I headed up to the local ski slope (about a 15 minute drive) this morning to run a 21k trail race. I’ve run these trails before so I had an idea of what I was in for. This is not an easy trail. It’s a single track trail with a lot of technical sections (read: roots, rocks, boulders and some steep inclines) which makes it very tough to pass people. You really have to take advantage of the few spots where the trail widens and there aren’t very many spots to do so along the course.

Today’s race, part of the XTERRA Philadelphia Trail Series, had both a 10k race and a 21k race. I’ve done exactly one trail race to date and I’ve run two trail runs. I am not a seasoned trail runner but I figured if I was going to do this, I’d do it right and sign up for the longer distance. We ran one loop around the perimeter of the resort property twice. My first time around I hung with my (high school) friend, Howie, and his friend, James. James had no training leading into this and maybe 1 or 2 runs in the past month so he was hurting. They stopped to walk (James eventually turned off with the 10k folks) and I ran ahead but left my water bottle behind with James. He needed it more than I did.

I powered through the second half of the first loop, stopping at the water stations to grab a drink and dump water over my head. By the end of the race I was sopping wet from this method of cooling myself. In the second half of the loop there is a short section of switchback trails that are perfect for letting loose and flying down the trail – no roots or rocks -  so I took advantage of this section to pass some folks. I was trying to find another friend, Jim, who was up ahead somewhere so I kept plugging on as fast as I could. I didn’t wear a watch today but I figure I ran this section in the low 7′s.

As I approached the point where the 10k folks turned off and the 21k runners continued on for a second loop of torture the trail suddenly opened up. Less people on the trails made it easier to fly along the path. I hooked up with a group of three or four guys who were running at a decent clip and tailed them for a while before passing them. At this point my goal became passing as many women as I could. I had no idea how many women were ahead of me but I figured I’d try to catch them.

I spotted one woman a short distance ahead and reeled her in pretty easily. When I passed her I spotted my friend Jim up ahead and sprinted to catch up to him. We ran together for about a mile or so but he fell behind and I found another woman to reel in. The technical section and uphill climb slowed me down so it took a while to catch her. Over the course of the next mile I slowly caught up to her and eventually passed her. As it turned out, these ladies were both in my age group.

I jockeyed places with a couple guys who I’d be finishing out the race with. I never did pass any more women (I should have started the race further ahead – remember this next time!) but in total, I think I passed about 15 guys during the second loop. Once again I found myself on the open switchback trails and flew down, passing some of the guys who rooted me on. The second loop went by a lot faster than the first loop. Granted, I was running faster the second time around, but I think the familiarity of the trail the second time helped pass the time.

Finally, I hit the section where we turn off the trails and into the sun. Yuck. One more mile I was told. That mile was killer. Just when I thought it was over there was more to come. At long last I spotted the Finish Line and did my best to make it across without slowing too horribly much. The clock read 2:09:37 as I passed which was good enough to secure 6th female overall and 1st place in my age group.

Official time: 2:09:37 (9:56 avg pace)
Overall: 39/78 (50%)
Gender: 6/19 (31.6%)
Age group 40-49: 1/6 (16.7%)

This is a shot at the elevation profile of today’s race. This would be one loop. Photo from when I ran this same trail just over a year ago.

I can definitely see myself running this race again next year. Not only that, I can totally see myself getting into trail running. Today was a lot of fun.