The Loop 10k trail race 2011 race report.
My schedule actually called for a 90 minute run, 30 minutes relaxed and then build through the last 60. But Matt's training for Leadville, which means he needs to do trail runs, and supported trail runs are much easier than unsupported ones, so he was to go out and run The Loop 30k. As well as.. run TO The Loop 30k. From home out to Emma Long Park. 28 miles total for the day. He was notably NOT supposed to run back home, which meant he needed a ride home. So I decided the easiest thing to do would be to go run out there myself!
10k was too short, but 30k too long, so I decided to do the 10k and then run a nice cooldown loop. Any potential pre-race anxiety was taken up by trying to help Matt get ready however I could, which meant waking up at 3:45am for a race that didn't start until 7:30am, boiling and salting potatoes the night before, and laying out all Matt's stuff at the race. So before I knew it, the 30k people, including Matt, were off (at 7am), and it was time to get ready to run!
Looks like it was snowing, but it was just very windy and dusty
I had intended to just run alone, but I met up with Pam, Catherine, Julie and Geoff at the start line, and we all started out together. For about 3 seconds, until we lost sight of the much-faster-than-us Geoff. Actually I lost sight of everyone, and was just concentrating on negotiating the single-track trail and crowd of people trying to find their proper place. I thought we'd all gotten separated, but then when my still-not-entirely-stable left ankle kinda bowed, a voice from behind me asked if I was okay, and it was Catherine! Then there's a series of splits in the trail where you can go either way, and I, as I always do, blindly followed the guy in front of me, and Julie came charging up from behind and took the other trail (much smarter, because there was nobody going that way, so she could go whatever speed she wanted), and got a few people ahead of us. That happened a few times, and Julie always chose the fast track, and eventually we lost sight of her as she put a whole ton of people between us and her.
A quick glance behind me (hard to do without face-planting) showed a Catherine, but no Pam, and I hoped that she had just gotten behind some folks and would catch up, and resumed concentrating on not falling down. I had forgotten how rough the Loop is on ankles, and probably turned my bad ankle 5 or 6 times, and my good ankle once, but never so badly that it caused real pain. Just enough to make me very cautious.
With all that concentrating on my feet, it felt like no time at all before we came up to the aid station. I grabbed a gatorade and tossed back a bit and tossed my cup in the garbage bag, then ran on. I glanced back to see if Catherine was behind me, and she was still stopped at the aid station, but I knew she would have no problem catching up to me. She was right on my heels the whole time, and I kept telling her if she wanted to try to go catch Julie, she was welcome to go around me, but she seemed happy to stay where she was. And I was going as fast as I was comfortable going, given my intention to do a second loop. (Which is not to say we were going slow.. we were keeping up a nice, brisk pace the whole time.)
After the aid station, we slowly caught up to a group of women who were all going the same pace, and we latched onto the back of them for a while. There were about 7 of us at one point, and we were passing guys, and I'm sure it had to be a bit of an ego-hit to suddenly have a train of seven women pass you in rapid succession. Fun!
I wasn't concerned with whether these other women finished before we did, so had no hidden desire to try to pass them before the end, but then when we got to some of the steeper hills near the end, they walked up the hill, and I didn't feel like walking up the hill, so we ran around them and took the lead. And they didn't follow, so our train became two, just me and Catherine again.
We were picking up the pace, powering up the hills, sweating up a storm (it was warm and very humid), and nearing the end. Then I realized we really were nearing the end, and I hadn't seen photographer Josh yet. He had been trying to figure out where he was going to set up shop since he didn't feel like doing finish line photos again (so he stationed someone else there), and sounded like he'd settled on the ridge just above the finish line. And we were almost to that ridge. And since I have a history of hamming it up for Josh's photos, I felt like I should come up with something. But.. I couldn't come up with anything. Finishline jumping is much easier than mid-run jumping, and I hadn't yet come up with a new and original jump anyway. And I've done an awful lot of jazzhands over the years, plus jazzhands are hard while carrying a handheld water bottle. So I asked Catherine her opinion. She asked, "Are you wearing a sports bra?" I acknowledged I was. So she suggested I flash him. That I can do! And did, as we came around a corner and found him crouched with his camera. He yelled, "Well, that was a new one!" So, thanks, Catherine!
