the Way of the Turtle

REBUILDING DISTANCE 2010 - Race #6
Catskill Mountain Spring Series #1 -
Platte Clove Mountain 3 Mile Road Run
Wednesday, May 5, 2010

This is one of those races that occasionally cause me to question my sanity and sometimes prompt the thought of "why am I doing this to myself?" The Platte Clove Mountain Run starts with about a mile of level/downhill running on a rolling road, then turns and heads up Platte Clove Mountain Road for 2 miles... a paved road that is sufficiently steep that instead of plowing it in the winter the town has it marked as "seasonal use only." In other words, after the first mile and a bit I don't have a prayer of running most of this one.

On the other hand... it's definitely a challenge, and the folks who show up for the Catskill Mountain Spring Series races are usually a nice bunch of people to run with, and as races go it's very low key (drop $2 in a basket and sign a waiver sheet.) And what else would I do on a warm spring evening?

I ended up doing a total of about 6.6 miles tonight, because I ran out to the start (about three quarters of a mile from parking/registration) and then went a bit further because I had time to spare. And after the race I still had two miles of steep mountain road to run back down, to get back to the car.

Smaller group this year than last year, and the back of the pack disappeared more quickly... I fgured I'd be way behind the next-to-last runners, but I ended up gaining some distance on them on the 2 mile climb. I managed to keep to a pretty good pace up the mountain, fast-hiking the whole way with two short spurts of "running", at a spot that was a little less steep and just before the end. There's a wonderful view about 2/3 of the way to the top, where the road winds around a curve... tonight the sun was sinking down below the mountains above me and covered Platte Clove in golden light. Awesome. Even more awesome was finally making it to the finish line in 46:41, pretty much the same time as last year... better than I expected, because I'm definitely in worse shape than I was at this time last year.

Wandered around near the finish for a bit, checking out the nearby waterfalls and trying to catch my breath, then headed back down... which in a lot of ways hurt more than the climb up, since I spent the whole time trying to protect my knees.

Maybe next year I can be in good enough shape to run at least part of the climb up the mountain... only time will tell. But I have little doubt I'll be back, even if that does cast some doubt on my sanity. Because if nothing else... it's fun when it's over!

JMH

2010 Event Totals
Run 46.8 mi, 10 hr 00 min
Bike 20.0 mi, 1 hr 33 min
Snowshoe 71.7 mi, 18 hr 26 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 47 min

states visited: CT, MA, NY, VT