Lenape Trail Run

Do you ever question your orientation? I do it all the time.

...let me rephrase that...

Do you have a poor sense of direction and get lost easily? Because some days I feel like I need a map and compass just to find my living room.

This is a story about my navigation abilities, or total lack thereof.

Run Fat Ass, Run!

The Lenape Trail is a 34-ish mile trail that connects Newarks Ironbound district to South Mountain Reservation in Millburn, making an inverted U across northeastern NJ. Named for the Lenape tribe that used to occupy most of the state of NJ, the trail consists of roads, rail trail, and some technical single track sections near the end. In principle, the trail can be followed by looking for yellow trail blazes on utility poles and light stanchions. In practice, the blazes are old and faded or otherwise hidden by bushes, snow banks, pamphlets, etc., making navigation a serious issue for people who are not familiar with the course.

The Lenape Trail

The race was designated as a "Fat Ass" run, which means that there were no additional trail markings, aid stations, crews, or spectators. The internationally accepted rules of a Fat Ass are No Fee, No Aid, No Wimps. We were on our own. So at 6:30am on a chilly Saturday morning, 21 intrepid runners met at the western terminus of the Lenape Trail, parked their cars, boarded a train for Newark, and set off on an urban ultra adventure, carrying everything they would need for 34+ miles of running.

A Short History Lesson

Those of you who are from the northeastern US might recall that the winter of 2014-2015 was, for lack of a better phrase, cold and snowy as shit. At the March 2015 running of the Lenape Trail Run, 18 inches of snow blanketed the Lenape Trail, with drifts that were more than two feet deep in some places. In one particularly snowy section, my GPS log from that event shows that I "ran" a 19 minute 20 second mile which was almost entirely downhill. The winning time, and I should remind you that this is only a 50K, was 7:24. What I'm saying is, it was not a fast course.

Fast forward to the present day, and the weather was almost perfect. The snow from the January and February storms had completely melted, and the forecasts were calling for 40 degree weather and partly sunny skies. The previous course record of 5:16, set during the snowy 2013 race, looked poised to fall.

The Race Is On

After arriving in Newark, we all took turns violating the tiny bathroom in the train station while a homeless man gave himself a sponge bath at the sink. I distinctly remember staring at an abandoned pair of crutches, streaked with fresh blood, leaning against the wall of the bathroom stall while I attempted to complete my pre-race ritual. Ah, Newark!

After a short pre-race briefing by race director Christian Focacci and a couple quick pictures (which will be uploaded when I receive them), we made our way out to the sidewalk and quietly started the race without so much as a ready-set-go. In attendance was Eastern States 100 runner up Jay Lemos, 3:03 marathoner Jason Friedman, Frozen Fools runner up Chris McGovern, Febapple 50K winner Kait Sheridan, ultra veteran Chipp Winston, and NJ Trail Series race director Rick McNulty.

My plan for this race was to go out hard in the early road miles as sort of a tune up for the NJ Marathon in early May. I carried four 20oz. bottles of Tailwind in my Ultimate Direction vest and brought a few other snacks just in case. My biggest decision leading up to the race had been which pair of shoes I would use. I had been logging lots of road miles in my Brooks Glycerins, which were the only shoes that seemed to keep my achilles tendons happy. On the other hand, they would have absolutely no grip during the technical trail sections later in the race. I opted to protect my tendons, and brought the Brooks. This would turn out to be a pretty good decision. But the best decision of the weekend was printing out turn-by-turn directions onto four strips of paper and wearing them on my wrist, an idea first thought up by my permanent crew chief (also, wife) Alex Thorpe to keep me from getting lost at TGNY.

Just a few turns

Speedster Jay Lemos immediately took off like a shot, never to be caught by anyone else. My Strava stalking detective work shows that he was running 7:30ish miles on the early road sections. Too fast for my slow legs to keep up. I chugged along at an 8:30 pace, losing sight of him within 2 miles of the start. I briefly pulled ahead of the pack, but I was quickly reeled in by Rick McNulty and Chipp Winston as we entered Branch Brook Park. The three of us worked our way through the paved footpaths of the park together until we came out to a 5-way intersection. My direction bracelet told me to make a right, but it didn't say whether it was a sharp right or a slight right. While I was trying to make up my mind, Chipp and Rick picked a direction and ran off. By the time I realized they were right, they were a minute ahead and the pack had caught up to me again. "That's my one navigational mistake for the day," I told myself. Feel free to start laughing now...

The trail wound its way across Booth Park in Nutley, westward through a residential area, and then crossed the Garden State Parkway on a footbridge. Around mile 9, I found myself running with Jason Friedman, whom I had shared some miles with at last year's event. I had been having severe digestive issues that year, and he had a hip issue that forced him to power walk much of the race, so this year's race felt like a chance at redemption for both of us. Distracted by our conversation, we quickly missed the entrance for Brookdale Park (mile 10), and had to find a side entrance to get back on the Lenape Trail. Mistake number two.

By mile 12, we had made another wrong turn and somehow found ourselves on the Lenape Trail, but running in the wrong direction. Using my handy direction bracelet, I managed to correct the mistake, but not before we had added an additional half mile to our race. Mistake number 3. Mile 13 is where the trail goes off road, starting with a 250 foot climb up to Cedar Grove Reservoir. My road shoes slipped a bit in the mud as I climbed, but I told myself that this short section was a small price to pay for the comfort during the road miles. At the top of the climb, the New York City skyline appeared off to the east, clearly visible in the crisp winter air. I caught up to and passed Rick in this section, who was in good spirits, but told me that he had gone out too fast and was suffering the consequences. He also mentioned that Chipp was having trouble navigating, and I would probably come across him soon.

