Oh crap, why am I leading this race?

And so began the 2011/2012 run season with the first of four XTERRA trail races. I had never run the XTERRA Estrella 20K..in fact I had never even been to Estrella Mountain Park so this was all new and unkown for me. I knew from friends that the course would be a challenge with alomst 1000 feet if climbing and a lot of loose rock single track. I also knew from my experience at trail and road races that I get kmy ass handed to me at these events by the real runners, so I just waited for them to come by. And I waited....waited...

I knew they were back there, I could hear their breathing and see their shadows right behind me and yet no one came through. They're just biding time, seeing who had shown up to race today and I was setting the pace. The first few mile sof trail actually pretty smooth, not too rocky, and I was able to settle into a HR of around 166, right around what I would target for a half marathon effort. I realy wasn't well prepared for this race having looked at Vegas as they end to the 2011 tri season and wanting a little down time before hitting the run circuit but XTERRA scheduled this season opener so damn early I didn't have a choice, so here I was killing myself 3 weeks out from Vegas knowing I would get smoked.

Despite that, though, I was having fun. I forgot how much fun trail running is. You really can't run trails too much here during the summer due to the heat. I knew my legs were not ready for this. I felt like a baby deer, my legs all wobbly and unsure as I flew down into steep washes and ravines and scrambled back out. Everytime did a hard descent I thought that's going to hurt later (for the record, it does as I write this, I am all sorts of banged up). But being in the front I could see and anticipate the terrain, so that was too my advantage.

It was somehwere around mile 4 that I was put out of my misery. When he came by he not only had the audactity to look fresh as a daisy but proceeded to drop me like a bad habit. This section of the course consisted of some seprentine trail where I could see the rest of the pack and I realized that other then the guy right behind me now, we were all alone. So I was in second with third sitting on me. I had no idea how he looked or who he was, I never looked back. I did call out a few warnings to him when the footing got real sketchy. I was happy to lead our little tandem so I could continue to see the entire trail ahead. I began to notice when it was flat, I would settle into a groove and gap my shadow a bit. When the trail went up or down, he closed right up on me. It would be on a climb when the attack would come, the question was when.

Mile 8, that's when! It was a long and pretty steep climb and he went by, FAST. I was trying to find good foot purchase and looking down and he shot around and put the wood to me. I had no response, hell I had no time to respond and he was already 20 feet ahead. He crested the hill and then there was an equally long descent and he ripped down leaving me eating his dust...literally. Within a just a 1/4 mile he was out of sight. OK, so third place is still repectable and I would be very happy with that..as if I had a choice. I was outclassed by these two runners, no doubt. The last 3 miles the terrain was a lot smoother and more flat and I was starting to fade. I hung in there and managed to keep my HR from falling below 162 but my legs were strating to hurt. The last mile was a bit of a cruise, but I was just so alone and pleased with my effort, time to enjoy the end. I started the race just wanting to win my AG for the points standing so making the OA podium was a great result.