Olana Star Loop 10k Trail Race
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
2007 Olana Star Loop photo slideshow
Olana was the home of Fredric Church, a important artist in the Hudson River School of painting. Church built a Persian style house on top of a hill overlooking the Hudson River just south of Hudson, NY, and carefully designed and landscaped the grounds so that his home would be, in effect, a work of art. Today, Olana is a New York State Historic Site, a National Historic Landmark, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Hudson Valley and upstate New York. (For more info about Church and Olana, check out the official Olana website.)
Olana, circa 1986
When I was in high school and college, I visited Olana a number of times, both as part of art class field trips and on my own to explore the grounds. Back when we held karate classes at Columbia-Greene Community College, one of our summer rituals was to spend the bulk of one class running from the college up to the house and back, along the carriage trails that wind around the hill. So when I found out that a trail race is held there in May, it was natural that I wanted to try to run it. I even managed to talk Miss Linda Moller (one of my fellow AMAI instructors) into running it too, despite her protests that she would be very slow and probably wouldn't be able to finish the entire 10 km.
We had great late May weather - sunny and warm, but not particularly humid. The drive down was nice, reminding me of my trips to Minnewaska for the Summer Solstice Run (only a month away!) Met Miss Moller at CGCC and headed up to Olana for some running fun. It was interesting waiting for things to start... I've gotten used to seeing familiar faces at many of the races I do, whether in western NY or New England, and this was a totally new crowd. About 50 runners lined up at the starting line, and after a few quick words from the RD - off we went!
The Olana Star Loop is arranged as a series of out-and-back loops, so at various points I got to see the front runners come blazing by from the direction I was heading in. It became clear early on that there would be three or four of us at the back of the pack, especially since I had decided to take it easy, in part because I knew the course was hilly and didn't want to strain my left calf again, and in part because I'm trying to rest up for NIPMUCK. The first loop took us up a hill and back down, and then around the pond near where we'd parked. Most of the trails were pretty wide and clear, though one section took us along a steep hillside and down a barely-travelled singletrack. We wrapped up the first quarter of the race running along the road back to race HQ, where a water stop had been set up.
From there we headed along trails below the house, eventually running down a long downhill all the way down to the main road that runs past CGCC (route 23, I think.) Of course, the disadvantage to an out-and-back is that what goes down must go back up, so up the same hill we ran. Continuing uphill, we looped around to a trail overlooking the Hudson River, and had a great view from a section that had been cut back to provide a scenic overlook.
Right after that came a section that many folks seemed to find a real challenge - a leaf-covered, uneven trail littered with fallen branches that took us back down to the main road. As runners passed me on their way back up, many warned me to be careful. While I appreciated the thought, it really wasn't that bad, compared to some of the places I've run! On the way back up, I passed Miss Moller on her way down, who seemed in good spirits despite having run 4-4.5 miles at that point.
From there, we made our way uphill on roads and paths, all the way to the house, and were treated with some great views of the Catskills off to the west. Just past the house we went back onto the carriage trails, and had a quick 3/4 mile downhill run to the finish. As I said, I planned to take it wasy, and I did, without totally dogging it... I finished in 1 hr 11 min, or an average pace of about 11.5 minute miles... all in all, a pretty good run. Miss Moller came in a few minutes later, having completed the entire course and very pleased that she had done so.
So overall, this was a nice little race/run through some beautiful scenery, and some nice hill work to boot! I'm definitely glad I made to drive down there, and if I can I think I'll run it again next year!
JMH
2007 EVENT TOTALS
Running 68.4 mi, 15 hr 39 min
Cycling 26.2 mi, 1 hr 55 min
Snowshoe 31.3 mi, 9 hr 11 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, VT
