Race Report: Sandrats
trail race,
Abstract: Gooey, wet mud doesn't work very well as war
paint.
Sunday I participated in the Sandrats trail race in
race distance is advertised as
approximate and the actual distance
varies a bit year to year with trail
conditions (and trails like this
tend to wander a bit with time as
well). This year it was pegged at
9.6 miles, a distance that seems about
right to me.
Race eve was stormy. Rain and thunder
almost all night stormy. Flash
floods stormy. In years past the
director has has re-routed the run
from the bottomland trails along the
levee when the trail was less muddy
than this was expected to be. So
I left for the race expecting to be disappointed with a
slightly
shortened, racier race on the gravel
road atop the levee. That also
meant that race moring dawned warm
and sticky. Speculation about the
race route was a big topic of
conversation among the runners before
the race. I met and talked to Deads
Ed Payne and Ben Holmes before the race.
The director called the runners together for important
announcements
before the start. Oh-oh! He thanked
the sponsors and then spoke of
the course. There was a lot of water
and mud out there past the water
station -- one water station passed
twice at 2.8 & 6.8 miles of the
out and back with a loop at the out
end course. There was an option
to go up on the levee at the water
station and run to the end of the
levee and back, shortening the
course and resulting in a non-scored
finish. But one could also choose to
run through the mud and water
(over a foot deep at one point was
promised) with dire warnings to be
careful and maybe turn it into a
training run at the worst points. We
can do the whole course,
Yay!
So we lined up at the start and we were off. I started
slowly. The
race is on streets and a parking lot
for the first (and last) half
mile or so and I followed the
strategy I've developed for this race.
I started slowly and accelerated a bit, passing runners and
positioning myself where I figured
I'd be behind runners going at a
reasonable pace when we hit the
single-track trail. That way I could
just sit in position until we hit
the water stop, after which I'd
start racing in earnest. The trail
seems narrower and passing more
difficult between the water station
and the start/finish so on the
way out, I just conserve energy. The
trail was in decent shape and
I'd positioned myself perfectly.
At the water station, I managed to pass a couple of people
even
though I walked to make sure I got
in a full ration of water without
tripping on the trail. I ended up
right behind a guy who'd been just
far enough ahead of me that I hadn't
noticed him before. He was going
right at my race pace for the most
part but a bit inconsistent in
speed. I decided to sit behind him
for a while. The course got
muddier. He got a bit slower in the
muddy sections. I was about to
ask if he wanted me to lead and do
the work for a while when we hit
the really muddy part and then there
was a dip (the foot of water was
in the bottom here but avoidable)
with a steep 4' climb out the other
side. The trail was slick and I blew
it right at the top. Had to put
my hands out to keep from falling
(in retrospect I should have just
dived forward and gotten muddy that
way, it would've been faster) and
slid/skied backwards down the slope.
Dangit! I had to work my way to
the side and go up the grass/dead
leaves to get traction.
There were two results of this incident. The guy I was
running with
was now well ahead of me/the group
behind me caught me. Also my hands
were muddy and I thought, "Rats! Now
I can't wipe the sweat off my
face without getting it muddy!" This
whole thing energized me and I
went ripping off down the trail,
instantly leaving that trailing
group in my dust, er wake. I quickly
overtook the guy I'd been behind
who now seemed to be going
unbearably slow so I just ripped past him
and kept on going. I also overtook
and passed several other runners
in this stretch, none of whom I saw
again before the finish. How
energized was I? The mile with the
most, slickest mud that included
my bank incident ended up being my
fastest mile of the race.
I worked myself into no mans land with one guy visible ahead
of me
that I was slowly overtaking and no
one detectable behind me. I
looked at my muddy hands again at
this point and had an epiphany. If
I couldn't touch my face without getting mud on it, I could
draw on
it! I used my fingers to draw war
paint type designs on my face as I
ran, pausing to bend down at one
point because I ran out of mud
before I was done
drawing.
This act had somewhat mixed results. The few runners who saw
it and
the HS cross country team working
the water station loved it. On the
other hand, mud shrinks and expands
as its moisture content changes
and when that mud is on your face,
it sure tickles. And then I really
couldn't touch my face or I'd screw
up the designs. And by the
finish, it was pretty well not a
pattern anymore -- I guess it needs
to be dry enough that there wouldn't
be mud anyway before mud works
as face paint.
From here on out it was mostly running in no mans land. It's
hard
enough to keep focus on the roads
when there's no one around, let
alone on a trail where you can't
even see anyone who's any distance
from you. Eventually a couple of
women caught me and I used them to
push/pull me along. We exited the
trail and crossed the parking lot.
As I rounded the 45 degree corner out of the lot, I looked
back. No
one behind me. Up
the streets a two blocks and arount the corner.
Another peek back and no one back there. Three blocks to the
turn
into the park for the finish and
another look. No one visible back
there. All this time I could have
caught those women but my quads
were sore. I think it was the Eric
Heiden style strides on the slick
muddy sections of trail that did it.
So I was running just to
maintain my position and protect my
legs. I was quite thankful that I
didn't need to run any harder. And
luckily, times on this course are
somewhat meaningless so there was no
real incentive to run for time.
After the race there was fruit and bread
products from a local Great
Harvest bread store, pop and beer. The beer was the most
notable --
it was kegs of homebrew from Ben
Holmes -- not just a good runner but
a fantastic brewer. His kolsch was
excellent. The dark IPA was
heavenly -- so good I didn't even
get around to trying the Sandrat
Trail Ale, a randomly malted ale (made with leftovers of
different
malts so the exact composition
varies).
All in all, another great running experience and that's why I
always
time my visit to my mother-in-law
who lives in
coincide with this race. Now if my
legs just get better by the time
the
Mini, this fall race is the larger "little brother" of the
Indianapolis Marathon) in less than two
weeks.
(Larry Miller