Rosaryville Veterans' Day 50K - November 10, 2018

Emaad shows up at my door on time, I drive up the block and we pick up Gayatri for the uneventful drive to Rosaryville State Park for the eponymously named Rosaryville Veterans Day 50K put on by the Annapolis Striders.

This is Emaad’s first Rosaryville race, but Gayatri and I are both distinguished veterans – of the race that is. It is her fourth Rosaryville, which includes an age group win, and my seventh, with two age group wins.

As always, bib pick-up is easy, and we get our obligatory Rosaryville runner’s premium, a hat. We fiddle about with what to put in our drop bags, which we will get to at the end of the first and second of the three loops of the course.

After a nice a capella rendition of the National Anthem we walk the few yards to the start, and at 8 a.m. we are sent off on a cool morning.

First Lap
Emaad and are well toward the rear of the approximately 140 starters, and in no hurry. After about three quarters of a mile on the paved park road, we turn onto the perimeter trail to begin our first loop.

About to start

I run with Emaad for a couple of miles and then decide that the pace is slower than I’m comfortable with so I go on. I fall in with a woman and we get to chatting as is usual the case in ultras, particularly toward the back of the pack. It is her first ultra and one of her first trail runs.  But it turns out that she is no rookie when it comes to endurance events – she is an Ironman (Ironwoman?) competitor. She explains to me the strategies and her experiences of the swim and the rules governing wet suits. She tells me the rules governing drafting during the bicycling phase and how they don’t really apply when there is the equivalent of a peloton. She plans to go back to the Virgin Islands for an ironman in January. It is unfinished business, as she DNF’d at it a year or two ago.  She describes how the bike part of the race is hard, as it goes uphill and then gets steeper and steeper at each switchback.  When to get off the bike to walk up the steeper hills is an important consideration, because waiting too long does not provide enough time to unclip the cycling shoe before the bicycle falls over.

The "abandoned aid station" in the first half of the loop

At one point I trip and tumble over, but execute a nice 360 degree roll to the right and suffer no injury.

Cross the Bridge
(photo by Jon Valentine)

We go thru the first aid station in 1:05. It’s about midway through the loop and I figure that a good pace will be to add about 5 minutes to each segment.  Rain a couple of days before affected the footing on the course but has raised the water levels in the two streams on the course. The first is easy enough to cross with no problem but the second has no place for much of a running start and a steep muddy bank on the other side. I wind up stepping in the cold water. After a few seconds of reflection I shake off any negative thoughts about it, knowing that it will dry out in a bit.

At the mid-loop aid station manned by Middie volunteers. Go Navy!

Second Lap
I pass through the aid station at the end of the first loop in 1:07 from the first aid station. I’m pleased that I’m pretty much on target timewise.  I refill my bottle, decide to skip a visit to my drop bag and quickly go on my way.
I catch up with experienced ultrarunner Caroline, who has nearly 200 ultras to her credit, including July’s Vermont 100 miler.  She is always upbeat and seems most cheerful when on the course. We run along together chatting amicably. And surprisingly we reach the midway aid station in 1:03. I get a pierogi and a refill. That’s a pleasant surprise and we go on.

This loop I navigate the stream crossing with no problem and get to the aid station in 1:14. I get some potato chips and cookies, then decide that I need to use the portapotty. This is definitely sub-optimal sequencing, but I manage a balancing act. Then I go to my drop bag to discard my hat and gloves.

Third Loop
I head out to catch up with Caroline. As I do I start to get an idea. It’s more like a message in fact. My watch indicates that I got thru the first two loops in 4:29. So maybe, a voice tells me, I can finish in under seven hours. I try to do the arithmetic but I can’t get it to compute.  Instead, I decide that 1:10 to the final aid station is what I need. Given that the last segment was 1:14 that may be ambitious. I kick up the pace tell Caroline as I pass that I’m on a mission from God.  I repeat the line as I pass several other runners. Getting to the aid station in 1:03 affirms that I’ve got a chance.
And then, confusion brings me to a halt. There is a tree down across the trail. No tree was there in the first or second loop and I stop thinking that I’ve gone off course. I look back to see if I can spot ribbons marking the course and start to backtrack. Another runner comes along and assures me and a couple of more runners that we are going the right way, and that the winds during the day have brought the tree down.

Rusting farm equipment in the second half of the loop

At the stream crossing I avoid the water but step in the mud on the other side. A runner passes by just splashing through the water, and I congratulate him on making the better choice.

At the end of the loop I chirp a “Go Navy” to the midshipmen directing the runners left onto the road to the finish. They respond with the appropriate “Beat Army.”

The "Scary Baby on a Bike" shrine

The final three quarters of a mile is up the same road that we started off on. But it is mostly a long uphill and even though it is not particularly steep it is uphill and feels more uphill than it felt downhill at the start of the race. Having looked at my watch I know that I can walk it in if I need to – and I walk most of the way. But on the final fifty yards, uphill of course, I toss my bottle away and run to and across the finish.

My seventh RVD50K finish
(photo by Jon Valentine)

One of the finish line workers gives me my finisher’s medal and says she thinks I’m the first in my age group to cross the line.  I’m a bit surprised but that sounds like unexpected good news. Race director Tom comes up to me and asks if I’m Robert Gensler. I tell him who I am and he then recognizes me from my previous finishers. Robert was the age group winner, a comfortable 28 minutes ahead of me.

Swag: Hat, medal and bib

End Details
I spot Gayatri in the pavilion at the finish. She dropped after two laps.  I walk to the next parking lot and bring the car back while we wait for Emaad to finish. He finishes in 7:23. Caroline, who finished in 7:07, joins us and we carpool to Bojangles for the traditional post-Rosaryville meal.

I finish in 6:50:12, 2 of 3 in my age group, 63 of 77 males and 104 of 137 overall.

Seven years worth of Rosaryville hats