The G Running Diary

Sweeping the Firetrails: 10/13/03

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The Dick Collins Firetrails 50 was this weekend, on October 11. Last year I ran the race and had a great time--one of my best race experiences. This year, I considered running the new Golden Hills Marathon that was put on with the 50, but I was still hacking from my bad cold and cough I'd had all week. So, Don and I were sweeping for the 50. It is an out and back course, with the turnaround at mile 26. We would go 20 plus miles, but when you sweep you get to go slow. The job of the sweeper is to take down all the ribbons marking the course, and erase the flour arrows on the trail. Sweepers also often get to run with the last runners and encourage them to finish. Not this time.

There were four of us. Don and I set off from the 30 mile point, called Steam Trains, to go out to the 26 mile turnaround. That way, we saw runners going toward Steam Trains on their way to the finish. During that time, we had fun saying hi to all the people we knew who were in the middle to the back of the pack. When we met up with the other sweepers, Paul and Ruth, who had started from the turnaround, we headed back to Steam Trains. We realized there was a ton of ribbon to take down, and no shortage of flour on the trail either. Between that effort and chatting away, we were taking a long time just to go four miles.

As the miles went by, the last runner ended up 35 minutes ahead of us by the time we went through the later aid stations. I was a little concerned about finishing in total darkness. We didn't have heavy duty flashlights and it would be harder to find the ribbons. So, I was trying to hurry along, but it really didn't matter. It wasn't as if I hadn't run in the dark before. The moon came up, beautiful over the lake. It had been full on October 10th. Ruth apologized for moving slowly. She was having knee trouble. But Don and I weren't going any faster than she was. I was reminded of our Run for the Ridge Trail, partly because of the night sounds, but also because we'd been telling Ruth about it for a good portion of the time we were out there. I liked hearing the crickets and how peaceful the trail was. Actually, it had been peaceful all day because, apart from the race, the parks were closed due to fire danger. We had it almost all to ourselves.

When we arrived at the finish area, Ann and Carl had almost everything packed up, except for some burgers and condiments for us! Pierre and Ethan were also hanging out and chatted with us while we scarfed down food and sodas. We had a nervous moment while we couldn't find our car, which had been driven there for us, but Carl drove us up the road, and there it was. We were relieved, happy, a little tired, and ready to go home.

By the way, this picture is from the run last year, taken by Don at the turnaround.