Solo Trail Racing Through the Pandemic

After feeling worn out and miserable for most of the summer, I got back in the game with a non-race effort at the Hash House Hundred Fast-Ass 100k in late August. That left me wanting to get back into racing trail races and ultramarathons, but of course autumn in 2020 brought another slew of race cancellations courtesy of la 'rona. Throughout the summer I was expecting as much, and came up with a creative way to get in some quality mileage and satiate the trail racing bug.

The project involved attempting a PR on as many of the local trail race courses as I could. For some races, this meant running each of the different distances offered for the event, i.e. the 13k, 26k, and marathon on the Thom B course. Many of these races I'd run at less than 100% effort during the buildup to various ultras. Some, like the FL50s 25k and 50k distances, I'd never raced at all. With a few exceptions, I chose race courses 16 miles and shorter and within a half hour drive of Ithaca. I ran all of them on my own, unsupported or self-supported, following the courses from memory. 

Although the first three listed aren't race courses, I've included them because they're established and noteworthy routes. A few notable courses, like Forge the Gorge, the traditional Lucifer's Crossing course, the Monster Marathon at Treman, and my usual

Thom B Virtual Runs

This is next in a series of mini race reports for various virtual runs and races I'm doing while the COVID-19 pandemic has shut everything down.

Joel Cisne, race director for the Finger Lakes Runners Club's Thom B Trail Runs, decided to go virtual fat-ass style with his race after the club's board voted to cancel it. (With a race date of May 16, it likely would have been cancelled by the NYS DEC anyway.) Joel flagged the course and gave people a three-week window in which to run the 13k, 26k, or marathon and report back with their finish times.

I was hoping to run one or two 13k loops at this year's race, having only ever raced the marathon and the now-defunct 52k at the event. On the evening of May 1 I went up to Hammond Hill State Forest to take advantage of the marked route and hammer out a fast 13k loop.

Things started out okay on the initial climb and ensuing flat trails. It was a few miles before the recent rain muddied up the trails

A Few More Loops at the Thom B, 'Cuz Why Not?

The Finger Lakes runner's Club's Thom B Trail Runs is local, low-key race around Hammond Hill State Forest. The marathon comprises three singletrack loops, plus a mini loop at the end to even out the distance. The event also has one-loop 13k and two-loop 26k options. The small field size and 20-minute drive from my house made the marathon ideal for a final long effort even though I was a week into my three-week taper for the MMT 100. I'd run this race twice before, in 2014 and 2017 when the longest distance was a four-loop 52k instead of the marathon, and I've run the main loop dozens of times in training.

The Thom B is small enough that I thought I had a shot at winning—or at least winning the men's race. That is, until Ian Golden showed up at the start as a last-minute entry. Ian's been running well as of late, and in March he took the win at the inaugural Castle to River 50k against a pretty solid field. I also didn't expect to keep up with Ellie Pell, though I knew she's in training mode for the Buffalo Marathon later in May. I'd been running pretty well myself this year at the smaller, local trail races, and have learned enjoy and feed off of a competitive mindset, even if a race only has a few dozen starters. I also hoped to score some big points in an attempt to win the FLRC 2019 Stonehead series.

From the gun, Ian quickly took off up the rocky dirt road and vanished in the fog as he turned onto the trail. I expected to never see him again. I wanted to run the race at about 90% effort, and even at 110% I knew I'd have no business trying to hang with

Thom B 52k Trail Run 2017

With Cayuga Trails 50 just over the horizon, I signed myself up for the Thom B Trail Runs 52k. The small, local race is a four-looper around Hammond Hill State Forest. It would serve as a supported long run three weeks out from CT50, giving me a chance to test out gear and fueling in a race situation. One week prior to the Thom B, I committed to throwing caution to the wind and actually racing the 52k rather than running it leisurely. Hayley and I were leaving the next day for a week's vacation in the Pacific Northwest. I figured I wouldn't be running much during the R&R and would have plenty of time to recover from a harder 31-mile effort.

With that in mind, I find myself at the starting line on a drizzly Saturday morning, staring up a rutted-out, mud-soaked dirt road with the goal of running under 5:00.

T-minus two minutes to liftoff, and all of the sudden RD Joel,comes roaring up Hammond Hill Road in a rented box truck. He hops out the cab way too cheerfully for someone who's getting soaked in the rain at 6:58 a.m. and has already been setting up aid stations for the past hour. Joel—alter ego Mr. Hector, har har—hollers some pre-race announcements about how all us mild-mannered trail runners become fools the second we pin on a race bib, and reminds us not to do anything foolish like getting lost in the forest. Our main job is to ensure that the Search and Rescue team stays bored all morning.

Thom B 52K Race Report

The morning of Saturday, May 10, saw the inaugural running of the Thom B Trail Runs 52k. The event itself has taken place for the past fourteen years as a 13k and 26k that are part of the Finger Lakes Runners Club Trail Circuit, but this was the first time the four-lap, 52k race was held. The plan was to shoot for a five-hour finish, while using the race as a long training run to test gear and fueling strategies for the upcoming Cayuga Trails 50 three weeks later. I did not intend to race hard today, and aimed for 5:00, or 1:15 per loop.

At 7:00 a.m., fourteen trail enthusiasts took the starting line for the four loops through Hammond Hill State Forest in Dryden, NY. Consisting of dirt roads, single track, ski trails and snowmobile trails, I was expecting a muddy slogfest due in no small part to the heavy rain of the previous two days. After a few words of caution and a few words of thanks, the early morning din of chirping birds and rustling leaves was suddenly disrupted by the race director's shout of "Thom B says go!" followed by the shouts and cheers of the fourteen runners.

The course started off uphill on a dirt road. The leader took off and—spoiler alert—I never saw him again until the finish line. Justin Trana and I settled into a "chase" pack at a comfortable pace and chatted for most of the first 7.8-mile loop. To the delight of my shoes and socks, the mud was minimal and the trails were entirely runnable. Towards the end of the loop, I