Hello #8 (last year anniversary): Somehow, it is my 8th year here on WordPress and 9th year of running marathons. How I remember it this year is the charge on my credit card (I did not sign up for the free version; the paid version has no ads). What can be better to celebrate by writing a race report! An ultra too. The reason I started out blogging was to journal my leap into my first ultramarathon. I think was a 50k in December 2017 (Virginia 1st Landing Seashore 50k, now goes by a different name, I might run it again). How the time flies.
Now onto Bimbler in Connecticut I recently did.
I ran the Bimbler’s Bluff the last few years, and have been going there with my girlfriend, Caroline.
2023: 8:16:00. Normal start.
2024: 9:45:00. 1 hr Early start
2025: 10:00:00 1 hr early start.
My friend ran by the Bluff’s overlook and said sorry no time to look. We’ll come back next year to enjoy the view. I took a quick snap and moved on.
My friend likes to heckle me, runner what are you stopping for when I stopped to retie my shoelaces and enjoyed the view. Yes, I got to pick up my pace too.
For this race, we have 11 hours from the extra hour of the earlier start. Other people have 10 hours. The early start was given for those runner who would not able to finish within the 9 hours and RD did not want runners to feel the stress of chasing cutoffs. This year, I really needed the earlier start because I had no confident that I could make the cutoffs.
Even with the extra hour, I had to keep moving in order to finish and also each aid station had their separate cutoff, with the last being the strictest (2 hours to run 9 miles to reach it, whereas the early cutoffs were around 2 hours to do 4-6 miles). Indeed, I would have to arrive by 4 pm if I were to run under 9 hours, and I was 15 minutes late and would have been cut if not for the early start.
I have a streak of coming in as the back of the pack runners in races so I know full well I got to keep moving to finish.
This year was especially true having came off from some recent hard races such as the Virginia 100, my legs had not been ready to do the Bluff.
I expected I would be walking the course. The day started off nice and warm at 42 F (5 C) and later would rise to 65 (18 C). Technically I could wear a shirt and maybe arm sleeves and be warm enough. Since I suffered from hypothermia not too long ago, even a bit cold got me scare. I bundled up with long sleeves and sweat pants and added a fleece on top. It was pretty early on I knew I did not need a jacket, so that became an extra item I carried. I did not mind carry extra stuff.
My pace was slow at the start and soon was the last one in our group of early starters. My girlfriend and I were battling to see who would take the lead. During one of her breaks, I snuck ahead of her. She soon though caught back up. She always then chased me forever until we got to mile 15, when our pace diverged. Though I got an update that she was only 10 minutes behind me at mile 30.
I came into the race with the injury from the Virginia 100. So at each aid station, I asked myself if I have the ability to get to the next station. Each time, I felt I could handle the pain/sore and went out again. Note to others, don’t run with an injury. Don’t do what I did. I need to preach that to myself too.
The first aid station was 9 miles out. There many faster runners started catching up and passing us. It served as a third of the way in the race. Note, the long stretch between aid stations. It’s an ultra so 7-8 miles are the norm.
Then by noon I reached mile 15, that mentally is like a halfway point but I knew the course was long. A fellow runner (Roy) told me that it is 33 miles and not 31 miles. I knew that deep down the course is long but hearing from an experienced runner reinforced it, that I had to run steady and be patience. It is a trail race so, distances are measured with an ish to the end. Plus/minus a few miles are acceptable to us. We knew we were getting our money worth. The race was really low cost.
Then mile 22 came. I reached there by 2 pm, pretty much in line with my last year split time. I had fun racing with a guy called Kevin. He was walking and I was walking. He arrived exhausted, so was I. Later though he passed me. He was part of the normal start so in theory he was still an hour faster than me.
I was two hours ahead of the cutoff. We had 9 miles to get to 5 pm station. 3 hours to do 9 miles is doable. This next section was on a double track (jeep road), so in theory everyone was moving faster. I wish I could run, seeing so many other runners passing me in full sprint.
I reached the final aid station at 4:15 pm. Now I gave myself a challenge if I could do 2.3 miles in 45 minutes. Note, this section is one of the toughest because it has a lot of roots, and tricky footing as well as rolling hills. It was hard to run fast.
I climbed the last hill hearing someone clapping and cheering. There was Roy, a guy I was trying chase down too but he finished like an hour ahead of me and came back out here cheering runners. I ran in to the finish, the clock was 4:59:59 (pm), but maybe because it was chip timed, my actual elapsed time was over 10 hours. Oh well. It was a good attempt to get under 10.
In 2023, I was waiting there until 5:15 when RD told me to pick up my friend Caroline because she did not make it pass the last aid station. This year, I was wondering the same if I needed to drive out to rescue her. Words were she’s gotten past the Rt 80 aid station and could arrive any minute now, since she was only 10-15 minutes behind me. We waited. Roy, our mutual friend went back out on the course to look for her. I stayed at the finish in case they want to send me somewhere. 6 pm came. Then we saw her coming in from the other side of the road. We knew she must have gotten off course or something but we were glad she made it back safely. Roy then came back out of the woods in the nick of time, so we did not have to go searching for him either. This race has no sweepers (there might have been for earlier sections but not here at the end). Other sweepers were handing in the course marking flags. That could be worrisome if the markings got taking down while runners were still out on the course. We had everyone accounted for by then. It was a good race.
Like any other years, we had to drive back home in Virginia from Connecticut. A six hours drive could easy extended to 8 or more due to traffic and rest stops along the way. We did not arrive home until 3 in the morning. Of course, we both had to work the next day (which is the very same day, since it was past midnight by time we arrived, but in my mind work is still the next day because I haven’t gone to bed yet). We tried to snooze snooze couple hours before daybreak and hope to survive work.
As for dinner, it was inconsequential. We tried going into New Haven on our way back at our usual place but could not find the restaurant. Possibly it has closed down. Panda Express at the Thomas Edison Rest Area on the Turnpike was the backup choice.
Time and season changes. We would like our experience to be like the former years. We wanted to see familiar faces and friends. We left Connecticut with a heavy heart due to receiving bad news some the people we know at the race from prior years are suffering with a serious illness or have a recent death in their family and so we did not get to see them this year. It was part of life cycle. This was my third time going up Connecticut, and we hope to make it one more time next year. I believe it was Caroline’s 9th Bimbler and next year would the 10th. We will see.
We praised our RD to able to negotiate with the weather god of giving us such a nice day to run. Thank you to all the volunteers for being out there.
In awe 
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