The Circus 30k trail race 2017 race report.
This was not a race I knew existed, or that I anticipated doing! But I learned about it 2 weeks before it happened, and 30k of supported trail running sounded delightful, so I signed up. And Matt signed up for the 10k.
We realized as we pulled into McKinney Roughs that neither of us had ever run there. Now that we've run there, we'd definitely like to go back sometime. Some of those trails are delightful. But enough about that, let's talk about how I DNFed!
As we stood around shivering, waiting for the start (not pleasant to stand around in 35 degree weather, but SO MUCH MORE PLEASANT to run in it! Thank you, weather!), a guy with really muddy pants walked by. I'd seen a few muddy-footed people, and figured they must be folks doing the 12 hour run, which had started at 6am. I jokingly said, "Well, you look muddy!" and he looked at me very sincerely and said, "Yeah, the 7 mile loop. Don't do it."
That was bad news for someone who was about to run the 30k, which is a 7 mile loop, a 5 mile loop, and then another 7 mile loop. Hey, allegedly the 5 mile loop was pretty dry. So.. yay?
We headed out for the 30k at 8am, and Matt headed to the car to wait until 10am for his 10k to start. It started out in a dry parking lot and then a dry trail, and then things went downhill, both literally and figuratively.
The trail was muddy. Very muddy. Mud that was 2-3 inches deep in places. Sucking mud that tried to trap your shoes. There were muddy uphills that were hard to climb up because you slid. There were muddy downhills that were dangerous because they grabbed your shoes, or you slid. There were muddy FLATS that were so deep and sticky that they were unrunnable. Well, I couldn't run them in good conscience. I was exerting so much effort and making no forward progress.
I kept hoping that there was a muddy section, and then things would be dry and runnable for the rest of the loop. Each time we'd get to something dry and runnable, I'd think, "Okay, that's it! No more mud!" I was wrong every time. Of the 7 miles, maybe 1 non-contiguous mile of it was dry. The rest was a deep mud pit. People were stopping to pointlessly remove the mud from their shoes. To retie their shoes because pulling against the mud loosened their laces. To retrieve their shoes FROM THE MUD after they came off.
My dreams of it eventually ending were all for naught, given that as I headed up a hill back to the initial parking lot we ran through, nearly done with the 7 mile loop, I was slogging up a hill of mud with 2lbs of mud clumped onto each shoe, having to wrest each foot out of the mire each time. Some volunteers at the top of the hill said I looked like I was wearing snowshoes. It was demoralizing.
Near the end of that loop, I considered asking at the start/finish line if I could do 7, 7, 5 instead of 7, 5, 7. I thought maybe if I just got the second loop out of the way, maybe I'd feel better about it. Because really.. I didn't want to do this loop again. At all. I realized they probably wouldn't say yes. Then I realized they weren't the boss of me. I could just take off my damn chip and do them in whatever order I wanted. Wait, I could just take off my chip and then NOT DO THE 7 MILE LOOP AGAIN AT ALL. Once I realized that, it was like the clouds cleared and the sun shone through. Figuratively; the sun had been out this whole time.
I had figured I'd be going through the start/finish line way before the 10k started, but given how much I ended up walking, it took me 1:45 just to go those 7 miles. Nearly 15 minute miles, baby, woo. I decided to kinda play the whole thing by ear. I mean, I was probably gonna do the 5 mile loop next, and that's what we were supposed to do anyway, so maybe I'd just continue on like normal, and DNF after the 5 mile loop.
My first order of business was definitely hitting the bathroom. When that was done, I went over to our chair to restock my food, and there was Matt, getting ready for his 10k. I said, "Do you know if the 10k course is the same as the 7 miler, without the out and back?" He confirmed it was, and I said, "You DON'T want to do that." I told him I was going to DNF, and said I was going to do a couple of the shorter loops, and if he would rather join me than run a miserably muddy 10k, I'd love to run with him. He looked a little overwhelmed with this sudden influx of news and changes, made sure that was what I wanted to do, then said sure, he'd join me. I felt a little bad denying him the pleasure of being able to complain about how much that loop utterly sucked, but felt good that I was hopefully offering him a much more pleasant experience. We turned in our timing chips, I refilled my water and food, and then we headed out for the 5 mile loop.
I was a little afraid that, after all of that, the 5 mile loop would end up being really muddy, too, but it was nearly 100% dry. Maybe 2-3 patches of mud that were super short, not very wet, and not annoying at all.
We ran one 5 mile loop, chatting and enjoying the cool temps, shady course, and lack of mud. As we finished, I had to decide what to do next. I had been thinking a 3 mile loop, but I realized if I did another 5, I would have done 17 miles, which was very nearly the 18+ that the 30k would have been, and that I was okay with that reduction in mileage. I asked Matt if he'd be in for another 5, and he was, and so we did. We were both a little fatigued by the end, but overall we had a fantastic run together.
I'm so glad I DNFed instead of slogging out another, presumably even slower, 7 miles of mud at the end of my run. My knees and hips definitely suffered for having to stabilize my body through 7 miles of mud, but I think I'll be okay to run tomorrow, which I'm not sure I would have been if I'd done another muddy 7.
