Within about a kilometer we had mostly sorted ourselves out and there was very little passing. I had fallen in behind a small group going about my pace that was slowly stretching out. We reached a sign that read “Double Dip” followed by two short but very steep descents (some other features along the course were named thanks to mountain bikers). I ran down these hard, taking advantage of them to pass the woman in front of me, but I immediately regretted it as my quadriceps felt much more beat up by the downhill than I had expected.

For the most part the trail was nice and sandy, with a few rocky bits (especially at wash crossings), and some tight turns with fun banked corners. There were several more very short, steep dips along the course, and even though I approached them with more respect each one left my quads noticeably in further disrepair.

I was passed twice near the one mile mark; both guys glided past and up out of sight seemingly without effort. I think they finished 1st and 2nd. My dad told me that they had started way after everyone else.

I also passed one more person, the last for the rest of the race. When the guy in front of me began to slow down a little I decided to keep up my 4:40 min/km pace and go ahead. Now there was no one else in sight ahead of me (I would occasionally see the next guy at the top of climbs, but he would always have vanished by the time I got to the downhill), so I had to remember to stay on course. Luckily all the turns were well-marked, because I had little idea where I was. I would sometimes see runners in various directions, probably doing a different distance, but wouldn’t know if they were ahead of me or behind me or on a completely different trail.

I kept my 4:40 pace for three kilometers (7:30 pace for two miles) when my watch (an old Garmin 305) started to beep incessantly with a warning about running out of space to save data. So I shut it off and ran by feel. The pace felt surprisingly hard, but I decided to trust my recent (road) marathon that I’d be able to hold on to it despite the trailiness of this race.

Without my watch the distances somehow felt longer. It was two more miles to the first aid station, but it felt more like four. Somewhere along the line I realized that I’d be running for around two hours and should probably take in some carbohydrates. At the first aid station most of the food was boxed up — and the volunteers seemed surprised that I wanted anything — but I grabbed an orange slice. Actually at all the aid stations the volunteers were very nice (and eager to make sure I got water or Gatorade in my handheld water bottle) but seemed surprised that I wanted to eat something; maybe because I was only doing the 25K? Probably no one in front of me was taking food.

The next aid station was about 3.5 miles along. Again it felt longer. I got some cookies and Gatorade. Then it was about 2.5 miles back to the start/finish line, including a nice down hill portion and then some ups-and-downs to complete the first loop. If it weren’t for the down hill I would have slowed down significantly here. I could feel myself fading, and my quads were just not recovering.

I made it to the start/finish line in 1:18:36 (4:54 min/km or 7:51 min/mile).

Already slower than I expected, and feeling tired, I grabbed several ginger snaps and oreos at the last aid station before beginning the second loop. The prospect of running 5.5 more miles, including another go on the Double Dip, did not sound very fun, but at least I could eat some cookies on the way.

The second loop didn’t seem as difficult on my legs as the first loop, but I think that is mostly just because I was going so much slower. The second lap is a figure-8: the course crosses itself at a culvert, first crossing over and then going through a large corrugated metal tunnel.

As I ran over the tunnel I could see a few 5-milers getting toward the end of their run. This was motivating and I tried to get going a little faster. Just before I got to the tunnel myself I was overtaken by a runner and could hear another one not far behind. This gave me some more motivation, and I was able to stay right with the guy who passed me for several hundred meters until I looked up and saw the final climb suddenly looming immediately ahead. It’s only a bit over 100 feet up, but it was steep enough to cause my legs to lose hope. I wasn’t even sure I’d make it up without walking; I moved to the right and continued to barely jog up as the other runner behind me sped up and past me. They were both out of sight by the time I got to the top. My legs were too beat to do the final descent very fast, but I did what I could and finally reached the finish line in a time of 2:04:44!

Someone handed me a finishers glass (my favorite kind of race swag!) and the guy who passed me on the final hill (and finished almost 2 minutes ahead of me) turned around to give me a fist bump.

My lifelong running goal which I’d like to accomplish by the end of 2018 is to run a 5K race in under 20:00. I tried last Saturday at Parkrun and failed (20:16). I think the problem last week was that I know I’m in sub-20:00 shape, so I expected it to be easy. But of course it is never easy, so when I got uncomfortable I just gave up. My sore right quadriceps might have held me back a bit too. I’m hoping in two weeks to try again with more realistic expectations and more determination.

My next real race is a 5K in January which I hope to do well below 20:00.