Charlie Horse HM (Read 754 times)

or longer. Too tired to write full race report but had an AWESOME time! Definetly had no clue how challenging the course was going to be. It's a bit longer than a 13.1(came up as 13.71) but guess you can expect that from an uncertified trail race. Here is the elevation map off garmin. Full race report will be written by Tuesday. Best part of the race was meeting Michelle aka Missipp (oh and the beer and icepop at mile 10)i. Talk about kick a$$ runner!! More on her later as well Bottom number is 200, top is 850 feet Elevation Change Total (ft) Total Elevation 4,832 Elevation Gain 2,553 Elevation Loss 2,280 Net Elevation Change 273

The cool shirt we got - along with a matching beer glass!

Best part of the race was meeting Michelle aka Missipp (oh and the beer and icepop at mile 10). Talk about kick a$$ runner!!

Thanks Pam, same to you as well! I would have burnt out half way through the race if it weren't for your wisdom on the hills!

Your welcome Michelle! Ready to go run it againt today? Believe it or not I had thoughts of maybe doing a 50 mile trail race in a few years. Guess all the blood is still nursing my quads and not going anywhere else in my body (making my brain shut down) Once my brain comes back I'll be writing up the race report since there is so much I want to say.

No running for me today. WHAT!!?? A 50 mile trail race? I am NOT running that one. - Sure, I say that now, ask me in a few years. Nothing hurts on me EXCEPT for my left foot, it's bruised and swollen now. It's bad today, running on it yesterday probably wasn't a good idea... A definite trip to the dr. in the morning. I'm not happy, at all.

I am so jealous--not so much of you guys running that race (and 2.5 hours is awesome...considering my flat pavement HM PR is just under 2:15 ), but that you got to run it together! k

Ok here is my go at my race report. Had no problem getting up at 6 am ( actually earlier then I had set my alarm). I left the house at a little after 7 since I had a ways to drive and wasn't too sure if I would be able to find it easily. Well for once everything went smoothly. Found myself at Sleepy Hollow AC (which is the end of the race route but where everyone catches the bus's to the start) at around 8 am. I was happy to see that there were plenty people already there. I really wanted to hear some perspective of what trail racing was like. The other runners and volenteers for the race were so friendly. The one thing I kept hearing was that trail racing won't tear your legs up like road racing. I was assured that I would feel wonderful the next day compared to road races (I've never really felt terrible the next day after any of my races except maybe my Marathon). Michelle finally showed up (apparently she had forgotten directions and had to call her dh to get final directions to the place). I have to say I was very suprised when I saw her. I totally recognized her but didn't realize how fit looking she would be. She definetly has a runners build (though not the skinny as a rail kind) First thing I noticed was how strong her legs looked (NO I"M NOT GAY ) We ended up getting on the second bus. Found myself having a pretty easy time talking to her. The bus ride was much longer than I expected, but we finally got to the starting line. Turns out Michelle had parked there for the 5k that she had run with her son Charlie (his first 5k). We walked arond a bit then decided to jog over to the bathroom. Michelle had a run in with a frog (don't worry he hopped away fine), you should of seen us making sure the frog was alright. Ok on to the race. Listened to one of the men tell us what to expect along the race. The fact that they changed the course (first two first aid stations were a ways off the trail so we had to run up give them our number then run back ) and let us know that we we're thrid as far as righaways go on the horseshoe trail. First was horses, then other peole walking , then us and then bikers. Also the two water crossings were within the first 3/4 of the first mile. Anyways the blow horn finally goes off and off everyone goes. Within a quarter of a mile or so we run into the first water crossing. There was no plowing through it since it was so close to the start and there wasn't much of a chance for everyone to get scattered yet. Nothing like wading through knee deep water, getting out and heading up hill. I had read a guys race report when this race was just a 20k so I "THOUGHT" I had an idea of what to expect.Well didn't realize it had a couple LONG & STEEP up hill climbes. Anyway we hit we're we had to turn off for the first aid station. Here we have a foot wide trail that had people running down to the aid station and people running up from the aid station. Talk about hard to run and manuver. I ran to the aid station then walked back from it cause it was easier to stay out of the way of the others running down as well as making sure to say good job and wtg to them. Ok I think I may not of said all that much to the runners on the first aid station but I know I did on the second one. In fact Michelle is like you said wtg to every single runner. I know how I love to hear wtg and great job and how motivating it can be so I wanted to make sure and pass that to the other runners that we're behind me on this tough course. Michelle was much braver than me and did more running up the uphills than I did. I kept remembering Lynns advice to speed walk up alot of the hills to reserve energy, and despite seing how slow my miles we're I kept reminding myself of that advice and the fact that I more important than how fast I ran the race was that I did it safe with no injuries. We ran (slogged) most the race together. We were both VERY HAPPY when we hit the last aid station. There was beer, icepops, water, gaterade, bananas and hotdogs. We both grabbed a beer and an icepop and some water. Finally headed off and was greeted to a nice downhill on the road! VERY NICE!! We played leap frog with a few people (who we ended up finishing ahead off at the end) and paced together until the last mile. We had to cross a major road with lots of traffic and before hitting that point I had rolled my ankle slightly and stopped while Michelle ran ahead. Fortunatly for her she got to route 10 while it was stopped. I unfortunatly got there when it wasn't and had to wait 45 seconds to a minute before being able to cross. At that point it was about a .25 run down route 10. One of the guys that we had been running with for awhile ended up stopping there and slowing down. There was another road crossing that Michelle and I both got caught on (seperate times since she was about a minute ahead of me) I was a little irritated just because I had got my second wind and really didn't want to stop. Anyways Finally was able to cross. Saw Michelle's back a good ways ahead of me. I said to myself damn she's gonna beat me again. Well it was basically downhill from there to the finish line with a little tiny stream crossing a slight uphill then back downhil. Got a HUGE suprise about 20 yards or so from the finish line. A HUGE treee lying across the path. I was told either over or under. I sized it up and said no way in hell I'm going under so I jumped up on top of it and was over it like that (thing was as big as I as tall). I saw the finish line and was all smiles all the way to the end. A lady a little after I finished said you had a great finish ALL smiles. Better all smiles then feeling dead I thought to myself at the time. I ended up running into another lady I had ran South Mountain 10 miler. SHe finished before I did in SM and had BQ at Steamtown and went to Boston this year so I wanted to see how that went. I was pretty stoked that she came in after I did, just cause of how tough SM was and how fast she had ran it and that she runs trail runs regularly. Definetly made it easier to swollow the big differance in time per mile from my road races. Few things I forgot to mention.Alot of the course the path was single file. There were ALOT of little rocks all over the place as well as tree roots. Course was definetly dangerous to someone who's never ran trails and we could of EASILY broke a foot , leg crap I fell and fortunatly for me did no damage just because of the way I caught myself. Michelle and I definetly ran a smart race and accomplished what we set out for ,though I think we both had a secret goal of finishing under 2 hours lol. Of course THAT was BEFORE we found out what we got ourselves into. WE made it. I think we both have much more respect for trail runners!!(not that we didn't have any before). You definetly use alot more different muscles then you do in road races. After finishing the race we went and showered off some of the mud and went right into the swimming pool (me being able to only get my legs wet ) . Talk about refreshing. We checked out the food but decided to head somewhere else to eat. Found the race director and got directions to an irish pup in Reading. Had a great time chatting with Michelle and enjoying our post race food. Definetly had an AWESOME DAY!! I'm sure I'm forgetting alot but such is life lol.

