Massive Changes: Race Report:::Off the Beaten Path 3k Trail Run

Pre Race:
5:00 am to 7:00 am - Rain
6:45am - I slept in a little as the race didn't start till 9:00am and I had everything laid out and ready the night before. I had a light breakfast of cold cereal and toast. I wish I had taken a granola bar for a small snack right before the race.

7:50am - Get in the car with my Cheerleaders, My Wife and 3 year old daughter, to drive to the race. Check in time is 8-8:45am.

8:10am - Check in. Wind is blowing a little and its about 63degreees. Not too cold with a jacket on. I picked up my race packet. Got my number #233, My long sleeve tshirt, a sample of "Wheaties Fuel", some advertisements and race instructions.

8:45am - Begin to stretch and warm up a little before. I decided at this point after walking out on the course a ways that it was too wet to wear my good primary pair of running shoes. So I wore my older pair. This made me a little nervous as I had not run in them in a while and was hoping the change in shoes would feel weird and make me unstable. I also found a large mudhole 25 yards from the start line that covered the entire width of the trail and was 12 feet across. Based on the location of the mudhole I planned on starting up front and going out fast to avoid a back up and a crowd of people trying to get through it. Good stretching and warm up. I felt pretty good. My fingers are cold!

9:00 am - Race officials inform us that they are delaying the start of the 3k until the 6k runners have reached the half way point. Additionally a group of about 5-8 students showed up at about 9:04 to register for the race. Very uncool!

9:17am - The late people are all registered and down at the starting line. They start to give race instructions. All the wooden bridges are very slippery and there are a few mud holes on the course due to rain.

Just before the race

The Race
9:20am - Ready, Set, Go
Im relatively close to the front and go out pretty quick. There really is only one way through the mudhole and I get caught behind one guy who wants to be careful luckily we both went out fast enough to still be out front. After the mud I backed off my pace a touch and settled into my real race pace. I rounded the first corner only 100 yards into the race and found a pretty good sized hill ahead of me. It was a bit larger than I had imagined unfortunately I didnt realize how big it really was. It just kept coming and kept going higher. when I finally did reach the top it was only a short while later and I passed the 1k marker. That stupid hill was almost a half a mile. At the top of the hill it crested and I had really the only flat for the entire rest of the race. I wish I had known that as I would have tried to recover a bit more.

I approached a Y in the trail where the 6k racers were entering the 3 k course. I felt defeated and I wasnt even half way. I began to descend the hill I just climbed and checked my Garmin. Surprisingly it seemed I was making really good time. I must have really pushed myself up the hill as I was coming down my pace seemed a little over a 9 min/mile. I felt great about that and kept up the pace I was at. A few of the students who started behind me began to pass me. I crossed a little wooden bridge which did seem a little slippery. This was about the half way point and as I progressed the course changed from open prairie grassland to a more secluded timber. The trail was a little softer under the trees and in some spots muddier almost as soon as I hit the woods the hills started coming again. Little steep suckers. They were short climbs but the grade was high. It made the run very difficult to recover. Every hill I crested at the bottom the next one would start. I really begin to feel like I wasnt going to be able to keep my pace. I passed the 2k marker and knew I had just over a half a mile left. That thought gave me a brief boost. I could see across the lake and could see the finish line where people were standing around. It was quite deceiving and I gave myself over to the false judge of distance. The hills keep coming. I finally began to realize that the finish line was a we bit further than I had gauged from my brief peak across the water. Just as that realization hit me I was confronted with the second largest hill on the course really it was quite moderate compared to the first one but as I began to climb it the whole of the rest of the race caught up to me and my thighs began to scream at me. I wanted to quit and walk right there and by the time I crested the top I nearly was at a walking pace. For a half a stride I said Im done and when I picked that back leg up and brought it forward I pushed on through. I could tell now that the dam of the lake which incidently was flat and was allso the final straight away to the finish line was coming up

I descended the hill and as it dipped down it came right back up another smaller one. I reached the top and was looking down into a steep descent to a clearing where the stright away began.
I dont know how but as I broke into that clearing I had a burst of energy that literally carried me through the finish. As I came down the final 100 yards I pushed I wanted to go faster but I just didnt have anything left in my reserve. I crossed the line at 21'59" about 2 min slower than I wanted but 2 min faster than I initially had thought I could do it when I signed up for it.