For mapquest: http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Bellerose&1s=NY&1a=24873+88th+Road&1z=11426&2c=New+Rochelle&2s=NY&2a=1+Broadview
Friday, Lee and the kids pick me up from the train. As we get home, rain starts. Sucks in terms of walking the dog but that's ok. The rain stops. We walk the dog. OK rain...Please rain...
Not raining - not good. Saturday a.m wake up. It rained during the night but not everything. Where's the rest? Spent the usual day at the ymca. As I am talking to Lee during Jessie's gymnastics, I suddenly see a flash. As I was about to ask what was that, the whole building shook. HUGE thunder clap. The rain starts. OMG! Fine c'mon all out, just empty yourself now before tomorrow.
I'm worried about the mud on sunday's run. Andre tells me not to worry. No mud. Donald says the same. We'll see.
Now, the nice thing about a race that starts at 9am means (to me) that I can sleep late. How? Simple. When I go train early, I wake up really early. This means I could actually sleep until 4am. COOL! Lee walked LC. Weather seemed nice too. Hoped to see the kids before I left but they actually slept late.
Left at 7am. Lots of fog. Visibility was limitied to 100 feet or less. I was hoping it would burn through.
Drive was a breeze, parking no problem. Started to talk to a guy I followed after the bridge. He had a 70.3 sticker on his car. Figured he was going my way. Looked familiar but couldn't place him. Funny funny - he belongs to sunrise tri.
The start had 5 porta potties. Decided to search for privacy so I went to the finish line to search for more. Found 2 more but they were locked behind some gates. The school was locked too. Back to the start to use them. Glad I used them because the line to use them built up. About 10 minutes before race start and the line was 40-50 deep. Had to pee so went behind Paine cottage. I'm not waiting, this race has no chip.
The race starts with the firing of a musket which misfired. Off we go. Starts with 4 or 5 blocks up hill and then into the trails. Pretty smart. Take 200 people, make them run up a hill and people will be sorted into capabilities.
The trails were beautiful. Most of them in good shape. Trail running is hard. There is no way to get around that. We go up - we go down - we go all around.
Few days before the race, I get an email. They want to be "green" and all that so there won't be any cups in the fluid stations. Bring your own cup/water. Well, it was humid so they changed things. There was a water station at 3.8 miles. There were 2 more stops where they had 16 oz cups and asked you to fill your bottles. I thought of taking a water belt but didn't try it out ahead of time. Stupid. Used to not drinking anyway so decided to deal with it.
The RD also mentioned "cat walks" that are very slippery. Didn't know what that meant until the race. They are narrow wooden bridges about 4 feet wide. Initially, I was going to be nice and tried to run on the side so if someone wants to pass, they'll be able too. Bad move - balance was not 100%. I'm running in the middle. Later I got the slippery part. OMG, almost spilled.
RD was a pretty funny guy too. He also mentioned that there are mud pile areas that they consider "features" of the course. He also warned us that there is work being done that will eliminate these features next year and that we should enjoy these features while they last. My white sneakers - aren't. There were especially muddy parts during the last 2 1/2 miles. Feet sinking in deep.
Picked up this guy who was suffering along the way. He was hurting. His longest run so far was 6 miles. Apparently a group of them decided to do this. Alcohol was not involved. Caught up with one of his friends who was suffering worse. Continued running. At the finish and you have to run around the track. His friends were there and he got his 3rd wind. We sprinted and he took me. Should have had him but he had support of his friends. Still my bad.
Finished and found someone who wanted to cool down. He ran a mile with me and then headed back. I went all the way to mile 10. They started packing up. Turned around and headed for home.
About 1.5 miles away I came across 2 volunteers. Two girls fromthe crew team. They were waiting for the sweep to come in. They were looking for a black lady who already before mile 1, started walking. I told them I didn't see her, thanked them and left. At this point, I was hurting. Had to walk a little too. Suddenly they caught up with me. Bringing in the rear and picking up the flags. Ran with them back. Good thing too. They brought me in. Thanked the girls, got some food and went to toward the car.
As I was leaving the RD spotted me and came to talk. Really nice guy.
My complaints about this race are:
On other hand:
Hopefully someone picked this woman up. Maybe that's how the future legend of the ghost of painetopain will start. She's still roaming the trails looking for the finish line.
Somewhere in this race, I realized that this race is more than it is. I always thought about doing a trail marathon. How difficult can it be and all that jazz even though I know the answer. Sunday I really got the answer. It's hard. Gotta rethink this tho I know if I find a trail marathon which fits...
Last night I swam. Was activly looking forward to it. I was beat up and was dying to get in the pool. I knew the cold water and the stretching would help. It did. I'm still beat up. My quads are still a little sore when you press into them. Never have I felt my legs during the breast stroke. My lower back is still tender. Not sure if I will run tonight. I'm split on the decision. I should run - Staten Island half this sunday. I should not run - gotta heal. I don't know.