9:30 AM - Got up early this morning with Emmy. Had a cup of coffee and said good morning to my sister in law Rose and my niece, Jane. Hadn't seen Jane in about a year I think. She is absolutely adorable and huge! She isn't even TWO yet, and is already 3 feet tall! Suited up and drove with Emmy about the one hour trip up to Monroe State Forest. We had to drive up to North Adams and then east. The fall foliage was spectacular as we made our way up Rte 2 and around the "Hairpin Turn" which resembles the switchbacks on the Tour de France. We had to drive all the way up and over a mountain, and then down this scary roller coaster hill. We finally got to the bottom, in the bottom of a big valley.
WARM UP: I signed in and got Emmy registered. I signed up for the 10.5 miler and she signed up for the 2 miler. After getting our bib numbers we did a short warm up jog around the picnic area. The picnic area resides right along the aptly named Dunbar Brook, and all day there were people yelling and hooting and hollering as they kayaked and rafted down the rapids. We jogged around the perimeter road after hitting up the restrooms. It was quite chilly, especially in the valley. I would suspect that the temperature was only about 40 degrees at the start of the race. We ended up doing a 1 mile warm up in 10:27.
THE RACE: There was surprisingly a decent amount of people at the races today. As the 2mile and 10.5 mile started at the same place, I told Emmy that I would run the first mile of her race with her. Only once we were ready to go, we noticed people standing around and asked and found out the 2mile started after the 10.5 miler. Oops! I got a quick kiss and told her I'd see her at the end of the race.
MILES 1-2: I stuck myself in the middle of the pack because 1) I hadn't done this race before, 2) I didn't want to overdo it and 3) It is always more fun to pass people rather than to be passed. Hm.. perhaps next year I will opt to go out a little harder at the beginning just to get a place. The first 2 miles are singletrack and we ended up hiking them because there wasn't any place to pass people. So I didn't get to the 2 mile mark until about 38:00 in! Oii. Luckily there were several sections on fireroads on the horizon.
MILES 3-5: Once I got onto the fireroad after mile 2, I picked up the pace and saw some people up ahead. I ended up coming up on this guy running without a shirt, a shorter, stocky guy. Found out his name was "Harold" and boy was he funny. We ended up running the rest of the race together. He was a character and the best running companion a Howling Commando could hope for. At the first aid station at mile 3.6, he yelled, "TIME FOR HAMMMER GELLL!". I told him I had one too, testing it out for the first time. He said he swore by it. No other gels are as good. He bent down and took a gallon of water (unmanned aid stations at this race) and yelled, "D*MN that's good!" Then he made some kind of guttural roar and took off down the trail. I topped off my ampiphod handheld and finished my gel, and took off into the woods after him. The high point in the race comes at mile 5 at the summit of Spruce Peak (elevation of about 2800ft). The views were gorgeous, and I was pointing out the awesome colors to Harold as we were traipsing through a brief clearing where the power line towers come up the mountain. He goes, "Pshaw! I WANT MY MOTHEREFFIN MONEY BACK!" He sounded serious, but was totally kidding. He told me to pass him because he was slowing me down, so I passed him about .5 miles from the summit, making sure to choose my footing carefully. The trails today were even less travelled than the ones at Curly's, making descents especially harrowing. I got to the 5 mile mark and could hear him getting closer again.
MILES 5-7: The descent to aid station #2. As we came down Spruce Peak, Harold had caught up to me. I asked if he wanted me to move aside, and he said, "Oh no. You're doing fine. Damn fine. Trust me. Anyone that knows me knows that I will tell you when to move over. But you're doing a damn fine job. You have quick short strides. That's great. Just great. You're a born descender. And I have a feeling that we are tearing it up." We absolutely flew down the mountain, probably doing 8:00 miles. I wanted to stick with him just because I didn't want to get lost like last race. Mile 7 is marked by an aid station, this time with two young gentlemen there. They were really nice. One of them was saying, "Man. You two look good! You're monsters! Monsters !!!". I filled my water bottle. Harold took another Hammer Gel, and then we ran down the riverbank to the first of two stream crossings.
MILES 7-9: Stream crossings are an absolute blast I've decided! I had never done a stream crossing like this in a race before. And while we had technically already crossed 3 or 4 streams before this point, we had two stream crossings in a 2 mile stretch that were each 100-150 feet long and knee deep. I tried stepping on rocks to avoid wet feet, but found they were actually too slippery and were going to probably turn me on my rear end. So I just traipsed through the water. I heard Harold behind me yelling "HOoooAAAHH!" and as quickly as we entered the stream, we were out and on a really fast downhill trail through the woods to the next crossing. This course was great. Marked without pin flags, but still had the ribbons in the trees. We hammered out mile 7 and mile 8 was going great. Harold by this time took the lead as I did for 3 seconds or so take a wrong turn. But I caught right on his heels and we were descending like the natives in Last of the Mohicans. It was so much fun. All of a sudden, as we jump from a rock, Harold's foot caught the edge and he tumbled. But what was amazing is that he did a ninja roll, stood up and kept running! He is a beast! I luckly hadn't fallen yet, but I ended up falling once after the second stream crossing taking some prickers to the hand. No biggie. We sliced and diced and got to the second stream crossing. Almost missed it because you had to go around a boulder to see it. But I got out and was doing fine, but stubbed my toe because my feet were so numb. Took a little spill, but saw some people with the 2-mile bibs on saying, "Great job you're almost there. Only about a mile left!"
