2024 Paleozoic Trail Runs – Silurian Fall II 25K Race Report

• November 9, 2024
• 25K Trail race held at Palos Park, Illinois – Cook County Forest Preserve
• 14th Place overall, 1st in M60-69 Age Group
• 2:20:02
• Paleozoic Trail Run – Silurian Fall II Results

I have done the spring version of this 25K before, and since I opted to not burden myself at Tunnel Hill 100 with another 100-mile attempt this year, I decided to give the fall version a go.  And I am happy that I did!  We had a cool and overcast morning for the race, with perfect trail conditions, and seeing that the fall version is run at a different course, I found this one to be a lot less technically challenging.  That’s not to say this was easy – it had nearly 1500 feet of elevation!  Lots of rolling hills, and a few steep enough to force me to walk, but the day turned out great for me.

My faithful sidekick/super sherpa/wife Kari and I got there way earlier than necessary, but were glad to do so to get a prime parking spot as the location had very few and we didn’t want to have to find the second and third parking option and have to walk.  We had lots of fun people-watching and chatting about the other racer’s prerace routines.

I had made a race morning decision to wear my more comfortable road shoes instead of my trail shoes, based on the race director’s email stating that the course was in great condition.  I also wore my gaiters to keep the little rocks, sticks, leaves, and other trail junk out of my shoes.  I was looking around and it seemed that I was the only one that opted for them.  I was so glad that I did.  

The 50K started at 8:30 and my race started at 9:30.  This course is much more crowded with other patrons, but they weren’t too bad and gave us plenty of room.  My plan was to not go out too fast and have to suffer in the later miles, but of course, I bolted out of the gate.  It wasn’t long before I found myself in no-man’s-land once again, not quite with the lead pack and way ahead of the back-of-the-packers.  Doesn’t matter what length of race I do, I find myself in this spot every time.

There was a giant hill that I walked just before mile 2 and I got passed by a couple of other runners, but walking calmed me down and I settled into a more appropriate pace.  The hills kept coming and I just kept pushing on. 

The 50K leader was shirtless and I saw him around my 5-mile mark and knew that I would definitely see him again.  It wasn’t long after that when I saw the first 25K leader coming back at me from the turnaround, and she was flying!  She did eventually win the race, a first for the race director, which he was super excited for.

As I got closer to the turnaround myself, I was marveling at how good a gel would make me feel.  Every 30 minutes is when I choke down the 100-calorie syrupy stuff, and I was finding myself looking at my watch 15 minutes after each one wondering how much longer to the next.  I finally caught a guy that I had been slowly reeling in, but he would jog the hills and I would walk them and have to work at pulling him back in again.  We arrived at the turnaround aid station at the same time.  I had already had the lid off of my 21-ounce water bottle and had it refilled with another 21 ounces.  I’m glad that I opted for the bigger bottle this time instead of the 12-ounce handheld bottles I used in the spring race.  I was staying on top of hydration.

After the turn, I found my legs and started running at a pretty good clip.  This portion would be downhill for a while, and I tried to take advantage of that.  I could see the competition coming at me for the first time and I was glad I had a good lead. 

I have to give a shout-out to the large group of spectators who greeted us when we went out and came back on the course around the middle section.  It was a big pick-me-up.

The next runner ahead of me was another one that I had tried to reel in from the start.  She had passed me within the first 1/2-mile of the race and looked strong, but by mile 11 she clearly had run into a wall.  I passed her and put some distance on her.  I didn’t think that I was in the top ten at this point, but gaining a spot gave me some motivation to keep chasing others.  The problem was, there weren’t any ahead of me that I could see!  

With about 2.5 miles to go, we hit the last big hill and I was passed by another guy.  Great, I had just gained a spot and now I was losing one.  I tried to match pace with the guy, but he was younger and stronger.  And to add insult to injury, the race director informed us at the awards that he had raced the RDs fall Lakefront 50K the week before.  Tip of the running visor to him.

Once up the big hill it was flat and I summoned the energy I had left to push a little bit.  I could hear the quick footsteps rapidly approaching me from behind and of course, it was the 50K finisher passing me in the final mile.  It has happened twice now to me and I hate it!  Oh well, another tip of the running visor to the shirtless 50K winner, whose overall 50K time was nearly a half-hour faster than my Chicago Marathon time.  Actually, the second-place 50K finisher was also faster than my CM time.  Crazy kids.  Tip of the running visor to both of them.

As I was dealing with that defeat, the sounds of more footsteps were approaching, and I was passed by a woman who clearly was kicking to the finish.  I tried to keep pace with her but she was slowly pulling away (tip of the visor to her-lol).  We emerged relatively close from the trail and onto the grass to do a parade lap of the park to the finish and she hit the afterburners, beating me by 15 seconds.  I knew that I couldn’t catch her, but I also knew that the clock was ticking rapidly to the 2:20 mark and I gave it my best to be sub-2:20, but my official time put me two seconds over it.  My watch time shows 2:19:38, but it paused while I was refilling my water bottle.  Seeing that I had predicted a 2:40 finish when I signed up for the race, and then thinking I had a good chance to go sub-2:30, to get 2:20:02 was a huge surprise that I will proudly take as a new PR.  

All in all, it was a great day and a great performance for me.  I might have to keep this one on the calendar for next year!