Ault Park Switchback Trail Race

This is the second race in the local Dirt Days trail series.This year was my second time doing it. The race is mostly on the trails in the park right next to my house---in fact, you can see my house at one point about a half-mile into the race, less than a tenth of a mile off the course. But I skipped it the first few years. Probably had a dog show.

But this morning it did occur to me that I actually like racing better than dog shows.

Anyway, I'm four pounds fatter than I was a year ago, but I'm actually in a little better shape running-wise. The past few weeks, since the chiropractor fixed me up, I've even been able to get a few sessions of speedwork in, and I haven't done that kind of thing in years. I don't know what I'm really capable of since I skipped that 5k last weekend, but I've been doing some hard running and maybe it will pay off.

Well, it should pay off eventually but it is still a bit soon for that.

We've had a lot of rain the past few days, so I knew the trails were going to be a muddy mess. The sun was out this morning but the temperature was in the low 40s with windchills in the 30s.

When You Know Where You're Going You Know What to Wear
I thought the biggest decision was what shoes to wear. Tommy thought this was ridiculous. He said that muddy shoes were the point of trail running, and I should just wear my designated trail running shoes and I could certainly clean them off later, no big deal. I said that my favorite and best trail running shoes have lately become my favorite agility shoes, and I did not want to risk trashing them in this race, especially when I have a trial next weekend. And I pointed out that I really did not think he understood, since although he occasionally runs on the trails he probably would not go out on them if he knew there was going to be a lot of mud. He responded with some story about hiking through the mud when he was in the army. My comeback to this was that I have a vast number of old running shoes in various states of decay, and there was no reason to ruin a good pair of shoes in this race when I could wear some old pair and just throw them away when I was done.

He did not understand the concept of "throw them away" but we had to agree to disagree.

The race started at 9 am. I got up around 6 am to make coffee and check the weather and feed the dogs. Hung out for awhile until it was time to get dressed. Went with my CW-X capris (so good for my knees), a thin, longsleeved technical top (race shirt from Disney half) and a longish jacket that covered my butt. Also, cotton gloves and of course, I never run without a hat.

I waited until the last minute to decide about the shoes. I was thinking of wearing an old pair of Nike Pegasus all-weather shoes that had pretty good tread on them. I am not sure if I ever actually wore these shoes for running. I wore them mostly for walking the dogs and it has over a year since I last wore them. (Why do I still have these things? Will I appear soon on one of those TV shows about the hoarders? A special show about people who hoard old sporting equipment?).

These shoes did not feel great. I decided there was a reason I had never run in these shoes.

So next, I put on my old pair of Brooks Adrenaline trail shoes. I have worn these for trail running, but it has been awhile. In fact, I think I wore them last year for this race, after which (or maybe even during the race) I vowed to get a new pair of trail running shoes with better traction. They then did some time as dog walking shoes, until the weather got cold and wet---they are not water repellant, and there is a big hole in the upper over the area of my left bunion.

They felt very broken in!

I considered some other options, including my old pair of New Balance 1063s that have over 500 miles on them and almost no tread (and are not actually trail shoes but in a short race like this it doesn't matter). The Adrenalines did have a little more tread on them, still.

So that is what I wore out the door. As I walked up the trail to the race start and felt myself slipping around in the mud, I wondered if I should turn around and put on my good trail shoes.

Getting in the Zone
Got up to the race start, picked up my number, and was still thinking about going home and switching shoes. But by then we were probably talking 20 minutes if I hustled, and it was getting a little too close to the start time. But I was looking around at other people's shoes, and for once it seemed like most of the people there were actually in serious trail shoes. There were even people in gaiters! (I think that is kind of overkill for a 3.6 mile race. Not too likely you are going to get a rock in your shoe when the trails are as wet as this. If you get one, you can just suck it up. Seriously. Gaiters?)

Went for a little warmup jog around the pavilion, mostly on pavement, but did a little on the grass to see what it felt like. Went okay. Back at the start, took a stroll through the a grove of Japanese cherry trees with a little woodchip trail winding through them, and a Japanese-style wooden arch of the Centennial Garden. The garden and the new picnic shelter were dedicated last weekend. I thought about Japan, how lucky I was to be able to run this race and to live next to this lovely park, and generally tried to get in a peaceful frame of mind. Zen, zen, zen.

Which is not to say that I was not focused on doing well in the race. Last year I finished in 40:49 and was 32 of 51 women--which was my worst placement in the series. For the Dirty Dozen calculations, the finish time doesn't matter but the placement does. I was hoping to improve some on that placement and see if I could move up from last year's 7th place in the Dirty Dozen. After finishing 70th in the trail race last month, I have some work to do. It was my bad luck that a race with a large number of women entrants happened to be also the race where I was going to run a sucky time.

I knew I was capable of a faster run today than last month, but it would still help me in the standings if it was a smaller crowd. So I stood in the start area and counted the number of women. I counted about 35. That was the good news. They also looked to be in a lot better shape overall than the women at last month's race. That was the bad news. But even if I finished last, it would still be better than 70th.