Note to self: Consider tanning blindingly white stomach
Right after we passed Josh, I looked up and saw Julie ahead! We'd managed to catch up to her as we'd picked up the pace at the end. Just after that was another photographer as we started our descent to the finish line.
Descending with Catherine hot on my heels
At least.. we thought we were descending to the finish line. Except the course was different. No big, steep hill down to the finish line, just a more gradual downhill into the parking lot. And across the parking lot. And back into the woods. Aaaaack. We weren't done.
The part through the woods on the other side of the parking lot was really pretty, but also frustrating since you were so close to being done, but with no idea how far you had left to go. We ended up passing Julie, and I thought she fell in right behind us, but she fell a bit behind through the windy, woody area.
Eventually we wound around enough and headed back toward the finish line area, and finally out of the woods! Then just a short little run across the finish line!
Catherine's awkward victory arms, me, and a girl unfortunate enough to end up in our weird finish line picture
I chatted a while with Catherine, Geoff and Julie, then chatted with Meredith, waiting for Pam to come in. After a while, I realized if I was going to go do a second loop, I needed to go do it. I was quickly losing motivation. So after one last-ditch effort to get someone to join me (no takers), I headed back out.
The second loop was verrrrry lonely. There weren't that many 30k runners, and I was in an awkward place in relation to them, near the front of their pack (not a place I usually am!). So some really fast folks passed me (and I always stepped off the trail to let them by) infrequently, but mostly I was out there on my own. And my legs were pretty tired at that point. So I just ran comfortably, walked up some of the hills I'd run up the first time, stopped at the aid station for a few minutes to drink, eat a sandwich square, and chat with the aid station ladies, and generally enjoyed myself. A muuuuuch slower loop for the second 10k, but with no timing chip comes no need to hurry. :)
Finished up my second loop and did more chatting while waiting for Matt to finish up his strong 28 miles for the day. So proud of him.
Love this picture
I'm fairly sure this was a Loop 10k PR for me, at 1:08:50.
A nice way to start out our 12th anniversary!
10k was too short, but 30k too long, so I decided to do the 10k and then run a nice cooldown loop. Any potential pre-race anxiety was taken up by trying to help Matt get ready however I could, which meant waking up at 3:45am for a race that didn't start until 7:30am, boiling and salting potatoes the night before, and laying out all Matt's stuff at the race. So before I knew it, the 30k people, including Matt, were off (at 7am), and it was time to get ready to run!
Looks like it was snowing, but it was just very windy and dusty
I had intended to just run alone, but I met up with Pam, Catherine, Julie and Geoff at the start line, and we all started out together. For about 3 seconds, until we lost sight of the much-faster-than-us Geoff. Actually I lost sight of everyone, and was just concentrating on negotiating the single-track trail and crowd of people trying to find their proper place. I thought we'd all gotten separated, but then when my still-not-entirely-stable left ankle kinda bowed, a voice from behind me asked if I was okay, and it was Catherine! Then there's a series of splits in the trail where you can go either way, and I, as I always do, blindly followed the guy in front of me, and Julie came charging up from behind and took the other trail (much smarter, because there was nobody going that way, so she could go whatever speed she wanted), and got a few people ahead of us. That happened a few times, and Julie always chose the fast track, and eventually we lost sight of her as she put a whole ton of people between us and her.
A quick glance behind me (hard to do without face-planting) showed a Catherine, but no Pam, and I hoped that she had just gotten behind some folks and would catch up, and resumed concentrating on not falling down. I had forgotten how rough the Loop is on ankles, and probably turned my bad ankle 5 or 6 times, and my good ankle once, but never so badly that it caused real pain. Just enough to make me very cautious.
