3rd Running Accomplished!

The longest version of the Trail Travail is now behind us. I say 'longest,' because I achieved my goal of slowing the fastest down to a 2 hour finish. 2:06 to be exact. Congratulations Nathan! Speaking of congratulations, we have the first ever husband/wife first finishers. Awesome job, you two!

I thought Daniel was going to give Nathan a fight out there, but Nathan grabbed an early gap and never let go of it. It was Daniel's first Travail, though, and he did manage to grab some Mardi Gras beads to lower his finish time to an Unofficial 1st. Next year I will iron out the bead bonus. Nathan was rightfully confused about the leaders' eligibility to the time bonus.

I will leave most of this open to the runners' and volunteers' comments (assuming there are any), but I was very happy to see the time difference between first and last finishers was relatively the same as the shorter course years. And no one got lost! At least they didn't admit it to me...

The Belle Isle 'Rock-Hop' was my biggest concern, both because it was late in the run so folks would be more prone to fatigue and injury, and it is a part of the course that the marking ribbon was likely to be torn down. No problems on either count though. I don't know if I would choose to incorporate that next year, but I think I might go back to a shorter, more arduous route.

Congratulations everyone, and thanks to all the volunteers! Be sure to get by Crossroads Coffee and thank them (Will & Olivia) for their generous donation of Joe. Support your local businesses!

The Final Countdown - 2009

I finished marking the course this morning. It was 19 degrees out and windy. It hurt. And I ran it with the marker ribbon in a ziploc bag in my waistband. Due to the closing of the southside Belle Isle footbridge, Travaillers will be rock-hopping the dryway this year...

This year's course is 16.2 miles (according to the Garmin Forerunner). I made it longer this year to make the first finishers have a hard time breaking the 2 hour barrier. Good luck chumps.

We have a potential husband/wife combo win: The Phelans. Nathan came in a close 2nd last year to Tyler VanR, and Eileen (last year's lady champ) had to remove herself from contention.

The weather at start time should be about 40 degrees and it might warm up to 60. Another great day for post-run festivities, but a little warm for a grueling trail run...

See you all Saturday!

Travail 2009 Announced!

Save the date: Saturday, February 7th, 2009.

That's right. The Trail Travail 25K's 3rd running is now on the schedule. As of this post, the LIST is FULL! Actually, the LIST was full within 7 hours of the date announcement. There are more than 5 runners already on the STANDBY LIST. I had no idea that the Travail was so popular! I guess I will have to email everyone to tell them to quit inviting new runners!

Time to finalize this year's route I suppose...

2008 Running Deemed a Success!

It is accomplished!

The 2nd Annual Trail Travail is in the bag, and everyone is accounted for. No missing runners and no serious injuries. The most amazing thing I find is that the winning finish time and the final finish time are almost identical to the Inaugural Running. And this is with a major course change. I guess I was right in my guesstimation that the distance difference was negligible. Although I wonder if this year's wasn't longer - there was more flat running this year, which ought to make it faster...

Now for the recap: Start time had us at about 37 degrees, following a heavy rain less than 36 hours prior to gun time. As the last runner crossed the line, temps neared the high 50s. In the sun of the back yard felt pretty good. So did the cold Richbrau Altbier in your hand. This is the second year for that seasonal brew, and the second year I got it.

Tyler and Nathan took turns pushing the pace until Forest Hill Park. As the two leaders left westbound on Buttermilk Heights, Tyler had a noticeable lead. What went on in the wilds of the FHP?? Not too far behind the lead men, Eileen Abbott (formerly Jacobs) was out of the Park and homeward bound. For the record - Eileen had a water bottle in one hand and the course map in the other (not a bad idea...). Actually, it could have been a short story, but I like to think she took the warnings of knowing the course seriously.

I'd like to take this moment to pat myself and Rick on the back. Especially Rick. Did you all notice how he leap-frogged the runners on a mountain bike? Starting at Hampton and Kansas, Mr. Barlow jammed down North Trail (don't tell Ralph - the trails were closed to bikes) and passed me hanging out below Hollywood Cemetery. While I snapped you guys next to the Haxall-Kanawha Canal, Rick set up shop along the Canal Walk. From there, I jumped to the "Mayan Ruins" (mind you, I was in a Town & Country) and Rick went to the South end of the Manchester (9th St.) Bridge looking down on the Floodwall. Rick - Forest Hill Park & the finish line, me - Reedy Creek and Buttermilk Heights. Be sure to check out the Travail Highlights slideshow.

Now, back to the run... Meredith & Christie were on the Floodwall about the same time Tyler and Nathan (and Mark) were starting into Forest Hill Park. They (Meredith & Christie) almost beat me to the Boulevard Bridge, and Jeff, Jenny, Laurie, Marianne & Bill were alread on their way to the finish as I stopped to catch a few more shots before the final 1.25 miles.

You guys are hard core. So much so, that I've decided to make it harder next year. My goal is to add enough trail to have the first finisher in a sprint to break the 2 hour barrier. I'm sorry, but that means an extra 20-30 minutes for the back end runners. To make amends, I will have a bigger keg. And if I could count on this weather, I might fire up the grill.

