Well, That was Fun

Mr. Pfitzinger's plan calls for a third and final tune-up race of 8-10k two weeks out from the marathon.

I was in Seattle seeing out of town friends and had agreed to take them to the airport on Saturday so I registered for the 10k trail run at Dash Point State Park Saturday morning. Somehow it's not exactly the kind of race that I think Mr. Pfitzenger had in mind when he wrote the plan.

The run was advertised as single track non-technical trails.  The course was a lollipop shape with a 10k, which was one loop, a half-marathon which was 2 loops, and a full marathon which was 4 loops.  The marathon started at 9:00, the half at 9:15, and us short timers at 9:30.  

We've been deluged with rain the past week (Seattle set a one-day record for the date on Thursday) and Saturday was really no exception.  The ride to the airport was heavy downpour, the ride to the race was heavy downpour, and the warmup was light downpour. The trails were good and muddy. I knew that this good be a dangerous time only two weeks out from the marathon.  How easy it would be to slip in the mud and pull something, or to twist an ankle.  My main mantra for the day was, "don't get hurt."

Well, I have to say it was a blast.  The trail did get a bit crowded when we started passing some of the slower half-marathon runners because it definitely was single-track trail and it was tricky for passing.   I'm not sure I would call it non-technical at all really.  There were enough roots to keep you honest and there were a few places where a slip or fall could have taken you for quite a ride in the woods. The trail was quite cambered in places and also had many quick short turns.

After running in a straight line for so many miles while training this was a blast, bringing out the trail runner in me.  It really brought home the fact that I am a trail runner at heart blasting down the downhills and jumping over obstacles.  I felt like I ran really strong and it brought out the kid in me, especially some of the muddier places.  

I'm happy to say that there were no injuries although my left calf is quite tight and I'm working on rolling it out.

Tomorrow's 16 miler is really the last long run of the program.  It's pretty unbelievable to think that I've actually made it through the program and that I only have 9 more runs to go with all of them being pretty short after tomorrow.

The Bellingham Herald, in a story about the new trail running series in town described trail runners as explorers and road runners as warriors. For one day, at least, it was great to be both.