Adirondack Distance Festival
Some 280 kilometres from Ottawa lies the lovely town of Schroon, New York, nestled beside Lake Schroon, in the Adirondacks. Heaven knows what else it is famous for, if anything, but the one thing it has going for it is the Adirondack Distance Festival, on the weekend of September 24-5.
This is the ninth year running, and it offers a 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon. After doing the Alpine Classic eight-mile cross country race in Jordan, New York, a couple of times, I decided it was time to head somewhere else, and a scan of Runner’s World turned up the Distance Festival. Going somewhere for a race within reasonable driving distance in the fall as a mini-vacation for my wife and me has become a bit of a tradition, so Lake Schroon it was.
The half and full marathon wind around Lake Schroon, and the marathon is indeed a challenge, with some significant long uphills in the first half. For almost the first time, I decided to actually “train” for a race, rather than just go out and run around. I adopted the Runner’s World July 2004 issue’s nine week half marathon training guide, at intermediate level, and followed it religiously. I settled on a half pace of 5:15, and the rest was mathematics, and some 260 kms of intervals, speed work, hills, long runs, etc. But it worked, as I did the Terry Fox Run in 46:14 the Sunday before the half, the fastest time ever for me.
It’s a pretty drive to Schroon, about an hour southeast of Lake Placid, just off I-87. After driving the course, I agreed with the organizers that the first half of the half was virtually dead flat, and the second half, coming up the west side of the lake, had “gently rolling” hills, which looked pretty gentle in the car.
I hit the local wine store for alcohol loading the night before, and we took in the pasta dinner as well. I had no idea this area was so into the Bible belt. Every church you could think of has some kind of camp or Bible study facility here, including a megacomplex, The Word of Life, site of the dinner, which makes General Motors look like Dinky Toys. There is a Word of Life Bible study centre, an Olympic training centre, a campground, an Inn, their world HQ on an island in the lake, and probably more, all over the place. In a long conversation with the manager of the Inn, where the dinner was held, I learned they are “conservative Baptist” in their outlook, which probably accounts for the fact that the most exciting drink they had was herbal tea.
Race day dawned perfectly; overcast, virtually no wind, and about 12 degrees (50 something for Americans). After the marathoners took off from the centre of town, the half marathoners climbed into buses and were taken to the halfway point on the other side of the lake, and an hour later, off we went. Amazingly, I even connected with another running blogger who had entered the race! My not-so-trusty Garmin Forerunner 201 died at one minute and five seconds into the race, and only rarely came back to life during the entire race, to tell me I was pretty much on pace. I had neglected to start my stopwatch, relying on the Garmin (my bad) and so was running kind of blind, but the pace felt good.
There were plentiful water stations all along the route, and a couple of bluegrass bands. The 1500 or so souls of Schroon really get into the races, with lots of cheering. Traffic control is excellent.
About halfway along the “gently rolling hills” started, but they were not too serious; mostly long inclines and declines. The last one at the 12.5 mile mark was a long upward slog, however. As we neared the finish, a little mental mathematics told me I might even better my target time. I sprinted for what I thought was the finish, only to discover that it really was another 300 metres or so around the corner. “Arrrgh” said the legs, but I finished in 1:47:10, nicely under my target of 1:50, and about nine minutes better than the 2004 NCM half, my last race of that distance. Maybe this training stuff actually works.
To my pleasant surprise, my time was good enough for second place in my age group, exactly one second behind the first place guy. If only I had sprinted just a bit harder…
There was one other runner in the half from Ottawa; Layla Prieur captured third place in the 30-34 age group with a nice 1:37:43 time. The male winner was Drew Best, a 23-year-old from Southington CT, with a 1:12:34 time, and the top female was Katherine Danner, a 31-year-old from Mecklenberg NY, with a 1:24:59 time, and a new course record by almost two minutes. The male marathon winner did it in 2:48:30 and the top female came in at 3:13:46. There was one female marathon runner from Ottawa, Susan Killeen Ramsay, who finished second in her age group, 50-54, with a 4:25:58 time.
The race ended up with a free dinner for racers and volunteers at a local pub. The Distance Festival is a well-organized weekend, with great community support and a very scenic course. Next year it will be one week earlier, with expanded events, to celebrate its 10th anniversary. See http://www.adirondackmarathon.org/.
