Waking up to torrential rain and wind the morning of does not make one excited about leaving your bed, let alone your house.
Still, when your ride arrives, it is time to jump in the car.
So Craig and I arrived at the race setup and a small crowd had already formed. The rain was letting up a bit but we were still completely undecided about what to wear for the run.
Sign in time, I got number 53 to pin on, a shirt and a nice reusable trail cup. I must say that little silicon cup is awesome for grabbing a quick drink on the run.
The BLT Runners came out in force to hit the muddy trails (missing is Al and Don).
Race start came, the rain let up and we were ready to go after Jodi (race director) gave us a run down of the rules and course.
The beginning is tough and quickly goes from wide to single track. With the command to run, I took off for that narrow patch and hit it first, scaling a moss covered rock and into the woods and up a hill. Not sure how fast the other runners were, I took to a pace I new I could hold for some time, I was mostly concerned that that I would find a place where I could run at my pace and not be stuck.
But I didn't get passed and I ran my race. A small crew formed behind me, but I was mostly watching ahead and never bothered to look back. I passed a few areas where it was heavy switch backs, and at these points I could tell I had a small gap to second and third.
I didn't want to let up too much, even with a lead, as anything can go wrong. Also I knew that as an out and back course, eventually I would be running into the other runners on the trail, which may have made for a slower return.
Well, anything can go wrong and it did. I put my head down for a second, ran past a marking flag and found myself off course for a bit. I figured it out quickly enough and returned to the spot I left at and continued. Mad at myself, I pushed on and found out I was now in second.
Caution to the wind time. I flew up and down some hills and soon found myself catching Ben. It was only half way through the race, but I needed to push reasonably hard.
Some cheering on and I ran up a stupid steep hill where Ben was at the top. I can assure you this hill is one most likely walked up, but the anger and ambition set in and up I went.
Within a few minutes I was catching back up to first and we were catching the rest of the runners. Everyone was great and moved out of the way and cheered us on.
I stayed glued to Ben for awhile and found my breath again, but knew that if I wanted to win, I needed to do so under my own steam. I made the pass (Ben was gracious at letting me by) and I took off, regaining a portion of the lead I had once enjoyed.
As we got to the heavy switch back area with around 2 km to go, I could see other runners, but really had no idea where they were compared with me. That meant one thing, run harder.
Soon I was at the pipe line section, which meant less than 1 kilometer to go and flat ground. Now I really have to say that while the flat sections of the course were nice to stretch your legs on, I really enjoyed the moss, mud, switch backs and punchy hills that dominated 95% of the course.
I made a final turn, pushed hard through the final few hundred meters of woods and emerged from that giant rock to the open finish area.
No rest, I wanted a hard finish.
I crossed in 1:04 for the win with a 2 minute (ish) lead over second. That was tough and my screw up made it tougher. But the weather was awesome, the mud a blast and the win, icing on the cake.
A trophy, jam and draw prizes awaited me. Muddy shoes were also my reward.
I cheered on as Craig finished 5th and other BLT Runners came in strong in the field of 110 runners.
Thanks to Jodi and his crew for hosting and organizing a great event close to home. There aren't many shorter tough trail runs like this, so I was happy to have been able to do it.
Next up is my race, the Halifax Movember Run and I can't wait.
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