Overall it was a great event, and I'd definitely be interested in doing it in the future. The loops thing was a nice feature, the volunteers were super enthusiastic, and they had stiltwalkers and GOGA goats at the start/finish line when we left. Yes, please.
We realized as we pulled into McKinney Roughs that neither of us had ever run there. Now that we've run there, we'd definitely like to go back sometime. Some of those trails are delightful. But enough about that, let's talk about how I DNFed!
As we stood around shivering, waiting for the start (not pleasant to stand around in 35 degree weather, but SO MUCH MORE PLEASANT to run in it! Thank you, weather!), a guy with really muddy pants walked by. I'd seen a few muddy-footed people, and figured they must be folks doing the 12 hour run, which had started at 6am. I jokingly said, "Well, you look muddy!" and he looked at me very sincerely and said, "Yeah, the 7 mile loop. Don't do it."
That was bad news for someone who was about to run the 30k, which is a 7 mile loop, a 5 mile loop, and then another 7 mile loop. Hey, allegedly the 5 mile loop was pretty dry. So.. yay?
We headed out for the 30k at 8am, and Matt headed to the car to wait until 10am for his 10k to start. It started out in a dry parking lot and then a dry trail, and then things went downhill, both literally and figuratively.
The trail was muddy. Very muddy. Mud that was 2-3 inches deep in places. Sucking mud that tried to trap your shoes. There were muddy uphills that were hard to climb up because you slid. There were muddy downhills that were dangerous because they grabbed your shoes, or you slid. There were muddy FLATS that were so deep and sticky that they were unrunnable. Well, I couldn't run them in good conscience. I was exerting so much effort and making no forward progress.
I kept hoping that there was a muddy section, and then things would be dry and runnable for the rest of the loop. Each time we'd get to something dry and runnable, I'd think, "Okay, that's it! No more mud!" I was wrong every time. Of the 7 miles, maybe 1 non-contiguous mile of it was dry. The rest was a deep mud pit. People were stopping to pointlessly remove the mud from their shoes. To retie their shoes because pulling against the mud loosened their laces. To retrieve their shoes FROM THE MUD after they came off.
My dreams of it eventually ending were all for naught, given that as I headed up a hill back to the initial parking lot we ran through, nearly done with the 7 mile loop, I was slogging up a hill of mud with 2lbs of mud clumped onto each shoe, having to wrest each foot out of the mire each time. Some volunteers at the top of the hill said I looked like I was wearing snowshoes. It was demoralizing.
Near the end of that loop, I considered asking at the start/finish line if I could do 7, 7, 5 instead of 7, 5, 7. I thought maybe if I just got the second loop out of the way, maybe I'd feel better about it. Because really.. I didn't want to do this loop again. At all. I realized they probably wouldn't say yes. Then I realized they weren't the boss of me. I could just take off my damn chip and do them in whatever order I wanted. Wait, I could just take off my chip and then NOT DO THE 7 MILE LOOP AGAIN AT ALL. Once I realized that, it was like the clouds cleared and the sun shone through. Figuratively; the sun had been out this whole time.
I had figured I'd be going through the start/finish line way before the 10k started, but given how much I ended up walking, it took me 1:45 just to go those 7 miles. Nearly 15 minute miles, baby, woo. I decided to kinda play the whole thing by ear. I mean, I was probably gonna do the 5 mile loop next, and that's what we were supposed to do anyway, so maybe I'd just continue on like normal, and DNF after the 5 mile loop.
My first order of business was definitely hitting the bathroom. When that was done, I went over to our chair to restock my food, and there was Matt, getting ready for his 10k. I said, "Do you know if the 10k course is the same as the 7 miler, without the out and back?" He confirmed it was, and I said, "You DON'T want to do that." I told him I was going to DNF, and said I was going to do a couple of the shorter loops, and if he would rather join me than run a miserably muddy 10k, I'd love to run with him. He looked a little overwhelmed with this sudden influx of news and changes, made sure that was what I wanted to do, then said sure, he'd join me. I felt a little bad denying him the pleasure of being able to complain about how much that loop utterly sucked, but felt good that I was hopefully offering him a much more pleasant experience. We turned in our timing chips, I refilled my water and food, and then we headed out for the 5 mile loop.
I was a little afraid that, after all of that, the 5 mile loop would end up being really muddy, too, but it was nearly 100% dry. Maybe 2-3 patches of mud that were super short, not very wet, and not annoying at all.
We ran one 5 mile loop, chatting and enjoying the cool temps, shady course, and lack of mud. As we finished, I had to decide what to do next. I had been thinking a 3 mile loop, but I realized if I did another 5, I would have done 17 miles, which was very nearly the 18+ that the 30k would have been, and that I was okay with that reduction in mileage. I asked Matt if he'd be in for another 5, and he was, and so we did. We were both a little fatigued by the end, but overall we had a fantastic run together.
I'm so glad I DNFed instead of slogging out another, presumably even slower, 7 miles of mud at the end of my run. My knees and hips definitely suffered for having to stabilize my body through 7 miles of mud, but I think I'll be okay to run tomorrow, which I'm not sure I would have been if I'd done another muddy 7.
Overall it was a great event, and I'd definitely be interested in doing it in the future. The loops thing was a nice feature, the volunteers were super enthusiastic, and they had stiltwalkers and GOGA goats at the start/finish line when we left. Yes, please.