Game 3 of the World Series, the first in Washington since 1934, starts at 8:07 p.m. and takes 4:03 to complete. It is my first World Series game ever (a bucket list item) and the Nats 4-1 loss to the Astros is disappointing. (The Nats go on to become World Champions with a thrilling wins in games 6 and 7 - Fight Finished!) But as I do whether the game is in April or October I stay to the last pitch. Never mind that I have the Pennypack Trailfest 60K in Philadelphia at 7:30 the next morning.
After a walk to the car, I start at about 12:30 a.m to drive to Villanova, where I will be staying for the weekend with Emaad's cousin. Fortunately where I am parked and the way I'm going enables me to avoid any congestion from the fans leaving the game. Adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning technology on my car, coupled with light traffic makes the driving easy and with only a quick pit stop for gas I arrive at about 3 a.m.
I manage a bit less than three hours of sleep, but that should be enough. There will be plenty of time to rest once the race is run.
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| It would not be an Uberendurance race without polka music on the course. |
The race is three loops of a 20K course, enabling three different race distances: 20K, 40K and 60K. The starts are staggered a half hour apart, with the longer distances going off earlier. About half the course covers portions of the Dirty German course, which Emaad and I ran in May. The rest of the course is about what we expect from Pennypack Park trails: mostly single track, up and down but nothing too long or steep, wooded, enough rocks and roots to require paying attention and a modest stream crossing or two. Three aid stations (one visited twice) per loop means a water bottle will suffice.
Starting Out
Up just before 6 a.m. provides sufficient time to eat a large Bismark doughnut from Beiler's bakery at the Germantown (MD) Dutch Market. Emaad handles the 40 minute drive and we get a parking place near the entrance to the park. I'm mildly regretting my choice of breakfast food.
Packet pickup is easy at the pavilion at the start/finish is quick and easy. We will come past here at the end of each lap, so no need to worry about what to put in a drop bag - we have everything. The weather is near perfect, with temperature at the 7:30 start in the low 50s and a bit of overcast. I select a long-sleeve shirt for the first loop and figure I'll change to short sleeves for the subsequent loops.
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| Contemplating the start - with backwards shirt |
After about a mile Emaad notes that I'm wearing my shirt backwards. No problem. I pull my arms out of the sleeves, twist the shirt around and reinsert my arms into the correct sleeves.
But it does make me think that maybe the sleep deficit is a factor in the two snafus at the start.
Loops
By mile 5 or 6 the leaders of the 40K race overtake us. By mile 8 or so the leaders of the 20K race are passing us. It's OK. We know we are not fast. We will be lapped by 60K leaders (and followers) in the second loop). Emaad and I go on, not in a hurry. Our goal is to finish under the 10 hour cutoff. Quite a modest goal indeed. So we chat with runners that pass us and the occasional runner who stays with us for a bit.
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| Ready to start another loop. |
At another aid station a volunteer recognizes me from the pose I struck at the end of Blues Cruise 50K three weeks previous as he was the finish line photographer, Jim Blandford. He thanks me for giving him the photo credit and I thank him for both volunteering and taking the photos.
At the end of the first loop I change from my long-sleeve shirt to a red short sleeve Nats "Curly W" shirt. I won't be going to game 4 - or game 5 for that matter but I can show support for the Nats.
Nearing the end of the second loop we catch up with a 40K runner on her second loop. We chat and then she goes ahead again and disappears around a bend. But we soon catch her. She is standing at the side of the trail and her legs are quivering. She had fallen, apparently tripping on a depression, and had dirt from her knees to her chest. Fortunately she didn't hit her face or head and was perhaps more shaken up than injured. she tells us to go on as she starts to walk. Later, within a mile of the finish, she runs past us.
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| Posing in Thoreau's Hut |
As we start the third loop I tell Emaad that we need to pick up the pace to finish under 10 hours. We have been quibbling about the length of the loops - I claim they are 11.7 miles; he claims something shorter, maybe 11.25 miles. It is a silly, friendly argument that is utterly irrelevant - we are racing the clock, not the length of the loop. We did the first loop in 2:47 and the second in 3:21, so we need to finish the third in about 3:51. Since we were about a half hour slower on the second loop, dropping another half hour would work for our goal. But I'm worried that we might lose even more time, so we do pick up the pace, or at least our apparent effort increases.
Every mile I calculate the pace we need to maintain for the remaining miles. But my arithmetic skills are erratic - a phenomenon well known to ultrarunners - and the supposed required pace bounces around for no reason other than computational error. Finally, with about five miles left, it is apparent that we will succeed.
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| The Benches. |
Done photographing I go on. I glance at my watch, do some mental arithmetic and decide that Emaad was right. It is time for a new goal. With just a mile or so left maybe I can go under 9:30. So I pick up my pace. Even though this is the third loop, I become increasingly concerned that I have gone off course as I don't see a pink ribbon for quite some time. Just as I'm getting ready to hit the brakes and start backtracking, I spot one. Confidence restored, I go on.
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| Pennypack Creek |
I'm 45 of 46 overall and 38 of 38 males (DFL!). As I cross the finish line a volunteer first hands me my finishers cap and asks my age, and tells me that I have finished third in my age group. My reward is a nice German Wetterhaus with thermometer.
While most of the finish has been packed up, a volunteer brings Emaad and I some German potato salad and a bratwurst on a bun.
Meet a Champion
We meet up again with Jim Blandford who is helping with the finish line clean-up and learn that he is much, much more than a mere aid station volunteer and sometime volunteer race photographer. It takes a bit of prying to learn that he is a Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 Mile winner. (He doesn't mention his two third place finishes either.) And while we talk about running Bull Run Run 50 Mile, he only mentions his ten finishes, not that he won this year's edition (his second BRR win) and he as five other top seven finishes. Many ultrarunners are modest, but Jim is a champion in that, too.
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| Swag: Hat, hoodie, bib, 3rd Place AG Wetterhaus. |
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