Oil Creek 100 mile, Oct. 13-14, 2012

When a buddy of mine offered a ride to Western PA for 100 mile run through a place I drove through once to visit McD’s so I wouldn’t fall asleep at the wheel driving from Chicago to Allentown to be enjoy 6 months of being a bum before moving to New Jersey which I had only read about in movies, it sounded like a good excuse to take an easy week the week after and eat a lot of food, which would precede not eating a lot for 3 days, then eating a lot for one night, then eating a lot for 22 hours but really like I had not eaten anything because it was metabolizing.

The mystic borough of Titusville saw the beginning of the oil industry when petroleum was discovered back in the 1800’s, when people were tough and men still wore elaborate triangular hats which offered no ear warmth, the women I believe wore suitable ear coverings. That was probably 1760 not 1860, but still everyone was basically camping 24/7/365 without North Face jackets hats and gloves, and below is more like the style of the time:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:George_Armstrong_Custer_and_Elizabeth_Bacon_Custer_-_Brady-Handy.jpg

It probably took an ungodly amount of time to get that picture correctly lighted and what they were paid I’m not sure. If that guy saw any of us trying to run to the oil well 14 miles away and back 3 times (50k loop) and then act like we are going to work but not going to work and coming home (7.7 mile “going home” loop) to delicious food and rest in a heated gym, he would say “2 cents an hour the wage” and tell us to use our handheld water bottles, to quench welded steel and question as above his own wardrobe choices when we are looking so “conform-clothed” and are wet yet warm, then dry 15 minutes later. Only two or three folks had a mustache as damn cool as that guy’s and deserve the same respect.

Near the end of each 50k you pass oil derricks that sound like a wheel cutting and chopping planks. Not sure what it is really doing, but it runs day and night as we found out. Running in the woods is great but takes a bit of concentration with a spotlight on your head. I love having to stop for any reason because it involves shutting off my light and being in complete darkness. It’s the opposite of NYC at night, instead of whamming every sense with overloads of information and stimulation, it forces your senses into overload to try to accumulate any sound, glowing light, and everything smells like a scented candle. I wish I could do that every night, which I do, it’s called shutting my eyelids.

I really like being out there alone but not too long, passing friends on the trail reminds you that you can now tell your fellow officers in the office that you hung out with friends in the woods so they think you really got hammered at the beach instead of exercised for 22 hours straight because your are too cheap to get a gym membership and want an excuse to get hammered on hammer nutrition the night before exercising 22 hours. Plus probably the only reason I keep going sometimes is the hopes of seeing those friends somewhere on the trail, eating the same thing I ate so while we both are sick we know exactly how to describe the desire to expel without words.

Everyone I know personally had a great day athletically that day; it was a tough run to do with a lot of hills and many chances to throw in the towel. I met others out of nowhere from other races in faraway places, a unique characteristic of this hobby. Met a few new faces that had stories to warm your heart or make you think, how the hell is that possible to do? Hardrock is Leadville plus 12 more Hope Passes?!? And the service by the volunteers running the stations, making food, keeping us informed, you all were more than fantastic out there. The pre and post dinner/breakfast was the best I’ve had at one of these so far.

I recommend anyone who is interested in the industrial revolution to check this spot out, they have gone lengths to preserve the history of this small yet significant town down to keeping well intact a bouncy large suspension bridge that was used by the people working the oil that is hidden deep in the woods, and is part of the last 5 miles of the 100 mile course only right before a final gigantic hill and the end of the run.

So now I feel like eating 21: bushels of apples and :27 plates of banana nut pancakes with a .07 acre swimming pool of blueberry syrup.