Busa Bushwack Race Report - Final Taper Week

I ran my last hard workout before the Stone Cat marathon this weekend at the Busa Bushwhack trail race in Framingham MA. This race pays tribute to 79 year-old trail running legend Richard Busa, still going strong after all these years. The race is held at Callahan State Park where Rich does most of his training runs. The Bushwhack is two races in one. There is a 5.3 mile out and back and a 9.3 mile race that follows the 5 mile course with an additional 4 mile loop tacked on. I decided to run the 9 mile race not wanting to miss out on the many hills on the 4 mile loop.

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I saw a few familiar faces at the start of the race. There was Paul and Emily, my friend Kevin and Paul C from the Lynn woods. Emily and Paul were running the 5.3 mile race while Kevin, Paul C and myself would do the 9.3. I never felt good from the very start. I was feeling sluggish and it took about 30 minutes for me to finally warm-up and get into the groove.

Emily, Kevin, Paul C and myself all started off together. Kevin was feeling pretty strong and soon he was pulling away from the three of us. Paul and I stayed with Emily until she took the turn-around to complete 5.3 mile loop. We then stayed together for the remainder of the race until I pulled away from Paul with a couple miles to go.

Paul is one crazy dude and he kept me entertained for most of the race. The miles passed quickly with his constant banter, his joke telling, and his constant harassing of fellow trail runners. At one point in the race we came to an intersection and were unsure which way to go. There was a volunteer telling us to turn left, but for some reason we didn't believe him. We were certain we needed to continue forward. So, ignoring the advice of the volunteer, we continued straight down the trail. It wasn't long before we realized we were wrong and the volunteer was right. We really didn't care that we got lost. In fact we thought it was rather hilarious. We were probably the only two runners in the race that thought we knew the course better than the person that marked it! We did feel badly that one female runner following closely behind us took the wrong turn with us. We lost about three minutes by taking this side trip. Thankfully, this was really just a training run for us. As we started passing runners for the second time, some would comment, "Didn't you two pass us already?" "Yeah, we got lost."

Complete Results Here: 9.3 Miles

Following the Busa race I did two short, easy runs this week. My legs are still feeling heavy and slow. I'm not sure why I've been feeling this way, but I sure hope it passes soon. If I feel this way on Saturday, I certainly won't run the race I think I'm capable of. There's nothing I can do now but rest so no running for me the next two days.

Waiting for Willowdale....