Wild Azalea 27 Mile Trail Run

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 3^rd 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.