Bridle Trails 10 miler
Posted by z on January 20, 2010
I wasn’t real thrilled that this run started at 3pm. I didn’t feel like I could really do anything with my day prior to the race. Well I tottered around the house that morning and then Morrie and I went to Subway at noon for something to eat. We came back and got ready to go. Susan came over and we headed out to pick up Nic. Nic brought Boost for everyone for after the race. We hadn’t tried it before but we accepted his gift.
We found our way to the park. It didn’t take us long to get there but parking was a mess. We managed to find a spot in the back of the lot then made our way to the start. The first task was to find out which line to get into. They were having a 5 mile race, 10 mile race and a 50k so, you know, three lines to choose from and none were marked. Oh, and there was a line for day of registration. So, four lines. After we found out which line we belonged to we quickly made our way to the front. We got our bib numbers, put them on our shirts then jumped into the even longer Honey Bucket line.
The races were staggered starts, 5 minutes apart. Well, that’s how it was supposed to go down. The five milers were to start first, at 3pm. I think they started around 10 after. Then our turn! The ten milers. Two loops around the park. From what I could see it looked to be pretty woodsy. And it didn’t look particularly muddy so that was nice but we were still just around the main area and who knew what it looked like out there where the horses were.
We headed out and quickly made a right turn into the woods. So far, so good. I was a little anxious since this was only my second trail run and the last one was painful. I started out with a little bit of a lead on Susan and Morrie. Up a little hill; down a little hill; through some mud; around some horse poop. That’s pretty much how it went. All the while people were passing me. I passed a few but mostly they just passed me. I was feeling pretty good and soon Nic went by and issued a brief pep talk, “Don’t let Morrie and Susan catch you. Especially Susan”. Then he disappeared. I didn’t see him again until after I finished the race and he came in from his third lap of his 50k.
Some of the trail ended up being pretty muddy. There wasn’t as much horse poop as I had expected though. That was nice. Though I suppose if I think about it long enough I can figure out what exactly the mud was made from. I finished the first loop in an hour and three minutes. I was expecting it to take much longer. On some of our Alki runs earlier we had gone 5 miles and it took me an hour and six minutes. I must be getting in some kind of shape!
I started out on the second loop feeling pretty darn confident. I ate a few Clif Blocks at the beginning of the loop even though I didn’t need them right then. I was anticipating the need later on. Sure enough. I probably could have eaten a full sleeve of them and still struggled at the end.
The sun was setting quickly and with the trees it was getting dark. I decided that I would run as much as I could without my flashlight. I could see pretty easily and could ‘sense’ dips and roots and other obstacles in my way. Then it got dark. I could still see but I slowed down considerably. I wasn’t real sure where I was going. I thought, “Am I going up a hill? I can’t tell”. I slipped a few times but caught my balance. Then, it was really dark. Someone passed me and said, “Watch out for this root” then proceeded to slip on said root himself. I felt kinda bad. I decided then to pull out the flashlight. It was pathetic. Everyone else on the trail had nice LED lights that lit up the entire area. I had a cheapo flashlight that put a spot on the trail that was bright enough to ruin my peripheral vision. I didn’t like using it because I couldn’t tell what was ahead of the spot.
I chugged along but by now my legs were hurting. I took more walk breaks and twice I saw a bat skirting around me. I hate bats and I don’t care what anyone says. I kept going. And going. And going. This loop was taking a lot longer than the first one, that’s for sure. But about that time I started to hear people cheering. I assume it was because people were crossing the finish line and not because I was hallucinating. I kept thinking the big downhill right before the finish was right around the corner. No? Ok then, right around this one. Nope. But soon enough it was there and I managed to pick up the pace a little bit. There was a little confusion as to which chute to go through…the guy said to stay left but I couldn’t remember which was my left. Anyway, I finished at 2:18:39 which I consider a pretty decent time.
I hung out with Morrie’s mom and we waited for Morrie and Susan to finish. We all stood around for a few minutes and eventually Nic showed up after his third lap. We wished him luck and headed out. On the way home we had the Boost that Nic gave to us. It was ok but a little too much like milk for my liking. Susan had hers and got an upset stomach. Our plan was to go home, take showers, then go to Cafe Revo for dinner but Susan still wasn’t feeling well so we left her at the house and settled on Zeek’s instead.
I liked this run a lot. I didn’t realize how much until the next weekend at the Nookachamps Half Marathon (more on that later). My legs hurt in places that don’t normally hurt on road runs but it was fun running through the woods. The mud didn’t even bother me that much. Then, this last Sunday, I made the declaration: I like running trails better than on the road. Morrie was quick to point out that trail runs are usually longer and I just smiled back at her.
