The Old Goat Reporteth...

2ND ANNUAL NORTHERN TUNXIS TRAIL RUn

July 5, 1997

The second annual installment of the Tunxis Sag-wagon Saga happened on a perfect July morning.  Clear skies, a slight breeze, temperatures in the 70’s, and good footing awaited 5 pairs of legs that were ready to run.  EA, RF, PP, PR, and I (the Old Goat) met in East Hartland and took 2 cars up the dirt road to the start of the Northern Tunxis Trail on the Mass. / Conn. border.  Our goal was to run the Tunxis Trail in a southerly direction from the MA / CT border to Satan’s Kingdom at the Rt. 44 - Housatonic River junction.  Due to family commitments, EA intended only run with us to the top of Pine Mt. and then double back to his car.  I missed the farmer for the last 3/5 of the run.  If he were there, I at least would have had a chance of keeping contact with someone ahead of me on the uphills instead of eating trail dust (just a bit of envy toward the Quarterhorses from us Clydesdales).

With this plan in place, everything was set.  Or was it?  How would we get “sagged”?  Since old goats aren’t known for their running legs, it’s a good thing we still have half a brain!  My diabolical plan was then unfolded.  After leaving the others off at the start, I would drive the sag wagon (the same car as reported in Hairy Beary’s Greylock story in the last issue) to the next sagpoint, park it, run like hell in a northerly direction until I ran into the others and then reverse direction and run with them until we reached the car.  I then would make sure everyone was replenished.  They would continue running south on the Tunxis and I would again drive to the next sagpoint, etc.  Repeat 4 times.

Because of this, I may have stumbled on a brilliancy.  How else / where else could an old goat like me have the opportunity to run with the big boys and still genuinely keep up with them?  The answer is “Run with them but don’t run as long as they do!”  This can be accomplished by doing exactly what I did.  It turned out to be a wonderful plan for all involved.  They got a 20.8 miler over 3 hours and 1 minute.  I got 1 hour and 43 minutes broken into 5 semi-equal parts of 15-30 minutes each (kind of like doing five, 5K races with 20 minutes of active rest - driving a car - between each one).  They got an endurance workout; I got a speed interval workout; everyone was happy.

Runners of all abilities can now enjoy running together.  The possibilities are endless.  I’ve created a monster! 

Ps:       It helps if the parts you run with them are downhill; as was the case in 4 of the 5 legs.  They’re brutal on the uphills!

The Old Goat