Sunday, October 20, 2019

Ghost Train Trail Race

I wasn't prepared to love Ghost Train, but I did. I woke up this morning at 5:15 a.m. completely unenthusiastic about the prospect of driving up to Milford, NH to run a 15 mile trail race. It was dark and cold; I was nicely spooned around my boyfriend in bed. Did I really want to haul myself up and go run for a few hours? Yes, of course, I did. Kind of.

Ghost Train, put on by TARC, is both an ultra run and a 15 mile trail race that utilizes the Granite Rail Trail between Milford and Brookline, NH. The course is an out-and-back along a flat well-groomed section of trail that is more run-able than anything I have previously encountered in New England. The ultra starts on Saturday morning and has runner complete the 15 mile out-and-back as many times as possible, with a 100 mile option (and turn-around in the trail to indicate it). For the more mild among us, there's the 15 mile trail run, which joins the ultra in medias res at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday.


I left my house bright and early and arrived in Milford, NH about an hour before the race was scheduled to start. Since check-in took about two minutes, I waited huddling around the fire and checked out the scene. Awesome aid station? Check. Helpful volunteers? Check. People who looked way good considering they had been running since 9:00 a.m. the day before crossing a timing mat? Check. Yes, it was definitely an ultra.

A few minutes before the 8:00 a.m. start the group of 15 mile and relay runners made its way to the starting line. The weather was just getting sunny, but it was crisp and cold with temperatures hovering at 30 degrees. I huddled down into my quarter-zip fleece as we waited through some brief announcements. Then, with little fanfare -- just the way I like it! -- we were off.

I didn't have any real race plan going into Ghost Train. This was a chill end of season race for me; honestly I was just curious about the course, which I had heard was flat, and about what it would be like to see so many folks going for 100 miles. I hadn't been running distance much lately, as I've been focused on obstacle course racing and getting my speed back after doing a 50K and a 6-hour race this summer. The longest I'd run since mid-August was around six miles. However, I was definitely sick of the run/walk that had dominated ultra training. I remembered, with a glow that only a false vision of the past can take on, running 10:30 miles for the entirety of the Wineglass Marathon the fall before, or running Fort Hill Half Marathon at 9:45 pace the previous April. I had been working hard to get my relative sense of speed back, but I hadn't been running long. How would this go? I promised myself that I would run the entire first half. Then, if I was COMPLETELY DEAD I could switch to run/walk, but I really wanted to prove to myself I could run -- and only run -- a long-ish distance again. The trick was to run easy, at a comfortable pace and take a break at the aid stations if I needed.

All the said, the first mile or two of the race I was still not in race mode. 90% of me still wished I was home in the warm house with my loving boyfriend. I was freakin' cold out after all! But soon I got into my groove.

Two things helped. One was that the Ghost Train course was amazingly run-able. I am used to courses that say well-groomed and still have roots everywhere and rolling hills that keep my pace down into the 13:00 to 14:00 range. But these trails were so easy to run! I jogged along at a super easy 12:00 pace and looked around. It wasn't the most beautiful course, but it was a lovely run through the trees and the going was easy.

The second thing that helped was that Ghost Train had a super fun vibe. The fact that the course was an out-and-back meant that you got to see people and cheer them on all the time. Cheering on the ultra runners who were trying to hit 100 miles was epic. Plus, Ghost Train really went all in on the Halloween theme. You didn't go more than a half mile without running through dozens and dozens of carved pumpkins or without passing a skeleton showing you the way. Even the road crossings were fun -- about a mile into the course we went through a tunnel under the road that was super festive with lights.


It was a little over the two mile mark when we hit the first and only "technical" and hilly section of the course. There was around 300 feet in elevation for the entire run and I bet a bunch of it was here. Nevertheless, it was a pretty easy climb. I switched to a fast walk for the hills (totally allowable in the trail running community and even by my run-the-entire-race plan). The race organizers had made the hill fun though. Everywhere, pinned to trees, were plates with jokes, motivational phrases, or short anecdotes. I was glad to slow down a little to enjoy them.


