There are two distinct camps in the Williamsburg area running community. One camp is for the standard road racers competing in the Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix, who prefer asphalt road courses, often flat and fast (like the recent Run the DOG Street 5K, the Queens Lake 5K and the Virginia Fire Chiefs 5K), or stray slightly to a well-maintained crushed stone path like the Greensprings Trail (used for the March Jamestown High School Swamp Run 5K, and for the upcoming Proud to Serve 6K on May 18 and the FURever 8K and 5K on June 15). These races are mostly from 5K to 10K.
The other camp is for those who prefer trails, and the tougher the better, with roots, twists, turns, relentless uphills and downhills, but fantastic scenery. These races trend towards the longer distances, up to the Singletrack Maniac 50K, and the 24 hour run. These events are organized by Ellen Alexander and her crew at Happy Cat Events. Most of her events are on the challenging Freedom Park or York River State Park trails, although several of her events are on the easy-to-run Greensprings Trail.
Occasionally the two camps come together, with Alexander’s Night Owl 9K, set for June 29 at Freedom Park, also a CRR Grand Prix event, and purposely scheduled to get the strict road racers out of their comfort zone, and to try something different. The Night Owl race is a combination course, with the trickiest part trail B at Freedom Park, but the 9K also uses the asphalt backbone trail at Freedom Park.
And sometimes the traditional road racers try something different, and that’s what happened with Tricia Murphy, 43, of Williamsburg, who was recently featured in the Virginia Gazette after making major breakthroughs in her 5K times, and running lifetime PRs one after another. With her two sons part of the Colonial Revolution bicycling group, who train regularly at both Freedom Park and York River State Park, Murphy was convinced to run for the first time one of Alexander’s trail races. She had a very successful debut at the inaugural Arbor Day 15K (9.3 miles) on April 28 at YRSP.
Two men stood out from the rest at the 15K—William Orndorff, 33, of Richmond (1:01:21) and Erik Spencer, 25, of Virginia Beach (1:01:51). Spencer had won the Cray Cray 10K two weeks earlier at Freedom Park, part of the Singletrack Maniac 50K race day. Seven minutes behind was Anthony Arthur, 37, of Norfolk (1:08:39) and Chad Craner, 36, of Richmond was fourth in 1:11:20. The remainder of the men’s top eight were Aaron Reams, 48, of Raleigh, N.C. (1:15:04), Richard Collins, 43, of Williamsburg (1:16:57), Tommy Regnaud, 34, of Virginia Beach (1:17:19) and Bryce Beech, 21, of Williamsburg (1:19:50).
For the women, Erin Williams, 49, of Manquin won in 1:15:39, with Tricia Murphy, 43, of Williamsburg a minute behind in 1:16:45. Alexandra Mann, 34, of Williamsburg was third in 1:17:28. All three were in the top 10 overall (sixth, seventh and 10th). Williams was the race director for the Singletrack Maniac 50K in April. Following for the women at Arbor Day were Caitlin McIntire, 33, of Glen Allen (1:25:27), Bjorg Larson, 44, of Williamsburg (1:25:48), Megan (Schulze) Syrett, 41, of Yorktown (1:27:24), Anne Kennedy, 39, of Williamsburg (1:30:11), Lorraine Sloan, 34, of Yorktown (1:32:43) and Katie Kipers, 33, of Williamsburg (1:33:33).
Race director Ellen Alexander of Happy Cat Events summarized the day, “The weather was picture perfect and the racers were kind and inspiring—what more can you ask for? I hope everyone had as much fun as I did and felt challenged and proud of their efforts!”
Murphy emailed about her first experience on the trails, and with a Happy Cat Events race, “I went into this race with zero expectations. It was a strange feeling having no idea how I would feel, not knowing what I was capable of. I was hoping that I’d probably finish out under 1:30, but wasn’t sure what my body could accomplish with the roots and hills. My main goal was not to twist my ankle and injure myself for future events. The course and race were a million times more exciting than I expected. The race itself went by really fast since I was watching my feet the entire run. I felt really strong on the hills and didn’t get the same tired feeling that I get during a road race. I picked up my pace the last two miles once we got out of the single track and finished feeling strong. It was such an amazing feeling finishing in the top three.”
“The weather was a bit warmer than I like, but since it was shaded that helped out a lot. I liked the course, even though my 13-year-old told me I was going to hate it. He rides the course on his bike and figured it would be too much of a challenge for me. I don’t normally run or train on trails so I was surprised I enjoyed the course and race as much as I did. I had forgotten how different trail running is. It’s both physically and mentally challenging. I absolutely love the unique awards. I have a little spot at work that I like to showcase my awards, so I was proud to bring it to the office and show it off.”
About future Happy Cat races, Murphy emailed, “I definitely am hooked! I am looking at her half this summer [the Taskinas Creek Half Marathon, also at York River State Park, and on June 2], although with the hot temperatures we’ve already been having this week it makes me a bit nervous, but maybe that will be all part of the challenge.”
Murphy commented, “As I do in all my races I started out fast, not my normal 5K fast, but fast enough that I only had a small group of men in front of me. I was leading for the women for a while and I think it was around 4 or so miles that the woman who won [Erin Williams] ran past me. When she passed by she was going incredibly fast and I knew it wouldn’t have been smart to try and hang with her, so I kept my pace and let her go. During one of the switchbacks I saw the third place woman, but I couldn’t tell how far back she was so I just kept running to keep my position. I found it really challenging going downhill and a few times had to grab a tree to keep from falling. The uphills were surprisingly much easier and I preferred them. I did see a turtle at one point and almost stepped on him, but luckily for both of us I was able to step over him.”
Another runner saw a harmless black snake cross the path, and she shrieked in surprise, despite being forewarned by the runner ahead of her. For more information on all the Happy Cat Events, visit their website at happycatevents.com.
Rick Platt is president of Colonial Road Runners.
