Saturday, October 29, 2011
Just got word that the Albany Running Exchange's premiere trail races, the Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon and Squirrely Six Miler, have been cancelled for tomorrow due to weather by the venue, Thacher State Park.
While there will no doubt be wholesale vitriol directed at the park staff by some hardcore runners, the decision is really the most sensible one to make. Right now the Helderbergs are forecast to receive 8-10 inches of extremely wet, heavy snow. Trees will come down. Roads may be treacherous. There may be widespread power outages up on the ridge and in the hilltowns to the west - heck, it's already happening to the south, where the snow started earlier and is predicted to reach similar depths.
And what about the runners themselves? The word on Friday was to expect approximately 700 people on the trails tomorrow morning... many of them first time or at least inexperienced trail runners. I've been running trails for 14 years and have the gear I need to run safely in snow - and I wasn't looking forward to running tomorrow, especially if it is on the 10 inches end of the forecast. The likelihood is that someone (more likely several someones) would end up getting hurt. And this runner says - it just isn't worth that risk.
I've also heard the argument that runners should be able to decide whether or not it's worth the risk for themselves, and to a certain degree I agree. A couple of summers ago somebody berated the director of the Escarpment Trail Run for allowing the race to go on despite the threat of a severe thunderstorm (which did pound the mountaintops during the race and had runners trying to find whatever shelter they could from the lightning strikes) and the RD's response was that all runners in his race accept responsibility for their decision to run. And you know what - I agree with him. Escarpment is an insane event to begin with and has qualifying standards to try to keep out folks who are likely to be insufficiently prepared for the challenge of running 18+miles across some of the worst terrain in the Catskills. Hairy Gorilla is an entirely different beast and attracts an very different group of runners.
I wouldn't be surprised if the ARE finds a way to reschedule the race (though in all likelihood it will end up on a day when I can't be there due to a different running commitment.) Am I sorry it isn't happening tomorrow? Yes (I've run the half marathon 6 years in a row, including just 2.5 months after my '06 bike crash when I hadn't run for most of the time since the accident - I signed up for the 6 miler because I knew I'd miss it if I didn't, even though I'm supposed to be taking it easy in preparation for next weekend's marathon.) And no (run in snow? Been there, done that, I'd rather break out the snowshoes.)
Now to decide where I am going to run tomorrow once Ann heads back to Rochester...
JMH
