Another year, another Trail Mix 25k. Well, not exactly. I first ran this race in 2007. It was my first try at something longer than a half marathon. Then I ran it again the next year. In 2009, I ran the 50k as part of a team. Something or other was wrong with my hip, as I recall, and the single loop (it's a 12.5k loop that you run twice for 25k or 4 times for 50k) was really painful. Shortly after that race, I took a break because everything hurt. In June of 2009, I started all over again, this time barefoot/minimalist running.
I didn't get my mileage up enough to run something this long (25k=15.5 miles) for a year. In July 2010, I ran the Afton 25k, broke the hell out of my toe, and didn't run for four months. Learning to walk, then run, again was enough of a challenge. That kind of distance wasn't a possibility in April 2011. To prove to myself that I could run minimally-shod with a pinned toe joint, I trained for & ran a marathon in September 2011. Somehow between bad work ergonomics and learning to run again after losing most of the muscle in my left leg, I developed a (in the words of my surgeon: HUGE) Baker's cyst. The MRI didn't show any structural damage to my knee (the usual cause of Baker's cysts), it was just a fluke.
I ran the marathon with Lumpy anyway and two weeks later had Lumpy evicted permanently. This time, I only took a month off running, but again with the baby steps when starting up again. I've done three 5ks, a 10k and one 10 mile race since Lumpy was replaced with Stitchy. Nothing as fast as before my adventures in surgery.
This year the Trail Mix didn't have the fun run down the crazy ski jump hill, which I missed, and no single track up the hill to the jump, which I didn't miss. All wide, grassy and wood-chipped cross country ski trails. I didn't wear my Moc3s, figuring I needed more toe protection. I wasn't fearing invisible stumps (Afton), but I haven't run a trail race since breaking my toe and I felt spooked. So, Evo to the rescue. Still minimal, with only 4mm between my feet & the ground, but a little more structure on top to protect my toes.
It was mostly fun. I wasn't taking it easy, but I wasn't really racing, either. In the first half I told myself that I could quit in the middle if I wanted to. I wasn't loving the ups at all, but the ski walking I learned over the winter helped a lot in getting me up the hills faster than I could have run them anyway. I was loving the downs, though. Crazy head first running down hills, leaping around, feet searching for the best placement. I passed everyone on the downs. After running the loop the first time, I wasn't really sure I wanted to run it again. But lots of those down hills were fun, so I kept going. A mile or so into the loop, the guy who'd been yelling, "More cowbell!" at all the volunteers and spectators yelled, "How come you keep passing us!?!?" I yelled back, "Because I can only run downhill!!" That made him laugh for much longer and much louder than I thought the comment warranted. Anyway. A ways later, he yelled again, "Hey!! You're walking!!!" So I yelled back, "I can't run uphill!" Another dude who was running near me asked if I knew Mr. Cowbell. I said, "No, he's just a guy who likes to yell." The dude said, "If it was me, I'd go back and kick his ass." Heh. Both of these guys were older than me.
There was more running. I got kind of tired. My feet got kind of sore. When I saw the 18.5k marker, I told myself, really only 3 more miles, you can do that. (It's really 4 miles, but my running math is bad during a race.) I knew I still had the ginormous uphill and its corresponding downhill to go. And I'd have to be careful on the downs, because although I was still flying down them, my legs were getting tired and I can't fall. Just can't do it, despite my propensity to do so. I stayed ahead of Mr. Cowbell and that's really all I wanted. I was feeling really slow but in the last half kilometer, I made myself run up the hills and bombed back down. The clock was set for the 50k runners, who'd started half an hour before us. (I beat Mr. Cowbell, who found me after the race and apologized for being obnoxious.)
I checked my time on the website when I got home.
As my GF said, No more caterwauling!
2007 Trail Mix 2:39:05
2008 Trail Mix 2:41:49
2012 Trail Mix 2:39:53
(Afton 25k was about 40 minutes slower, but it's a lot harder race and I ran the last 3 miles on a broken toe, so there's really no comparing the two races even though they're the same distance.)
So, I ran this race at the same pace I did 5 years ago and two minutes faster than I did 4 years ago (which was a few months before my marathon PR).
Maybe the old girl still has some life left in her after all.
