Race Report, Jay Mountain Marathon, July 28,
Jay, Vermont.
Ventured up to
Vermont for my first 50k last weekend with my Dad and
Brother in tow. Been working in
Boston but hope to see everyone in
Houston soon.
This was the race director's last minute update about the course.
"Once again some adjustment had to be made on the course in order to
remain off-road and avoid running through the golf course that is
now completed and operational. . Consequently you will be running
approximately an extra 15 minutes in the brook before reaching the
base of
Jay Peak (Aid Station # 2). As you will be coming down Jay
Peak, the lower part of the trail has also been changed by a
bushwack/Dan special in order to avoid the golf course again. Take
note that this will NOT bring you back to the base of
Jay Peak at
aid station 4 but in the middle of nowhere
As I was setting up the Swamp section, the "BEAVER" have completely
changed the landscape and I was force to re-route the course in
order to give you a COMPLETE swamp/beaver dam experience.
With those changes, the ½ marathon should now be 19.5 miles as
oppose to 18.5 and 33 miles instead of 31.6 for the full Marathon.
My estimation is that the course is 30 minutes slower this year and
I will consequently increase the cutoff time to 6.00 hours from 5.30
at the ½ point or mile 19.5."
I was quite intimidated by the hype, the sight of the mountain and
the start line, which lead right up into a steep hill.
The night before we went to the swimming hole, a perfect 10 ft
waterfall surrounded by 25 ft rocks, perfect for jumping into the
cool pool below and a serious upgrade from the pool at the Inn. We
met a young man, Chris, at the swimming hole who had run the course
last year. Chris advised me to sprint the first four miles up to
the ropes section because it gets all backed up and the last thing
you want to do is have someone's ass in your face as your trying to
race. Had to ask him what "sprint" means. Oh and he said that is
was "pretty flat" once you come off the mountain.
The first four miles were up a bit of logging trail but mostly heavy
woods with a nice carpet of mulch, a bit of mud and old trees across
the trail. Chris was right about the ropes section, it was steep,
the footing was bad the ropes must have been there because the
backup was so heavy the one slip could cause a domino effect. There
were plenty of other spots on the course just as steep without
ropes.
After the ropes came mud, mud and more mud, ankle deep, knee deep,
go back and get your shoe deep, which would be a recurring theme.
Not to worry the first run-in-the brook section was next. Clean
shoes, wet feet, slippery moss covered ankle twisting rocks and
boulders everywhere. This was the easy brook section. Everyone had
to slow down picking through the best route some had more trouble
than others.
Race director Dan had advised everyone to send a dry pair of shoes
out to aid station #2, mile 7 at the base of the mountain so we
wouldn't have to carry all the mud up with us. Ahh, what a great
feeling, dry shoes, dry socks, Vaseline for the toes, gummy bears
and power bars and a wonderful fan with a "Free Hugs" sign, I told
her after my shower.
Up the mountain 4,000 ft, sure no problem, feet feel great. It was
cooler higher up on the mountain and I had some great views of the
Vermont countryside before the mist moved in and cooled the air
nicely near the top. On the top half of the mountain I stopped for
30 seconds every 5 minutes or so to let my heart rate come down. It
was amazing how much better it felt after just a small rest.
Aid station #3, top of the mountain, tired but encouraged, felt
great, time to head down. The path up the mountain was moderated by
turns and short flat sections followed by steep ascent. The path
down was steep, covered with slippery wet grass and rocks. I had to
shuffle step down most of the way and it was actually easier to go
backwards on some portions of the descent. The bottom of the ski
area came quickly but the descent down logging trails seemed to go
on forever and everyone paid the price later.
Feeling good about getting the mountain out of the way, the tough
part right, the rest is "pretty flat", I came to the "bushwack". I
don't know how they cut this path through the underbrush, high grass
and thick black mud. It was designed so that runners had to look
for the pink flagging tape with the black polka dots to figure out
where to go next. I'm sure the lead runners had to do just that but
fortunately I was right in the middle of the pack and the path was
somewhat more defined by that time.
After the bushwack we ran up and down logging roads for an hour or
so before slipping back into the woods onto a deer trail. Again,
you could only tell it was a trail because of the flagging tape. It
went up and down over fallen trees, squeezing between other trees,
sometimes on a foot deep carpet of forest mulch, sometimes in ankle
deep mud. Finally the dear train ended and we went into the stream
again for a few more miles of slippery rock jumping, falling
sometimes catching myself, sometimes splashing down in the water.
