This is a trail race at Mendon Pond Park right outside Rochester. There is a short option which is 4 to 6 miles or a long option which is 13 … MORE
This is a trail race at Mendon Pond Park right outside Rochester. There is a short option which is 4 to 6 miles or a long option which is 13 to 15 miles. I opted for the short option since I’m on call this weekend. I do think pre-race communication could have been better. There were not many emails except the runsignup share it with your friends emails. For instance they never sent a packet pick-up email. The website was updated so I was able to find the information but I like an email. I got my packet at the Medved running store Saturday as it was on the way home from Naples. Packet included bib and tech shirt. it is a simple but nice design and nice quality shirt that I will wear. The race has 3 starts a 7:30 early start for slower folks doing the long course, an 8:30 start for most people doing the long course and a 9:30 start for the short course. The parking lot where the race starts is very small so cars lined the main street around Mendon to park. If you are doing the short course you will park quite a bit away from the start. I parked a little over 1/4 mile from the start so try to pick up your packet early to not have to go back and forth unless you want to run in the race shirt. There were flags where to start. They gave pre-race announcements. I wouldn’t call the start disorganized but I wish there was a loudspeaker as the RD just spoke the directions and it was sometimes hard to hear over chatter and the directions were really important given there are multiple loops and distances. It also may have been nice if the instructions were sent via email before the race. For the short course we followed blue flags. The course was marked pretty well there was a blue flag everywhere there needed to be and I never got lost though there were a few sections I went awhile without seeing one and it just reassures me to see them more frequently. The course is scenic as the leaves are very green and Mendon is really pretty. However it was really, really, really tough. I think they made the course as tough as possible. There was a ton of mud and a ton of hills. It was honestly not that much fun and I got sick of it after about 3 miles but I sucked it up and finished the course. My Garmin shutdown for some reason at mile 4.65 and I had to restart it and set it again so I didn’t record the whole distance but it was closer to 6 miles than 5 miles and there appeared to be 600-700 feet of elevation gain. My finishing time was super slow. I’m not sure how accurate the timing is. It is manually timed. I had about an hour and half recorded on my Garmin though did miss a tiny bit but I don’t think it was 6 minutes maybe it was. Doesn’t really matter as my time was super slow with or without the 6 minutes. I was happy for it to end. There is food at the end. I heard it was chicken BBQ and as a vegetarian was not too excited it but there was a whole feast with lots of veggie options. There was iced tea and lemonade, the BBQ chicken, marinara pasta, mac n cheese, potatoes, coleslaw, salad and dinner rolls. So even without meat I had a delicious and filling meal. There as also beer which I didn’t drink. This was a very tough course. It was a little too hilly and muddy for me but it was worth it for the food at the end. I was initially going to give this race 3 sneakers but the food made me increase to 4 sneakers. I would recommend this race to locals as long as you are prepared for the difficulty.
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Lots of Mud & Lots of Food
This is a trail race at Mendon Pond Park right outside Rochester. There is a short option which is 4 to 6 miles or a long option which is 13 … MORE
This is a trail race at Mendon Pond Park right outside Rochester. There is a short option which is 4 to 6 miles or a long option which is 13 to 15 miles. I opted for the short option since I’m on call this weekend. I do think pre-race communication could have been better. There were not many emails except the runsignup share it with your friends emails. For instance they never sent a packet pick-up email. The website was updated so I was able to find the information but I like an email. I got my packet at the Medved running store Saturday as it was on the way home from Naples. Packet included bib and tech shirt. it is a simple but nice design and nice quality shirt that I will wear. The race has 3 starts a 7:30 early start for slower folks doing the long course, an 8:30 start for most people doing the long course and a 9:30 start for the short course. The parking lot where the race starts is very small so cars lined the main street around Mendon to park. If you are doing the short course you will park quite a bit away from the start. I parked a little over 1/4 mile from the start so try to pick up your packet early to not have to go back and forth unless you want to run in the race shirt. There were flags where to start. They gave pre-race announcements. I wouldn’t call the start disorganized but I wish there was a loudspeaker as the RD just spoke the directions and it was sometimes hard to hear over chatter and the directions were really important given there are multiple loops and distances. It also may have been nice if the instructions were sent via email before the race. For the short course we followed blue flags. The course was marked pretty well there was a blue flag everywhere there needed to be and I never got lost though there were a few sections I went awhile without seeing one and it just reassures me to see them more frequently. The course is scenic as the leaves are very green and Mendon is really pretty. However it was really, really, really tough. I think they made the course as tough as possible. There was a ton of mud and a ton of hills. It was honestly not that much fun and I got sick of it after about 3 miles but I sucked it up and finished the course. My Garmin shutdown for some reason at mile 4.65 and I had to restart it and set it again so I didn’t record the whole distance but it was closer to 6 miles than 5 miles and there appeared to be 600-700 feet of elevation gain. My finishing time was super slow. I’m not sure how accurate the timing is. It is manually timed. I had about an hour and half recorded on my Garmin though did miss a tiny bit but I don’t think it was 6 minutes maybe it was. Doesn’t really matter as my time was super slow with or without the 6 minutes. I was happy for it to end. There is food at the end. I heard it was chicken BBQ and as a vegetarian was not too excited it but there was a whole feast with lots of veggie options. There was iced tea and lemonade, the BBQ chicken, marinara pasta, mac n cheese, potatoes, coleslaw, salad and dinner rolls. So even without meat I had a delicious and filling meal. There as also beer which I didn’t drink. This was a very tough course. It was a little too hilly and muddy for me but it was worth it for the food at the end. I was initially going to give this race 3 sneakers but the food made me increase to 4 sneakers. I would recommend this race to locals as long as you are prepared for the difficulty.