Greenwood Furnace Trail Challenge is a half marathon race. It starts and finishes at the state park bearing the same name. Apparently the area got its name from the iron works that were located there in the early to mid 1800s.
Old Iron Furnace, most likely restored by the CCC boys in the 1930s.
Compared to the other races I do this is rather small with only about 100 people turning out for it. It raises money to support Big Brothers and Big Sisters and a African mission. It's located just south of the State College area, with the northern most part of the race getting up into the same general area that the Rothrock trails get into, although I don't think there is any overlap. Overall I would describe it as Rothrock's little sister, shorter and not quite as rocky. Still that doesn't mean it's easy as there are two significant climbs.
Two climbs with about 3000 ft of gain
This race has been on my radar for several years and this year I decided to sign up because I thought it was a little easier than some of the others that I've been doing. Only after signing up did I see the profile. For some reason I had thought there were more, but shorter climbs. Nope just two main ones.
Today was beautiful at the start. Temp in the upper 40s to low 50, mostly sunny and calm.
The view from the back of the pack at the start.
The race is quite low key, so low key that there weren't even any signs for the starting line. (the start and finish lines were several hundred yards apart). This created some minor confusion and I ended up starting at the back of the pack. Not a problem as I wasn't planning on pushing hard and really didn't have a firm time goal in mind. I just wanted to finish strong.
I chose to run in my Hoka Mafates. These were the same shoes that I did Hyner in and tore up part of the sole. I glued it back together with Shoe Goop and let it cure for the past two weeks. Shoe Goop has served me well in the past and I told my wife that the worst that could happen was I'd hobble in on a falling apart shoe. The backpack was ditched in favor of my waist belt with a 24 oz bottle of Perpetuem and another with Tailwind. With three aid stations I didn't see the need for anything more.
After a few quick words of welcome we were sent on our way. The first part of the course is through the parking area and by the finish line to where the actual trail starts. It immediately goes up a gentle grade, easily runnable for me. Even though I had passed a bunch of people we formed the normal conga line. A couple of the girls around me were flipping out already about the trails. I really wanted to say, uh ladies, what part of this being a trail race didn't you understand. I wasn't quite sure if they were really that shocked by the trails, which were very plush at this point, or just making nervous noise.
This was what most of the trails were like for the first 1 3/4 mile. Runnable for me.
Of course this is PA, so we have to throw in some rocks. This is nicer section of a rocky portion.
The first big climb seemed to go on forever and my water bottle was running low. It seems I drink more from my bottles then the hydration pack. At the top of the climb there was some nice single track but it was almost too tight to pass. I got caught up behind some guys that were going far slower then I wanted to but I wasn't going to sweat it, just go with the flow. After a short distance we came to a clearing and the first aid station. I filled up on water and tried the orange slices. Very good. We headed down a steep, rocky, but fairly wide trail. Most of the rocks were positioned good for jumping from one to the other. I thought I was doing real well until a younger girl passed several of us. With her arms outstretched she seemed to glide from rock to rock. I watched her go with a bit of admiration, wonder and disgust. How can anyone be so balanced. It was almost as if she wasn't even touching the rocks, just grazing them as she bounded down the mountain side to quickly disappear. The lady running in front of me commented that she looked just like a deer, I thought of a gazelle. I soon passed several people who are worse descenders than me, yea it's possible, and caught up with a husband and wife running together. She was having a tough time of it on the rocks so I hung back a little. He and I had a short conversation about our Hokas. After awhile the trail opened up and I passed them then was passed by another lady. We ran together until we got into the Alan Seeger Natural area.
Here the trails were extremely plush with some really nice bridges. I should have taken some pictures but decided to keep the foot on the throttle and make up some time.
Soon we came to the halfway point and a aid station. Again I filled up on water and orange slices. Here there was a 3/4 mile section of road that went slightly uphill. As I got to the top I passed gazelle girl. Apparently she goes down much faster than up. We hit the single track again for a long, long climb back up the mountain we had just come down.
At first the trail was pretty nice and somewhere in the picture is another runner coming up the hill, I just can't crop it out enough to find them.
As we got higher we got into more rocks and I caught and passed quite a few people. It was also getting hotter and my water was running low. It was here that I felt a burning on my chest and looked down at my shirt to discover that I had become a member of the "bloody nipples in a white shirt club" . Totally unexpected as I had coated them with two layers of NewSkin before the run. That normally works well. My stomach wasn't feeling the best at this point and then the trail leveled off and we came back out to the first aid station again. Here I replenished my water. It appeared that they were running a little low on it and they didn't fill my bottle completely. I took my time, grabbed some oranges, M&Ms and pretzels and dumped a cup of water down my back. I took a quick pit stop at the porta potty and headed out. With the food in me I was feeling better.
