Post # 3 The Unofficial "6 Hours at the Reservoir!" Non-Race Event Race Report

Pic used with permission by Jimmy Mac

 If you'd like some context for this post...click here.

Yesterday I took part in the Unofficial "6 hours at the Reservoir!" It was held next to the Quillinan Reservoir in Seymour, CT.  I am not sure why it was unofficial...it does makes me wonder where the "official" run is held. Hmmmm... The Race was put on by Jimmy Mac of Live Loud Running, and at this moment I still do not know if his last name is in fact Mac, or if it is short for something else. Despite the fact that Jimmy says "rad" a lot in his videos, and apparently likes to mark race courses in a manner that challenges the runners (two ribbons with one on the left above the other at a trail intersection means take a left Jimmy, not go straight), he put on an awesome "old school" event. Check out his website for Live Loud Running for future events.

As someone who is an older "new" runner and building time on trail and miles, I thought this would be a great event to do for my second run with actual humans.  I did one other 6ish hour event last fall.  I found that as someone who was older and new, you never felt too slow, and never felt like you were not doing enough miles. In a traditional race there are clear cut winners and losers, in an event like this you can enter and run against yourself.  I am sure for the more elite folks there is more of as desire to "win," but that pressure does not trickle down. Since everyone is capped at 6 hours, it is neat to finish and then have some of the top finishers come in after you.  There is never pressure feeling like you are going too slow.

The trailhead and parking was easy to find and just 15 minutes from my house.  I am pretty sure almost everyone ignored Jimmy's parking directions as there were many cars right at the trailhead.  The alternative parking was .5 miles away...who wants to walk .5 miles when you can just park on the shoulder of the road and be steps away from your car after the race!

After a week of freezing and thaw, with some rain thrown in the night before, I couldn't believe how dry the course was.  It is a 3.8 mile loop that we did washing machine style...first loop was counter clockwise, second loop clockwise, etc.  Each had little more than 400' elevation, and only the first mile out of the parking lot going clockwise had a large stretch of straight, generally rock free trail.

I love courses and trail such as this one.  I do not need views, and appreciate the meditation than can occur when running in "green tunnels." It had hills steep enough to make me walk up all day, and downhills that you could fly down along with some easy run-off creeks that you could easily skip across.  I also love that there were lots of tight turns and enough rocks to keep it interesting.  You can check out Jimmy's tour of the course here (Instagram account needed).  The race started with some inspirational quote from Jimmy that went something like "ready, set, go."  Now I had been on this course twice before and could picture the entire thing in my head as we ran the first mile so was surprised to see the lead pack in front take a left early on that I had never taken.  I couldn't believe I had been practicing on the wrong route.  Up the first hill we went....and then back down the first hill.  As I was finishing the first loop with only one person in front of me a whole group passed me already starting on the second loop...I think many folks took some creative turns on the first loop as we got used to Jimmy's markings :) and in the end I think that is what makes a race like this so much more interesting than a overly blazed point-to-point.

I was looking forward to doing 30.4 miles or 8 laps. I had run here twice before and done 27 and 17 miles so 8 laps in 6 hours seemed very doable...and then my wife came home from Florida last weekend.  She came home flat out sick and was wiped out from Sunday through Tuesday.  My daughter went down Tuesday through Thursday.  And then me...from about mile 4 on, I felt like someone had ripped out my hamstrings and every ounce of glycogen had been sucked out of my legs.  I tried some gels, caffeine gum, various drinks and bars that I brought.  I walked more, slowed down more, and just watched the average pace on my watch go higher and higher.  It was then it really hit me how I do not have even close to the experience, weekly or life miles on my legs to push through something like this.  The other thing I thought of is maybe because of lack of over all miles and experience, maybe when I am going to push myself to do something like this a 2 week taper is really necessary at my current level.  I had done some crazy hill things two weeks before, and took one week off.  While lots of people could do this as a training run, maybe I was not affected by being sick, but simply not recovered enough from the weeks before.  In the end I trudged through 7 laps for 27.2 miles which included two wrong turns. 



If I had to guess there were probably about 25 runners that showed up.  I have feeling that it will take awhile for me to show up at a run or race and not feel totally and completed intimidated.  I am not sure how long you have to run to feel like you are a "runner," but my eight or nine months certainly have not yet given me the confidence...and being 50 years old doesn't help either. Geez...after decades of not running it takes soooo much longer to get back into shape when you are 50.  And I have to add that the group that showed up for this run, and for the other run I did in the fall are just the nicest people.  Ultra runners just seem to be some freakish bizarre cross section of the population that are always supportive and kind.

As Jimmy states on his website for Live Loud Running, he likes to put on "old school" style events and I think that is perfect.  I do not want another shirt in my drawer, I don't need fancy food prepped for me, or a blow-up arch to show me where to start.  If you are new to running trails and ultras, the low key nature of the event really helps you feel comfortable. 

Next up for me is the Blue 2 Blue Challenge also put on by Jimmy Mac and Live Loud Running.