Jay Challenge, Part 1: Prologue

Event: Jay Challenge, travel Date: 7/28-30 Location: Jay, VT and environs When I first heard about the Jay Challenge I was filled with a burning desire to do all three events: a 26 mile kayak race, a 31.5 mile mountain marathon, and a 65 mile MTB race. In the future, I may do just that, but this year, due to training restrictions and lack of kayak, I decided to throw my hat in for just one race: the MTB, reportedly the longest and most grueling of the events. C, have greater athletic ability than I (but still no kayak) decided to throw down on two events: the run and the MTB. That being the case, we shirked our duties to the greater good of Science, and left Boston at 2:00 on Friday. We had our first adventure of the weekend on the trip up. You see, on rt. 93N on weekdays, the breakdown lane is open from 3-7 p.m. to help ease the engorged flow of traffic. However, regardless of the state of traffic, the breakdown lane is not open at 2:50, as the police officer was so kind to point out to me after pulling us over. Fortunately I played him nice, and he gave me a $25 ticket for my cracked windshield. C and I then wished we could have run through that situation a few more times, just to see how playing the cop hard would have gone.  We engaged in no more civil disobedience, save mild speeding, and continued northwards. We stopped for dinner at 4 at the Wendy's in Derry, and then stopped for supper at the Burger King in Littleton. Ah, the cuisine of champions! 7 p.m. saw us rolling into Jay for C to pick up her packet for the marathon. This accomplished, we headed back to Orleans, some 30 min away to Es house. On the way, E called and said his car was experiencing electrical issues, and that he suspected alternator trouble. So we just went to his house and let ourselves in. I was preparing to go pick him up, but by 9 p.m. he had purchased a new alternator and was installing it. That's pretty bad ass. He arrived around 12:30, but we didn't see him until the morning since we were already asleep. We got up early, and C made bacon and eggs (in bacon grease) while E made oatmeal and coffee. I drove the runners to the soccer field in Jay, and hung out until the start, which was actually quite impressive. Wanting to experience the climb up Jay myself, I jumped in my car and drove to the base. I then spent the next 45 min hiking up the course. Sure it was steep, but footing was good. Running in most places would have been extremely counterproductive. It was a beautiful day for a hike, even though the summit was shrouded in fog. I waited at the top for about an hour before C and E came through. They were in good spirits, as evidenced in the photos I took: I had to wait on top until the vast majority of runners had come through. It took a while, and I realized pretty quickly that most of the people in the race had never run up a mountain before. Sorry all you Boston Marathon fans, Heartbreak Hill does not qualify as a mountain. Not even a little bit. I drove back to the Start/Finish area after I got down, and hung out in the shade until the runners showed up. E came in around 5:45, looking strong. I then waited for C, who took her sweet time. She arrived around 40 min later. We then went and chilled in the stream for a bit. C was then displeased to learn that the beer tent required $3 per brew. I hit up the general store for a 6er, and the three of us passed the afternoon with ease. We then hit up the Belfry for dinner, and returned to grab our numbers for the MTB race the next day. That story is soon to come!