Race report: Footzone Dirty-Half Marathon Trail race

OMG, switchbacks, ups and downs, 90% single-track, and some seriously fast women.

The Dirty-Half course was set as a loop that took in a lot of the trails that I cyclocrossed on Saturday.  So many people signed up this year (Lucky #7 years running) that they started the runners in three waves.  I was in the first one, but the sun was shining so brightly, that the early morning chill had already receded and I was down to my one shirt and shorts for the start.

I took off fast, too fast, typical, at the start because within less than a mile the race entered single track and remained that way for the rest of the race (except about 400 yds around mile 7).  But, it was a good thing.  Within about 1/4 mile I was passing the heaver breathers and hopping over the legs of guys who had forgotten that we were racing at altitude, for 13.1 miles, on hills.  Two woman took off out of site and I would not see them for the rest of the race (until the finish line... but, not in the beer tent).  I settled in behind Casey, a locally beloved runner and the beloved of a friend, whom I though I might have a hope and a prayer of keeping up with.  Over the rocks, through some light sand, and up the hills, I was keeping a fast pace on his heels, sort of, somewhere around 6:40-6:45 per mile for the most part, even considering it was mostly uphill.  Around mile 7, it started going downhill and my legs took over the pace-setting, dropping in a couple of 6:20s despite the switchbacks.  At one point, I sort of zoned out and missed the fact that the trail had turned.  I had looked up to see how far ahead of me another racer was (Casey was long gone) and seeing them just ahead, I plowed forward, only to step off the trail, see that it was going the other way, try to correct myself, and end up bodily running into a tree. Nice.

I thought I was home-free even though my body was starting to realize that 13.1 miles is a half of a marathon.  Then, the trail started going up hill.  Mile 10 to 11 to be exact.  Oh yeah, this was were I was passed by three of only four people to pass me the entire race. And guess what, two of them were women.  One even said "Oh no" when I stepped off the trail to let her pass.  I thought that she was concerned that I had tripped or something.  I managed to drag my ass to the finish line with a big 'ole smile on my face, especially since I snuck under 1:29 with a 1:28:58....very nearly my PR for that distance.  I chatted up the woman who had passed me at the finish...Pam, who apparently graduated from Oregon in '01, the same year that I graduated from Mizzou, and she ran track there. She told me she had said "Oh no" because she was using me to set the pace and wanted me to keep up with her and make it a race.  I politely explained that she would have had to slow down for that to happen. :-)

All said and done... that race was a blast and I'll probably do it again next year.  I got a new pair of Smartwool socks for being green and riding my bike to the race.  And I won my age group and got a new beer glass with which to enjoy tasty, frothy beverage in.   Ummm....tasty, frothy beverage.  I might have to partake of said beverage.  Bottoms up!