I Have Joined the Trail Runner's Club

Yep. I joined the club of trail runners this past weekend. My experience can be summarized in one word - WOW!!! What an experience! This is a long post, so if you are in a hurry, here's the not so short (8 and a half minute) summary of what is one of the highlights of my almost three year old running career:


Now for all the lurid details...

When we all left for the weekend, I had mentioned that I was doing a trail race - the WTRS 21K. After a restful Friday (scheduled rest day), I got up bright and early Saturday morning. The hills beckoned:

I drove up the mountains to the start point at Blue Jay campground in the Cleveland National Forest. The winter rains have left beauty all around:

I noticed the trail in the distance. Here's a photo of the first couple miles of trail as it climbs through the chaparral and scrub toward the high point on the course:

I no sooner parked my car when my friends, Lori and Rick came pulling up behind me. We had been up Whitney together last sumer and it was Lori who had told me about this race when we ran into each other on the Back Bay. They snapped this photo of a trail running virgin:

At an elevation of about 3,000 feet , the air was a crisp 44 degrees, and Friday's rains had cleared the air. I was already liking this. Here we were running a half marathon. No 6:30 AM start time. All 150 or so runners were there and mulling around in the cool crisp air. As it turns out, one of those runners was Lisa from Discovering the Meaning of Stonehenge! She saw me first and introduced herself. She had just run her first trail race the week efore and hs obviously caught the bug! What a pleasure meeting face to face!

One difference with trail running is there can't be traffic cones and mileage signs guiding runners. So the "Race Director" Baz Hawley gave us all the skinny on where to be careful so that we wouldn't end up lost and the subject of a search and rescue (did I tell you this was exciting?):

Pretty soon, someone said "Go" (no air horn, no start gun, no load annoying PA system) and we were off!

The course was essentially shaped like a big lollipop. The first 3 and half miles or so uphill (950 feet of elevation gain) to the only aid station on the course.

From there, the real trail running started, as we descended 1500 vertical feet over 2 and a half miles through pine forest on a single track:



At the bottom of the descent, we were at the low point of the course on Trabuco Creek. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. It is hard to believe that this type of wilderness exists in the urban sprawl of Orange County:

Then, the work *really* began. My quads were pretty tired from the downhill push, but now we were going to have to climb out of the canyon, up 1400 vertical feet in 1 and a half miles. What a lungbuster!

Part way up Horsethief, the clouds came rolling in and the temperatures started dropping. Soon we were in the fog. Penny would have loved it! I was relieved as we topped out on the ridge:

This was the same place that L.A. Runner staffed his aid station for the Twin Peaks Ultra a week before:

The rest of the course was a rolling series of hills with spectacular views back to the aid station at mile 10:

By this point I was trashed. My quads were burning like they haven't burned in a long time. I had been walking the uphills and shuffling the downhills since the stream crossing 4 miles back. I pulled into the aid station and had a great conversation with Steve Harvey, who runs a series of races himself. Thanks Steve for helping us out! I'll be signing up for this race for sure!

The final two miles was back down the fire road that we started on. I shuffled on toward the finish, hitting the line in 3:21:44. And loving every minute of it! I managed to avoid the three "D's" - no DNS, no DNF, and was not DFL! Success!

To be sure - this was as tough a run as I've ever done. 12.8 miles, 3100 feet of total elevation gain (and subsequent loss).

But it was an absolutely beautiful and rewarding experience. Some of my thoughts:

• I loved that the run required concentration. I had my iPod on, but when I started down the single track after the first aid station, I had to turn the music off so I could concentrate on where I was putting my feet as I sped downhill.
• I loved that there were trash cans that everyone used at the aid station! No cups and used gel packets all over the ground.
• Most of all I loved the fact that I was racing to finish. No times involved. I had a chance to take in the scenery and breath the fresh air.

Thanks Lori and Rick! (Rick won his age group in a blistering 2:25:19)

I will definitely be back for more trail racing in the near future!