2011 Mt. Airy Trail Race

This was my race from Sunday morning. It is the third race in the Dirt Days trail series. They have a 5.4 and a 10.8 mile (2 loops) option. The race takes place in Mt. Airy Forest, which is the largest park entirely within a city limits in the country. Mt. Airy is also the site of the Stone Steps 27k and 50k trail runs that take place in October.

So, to refresh, the deal is if you do 6 of the 9 trail races you get a participation award, and they take your top 5 times and use the rankings to give "Dirty Dozen" awards to the top 12 men and top 12 women. Last year I was # 7.

It was a dreary day and a bit on the chilly side. With all the rain we've had, I knew the trails were going to be a mess. It didn't rain much during the race but it did rain off and on the day before.

I'm not a serious trail runner, obviously. I like trail running, on a nice, sunny and mild fall or spring day, with dry trails and good footing. The slippery mud is not my idea of a good time.

Last year I finished the 5.4 mile race in a little over an hour, and was the 23rd woman. I was hoping to improve on that a bit this year. Of course, if I wanted a better place in the standings, I should have done the 10.8 mile race, since not as many women run that (this year, just 18 women) and even if I finished last I would get a better ranking than I could in the 5.4 mile race. But I just wasn't up for 10.8 miles of slogging around in the mud. This race course is relatively easier than the Ault Park trail race. The hills are not as steep. But it's a lot muddier this year than it was last year. So my biggest goal was as usual just to finish without doing any damage to myself.

Wore my CW-X capri tights and my shirt from Friday's Kilgour 5k, and my hat from Milwaukee. Added a long-sleeved shirt (from Chickamauga Memorial marathon) which I removed after my warmup and tied around my waist. On my feet, went with the Salomon trail shoes. No more indoor agility going to take place in these babies.

Got to the park about 30 minutes before the race start. Picked up my number and went for a jog around the oval. Watched the 10.8 mile race go off (they start 15 minutes early) while I waited on line for the bathroom. Soon it was time. Brenda W., my age group competitor from last year, was off on the other side of the field. We were pretending not to see each other. I think. At least, I was.

My quads were a little tight from the Friday night race, and my knee felt a little swollen.

The race starts with a little out and back on the grass, to spread us out a bit before we hit the singletrack. I felt good once I got moving, stronger than I remembered from last year. As we hit the first section of the trail, a slight downhill that was relatively wide and dry, it seemed like I was running better than last year, and not getting quickly overtaken by faster runners as usual. Or maybe I just lined up in the right place for a change. Brenda was behind me as we headed into the woods.

I don't know the trails in Mt. Airy very well. I only go over there when we have these races, and I haven't been doing that for very long. So I have only a vague idea of where we were in the park. I think we pretty much stayed just in one section of the park, whereas in the much longer Stone Steps race you cross over into another area. I think that we enter the woods and come back out the same way, but I'm not even entirely sure about that. But the course was well marked and I did not get lost the way I always seem to in the Stone Steps.

It didn't take too long until we hit the shoe-sucking mud. Most of the race for me was just a careful trudge through patches of ankle deep mud. Downhill was the worst. I began to just assume that it was slippery everywhere, and had to really take it easy. I wasn't even breathing hard, except when I got scared that I was going to fall down!

Camelbak Guy & Wheezy Girl
I had to let a few people go past me in the first few miles, but not many. The mud was slowing everybody down. There was supposed to be a water stop about halfway through, but it came a little sooner than that. I really wasn't thirsty but I grabbed a cup and took a sip. At this point, I was right behind a guy wearing a Camelbak (really overhill for a 5.4 mile race on a 50 degree day!) and a young woman who was wheezing really hard. He stopped to let the volunteer refill his Camelbak. I'm not kidding. Overkill.

Camelbak guy and wheezy girl seemed to be a couple, since he kept turning around and trying to offer her encouragement. I had the impression that the race was something he had talked her into doing without her really understanding what was involved.

Camelbak guy pulled away, and wheezy girl and I continued through the woods, with her right behind me. At one point, I asked her if she wanted to go around me---not because she was faster, but just because the wheezing was driving me crazy---but she declined. At that point I managed to pick it up a bit and before too long I couldn't hear her.

About halfway through the race, some other women came up behind me, and on the scary (to me) downhills I let them pass. One of them was Brenda W. After that I stayed right behind her. Aerobically I felt fine, I just was too afraid to really open it up in all the mud. So I hung out right behind Brenda, figuring that when we came out of the woods at the end I could outkick her if I had to.

