Race Report: Earth Day 15 Miler (in which she falls head over heels in love with the trail)

I have been sitting on this one for a bit. I have been struggling to find the right words to truly capture what happened in my head and in my heart somewhere on the second loop on Sunday, but it's proven difficult at best. I'll try...

Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early, and headed out to Crystal Lake, IL. The Earth Day 50k/15 mile trail race starts and finishes in Veterans Acres park. I'd never run here before, but some running club friends had, so I'd heard a little bit about what to expect. Mostly that it was tough. I arrived in good time, parked super close to the pavilion where the volunteers were busy setting up for the day, and headed out to get my stuff.

It was cold. Upper 20s to start, but it was supposed to warm up some throughout the day. I hadn't even made it out of the parking lot and a woman introduced herself to me. She was one of the timers, so I'd be seeing her face after each loop. We walked together towards the packets, and even though my stuff wasn't where it belonged, in minutes I was heading back to my warm van. On the way, I ran into a couple friends of my sister, and I ended up starting and finishing near them and chatting on and off along the way.

We started right on time after a trumpet rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and I immediately was flustered because I can't figure out my new watch. So I lost a little of the beginning, but quickly got it working. Then I didn't look at it for the rest of the day. I was out there to experience this, and immerse myself in the beauty of the day. No time goals. No expectations.

The course was a 5ish mile loop that you did 3 times for the 15 mile race and 6 times for the 50k. About halfway through the loop, we did a little lollipop loop (they called it "Legbone Loop, but I never did see the leg bone - it's rumored to be hanging from a tree somewhere) and on the "stick" of the lollipop was the only place on the course where there was oncoming runner traffic. Incidentally, it was also the only place on the course that was muddy. With all the rain we've had, that was simply amazing - other than that one spot, the course was in beautiful shape. (To see my garmin map, click HERE)

I am an inexperienced trail runner, at best. I've run "real trails" only a handful of times, so starting out by myself, I was a little nervous. We'll call the first loop the "getting to know you" loop. It was kind of like a first date. While I was sort of paying attention to my surroundings, I was mostly paying attention to my feet. And to the feet of the person in front of me. And because we all started out together and I started pretty far in the back, for a good long while my pace was completely dictated by the crowd of people in front of me. I was 100% ok with that for the time being, though. I fell in behind some 50k runners and listened to their stories and walked ALL the uphills (even the teeny tiny ones) and just got used to the terrain.

And then, once it spread out a little, I found myself alone. And the most surprising part of that was that I WAS SO HAPPY to finally be running alone. I'm a pretty social runner normally. But once I could run the way my body wanted to, and not pay any attention to the runners around me other than to smile and say hello, my heart sang. It felt enormous at the time, but I was just so HAPPY to be out there. Running. I commented to lots of volunteers (who were OUTSTANDING, by the way) that it was gorgeous there. That I was so happy to be running there. That it was a stunning day for a run. That I couldn't wait to come back and run there again.

It sounds all cheeseball, but it was my truth that day.

The second loop, I felt great. I learned that I'm a much better uphill runner than downhill. I practiced bounding down after a while, but I'm kind of chicken. I had a lot more confidence, simply because I knew everything that was ahead of me. I only got off course once, and that was only because I followed the pack of runners in front of me (lemmings, we called each other, laughing) but we quickly righted ourselves. I thanked the aid station family (they had one remote station about 3 miles in) and smiled at the little girls working hard and cowbelling for us.

I had FUN.

The third loop, I was still feeling great, but I slowed down a lot. Mostly because I was determined to get at least a few pictures of the day. They really don't do the course justice, but I'll share them anyway. The course was a mix of gorgeous wooded areas, pine forest with needle covered trail, hills (I felt like we were always going up or down), and the one muddy area leading to a flat section of single track. There were only a couple times we were on service road going from one section of the course to another. I loved every inch of it.

the guy on the right had the most amazing plaid shorts. I sang "thrift shop" in my head in his honor for lots of the day

beautiful trail

heading into the pine forest

I loved this part...

don't fall off the edge!

they dubbed this "Boston Common" in remembrance. got a little choked up here...

they had a camera set up on a tree. I didn't even notice it the first 2 loops

...but by the 3rd time around I finally saw it

better pic of the awesomeness of his shorts, haha!

Here's a link to probably my favorite race pic of all time. I might even buy it! He did an amazing job...

I wish my pictures were better than crappy phone pics, but hopefully you can see a little of why I'm so in love with this. I run many many "trails" around here, but mine are crushed limestone paths. While I am so glad they are available to us here, it just isn't the same as a real trail. And I'm sure lots of hard core ultra runners wouldn't even consider this "real" trail - it wasn't all that technical and was easily runnable for the most part.

But it made me SEE why ultra runners do what they do. It made me feel it.

I kind of want to do that.

In the end, I finished in just under 3:20. Pretty much smack in the middle (48/63 finishers, 15/26 women) and good enough for 4/9 in my age group. The medals and awards were "upcycled" and were so so cool...(stole these pics from their fb page)

aren't they awesome!? he finished in 1:46. insanity. he earned it!

medals!

I will definitely do this event again. Maybe even 50k. It could happen! This weekend I'm running another 20k trail race in Wisconsin. This time with Riyanti. Can't wait! I am feeling a great sense of peace about NOT chasing PRs and NOT worrying about splits and taking in all the beauty of the trails. If you haven't, I recommend it. It's healing.