The Return of Quivering Quads
by R2 - 22 Mar 2010
After a multi-year hiatus, the famous (or notorious) Quivering Quads race has returned! Thanks to the folks at Fleet Feet for bringing this one back to life. For those of you who have been in the St Louis metropolitan area long enough, you'll remember the QQ as four races; 10K, half-marathon, 50K, and the painful 50-miler. This return to Cuivre River State Park, only revived the half-marathon.
The weather turned south the day before the race, but the Fleet Feet team was ready with Plan B at the drop of a hat, so none of the racers had to dig their cars out of the muddy field that would have been the parking lot. The race course was another matter altogether - more on that later.
Fleet Feet also had a plan to try to deal with the frigid temperatures. Alright, those of you who know me know that I get cold below 70, but the upper 30's at race start had many folks agreeing with me! To combat this, they placed a number of propane heaters at key locations to try to keep the volunteers and waiting racers thawed.
The first wave of runners started the race right on time, and that was the last time I'd see any of them until a brief overlap on the course much later. Every wave contained about 25 runners and started three minutes after the previous one. This, and the 3K run before the single-track started did a good job of reducing the traffic jams on the trail. The start was on a fire-road that had deteriorated into mud-filled ruts and one of the volunteers described as "the best groomed part of the whole race" - he wasn't far off with that. Then we were off to the sound of 50 shoes squishing down the trail!
It was obvious that some racers hadn't seen those conditions before, but the short out-and-back gave them a chance to adjust as best they could, and it gave the experienced mud-runners a chance to move ahead. As a side note - I'm not sure what it says about me when I can honestly say that this was the second-muddiest race I've done so far this year. Only the flooded marshlands at Swamp-Stomper were worse. Castlewood Cup had a few tricky spots by the river, and The Land Between the Lakes would reach out a grab you with roots hidden in the muck if you didn't pay attention, but QQ beat them both.
Back to QQ - the mud wasn't the only feature of note. With very few exceptions, the trail was uphill or downhill almost all of the way, and the transition from down to up was usually a chilly creek. On the positive side, each one did briefly remove a layer of mud!
The course was well marked and aid stations were well spaced-out around the course. The volunteers were real troopers; dealing with the weather and handing out a good variety of food and drink while smiling and encouraging the racers.
After winding around and up-and-down through woods and streams for a bit over 12 miles and about 1,700 feet of climb, we wound up back on the original fire-road for a brief run into the finish. There we were met by cheering crowds and the race announcer inspiring us across the line. Once finished, we received our sharp-looking finisher medals and a much-needed Mylar blanket. The after-race food was somewhat lacking (fruit, chips, and rolls), but was appreciated nonetheless - although something warm would have been better.
I'll offer two pieces of advice - sign up for this race as soon as it's available next year, and don't do it the weekend after a 60K!