Forums >Racing>Watchung Trail Marathon RR
ultramarathon/triathlete
Here's my race report:
I ran the Watchung Trail Marathon yesterday in NJ. The start was 1 degree F with ankle-deep snow.
It was the hardest running race I've done and it took two hours more than my usual marathon time. Lots of drop outs apparently (or people dropping down to a shorter distance than they originally registered for). The race director (Hasher Rick on RA) did an outstanding job of marking the trail this year. I couldn't have gotten lost if I tried (I did get lost 2 years ago when I raced this and the marking was not as clear). That made it a lot more bearable. If I'd gotten lost, I'd have sat down and quit I'm sure.
Since everyone was pretty miserable and the suffer level was turned up to 11, the camaraderie also shot way up. I had a lot of really great conversations with some nice folks as we trudged along. I left my garmin at home (oops) but I felt I was pushing a 6:30 pace in EFFORT while moving at what I assumed was an 8:30 pace in reality. Turns out the reality was more like a 10 minute pace! DAMN that snow and ice was hard to move through, but I was really well bundled and wasn't cold at least.
I'll do the race again, if there's no snow.
Guess I'm in the more miles than degrees club now!
HTFU? Why not!
USATF Coach
Empire Tri Club CoachGatorade Endurance Team
Congratulations! I've run in snow before and it's what I imagine running in sand is like. So much more effort. Way to stick it out. I looked up the race and it seems badass! "No shirts, no awards." Love it!
Call me Ray (not Ishmael)
On On
Great race. Thanks for saying hi before you left. We run the same course in June if you want to do it without snow.
NJ Trail Series NJ Trail Series on Facebook NY NJ Runners Group @rickmcnulty
I love running while it is snowing, but hate running in snow. I did my long run this morning in a few inches of snow and felt exactly like you did with effort and pace ratio.
Great job on pushing through and finishing.