A lesser person may have shied away from a race billed as the Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon where participants were encouraged to bring bananas to feed the aforementioned primates. But not me.
The race was held on Sunday, October 28 in Vorheesville New York, about 20 minutes outside of Albany and was a half-marathon trail race through lovely Thatcher State Park. I had done some training runs up at the park over previous weekends, so felt like I knew what to expect. However, a full day of rain on the Saturday before killed whatever pre-race confidence I had. This would be my first half-marathon atempt (and, actually, my first road race ever), and on what would undoubtedly be a wet and sloppy trail but, as the old Team Irontom motto goes...well, there is no motto. We should work on that.
The race started at a very civil 9:30 in the morning and was, not surprisingly, holloween themed. Volunteers were all in costume, including one person in a full gorilla suit who did take one of my bananas as I went to registration to get my race packet. Now, I have to say right from the start, that for the very reasonable $20 entry fee you got quite a bit. Not only had the volunteers done a lot of work decorating the area (and, as we'll see later, the whole course), but there was a fairly generous gift bag complete with race-logoed socks and pint glass.
Weather wise, I had planned for slightly warmer temperatures and even as the morning moved from 8 a.m. to the time of the race start, it was still a bit chillier than I had hoped. My orignal plan had been 3/4 length compression tights, my TOMs top and arm warmers. With the cooler temperatures, I opted for a long-sleeve jersey over the TOMs top and gave the arm warmers to my wife, who was heading off to the 11 mile marker to pass out water.
The gun (or the siren) went off right around 9:30 and we immediately set off down a banana-strewn grassy field. I know you're supposed to watch out for banana peels, but don't be fooled--they are also treacherous when they have their stuffing. I had positioned myself near the front of the pack and, within 100 yards or so, we hit some single track going through the woods. Here was where I realized that I needed to get around some people if I was going to have any running room and if I was going to be able to settle into my pace. So, even though it was really early out I put on a couple of speed bursts at oportune moments so that I could find some open trail. Within the first mile I had settled into a nice pace following close behind some guy and knowing that there were ten or so people up ahead of me. So, very early on, I asked myself that inevitable question: can I hang on to this for the whole race?
The first real test came around two miles in when we hit a rather steep incline that was made up of loose, wet rock. Not fun. That was a real killer and, knowing that the following 1.5 miles would be uphill I forced myself to go really, really slow, using the guy in front of me as a guide. Eventually the first round of hills was conquered and we hit some nice, flat single track before a long downhill.
As we neared the 5 mile mark, which re-entered the single-track that had started the course, another compeitor caught up to me and, as we neared the end of the first 6 mile loop, was clearly looking to pass. Now, had I known that he was only racing the first 6 miles (which was an option), I would have just let him pass and let him sprint to the finish, so I felt a little bad about that. But, he went on his way to the finish line and I, after some confusion, got put on track to take on the second, \n7.1 mile loop. I had done the first 6 miles in about 42:40, which I was happy with, especially given the very slow hills. My hope was that I could maintain the pace.
The second loop started in another open grassy field. These parts I found to be some of the most exhausting to run in: the ground was soft, the grass was long, and the terrain very uneven. I also saw my original "guide," who had broken away from me a bit, about 200 yards ahead.
For the most part, the early stages of this loop passed uneventfully except that it was a lot wetter than the first loop. It wasn't long before my shoes and socks were soaked with very cold water. Now, I should say here that I had decided to wear my cross-country racing flats for this race. I had trained in them quite a bit, and really liked them, but had never run in them for as long as the race would demand, so I knew there was a real risk. But it was the right decision, mostly because the shoes were so insubstantial they did not hold a lot of water meaning that, even though I was very wet, I did not have that water-logged sloshing shoe feeling. Miles 8-11 were pretty rough. First there was another steep hill to climb, and here I came nearly to a standstill. Second, there was a lot of running on spongy, grassy roads and fields. The upshot, however, was that it was taking its toll on the guy I had been following for the first hour so I was able to pick him up. The worst was when we had to circle this large cornfield--soupy mud, long grass, and uneven ruts made for real slow going. I was also happy to see a couple of bow hunters driving by on four wheelers in full camoflage. "This is not the day to be shooting at moving things," I thought.
After the cornfield, things picked up a bit. We had climbed to the top of a substantial hill and for about 100 yards, had a really spectacular view. I was at mile 10 and generally feeling good. Coming into mile 11, things were looking up. I got a nice cup of water from my costumed wife and was looking at the home stretch which, I knew, had to be mostly down hill. Then the puddle came up. Now, there were lots of puddles on this course, and you could avoid them by either going around them or delicatly hoping over them. There was no getting around this one--about 15 fee across and spanning the whole width of the trail. I slowed a bit to look for a way around and then gave it the ole' college try and just went right through it. Following the puddle there was about 100 feet of solid rock surface to run on, which I found to be pretty treacherous.
The real trouble came as I neared this little footbridge. The script called for me to nimbly step onto the bridge and continue on my way. In reality, I nimbly got my foot caught under the bridge and fell headlong on top of it. I managed to land on my right hand side, mostly on my shoulder and hip. I got up, not really hurt but just a bit dazed, and tried to get myself back together. It was here that another competitor caught me and started racing at my shoulder. Soon he passed on the right. Now, this turned out to be a real godsend. After the fall I realized that I had lost a lot of focus and was stumbling around quite a bit. With someone in front of me, my focus returned. All I had to do was stay at his shoulder and let him pull me through the rest of the course.
So, off we went, even chatting a bit. I think we both knew that the lead was his and I really wasn't going to push for it. He wasn't in my age group, so there was no real point, and while he was setting a brisk pace, I knew that if I pushed him, he would respond. So, I just let him lead the way. Things started to get hairy as we came down the last hills. The muddy conditions meant that I was doing as much sliding as running but as long as I kept my feet moving, I was okay.
We pushed all the way through the last 200 yards, passing over the banana-strewn field again, through the cardboard graveyard and into the finish. I came in at a solid 1:34:09 which was good enough for 10th overall, and 1st in the men's 20-29 division. I changed into some dry clothes, got some fluids, and then parked myself in the sun. The volunteers put on a substantial cookout so I ate a bit and later my wife joined me after he duties as water attendant had ended. I got my award (three cookies shaped like gorilla heads) and then headed home for a quick bath, nap, and lunch before hitting the road back to New Hampshire. Needless to say, the cookies did not survive the car ride.
Overall, a very fun, very challenging race, and one that I will repeat next