This is the ninth year running, and it offers a 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon. After doing the Alpine Classic eight-mile cross country race in Jordan, New York, a couple of times, I decided it was time to head somewhere else, and a scan of Runner’s World turned up the Distance Festival. Going somewhere for a race within reasonable driving distance in the fall as a mini-vacation for my wife and me has become a bit of a tradition, so Lake Schroon it was.
The half and full marathon wind around Lake Schroon, and the marathon is indeed a challenge, with some significant long uphills in the first half. For almost the first time, I decided to actually “train” for a race, rather than just go out and run around. I adopted the Runner’s World July 2004 issue’s nine week half marathon training guide, at intermediate level, and followed it religiously. I settled on a half pace of 5:15, and the rest was mathematics, and some 260 kms of intervals, speed work, hills, long runs, etc. But it worked, as I did the Terry Fox Run in 46:14 the Sunday before the half, the fastest time ever for me.
It’s a pretty drive to Schroon, about an hour southeast of Lake Placid, just off I-87. After driving the course, I agreed with the organizers that the first half of the half was virtually dead flat, and the second half, coming up the west side of the lake, had “gently rolling” hills, which looked pretty gentle in the car.
I hit the local wine store for alcohol loading the night before, and we took in the pasta dinner as well. I had no idea this area was so into the Bible belt. Every church you could think of has some kind of camp or Bible study facility here, including a megacomplex, The Word of Life, site of the dinner, which makes General Motors look like Dinky Toys. There is a Word of Life Bible study centre, an Olympic training centre, a campground, an Inn, their world HQ on an island in the lake, and probably more, all over the place. In a long conversation with the manager of the Inn, where the dinner was held, I learned they are “conservative Baptist” in their outlook, which probably accounts for the fact that the most exciting drink they had was herbal tea.
Race day dawned perfectly; overcast, virtually no wind, and about 12 degrees (50 something for Americans). After the marathoners took off from the centre of town, the half marathoners climbed into buses and were taken to the halfway point on the other side of the lake, and an hour later, off we went. Amazingly, I even connected with another running blogger who had entered the race! My not-so-trusty Garmin Forerunner 201 died at one minute and five seconds into the race, and only rarely came back to life during the entire race, to tell me I was pretty much on pace. I had neglected to start my stopwatch, relying on the Garmin (my bad) and so was running kind of blind, but the pace felt good.
There were plentiful water stations all along the route, and a couple of bluegrass bands. The 1500 or so souls of Schroon really get into the races, with lots of cheering. Traffic control is excellent.
About halfway along the “gently rolling hills” started, but they were not too serious; mostly long inclines and declines. The last one at the 12.5 mile mark was a long upward slog, however. As we neared the finish, a little mental mathematics told me I might even better my target time. I sprinted for what I thought was the finish, only to discover that it really was another 300 metres or so around the corner. “Arrrgh” said the legs, but I finished in 1:47:10, nicely under my target of 1:50, and about nine minutes better than the 2004 NCM half, my last race of that distance. Maybe this training stuff actually works.
To my pleasant surprise, my time was good enough for second place in my age group, exactly one second behind the first place guy. If only I had sprinted just a bit harder…
There was one other runner in the half from Ottawa; Layla Prieur captured third place in the 30-34 age group with a nice 1:37:43 time. The male winner was Drew Best, a 23-year-old from Southington CT, with a 1:12:34 time, and the top female was Katherine Danner, a 31-year-old from Mecklenberg NY, with a 1:24:59 time, and a new course record by almost two minutes. The male marathon winner did it in 2:48:30 and the top female came in at 3:13:46. There was one female marathon runner from Ottawa, Susan Killeen Ramsay, who finished second in her age group, 50-54, with a 4:25:58 time.
The race ended up with a free dinner for racers and volunteers at a local pub. The Distance Festival is a well-organized weekend, with great community support and a very scenic course. Next year it will be one week earlier, with expanded events, to celebrate its 10th anniversary. See http://www.adirondackmarathon.org/.
posted by Bill Horne | 6:15 PM
1 Comments:
It was a lovely race, wasn't it. Congrats on beating your goal time!
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