...And Now For Something Completely Different!

This morning, as an experiment, I ran the Rogue Trail 10k at "The Maze" in Walnut Creek Park. I've never done a trail race before, and this one looked like a good place to get my feet wet, so to speak. There was an accompanying 30k trail race that would have the folks doing 3 loops of our course. The usual trail run sorts of food and snacks were available, and the runners gathered were a slightly different lot than usual for road races.

I rolled up to the parking lot a little before 7:00, and saw Clemmie from an old running group. She's done a 50k Ultra before on modest trails, and would be doing the 30k today. I wished her luck, and then I sat down to await our 7:30 start. The surprisingly large group of 30k runners gathered loosely behind the start tree, and were off right on time, at 7:00. It's a really casual thing, these trail races, and interesting to observe.

At any rate, I chatted with some folks waiting for our race, and found that most of them were new to trail running, so I didn't feel so out of place. I wasn't going to be trying to race hard, especially after yesterday's 10 miler, but I still wanted to represent myself well today. I did some modest stretching and a tiny bit of warmup running, and moseyed over to the start area. Lined up about halfway back in the field of around 120 people...maybe more. Steve Sisson gave us the race instructions, including the whole trail running etiquette thing ("On Your Left"), as well as the trail markers and such. He said the water/snack station was about 3.1 miles, and that at the big creek crossing late in the race, we'd be about a mile from the finish. Okay. Promptly on time, we were off. No chip timing today, and the distances are approximate (more on that later).

The early trail was single track, and we were a long snaking line of people jogging along in wilderness pretty quickly. I took it easy early, and when the trail widened, I eased past folks who were obviously going slower than I was, but I didn't stress out over it. I moved gently forward in the pack until about 7 minutes into the race, when there was a really steep drop and climb through a dry creek bed. The line of runners stopped as people tried to pick a line down and up the obstacle. After negotiating that, I found myself with a little room to run. I picked up the pace just a bit, and started picking out people to catch ahead of me. I'd roll up behind someone, catch my breath, and then go around them when I had the chance.

All of a sudden, maybe 15 minutes into the race, I was in open space, with empty trail ahead of me. No, I wasn't lost, but I had worked my way past the slower initial runners. I enjoyed this stretch, mostly shaded, and rolled up and down the terrain having a good time. Finally, I caught up to 2 women running along at a good pace, so I tagged along with them for a while. We dropped one of them, and I stayed with the other woman until the refreshment station, which was up a rather nasty little climb. I took a few seconds there, in the sun, to drink a cup of Gatorade and to pour a cup of water on my cap to cool things down a little. Refreshed, I moved on. The full stop was 25 seconds. I was at 29:01 for the first "half," which I'll call 3.1 miles, 9:22 pace. That was the sort of pace I was shooting for. HR numbers had some high peaks on the climbs, but the average number was about like yesterday's long run. So far, mission accomplished. This was really different, my friends!

I caught and passed a bunch of folks coming out of the water station, and spent most of the second half of the race doing that sort of approach...find a new runner to chase, catch them, rest for a second behind them, and then go past. The whole run became more like a fartlek workout than a standard road race, which was pretty interesting. Hard efforts followed by "recovery," of sorts, and so on. The second half seemed to be hillier, and dancing downhill through roots and rocks was challenging, but I was having fun. I did have just one bit where I tagged a toe on a root, but I caught myself after a couple of big giant steps. That'll get your heart rate up!

When we crossed the larger creek on the big stepping stones, I was happy to think about just one more mile of running. However, I think it was a bit longer than that. I'd slog up a hill, then down, then up, and without mile markers, I was slightly out of my element. Hard to pace when you've just got your breathing to tell you what to do. I was working harder in the second half, and I know I was running faster, but it was still hard to figure out where I was. The course snaked around and around, with turns aplenty, so you never really knew which way you were headed. (Uh, that's why this particular course is called "The Maze," Jay!). A bit disorienting, but not terrible. I plodded on. I was caught and passed by a fast 30k guy somewhere in there (he was on lap two, and my headstart on him had evaporated), but I caught a couple of the 30k folks myself, so I consider it an even trade.

Finally, I heard the finish line sounds, I thought, and got excited that the day was nearly over. Right at that point, though, the course took a sharp downhill turn away from the sounds, which was particularly cruel. More runners were ahead, and I charged after them. I was finding that I was pretty good on the uphill bits, which was nice to see. Anyway, now we had to be in the homestretch, didn't we? The course twisted left, twisted right, twisted up and down, and then twisted some more. A second 30k guy came flying by in here somewhere. I kept looking ahead for the orange trail marker ribbons, hoping that I'd see the finish around some corner soon. More people to pass. Finally, there was a woman ahead of me, and we got to a point that the orange marker pointed us through a tiny trail that looked like only goats used it, with tall grass almost overgrowing it. That was our trail, though! Through that gap we went, and I went around that woman, the last runner I'd see on the trail. A last nasty climb was ahead, pretty rocky, and then I saw the finish area ahead. Finally! I zipped across the finish, they took my tear-off tag for timing (it's a trail run, friends!), and I was done. Second "half," including my 25 second rest stop, was 29:43. I was a little disappointed in that, if the course was exactly 10k.

More water to pour on my head, and I started cooling down. I chatted with a couple of folks, including a Gazelle named Susan, I think, and then got to the truck to change shirts, put on my sandals, and start my post-race Endurox. I enjoyed the post-race scene, and watched a lot of people finish behind me. Found more people to talk to, and discovered a fair number of people who don't run road races at all. One woman was a cyclist, and this was her "long run." Good for her. I saw Diane, from the Galloway people, who was helping direct people at the start/finish line ("10k to the right, 30k to the left!"). I resisted the urge to eat Gummi Bears and Oreos, but it was tempting.

Later, I saw Steve Sisson, the race director, and he said the course was long. Last year, he used a slightly different course, and people told him he needed to add some twists this year to make it long enough. So, he added the extra stuff, but he thinks it makes the course more like 6.5 miles. Therefore, my second portion was more like 3.4 miles, making for a pace of 8:40 or so after the water stop. Overall, I ran 6.5 challenging miles at a pace of 9:02/mile. I was really cranking it in the second half, according to plan. My legs felt just fine today, but I think my HR numbers were up a little due to residual fatigue from yesterday. That's okay with me.

It was a fun experiment. I might, maybe, possibly, do the second race in the trail series in a couple of weeks. It's near my house, but that course is supposedly crazy hard, with some technical uphill bits that you just have to walk. Fun? Maybe. But since I'm not training for a fall marathon, why not try something different?