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Aug272007

Racing into Fall

Filed under Uncategorized by andrew wolfe at 3:34 pm

Most runners I know don’t care much for the heat. Humidity and temperatures in the 90s can slow a body down no matter how much water one guzzles, and the hot weather often coincides with Bad Air Days, when we are cautioned not to inhale outdoors. There are races throughout the summer, but the schedule seems to get even fuller in the fall.

I haven't raced since spring, myself, and though I'm still working through some sciatic issues, I'm itching to get back out.

The best source for information about upcoming trail races remain the Western Massachusetts Athletic Club, and the advanced search tool on Cool Running (the quick search casts too wide a net, I find). There are a few coming up that I can recommend from personal experience, however.

 

The Groton Town Forest Trail Race may be the best introduction to trail racing you could find around this neck of the world. It’s just shy of 10 miles, so the distance is doable for most regular runners.

The course includes both wider woods roads and single-track trail, and the footing is reasonably easygoing for New England. There are plenty of climbs, some of them steep, but none of them long. It draws a big crowd for a trail race, and this year’s race on Oct. 21 is the tenth annual.

Closer to home and even easier going  is the Jack London Trial Race, a 10K event Nov. 3 in Mine Falls Park, though I probably will pass on that one in favor of the Busa Bushwack the following day in Framingham, Mass.

While running Greylock last year, a fellow traveler told of a kinder, gentler trail marathon. The Stone Cat 50 and marathon proved to be one of the most fun trail races I did last year (I only did three, actually, and they were all fun). This year’s Stone Cat will be Saturday Nov. 10.

Stone Cat starts a bit early for my taste (6:45 a.m.), to give the 50 milers time to finish up before it gets too dark. It can be chilly that time of day and year, but it’s a terrific course. The terrain is similar to the Groton Town Forest course: it’s rolling, but the climbs aren’t too long and the trail never gets too gnarly.

The course consists of a loop through the Willowdale State Forest in Ipswich, Mass. Marathoners run it twice. As one wise guy put it, the hills on the first loop are pretty gentle, but the climbs on the second loop are much tougher. A few people go for three loops, and the ultras go around four times for 50 miles. It’s funny to run a marathon and feel like you've got it easy.

My race last year got off to an inauspicious start: I slipped and fell on a patch of ice on a basketball court in the playground near the start. Yup, 26 miles of trail, and I touched down on the one flat slab of asphalt.

The course was well marked with streamers, but that didn’t stop me from making a couple wrong turns. Thank goodness, some folks saw and called me back.

Runners had to round the finish gate between loops, so there was a long, out-and-back section where runners traveled in both directions, and most of the outgoing, faster folk called out encouraging words to incoming runners.

You don’t get too many spectators on trail runs, but at one point, roughly two-thirds of the way around the loop, a fellow with what looked like a paper-mache Stonecat head was cheering as though we were sweating legal tender.

The aid stations were well stocked and staffed, and there was steaming hot chowder at the finish! Better yet, great swag: a really nice long sleeve shirt and duffle bag with the Stonecat Ale logo. No beer, though. How about that, Stone Cat?   

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