NJ & MD

Saturday September 21 2019

This was my first double race, double state weekend – obviously a time and cost effective way to take down two states quickly, if I can travel easily between them, and only need one set of flights. I was interested by how I would do racing-wise, competing twice in 24 hours, against others who have probably been preparing for just the single event over the previous weeks or months. Obviously I had raced more than twice in such a time frame before, having completed BRRs and the Ragnar, but those events are races against other people all in the same boat. So, this was new territory, two big racing events, in just over one day.

Friday after work I flew Charlotte to Newark, then walked over to the airport Marriott. I bought some expensive food from the hotel shop and went to sleep. I woke up early Saturday morning and got the airport shuttle over to Dollar Car rental. I picked up my Fiesta, and off I went to Mountainside, NJ, just outside Newark, to arrive in time for the 10 mile trail race, The Yukon Gold Rush, held at the Watchung Reservation – https://www.njhiking.com/nj-hikes-watchung-reservation/. There were 50K and 20 mile race options going on, too, as well as various relay teams, so lots of people milling around. It was a nice crowd with plenty of food and drink afterward.

The 10 mile course was actually nearer 11! There were sites to see, too – we ran past an Old Mill, a Ghost Town from those bygone days of industry, a nice lake & a cemetery. The course was hilly & a lot of it was on EXTREMELY technical rocky terrain – lots of sharp, high, thin rocks, covering the trail. I rolled both ankles in the first three miles, and it became a real struggle. I stuck with a guy and a girl for the middle 5 miles or so, then left them at the end to bring it home. It was a tough run but I placed 7th overall, 1st in age group.

Before the race and our 10 mile results –

Visiting Jim’s wife’s old house and Italian resto recommendation after the NJ race, before making my way to MD –

Sunday September 22 2019

After exploring Mountainside and surrounds, I drove on to Baltimore, MD, for state number two of the weekend. Three hours and some podcasts later, I arrived in Towson, and picked up my race packet from a student bar. I then headed to my chosen place of rest – the Comfort Inn, East Towson. Not a hotel that would have been high on Becca’s list…

I grabbed tea from a nearby Chipotle, got my gear ready for an early start the next morning, secured a late checkout from the front desk, and went to sleep.

Sunday, I got up early, grabbed a quick free breakfast of cereal and banana from the hotel, and headed off to the Johnny Unitas Football Stadium, Towson University, for the Dr Sanford J Siegel Zero Prostate Cancer 10K.

I was there pretty early –

I did a half decent warm up, and made my way round the athletics track for the start. There was lots of fanfare. I had found what I thought was the course, online, after the organizers had been unable to produce a course map the day before at the packet pick up, but I had found the wrong course. The real thing was VERY hilly! 5K and 10 K started together but split routes half way.

I placed 2nd overall and secured my first sub 40 10K, actually before I had ever run a sub 20 5K. Amazing considering I had run so hard the day before. The course was a little short on my Garmin but you never know the accuracy absolutely, especially with a course that bends and loops multiple times along the same directions like this one. The race started and finished in the stadium, on the track – so that was cool. The route was lined with crowds of supporters, law enforcement and lots of Boy Scouts.

I had an amazing kick in the last 300m or so, some of which was downhill – and I picked it up especially over the last 100m on the track itself, past all the crowds and more Boy Scout volunteers, finally leaving for dead an amazing guy, who had done the whole thing pushing kids in a double buggy! I’m sure it might have even helped his momentum on the downhills but he must be a truly unbelievable runner without it.

Anyway, I was very happy. I had ran a 39.38 10K PR, my ankles had held up after their battering the day before, and I had secured my highest ever placement in a race. I stayed for the awards, headed back to the hotel to shower, and made my way to Baltimore airport so I could fly back to Charlotte. I was coaching hockey that afternoon back home…