With all that concentrating on my feet, it felt like no time at all before we came up to the aid station. I grabbed a gatorade and tossed back a bit and tossed my cup in the garbage bag, then ran on. I glanced back to see if Catherine was behind me, and she was still stopped at the aid station, but I knew she would have no problem catching up to me. She was right on my heels the whole time, and I kept telling her if she wanted to try to go catch Julie, she was welcome to go around me, but she seemed happy to stay where she was. And I was going as fast as I was comfortable going, given my intention to do a second loop. (Which is not to say we were going slow.. we were keeping up a nice, brisk pace the whole time.)
After the aid station, we slowly caught up to a group of women who were all going the same pace, and we latched onto the back of them for a while. There were about 7 of us at one point, and we were passing guys, and I'm sure it had to be a bit of an ego-hit to suddenly have a train of seven women pass you in rapid succession. Fun!
I wasn't concerned with whether these other women finished before we did, so had no hidden desire to try to pass them before the end, but then when we got to some of the steeper hills near the end, they walked up the hill, and I didn't feel like walking up the hill, so we ran around them and took the lead. And they didn't follow, so our train became two, just me and Catherine again.
We were picking up the pace, powering up the hills, sweating up a storm (it was warm and very humid), and nearing the end. Then I realized we really were nearing the end, and I hadn't seen photographer Josh yet. He had been trying to figure out where he was going to set up shop since he didn't feel like doing finish line photos again (so he stationed someone else there), and sounded like he'd settled on the ridge just above the finish line. And we were almost to that ridge. And since I have a history of hamming it up for Josh's photos, I felt like I should come up with something. But.. I couldn't come up with anything. Finishline jumping is much easier than mid-run jumping, and I hadn't yet come up with a new and original jump anyway. And I've done an awful lot of jazzhands over the years, plus jazzhands are hard while carrying a handheld water bottle. So I asked Catherine her opinion. She asked, "Are you wearing a sports bra?" I acknowledged I was. So she suggested I flash him. That I can do! And did, as we came around a corner and found him crouched with his camera. He yelled, "Well, that was a new one!" So, thanks, Catherine!
Note to self: Consider tanning blindingly white stomach
Right after we passed Josh, I looked up and saw Julie ahead! We'd managed to catch up to her as we'd picked up the pace at the end. Just after that was another photographer as we started our descent to the finish line.
Descending with Catherine hot on my heels
At least.. we thought we were descending to the finish line. Except the course was different. No big, steep hill down to the finish line, just a more gradual downhill into the parking lot. And across the parking lot. And back into the woods. Aaaaack. We weren't done.
The part through the woods on the other side of the parking lot was really pretty, but also frustrating since you were so close to being done, but with no idea how far you had left to go. We ended up passing Julie, and I thought she fell in right behind us, but she fell a bit behind through the windy, woody area.
Eventually we wound around enough and headed back toward the finish line area, and finally out of the woods! Then just a short little run across the finish line!
Catherine's awkward victory arms, me, and a girl unfortunate enough to end up in our weird finish line picture
I chatted a while with Catherine, Geoff and Julie, then chatted with Meredith, waiting for Pam to come in. After a while, I realized if I was going to go do a second loop, I needed to go do it. I was quickly losing motivation. So after one last-ditch effort to get someone to join me (no takers), I headed back out.
The second loop was verrrrry lonely. There weren't that many 30k runners, and I was in an awkward place in relation to them, near the front of their pack (not a place I usually am!). So some really fast folks passed me (and I always stepped off the trail to let them by) infrequently, but mostly I was out there on my own. And my legs were pretty tired at that point. So I just ran comfortably, walked up some of the hills I'd run up the first time, stopped at the aid station for a few minutes to drink, eat a sandwich square, and chat with the aid station ladies, and generally enjoyed myself. A muuuuuch slower loop for the second 10k, but with no timing chip comes no need to hurry. :)
Finished up my second loop and did more chatting while waiting for Matt to finish up his strong 28 miles for the day. So proud of him.
Love this picture
I'm fairly sure this was a Loop 10k PR for me, at 1:08:50.
A nice way to start out our 12th anniversary!