Man Vs. Trail. Trail Wins.

Trail racing requires some skills that I seem to be lacking...namely, navigation, balance and coordination. I managed to fall several times, including a total face-plant into a big mud puddle in which I tore off 3 of the 4 pins in my race number. Prior to my various stumbles, I managed to take a wrong turn on the trail, and proceeded to climb a series of switchbacks up onto a ridge. The view was phenomenal. The feeling in my stomach as I went further and further without seeing any trail markings...not quite as great. This occurred at about 8 or 9 miles into the 31 mile run.

I believe I lost 6-8 minutes on that little detour. Ultimately, it may have been the factor that cost me the win in the race, as I ended up just two minutes behind Chris Gardner of Duluth. I had briefly led him astray a little bit earlier on the run, just before we came through the aid station at the 25k turnaround. We were around 56:30, which is almost 4 minutes faster than I ran that section last year. Granted, I had run a major negative split in that run, but in any case I felt good about the early pace, and my legs felt pretty strong. Chris gapped me coming out of the aid station. I thought I'd follow him for a while, as I had been leading the previous section. I guess I spaced out a bit, and let him get out of sight. And the next thing I knew, I was up on that ridge realizing I was off course.

So what do you do when you shoot yourself in the foot so seriously, and so early in the run? Mentally, it was tough to deal with for a few minutes. Going from feeling like I'd have a good chance to beat my time from last year to not even knowing what place I was in or how far behind I was took a major adjustment of expectations. No one was in sight for quite a while, and I was trying to figure out my place by counting the number of wet footprints on the boardwalk sections of the course.

I finally saw a red TC Running Co. jersey ahead of me. I assumed at first that it was Younger (Brian Peterson), who had gone out with Chris and I, but dropped back a while earlier. As I closed the gap, I quickly recognized Joe Z.'s stride. After chatting with him for a minute, I went ahead. He told me it was just the other two guys up ahead, and I started to feel more ambitious again.

I quelled the impulse to race off in major pursuit, realizing that my only hope was to run a steady, smart race and hope that those ahead of me would fade a little bit. I later found out that Younger had taken the same wrong turn as me, but was smart enough to turn around quicker than I did.

Chris Gardner ran strong and held a big advantage at the turnaround point. I don't think I closed the gap on him at all until very late in the race, when he bonked a bit. I never saw him, but he finished just a couple of minutes ahead of me. 3:57 to my 3:59. I was 3:48 last year. This year's run was slightly slower on every section of the course except for the first one (faster) and the second (waaaay slower...due to the wrong turn). It was still a very strong run on a sloppy day. I ate quite a bit of dirt (literally) along the course, and have some nice scrapes and bruises to show for it.

At the end of the day, it was a good quality run on a beautiful day. My legs felt pretty decent and my foot held up to the demands of the trail. I got to run with some great people, and very much enjoyed the company of some of the more energetic 25k runners over the final few miles.

As much as I felt that I had wimped out in the mile, I definitely stuck it out in the 50k. It was not my best effort in many respects and for many reasons, but it served as a great reminder that the competition, in trail ultras in particular, is between the runner and the course...or the runner and himself.