• June 14th, 2015
• Chula Vista, California
• Wild Horse Half Marathon
• Sharon: 3:00:16
• Tim: 2:23:56

 

46 down only 6 to go.

I have this weird idea that I love trail running. I have this unfounded belief that I am a better trail runner than road runner. I’m not sure where I got this belief as it is clearly not the case. All my epic fail, pain fest, races have been on trails. I hurt for 5 days after FOURmidable and I almost came in last at The Enchanted Forest Wine Run. Only 2 women (in fairy costumes) came in after me. As you probably guessed from this intro, this weeks race was another trail race. And it was not my best race of the year. I have noticed that I have more frequent and more intense asthma attacks during trail races. I think dust is a trigger.

I did something really stupid last weekend. After having a great race we came home and went for a walk on the beach. I wore my flip flops and carried them as we walked in the surf. After about a mile I noticed that my feet were hurting. It hurt even more when I put my flip flops back on. By the time we got home I had a huge blister on both pads of my feet. How stupid to get blisters after a race. I have been trying to run a couple times a week but needless to say I did no running leading up to this week.

Sunday morning we got to sleep in until 4am. This sounds like a bad joke but we have had to get up at 3am for almost all of our California races.

This was actually a beautiful race. It was just an off day for me. I felt tired before I even started. This wasn’t an overly technical trail but I was in a clumsy mood. I kept tripping over rocks and roots. I wasted over 5 minutes trying to get sand out of my shoe. It would have made a good comedy skit. I took off my shoe to dump out the sand but I lost my balance and my foot landed in the sand, getting more sand in my shoe than I dumped out. I repeated this twice before I sat down rather than trying to balance one one foot. The trail was mostly single track with some out and backs and one small section of road. There were a couple sections of trail where runners were coming back on a single track trail that just didn’t fit two people. The bridges were really tricky with runners coming and going. I love bridges but these were a little in need of repair.

I like this series (it’s a Dirt Devil race) but I think they need chip timing. Gun timing makes us runners that start in the back seem even slower than we are. It also makes slow runners even less likely to make the cutoff. For really small races this isn’t an issue but for a mid sized race with age group prizes I think it is an issue. Just like the last Dirt Devil race we did (Foxy Half Marathon), I found this race well organized. I had a bit of a problem with a couple arrows that seemed to be pointing down 2 separate paths but Tim had no problems [except when I wasn’t paying attention and followed someone down the wrong path – Tim] so I think that is just my bad trail skills. At one point I actually waited for the person behind me to see which way they went. I had a pretty bad asthma attack and ended up walk/running the last half of the race. The weather app on my phone said the sun wouldn’t come out until 1pm, but it lied. The last 3 miles were in direct sun. Since living in Oregon I don’t deal well with heat.

We got another pint glass as swag after this race. We are getting quite a set. We also could have gotten a free beer but didn’t, Tim because he was driving and me because I just don’t want beer with breakfast. I sat in the shade and Tim got me water and a burrito. Tim is great – he always waits on me while I cool down and catch my breath. Burritos are great after race food.

Cons

• Gun timing only
• Lots of dust
• Some 2 way traffic on single track
• I found some of the markers confusing (but I think it was just me)

Pros

• Race day packet pickup
• Parking near start/finish
• Beautiful sceanery
• Enthusiastic volunteers
• Pint glasses (as well as a t-shirt and medal)
• Burritos and beer
• Free photos

In spite of having a bad day I thought this was a well organized, beautiful race. There are a couple reasons that this might not be the best race for slower runners. They have a 3 hour cutoff but they didn’t enforce it, however they were taking down the start/finish line after 3 and a half hours with runners still on the course. Also, it isn’t pleasant to be a slow runner at a trail race because you end up eating the dust of those in front. This race only had one real climb and then rollers so it would be a good race to do if you wanted to try out trails but didn’t want to climb mountains. Aid stations were a bit sparse so bring your own water bottle and watch your footing on those wooden bridges.

I know that some people have had a problem with the comments link. If this is you, please try again – Tim made a fix. If you still have a problem commenting and you know my email address please leave a comment there. I really want to get this issue fixed so any feedback would be helpful. I’m sorry I can’t post my email address because my mailbox would be spammed.

Only 7 more chances to leave a comment.

Preview: Next week we are running in Mammoth Lakes on Sunday and then spending a couple days in San Francisco. Tim is there for a work conference and I’m there to shop.