Gail's Trail Run 10K
(and a missed opportunity!)
Sunday, December 10, 2006
2006 Gail's Trail Run photo slideshow
The Leatherman's Loop is a very cool 10K trail race at the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, a beautiful park in Westchester. I've run it twice - once in 1999, and last year. The course is a bear - rocks, mud, fallen trees, mud, hills galore, mud, two stream crossings, mud, and a nearly vertical sandy hill that pretty much requires going up on all fours. (It's muddy, too.) It's an absolute blast, especially since it's held in late April and the 2nd stream crossing is usually between knee and waist deep and COLD. Unfortunately, it's also a very popular race, with between 700 and 800 runners... which can be very frustrating since much of the first half is singletrack. That's the main reason why, as much as I love the course and the park, I'm not sure I'll ever run the race again.
Gail Jensen was a member of Team Mossman, a triathlon club in Connecticut, who died of pancreatic cancer. Now each December Team Mossman organizes Gail's Trail Run, a fundraising run for pancreatic cancer research (all proceeds from the race are donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.) With the help of Tony Godino, the RD for Leatherman's, they use the Leatherman's Loop course - 2006 is the 3rd year they've done it. They typically get 40-60 runners.
It's easy to see where this is going, isn't it?
Alarm went off at 4 AM so I could leave before 6 AM to make it down to the park by 8:15. The sun started coming up about an hour after I left - a beautiful sight over the distant mountains. The drive down is through gorgeous country, and always reminds me of the times I ran Leatherman's and also all the drives back and forth to Vassar and New Haven when I was in school. Made it in plenty of time and enjoyed being able to park wherever I wanted in the lot. Signed in, made the challenging choice of what to wear (long-sleeved shirt, fleece vest, and gloves) and waited for the fun to begin. Listening to people talking about how this was the "fast" crowd, I began to suspect I'd be finishing long after everyone else...
We had a quick pre-race briefing, where Tony told us that this would be the "untamed" Leatherman's Loop course and mentioned that they'd had to break through ice to make the first stream crossing while marking the course the previous day. Heh. He also indicated that the 2nd stream was mid-thigh and running quickly. Heh.
After that we lined up, waited for the countdown, and then - off we went!
I never remember that it's actually a significant distance to the first stream - about a mile - and that there's a lot of up-and-down through the woods to get there. Within the first minute everyone else was out of sight except for one older lady who was lamenting that she'd be last and hoped she wouldn't get lost. I told her not to worry, I'm slow too, but apparently she was even slower, because I left her behind fairly early on (after she told me to go on and have a good run.) I'll be curious to see the results and see if she finished or dropped out.
The first couple of miles were tough - lots of leaves, making it difficult to see what was underfoot, and the sun was at just the right angle to shine directly in my eyes. The first stream crossing was pretty darn cold, and the rock where we climb out was pretty darn slippery - I took great care not to get a complete dunking! Slow going overall, but what a beautiful place to go slow! When I hit the swamp I discovered that the famed Leatherman's Loop mud was not all frozen - running through ankle-deep mud and ice was fun going. Then I hit the Wall, a long nearly vertical hillside. Took a bit to recover from the climb, and headed onto the "easier" trails - easier in that they are wider and not as rocky, but there's still plenty of hills to run (or walk) up! Still, made much better time through that section, but it was clear this was not going to be a PR day...
After a wonderful run through the woods the trail descends to run along the stream and then opens out into a wide field, after which is - the dreaded 2nd stream crossing. That wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be - cold, yes, but only a little over knee high, and the cold didn't bother me as much as it did the first time I plunged through that stream, in 1999 (my legs cramped up and my sinuses filled with mucous.) After that I just had to find my way through the field back to the parking area, to finish in 1:29. Like I said, not a personal best, but not a bad time considering the course and being basically by myself with no one to chase.
After that I changed into dry clothes and headed back north. Instead of taking the highway all the way back, I drove up Rt 22 for a while so I could stop and grab something to eat, then kept going north until I reached Rt 44 (which goes back to the highway.) Unfortunately, I went the wrong way on 44 and ended up back on 22! So it goes... probably added half an hour or so to the trip, but not really a big deal.
On the way home I realized I missed two great opportunities - I could have stayed at the park and hiked some of the other trails, and maybe even gone to see the Leatherman's cave. Or I could have brought my ATB down and headed over to Minnewaska for an afternoon of riding the trails there. Sigh. It's a shame I didn't think of either of those earlier - today was really a gorgeous day.
So lots of driving, but I got to run on a fun course in a beautiful park and donated some money to a good cause. And if that's not a good way to spend a Sunday, I don't know what is.
Next up: The Woodford snowshoe race has been postponed until January 14. So that means this is probably my last race for 2006! And almost definitely the last run for my first pair of Saucony Omni TR's, which I started using 6-7 months ago. Hard to say how many miles, because I also used a pair of Adidas Supernova TR's... but both pairs of shoes are looking very well worn! Wow... my 2006 racing season may be done... in which case, my next race could be the Frozen Assets snowshoe race the first weekend of January 2007.
JMH
2006 event totals
snowshoe - 3 miles, 59.5 min
running - 135.6 miles, 33 hr 8.5 min
riding - 52.4 miles, 4 hr 8 min
from the Team Mossman results e-mail:
We would like to thank everybody that participated in the 3rd Annual Gail's Trail Run! The weather this year was perhaps the finest we've had for the event yet. It was truly a beautiful day....not too cold and not too wet. Just the perfect amount of ice in the mud and rivers :-).
With the donations collected we will be able to send a total of $1523.00 to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in memory of Gail Jacobsen.
We had another fantastic turnout of runners from the area and more spectators and volunteers than ever before. A special thanks needs to go out to Tony and Judy Godino the race directors of the leatherman's loop... Tony ran and marked the course for us on Saturday and Judy swept the course for us on Sunday.
1. Ben Henderson 49:45
2. John Crotty 49:48
3. Rich Izzo 50:13
4. Bill Bradsell 50:23
5. Sean Curtis 52:28
6. Patrick Cavanaugh 52:32
7. Eric Zukauskar 52:36
8. Ron Carter 53:18
9. John Krasniewicz 53:26
10. Jeff Morris 55:00
11. Chuck Thomas 55:02
12. Pascale Butcher 55:06
13. Mike Paletta 56:05
14. Mike Koron 56:53
15. Peter Eddy 56:53
16. Kevin Cunningham 57:13
17. Chris Dawson 57:17
18. J.C. Stein 57:54
19. Andy Ludel 58:09
20. Sue Gold 59:39
21. Joan Lynch 59:39
22. Bruce Koffsky 1:00.21
23. John Reznikoff 1:00.21
24. David Morgan 1:03.05
25. Sam Montclair 1:03.06
26. Paul Morgan 1:03.07
27. Robert Maley 1:03.40
28. Clay Tebbetts 1:03.41
29. Paul Butcher 1:06.19
30. Scott Anderson 1:06.25
31. Larry Nusbaum 1:06.39
32. Robert Casper 1:07.08
33. Carol Kane 1:11.01
34. Susan Kamovitch 1:11.03
35. Jennifer Anderson 1:11.06
36. Allison Wendt 1:22.42
37. Jamie Howard 1:29.08
