What can I say about the Green Monster Trail Challenge? It is one of my favorite events put on by one of my favorite running organizations, the Tioga Running Club. This is one of the few events I try to return to year after year. Last year I didn’t get to participate in this event because I was still trying to recover from an injury. I was so happy to be back this year.

The Green Monster Trail Challenge encompasses three different distances. The 50k, the 25k, and the 15k. Each distance is challenging in its own right.

I have run the 25k three times. And in 2022 I ran the 15k for the first time. This year I was back for the 15k again as I build back after recovering from an injury.

Preparation

In my experience this race often somehow syncs up with unseasonably warm weather with temps often in the 70’s. For me that is hotter than I want to be running in especially in the middle of Autumn.

This year the weather as looking to be colder and wetter than it has been in the past. And I agonized over how best to prepare for it. What gear to wear and carry to deal with the weather. I decided minimalism was the key. Less to get wet the better. I wore the lightest weight pair of shorts I own and a light weight t-shirt. And I covered it up with a very light weight jacket. A coat thin enough That it might dry if it stopped raining and to take off and cram in a pocket if it stopped raining and I got warm. But just enough to hold in a little bit of my body heat if it rained all day. I also ran with just a handheld water bottle instead of my traditional hydration pack.

Weather

The weather forecast did not disappoint. Or maybe it did. But it was exactly what it said it would be. Cool and rainy all day.

Mother Nature teased us in the pre race times with brief stoppages of rain. Letting us feel the relief and contemplate stripping off our jackets before we ran out onto the trails. Then she cruel brought the rain even harder in the next moments.

I have run in the rain plenty. I don’t actually mind running in the rain, especially during the summer because it keeps me cool. However, running in the rain when the temperatures are in the 40s can be some of the most uncomfortable running conditions for me. I would prefer 32 degrees and snow.

The good news is the rain allowed me to push myself harder than I could have otherwise because I didn’t have to worry about overheating. It was more like how hard can I push myself so that I can stay warm but not completely blow up.

(When you watch the YouTube video see if you can spot the section after the halfway point where I fell going down Frankenstein’s Forehead.)

The course

I love this course. Not because it is easy but because it is hard. It is always a challenge.

It has long grueling climbs. But it also delivered exactly what I like best about trail running. Long gradual downhill sections. The reward for the hard work of climbing a damn mountain.

I had now goals for this race. I really just wanted to have some fun. In the beginning I pushed as hard as I could in the beginning and up the first climb just trying to keep up with my friend. Then after she pulled away I just tried to keep my pace where I could feel I was working.

I love a good downhill. And boy did I have fun on them during this race. I knew I could get through the distance regardless of how I paced myself. So I really just allowed myself to open up and have fun on the downhill sections.

In the 25k version of the course I would have to conserve myself much more for the harder climbs and more miles to come. But here In the 15k I just went with the flow. Longer faster strides. Enjoying the feel of gravity guiding me down, down, down the trails. This really reminded me how much I miss being out on trails.

The rain continued all day. And when the 15k course met back up with the rest of the course that every runner of every distance covers the rain was making an impact. I have never experienced these trails so muddy and slippery.

There was a particular section that is a gradual uphill climb. Not particularly daunting. But the rain and mud made the trails slippery. It was challenging to even power hike the section because I couldn’t get enough traction in the mud to push off without sliding. It seemed necessary to slow down so as not to exert more force than the minimal friction on the ground could support before slipping.

The last few miles of the course are relatively flat. The trails follow a beautiful stream. And in warmer weather I love this because the trail crosses the stream many times providing opportunities to cool off.

During this year’s event the water in those stream crossings felt ice cold. It was cold enough to make my feet feel numb for a bit after emerging from the stream.

In addition the actual stream crossings the entire trail as it paralleled the stream was full of water from all the rain. I have never experience this part of the trail in this condition. IT was kind of fun to just splash away, knowing I could not possibly get any wetter.

A word of advice. In these circumstances follow the water on the trails. The water is following the path of least resistance. Follow its example. Do not try to run along the edges of the trail just to stay out of the water. This will be extremely slippery.

