The Brutal Race Weekend

So it may have been the new kind of race, it being my first trail race; it may have been that the temperatures were in the high 70s to low 80s with high humidity; or it may have been that this was my 3rd weekend in a row racing but it was a looooooong day Sunday morning.

If you have been reading you will see that this is the 3rd weekend in a row that I have raced - a hilly half in Fredericksburg two weeks ago and, a nice flat 10K in Ottawa - but both I did personal bests in - Fredericksburg for the race and Ottawa for the distance. Yesterday was the North Face Endurance Half Marathon. Well it was called a half but everyone I spoke with had it at over 14 miles - but we all ran the same course so all the runners were even.

The weekend started out well - I stopped by North Face in Georgetown between meetings and picked
up my race packet - including a nice new shirt and some SmartWool running socks. It was actually really good since with the new clearance on the Jeep street parking is more critical in Georgetown and I found some right away. Saturday was an easy day and Sunday I woke at 5:30 to make sure I was all fueled with protein and carbs - Canadian Bacon, Waffles and banana for breakfast and snacks as I headed to the race start.

The race seemed very well organized until the announcer stated that we would pick up a water bottle at the first aid stop at about 2.5 miles but it would not have water until we filled it at the second stop which was supposed to be at mile 8.5. REALLY - 8.5 miles without water other than what we carried - and most people planned based on the aid stations being equipped. Well after some quick work they rectified that and we had water in our water bottles at the first stop.

The course itself was a good course - very scenic. Well not that you saw that since if you looked anywhere but down and two feet in front of you you were face planting after hitting a root or rock - I know - I did it when I looked up to see if I could find a place to pass. I had to look for places to pass as we had about 2-1/2 to 3 miles of anything but single track - and it was truly single track. Thankfully the start was mostly on wider trails so I moved ahead a bit over the first 2.5 - 3 miles but even in those first 3 miles we hit single track where it became obvious that this race would be dictated by how big a crowd was in front of you.

The Course and Elevation Profile

Once we got into the continuous single track there were lots of obstacles - some small that would catch feet and some very large that require clambering, jumping, wading or scrambling up muddy embankments. Of course that plus the inability to pass made it near impossible to get and set a pace. At mile 5 I was thinking about that - how to set a pace - but after 10 miles of climbing, jumping, falling, scrambling and sprinting where I could I realized that this was called Endurance for a reason.

When I finally hit Algonkian Park I knew the finish and a glass of beer were not far away so I kept the pace and crossed at 2:24:21. I was a little disappointed at that point as I knew it was a solid 40 minutes slower than my best half and 36 minutes slower than just two weeks ago but now that I look back at it adding 36 minutes based on the extra mileage, the heat and humidity, and the course is nothing to be disappointed about. It turns out I placed 7th in my division of 35 runners and 130th overall in a field of 773 - a good day.

Now I will take a few weeks off from racing and maybe a week or two off from running at all - just to get recover a bit - my legs are advising me of that and my nipples are screaming for it. The next planned race is the Tely10 in Newfoundland at the end of July and I want to be ready to nail that!