The hill done, it was back to running. I was moving along at a good pace and beginning to actually enjoy myself. I hadn't had the opportunity to run long in a while and, while I was enjoying my speed work, it was nice to get to mix it up. I was feeling good by the time I reached the first aid station at the three mile mark. I quickly stopped to use the restroom before continuing on at an even pace. The trail continued straight onward making it easy to keep up a nice easy run and get into the zone.

Before I knew it, a few miles had passed. I saw a lake to my right, and, next thing I knew, I was nearing the turn around at Camp Tevya, where all the ultra runners had set up their tents. The trail ended, and I found myself running along a paved road adjacent to some summer cabins, shuttered for the fall. I ran past runner taking a break in their tents and past the aid station -- the turn-around was at the end of the street. There, I crossed a short covered bridge, ran a tiny half circle around a pumpkin, and began to head back. Adjacent to the aid station was a timing mat that I crossed to get my slight-more-than-half-way split.


Even though I hadn't been running great distances I found myself feeling pretty fine. As per my plan, I was taking it easy. I'd skipped the second aid station and instead had been consuming some ProBar Chomps I had brought and drinking Tailwind. The race cut-off was four hours; having reached the half way point in around 1:30 I was well ahead of that, and figured I'd just keep moving along. I wanted to keep up the good running I was doing as long as I could.

At just around the 10 mile mark I felt my energy begin to flag a little. I wasn't feeling bad by any stretch, but my legs were getting a tiny bit tired. I had registered for Ghost Train for fun, nominally, I reminded myself. I was running well and didn't have any performance goals beyond "keep running." The decor at Ghost Train was so entertaining that I decided to do something I basically never do at races and allow myself to stop for a second now and again to take pictures, hence the four images in this blog post. I also told myself that I only have two miles to go to the aid station and from there it was an easy 3 miles to the finish. I run five mile all the time -- this wasn't so bad.


Past mile 11 I decided to treat myself by adding some music to my run. I popped in my AirPods and put on my Spotify "On Repeat" playlist (quietly, so I could still interact with fellow runners). Pumped up tunes filtered into my ears, and instantly I perked up. It was a distraction I had needed; the flat run-able trail was great but it was also a bit monotonous after over two hours and the music helped. I was feeling pretty much fine as I arrived at the PowerLines aid station, so I quickly refilled my water and kept on moving. I had about half an hour of running to go, and I was ready to get this done!

In what felt like no time at all, I was back to the hill. I climbed up and over, again enjoying the messages posted on trees along the way. I went through the tunnel with the festive lights and knew I had 0.5 miles to go. I was running well. After all this time run/walking my long runs, I was pleased that I was running almost an entire long run (minus walking the hill), and that I was feeling good.

I crossed into the finish area and across the timing mat with an elapsed time of 3:01 and a moving time, which is what you can see on Strava (below), of 2:28. I celebrated by eating half a grilled cheese and some avocado wraps and purchasing a Ghost Train hat for $15, since registration didn't include any swag. Plus I was happy to purchase swag: the race was $25 and proceeds from the race and the hat all went to support trail maintenance.



I ended up having a better time at Ghost Train than I anticipated. The vibe was excellent, the decorations stellar, and the trails were so pleasingly easy to run. I have loved working on getting my speed back over the past few months. This run reminded me how fun running long can be -- having adventures in new places and seeing new things is part of the long run experience. 15 miles is a nice distance; long but not too long. I am currently finalizing my 2020 season and will definitely consider if the 15 mile Ghost Train can fit in my schedule again.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Rugged Maniac 2019

If you’re an obstacle course racer, chances are that you’re aware that Rugged Maniac is a fun time. The 5K, 25 obstacle event features unique and enjoyable obstacles at a do-able distance. It’s a great introductory race if you’re a diehard who wants to bring your friends.

