West Rock Winter Fat Ass 50k/25k

Last winter me and a buddy were running on a frigid day and were aghast at the lack of people using the wonderful trails at West Rock Ridge State Park. CT's second largest park is (probably) the least visited. Which makes it ideal for long training runs.

Welp, here's your opportunity to come out and enjoy the trails, Fat Ass style. Sorry if the term offends, I didn't name it. They've been around as long as ultras have, and if you've never done one, here's your chance.

Here's the deal: I created a two loop, roughly 31.1 mile course with about 4100 feet of climbing. A decent mix of gnarly CT rocky singletrack and very runnable singletrack, double wide jeep roads and a bit of old-ass crumbly asphalt up on Baldwin Drive. You will have access to five aid stations- two are water-only, so plan accordingly.

You will have the opportunity to return to the main parking area three (or even 4 times if you need to) to return to your car to fetch items. The original ethos of the Fat Ass is "no aid, no bibs, no whining".

Yes, the weather will probably be shitty. Chances are if you ran a race somewhere on Earth in the last five years, you encountered shitty weather during said race, whether it was 37 and rainy or 97 and humid AF, you most likely experienced it, and you are tougher than you think. If not, this is a great learning opportunity- if you've never run in awful weather; for there's no such thing as shitty weather, just shitty clothing. You'll figure it out.

Here's links to the actual course:

Loop 1- https://www.strava.com/routes/16383659

Loop 2- https://www.strava.com/routes/16383646

You can do one loop, two loops, hell; some of you nuts might even do three. That is cool. You can do the loops out of order, no one will care. It's your "race". You can do the loops backwards. You can do the loops forward and run them backwards, that would be awesome. I'd buy you dinner if you did that.

Here's a list of the aid stations and approximate distances:

Aid station #1

Lake Wintergreen Parking Lot

5.6 miles

#2

Sanford Feeder Trail near Brooks Rd. (water only)

10.6 miles

#3

Wintergreen Parking Lot

15.5 miles

#4

Sanford Feeder Trail and Brooks Rd. (water only)

20.2 miles

#5

Wintergreen Lot

25.1 miles

#6

Finish- Wintergreen Lot

31.1 miles

This is bound to be some Type II fun, I'd be honored to get out and suffer greatly with all of you. Since this is not a "group run" per se, folks will be moving at their own paces. Some will no doubt shoot off the front at a breakneck pace in a race for glory, some will be leisurely and stop to take hella pics with their new iPhones. You'll probably pack up with folks around your level of ability, and hopefully we'll all be represented here: from seasoned and grizzled ultra vets to short short-wearing roadie-types to the newbiest of the newbs, you can do this.

Once I get an official headcount by Friday the 28th I'll get all the things we'll need (water, etc.). I work at REI so I get a pretty sweet discount on a lot of stuff like gels and Skratch, so I can provide *some* of that stuff as well. Sugar and water are kinda important, but also bring your own.

I'll do some minimal course markings with yellow and pink ribbon, most likely at the turns/intersections with the ribbon on the side of the turn you're about to make. It's okay if you get lost, all paths eventually lead to where you are going anyway ;)

I'll make the course maps printable and post a link to that in the coming days.

Please- if you think anything is missing, gimme a heads up. I literally have no idea what I'm doing.

25k Results:

Jeff Grant 2:12

50k Results:

Tobias Tello 7:15