My next adventure takes place in Exeter, NH at the Henderson-Swasey and Oaklands Town Forests (also referred to as Fort Rock). You may recall these are the same trails I managed to misplace my position relative to my car about a month ago while coming back from my mystery injury. Now I have no idea where the course goes but all I can say is I hope it's well marked :-)The race was originally scheduled for last Saturday but I was on vacation and would have missed it (opting for the Mt Greylock race on Sunday instead). Due to all the rain over the last few weeks the town of Exeter asked that the race be postponed a week, presumably to minimize the trail damage. So the race is back on my schedule for Sunday.
When I was here a month ago I ran mostly on the Oaklands side (via the tunnel under RT101). My understanding is this is the more technical section (aka rocks like you read about!). I am told the Henderson side is more fire roads and easier single tracks.
There will be 2 options for racing, a 4 mile and and a 10 mile course. I picked the 10 miler and I'm really looking forward to it for a couple of reasons: 1) there will be no mountains to climb and 2) I don't have to drive 1/2 a day to get there. I really like the technical trails but tend to lose a lot of time when combined with hills. I just don't have my trail legs under me yet.
Fellow acidotic RACING teammates Ri and Sarah (defending 2008 North American Wife Carrying Champs) are putting on the race to help offset the costs for their trip to Finland in July for the World Championships. Check out the video if you want to see what it's all about. You gotta love the prize at the end!
