This morning Sophie and I drove an hour and a half down to the Homochitto National Forest to run a 10-mile trail race with thunderstorms predicted on the radar. Crazy? You betcha. Fun? You betcha. We arrived with over an hour to spare, so we had plenty of time to check in, get our gear on, and mingle a bit.
Nothing makes you feel more badass than having your race number written on you in Sharpie...
While the weather was cool (not cold by any means) and misty, we only experienced a bit of drizzle off and on. The race officials were a pair of laid-back, high mileage guys who scored us Salomon sponsored bags and water bottles, and plenty of Clif bars and Clif shots for fuel. AND they provided home cooked chili and homebrew (5 varieties!) after the race - delicious! As I learned, trail runners are a slightly different breed than road runners (they are tough in a different way, definitely less stressed/anxious pre-race, and basically just there to have fun). Before the race we had a meeting in the ampitheatre to discuss the course, color codes (for the different 10-mile, 25K, and 50K routes), and potential hazards - including the start and finish going through some dude's campsite, right under the awning of his RV (with his permission, of course)... The race was to be timed via the guys watches and phones, and they told us they figured we were all timing ourselves anyway, so 'whatever'. Folks were just laughing and joking around and I really liked the atmosphere - at this point I was getting really excited for the run!
The trail was absolutely beautiful (it wound through pine forest for the most part, but went through a couple of hardwood areas with lots of magnolias, and went over a "river" and some small drainages many times, which included LOTS of little bridges - some were quite bouncy and/or slick). There were a lot of ups and downs (rolling hills, mountain bike jumps, hills that looked like walls, long climbs, steep downhills), and likewise our pace varied considerably. There was plenty of walking (more than we expected), constant conversation (I'm so glad I had Sophie with me the whole time!), and stops to take in the gorgeous views. We basically just went out for a fun run and couldn't have cared less about our time. BUT, don't get me wrong, we worked our tails off as far as overall effort goes and were thus plenty tired by the time we crossed the finish.
There were three water stations stocked with the usual water, Powerade, and fuel (the Clif products), but being an ultramarathon course, there were also baked potatoes, salt capsules, Pepsi and Mountain Dew, Ginger and Ginger Ale to settle tummies, and other items I was unfamiliar with (and didn't need anyway, since I was "only" running 10 miles). What tickled me even more than the strange fare though, was that the manned water stations had folks that filled your water bottle FOR you, and also acted as race photographers. With their phones. That made for some interesting race photos!
There were 54 racers today: 18 in the 50K and 9 in the 25K (only one female in each race!), and 27 in the 10-miler. We had a couple buddies running the 50K (Mack, who is 70-something-years-old and who we train with occasionally on our weekend long runs, and Jacob, who works in EL with us), but our courses only overlapped for the first mile so we didn't see them much. We wished Mack well at the initial turning point, and bumped into Jacob right as we were crossing the last water station, heading for the finish. We thought we were in last or near-last place throughout the race, but it turns out that we placed 5th/6th and beat half the field of female runners (there were a dozen total who completed the course). Yay us!
Our official time was 2:13:29 (we ran the whole thing together), but if I factor out all our stops for photo ops, a potty break and moleskin application, and chatting at water stations, our "moving time" according to my Garmin was 2:02:31, averaging 12:15/mile. I've been told that trail running is based on perceived effort over pace though, due to the wide variation in terrain. And I completely agree... there was no way to predict even one step to the next what effort was required, what with the hills and turns and trail obstacles (roots, pine cones, mud, etc.), but it sure felt good!
Nothing makes you feel more badass than having your race number written on you in Sharpie...
While the weather was cool (not cold by any means) and misty, we only experienced a bit of drizzle off and on. The race officials were a pair of laid-back, high mileage guys who scored us Salomon sponsored bags and water bottles, and plenty of Clif bars and Clif shots for fuel. AND they provided home cooked chili and homebrew (5 varieties!) after the race - delicious! As I learned, trail runners are a slightly different breed than road runners (they are tough in a different way, definitely less stressed/anxious pre-race, and basically just there to have fun). Before the race we had a meeting in the ampitheatre to discuss the course, color codes (for the different 10-mile, 25K, and 50K routes), and potential hazards - including the start and finish going through some dude's campsite, right under the awning of his RV (with his permission, of course)... The race was to be timed via the guys watches and phones, and they told us they figured we were all timing ourselves anyway, so 'whatever'. Folks were just laughing and joking around and I really liked the atmosphere - at this point I was getting really excited for the run!
There were three water stations stocked with the usual water, Powerade, and fuel (the Clif products), but being an ultramarathon course, there were also baked potatoes, salt capsules, Pepsi and Mountain Dew, Ginger and Ginger Ale to settle tummies, and other items I was unfamiliar with (and didn't need anyway, since I was "only" running 10 miles). What tickled me even more than the strange fare though, was that the manned water stations had folks that filled your water bottle FOR you, and also acted as race photographers. With their phones. That made for some interesting race photos!
There were 54 racers today: 18 in the 50K and 9 in the 25K (only one female in each race!), and 27 in the 10-miler. We had a couple buddies running the 50K (Mack, who is 70-something-years-old and who we train with occasionally on our weekend long runs, and Jacob, who works in EL with us), but our courses only overlapped for the first mile so we didn't see them much. We wished Mack well at the initial turning point, and bumped into Jacob right as we were crossing the last water station, heading for the finish. We thought we were in last or near-last place throughout the race, but it turns out that we placed 5th/6th and beat half the field of female runners (there were a dozen total who completed the course). Yay us!
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| Enjoying some homebrew after the race |
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| The campground had showers, so we had the luxury of cleaning off the sweat and mud, and donning our race shirts for the ride home. We were happy to hear that this inaugural race will be back in 2014: same time, same place! Maybe next year we can bring our families and camp on the pretty lake... |
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