Lesson Learned

Some things are obvious... to some people. To the rest of us, it wasn't so obvious and we need to learn by doing, and usually doing it the Hard Way. Today I learned why it is VERY important to look at the elevation map before signing up for races! :-)

I ran my first Trail Run today and will admit up front and loudly, I got in a little over my head! To start with I did not have appropriate respect for Trail Runs. In my head, it was "just a run" but with better scenery. Boy was I wrong! Trails are for hiking (doh!) and trails don't just end when you want them to (like, a polite 13.1 miles). Today I went over 13.8'ish miles of hills, mountains, ravines, and came out with more dirt between my toes than I've had since my last mud run!

So, here's the elevation map I completely FAILED to read before the race:

See how in the title is warns very clearly "Steep Course!"
Total Elevation Gain/Loss: 2,718 Feet!

You can imagine my surprise then, when the view at mile 2 was the steepest hill (if you can call it "just" a hill), I have ever hiked in MY LIFE! :-D  (Hey! First time for everything, right!) I stopped a lot, and randomly started counting my steps then trying to add to it every time I started moving again.

50 steps... Huff. Puff. Gasp. Keep going...
60 steps... Gulp. Gasp. Keep going...
75 steps... HUGE sigh. Keep going....
100 steps... Head between the knees for a few seconds. Keep going...

Then at the top of the hill, I expected it to level off. Because, I reached the top of the hill, right?

No. Not even close.

Here's the view from the top of Monster Hill..... More hills! Not as steep, but after dragging up that one first, this wasn't much of an improvement.

And at this point I finally understood why this race is called the "Drag-N-Fly" series. It's because you "drag" your carcass up all these hills, then you get to "fly" down the other side. Theoretically. I didn't Fly so much as Falling With Style, but more on that later.

I did get my wish to see some fantastic scenery though! The view from the crest of that last hill was awesome - and banished any scrap of ego I might have had left about this being a "race" or even a "run". This was now a mental exercise in keeping going when I'd much rather sit my rump down and wait to be carried out!

At the bottom of this nonsense we got into "real" hiking terrain and the REAL beauty of California mountains. I could have stopped every 100 feet to take a picture of something really cool but then I wouldn't have made the course cut-off to be at the 4th aid station by the 3 hour mark... So here's just a couple of pics:

The stupid-steep ravine going UP.

One of several rocky trails going DOWN.

I've never really imagined myself as a mountain goat before, but after running too long in the heat and being continually assaulted by new terrain, I did start to wonder if this is what a mountain goat feels like. I think I probably smelled like one ;-)

And when I found a pine cone as big as my head (there were lots of them), I really could not help myself: Touron! (Tourist + Moron = Touron) I actually shouted out to nobody in particular, "It's as big as my head!"  while juggling the camera phone and the guy hiking behind me smiled and rolled his eyes at me.

Look Mom!

I am extremely glad I took the precaution of taping both my ankles before the race - a little paranoia is a good thing! And my knee caps went on STRIKE after all that steep up/down/up/down nonsense so that when I had to come back down the steep Monster Hill at mile 11'ish I was sort of alternating between a skid-slide-trot maneuver and tip-toeing forward trying not to jar my knees too badly (which is nearly impossible when going downhill!) When my physical therapist okay-ed me to run this weekend I do NOT think this is what he had in mind.

There's the aid station... all way down there!
Knees. Not. Happy.

Like I said, I squeaked by aid station number four before the cut-off time (with less than 10 minutes to spare) and I think I only RAN for about 2.5 (nonconsecutive) miles of this course. The rest of the course I walked/hiked and while I would not call it "Fun" I will say it was one heck of an adventure and even though it was much harder than I was prepared for I did finish, and more importantly, did so WITHOUT injury! Yay!

Not a "glamour shot" for sure, but I am excited about the cool new race bling!

Promptly after crossing the finish line I got an ice pack working on my cranky knees and stretched until I was pretty sure I could drive without cramping. And now I'm clean and tucked in for a well deserved nap before dinner.

I will never sign up for a new race without taking a good, long look at the elevation map first! lol. And I think I'd like to try another (easier!) trail run before I decide I hate them, but after this one I am not especially interested in trail running and think I'll stick to my [paved!] neighborhood and Greenways.