The Monster Marathon

The Monster Marathon
Organized by the Finger Lakes Running Club

So my original plan for Labor Day weekend was to drive to New Hampshire and run up Mount Washington. About a week ago, I thought that sounded a little too far and little too boring and wasn’t really feeling very motivated. I decided to look on-line for a trail race that I might be able to use as a long training run. My search yielded the Monster Marathon, less than 4 hours away in Central NY with the claim of being the toughest marathon on the East Coast. Two half-marathon out and backs with a total climb of 5600’. Nice. Minus the altitude, this will match the most challenging day of my TransRockies Run. This will be wonderful. Less than half the distance compared to NH, plus the motivation that goes along with participating in a race. But, I keep telling myself “Not a race, just a training run, don’t overdo it.”

I email the race director early in the week about the logistics of camping up there versus just showing up race morning. The director, Becky, tells me that either is fine, but that if I do decide to come up the night before, a bunch of them are meeting at a restaurant called Jeremiah’s (where the race starts) for their pre-race dinner and then camping there afterwards. Sounds good to me.

I arrive about a half hour late and am surprised to find the restaurant closed. Hmmmm. I drive around the back and there are probably 30 people gathered, hanging out and chowing down on a ton of food that they all brought. Crap! I assumed we’d be eating at a restaurant, having a normal pre-race pasta dinner. And, I didn’t bring anything. I park and approach the group slowly, wondering how the heck I’m going to introduce myself. Fortunately, I must have looked out of place because Becky spotted me right away and yelled over “You must be John, right?” Whew. That made it easy. She introduces me to a group of about 10 of the 30 people. All are incredibly friendly and kind and VERY talkative. I’m led to the ‘buffet’ and eat things I’d never ever had the night before a marathon. 3 different kinds of lasagnas, a black bean salad, brownies, two excellent fruit cobblers, and I can’t remember what else. I did manage to stay away from the beer though. Everything was great. I can’t say enough about how friendly these people were. Oh, another thing. About an hour after getting in my car I realized I didn’t bring any warm clothes…all I had was my race outfit for Sunday and the shorts and t-shirt that I was wearing. I was instantly concerned knowing that with it getting into the low 60’s in DE, it would probably be in the low 50’s? in central NY. Well, at 6:30pm when I arrived, it was already in the 50’s. With the sun setting and no humidity, I was already shivering. No problem…in addition to feeding me, they also clothed me. A blanket was soon fetched to keep me warm.

Camping that night was brutal. I froze my ass off! I was in my sleeping bag and wrapped my bath towel around my head like a turban! Low 50’s? Ha. My car said 39 degrees when I got up that morning! What a horrible night. I was so cold that 10-15 minutes into the race, my feet were finally starting to warm up and were getting itchy like your fingers and ass get when you come in from shoveling snow!

Now to the race, I mean, training run. Another thing that was attractive about the race was the price. Only $17 for pre-registration and $25 for day-of registration. Wow! That is like 5k prices! It’s a small race. I think there were only 36 entrants for the marathon and 56 for the half marathon. Coffee, water, and breakfast type foods before the race. Sandwiches, newtons, pasta salad, Gatorade, water, nuts, M+Ms, and fruit after the race. A simple, homemade medal awaits the finishers and it really stands out next to all my others. No free t-shirts or other race wear, but there are t-shirts, hats, and technical t-shirts available for $3, $6, and $12. Extremely reasonable. What a fantastic bargain. I highly recommend this race to anybody looking to get into the woods, challenge themselves, and meet some great people.

Another thing that was a little different was the staggered/handicapped start. The marathon clock starts at 8:00 am, which is the same time that men 37 and younger start. As your age increases, you get to start earlier and earlier. For example, a 45 year old man might start at 7:45 and a 55 year old might start at 7:30. Everybody’s time starts at 8:00 though and the first one to cross the finish line is the winner. For the ladies, they get a 20 minute head start on their same aged male counterpart. Pretty unique.

I broke a streak during this race. For the first time in 5 races, I wasn’t off-course! It was extremely well marked and the people who were supposed to know where I was going actually did know! Wow. What a concept.

I started with the last group at 8am. There were about 8 or 9 men under 36 who started with me. The first ~0.9 miles are on a two lane country road and then an access road to the trail. Once you hit the trail, you go straight up. The climb is about 800 feet in under a mile. That is almost a 20% incline. And, since we’re all bunched up at the start, we’re all pushing each other up this hill at a pretty fast pace. Surprisingly, I don’t find it too bad but I’m definitely not looking forward to the second time around! At the top of the hill, I’m second out of the group that I started with and third and fourth are not far behind me. Over the next several miles, they are close enough to hear and nip my heels, but never pass me. As I get about 10 minutes from the turnaround point, the guy in front of me in our group passes me going the other way. Holy crap he is flying! This is actually good. With a small group of entrants, I’m wondering in my head “Any chance at winning this thing?” Hell no! The only chance I have of catching that guy is if he DNFs for some reason. This helps me rein in my effort a little and get more in the training run mode instead of race mode. But, I’m still pushing and trying not to get passed.

I reach the 13.1 mile mark and my splits are pretty close, 1:00:56 and 1:00:25. Hmmm…can I break four hours? Also, there a 6 people in front of me at this point. I know that I’ll pass two of them within a couple of miles and that two others will not be caught. So the best I can do is third. I can’t tell if I’ll be able to catch the other two guys.

I do pass two rather quickly. About 10 minutes before the 2nd turnaround, the two fast guys pass me going the other way. I was right…no way to catch them. They are racing for first. Up the giant 0.25 hill to the turnaround and one possibly catch-able guy is coming down the other way…maybe about 0.5 miles total in front of me. At the top at the aid station the other possibly catch-able guy is there. He is finished and will not continue. Didn’t stay long enough to find out why, but I hope he is ok. My split for that leg was 1:03:13. Definitely not finishing under 4 hours. With nobody chasing me, I slower down and, despite starting at 41 degrees, the temps are heating up now and its getting warm. I’m starting to fatigue and get my first hunger pangs at about 3:05. I’ll survive and probably finish pretty strong, but 26.2 will be enough.

On the final leg, as I’m passing people going the other way, I’m trying to find out how far the guy in third place is in front of me. Sometimes I get “1-2 minutes”. Other times it is “about a mile”. So I have no idea. Finally, around the 24 mile mark, I spot him. It takes me a while to catch him and when I do, he picks it up a bit. I’m thinking to myself the whole time “He is toying with me. He’s going to keep me in striking distance and catch me at the end.” For a good while, he stays within about 30-40 seconds of me. I hope that I can make it down the hill and be tied with him. Once we hit that final 0.9 miles on the road, I’m confident I can out-kick him to the end. He is maybe 10 years older than me and I assume his technique on the hills will be better than mine but that being younger I’ll be able to out sprint him. Fortunately, it never comes to that. I have about a minute lead on him at the bottom of the hill and still add some kick just to be safe. I think I finished about 2 minutes in front of him. Final split was 1:05:51 and total time was 4:11. 1st and 2nd place were waaay in front of me. 3:34 and 3:38, I think.

The race was a great mental boost for my Rockies race. I’m very happy for that reason as well as for the fact that I got to do a wonderfully organized trail race and meet some great people. If you’re up for a challenging trail marathon, I highly recommend this race. And I can’t say enough nice things about the people I met. Becky and Finger Lakes Running Club…Thanks for an extremely rewarding experience!!!