Coming out of the stream, aid station #5, mile 19, my Dad and
brother were there to offer encouragement, a life saver at this
point. Had some boiled red potatoes dipped in salt, gu, bananas,
oranges, power bar and stuffed a bunch of gummy bears into a plastic
back in my shorts with the electrolyte capsules. Up to this point
it hadn't been too hot but the cloud cover lifted a bit and it
started to warm up. I could really feel the energy shot from the
food, water and a bit of rest, but the sugar was spiking the energy
so I cut back on the gu and gummy bears a bit and tried to eat a bit
more of the protein power bar.
My brother ran with me for a few minutes, which was a nice boost as
we crossed into a field of head high grass with a path cut to about
6 inches. The path ran for a few miles through farms and fields,
beautiful country, until a river crossing. The river was waist deep
but so I took the opportunity to defeat gravity for a minute or so
and cool off, wonderful! Out of the stream an up a long gradual
hill then down into another section of stream, the most difficult so
far. About a three-mile stretch up razor sharp most strewn rocks to
navigate as went back and forth across the fast running stream and
climbed up and down the rocky banks. At one point we came to a
large waterfall, had to climb up the bank and back down a man-
made "staircase" of rocks and back across the lower portion of the
waterfall. I figured it would be a good opportunity to take a load
of and get wet so I went down the small waterfall and swam across
the nice cool pool. The runners behind cheered and started going
over the falls as everyone else was picking their way across the
sharp rocks on the other side.
Finally we came out of the stream and up into the forest right
around the swimming hole waterfall. Up and down on the dear trail
we went, then down into a swamp. The swamp had a narrow trail of
head high grass pushed to the side, blind corners with holes, mud
and swampy water. The trail went back and forth across the swamp
until I could see and opening an realized that this was beaver
territory. The trail crossed up onto the beaver dam, out the other
side of the swamp, up another steep hill and onto a logging road,
which lead down to the river crossing.
The river had a rope across it but it was just as easy, probably
easier and more refreshing to swim the 30 yards to the other side.
A ladder lead up the far bank and a group of volunteer firemen were
sitting there in comfy chairs surrounded by empty water bottles and
beer bottles? I was praying that this was aid station #6 but the
said no, the aid station was about a mile up the hill through the
woods.
Aid station #6, blueberry hill, fresh blueberrys, "don't eat to
many", fresh socks and shoes, big blister under big callous on big
toe. Could have used some coke at this point but someone handed me
a
Pepsi, a Diet
Pepsi, no thanks. More bananas, gummy bears, power
bars and boiled potatoes and another gu and power bar for the road.
I had been running without a water bottle or camelback to this point
but it was a long way between aid stations and as luck would have it
I had place a water bottle in my second drop bag, thank goodness.
Ahh, mile 24, almost there, what could be next? Started out down
the hill, finally 200 yards, flat dirt road, turn up into a gravel
driveway, down to a gully and up a gas line right of way trail cut
to 6 inches or maybe just pushed down by the four wheeler. I looked
up and saw runners? Walkers just above going over the rise in a
fairly step and long incline. Ahh, just getting over the rise,
what? Walkers, strung out, going up hill for another 2 miles, have
to be kidding me!
Ok top of the hill, winding down through 2 miles of logging trail,
quads are killing me, would rather go backwards. Next River
crossing, sandy trail, then 30 feet straight up a sand dune. Top of
the sand dune, oh, it's a sand pit and we have to go down into it
then 40 feet up the wall on the other side. Out of the sand pit, up
through the forest again, through a head high cornfield, approaching
aid station #7 people cheering, better start shuffling my feet
again.
My support team has made it to Station #7, great boost, food, etc.
I walked and talked with John from
Maryland through the farm fields
in a daze for a few miles. Talked about Htrex, John knew Larry
Teeter from Runners World, also John's first 50ish K. At this point
I caught a glimpse of
Jay Peak off in the distance where I had been,
oh 6 hours ago. Had a sip of water at 30 miles and headed for the
last mud pit.
I ran the last mile or so and a thunder shower broke out just as I
crossed the finish line 8 hours and 34 minutes after starting. What
a great adventure! Thanks to the family for support, Dan (I don't
know how he even marked the course) the race director, the
volunteers and the free hugs girl who was at every aid station
cheering the whole day.
After my show, attempted nap and massage, I caught the last three
finishers. The last guy from
Kentucky came in at exactly 11 hours
and was thrilled to finish because he had been cut off the last two
years at the half.
Loved
Vermont, next time I'll get a room at the Inn that isn't over
the bar with a window to the pool where the band played until 1:00
am the night of the race.
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