LONG DISTANCE 2007, Race #3
Medved Madness Mudness 15 Mile Trail RunSunday, May 6, 2007Medved Madness info2007 Medved Madness solo results2007 Medved Madness relay results2007 Medved Madness photo slideshow 
A while back I stumbled across an announcement that
Medved Running & Walking Outfitters of Rochester would be putting on a 15 mile trail race at Mendon Ponds Park, with the option of either completing the race solo or as a relay. The race was the brainchild of three Medved employees - Dan Andrus, Greg Crego, and Mort Nace (the latter one of the crazy founders of
Goose Racing, organizers of a variety of crazy trail and snowshoe events in the Rochester area.) Each devised a 5 mile loop through some portion of the park, and the result was the Medved Madness 15 Mile Trail Run/Relay. Given the location (in one of the Rochester area's most beautiful parks) - there was no question that I had to be there for the inaugural race!
So that's how I found myself crawling out of bed at 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning and driving over to Mendon on target for a 7:15 arrival. Passed a small herd of deer alongside the road on my way into the park, and began wondering what we were in for when I turned down the road to the Hopkins Point lodge and had to drive through a flooded section! Checked in, got my race number and a nifty shirt, geared up, and then sat on a picnic bench enjoying the sunshine (it was a chilly morning) while waiting for everything to start.
A few minutes before 8 AM, we gathered at the starting line, and listened to a few words from Mort Nace about the race, mostly geared toward thanking the folks at Medved who had made it happen and thanking all of us for being there (apparently they had a significantly bigger turnout than expected.) He also told us that you could tell the crazy soloists from the smart relay folks by the color of their race number (which prompted lots of looking around as people checked out the competition.) And most importantly, we were given the color codes for each course - yellow tape with red dots for leg #1, pink tape with yellow dots for leg#2, and yellow tape with black stripes for leg #3. After that - it was time to run!
Leg#1 - Dan's Magellan's Nightmare: We headed off across a field and into the woods... and then the challenge of leg#1 became apparent: we were running much of the course on game trails! The first stretch was an ankle-breaker, with lots of roots, fallen branches and logs, and uneven, grassy footing. Hopped across a stream early on, and eventually exited the woods and headed across more fields before - you guessed it - going back into the woods on more game trails. Almost got lost a couple of times, but by that point there was a small group of us at the back who worked together to find the course whenever we lost sight of the flagging. Eventually made it to the beach and had a short run along the sand before heading into the woods again. Ran up the hill that we go up for the du's... and found we were off course again! Back into the woods , finally coming out at a section I knew would be a challenge - the mudpit trail leading to the ponds. The mud was deep and very mucky... early on I had a shoe sucked off, and it quickly became clear that I might as well get used to having a couple of pounds of muck on my shoes. All the way to the ponds, and then across the bit of land between Hundred Acre Pond and Deep Pond, and then all along the shoreline trail back to the starting area - mud, mud, and more mud. And worst of all - the course was double-blazed with flags for leg#3, so I knew I'd be fighting my way through that muck again! Made my way to the transition to leg#2, and was very surprised at the time (around 52 minutes.) There's no way I was running 10 minute miles, so I suspect that leg#1 was a bit short. Still, it was a fun start, and at least it looked like leg#2 would take us away from the mud.
Leg#2 - Greg's Running with the Devil: After topping off my Gatorade I headed back out, this time onto the hilly trails on the East Esker and around the Devil's Bathtub, a kettle pond hollowed out by the glaciers that moved through the area during the last ice age. While these trails meant I'd be running up and down more hills, I also suspected they'd be a bit clearer than the game trails we ran on during the first leg. Fairly quickly it became apparent that there was a group of three of us running in close proximity - a fact which became very useful when we hit the first poorly-marked junction and spit up to look for markers (and found one about 5-10 minutes later.) After running through the woods for a while, we headed out into the fields, and ran into the 2nd spot where it wasn't clear which way to go, wasting another 5-10 minutes searching for course markers. Frustrating, but at the same time all part of the fun of a trail race! Once we finally found the correct path, we had a great run up and down hills through a pine forest, and then it was back up onto the esker, up and down a challenging hill or two, and finally through the woods back down into the starting area. Reached the transition point at about 2 hours 10 minutes, or 1:20 for the 2nd leg... about right, given that I'd guess we spent 15 minutes or so lost. On the plus side, since most of what I ran on this leg was dry, my shoes had pretty much dried out from all the muck I ran through at the end of the first leg. Not that they would remain that way for long...
