Mosaic trail half marathon race report.

Dec 02, 2017 15:19

Evidently this is the first year Tejas Trails has put on this race, and I just randomly came across it while on their main page. And I figured.. that's 13.1 miles of supported trail running! Why not? So Matt and I signed up for the half marathon.

One of the biggest detractors was that it was a "family friendly" event, which meant there were a variety of distance options, from 1 mile to a half marathon. "Family friendly" evidently also means "late starting", because the half marathon and 10k didn't start until 9am. Even in December, that's iffy in central Texas. And sure enough, it was 65 degrees and sunny. Ugh. Why do I keep losing the weather lottery? Actually, I will willing lose every weather lottery from now until February if I can be guaranteed good weather for Rocky.



There were horses over by the parking area. I approached one horse to see if it would be okay with a selfie, and two horses shoved their faces up next to mine. Horses are way better at selfies than I am.

The half marathon was two segments, each of which we did twice. The course was completely brand new, in that they had just gone out and actually CREATED the trail in the last few weeks. With a chainsaw and a lawn mower. It was.. a very interesting course. The parts that went through the woods seemed a lot like they took a paper map, drew a random jagged line through the woods, then went out with a chainsaw and cut that random jagged line through the trees. If they hadn't done an excellent job of placing arrows, caution tape, and confidence markers, there would be NO way to find the trail. There was no worn in path at all. The parts that weren't random forest jaunts were the edges of open fields, a few unnerving sections at the edge of a rocky bluff, a couple steep ups and downs on loose dirt, and a lot of open and exposed jeep trail. Repeat twice.

The first time through the first section, I ended up in a little pack of 3 or 4 navigating the random forest trails. It started out mostly single track, but there wasn't all that much congestion, because there weren't all that many PEOPLE. 32 people doing the half marathon, 28 doing the 10k, so only 60 folks starting out together. The first section was actually a little stressful. With all those turns, and all the stumps and sticks and other obstacles that come with a brand new, just cut trail, and sitting right on someone's heels with someone directly behind me, there's just a lot that can go wrong, and it keeps your heart rate really high. So I didn't really enjoy that.

Other than stress, the only really notable thing in the first section was my FAVORITE PART. We rounded a corner on a fenceline in the middle of the woods, and suddenly a herd of black cows appeared on the other side of the fence! They had just come around a different corner, and humans and cows alike all did double-takes, and I said hi to the cows (which I'm sure the people around me thought was weird), and then we ran on and I never saw cows again that day. Random cow encounter! En..cow..nter! Sorry. (Not sorry.)

The first section is roughly 5k (actually, it is 5k, because that's the 5k course), then we went back over the start line, and to the second half(ish) of the course. This far side was less woods and more jeep trails, which means a lot more sun. I had my sunglasses with me, and was taking them off and putting them on every 3-5 minutes, because the course went into and out of the trees so often.

During this section was one of my LEAST favorite parts. I was running on a jeep trail, and something felt weird with my shoe. It felt like I had a rock stuck in the bottom of my shoe. I figured it would fall out, but a few steps later, I could still hear it scraping the rocks I was running over. I tried to scuff my shoe against the ground as I ran, but it wasn't going away. Finally I admitted defeat, stepped off the trail, and reached down to get the damn rock out of my shoe. I couldn't get it to come out. And it felt big. I figured a chunk of wood or mulch must have gotten lodged into the tread of my shoe, so I used my fingernails to pry it out. Finally I extracted it, and discovered that it was a GIANT SHARP CHUNK OF METAL, that had been lodged into the sole of my shoe. I started running again, with this chunk of metal in my hand, wondering what the hell to do with it. I couldn't drop it back on the ground for someone else to run over. I didn't really want to put it in the front pockets of my pack where I was storing my nutrition. Finally I managed to carefully unzip the back pocket of my pack and drop it into there, hoping it wouldn't stab me in the back, and that I wouldn't forget about it and stab myself at some future date.




So that wasn't my favorite thing. Looking now, I don't see any giant holes in the bottom of my shoe, though there's some sole damage that could be from that. But I'm really glad that didn't come all the way through to my foot, or cut my hand when I was unknowingly digging it out of my shoe.

The rest of the loop went by without incident.

The only thing that really stands out in the second half of the race is the one fall I had, and even that was pretty uneventful. As much as I didn't enjoy the first half of the loop the first time, and was dreading doing it again, it was actually a delight the second time. Without the pressure of following someone or being followed, and being able to see all the markers myself, it was just a little fun jaunt through the woods. (Matt later said he felt exactly the same way, hating the loop the first time and loving it the second.)

Except for that part where I fell. I don't even know what I tripped over, suddenly I was just sprawled out on the ground. Fortunately it was not one of the rocky sections, but unfortunately it was basically on a brush pile, so I landed on some pointy sticks. None of my bones felt like they were sticking out, and none of my muscles felt assaulted, so I just jumped up and ran on, looking around to make sure nobody was close enough to have seen it, and making sure my hands weren't bleeding (they were dirty and scuffy, but not bleeding).

I had mostly forgotten about my fall, but then went I passed through the start area again, Erin (who was announcing) made some comment about blood, so I figured some part of my legs must be bleeding. Oops.

Nothing really notable about the last loop other than I was pretty ready to be done. My legs were feeling okay, but definitely tired, and I wasn't loving the last section, and my stupid bunion didn't love all the camber on the hills, and it was sunny, and blah blah blah, I was just ready to be done. It's amazing how expectations can impact how you feel. I ran 31 miles two weeks ago, but I was frustrated and ready to be done at the end of 13 now.

But these days everything that's even vaguely difficult is filed under "good suffering practice", and I kept my thoughts relatively positive, made sure to keep picking my feet up, encourage the folks who passed me or whom I passed, and eventually I found the finish line again.

Overall a solid training race. 2:32:57, and not TOO much slowdown on the second half. And once again so nice to get off the Greenbelt, see somewhere new, and run a supported run.


halfmarathon, trailrun, libertyhill, race, mosaic, matt, tejastrails, rocky100, racereport, 13.1, run

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