MILES 9-10.5: Harold and I pounded out the pace on the trail. I led until about .5 miles to go. He had his burners cooking. I was just holding steady. I'm pretty sure that the 10th mile was a 7:30 pace. It felt amazing! I followed hot on his heels, and before I knew it I was crossing the road down the last downhill and then boom, out into the last 100m home stretch. Pushed it hard, felt strong and held my form. My form truly is getting better! Hit the tape and then saw Emmy and smiled. What a great race!
Ended up 53rd overall out of a field of 103 in the 10.5 miler. Was 2nd in my age group. Some 28 year old finished in about 15th place though and stole the swag. I was the youngest competitor though by 5 years. And there were no other 20-somethings in the race on the guy side, and only one on the girls'. Really great pace, considering how slow my first two miles were! Sub-10:00 pace overall for the last 8.5 miles, including stops at aid stations, water crossings, etc.
Total Time: 2:02:54 Total Distance: 10.5 miles Average Pace: 11:42
COOLDOWN: I did 1.5 miles down to the bottom of the gorge, watching the rafters as I went. Turned around and came back to the car to talk to Emmy. Did 1.5 miles in 15:00, 10:00 pace.
**Emmy ended up getting 7th place out of 18 in the 2 mile. She said she had fun, but that she was scared on some of the single track on the riverbank because she didn't want to fall down. She got 2nd in her age group too! Her time was around 20:51, only a couple minutes behind the winner! She did great!
So... this race is in a remote part of Franklin County, just to the east of the Berkshires. Monroe, Massachusetts is listed on epodunk.com as the "second smallest town in the state of Massachusetts" and in 2000 the census I believe reported 93 people living here. Well so I knew Emmy would be done first. And I trust runners. I told her I'd leave the car unlocked and hid the keys. And after she finished the race to come and grab the keys and whatever. That way she could warm up since I know she gets cold easily. Well I finish the race and Emmy's looking at me and says, "Benn? Yeah, so I was reading in the car and got out and forgot the keys." I said, "Wait. That shouldn't be a problem though. I left the window down in the back." (as a 'just in case' ) precaution. Oops! She rolled it up too because she was cold. Doh! So here we were in the middle of the most remote place in this part of the state. Oh yeah, no cellphone signals and no pay phones in the park. Thankfully we bummed a ride into "town" with a nice lady and a guy. We went to this no name bar, the only place open and I believe the only store in the town. There was a sketchmo looking guy there with two dogs smoking at the bar. We asked to use his phone and he said we could. We called Emma's mom, and my mom. Everyone was busy doing stuff. Finally got through to my mom and she had Jonn (younger brother) google AAA to get the number for us so we could call. Well he googled AAA alright, but instead of Triple A the car service he gave us the number for the American Auditory Association or something! Oii. We left a message and Emma's mom ended up coming to get us, arriving right at the time the AAA guy got there. He opened my car in a matter of seconds. Haha. So, note to self: Invest in a magnetic key holder for car! We drove home and made dinner and relaxed.
While we waited for the AAA guy to come, we hung out munching on some yummy snacks and listening to all the runners talk while we huddled around a fire barrel for warmth. I was dying and actually ate a hotdog believe it or not. I just knew I had to replenish carbs and calories or else I would crash later. We ended up waiting about 2.5 hours before they got there. Emmy waited much longer because she finished earlier. I stole one of her jackets. Thank God she had it! I would have been hypothermic I think without that!
All in all an amazing day. Great race with great support. Saw Laura Clark from Saratoga. She did really well, getting 2:31 or something for the 10.5 miler. She's getting ready for another trail marathon she said next month and is doing the Hairy Gorilla 1/2 marathon as well in a couple weeks. Hopefully I can still get Emmy to do more trail races, even though she said that she doesn't really like racing. I told her, "Neither do I. But trail racing's different.. it's FUN!" Hahaha! Hope everyone enjoys Columbus Day. Nothing better than celebrating the utter destruction of the Americas by a short, egocentric, Napoleon-complexed, rapist, molester, womanizer. Long live Cristobal Columbo. Oii ve. :) | 
