The Leatherman’s Loop

According to “The Leatherman’s Loop” website, this race is a unique trail run featuring two river crossings, a quarry climb, beautiful pine forests, swamp land, and the legend of the Leatherman. It forgot to mention the mud. Plenty of mud.

This is one great race. I had a blast the entire 54:37 it took me to run the 10K distance and cross the finish line. This elapsed time includes my wasted minutes I spent digging my sneakers out of the mud when they were sucked from my feet.

The race is held in Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, a few miles from Katonah, NY. After a one hour drive, I entered the park and was immediately greeted by several deer along the embankment of the park entrance road. They obligingly waited for me to dump out my bag, grab my camera and snap a photo. Picture taken, I drove the remaining distance to race signup. Be warned that if you sign up for the race, your entry fee does not include a T-Shirt. Knowing the fate of most of my race T-shirts, I was disinclined to spend another 15 bucks.

The start of the race is along a wide grassy meadow. The athletes were a mix of serious runners, people wearing dress shirts with ties, and those out for a leisurely stroll through the mud. We went through the obligatory race announcements, tributes to past runners until finally the sound of the starting gun.

At the sound of the gun, those familiar with the course knew to make a mad dash up the wide grassy hill. The reason why was evident, for as soon as you crested the hill, the course turned onto relatively narrow muddy trails. If you were not out in front, you were stuck behind the slower runners. The next time I will know to sprint out hard in order to jockey for a better position.

It turns out that even if I had known to sprint hard for the first few hundred yards, in the end it wouldn’t have mattered. The first narrow trail consisted of thick mud as deep as your shin. After a few steps running through it, my right shoe was sucked off. I was forced to fight back through the marauding masses to seek my shoe. It managed to get itself buried about six inches deep after some other runners inadvertently stepped on it. It took me a minute or so to dig it out while ducking the oncoming runners. I simply sat down in the mud to put it back on.

Having secured my footwear once again, I proceeded with the business of running. The trail turned deeper into the woods where we encounter numerous fallen trees, slippery rock and tree roots protruding from the ground with every step. On one downhill section, I passed someone running barefoot who appeared amused when I asked him to borrow his sneakers, since mine wanted to keep slipping off.

At the bottom of this hill I arrived at the first stream crossing. It was a couple of foot drop into waist deep water that was moving fast. Everyone slipped and slide-ed into each other due to the slippery rocks below. The cool water was very refreshing and I had a strong urge to drink some. Instead I just splashed some on my face and clawed my way up the other side of the stream. After climbing back onto the trail, I felt my hamstrings and quads tense up from the shock of the cold.

The race continued to proceed through the woods, under and over trees and through many patches of brambles. I found I was able to move up in position by timing my bursts for when I could cut corners or the trail would widen out. The footing was very technical and you had to watch every step you took. I was running through it with ease and began to feel as though I missed my calling.

After a while I caught up to a young woman at the same time someone was calling out various runners positions. I was now right behind the 5th place female. We were in very close proximity and I prodded her to go after the 4th. I pondered out loud the possibility of a sex change on the run to secure at worst case 6th place female.

Soon we came a road crossing and the only water station along the course. I took a Hammergel, a cup of water and then proceeded back onto the trails. This section of course consisted of swampy ground with tall grassy plant life on each side. The sun came out by now and shone upon the bleached white bones of a deer skull. I should have taken this as an ominous sign and became wary of what lay ahead. The trail turned deeply muddy everywhere and there was no avoiding running through it.

After hoping over a rock in the middle of the mud, my right shoe plunged deep into the mud. The suction pulled it right off my foot and sent me flying face first towards the mud. The show came out with a satisfying “thwoop” and I wedged it back on my foot as best I could. I then proceeded once again with passing many runners that I had left behind previously. From this point forward I also encountered numerous fruit flies that regularly flew into your mouth.

At approximately 40-45 minutes into the run I could sense the end of the race approaching. I started to feel really good and sensed my legs starting to kick really well. My HR monitor indicated that my pulse was well into the red zone; however my mind didn’t sense any fatigue or belabored breathing. My body was moving in perfect synchronicity. I was a perfect harmony of eyes, feet, heart, lungs and mind working in unison. I was relishing the race and felt as though I were an elite athlete running the best marathon of my life.

Eventually I caught the 5th place female once again. She confirmed her position by stating she was hadn’t caught the 4th place female, nor was she paced by any other females. I started to turn up my effort and began to reel in several more runners. No one passed me again and I was picking off runners with ease. Finally I began to hear the sounds of people shouting as the front runners began to cross the finish line.

I exited the woods into a wide clearing that quickly became very muddy. The runners ahead of me started to disappear as that jumped into the final stream crossing, which was only 300 yards from the finish. This stream was colder, deeper and wider and ran with much more force. I passed a couple of people as they struggled to the other side.

The final embankment was steep and slippery. My legs felt thick from the cold water and the sudden stop in movement. I scrambled up the side and started to sprint towards the finish. I out-kicked someone who tried to come from behind to pass me.

Walking around after the finish was quite a spectacle. Everyone was covered from head to toe in mud and several runners had ice packs on their ankles. I grabbed some water and cleaned off my arms. I put on a dry shirt and went to get something to eat.

Time didn’t permit me to hang around the finish for long. It was unlikely I earned an AG award anyway and I was starting to get cold. I made it home before noon and walked into my house still covered in mud. My children laughed as I recanted the crazy race I just did. Not wanted to sit around my house covered in wet muddy clothes, I headed to the shower. The mud flowing off my body was very cinematic and reminiscent of the blood from the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” – the perfect word to end this story on such a crazy and wonderful race.

Statistics –
Time: 54:37
Distance: 6.2M
HR: 173 Avg/184 Max (100% HR effort!)
Calories Burned: 1023
Calories Consumed: 100
Fun Factor: Must do this again!
Injuries: one slightly twisted ankle, one small scratch.