Riding the ferry out to Block...chilly...hmmm
Once aboard the ferry, I looked around for some of the people I knew were going to be there. Nobody. A quick check of Facebook? Paul Gray and family had gone out early, and he mentioned me by name that I'd better have an iron stomach, as the seas were quite rough. I've been surfing for 25+ years now, and I don't get seasick. Lucky me. Not so lucky for quite a few others once we left the harbor, though, as I finally met up with Mike K., Tracy C., and their friend Greg. Turns out Mike, among others on the ferry, were prone to seasickness, so we made conversation on the ride out and Mike made it without hurling. It was rolling pretty good out there! I loved it.
We decided to walk up the hill from the ferry, much to the dismay of the shuttle bus driver. He even yelled something at us about walking, when there was a perfectly good bus right there!
Got checked in at the race, and it looked like the Sun might even come out! Found Paul and Carol Ann, got caught up with Way, and changed into my singlet, ready for a warmup which I ran right before the race with Paul.
Last year my Strava app had the course measured at exactly 6 miles. Knowing that miles 1-2 were for banking time, as the trails and hills at miles 4-5 were abrupt and cruel, I went out at a mid-7 pace at the beginning. Mike went out fast and I soon lost sight of him. I caught Paul a mile in, then got passed by Tracy and Greg, but I stayed with them for pretty much the entire race. The mile 4 hill sucks. Everyone I saw was power hiking it, it's just a tough point in the race for a hill of that grade (10-15%). I created a segment for it on Strava as well...
So after a series of climbs and drops, to the tops of hills and bottoms of ravines, the Sun was pretty much out and it had gotten very, very humid. I sweat like a whore in church in the winter, but noticed that my singlet was now ready to be wrung out, and sweat was starting to sting my eyes. I knew there was a gully with wood planks near the end of the trail section, then a short hill to a ladder climb over a low stone wall, followed by a short gravel road sprint to the finish. Hey, it's the ladder!
I'm an idiot. Next to the ladder was a sign that said "Go Left!" but it had wilted and couldn't be read, so I traversed the wall and my first glance was to my right. There's an orange directional arrow pointing in that direction, so off I went. Never bothered to look left. Cruised past one, then two arrows (that were for the beginning part of the race when we started...), and looked over my shoulder to see who was behind me. Three or four people popped out from the woods and took off in the other direction...and there you go, dumbass! I immediately double-timed it back the other direction, all the while watching all the people I'd passed popping out and trucking toward the finish. I was 100 yards behind Tracy for most of the race, and she finished in 27th at 50:30? I'd had been right behind her for 28th place; alas, my blunder bumped me to 45th place in 53:23, unofficially, out of 230-ish runners? My mistake, and I had a great time at the race so it's all good!
Got to watch the awards before leaving. Tracy had mentioned that she thought it was so cool that age group winners got a special t-shirt that recognized they won their division, but that the awards only went one deep. Guess who won her age division? This gal:
Tracy wins her division, awards presented by Way Hedding!
Who's the big winner? Tracy, that's who!
She also got a super cool beer stein, with plaque and Shad Bloom logo. We were all pretty jealous about that! Hopped the ferry back, and oddly, ran into Muddy at the packy, where I gave him a short recap of my race and headed home to drown my sorrows in a steak and some heavily-hopped IPAs...
Great race, great day, and I really need to stay a bit later next time for a post-race burger and beer, as I was starving all the way home...
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