The road leaving the last aid station, a nice soft downhill.
From here until the end it was mostly downhill, although it turned into single track. The young couple in front of me here soon lost me in the steep technical terrain. Again, if I could just descend I would do so much better. At the bottom of the single track we again ended up on a old logging road. I passed several more people here including the young couple. I was hopeful that the road would go on to the end, but alas they had to throw in some more single track. This section was very rocky and I took it easy because I was concerned about falling. Soon it opened into a grassy field and I took off. There was one other runner in front of me and I think I could have caught him. I decided that it wasn't worth the effort. I crossed the line running almost full speed in 3:03:13 and 60/103 finishers. I was mostly happy. I finished strong with no stomach problems, My Hokas held together well and my ankle braces may have saved me from one ankle roll. It looks like I'll be doing all of my races with the braces.
I grabbed some food, a burger, some pasta and a small slice of pizza.
There were also some delicious looking wraps there but I was full. I wish I would have went back for some as I'm sure Couch put in a lot of time preparing them . Way to go with sponsoring a local race!!!
After this I headed home to relax on my deck.
Until the damn bumblebees drove me inside.
some call me Tim
Great report and pics! It sounds like you ran a very smart race. One of these days I've got to come down and run a race with you central PA folks, it's really not that far for me.
ME WEBLARG
Sounds like a great race. Nice view from your deck. I love cows, fields, and hills.
LB2
Tim
Nice race, and congratulations. I've run on some of those trails and they're just like my home trails, rocky and steep. Did some people run with poles?
Sorry about the nipples. I saw your race photo.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
DD1: Nice job on the race. I like the photo at the start, one guy wearing a sweatshirt next to a guy without a shirt. I'd be dressed closer to the guy without a shirt. Maybe you can get Couch to sponsor tee shirts !!!
AT: that photo is painful.
2/17/24 - Forgotten Florida 100 Mile, Christmas, FL
Le professeur de trail
I didn't even know you were signed up for this. Sounds like and looks like a good race. Thanks for sharing. And maybe the key to your stomach issues is keeping the distance (or time) to a certain limit.
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Faster Than Your Couch!
Congratulations, good work! Sounds like you had a blast.
The race had totally slipped from my radar. I would have liked to meet up with you, perhaps race together - and I even had the day off from work.
Maybe next year...
The Greenwood Furnace course is one of my favorite runs, but I don't get to do it very often because of the long driving distance from my home (35 minutes). I love that "up the hill, down the hill, up the hill, down the hill"!
And it's one of the longest hills (in terms of elevation gain) in the area, so I like it to prepare for races like Hyner or Eastern States.
The stretch along the road at Alan Seeger Natural Area is part of the Tussey Mountainback course, but just a very short stretch of it. The Greenwood Furnace course turns into the woods onto single track after about 1/2 mile on the road.
The trails are adjacent to the Rothrock trails, but there is no overlap with the Rothrock Trail Challenge course (new and old courses).
Run for fun.
Blarg - I keep thinking the same thing except in reverse. I'd like to get up into the Finger Lakes area for some of those runs.
LB2 - I often think about moving somewhere else, like out west or eastern Tennessee. Then I look around at what I have and I hate to think of selling this place. The view is decent and the pasture where the cows are at is actually my property, my neighbor just rents it from me.
AT - I only saw one or two people with poles. The guy in the fifth picture was ahead of me for some of the moderately rocky terrain. He didn't run very much, just walked really fast. He was going almost as fast as I could have run it. I finally passed him but he stayed behind me for quite awhile. It's amazing how fast some people can walk. I wasn't bleeding quite that bad, that looks painful.
Sandy - It was chilly enough that I had on a coat. DW was standing next to me and I ditched it when we took off. It was interesting to see how bundled up some people were and even running in tights. I imagine they suffered later.
Jame - This race was better then I expected. I had told DW that it was most likely a one and done for me, but I may be back next year.
Couch - While DW was waiting for me she said she heard some talk that next year this event was going to join with the other big races. She had no idea what they were talking about but I wondered if they were going to join the PA Trail Series races. It would be a good fit since it's in the same area and the other races are either earlier or later in the year.
I would stay right where I was, too.