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I don't know about you, but I don't remember much geography from high school. One of the tidbits I remembered while running today was that Greenland was named "Green" to try and get people to come and visit, although truth be told, it wasn't very green, but instead very icy. Oddly enough, the Greenway Trail 50k and Marathon suffered from the same misnomer. Today was about surviving the ice that coated the first 12-13 miles or so of the course. Those who had spikes fared somewhat better than those who did not. Unfortunately, I was in the latter group.
The race started right at its 8 am scheduled start, about 40 degrees, and we were warned about some ice on the course, interspersed with ankle deep mud, and finished off with some stream crossings which due to some recent rain would sometimes reach our knees. Little did we know what was in store.
Once on the trail, I began to get a better appreciation of the inch thick ice lining the trails. Since most the trails are canted left or right, that means slip-sliding from side to side. One thing I did learn today was the age old question of "if a runner falls in the forest, and there is no one there to hear him, does he make a noise?" The answer is yes, and the noise was usually "thud," followed by a stream of invective that would make a sailor proud. I personally bonded with Mother Earth on at least 5 occasions, with near misses of at least twice that. Blood was not an unusual sight along the course today.
At one point, I slid off the trail sideways, then headed downhill picking up speed toward the adjacent river. The only thing that saved me was a friendly tree that leapt out and rammed itself into my left shoulder. Bruised, but at least not swimming. Later, I heard that indeed, runners had fallen not only into the river, but also into the lake that the 50k course circled.
Eventually, after 10 miles or so, the ice thinned out, and we were left with shoe sucking (or soul sucking) mud to slog through. The river crossings were actually useful to wash off what felt like 10 pounds of mud from the shoes, and also to numb up the massive blisters that I eventually developed.
At mile 15 (and 3 hours or so into my adventure), I had the choice of continuing on my planned 50k or "just" running the marathon. Given a twitchy iliotibial band and my wife's prerace instructions of "for God's sake, just don't hurt yourself," I made the sane choice and opted for the shorter distance. Andrea's always so supportive of my adventures...just don't ask her about the 50 miler...
Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity, I crossed the finish line in 5 hours and 38 minutes, marathon #10 under my belt. Distance for the course was estimated by various GPS systems as anywhere from 27-28.5 miles, so it was a bit longer than the traditional marathon. It was an entirely different kind of race, and absent the ice, would have been a total blast. As it was, it was a nice day (in retrospect), since I avoided major injury...
Kudos to the race director, Ed Schultze, for awesome support during the race and at the aid stations. We had delicious treats, although I was almost undone by a Thin Mint at mile 15, and people were very supportive throughout (just like the trees). We had a great post race spread with technical shorts from REI for finishers and some random prizes (I won a technical shirt). All in all, an excellent way to spend $10 and 6 hours of my day.
I will definitely be back next year, albeit wiser and more prepared. Feel free to come out and join me!
Trevor
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