There was a woman who might have been Brenda W. but I wasn't sure, and if so, she has had been the victim of a really bad perm and dye job. She was not at the first race either and I wonder what is up with that.

Just before the start, I took my jacket off and tied it around my waist. It was pretty long, and I wondered if that was going to bother me. I took my house key out of my jacket pocket and put it in the pocket of my tights, just in case.

Although I am extremely familiar with these trails, last year I didn't know the route we were going to take on them. This year I knew exactly where we would be when, but I also was worried about slipping on the mud. So I wasn't going to be able to attack the downhills as I might have liked. I decided that as far as strategy, 1) I would go out aggressively to get a good position at the bottleneck heading into the woods; 2) I would push a little more on the uphills than usual; and 3) I would not let anybody pass me at the end when we looped back around the soccer field. By doing those three things, I would correct all the mistakes I made last year when I was inexperienced at trail racing.

Run and Don't Look Back
The first loop around the soccer field went well. I did feel like I was going faster with less effort than last year. I was passing people. I was passing guys! My jacket started to bother me and I threw it under a cherry tree as we finished the first loop of the soccer field.

I knew I had succeeded in getting a good position heading into the woods, because I did not have to stop and wait for the backup to clear. Unfortunately, we were soon into a steep downhill that was very muddy, so I had to let a bunch of people go by me anyway. Better safe than sorry.

Every time I got to a flat stretch or someplace dry I tried to open it up.

There is a sharp turn right at the spot where you can see my house. I have fallen down there on training runs, so I slowed down to take it easy.

About one mile in, we had to go up a long hill (the "Ridge Trail") that I never run up when I am just out training. I marveled at the fact that in this race I was able to run up the whole thing.

Then there was some deep mud and a short, steep descent out to the street, before we turned back in to go down a gravel path that is called the "Valley Trail". I passed a few people on this section.

Things were going well. I seemed to be in with a fitter and faster group of runners than I remembered from last year, and nobody was passing me.

We crossed the creek, and headed uphill to the section (the "Tree Trail") that is always muddy even when the weather is dry. The advantage I had compared to most of the other runners was that I knew where the mud was and even what tree branches it might help me to hang on to going around certain bends.

A couple of women passed me but they didn't get too far ahead.

We swung back across the last stretch of trail, just above the Tree Trail, and I noticed that there was no sign designating one mile to go, which they had posted last year.

Finally, we reached the very steep climb that puts you out behind the pavilion. The two women who had passed me on the Tree Trail were still ahead of me but I was catching up to them as we climbed the hill. At the very top, I took off running and left them behind. At first, I worried that they would catch me but then I remembered to focus instead on the next woman in front of me. Rather than worrying about being passed, it is better to work on passing people!

So now we just had to make a loop of the soccer field and that would be it. There was a woman ahead of me and I didn't think I could catch her, but every time I looked up, the gap was getting smaller. I hadn't looked at my watch in awhile but I knew I wasn't going to be much slower than last year, if at all. I tried to work on catching the woman in front of me. It wasn't going to happen. I needed another quarter mile or so. Still, I really tried to push through the finish. I could see the clock and it looked like I might break 40 minutes.

Which I did. My official time was 39:59. That, as it turns out, was 50 seconds faster than last year. I was pretty happy with that, considering my weight gain, being another year older, and also that the trails were in worse shape.

I picked up my jacket from under the tree, drank some Gatorade, grabbed a chocolate chip bagel (in case there is any question about why I can't lose weight, this is the answer), and ambled about for 10 minutes or so. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay for the awards. They don't have age group awards at this race, just something for the top ten age-graded runners, and even with a better time than last year I knew that was not going to be happening. I did see a printout of the results just before I left so I know that I was the 18th woman to finish. It really doesn't matter how many women I beat, what matters is that there were only 17 in front of me.

Later when I checked the results I found out that woman just ahead of me was in my age group, and she beat me by 6 or 7 seconds. This bums me out greatly and I wonder if I could have caught her if I had just pushed a little harder, a little sooner. I didn't throw up when I finished so I must have had something left. Oh well. I guess I will have to let it go.

Things I learned this time around:

1) When it's muddy, run straight through the deepest part of the mud. Don't bother trying to go around it. You will be more stable if you just run straight through.

2) Don't stop forward motion. Well, I already knew this but I thought some more about it as I passed people on the uphills. Even if you have to go slow, you can maintain your position in the pack if you just keep moving forward. Don't stop, and pick up the pace again as you recover.

3) Don't look back. I wanted to make sure those two women behind me weren't going to pass me, but it was better to focus on the woman in front of me.

Back home, a bit tired but uninjured, I took the dogs for a nice long walk around the neighborhood.

My next race will probably be the Kilgour 5k on May 13. The next trail race is two days later, in Mt. Airy forest. I will skip the Pig this year and instead be a good girl and just go for an 8-miler that day, in keeping with my training schedule.

Oh, and the shoes. I'm not sure about the shoes. I might be keeping them. If so, I guess it might mean that I need professional help or some sort of intervention. Anyway, right now they are parked on the side porch, drying out. I keep trying to upload a picture of them from after but Blogger doesn't want to let me do that. Oh well.