 posted Jun-25-2007 08:34 AM
  
I ran the Double Trouble 15k/30k trail race yesterday -- it's a 15k loop and you can decide on race day whether you want to do it once or twice. I ran it last year for the first time and it was very wet and muddy. This year, the weather was perfect!The race started off well and I somehow managed to get out of the bottle neck of the start much quicker than I did last year -- it was comfortably spread out after about 3/4 of a mile into the race and I was practically alone by mile 3. Somewhere around the 6 mile mark or so I was passed by a guy with a ponytail and no shirt. I was pretty sure the same guy passed me late into the second loop last year, so I figured he knew what he was doing and I decided to try to tag along. I know that once I am completely alone in a race like this it is very easy to get stuck in cruise control. A short while later, we passed another runner. As we passed, I heard him say, "Hey are you loopy?" "Yea, are you Rob?" Sure enough, it was fellow coolrunner RobHamm! I hung on to shirtless ponytail guy and he was quite nice. We chatted a bit and he didn't seem to mind me shadowing him. We were moving along nicely! Soon, we were out of the trail and onto the road for the last 1/2 mile or so of the first loop. Rob caught up with us and we ran in together. He pulled off for the 15k finish and I gave him an awkward high-five sort of thing (sorry Rob, I am not very coordinated and I had a bottle strapped to my right hand). We finished loop 1 in about 1:14. Yikes -- last year my first loop was 1:21 and then I blew up in the second loop. Even ponytail guy seemed a bit surprised, looking at his watch and saying, "Wow, I didn't know I was going that fast." Uh oh! But, apparently, he did know what he was doing because he finished in 2:28, perfect even splits (me, not so much!). Now time for loop 2! Well, not quite yet, first I had to stop to fill up my bottle. Mmmmm, 3/4 new lemon-lime gatorade to mix with the 1/4 orange gatorade already in my bottle, delicious! Just like last year, the first few miles of the second loop were the toughest part mentally. It is really hard to get pumped up about doing another 9+ miles when you know you could have just finished. I managed to hang onto shirtless ponytail guy for a couple of miles or so and then he started pulling away. After about 3 miles in, I was feeling better, but was definitely in cruise control mode. I knew I was in real trouble when the Wiggles songs started running through my head. You can't really push hard when you are jamming to the tunes of your 4-year-old! "Beep, beep, chugga chugga, big red car!" I managed to hang in there, Wiggles songs and all, enjoying the beautiful trails mostly in solitude (ran into a few volunteers and a few people completing their first loop). Before I knew it, I had less than a mile to go and my internal jukebox had regressed even further. Now it was a lap-sit song we sing to our 6-month-old (altered slightly to fit the context) Going on a trail run
Going on a trail run
Going on a trail run
Who do you see?
Daddy's on the trail run
Daddy's on the trail run
Daddy's on the trail run
Running with me Going on a... Wham, wham, wham! My inner infant was startled out of reverie by the sound of someone coming up on me, fast! I was not going to let someone pass me this close to the finish! I went into all out flight mode. We were about 3/4 miles from the finish and on downhill, fairly runnable trails, so I really opened up. Soon we were off the trail and on the road so I could continue to step on the gas and kick all the way to the finish for a time of 2:35 and 11th place in the 30k. Not bad considering last year I was 18th in 2:54. I would like to think my improvement stems from all of the trail running I have been doing the last couple months, but I think it was mostly the lack of mud  I ran into Apple after the finish and chatted with her for a while. I look forward to seeing her and others at the Half-Wit in August, hope it turns out to be as great a day as yesterday was!
IP: Logged |
