LBL 23K Trail Run
AKA - Possibly the last race report to ever be written!
Please excuse the impertinence, really just a small joke in these odd times. Speaking of, I'll address that first. I debated long and hard over the wisdom of running the race. Still not sure if it was the right call or not, but it's done now so I'm going to tell you about it. About 630 people had signed up,for the race. A rough count of finishing times for the 4 distances looks like about 430 people showed up for the event. The organizers changed their stance a couple times, ultimately giving people the option to skip this year and roll their entry into next year for full credit if they wanted. I considered it but figured I have a cabin nearby, would have limited contact with people and would be fairly isolated in the woods so went ahead and drove down to meet my nephew, who drove up from Alabama.
Speaking of, I got a late start due to going grocery shopping for my wife in the morning but made it to the area relatively close to expected time. My nephew was really late getting there and we missed the dinner we were supposed to have but got our race packets. Led to a non-traditional pre-race meal of Wendy's and that a little later in the evening than expected. But we got back to the cabin, chatted a little and off to bed at a fairly early time.
Alarm went off at 5:30ish, got up and moving, dressed and out the door. Stopped for gas, an ice tea and some gum and at the race site ay about 6:30 or so central time. Took a nice, healthy BM and then went on a little stroll with my nephew to warm up. Back to the car to change into my trail shoes and then head from the community center down to the start area.
Kind of hard to call it a starting line cause it may have been the most unorganized start ever and I think it is common for it. There's a guy with a megaphone calling out info but pretty hard to him him. My nephew and I were chatting with a woman from Madison, Wisconsin when suddenly we hear "go, go, go!" I hadn't even prepped my watch for gps tracking and I thought I was right at the start "line" but I end up pretty far back in the pack. I click my watch and kind of mull behind the crowd as the GPS synchs and then I'm off!
note, not mile markers on the course so this is per watch GPS
Miles 1 and 2: 7:37, 152; 7:41, 160
As stated, the start was funky. There's a little "official time" and movement before I got the watch going. The start is in the parking lot of a marina. Took a second to get to the edge, but there was room to move and shortly after the start, you are on a main, wide road. Plenty of room to navigate the crowd and I didn't want to be way back when we got to the trail. It's pretty much all single lane-ish.
You get to,the trail a little before the 2 mile mark. By then I'm in open space and feeling good. I knew I wouldn't be holding that pace but was good with it for the road, where I was comfortable. Good start, IMO.
Miles 3,4,5: 8:28, 165; 8:51, 169; 9:25, 165
This is kind of rolling trails, decent with width and net downhill movement. I'm working pretty hard given all that! There's still a few climbs here and there and plenty of roots and such to look out for. Fun part - I start chatting with a guy behind me, kind of pushing me along. I had one of my monumental race shirts and he asks if I ran the full this past year and I said yes. He tells me that he recognized me from the bandana thing I was wearing - I was wearing the same one. He ended up dying at some point and finished in about 4 hours but we ran a ways together apparently. Need to find him on strava. Other than that, it's mostly uneventful other than having to make room for a couple people to squeeze by.
Miles 6,7,8: 10:03, 163; 9:58, 167; 9:39, 173
Just after my watch buzzed for mile 5, I fell. Decent crash, kind of jammed my wrist but no real harm. But we also basically hit the low point of the trail. Starting here it is more uphill than down and the trail starts twisting more and getting more technical. Along here I realize that staying under 2 hours is going to be a chore and a half.
During mile 8 you get a bit of a reprieve. Come out of the woods, cross the road, have some fans yelling encouragement and get some flat ground and wider path for a little bit. I get a second wind, pick up my pace a bit and ready to tackle the back half. And then...
Miles 9,10,11: 11:16, 170; 12:15, 165; 11:19, 162
By far the toughest part of the course. The hills here kicked my ###. Up hills were a slow jog, at best, and often more of a "power walk". On of them in there was more walk and less power. The down hills were twisty and also rock and root infested. There's some awesome views along here but I didn't really see them. I saw about the three feet in front of me and that's it. Had a number of people pass me along here and I was ok with that. This was fun in its own way but truly a test of ones mental fortitude. I didn't pass the test with flying colors or anything but I did survive and had some fun in the process.
Mile 12: 10:21, 155
This mile gets its own spot for a few reasons. One because it is basically the last mile in the woods. And one because I turned my ankle pretty good. The trail actually widens back out for quite a bit of this and flows well but there were still hazards to dodge. At about 11.25 miles on my watch, I had a misstep and turned my ankle on a rock or stick or something. Didn't fall but it was a pretty significant twist. I limp ran for a while trying to decide how bad it was and one last person passed me while I was assessing and said "it's all downhill from here". I asked him if he was serious or just messing with me and he said "yes, other than the canal bridge there's not really any hills left." I needed that info. Between the cold raid and the adrenaline boost I was able to suck it up and start to push on. I lost the limp and just tried to keep him in my sights.
Mentioning the rain, I left all that out. To start, no rain. Probably about mile 4, the rain started. For a long time you could basically just hear it more than feel it. Even without leaves, the trees blocked a lot of it. About the time we started. Climbing hills at about mile 9, it started raining pretty good and was a factor the rest of the way.
Mile 13, "14": 9:31, 168; 8:08 pace, 168
Part of mile 13 is still in the woods, but it's a pretty tame part of the trail. Came out of the woods to some cheers - there's an aid station there for this crazies doing 2, 3, or 4 laps. I'm only doing 1 so it is back on the road and off to the finish - about 1.5 miles on the road to the end. When you come out on the road, there is a decent climb up the side road to the main one and then immediately up and over the canal bridge. Compared to the trails, this is easy stuff. The guy that encouraged me in the woods is a pretty good ways in front of me. I set my eyes on him and just start running. I caught him at about the top of the bridge or maybe just after. We exchanged encouragement to finish strong and I pushed in front of him.
A good ways in front of him were 2 more people. I set my eyes on them and made my way forward. There was still one more gradual hill - you come down the bridge but then have to climb a little on the roadway. I'm slowly, slowly closing the gap but not sure if I'll catch them. They actually start to separate from each other. At the top of the hill, you make a right turn and head down hill to the finish. I knew I was catching the first person and did on that down hill. She and I exchanged encouragement and I tried to push toward the last person but it was not meant to be. I needed another hundred yards or so. He finished about 13 seconds in front of me.
Official time: 2:14:07. 34 of 235 overall. 31 of 138 men.
Was definitely a lot more work than a road HM. Also didn't have in as much work as I had hoped. The hamstring and hip meant my training wasn't what I planned. Really would have loved some longer runs leading into it. Definitely need more hill work!
All in all I'm reasonably satisfied with my effort. Probably could have worked the final hill so ardor if I knew they were the last ones but maybe not. I would really like to run this again for certain. And it is in the back of my mind to do more than one lap - maybe even more than 2...
Also, ankle is a little stiff and swollen today but not too bad. Will be ok soon enough.
. I guess I could get the wet suit and polar it at the town beach 
