Featured Running Event of the Week - Howl At The Moon 8-Hour Ultra Trail Race

The Howl At The Moon 8-Hour Ultra Trail Race is the featured event this week - and the name of the event describes it quite well.  It is a trail race (a 3.29 mile trail) and it is an 8-hour race.  Participants - runners and walkers (two divisions) as well as runners who did the run/walk run/jog, jog/walk, whatever style - attempt to complete as many miles as they can within an 8-hour time period.  When the 8 hours ends, the scoring ends, regardless of where the participant is on the course - only completed laps count towards the miles.  Yes, 8-hours, basically an entire work day.

There was also an 1/2 mile "out-and-back" loop that participants could traverse when 30 minutes remained on the clock (45 for the walkers).

8 laps in 8 hours put the participant over the marathon distance of 26.2 miles.  26.32 to be precise after 8 loops.

This is not just a race - this is an EVENT.  Campers (runners, volunteers, and runner crews) may begin camping on Thursday night - right along the "home stretch" of the course.  And they do begin on Thursday night.  From Thursday night through Saturday morning, runners can set up their "base" on that section - "runner's village".  It was quite a site - for about a quarter mile, both sides of the path lined with tents, and EZ Ups, and beach tents, and RVs, and whatnots.  And it's not just for race day - many people CAMP overnight from Thursday through Sunday morning (race is on Saturday morning).

There was also camping - free - available inside the train car - quite an interesting experience, as it is set up like an old train-restaurant car, so people set up their sleeping gear between tables.  The train car has a full working refrigerator as well.

Packet Pickup is on Friday night - but it's more than that.  It's a full pasta dinner (good for carbs) for all participants, it's free beer (4 choices) for all participants, and most importantly it's a change to meet and mingle with all the other runners, organizers, support teams, and volunteers.  It's truly the gathering of the "running family" as they say.

But, that's not all - Friday night, shortly after the pasta dinner, is the "Baby Howl".  An opportunity to walk (or run) the 3.29 mile loop.  And, you can bring your free beer with on the reconnaissance lap.  This is an opportunity to see the full course, see the hills, any exposed roots, the smoothness of the crushed gravel, the depth of the grassy areas, where the aid stations (yes, plural) will be, where restrooms are, and did I mention THE HILL?  It was also a great opportunity to talk with Howl veterans and newbies - and a great learning experience for the newbies who wanted to listen.

Then came raceday - a 7:30am start.  And this was the old-fashioned way - no expensive sophisticated electronic bib or shoe chips.  Just a bib and paper and pen - and wonderful volunteer scorers.  Each age/sex division had their own scorer.  Prior to the race, each runner as to check-in with their personal scorer and meet them.  From that point on, it was the job of each runner to check-in after each completed lap.  Whether this meant waving, yelling "hi", or even some goofy dance (which I did witness) - but it was the job of runner to make sure the scorer knew they just completed a lap.  Of course, this wasn't difficult, as the scorers were magnificent - they probably recognized everybody after 1 lap.  My scorer, would say "Hi" to me, say my name, and tell me which lap I was starting - every single time.  She also explained the out-and-back portion to me at check-in.  I know some people love that new-fangled chips - but, for me at least, this element added some fun and kept that human touch involved in the event. 

The course itself was a trail - mostly dirt and crushed gravel, some grassy areas, some paved areas, and a HILL - A HILL!  99.99% of the trail, if not 100% was 2-4 wide, I don't recall any single track - and also was not very "technical" (few hidden roots and rocks and such).  Very open, easy to navigate track with FOUR aid stations serving everything from chips to peanuts to watermelons to bananas to oranges, to small payday bars, to M&Ms, to gummies, to pepsi, mountain dew, diet pepsi, 7-up, and of course plenty of Gatorade, Water, and Ice!!!  One station even had "motivational" music playing all 8 hours (Eye Of The Tiger, Don't Stop Believing, etc) - with cardboard cutouts of Elvis and Marilyn (Monroe, not Manson).

There is really no point in giving the details of the terrain - because it is the event, the people, the scorers, the participants, the volunteers (THE VOLUNTEERS!!!), that make this event, not merely the course terrain (though it was scenic and varied quite a bit).

And, if all that wasn't enough - at the end - more free food - a full chicken dinner with sides - and more free beer!

To really get a feel for that amazing atmosphere - I suggest visiting the club's facebook page and just reading all the comments - Kennekuk Road Runners