My race report - See Rockenmamof5's report! I'll just add: I did have some directions but I managed to bring only the town to town directions so once I got into Plowville I had no idea of where to go. My cell phone came in handy when I had to call home ask my husband to look up the race directions for me. Getting lost is something I am very good at. The race was a lot of fun. Once again, I really enjoyed being around so many happy people. All of the runners were very friendly, and the race officials and volunteers were wonderful. Pam and I chatted the time away before, during and after the race. This being my very first trail race I had/have a lot to learn, as I found out. I kind of knew what to expect from advice from people here and from other websites, but I still wasn't quite prepared for the hills. I thought there would be more breaks in between the hills but there weren't many flat sections of the race. Also, talk about a nightmare for bad ankles!! There was no chance of taking my eyes off the ground in front of me. Trail running is not a relaxing sort of thing. At one point a guy who had run many trail races said that this one wasn't all that bad, I had to laugh. I found myself frustrated about having to go slow on hills, and with having to walk during the course. But there were just too many dangers with the rocks. The narrow paths were dangerous with two way traffic of runners in a few spots. I thought for sure there were going to be collisions, but I didn't hear of any. Running through the woods gave us plenty of shelter from the sun but I very happy the few times the race headed out of the woods and onto the road - it was hot but at least there weren't all those rocks! Going through the muddy water at the start of the race made for a sloshy start. Everyone had squishy, squeaky shoes! But since it was so hot our shoes dried out rather fast - It didn't bother me at all, well, except for the blood blister, I think that was due to the wet sock factor. Near the end of the race Pam and I were walking up a hill with a guy who had run at least 10 trail runs, he recognized Pam from the Philly Distance Run last year. That was cool. I cannot believe how I have no pains from race compared to how I felt after running my first HM back in March. Not one single sore muscle. The day of and after my first HM I was in tremendous pain. Today, I'm dealing with my left foot trouble, but that was there before the race - the race just made it worse. Live and learn. I can now say that I know what trail runners go through - it's whole different kind of race. Will I ever run another trail race?? I'm not sure. I feel a little bummed running a HM in 2:30 minutes when my other HM was done in 1:58. After the race at the pub - I tried an ale beer - after all the talk on the Drinkers with a Running Problem Group, I just had to step outside of my usual Lite beer world. So I followed Pam's lead and this is what I had.... I liked it!

Great job...sounds like a fun one (hard). Ice those ankles and head back for more trails.