I had to be. I signed up for a very high profile 10-miler. But, I'm getting ahead of the story. To quote one of my favorite movie characters "Dennis would have hated that."
I've been meaning to travel to Washington DC ever since they signed the Constitution and two good friends settled there post-college (one clearly precipitated the other). But, let's face it. Oregon is really far form DC... well, now that I am in St. Louis, no excuses! Plus, my performance/ pace at the St. Louis Half Marathon finally, finally qualified me for the Cherry Blossom 10-mile seeded runner entry. I had to prove that I could run 10 miles in 64 minutes. Ouch!
That race is April 3. Counting back, that means I should have started training two weeks ago. Ooops. No matter, that's why I train all year long to maintain a convincing level of fitness (remember the marathon in four days notice?). I thought that "convincing" was a relative term, until I motivated a 12-mile long run with a trail race this past weekend.
The Wildwood City Council put on a running race to highlight all the work (and moolah) they have put in to developing the trail system around the Meramac River Valley (Moochas-grass-ias). The first annual Wildwood Frozen Feet 12-miler was held on a rapidly warming (from 20 degrees C, so describing it as a "warming" might be a bit of a stretch) Saturday morning. The trails, though, were still covered in an ice/slush mix. I lined up on the front line, though only planning to run ~7min/mile. It was a tight start on the bike path and I did not want to get tripped up in the take-off. There was a lot of joking around about the pace I would put on and I suggested that I was planning on running backwards to work on my toe-heel strike (ha!)
First couple miles were on bike path and then we hit the rails-to-trails. The footing here was less "footing" and more pockmarked, ice-holes with the occasionally bare patch. I fell into a pack with four or so guys setting that sub-7 min/mile pace (it was a race after-all). We actually did hit a little bit of single-track down around the Stinging Nettle trail. I practiced my single-track pass and got my stocking hat ripped off by a branch. The hat flipped up towards the sky and the guy in third plucked it out of the air like professional baseball outfielder and tossed it to me without missing a beat. Within 20-steps, I was back in front.
And then there were three: me, Tony, and Andrew. Still holding that pace, we came upon the two-mile uphill. Tony expressed the opinion that he might not be able to hang on the uphill but we better watch out on the downhill. Up and up, steeper and steeper we climbed up on the Rock Hollow trail. Thankfully, most of the ice was gone and only a few patches remained. At the top, cones marked a turn around with a water table and a shout-out from a friend (thanks Andy!). Andrew and I went stride for stride down the hill, picking our way around the rough parts to step on the saltiest bits. Andrew commented that he wondered if Tony would catch us at the exact moment we heard his rapidly approaching footsteps. Forced to pick it up by Tony's pace, we hit the now quickly melting slush path turned slip n'slide for the final stretch. All three of us kept it tread-side down until we hit the concrete. By then, it was just me and Andrew, as Tony had made his gallant play for the win and faded a bit. With a half-mile to go, Andrew and I were going back and forth on whether or not we were going to sprint for the finish (Me -"Are you going to be that guy who out sprints the girl at the finish?" Him - "Well, I am a winner".). And then, in a split second, the last patch of ice before the finish line, reared its ugly blackness beneath my foot and I hit the ground patella first-followed by a hip, an elbow, a shoulder, and, finally, my back.
Andrew, in a chivalrous, and decidedly good guy move, helped me up and jogged with me 600 yds to the finish line, crossing in sync. In the end, our times are identical, but some how I got the top line on the results. But, what a great way to get a long run in! I'm hoping he might want to join me for a non-race long run in the future.
Here's to the start of my legit race training! My knee wound/bruise is healing nicely... but my brand new Brooks Running half tights have some new air conditioning in the knee (giant hole).