The woods were a welcome reprieve from the noise of the city streets, and the trail lazily wound its way around the reservoir, concluding with a very cool section along a ridge, which was bounded on both sides by a small stream. However, I once again managed to add a few tenths of a mile to my route by missing a turn in this section.

This is my jam! Photo credit: http://arunaday.com/

Now running alone and in 3rd place, the miles ticked away as the trail followed a gas pipeline through flat runnable terrain for miles 18 and 19. At mile 20, the trail abruptly turned onto the road again, and I wound my way through residential streets and into downtown Verona. It was here that I had spent 15 minutes walking in circles last year, confused by a left turn blaze placed a quarter mile before the actual turn. Now armed with my trusty direction bracelets, I competently stayed on the trail. Nothing could stop me now!

At mile 20, the trail entered Verona Park, and made almost a complete circle around Verona Lake before exiting the park. It was here that I finally caught up to Chipp, who had run a complete 1 mile circle around the lake and ended up back where he started, having never seen the turn. Navigating together, we eventually found the poorly marked blaze that led out of the park and into another residential area. I was glad to have company again, and we chatted about our common goal of getting accepted in the Western States 100 lottery. We again missed a turn and ran an extra quarter mile, but laughed it off as a harmless mistake (#4).

Around mile 22, the trail entered Eagle Rock Reservation for a few miles of fun semi-technical single track. I had to watch my footing, since my shoes afforded little traction on the wet rocks that littered the trail. But otherwise, this was an enjoyable section. We hit the end of the trail and came out onto Eagle Rock Ave., a developed area with strip malls and gas stations. Now back on even footing, Chip and I were able to relax and let our guard down... and then we missed another turn. Mistake number 5 was a doozy. We went 0.7 miles past our turn and went down a 200 foot hill. This mistake added 1.4 miles and a whopping 15 minutes to our run. During this detour, Jason Friedman and Chris McGovern both passed us, and Kait Sheridan caught up to us. Frustrated, but determined to finish strong, Chipp and I got back on the course, now running in fourth place with Kait.

Now on the last stretch of road before the re-entering the technical trails, I ran a few quick miles (8:18, 9:18, 8:24) to try to regain some lost time. Around mile 29, we turned off the road for the last time and climbed up Mayapple Hill. At the top of the hill, the race director's dad had set up an aid station out of the trunk of his car (a rare and miraculous occurrence for a Fat Ass run!). I pulled into the aid station just as Jason and Chris were leaving. I had just run out of water during the climb, so I needed to stop and refill. Within a minute, I was back on the trail and in pursuit of a podium spot.

Pushing hard with only a few miles left to go, I caught up with Jason and Chris soon after the aid station. We ran together for a mile or two. I surged a few times, but Jason was on his home turf, having trained extensively on the Mayapple trails. I couldn't get more than a few strides ahead of him. Then he made his move. Remember the icy FUS section from the Febapple 50?

Yeah. This crap again.

Mile 32 of Lenape went straight up this same hill, which had since thawed and was covered with ankle-deep mud and standing water. Jason flew up this climb, never breaking stride. I'm not a great uphill runner to begin with, and in my slippery road shoes I steadily lost ground to him until he disappeared over the top of the hill. I reminded myself that there were still two miles to go, and that I could still catch him on the technical downhill sections. As luck would have it, that's exactly what happened on the next downhill. Unfortunately, it only happened because Jason had stopped to pet a dog that was walking along the trail. Maybe I was taking this race more seriously than he was...

Well, I wasn't going to let that stop me. I pushed hard for the next mile, only to have Jason pass me decisively on the next climb. Seriously, it felt like I was standing still as I watched him disappear ahead of me for the second time in a two mile stretch. I was in awe. And also very frustrated. Now with only half a mile left, I had almost no chance of catching him. On the other hand, I was now comfortably ahead of the runner behind me as well. For the second race in a row, I trotted in for a 3rd place finish. My final time was 5:49:16, almost exactly an hour behind race winner Jay Lemos, who shattered the previous course record.

My final distance for the day was 35.4 miles. I figure I lost between 20 and 30 minutes to various detours throughout the course, which probably cost me second place. On the other hand, I got a sweet trophy that was hand made by Jay (who incidentally finished so far ahead of us that he was able to go out and buy beer and coffee before the rest of us finished).

Smiling with my new hardware. Note the yellow Lenape Trail blazes.

After the race, we sat around for a few hours watching the rest of the runners trickle in. Chris McGovern finished less than a minute behind me, proving that my lead was not as substantial as I thought. Kait and Chipp finished together in 6:03. For Kait, it was her second straight 50K win. Chipp, on the other hand, won the unofficial highest mileage award, with over 38 miles for the day.

Altogether, this was a fun little race. I always enjoy the low key atmosphere and camaraderie of local Fat Ass events, although I should probably learn to stay on the prescribed course. I would like to thank Christian for organizing the event, his father for providing the much needed aid station, and Jay for making the trophies and buying post-race beverages.

3 weeks till NJ Ultra Fest 100...

More pictures from the event can be found here. Results are here, and my Strava log is here.