My first Rugged Maniac was two years ago. Though I can almost always be found hanging out with my NE Spahten teammates, Rugged Manic 2017 was an opportunity to race with some of my fellow Amherst College employees. I missed the race in 2018 because I was running the Wineglass Marathon at the time. As a result, I was excited to be able to take part in 2019.

Race day started early with a bike ride over to Coach’s house to meet him and Chief (i.e. Chief of Police!) for a carpool to Southwick’s Motocross 338, the race venue. The ride over was certainly festive with Chief revving the engine of his super cool Mini and Coach playing Tool on the car stereo. When we arrived at the venue things were quite organized. Parking was $10 and right near the festival area. We arrived about half-an-hour before our 9am elite wave and had no issues whatsoever with being ready in time. Registration was a quick walk from the car and took all of a minute or two. I was issued a bib (no chip timing for Rugged) and t-shirt. The volunteer wrapped two wristbands around me to signify that I was over 21 and eligible for a free beer.

Rugged Maniac offers free bag drop, but because the car was so close, we opted to head over there to leave our t-shirts and change our shoes before the race. From there, it was off to the starting corral.

Though Rugged Maniac is, as I mentioned before most famous for being a fun introductory-level OCR, Coach and Chief were eager to race, which meant that we were running the elite heat. There was some minor hoopla and “interesting” announcements as we waited. I tried to get jazzed up. I had run the 5K race in 42 minutes two years prior and was curious to see how my finish time this year would stack up. I certainly was not quite as fast at the moment, having devoted the summer to ultras, but the last couple of months had me back on track training for speed. I was working my way back up to being faster.

Rugged Maniac has been at Southwick’s Motocross 338 for an amazing 10-years. As we took off to tackle the course, I reminded myself from last year of what to expect. The first mile took us along trails in the woods and was fairly fast without too many ups and downs and few obstacles. The second mile definitely would slow things down as we hit the many hills and sand of the motocross course as well as an increased concentration of obstacles. The last mile was all about hanging on!


The course featured 28 obstacles. They were, for the most part, fairly approachable to anyone of a modest fitness level, though there was a rig that was a bit of work. The obstacles were certainly enjoyable. I was pushing through the course but still had time to appreciate that Rugged Maniac is nothing if not a good time. Here’s a bit of detail about the 2019 obstacles:

1. Shoe Catcher: Standard mud to run through.
2. Jacob’s Ladder: Large a-frame ladder with big rungs to go up and over.
3. Barricades: Wall with a rotating pipe on the top to add a bit of challenge.
4. Pull Your Weight: Hoist.
5. Quad burners: Climb a pile of dirt and scamper down. Again. And again. And again.
6. Claustrophobia: This obstacle featured trenches racers had to crawl through with a tarp on the top.
7. The Trenches: Jumping over these gaps would have been great. I almost cleared each one but didn’t quit make it, requiring a scramble on the far side.
8. Antrigravity: Jump across a set of trampolines to a cargo climb. Hilarious.
9. Hell and High Water: Racers had to traverse a set of floating platforms in the water, grabbing ropes from above to help keep balance.
10. Mind the Gap: Climb and inflatable and slide into a pool of water. The water went right up my nose. Yuck. Also, it was f-ing freezing.
11. Pole Position: Short climb to a platform and then down a fireman’s pole.
12. Jump Start: This obstacle required racers to jump to clear an inverted wall and then grab the a-frame ladder above. I actually didn’t get enough speed on the first attempt and had to run at the wall again to clear it.
13. Iron Curtain: Run through some hanging curtains (a la what you see at the carwash) before crashing into a pool of water. I was glad that Chief warned me the pool would be deep because I submerged.
14. Commando Crawl: Barbed wire crawl.
15. Leap of Faith: Usually when I see an obstacle of this name on a course map, I assume I’ll be jumping from a really high platform into a deep pool of water. Rugged Maniac makes this more accessible. It’s a water jump but from a ground-level platform. The water was wicked cold though. I think I must have looked panicked when I surfaced because it seems like Chief’s first responder skills were kicking in and he was looking at me as if I needed rescue. I made it, but my muscles had definitely tensed up and it took a little while to catch my breath and get going again. I truly do poorly in the cold!
16. The Drop: This was the first water slide on the course. It was fast, and water decidedly went up my nose. Did I mention the water was cold?
17. Head Scratcher: Another barbed wire crawl. Muddy and wet.
18. Barzan: This was a legit challenging rig. It featured a set of horizontal pipes to shimmy along with your hands. From there, it was on to some swinging trapeze-style pipe before going back down along another horizontal pipe. After finishing the rig, we had to scramble up a pile of dirt. I had been pushing, and felt a moment of nausea. I took a brief moment to regroup.