One of my other goals for this race was that I was not going to quit at the end like I did last year, when I let a bunch of people pass me after we came out of the woods. I was going to finish strong.

The problem with running right behind Brenda was that I couldn't see the trail all that well with her just in front of me, and I couldn't judge it well by following her footing, because she was making some choices that were not the best for me and my knees. So after a bit I tried to put a little more space between us, without letting any other women pass me.

There was one section where the trail was quite narrow on the side of the hill, and there was just a string of 2 x 4s serving as a ledge to keep us from sliding down the hill. That was the worst.

At some point, a guy on the side of the trail told us that there was about a mile and a quarter to go, which was not good news if true because it meant I was not going to break an hour this year.

I Try to Finish Strong & Pass Some People
The last stretch coming out of the woods is uphill, and I swear that was the muddiest part of the race. We were getting tired, and the pace was pretty much reduced to a crawl. But just before we left the woods, the trail dried out again (which makes sense if we were going back out the same way we came in), and I wanted to pick it up, so I went around Brenda (who sounded like she was pretty cooked at this point).

I caught up with Camelbak guy. I'm not sure if I passed him or not. I pushed myself a little harder on the last stretch uphill through the grass. This is where I gave up last year. I felt like I was running through sand, but I kept running. I passed a couple of women who had stopped to walk. It seemed like it was taking forever. Where was the damn finish line? And then I could see it up ahead in the same area where we started.

I crossed the line in 1:04:36, almost 4 minutes slower than last year, which disappointed me but I guess I will blame it on the mud, which seemed to slow down everybody's times. More disappointing is that I finished 25 of 53 women, whereas last year I was 23rd. There were more women entered this year, and it was my bad luck that a few more of them were faster than I am. I was 77 of 120 runners overall, and my age-graded time was 55:37 (42 of 120 and 11th woman by age-graded time but that doesn't get me anything).

I walked up the hill to the shelter area and had about 3 cups of Gatorade while I walked around. I skipped the bagels and had just a banana. Brenda finished about a minute behind me. She reintroduced herself and we exchanged pleasantries. She asked me if I was going to do the next one (June 12 in French Park, right after I get back from the FCR National) and I guess I will see her there. That one includes a couple of stream crossings, so my shoes will get cleaned off.

Trail shoes are not allowed back in the house!

2011 Kilgour 5k

Friday night I did this little neighborhood 5k, which is a benefit for our local elementary school's sports program. I've done it for the past seven years now, and maybe even before that but I don't have a record of it. This year I forgot to pre-register in time so I had to hustle up there when registration opened to make sure I got a t-shirt, since this year they were going to have technical tops for the first time. They even used timing chips this year, which I think it pretty funny for this little race. So high-tech.

Some years I have had to rush home from an agility trial to make this race, and my legs have felt pretty flat after a long day of agility, but that was not the case this year.

Well, it's less than 3/4s of a mile from my house, so I jogged up there and got my shirt, jogged home again, hung out for awhile, and jogged back to the start. Glad I got the shirt. It's in a woman's cut in black with the race logo in white.

It had been a hot and humid afternoon, but some showers before the race made for a slight dip in the temperature and all in all it wasn't a bad night for a run.

The course follows residential streets in Mt. Lookout before heading into Ault Park, then back out down a nice, long hill before making the turn back to the street in front of the school. Post-race, there is a little party in back of the school, where they usually serve hot dogs and chocolate chip cookies, and some band composed of parents whose kids attend the schools usually plays classic rock. I haven't hung around post-race the last few years so these details may have changed. The day after the race is the annual school carnival. This was all a big deal for us back when my daughter went to school there, but now I am old enough to be a grandparent of the Kilgour kids and I've lost my connection to the place.
You Have to Know Your Place
Saw my old friend David warming up pre-race but no chance to say hello. Finished my warmup and took a spot in the crowd near other people who looked like they are going to run. Positioning myself is tough in a race like this. I am not fast enough to start in the front, but I also don't want to get stuck behind a bunch of walkers (even though the official walker start was supposed to be after the runners, some people get confused or think it doesn't matter). And you have to watch out for the little kids, many of whom go out too fast with arms and legs flying about erratically, and whom are prone to sudden stops and/or changes of direction. You don't want to trip over or step on a kid.

