the Way of the Turtle

MINNEWASKA + TURTLE = OUTDOOR GOODNESS! - Part 2
NOT-SO-LONG DISTANCE 2008 - Race #28
After the Leaves Have Fallen 20k Trail Run
Saturday, November 2, 2008

I have to admit... I wasn't expecting today to go all that well after running the 10 miler yesterday... and I definitely wasn't expecting to set a second PR by approximately 9 minutes (and 14 minutes from the last time I ran this particular course back in 2003!)

What a beautiful day for a run... sunshine and blue skies. The breeze was a bit chilly at times, but nothing too bad. I found out when I registered that we were running the course I ran back in 2003, rather than the "normal" course I ran in 2005. (Apparently the Hamilton Point carriageway is closed to both bikes and races, and may remain so for the foreseeable future, since the park doesn't seem to be doing much to repair the trail.) So we all grouped together at the start, listened to Steve S.'s pre-race spiel, and then headed off around beautiful Lake Minnewaska.

The carriageway around Lake Minne is a tough run... lots of hills to run up, though also a few to run down. We circled the lake, then headed off on the Upper Awosting carriageway toward Lake Awosting. By the time we'd gone all the way around Lake Minne the pack had thinned out considerably and there were only half a dozen or so runners near me, with a few (surprise!) behind me. The group thinned out even more as we headed toward Awosting... I always find that path tougher to run or bike in the direction we went today, because it's a pretty consistent gradual uphill. But as always the scenery was gorgeous, and seeing the amount of water rushing through the various streams we passed told me I needed to get down to Awosting Falls after I finished running the race.

One gal pretty much caught up with me as we headed toward Awosting, and we ended up running together on and off for the next couple of miles. The path around Lake Awosting is a bit rougher than the other carriageways, and there are some nice rolling hills along the way. It's also cool to look across the lake and see runners on the other side. Stopped for a moment to get a stone out of my shoe and then continued on around the end of the lake, heading for the stone beach. Unfortunately, about halfway there I tripped on a rock and did a double roll through a puddle... scraped my hands a bit and my right knee enough to leave a nice patch of oozing blood on it for the remaining 6 miles or so, but nothing that interfered with my running... I was more annoyed to be wet than anything else.

After crossing the beach the gal who I'd passed a ways back caught up with me again, probably in part because I slowed up a bit to have something to eat, add Accelerade to my water, and take a few pictures, and she was running nice and steady. We wound our way up the path to the top of the ridge - one of my favorite sections of Minnewaska, because first the trail goes along the base of the cliffs and then along the tops, where the views are spectacular. Made pretty good time up to Castle Point and the last aid station, where I stopped to refill my bottle and she disappeared off down the hill - 4 miles or so to go, and most of it downhill!

Unfortunately, by that stage of the game downhill was starting to hurt... still, I made decent time for the first bit, and resisted the temptation to stop at the various viewpoints - it helped that I had been here only a month ago! Down, down, down, and then my stomach started to bother me... probably the Accelerade which I'd made pretty strong. That slowed me up a bit - it's hard to push when you're trying to keep your guts from exploding - but fortunately only for short periods of time until each wave of cramps passed. The trip down from Castle Point to the shore of Lake Minnewaska always seems like it takes forever... I know it's 4 miles either way, but I always remember it as being shorter when it's at the start of the Summer Solstice run. But finally I could see the lake through the trees and ran as hard as I could down the final hill and then as hard as I could (ie. not very hard) up that last killer hill to the finish, in 2:25:03... a much better run than I ever expected to have today!

After that I staggered over to the tent to snag something solid to eat (bagels, mmm) and then off to the car to change clothes and decide what to do next. The way my legs felt told me I probably wouldn't be riding the rail trail today, but I did want to get down to Awosting Falls so I changed into riding gear to make the trip down there as easy as possible. Chatted briefly with the gal who'd run with me for a bit, and then headed down the hill to see what parking would be like in the lower lot.

All in all, an excellent day and an even more excellent way to wrap up this weekend's races... I'm really glad I decided to run this race this year, and I'm even more glad I dragged myself out of bed and followed through on that intent!

JMH

2008 Event Totals
Run 234.8 mi / 54 hr 6 min
Bike 68.4 mi / 4 hr 59 min
Snowshoe 45.7 mi / 13 hr 19 min

states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, PA, VT