19. Pyromaniac: Not one but three fire jumps! Of course, this is all for the epic pictures, and while my photo isn’t the most epic ever, at least I can say this obstacle was warm. And a big thanks to Chief for hanging back so we could do this together!


20. Full Tilt: Loved it! Full Tilt was a set of monkey bars on a center pivot. You made your way up to the center and then the entire thing shifted to send you downhill.
21. Slippery Slope: After a short uphill jog, racers encountered Slippery Slope, an inclined 8’ slip wall with an a-frame rope at the top. My first attempt didn’t quite get me the height I needed, and I slid back down. Take two was much better. I ran, grabbed the top, and pulled myself up and over.
22. Sled Dog: Traditional sled drag with a weight plate on a rope. Drag it to you and then walk it back.
23. Fenced In: A water and mud crawl with a fence overhead. You’re definitely going to get close to that gross water, though I’m pretty sure Rugged Maniac added quite a bit of bleach to all their water obstacles to get us started.
24. Feed the Beast: Hehe! Inflatables. Let’s admit it; they are fun and also muddy and gross. But whatever; I love them anyway. Feed the Beast is just what it sounds like: It’s an inflatable monster (see stock image below). Racers haul themselves inside up and over a few set of teeth, before navigating some inflatable pillars in the stomach and then sliding out through a rear tunnel.


25. Off the Rails: An uphill zipline with a rope to hang from. Racers must run, grab the rope and travel up the incline to ring a bell before dropping into the water. In my first effort, I narrowly missed the bell and ended up sliding back down to the platform. I gave it more speed on attempt two and made it. Almost to the finish line!


26. The Warped Wall / Mount Maniac / Accelerator 3.0: This warped wall is tall. I was lucky that a fellow racer at the top pulled me up after I got a running start. From there, it was up the Mount Maniac inflatable before crashing down the super long slide. As you can see from the photos I really made a splash.




I crossed the finish line with a time of 52:25, quite a bit slower than my time the previous year, where I finished in around 42 minutes. Clearly a summer of running long and slow makes you, well, slow. I am glad to be working on speed again in my training. Coach and Chief crushed it, finishing in 35:10 and 50:00 respectively. Well done, folks! Both of them trained hard and pushed hard on course. It was a competitive field this year for the 10th anniversary of Rugged.

Rugged Maniac is a solid race. It's a wonderful entry-level event at an affordable price. It delivers on the fun and, if you want to race hard, on challenge. The obstacles change enough year-over-year to be good for repeat racers. The race-day organization is on-point -- quick check-in, plenty of bathrooms, and a hopping festival area. Rugged Maniac is a good party. It was fun to sit on the bleachers, enjoy a post-race beer, and watch the other racers tackle the course.

2020's Rugged Maniac is already open for registration, and I have the race on my calendar. Since it's the weekend before OCR World Championships I have no big goals but plan to go and just have fun. Because really Rugged Maniac is a good time no matter what.