Eastern States 20 Mile Road Race
Sunday, March 25, 2007
2007 Eastern States 20 Mile results
Eastern States 20 Mile race info
2007 Eastern States photo slideshow
I went into this having defined three possible results - a great day (4 hours or less to finish), a good day (somewhere around 4.5 hours to finish) or a rough day (more than 4.5 hours or a DNF.) In the end I had a good day, finishing in 4 hr 21 min, for an average pace of 13:06 per miles, after running strong for the first 15 miles and then slogging through at an increasingly slowing pace for the last 5 miles.
I have to admit that as this race approached I felt a good deal of trepidation. Partly due to the distance (which I hadn't trained as well for as I'd wanted), partly due to the logistics (leaving my car 17 miles from the start, so I couldn't go back and get anything I forgot) and partly due to being off somewhere with no one around that I knew to help if anything went wrong. I suppose the bulk of it was that this race was a foray into the unknown, and that's always scary to me.
The drive over on Saturday night was not encouraging. Rain the whole way, except when it was snowing... I would have been extremely worried for Sunday, except all the forecasts I'd looked at said the rain would be done by daybreak.
Got up Sunday morning and thankfully the precipitation was done, leaving behind about an inch of snow. No big deal. Tried to keep everything I might possibly need in my backpack and spent lots of time worrying about what I would be leaving in the car. Drove to Hampton Beach, parked the car, and caught the first bus to the Traip Academy in Kittery, Maine. And waited. And waited. And waited.
We arrived at Kittery at around 8:20 or so, and by 8:45 the race folks were sufficiently set up that I was able to check in and get my number, baggage tag, very nice wind shirt, and some freebies. After that I sat around waiting for things to start at 11, as the gym filled with more runners and gradually came to look like a runner's refugee camp, with people sacked out all over the place. I wish I had thought to bring a book, but I don't know that I'd have been able to concentrate regardless. One of the minuses quickly became apparent (besides the long wait) - no food or drink for the runners. Fortunately, I had a bagel and some iced tea with me, but basically this meant that after eating breakfast at 6 AM and a bagel at 9 AM, I would start running at 11 AM and finish sometime after 3 PM, with only my Gatorade and Cliff Bars to keep me going. Anyway, after numerous trips to the bathrooms and lots of bored waiting, we headed down to the starting line, about a half a mile way.
Maybe the RD said something before the start, I really couldn't say... with about 500 people between him and me, I couldn't have heard it even if he did. All I know is after a few minutes, the crowd surged forward and - off we went!
The first mile took us through the streets of Kittery ME and across the Memorial Bridge into Portsmouth, NH. By then the field had started to spread out and it was fairly clear which of us were at the tail end. We ran along the streets of Portsmouth, thankfully under the watchful eyes of a number of police officers, since the traffic was fairly heavy. After about 2.5 miles we left the town behind and were basically running along country roads - very nice, in a brown-and-grey, late March kind of way. It was sunny much of the time, which made things pleasantly warm - I even contemplated ditching my tights (well, putting them in my waistpack) but decided to wait until the 10 mile mark, since I didn't know what conditions would be like along the Atlantic shore. I was a bit surprised at the amount of uphill climbing in the first 5-6 miles - nothing terribly steep, but lots of long, steady, gradual uphills. Still, I managed a pretty nice pace, at about 12 minutes/mile.
Reaching the shore was slightly disappointing, as the seawalls blocked much of the view of the ocean. The breeze also picked up, unfortunately a headwind, and chilled things down a bit, but not too badly. Still, I was glad I'd decided to wait to remove my tights, because I definitely needed them for the rest of the run! The course from mile 6 to mile 15 was still pretty nice, relatively flat and quiet. I suspect it's very pretty in the summer, when everything's green! At one point I rounded a corner at the top of a short, steeo hill, and had a fantastic view of the coastline and ocean, with the waves sparkling in the sun, and I thought, "This is one of the reasons I do this!" Maintained a good pace, still about 12 min/mile, and wondered if I'd actually end up having a great day and finish at right about 4 hours. But it became more and more clear as I progressed that my legs were starting to get tired. It didn't help that the wind picked up a bit, the clouds became more frequent, and the temperature started to drop.
From mile 15 on, things went downhill (figuratively, not literally.) We entered the Hamptons (North Hampton, Hampton, Hampton Beach, etc) which is basically a long stretch through summer tourist towns. Not very scenic... in fact, pretty blah, all told. My legs began to gripe more and more about the distance, and moving forward became an increasingly difficult struggle. Shortly after we entered the town, I passed a gal who was clearly struggling... not really a surprise, given that every one around me had commented at the beginning about how she had to be freezing in shorts and a sports bra. Contemplated offering her my fleece vest, but then decided that I wasn't noble enough to freeze for the last few miles just so she could be a bit warmer. She definitely wasn't dressed terribly intelligently for the conditions, but I have to give her credit - she's tougher than I am, because she came in just behind me and I'd never had finished had I been as underdressed as she was.
The hardest points were at mile 17, where it became clear that the last water stop was no longer open (the previous three had clearly been closing up shop when we came through) and a half mile later, when I actually had to run past the lot where my car was parked... needless to say, the temptation to get in and drive to the finish was mighty strong. That, combined with the fact that I really didn't want to add any unnecessary distance, kept me from going to the car and getting my fleece pullover, because it was getting mighty chilly, especially fighting that darn headwind.
this trip turned out to be my 95 Subaru's last hurrah...
So I struggled along through the last couple of miles, and nearly cheered when the police officer at the last road crossing told me there was only a mile to go. Considered trying to speed up for the last half mile or so, but decided instead to just finish as I was. A nice volunteer ran ahead of me to the finish line and took my picture (which I greatly appreciated, since the official race photographer had left the course by the time we came through) and then congratulated me on finishing.
And then I staggered to the bus, claimed my pack, pulled on a jacket, and enjoyed the sensation of not running while chatting with the bus driver and waiting for the last runner to come in (a nice gal who I talked with a couple of times on the course - turns out she was using this as her last long run before possibly attempting the Boston marathon in three weeks.) Took the bus back to the post-race "feast" at the Ashworth hotel - not much food left, but I managed to get some pizza and a diet Coke. Then hobbled back to the car, changed into dry and warmer clothes... and made the long, long drive back to Albany. No doubt I was an interesting sight at the rest areas, staggering around like Frankenstein's monster. And hopefully no one heard me grumbling and groaning as I pulled myself up the front steps at home.
Having completed the race, I can honestly say that I doubt I'll ever run it again. I'm glad I did it this once, for a bunch of reasons - it forced me to train throughout the late winter, reassured me that if I can stay healthy and uninjured I have a very good chance of finishing the road marathons I'm considering running in the fall, and gave me the opportunity to run through three states in one race. But beyond that there's no real draw to do it again. The first 3/4 of the course was nice, but nothing great enough to overcome the inconveniences of doing a race like this 230 miles from home. At least when I do races out near Rochester I have the possibility of spending time with my sweetheart. So this one was a good start to this year's attempt at doing some long distance running... but not one for my "I've got to run that one again" list.
JMH
Next up: the Northern Nipmuck 16 Mile Trail race, over the wild and rugged Nipmuck trail, out and back from Bigelow Hollow State Park to Boston Hollow Road, in northeastern CT. This one kicked my butt last year... I'm hoping to do a bit better this time around.
2007 EVENT TOTALS
Running 20 mi, 4 hr 21 min
Cycling 6.2 mi, 33 min
Snowshoe 31.3 mi, 9 hr 11 min
states visited: MA, ME, NH, NY
