I ran my first trail race yesterday. It was a half marathon out at Pinckney State Park. I love Pinckney for many reasons: 1) it is nearby (only 15 miles from our house), 2) it has 17 miles (or more) of gorgeous trails, and 3) it has a perfect swimming lake for post hiking/biking/running cool downs. So when the fates aligned such that I was in fair running shape around the time of the race, I decided to do it.
To give you some perspective for this race, trail running and road running are two different animals. Trail running is so much more engaging than road running. On trails, the miles fly by because you are concentrating on avoiding tripping to your death on roots and rocks and because the scenery changes so often. On roads, I am often bored out of my mind and just want to hurry up and finish running (unless I have company, in which case it's a lot of fun). On the other hand, trail running requires more strength than road running. You'd be amazed how much thigh-burn those rolling hills can induce--one after another after another (see elevation profile below). So while the miles fly by, you end up running a slower pace than you might run out on the roads.
Going into the race, I had a personal goal of finishing under 2 hours. I also had a "secret," more ambitious goal to finish in 1:50. My final time was 1:52:06 and I came in third in my age group, 12th overall for women, and 54th overall (out of 601). As usual, I have mixed emotions about the race.
From the Negative, Super-Competitive Sus: I missed my "secret" goal by 2 minutes. Those two minutes are eating away at my soul. I blame my calves, which started cramping at mile 12 and resulted in a 10 minute mile 13. Stupid legs. Why can't they be stronger?
And then there was my friend Brent--one of those crazy people that can barely train for something and then go demoralize people who have trained a lot-- who flew by me at mile 11 with an encouraging yell of "Let's do it Sue!" Sigh. He finished a minute and a half ahead of me.
And there was a woman following me for the first half of the race that passed me at mile 8 when I stopped for water. I kept her in sight until mile 11 and then she was gone. She's probably the one that got second place.
And last year the time for first place in my age group was 1:59!! Why couldn't the fast people have stayed home this year too?
From the Enlightened, Fun Sus: The conditions for the race were perfect! I had been checking the weather forecast all week and the prediction went from 10% chance rain up to 100% chance rain and thunderstorm warning. I went to sleep the night before the race (a fitful sleep, filled with anxious dreams about forgetting my timing chip or losing my car key) to the sound of rain pouring down. But in the morning the rain had stopped and it didn't rain at all during the race. It was a bit under 60 degrees, the perfect temp, and the rain had packed down the sandy sections of the trail just enough but hadn't been enough to fill all the mud holes.
And it's so much fun to run with people who just plain love running. The lady that ran with me for the first half of the race and I joked the whole time about how I needed to learn to time my passing better so that we weren't always sprinting past people up hill.
And I won a mug! A giant mug perfect for coffee in the morning.
And, even though there was the threat of major cramping, I managed to avoid the worst of it and should be able to run normally soon. I didn't even get a charlie horse last night (I think I owe that to my friend KT for giving me her electrolyte drink after the race).
I think the Enlightened, Fun Sus has the right idea.
My post-race shoes. Don't they just make you want to get up and go out and run right this instant?
P.S. I'm wearing flip-flops today.
