There isn’t too much to report about yesterday’s MT. TAMMANY 10 trail race in Delaware Water Gap. This is an awesome grassroots affair with low key promotion. It’s held on a brutal low-key loop course that you do 10 times. The location is very popular with hikers/walkers of all types. We spent the day with an incredibly diverse group of people, which was very cool.
The course includes the 1,200 foot climb up the steep side of Mt. Tammany with an average gradient of nearly 20%. The descent is a little more gradual but just as gnarly. The trail is 100% rock. There are no smooth spots.
You can check out the full description here. For a taste, here is an excerpted highlight:
This will not be for the faint of heart. The 10, 10, in 10! 10 Climbs, over 10000 ft of gain, in 10 HRs. Hence the name MT. TAMMANY 10. An almost 40.0 mile run traversing one of the toughest sections of trails in the DWG area. This event is not for the faint of heart. Expect no PRs here! These will be the toughest and slowest miles most of you will ever cover. Seasoned ultrarunners accustomed to this type of terrain may still fall, get bruised, strained sprained and cut. Stay alert, stay focused, stay the course, and you will have a great day on the course. Probably one of the most satisfying ultras you will ever run. This course will have some great mountain views on the climb and majestic waterfalls along with the sound of rushing water on the decent.
Debbie last ran MT. TAMMANY 10 in 2018. That year had some snow, which filled the space between the rocks. When I signed up, that was my memory of the downhill…smooth with a few sharp rocks. Instead, it was rough as all heck with tons of sharp rocks. There was no trail. It was just running through scree.
It hurt bad. The total distance was 37.5 miles and my GPS registered 12,641 feet of elevation gain and another 12,641 feet of elevation loss. My quads were blown. I’ll limp for days if not weeks. As for the weather, we had a little of everything, which is normal for the Northeast in March. It started out clear and cold. It got windy. It rained lightly on and off for several hours. The sun peeked out. It got windy again. It rained some more. It clouded up and got raw and cold. So, the weather was normal.
Race Director Alex Papadopoulos from Athletic Equation has a small cadre of helpers that do a great job. We saw Alex in January at the HURT 100 which he finished for the 16th time.
The race was limited to 55 entrants. On race morning, there were 50 official starters. At the end of the day, there were 28 finishers. With a loop course where your return to the (only) aid station/start/finish after the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th laps; you need a strong mindset to get this one done.
Debbie had another good day. I led her through four laps, but on the fifth, she took the lead and never looked back. She passed me on the steepest part of the descent when I was taking it gingerly. Another guy came by me like he was being chased. As he passed, he yelled, “A crazy fast chick is coming after us!” I knew exactly who he was talking about.
She put more than an hour into me in the second half of the race as I slowed to a crawl. My legs couldn’t take take the downhill and every lap, I was begging for the climb to start again. I was going faster up the hill than down the hill. I came to finish and despite a few shaky moments (mentally), I persevered.
Debbie was first woman and 11th overall. Justin Lewandowski was the first male finisher. One interesting thing happened to me during the race. About halfway through, as I was finishing the descent by the two stream crossings, a hiker yelled my last name as I ran by. I was in hot pursuit of Debbie (as I still held out hope that I could catch up), but I paused to look back and had an exchange with this person. He identified himself as my Boston University classmate from the 1990-1991 timeframe. I knew exactly who he was because we were in Army ROTC together. It was a neat moment, but I wasn’t stopping. Thankfully, he found his way to the finish line and a very nice hand written note with his contact information was on our stuff. I’m not sure if he had a connection to the race and I have no idea how he knew it was me running full tilt downhill in the woods, but I’ll find out.
Before and after the race, we stayed in a hotel in Rockaway, New Jersey. We joked that our room had the “best view.” The view was literally of Best Buy’s front entrance. Last night’s dinner was at Chipotle in Rockaway, which was basically fuel. It was 1/4 mile away across the mall parking lot from the hotel, but we still drove. I would have never made it on foot. This morning’s breakfast at Planted Eats in Montville was much better. It was a real find and in addition to our meals, we picked up a bunch of stuff to go.
On the way back to Debbie’s parents in Connecticut, we stopped to stretch our legs at Nyack Beach State Park. It was a real gem. The Palisades Park Conservancy has some jurisdiction. We walked down to the Nyack River Trail/Nyack Beach Bikeway along the Hudson River, and took it a mile north. It goes farther and I hope to return with a bike.
The stone dust covered track appears to have gone through some recent reinvestment. It was chilly and breezy along the river, but it was good to move our legs as best we could.
We had an early supper at the Schieffer’s and that capped a successful weekend. Next up: Traprock 50K on Easter Weekend.
Life Adventures 
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