People look at you funny when you talk about ultrarunning and they look at you double funny when you say you're "training through" a 50k. Truth is though that if you're fit with good base the difference between racing and running a 50k is only 15-30 minutes out of 5-6 hours which is about the difference between smart racing and the wheels coming off. So with that in mind I signed up for the Trap Rock 50k for April 16th with the idea that it would be a good test of mid-Western States-buildup form.
Julio signed up as well and we arranged to ride up together. He had gone to join the Shenipsit Striders for a 20 mile training run on the course and he came back with cautionary tales of how technical the course was. I looked at last years finishing times and figured that I would likely finish in about 6 hours and guessed Julio would finish 30 minutes ahead.
It was 40 degrees as we started milling about Penwood State Park. It was very cold standing around but I could tell it would perfect running weather. I was very curious to see the course which consisted of 3 10.5-11 mile loops. One of the pleasures of coming to Connecticut has been doing races "sight unseen". The Auburn State Recreation Area is my home base and it's trails are dear to my heart, but variety is the spice of life as I like to say (right before my wife hits me and gives me a warning growl).
Trap Rock is the classic small ultra even in it's second year of existence; half the people know each other, the race director starts the action by saying 'Go' and there are no corporate sponsors to thank, just volunteers.
I'm one of two people from CT in this year's WS so with people drifting in from NY, CT, MA, VT and NH I wore my Western States teeshirt in the hopes that other entrants or alums would strike up conversations. Sure enough, several nice people introduced themselves.
