I was excited to see this race on the local calendar, as the undeveloped park location is only about ten minutes from my house.  So surely it would be hilly, and with the recent Seattle weather, there would be plenty of mud too. Fun stuff, I need to do more of these.  Constantly watching the footing and trying not to fall sure keep the miles from getting boring.

The setup was very relaxed and informal, only $10 with no awards, shirts, etc. (but pizza and snacks afterwards, oh yeah!)  There was an option to do either one 5K loop or two, and runners could choose after the first loop.  One of my frequent competitors was there, Joe.  (He's a true beast, in his 50's and running locally competitive times with guys 20 years younger).

I went out a bit conservatively, while Joe and a few other guys were tearing it up a ways ahead.  For most of the first 2 miles, I was anywhere from 1-20 yards behind a girl running very strongly, especially on downhills.  Eventually though on an uphill, she asked me to take the lead for a while, and so I went past.  The final part of the 5K loop was the hardest, with a few stream crossings and a couple very steep spots.  The girl had dropped off just a bit coming back into the parking lot, and I asked the RD "Joe's doing 2 loops, I assume?"  He confirmed that this was the case, so I replied "alright, giddyup!" and took off for loop 2, not knowing if any of the other guys way ahead had opted for 10K.

Loop 2 was mostly uneventful and I ran alone for a long time, becoming careful and not killing the pace.  Having to almost stop and figure out where the trail was a couple times was fun.  I'm not used to the constant changes in pace either, slowing on treacherous terrain and trying to make up time on dry and flat areas.  Somewhere just after the 2 mile marker, I heard footsteps and was surprised to see a guy in green rapidly gaining on me.  Whoops, no time for any more complacent running.  Since I wasn't in spikes, I started blasting it uphill and just trying not to break anything down.  Slowly, I opened a gap on the challenger and knew that he wouldn't get me as I finally came back into the meadow leading to the finish.

I walked over to my car after hearing a few "good job"'s from the RD and others, collected myself, and went back to talk to and congratulate the guy who almost caught me.  I asked him whether he knew if Joe had won, and he said "no, you did!".  What?!?  Joe had gotten lost and either DNF'd or DQ'd -- I didn't get to talk to him after the race.

All the other runners ahead of me must have stopped at 5K, so I "won" by default even though Joe was on an untouchable pace.  Lesson learned - always run for place if possible.  If I had just figured "ah, let this guy get ahead, I'm doing my own thing and that's ok", I would have scored yet another 2nd.

There's another trail race put on by this group (Buffalo Orienteering) in mid-July, hoping that Joe shows up to that one and wins (although I'll try to put up a better fight too.)

That was a very cool ending!  I don't know what's better; your running or writing skillz!

WTG!!!!!!!!!!  Lots of wins this weekend for everyone it seems.  Congratulations on the first overall!  This sure sounds like a fun race, and you can't beat that price!    Hopefully you can continue to do more of these races, especially since you're so good at them!

Congratulations!  Stopping to make sure of your way really paid off.  Nice win.

Hey, Joe, where did ya go ?

Great job, Jay.  I don't know what sounds cooler : finishing with a motorcycle escort or winning and not even knowing.

Nice win Jay!

Take 'em however you can get 'em!

Stopping to make sure of your way really paid off.  Nice win.

That's a good point!

Love RR's with rivals in them, especially when that rival is vanquished. Great job j