The Thank Yous: Volunteers - Jeff Wilson, Marianne Swann, Jenny Hansen, Laurie Teater, Melissa Denbar, Mark Junkermann (RunRideRace.com - finish line & results) & Bill Swann (who was supposed to run, but was injured and threw his hat in as a volunteer). And of course my wife, Stephanie for playing hostess; and Rick Barlow for his bike - photograph - bike - photograph.

Special Thanks: Will Herring & Crossroads Coffee for supplying Reedy Creek with plenty of hot Joe (and Chris Parsons for arranging the Crossroads connection from a sickbed), 360 Graphics for the T-Shirt printing, and everyone at the City of Richmond Parks & Recreation: Ralph White & Nathan Burrell especially for letting us get away with this on the DL, as well as RA-MORE, JROC and any and everyone who puts their free time into building and maintaining the JRPS Trail System. You all make this event possible and should be applauded.

The Final Countdown

2 more days! I hope all the runners are ready. This year seems a little more stressful. I guess because of the T-Shirt production...

Trail marking has begun. I started early this year, and I'm leaving a lot of the course unmarked. I just don't think much of the new course changes are worth marking. Who doesn't know how to run down the Canal Walk and across the Mayo Bridge??

I'm going with Papa John's this year for the pizza. Dominos didn't have much of a discount, and PJ's gave me larges for 6.99 a pie. That's only 2 bucks more than last year, and at least 1/3 more food per pizza. I bumped up the amount to 12. Last year I got 10, and we ran out. But with the chips and salsa, maybe folks will have enough. Going with Richbrau's Altbier for the keg again. It's smooth, and folks who like domestics will be able to drink it.

A Little History...

For those of you new to the Travail, and those of you who never knew (or cared), here is how it all began:

In the Fall of 2006, Terry Ashby and I were running quite a bit in the James River Park System. Probably during one of our 'Full Loop + Forest Hill' runs, which was taking us just over 2 hours, we thought it might be fun to do a race of that distance - totally on the trails.

Of course, several discussions nailed down the particulars; one of which was to make it harder - and longer - than our infrequent 11-12 miler. Hence the addition of a second loop in the FHP. Reversing directions between laps was discarded due to logistical confusion. Around this time, we met with Woody Elliott at Capital Alehouse to see if the idea would fly amongst local trail runners. He seemed to think it would, so we started finalizing the plans.

Above all we wanted to avoid being sued. Running singletrack is a different animal - as you probably already know - than the usual 'training team' kind of runner that likes to sign up for longer distance runs. In order to discourage that kind of participant, we devised "The List." This was our answer to registration. The first emails went out to friends we knew already did trail runs and ultramarathons. Those initial invitees spread the word to parties they felt would be interested. The other way to avoid litigation was to keep this from being a 'race.' This was the same as a 'Thursday Night Run' from the VA Museum; just once a year.

And to make it more fun for the casual runner vs. the hard core runner, we threw in time bonuses. Finding Mardi Gras beads out on the trail benefitted the back-of-the-packers. If you finished at a certain position, you were given a five minute bonus; if you were in the top finishers, getting the beads did you no good. We also gave a little exposure to local business by incorporating the Crossroads Coffee shop on Forest Hill. They were about 150 yards off course, but stopping for a coffee gave you an 8 minute time boost. To expedite this, I purchased the coffee ahead of time to be put aside only for runners - who needed no money - to grab & go.

With the added lap of FHP and the usual finish time of our 12 miler, I figured runners would be finishing no faster than a 2:30. What happened in fact was I almost didn't get back to the finish before Mark Junkermann. He did miss getting on Buttermilk at 22nd St. and ended up running the JRPS access road to Reedy Creek, which I figured saved him no more than 5 minutes. So we removed his 10 minute time bonus for finding the 'every runner eligible' feathered beads. So, with Mark's finish time in the upper 1:40s, and the final finisher coming in around 2:50, I was blown away. I had figured people would be out there pushing 4 hours. This was a testament to our way of recruiting participants I think.

I remembered a James River Scramble training run prior to XTERRA one year where a few people who had no business running 6 miles, let alone doing it off-road, got lost. One guy even took off at his own pace, leaving a minor-aged daughter to fend for herself. I brought up the rear and still never found her. I think she just gave up at 22nd St. and cut back across Belle Isle instead of going out to the Visitor's Center. We definitely didn't want that kind of episode in our event.

I think it all came off without many problems; some folks missed a few turns in Forest Hill Park, and 1 or 2 went up through Maymont instead of turning under the Nickel Bridge in the home stretch (which I didn't mark, thinking that everyone knew of the fence-line trail along the canal). If anyone has any different memories, straighten me out!

Travailers Unite

Hello to you all! Welcome to the Trail Travail Blog. This site will be for contestants, volunteers and spectators of the 25K. Last years participants are invited to share their experiences.

I want to know what your likes and dislikes from last year (no whining about difficulty!). How can we make Forest Hill Park easier for those who aren't familiar with it's labyrinthine course? What post-run party supplies do we need/not need? And what about swag? Some of you are bound to have a hook-up to get custom singlets (or T-Shirts), beer cozies, pint glasses or whatever sounds cool. Maybe you want to design the logo (I will take forever trying to pick something that is both cool and printable).

So anyway, let's fire this blog up and start counting down the days until February 2nd, 2008's 2nd Annual Trail Travail!