimum that he wanted and was now on "bonus miles" and we all talked as we ran.
On the Home Stretch and it was nice. Run up the pavement in Forest Park to exit the park and run down the street back in. And who do I see? Eva Casele who I did not even realize was there. Started chasing until I caught up and we ran together and it was nice. I really like Eva. Did I mention that I am the only one who she lets massacre her name even though I do it by accident. Anyway, we ran together. She almost crashed into a kid outside of the park but it was all good. Finally the bell rung and we finished.
Mikey and Matet were pissed and may have left early. Turns out that Matet took a wrong turn and Albert Lione was there to witness it. Also, turns out that he did NOT say anything to her during this mistake. He didn't try to correct her mistake. They got pissed. They left. Sucks.
Hammad gave Vladimir a ride home on the way to drop me off. Nice guy...