Little Mountain 25k Trail Race Report
So, I have always enjoyed running thru the woods. I thought it might be fun to sometime try a trail race. Why not now?
My Stepmother recently passed away and her services were set for 5/4/2013 in the Seattle area. My Brother in Law, who lives north of Seattle near Mount Vernon had his birthday on 5/5/2013 (I won’t divulge his age, but let’s say he has been consuming alcoholic beverages for many, many years.) Barbara and I were making our plans for the trip and wondered if there were any races or events to do to help keep me on the road to a Boston Qualifier. We looked for listing in the Seattle running calendar but nothing worked. Barbara suggested, over my protestations, to look for Skagit Valley Running. Always listen to your wife! There it was, a race only a couple of miles from where my Sister and her husband lived and where we would be staying for the weekend. My choice, travel all that way and only do a 10k in the mountain, or be a MAN and do the 25k. No problem that I had never done a trail race. No problem that the weekend before I ran 15 miles and that was the first run of the year longer than 10. No problem that I did not even own a pair of trail shoes, was still working on my medical routine for the asthma. THAT LOOKS LIKE FUN!!!
I immediately entered, did not even look at the prior year race results, course map or otherwise, just assumed it would be like a typical small community race. Wrong! Last year there were 15 people in the 25k and 45 in the 10k. Contour map looks like about a mile of climbing, with 3 loops that summit the 934 foot “hill.” Winning time last year for the 25k was 2:09 – this may be a little more difficult than I had thought. All of my EN teammates said “go for it” but they also suggested trail shoes, watching for rocks, mud, loose dirt and gravel, etc. I was able to listen to all except the part about the shoes. They also said be careful about sprained ankles, not much I could do about that (and I did twist the left ankle twice.) My ART doctor said, “Oh sure, you who are injury prone, doing a trail race, just don’t break anything.” He will be proud!
We flew to Seattle and my Sister picked us up at the airport and after a stop at a Brewpub, took us to their house. It is a beautiful property in the Skagit Valley (where the Tulips grow.) If anyone is interested, they also have a rental house on the property which get outstanding reviews. Let me know if you would like contact info…
Saturday was a wonderful, beautiful memorial service for my Step Mother, Grace Ade, followed by a catered dinner. Not exactly a pre-race meal but very delicious with Salmon (it is the PNW you know) and steak. We then drove back to the house and shared some wine with the family. Got to bed about 11:30 (that was ok, the race did not start until 10:00 the next morning.) I did however, forget to bring my usual Ensure which I drink the morning of the race and I did have a bit of worry about nutrition for a race I figured would take me 2:45 – 3:00. Woke up at about 3am and did not go back to sleep.
At 7:00 I got up and made coffee for Barbara and myself and at 8 went into the kitchen and had a nice bowl of granola, not what I am used to but it fit the bill nicely. At 9:00 David, my BIL drove me to the race start where I checked in and just chilled until the start. I am supposed to take 2 puffs of Albuterol about 30 minutes before the start but forgot until about 20 minutes to go. I downed a GU gel and sipped a little HEED. I cannot drink too much or I end up in the Porta potty more times than I can deal with. About 10 minute to go we got the pre-race briefing and then it was time to start. My plan, such as it was, was to basically try to keep it easy and fun, I knew this was going to be a long run, and I wanted to have fun, not trauma. I also figured that this would take its toll on my legs so I wanted to be sure I finished.
