Good day ya all!!..
It was a beautiful morning for a romp through the woods....and what a romp.We started on time, the 26 and the 52k alike.So, in the first k we all were lost..yep..came to a halt..nobody knew where to go..haha, so, after we found a person in the crowd to had previous experience, we were off again.In about 2-3k, we were in mud up to our mid shins, but it was OK, cuz the giant puddle up to your calf's washed it off.The mud was very thick and black, alot like Goodrich.
The river was at the 3k mark and again at the 23k,upon your return...It was fast and knee deep, just walk it...rocks..Now we begin the hills...this race was similar to rattlesnake point in the technical field, the hills,umm, i would call them actual hills..small mountains and cliffs..and lots of them.So steep that running was out of the question, just speed walk your best.On the way down, this is where you could usually make up your time..nope..lol..not in this race..rocks, boulders, and mud.It was a beautiful forest, but the common complaint was that taking your eyes off of the course would be disaster to the runner.After about 11k or so, we were very high up, this is where you see a big sign, its a reminder for the runners...
" REMEMBER, YOU SIGNED THE WAVER"..a comfort for sure, just beyond it was a drop of..ohhh...many , many feet to the bottom of the gorge..you had about a 3' path to run on, ..now remember you have 2 way runners to deal with..hahaha..The turn around was a welcome sight, i made it there in 1:21, was doing OK.I decided that this run wasn't about #`s..survival was key importance.So i ran and had fun with it...but it was a tough course.On the way back you of course still had the giant hills to tend to.One particular hill, just before the stairs...yep..steep and a couple of them.This hill was huge, we were grabbing trees and pulling our selves up..like a grounded Tarzan, tree after tree, at one point i just dug my fingers into the mud and pulled..no running here either..lol..At the 23k mark was again the river..it felt good, people were splashing and speed bathing , and it cleaned the mud off of your shoes.And then you had the mud again...this is a very tough, but totally awesome course, somebody said that they changed it, well, to the tougher i would imagine..at 24k, your approaching the open field and road, not much of either, but enough to feel the days heat..it was a hot day for sure.This course was designed to be fairly tough, it`s a bit tougher than Ganaraska`s 25k, but that would be based on each person`s point of view, as we discovered at the post race meal...an actual hot meal, of lasagna, penn pasta, with a salad and a mulitgrain bun...good food..you can always rely on good food at the trail races,and the people are very friendly, and willing to talk with you.We sat with runners from The Toronto and Etobicoke area..great folk debating the degree of toughness of each trail race they have done...awesome people..So over all i dont know where i stood in #`s, i know the race clock was an hour ahead, so our times were in the 3 hr range, which was not accurate.I finished pretty well, with my watch showing a time of 2:43:22, so i assume that is close.There were no chip times, just ready set, yahoo..but they do take your # down at the aid stations, for whatever reason.When i did my loop around the ironing board...yep..an actual ironing board..lol..and then returned, i was a pertty happy camper to be finished...but we did it, that is the important point, to finish with a strong but tired body...and yes..i did get lost, ran into a couple of hikers to set me straight, and i only slightly blew an ankle..not over all the way, and not a big deal..but the highlight of the day was to finish a tough 26k run, over hill and muck, and not ONCE! did i hit my broken thumb, that impresses me most of all...
How was your day??..David Storey..