I watched a fellow runner who passed me running on the edge trying to stay out of the water slip and fall pretty hard. They tried to get up and resume the path they were taking previously to stay out of the water and immediately fell again before even getting fully upright. Please don’t do this. It really isn’t worth the risk especially in these conditions. We are all completely soaked to the bone after a minimum of 8 miles in the rain. Avoiding some water for the next mile and a half will not allow you to dry out. There is a nice fire waiting for you at the finish. Get there without getting injured as best you can.

Frankenstein’s Forehead

I love Frankenstein’s Forehead. I don’t know why. It is physically demanding and it requires focus. It is always hard. You can feel every step in your legs.

I haven’t run a ton of races, but no other race I have done has anything like it. A very steep, serpentine trail consisting of loose shale and dirt winding its way down the side of a mountain.

I am beginning to think I really like running this section of trail best on any day other than race day, though. It can be very tricky to navigate the twists and turns and technical aspects of the trail along with your fellow runners.

There is no wrong way to go down this section of trail, but it is very important to be aware of your fellow runners and use trail manners. It is good to be aware of who is in front of you but also the runners that may be approaching behind you.

I am not a particularly fast runner by any stretch of the imagination. But I perhaps it have a little more courage or maybe a little fewer brain cells when it comes to a downhill. And I will run faster on a downhill than many runners who are faster than me on flat land.

I am also a big guy, 6’2” and anywhere between 220 and 245 lbs. It is best for me to use gravity and momentum to my advantage on a downhill run. And I have learned to use my body to make that possible for me. I can get my feet going pretty quickly on a downhill.

But, Frankenstein’s Forehead is a different beast. And maybe given the trail conditions I should have been more conservative. The rain had made the dirt and rocks loser.

But I had a runner in front of me who had been using poles, but was only carrying them during this section of trail. And they were holding them to their side fully expended. This put the pointy end of the poles swinging dangerously close to my chest and face. I needed to get around that to remove that potential for injury.

I decided to pass this runner. On Frankenstein’s Forehead there really is no room for passing on the actual trail. You essentially have to leave the trail. So then you are just on a pile of loose stone.

I made the move and got going. I started to catch up to a few runners that were going close to the pace I wanted to be going on this descent. Then it happened.

In front of our group there was a pair of runners going down the trail side by side. And they were going much slower than we were. There was no way I could pass the runners in front of me and the two runners side by side all at once. I was going to need to come to a complete stop.

I really hate to sound like the fun police, but we are all engaged in a sport that carries some risk and I feel like we all owe it to each other to behave in a way that minimizes the risk for our fellow travelers. We all want to have fun and none of us want to get hurt. That being said. If you are on a very technical single track section of trail with a lot of other runners. And you are slower than most of the people on the trail with you please be aware and allow other people to go by you. And please don’t take up the entire trail by traveling side by side. I moved over many times to allow faster runners to pass me during the course of this race.

I tried to stop. The wet mud and stone gave way. I started to go down. I began to pitch forward. My knees hit the ground. Then the rest of me. I am pretty sure I did at least one full revolution of a summersault.

I was aware of the runners in front of me. I knew if I fell without breaking my momentum it was very possible I would collide with some of them as I fell down the mountain. I tried to make sure that did not happen. I grabbed fore the ground. Trying to regain purchase with my hands and feet. Trying to stop my momentum so I did not roll up any of my fellow runners. I didn’t want to cause anyone else to get injured.

I was able to stop myself. And get myself upright. I did not fall on any of the other runners, fortunately. If you want to see what it looks like to fall check out the YouTube video. There are several images of I don’t know what as I fell.

It took a few moments to collect myself and get back to being able to move down the trail again. I only sustained some relatively minor cuts and scrapes on my knees. I was able to run the rest of the way to the finish once I slowly descended the rest of Frankenstein’s Forehead.

Trail running carries a level of risk and falling anywhere has the potential to result in an injury. And I have fallen quite a few times. But I have been fortunate enough to not fall in any area that is a high risk area where the likelihood of sustaining injury is elevated. This was the first time I have fallen in an area where I was at a higher risk of injury.

Most of the time I fall I often think it is because I am in a “easy” section of trail and lose focus and trip over something. This time it was not lack of focus that took me down.

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