It looked like there were about 100 or so people doing the two races, but I could not tell who was doing what. AT the start, some took out like a flash and I figured they must be the ones doing the 10k. At EN we know that the race is not won at the start, and there were a lot of these people that I passed over the course of the first loop. The race starts out flat for about a quarter mile and then hits a fairly steep uphill which continues for about a mile and a half. Then you go into the trails and stay there for 3 loops until returning to the road for the run back to the start. IT was actually a relief to hit the trails because the road was pretty steep itself. The trail was single track and you could not run beside anyone. It flattened for a bit, and then started the rolling climb to the summit and then back down. At about 3 miles in I was running behind 2 guys with IM tattoos but going a little slower than I wanted. A woman came up from behind and passed and I jumped in behind her. We ran together until the third loop. Since I have some difficulty seeing, it was really nice to have someone to follow or run with. There were a lot of rocks, limbs, etc. and some extremely steep up and downs. Sara, my running buddy, does a lot of trail racing, after giving up IMs, and said this was one of the most technical courses she had ever run.
At the summit they had the only Aid station on the course so feeds were at 4.75, 9.3 and 13.8. They had the usual: water, GU, gels, defizzed coke, PB&J (yes, it was a trail run and I guess that is par for the course) and some other goodies. There was also a spectacular view of Mount Baker in the distance. (See below.) They gave us a rubber band at the top each time so we could remember how many laps we had done, the mind can get foggy. The prettiest part of the run and perhaps the most gentle was the mile or so after the summit. A slight downhill. On the second time down I slipped on a rock and miss stepped with a slight twist to my left ankle. After about a quarter mile or so it loosened up and I was “rock ‘n rolling” again. As we started up the third loop I started getting a lot of sweat in my eyes and my right contact lens needed assistance. I stopped to fix it and lost contact with Sara. I thought I could catch up, but on the trails when someone is out of sight it is really hard to catch up. It is that old saying about getting out of sight of your competitors, it really happens. Anyway, the sun was going overhead and making seeing a bit more difficult with the shadows so I slowed a little. Arrived at the summit for the third and final time and it was a party. There were families, visitors, etc. I could not tell who was there for the race and who was not. Refilled my bottle and took off to the finish. This time I was trying to be careful but again slipped on a rock and my right knew went “whack” on a rock. Nice little “smile” that I figured would bring some blood. No time to worry about that now. (See below.) Then, about a quarter mile from getting to the road I twisted the ankle again. This time it really hurt and did not go away until after I finished. As I approached the road I started to see someone up ahead. Picked up the pace a little thinking I could gain a spot and I am good at running on the roads, if not the trails. Turned out they were just finishing lap 2 and had a whole loop still to do. At the road the Volunteer said “You get to go home now” words I did enjoy hearing. The whole way back was downhill until that last quarter which was pretty flat. I had no idea where I was overall, but Sara had finished about 2 minutes before me. Barbara and David were at the finish waiting for me and when I finished there was a nice round of applause, a lot of yummy fresh fruit and vegetable, chips, etc.
We did not stick around for awards as we had a Birthday party / Cinco de Mayo party that the birthday boy was hosting. The whole contingent of friends and family that had been at the services on
Saturday came out on Sunday for festivities and food. It was really fun. My legs were a little sore but I was able to participate. The next three days were another story. No chance that I could even think of exercising, let alone running on Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday was an easy bike, Thursday was some weights, swim and easy bike and I will see how I feel Friday; I do have to get on it for my BQ attempt at Grandmas in June.
I really enjoyed this. As soon as I was done I was already thinking about buying trail shoes and finding some more races. I know that I trashed my legs but that will get better. I also know that my training with EN allowed me the fitness to go have fun. How many people can jump into a 25k trail run with about a mile of climbing. I do not have the actual figures, my Garmin dropped several times (probably from thick cover) and I lost about a mile and a half. I ended up 9th out of 21, at 55, the oldest finisher except the woman who finished last. Most of the runners were in their 30s and 40s. The winning time this year was 2:18. The winner of the 10k was 53. Kind of shows what the course was like. I do have to give a shout out to the last finisher of the 10k, a sprightly 84 year young fellow who was loving it… Thanks to my wife for letting me do “Crazy Stuff” and to our wonderful hosts, Dawn and David. Also best wishes to my Father as he learns to live without his wonderful wife and companion of 52 years!
