the Way of the Turtle

Regaining Distance 2015 - Race #15
Forge the Gorgeous 7mi Trail Race
Thursday, August 6, 2015

Well, that was painful. Not to the knees - though we'll see if they grumble tomorrow - but to my body overall, since I've done very little running over the last two months and no races. I definitely felt out of shape trudging up and down the hills at Fillmore Glen tonight. At least I know that should improve somewhat if I can keep my knees intact and manage to run more regularly.

When I arrived at the park, I learned that the gorge trail (the "gorgeous" part of the race) is currently closed for repairs around the middle of its length... so instead of going out on the north rim, down the south rim, up the gorge, and back on the north rim - we'd be doing the 1st half of the course as usual, then turn around at the entrance to the gorge trail and retrace our path. So the climb back up to the dam was definitely harder, and we lost the fun of running along the stream through the gorge. Had I know this ahead of time I probably would have skipped the race. I did consider dropping down to the "half" distance as I descended the south rim trail, but ultimately decided that I was there and I might as well do the whole thing - at least this way I spent almost as much time running as I did driving down from Syracuse.

Incredibly, I wasn't last, even though the field pulled away pretty quickly at the start... but once we hit the climb up the north rim, I passed 6-8 people on the initial climb, and only a couple of them passed me again later on. Well... only a couple passed me legitimately. There was one pair of runners who I passed on the initial climb who then somehow got ahead of me before the turnaround - I suspect they cut the course short by detouring down into the gorge and back up onto the south rim. Looking at the park map, that seems like it would knock at least half a mile off the distance, and on some easier trails to boot... seems like that could definitely have let them get 5 minutes  or more ahead of me, especially with my knees slowing me down on the descents.

Overall, despite the difficulty and my missing the run along the gorge trail - this was worth doing, if for no other reason that it gave me renewed hope that maybe I can get back to doing more running in the woods, as long as I can keep my knees from interfering...

JMH

2015 Event Totals
Run 114.6 mi, 29 hr 25 min
Bike 54.0 mi, 4 hr 6 min
Snowshoe 33.4 mi, 8 hr 56 min
Kayak 3.0 mi, 56 min

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