the Way of the Turtle

A Year of Long Distance - Race#10
Race the Train 8.4Mi
Saturday, August 5, 2006

a fun article about the 2002 race

2006 Race the Train results
2006 Race the Train photo slideshow

Upper Hudson River Railroad info

I first heard about this race through a review on the Albany Running Exchange site, and didn't really give it much consideration... but as August approached and I looked at races to do, this one gained a strange appeal. Basically, the runners take a train from North Creek to Riparius, and race the train back to North Creek, running mostly on a dirt road which roughly parallels the tracks. Maybe it was the appeal of running on a dirt road instead of gnarly trails, maybe it was just the fact that this was something different, but in the end - around the beginning of July I mailed my application in and made plans to head to North Creek early in the morning that day.
As Ann pointed out the other night, there's something very ironic about the fact that someone who hates mornings as much as I do will repeatedly get up and hit the road at various horrid hours (5:30 AM this time) to go do a race. Add in the fact that I actually pay money to do so, and the true depths of my insanity should be clear.

Of course, this time getting up wasn't that difficult - because I never really slept. I think I dozed off once or twice, but at 3 AM I gave up and spent the next 2 1/2 hours somewhat productively. Got on the road at 5:30 and headed to North Creek, NY, just under 2 hours away. The weather was wonderfully cool, almost chilly even, and the drive out was fairly pretty - lots of mist coming up from the ground, and part of the ride goes along the Hudson up in the Adirondacks. Once in town it took me a couple of tries to find the train station, and then at the station it took me a while to find race HQ, but otherwise an uneventful trip. Stood in line at the men's room for a while, changed into my running gear, and at about 6:45 got on the train for the ride to Riparius.



The Upper Hudson River Railroad is a historical railroad that dates back to the 1870's. At that point the train ran between Saratoga and North Creek. The railroad was used for over 100 years to carry both passengers travelling to the Adirondacks for recreation and then later the products of mining operations to the north. Probably the most famous passenger of the railroad was Theodore Roosevelt, who was an avid outdoorsman and frequent visitor to the Adirondacks. In 1901 when President McKinley was shot and killed, Vice President Roosevelt cut short a hiking trip on Mt. Marcy and was rushed to North Creek, where the fastest train available was waiting for him; from there he went to Buffalo where he took the Oath of Office and became President of the United States. The railroad was closed in 1989, and nine years later Warren County purchased the track with the goal of setting up an excursion railroad for tourist purposes. Work is currently underway to extend the railroad further south (only the 8.5 mile stretch between North Creek and Riparius is currently open.) For more information see the Upper Hudson River Railroad site (which, of course, is where I got most of this information!)



Anyway, after a few delays the fairly packed train headed south, and I discovered I'd sat on the wrong side - the other side had views of the Hudson for the whole trip. Oh, well. I got to look at lots of trees and boulders instead. On the way down the the conductor warned us that the train had been in, well, training (his pun, not mine!) all week - they'd even had it pulling extra cars to build up its strength, and the train was determined to have fewer runners beat it to the finish this year. After half an hour we pulled into Riverside Station in Riparius - what a pretty spot! Of cvourse, that wasn't immediately evident, as I spent the first 20 minutes standing in line at the Port-a-johns. After taking care of that, I went and sat on the bridge over the river, enjoying the view and waiting for the race to begin. And, a bit after 9 AM, with a blast from the train's whistle - off we went!



Fortunately I knew a little bit about this course ahead of time, both from reading an article about the race and from things I overheard waiting in line beforehand, so I wasn't surprised that the first two miles were all uphill - initially a gentle slope, but after that some of it was quite steep. Ran most of it, with only one or two short walking breaks, and managed to hit the 2 mile mark in 23 minutes - not bad at all for uphill! After that things were mostly rolling, basically level with some gradual ups and downs and a few short, steep hills. I was glad when the paved road turned to dirt - easier on the body, and not a problem, given that most of the time I run trails. As the race progressed I passed a few folks and was passed by a few. Nice quiet course (other than pairs of runners chatting with each other) and by the three mile mark the houses had basically disappeared, so it was very peaceful and mostly shaded.



Plugged along at a decent pace, enough to keep my breathing heavy but not enough to do me in. Nearing the halfway point I could hear the train and the passengers cheering - there was a spot where the train stopped for a bit, and I got there just as it was pulling out. (I knew from the start I wasn't going to beat the train, but it was good to see it once!)

The field was thinning out a bit as well... there were always a few other runners around, but I was basically running by myself, trying to maintain a good pace that might still let me pick things up a bit in the last two miles. And other than a steep, rocky downhill (that I had to be careful going down) and a somewhat steep uphill about half a mile from the finish, coming into town, that's what I did, passing several other runners (and being passed by one or two who were also surging for the last bit!) Had a few moments of concern during the last mile and a half, as my right knee kept threatening to go out, but made it to the end without incident and even managed a decent hard run to the finish, for a time of 1:28:07. Hopefully the photographer taking pictures of the finishers will post them... they did after last year's race. Collected my finisher's medal, grabbed some food and drink, and wandered around for a while as a cool down, then changed into dry clothes and made the drive back to Albany.



Don't know if this will become a yearly event for me, but it was definitely a fun time this year, and the folks organizing seem like a really nice group of people. The support on the course was impressive - there were a least 4 water stops, and someone at each mile marker to call out the time. And I got a nice-looking T-shirt to boot. Who needs sleep - I'm glad I went!

Next up: I was going to do the Run for the Roses 5K over in Grafton next weekend (the plan being that afterwards I'd stay and either run or ride at Grafton Lakes State Park) but I'm going to see Ann instead (didn't get out to Rochester this weekend, which was the original plan.) So the next race should be SAVOY! A 20 mile out and back over muddy, gnarly, technical, hilly, hot trails in the mountains of northwestern MA... hopefully the next two weeks of training will help make it a little less painful...

JMH

2006 event totals
snowshoe - 3 miles, 59.5 min
running - 99.2 miles, 24 hr 48 min
riding - 32.4 miles, 2 hr 32 min