Chilly Cheeks Trail Run - RunOther


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Mt. Penn, Pennsylvania
United States
Pretzel City Sports
20F / -7C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 1h 37m 19s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = F20-29
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Huddled in the warmth of the Liederkrantz prior to race start. Drank some water. Found some people I knew, freaked out a little about the race. The usual.
Event warmup:

Walk down to the start. Probably should have jogged.
Run
  • 1h 37m 19s
  • 7.25 miles
  • 13m 25s  min/mile
Comments:

My first trail run and my longest run at this distance. Going into it I had rested for a week, after aggravating my inner hip on an early morning run earlier that week. The first mile or so went well, until I twisted my ankle on a rock on the side of the trail. I stopped for a minute but then noticed it felt better when I jogged slowly. Fortunately, this section of the race involved hills that caused lots of folks to jog slowly (or walk), so I was in good company. After that I felt great, and managed to pass some folks on the easier hills. Walked all the majors, but felt good on the rolling terrain and managed to not hurt my ankle any more. I felt like I did well considering the hurties and the fact that it was a pretty tough race.
What would you do differently?:

Wear appropriate shoes. My feet were cold pretty much the whole time in my lightweight runners, and the shoes didn't handle the terrain well at all. I might have dared to use the not-broken-in trail shoes for this, the added stability could have proved useful in hindsight. I also might have tried to start more to the front of the pack at race start, since I got bottlenecked several times on the steep uphill single-track. I also didn't have any coffee that a.m., which sucked.
Post race
Warm down:

Jogged back to the finish to cheer my friends in, then scarfed down hot eggs n' pancakes and washed em down with pitchers of Spaten. Did some stretches, but probably should have stretched more considering the pain. Iced the ankle and hip later that night.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Getting stuck behind slower runners, myy shoes, and the fact that I hadn't run on trails before. I wasn't prepared for the icy/rocky trails and twisted my ankle bad enough that it slowed me down for the rest of the race. I also experienced some recurring inner-hip/groin pan about 4-5 miles in (just after the beer stop) that got worse towards the end, so if I can figure out why this is happening, I think my time will decrease.

Event comments:

This was a great (and tough) race, and I will definitely be back to do some of the other trail series in the future!




Last updated: 2008-01-10 12:00 AM
Running
01:37:19 | 07.25 miles | 13m 25s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Course: Hills, and lots of em. A misleading wide trail with just minor debris to get over led to the next climb which involved hand-and-feet crawling up an unmarked hill, through piles of wet leaves. After that, a succession of walking-only hills and icy/rocky downhills on single-track. Some pleasant rolling terrain after the beer stop, then the race finished with a killer hill that led to a steep and dirty hand-foot crawl up to the finish.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4