Glenwood Gardens 2011

And now, I will write about the "trail" race I ran on Saturday night, September 17. Glenwood Gardens is a park in the northwest suburbs on Cincinnati. I have never been to this park during the day, but it is supposed to be pretty. It is hard to tell at night!

This was my second time at this event. Because we are running in the dark, and there are no street lights in the park, it helps to wear a headlamp. I purchased one last year just for this race, and I haven't had a reason to use it again since.

Last year I was recovering from bronchitis, and getting ready for the New Hampshire marathon. Still, I ran faster than I expected. So this year, since I have been pretty healthy lately and my training is going well, I was hoping for some significant improvement.

This doesn't really qualify as a true "trail run," even though it is included as part of the Dirt Days trail series. But this is good for me, because I am relatively better on the roads than I am on the trails. The course is mostly flat, but a large part of it is on a gravel path.

And that was the only little hitch in my plans for the evening, because the trail shoes I wanted to wear, the well-cushioned Saucony Xodus 2.0s with the great traction, were missing one of their insoles. The insole disappeared after the last time I wore these shoes, which was to show Zen in conformation outdoors in the rain. I took the insoles out so the shoes could dry, and one of them disappeared. I think Zen got ahold of it and Tommy took it away from her but he doesn't remember what he did with it and she is not telling, either. I have been unable to find a replacement insole that works for this shoe.

So, I put on my more lightweight Salomon trail shoes, which are not very well cushioned and don't have much tread left on them either. The tread is not so important but cushion would be nice. At the last minute, I throw a pair of regular running shoes (Nike Structures) in my bag. When I get to the race, I decide that I am better off wearing the regular shoes, because it is not a real trail race after all, and the extra bit of cushion will protect my feet better on the gravel.

After parking my car, I picked up my bib number and one of the little red flashing lights they want us to wear on our backs to aid with visibility. I hook the light on the back of my cap. After a visit to the rest room, I spend a little time in the car. It is too early for a warmup but I get antsy. So I decide to go out for a little walk around the race course. This gets boring pretty quick so I end up jogging anyway.

I'm not good at map reading, so I didn't spend any time looking at the race map, and I also don't remember a whole lot about the route from last year. I remember that we start on the paved path and run that for at least a half mile or more before we hit the gravel, and that we seem to retrace our steps or repeat a loop somewhere along the way. And that's about it for what I remember.

There are little lights set out to mark the course, but there is no signage anywhere you have to change direction. I jog around for awhile, not sure where I am going, until I start to get nervous that I am going to get lost in the park and miss the start of the race. So I head back towards the sounds of the music, and the light on top of the hill near the parking lot. I make it back in time for another pit stop, and ditch my jacket in the car.

At the start line, I line up a little closer to the front than usual, near some of the women I recognize from the other trail races. People are chatting about their standings in the Dirty Dozen. I am thinking about how my standing is going to improve dramatically after this race. The standings are based on your five best times, and this will be my sixth race, which means that my horrific 70th place from the very first race last March will drop off. Even if I am the very last woman in this race---which isn't going to happen---there are few enough entrants that my placement will be much better.

There is a woman, about my age, whom I have beaten soundly in my last couple of road races. who also does these trail races, but I have never beaten her in a trail race. I'm not 100 percent sure I recognize her, and it is dark out which doesn't help, but I want to try to beat her in this one. I figure since this race is more like a typical road race than a trail run, I have a good shot at that.

From the start, I feel like I am further ahead in the pack than I was last year, and I feel good. There are no mile markers in this race, and I am so unfamiliar with the park, that for most of the race I really have only a vague idea of where I am. I find myself running most of the race with a man and a young girl. The course feels different to me than what I remember from last year, but I don't remember it very clearly and it is also possible that our route is actually different this year. The turns and the areas where the path forks are not especially well-marked. There are supposed to be people out there directing us but there don't seem to be as many people as they need.

So I stick with this guy and the girl and try to turn where they do, assuming that we are following the right path. After awhile they pull away, but fortunately for me at that point the remainder of the route is pretty clear.

A young man and woman (younger than me, anyway) catch up to me. The woman is wearing a Boston Marathon shirt. I ask if they know how much more we have left, and the woman says about a half-mile. I let them pull ahead, even though I could stay ahead of them if I really tried. I guess I am intimidated by her Boston shirt and figure she should be faster than I am.

Soon we are approaching the lights of the finish line. I can see on the clock that my time is much better than last year. I kick and try to see if I can catch BQ woman and her friend, but I run out of real estate. Finish the race in 30:08, which is two and a half minutes faster than last year.

I hear that someone has ordered pizza, so I hang around to get some. After I change into dry clothes, the pizza tastes pretty good to me. I sit on a bench, where I am joined by another woman, and we chat about the trail races in general. We agree that they are a fun change of pace. I say that I am happy that I ran so much faster than last year.

Then it is time for the awards. I do not make the top ten women or the top ten age graded, and I do not win a door prize. That's okay. Later, I find out that I just missed placing. I was 11th woman of 47 (43 of 112 overall), and I was also 11th overall of 112 runners based on age-graded times. That is the best age-graded time I've ever run in one of these "trail" races.

The bummer is that if I had not let that woman in the Boston shirt pass me, I would have placed as 10th woman and 10th age-graded. And won, I think, a pair of socks? Another lesson in not slacking off too soon. I did not have to let that woman pass me, but it just did not seem worth staying ahead of her at the time.

However, I did manage to beat the woman I had never before beaten in a trail race, and by several minutes. So that was pretty cool. Still not sure who she is. I must have been ahead of her almost the whole way, because I didn't really pass anybody after the first quarter mile.

And my 11th place finish does significantly improve my place in the standings, by wiping out that awful 70th place from the first race.

One more trail race to go on October 23, the Stone Steps 27K. I'm hoping to improve on my time from last year at that one, even if I don't manage to finish any further ahead. Last year I was second to last, but it is such a small field of runners I could be faster this year and still be almost last.