Wild Azalea Trail Challenge
So to start the year I decided to get back in to trail running.
What better way to start than to take on the longest continuous trail in the
entire state of Louisiana? After a long break from running I put down my
ice-cream bowl and decided to start training again. Four months later and with
only a few long runs under my belt (15-18 miles) I was ready. LOL! The mind
always thinks my legs are still in my 20’s and I can still run ultras like I
never stopped.
Doing
some rough calculations I believed I could run around a 9:30 mile for all 27
miles. Just take it slow and finish, as long as I accomplish my goal pace I will
be happy. Then Race Day comes and were off. The first part of the race is an
almost 2 mile road run before we enter the trail. A friend of mine Jason rode
up with me and we ran together. I started counting head in front of us 3
runners took off really fast and a few more ahead of us. Once we hit the trail
I started my lap time. Seemed like we were going faster than planned. Hit the
first few miles around 8 min miles. I told my friend I can’t keep up the pace
for much longer and his response was “its time in the bank”. After about 4
miles I felt my left calf cramp up. I pushed on with 2 people on my tail I
wasn’t going to stop. We crushed the down hills and started gaining on runners
ahead of us. Wild Azalea may be in Louisiana but it has some hills. Jason took
the lead of our pack and went out ahead of the rest of us.
There was plenty of
mud at the bottom of the hills and after the mountain bikes passed through them
it was nothing but sloppy mud for us. The two runners in front of me would slow
down to avoid the mud so I decided to plow right through the middle of the
puddles. What’s a little mud hell this is trail running right? I soon passed them
on the up hills and muddy sections. I could still see Jason not far ahead and
soon another runner in front of him. Within minutes he passed and then I passed
him. My calculations now had Jason in 3rd place.
We meet up close to the 14 mile mark and made our way to the
aid station. I went past the aid station to meet my wife to refill my Mott’s
Applesauce packs no more GU for me. Once I started up Jason was not in sight
then I spotted him off in the distance on the wrong trail! Not again! We yelled
and yelled but he never stopped running the wrong way. He would eventually turn
around.
The second half of the trail seems a little easier it’s
higher so less mud. My run seemed to be going well I fell into a good 9 min or
so pace. What a great trail they have
wide open space you can see down and up the small valleys, clear water in the
creaks, large pine tree forest with not much under brush. A few times during
the race I had to jump over horse poo. They do have wild horses out there but I
haven’t been lucky enough to see them.
Somewhere after 20 or so miles I started slowing down and
had to take walk breaks. My time dropped to 11 + min per mile. I just couldn’t
keep going. I would look back every now and then and sure enough I spotted
another runner a couple min behind me. My
lack of training was starting to catch up with me. Eventually he caught up to
me and I let him pass. I this point I would be in 4th place. Not that I planned
on winning or even getting in the top 3 I am happy with an age group award if
any. The last few miles where brutal on me. My legs were tired the pain starts
to build up, stamina is drained, stomach cramps started to flare up but I had
to keep drinking and push on.
I would try to
calculate my finish time and it keeps getting higher and higher. That’s when I
started trying to motivate myself and tell myself “hey you are doing what you
love to do. You are out here making it happen while other people are sitting on
the sofa iPhone in hand looking up Facebook they will be reading about what you
are doing. “
No other runners behind me came up so I figured they must
have slowed down too. I was getting
closer to the end and spotted the tall fire tower in the distance and to my
surprise a runner. He was bent over stretching. I asked if he was OK he had
fallen early he said and twisted his ankle. Same thing happened to me my first
race out there.
I continued on and soon came over a hill and spotted the Lake
Valentine. I was overwhelmed with emotion. Happy for it to be over and thrilled
to finish under my planned time. With
the finish line in sight the runner with the sprained ankle was right behind
me. There was no way I was going to be past at the end of the race. I pushed
the pace hard down the hills and turned to go around the last cove. My arms
started to tingle and had to run with them hanging by my side. Finished the race
in 4:19 and got third place. A little lucky on my part since two of the much
faster younger runners fell and I was able to pass them. But that’s racing for
you.