Leg#3 - Mort's Muddy Mayhem: I lost one of my trail buddies when I went off course the 2nd time in leg #2 - apparently she didn't miss the turn that I did. The other, a gal whose husband is apparently a fairly competitive trail runner but who had never run trails before today, stayed with me through the end of leg #2 and then decided to call it a day (I think getting lost twice was too much for her.) So after topping off my Gatorade bottles, I headed out into the last leg, expecting it to be a muddy slog through every swamp Mort could find. Hit the mud almost immediately, as the course took me back along the shore of the pond (which was even more churned up than it had been at the end of the first leg!) Got out of the mud briefly to climb a hill, but descended almost immediately after and was back to slog, slog, slog. Crossed the bit of land between the ponds and headed back into the deep mud-pits. Didn't lose any shoes this time, but I did go in up to the middle of my calf on more than one occasion. So much for my shoes drying out... ordinarily I like running through a bit of mud, but this was too much... pulling against the constant suction was a major energy drain, and my feet getting soaked for the 2nd time meant some hot spots that would definitely develop into blisters. Incredibly, once I was through that section, the leg was relatively mud-free for a much of the rest... we were running trails through the fields over by Quaker Pond, and those were mostly dry. As I ran around the pond, I caught up with my remaining trail buddy from leg#2, and we both ran into a fellow racer who was lost and looked pretty disoriented (he'd been out for a while with no water, so I suspect he was dehydrated.) I pulled ahead as we made our way around the pond and up into the woods. From there the course took us back to Deep Pond... hit some major mud getting to the shoreline trail, but that was fairly dry. Dragged myself up a side-trail to the top of Cardiac Hill -
that hurt -and from there it was a relatively easy run through the woods back to where we started the 2nd leg and down to the finish, with 1 hr 10 min for the last leg and at a total time of 3 hrs 20 min. Not bad at all, considering the time I spent lost in the middle of the race, and considering that my prediction was anywhere from 3 1/2 to 4 hours to complete the course. Mort shook my hand at the end, and asked me if I'd had fun, and I gave my usual answer - yes, in a sick and torturous kind of way!
After that, I changed hobbled down to the car and finally got my feet out of my disgusting socks and shoes, then hobbled back up to the lodge to pick up lunch for both myself and Ann (I'd ordered a lunch tocket for her, before we knew she wouldn't be able to be there.) And then it was time to drive home and eat (definitely one of my favorite post-race activities, right up there with collapsing into a semi-comatose state.)
All in all, this was a race well worth doing. I got to run in parts of Mendon I might never otherwise have run, and I got to meet a few people in the process. I also confirmed that while I've got a lot of work still to do to get ready for NIPMUCK, I'm definitely on the right track, and I'm probably stronger than I was as this point last year. The mud was definitely memorable, even more so than the killer hills along the esker... that's actually kind of funny, when you consider that the mud was only a couple of miles of a fairly long course. Regardless, I would definitely considering doing this one again (though next year I may try to convince Ann to come down to Block Island with me while I do a trail race there... we'll have to wait and see on that...)
Next up: only one week away, the inaugural
Mt Tom Road to the Pogue 6.6 Mile Trail Race at the
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, VT. A short race, but the course sounds fun, and I'll get to go to someplace new!
JMH
2007 EVENT TOTALSRunning 51 mi, 12 hr 30 min
Cycling 6.2 mi, 33 min
Snowshoe 31.3 mi, 9 hr 11 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY
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