There was a somewhat less-tha-fit woman just behind me with a stroller---maybe not even a running stroller---and I wondered if I was really in the right place. But everybody else nearby looked right. A very fit young woman standing next to me turned around and looked disdainfully at the stroller and said "that shouldn't be here," which was what I was of course also thinking but I didn't want to say it. The stroller was pushing right up against the back of the fit-looking woman's legs. I'd be pissed, too.

They changed the course this year. We started a little farther downhill from the school (for a slightly more uphill start) but then later, instead of running behind the Ault Park Pavillion, we made an early right turn to take us out of the park. This took out some of the uphill in mile 2-3. But then at the end we had to run past the finish line in front of the school (about where the mile 3 mark was now) a little way up the street before turning around and heading back to the finish. I'm not sure I liked that part, but at least the last .05 miles was slightly downhill.

Around 7 pm, we were off. My goal was about a 27:30, or about an 8:50 pace. Turned out to pretty realistic. At a minimum, I wanted to be faster than last year, which was probably the slowest 5k I've ever run. I'm a couple pounds lighter and I've been doing a little bit of speedwork. I've never broken 26 minutes in this race, even when I was a bit more fit. It's not as hard as the Reggae Run but it's plenty hard enough.

For once I was in the right place at the start, and I didn't have to do too much running around people or worrying about being tripped by a kid. What I did need to worry about were potholes. Turns out the street in front of the school really needs to be repaved. I don't drive on it very often so didn't know. It's a mess.

The Competition: Little Kids and People with Dogs
Mile 1 took me 8:25. It is the easiest mile of the race---closest to "flat"---and it is always my fastest mile but I was still happy to be so far ahead of last year (9:00 for first mile).

Around this time I noticed a woman running with a Standard Poodle, and I was thinking about how it would have been fun to run this with Ed, but it was a little too warm and he is a little too out of condition, plus he had the agility trial on Saturday so it was no time to take him for a 3 mile run that he was not trained for. On the long uphill heading into the park, the woman and the Poodle pulled away, and I thought more about agility and Cork Sterling with his dog Max, and now Casey. Beaten by a Standard Poodle, story of my life.

In the second mile, I exchange snippets of conversation with a young boy who was complaining about the hill and wondering if there are any flat 5ks in Cincinnati. He said he thought he would like something flat and straight. I told him there were are few flat races but not many. Maybe he would enjoy the Jim Sauls 5k, basically an out and back along a flat stretch of road in Batavia. Too bad they stopped having that one. It was a great time trial course.

One nice thing I've noticed in this race over the years is that the kids are getting more fit, and also better educated about racing. There is far less cutting of the course and cheating than there used to be. I think this is a sign that the race has become a tradition for the neighborhood, and we are building a culture of fitness here. When some of those little kids look like they are going out too fast, it isn't always a given anymore, and some them can really kick your butt. Little tiny kids totally kicking my butt, I love it!

Mile 2 took me 9:12. It is the hardest mile of the race, more uphill than down.

And finally we are flying down Principio, my favorite part of the course. I am hurting but I spend the time and energy to high five a few little kids. I know when we reach the bottom there will just be a couple minutes more uphill, just a few more minutes of torture and it will be over. But since we have to run past the finish line before turning around to come back, it's a little bit more torturous than previous years. Mile 3 takes me 8:53. I don't like having to run past the finish line. I see the finish line, I want to stop.

I push and finish the last .1 in 49.5 seconds, for a finish time of 27:19. And I don't throw up, which means I had something left in the tank. But there were no women I could catch in the last stretch so I didn't have to absolutely kill myself.

Grabbed a cup of water and started walking up the street. Decided not to stay for the awards because I didn't want to stiffen up while standing around in the cold. It's a Steve Prescott race and generally his awards processing is more chaotic than some of the other race directors in town. I don't know why but that is the way it always is. Ran into David walking to his car. He said that this had been his slowest 5k ever (even slower than last year for him) but he considered it a triumph just to be out there at all because he had been very ill this past winter and was even in the hospital for a while with pneumonia/flu/etc. David used to be one of those sub-20 minute guys back when I first met him, and I realize that I have known David for close to 25 years now. We used to work for the same company and I met him when we did one of those corporate challenge races, which was one of my very first 5ks.

We are getting old, but as Tommy says, it beats the alternative. I have slowed down a bit since that race years ago, but not as much as David has. Anyway, slower though we may be, we are still fast enough to win our respective geezer age groups. The results show me 1 of 4 in the age group, 19 of 162 women, and 80 of 250 runners. There were also 87 walkers and I beat all of them (which is not always a given).