Wow, today I ran my first trail race and it was more challenging than I ever imagined it would be. To begin with, since it was a late start to the race (i.e., 9:00 am), I slept in; that is, I woke up just after 7:00 am. After putting on my racing gear, I jogged one-mile from my Great Uncle’s house on Cumberland over to the Old Mill Shopping District (i.e., the site of the starting line, which was directly in front of REI) with my Aunt and Dad who were on their bikes. At the starting line I met up with my Uncle; therefore, the three members of my support crew were all on hand and their support is extremely appreciated (i.e., not only before, during, and after the race, but also in getting me Bend in the first place in order to give me the opportunity to run something that I have never tried before). Following some last minute stretching, the showdown at the Old Mill/Deschutes-River Trail to determine the National Champions was on (Actually, it was not much of a showdown on the men’s side with Max King repeating as National Champion and making the challenging course look easy by running a 1:06:46--winning by a margin of 6:12. On the women’s side, Lauren Fleshman won by over two-minutes with an impressive time of 1:19:10).
Before the start, the race director informed us that due to some work by the Forest Service, they had to cut a small section of the course out; therefore, the 21k course would only be 12.8 miles long. After the introductions of last year’s winners, the race started. For the first mile, I kept a pretty good pace by running a 5:48; however, approximately three-fourths of this first mile was on a paved running trail around the Old Mill Park. After we hit the dirt trail, my minutes per mile seemed to get slower and slower as the technicality of the trail continued to increase (my slowest mile was 7:59 for mile 9) .
In the beginning the trails were pretty soft and dusty, then there was a steep and difficult climb before we reached the 5k marker which signaled the commencement of a loop that approximately 10k in distance to Meadow Camp and back (as a result, with the exception of a few minor differences, we would essentially run back on the first 5k over the course’s final 5k). The 10k loop included many technical aspects, which ended up hammering my body and psyche. First there were a couple of deep trenches (i.e., straight down and straight up) that were wide enough not to risk trying to jump over. Second, a sun baked meadow of sagebrush with a steady incline and numerous switchbacks up a hill. Third, a steep descent with sharp and rocky switchbacks. Fourth, a straight descent with extremely soft sand; that is, basically red quicksand (for example, my left leg sunk down into the sand up to my ankle; therefore, filling my shoe up with sand). Fourth, a burnt out section of the sage-brush forest which involved leaping over a fallen tree and following marked wooden steaks planted in the ground because there was no trail. Finally, an up-and-down trail along the Deschutes River featuring large boulders (I’m use to hiking up these types of rocks and not running over them).
After I got out of this treacherous 10k trail-loop, I was back on a familiar trail and able to make up some time especially with the final section of the course being paved. With my legs plastered with mud and shoes filled with sand, I finished! My time was 1:26:09 (i.e., 6:44 minutes per mile) and even though the course took a lot out of me, it was a humbling and valuable learning experience in that it thought me that I still have a ways to go to become a better runner both physically and mentally. When I was giving him his post-race congratulations, Max informed me the “course is only as tough as you make it,” which is very true.
In addition, I was able to get in a post-race, easy-pace run in over to Cumberland then over to my Aunt and Uncle’s house on Hawthorne and back to Cumberland for a total distance of 5.6 miles. Lastly, my non-running workout consisted of 200 sit-ups and 25 push-ups. | 