I use the term loosely, but I felt a "race" report was in order after the adventure that I had Sunday in the 100K at Rocky Hill Ranch, Smithville, Texas. First, my alarm went off at 2:15am. When my friend picked me up at 3am I heard neighbors out still drinking and having fun from the night before…Wow, have my priorities changed. After picking up another friend, we hit the road to Smithville. The website said check in was at 4am. We arrived at the ranch and there was ONE car there…seriously, we thought we had the day wrong. When a few people finally showed up we went to check in and I asked how many people were in the 100K….only 20 had signed up! Geez, this was going to be brutal.
On the up side, the weather was great - mid-40s. We got our gear and got back in the car until 3 minutes before the start. The gun went off at 5am and we began our trek through the dark woods. I have to say, there are so many things I hate about running in the dark (especially on a trail), but so many things that I like - like not being able to see what is coming next and just putting one foot in front of the other until you are back around. That's right - back around - FOUR loops….this seemed fine in my mind originally, but turns out that loops with no other runners around is not that exciting in a race situation. The course was actually really nice and very runable and very fast - if you don't run you will think that is silly - shouldn't a course be runable? But if you run trails at all you know that one of the bonuses is a trail that is not SO runable, one where you have a good, plausible reason to hike or walk or just stop running for a section. I think there was only about 1300 feet of elevation on each loop and hardly any plausible reasons not to run every section.
So, it's dark, I am enjoying the weather and the trail, an hour has passed and it happens….My first fall….usually my falls are really bad. For perspective, I have fallen 4 times just this month. I have serious problems with staying upright on a trail. I may need to re-think my hobby. I was grateful this one didn't completely rip up my knees. It did, however, tweak my ankle and shin. I decided to just go with it. It bothered me and I wasn't used to being bothered, because short of ripped knees, I generally stay pretty healthy and injury free. I met up with my friend around 10 miles and we ran in the first loop together - 2:22ish…pretty solid. Fast forward to loop 2 - I put my music on, make a pact with myself to not fast forward through any songs (distraction = falling) and settle in. The sun has come up and now I can see how beautiful the course really is - the bluebonnets and other wildflowers are amazing. That alone may have been worth getting up. Around mile 29, I completely bust it. I am bleeding from knee to toe - both knees and both toes. I can tell I not only ripped the skin, but there are serious contusions forming below all the blood and dirt. The good thing is that now I cannot feel my ankle/shin that had been bothering me for the last 21 miles….glass half full! The bad news is that I really banged myself up and now I am kind of half hobble running….always a good look. By this point, my friend has pointed out that she tweaked her knee and is having a hard time too. We get back around another loop in 2:30 - still a solid effort for all of the stopping, falling, etc. that was taking place. We both grab some food…OH that was another thing - there was ONE aid station….at the END of the loop. Both of my friends showed up with nothing thinking they would just eat in the aid stations….ummm, yeah, no that was not happening. So, we hobble out for our third loop, getting about 2 1/2 miles in and we both just look at each other and decide to call it a day. We turn around and run back, passing the 3 other runners on the trail (only 14 actually showed up). This was never on the calendar as a race for either of us and we didn't need to beat ourselves up in a training run when there are other races that we would like to actually do well in later in the season. This is what I call maturity! I would have never called a race 4 years ago….but this week I did and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. I was home by noon, hung out with my family and friends and enjoyed a day in the sun…..AND I still got 34 miles in.
So, I will take this as a successful training day and as the kick off to training for the next real race…which apparently is no joke and is in 7 weeks…Jemez 50 Miler, Los Alamos, New Mexico…..time to train!
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