Be ready for hills. Lots of them.
“Once you cross the finish line, head down to the pub. Your first beer’s on me, but after that you’re on your own.”
Who wouldn’t want to be greeted with those words before a 10-mile race on the weekend before Christmas? In Norfolk, CT, the race may be named after the town pub, but that’s actually not the main reason why people toe the starting line in mid-December in the “Icebox of Connecticut.”
Hosted by Greystone Racing, on the surface, the Norfolk Pub 10-Mile Road Race seemed like it should be a casual, small-town race to help keep the winter doldrums at bay before the holiday season. But if anyone showed up expecting a nice race in the country with some easy local competition, they quickly discovered this wasn’t just a Christmas fun run. Thanks to a nice payout, some of the fastest amateurs in New England were on hand for Greystone’s premier “Connecticut Cup” – $500 to the winning men’s team, $300 to the women’s team, and $100 to anyone fast enough to break the course record. As a result, the ten-year-old men’s record was shattered by not only the winner of the race with a time of 53:09 (5:19 per mile pace!), but also by the second place finisher who also came in ahead of the previous record.
Despite the steep competition, the atmosphere was light. Runners in elf costumes joined dogs on leashes as everyone prepared to tackle ten miles through the coldest part of Connecticut in the middle of December. And Norfolk certainly lived up to its nickname. Unlike most of the Northeast this winter, the weather was cool – in the mid-30s – but racers still turned out in singlets and tanktops. From the starting gun at the Norfolk Town Hall, the leaders set a fierce pace starting with the first half mile or so along what would prove to be about the only flat part of the out and back lollipop course. By the start of mile two, runners were greeted with a mile and a half climb up a gravel road through the woods that topped out in front of old farmhouses and barns in a rolling pasture bordered by well-maintained stone fences.
Rocks in your socks - courtesy of the gravel hills in the "Icebox of CT".
The next three and a half miles or so brought mostly hilly terrain; when you weren’t going up, you were going down. A very New England course, it was all forests, streams, maple sugar trees, white picket fences and even an old cemetery. Open to traffic on primarily rural back roads, if you looked closely, you’d spot the sparkling lakes through the stark tree branches. Based on the fact that no more than ten vehicles passed the runners along the entire course, most of the houses that backed up to the water appeared to be summer vacation homes.
Classic New England!
Whoever dubbed this race “New England’s Toughest Ten-Mile Road Race,” certainly wasn’t exaggerating. The course headed back uphill around mile eight, which brings you to the highest point in the course before dropping you back down as you approach the finish. There was, however, at least a little redemption in that racers got to make up some time when they reached the all-downhill “fastest ninth mile” back down the gravel road.
Finally, with less than a half mile to go, unexpected snow flurries started to fly just as an equally unexpected sadistically steep final hill forced many runners to walk it when the finish was practically in sight. After cresting that hill, it was back to the nice flat finish where runners were handed candy canes as they passed through the chute and proceeded down to the pub for a hard-earned beer.
Here’s my breakdown:
Course: B Challenging and fairly picturesque. Make no mistake; this is not a course for beginners. But as anyone familiar with Northwest Connecticut can attest, the scenery usually provides a good distraction no matter how tired you are.
Organization: A Greystone Racing is serious about what they do. Everything went incredibly smoothly at check in, the USATF certified course was very well marked and water was available about every three miles. For a small-town race, you can’t really expect much more.
Atmosphere: B People just seem to be in a good mood around the holiday season, especially when the race ends at a bar. Spirits were high despite the tough course and the purse set a nice level of competition for the front-of-the-pack racers.
Logistics: B Norfolk isn’t far from Route 8, one of the main north/south thoroughfares in Connecticut. Despite a small parking lot, people were directing cars to a grassy lawn that seemed to accommodate almost everyone.
Overall: B Not a bad option when there aren’t really any other middle distance races being run, especially if you can round up another four fast friends and make a push for the fastest team award. If you live a reasonable distance from Norfolk, it’s worth your drive for some good competition and a free beer.
-Stacey
