trail – an amazing run

2025 Paleozoic Trail Runs – Cambrian Fall III 25K Race Report

November 8, 2025
25K Trail race held at Palos Park, Illinois – Cook County Forest Preserve
21st Place overall, 3rd in M60-69 Age Group
2:24:23
Race Results

I was so glad to wrap up my 2025 racing season with this fall trail race again. As I was running the early part of the race, I was thinking about how similar things were going for me from last year’s race, and that I could probably just cut and paste last year’s race report and just change a few things. But the latter half of the race certainly was different than last year.

I don’t even know why I try to make a pre-race plan, because I never stick to it. I had pre-run half of the course last week, and the rest this week, and my pace plan and how I felt during those two runs told me I need to dial it back from the start. But did I? Nope, gunned it too hard and would end up paying for it later.

Heading out with excitement and trying not to step in a hole.

The day seemed perfect for racing, maybe 45℉ at the start, calm wind, and the course was in really good shape. The first mile netted me a split of 8:09, and I knew I would regret that. But the hills soon came and forced me to slow down and rein myself in. Once I got to four miles or so, I finally had dialed myself in and was on autopilot.

After getting passed by other runners who had started slower than I did, I found myself running behind a guy running at about my same pace. Blue-sleeved Guy, as I named him, would gap me a little climbing hills when he was jogging strongly up them and charging hard down them, neither of which I was able to do. But I would slowly reel him back in on the flatter portions of the race.

As we got to the 7.75-mile turnaround, Blue-sleeved Guy hit the portapotty, and I went straight to the aid station to refill my water bottle. I had seen in the pre-race email that Tailwind would be at the aid station, but oftentimes it’s diluted too much. I asked the volunteer at the aid station if it was mixed to a good concentration, and he responded like he had been asked before, saying that most everyone had said it was spot on. I trusted him, filled my bottle, and turned back to the trail. I kept looking over my shoulder for Blue-sleeved Guy, but he never materialized.

Out-and-back courses give you an advantage to see how many are ahead of you and how many are behind. I felt pretty good about seeing fewer faces heading out as I did after turning around. I figured I was in the top twenty or so. I settled back in and kept chugging away at the miles at a comfortable-hard race pace for me.

I felt pretty good up until 11 miles into it. I could feel myself starting to struggle. A guy passed me around the 12.5-mile area and said, “Even the small hills are feeling like large hills now.” I couldn’t have agreed more. I told him that I was gassed, but I kept trudging along.

My mile splits had been holding steady, but at 13 miles, I hit the wall. My wife, Kari, had said before the race started that she had put an extra gel in the zippered pocket of my hydration belt for me. I honestly didn’t think that I would need it, seeing that Tailwind had been working great for me, but boy, was I wrong. I was blowing through my hydration and was concerned that I would drink all of it too soon. I reached in and grabbed the gel and ate it. It would have been worse for me had it not been there for me. It was a race saver.

Coming into the last little bit of the race. The trail was filled with beautiful fall foliage.

I started having some foot cramps, and knew that could spell trouble. It was at the last two miles that I decided that the “race” was now just to get to the finish. As I came off the main trail and onto the grass, I was passed by a guy who was my age, and I asked him if he wanted a sprint finish. He said, “Sure,” and I chuckled. I said, “I’m going to make you earn this.” 😄 But honestly, I couldn’t keep pace and was just glad to make him earn it. The second year in a row that I was out-kicked in the final quarter-mile of the race. Oh well, I guess that’s racing for you.

So dead and done with the race that I was stopping my watch even before crossing the mat.

Kari was awesome once again, taking pictures, making sure I had what I needed, and getting my very sore body back to the truck for the drive to Pop’s for some much-needed lunch replenishment. She ended up walking 8 miles of trails while I was out there punishing myself.

The slogan of this race is “Finish or Fossilize,” and I was certainly glad that I didn’t fossilize. Came close. 😄 Time to recover and plan out my race schedule for next year.

The Trail Regulars

I have been fortunate to have lived near several great bike/walk/run paths as an adult. In my early running days, I loved running on the Green Bay Trail in Highland Park, Illinois. I would typically run this trail from Highland Park five miles out to Winnetka and then return home. A relocation to the Western suburbs of Chicago presented me with the option of running on the Great Western Trail and the Illinois Prairie Path. And I have spent more than half of my 35 years running at the local Hickory Creek Nature/Forest preserve paths and the Old Plank Road Trail (aka Old Plank Trail or OPT), where I see lots of locals also out enjoying the paths.

Over those many miles and years, I have seen quite a few faces over and over again. I call these people “regulars,” and even though I may not know them by name, we are pretty familiar with each other. Sometimes I will have a brief conversation with them, learn their name, and find out their reason for being out on the trail, but most times we just pass by with a nod or a wave. I thought that I might highlight a few, some I haven’t seen in a long time, and some fairly new. So, in no particular order, here are some of The Regulars.

Shirtless Tall Guy – One of the more recent regulars is a tall, fit guy in his 30s who runs shirtless, loping along at a relaxed pace, but I have seen him running fast on occasion as well. We usually give a brief wave when we pass each other, acknowledging the fact that we are always out on the trail pounding the pavement. I’m not sure if he runs to compete, or just runs for the pleasure of it. I envy his effortless-looking gait and often think that he would be a great distance runner if he wasn’t already.

Buford Pusser – In the 70s there was a movie called Walking Tall, telling the tale of a Southern sheriff who meted out justice by carrying a rather sturdy baseball bat-sized stick. There’s a local guy who walks the trail who reminded me of that character. I hadn’t seen ol’ Buford on the trail in quite a while, but recently there he was, walking along and carrying the four-foot-long thick dowel rod that he carries like he’s going to have to fend off a wolf pack attack. I usually run by this guy with caution, but I don’t fear him.

Wrong Side Wheelchair Lady – I encounter this lady all the time in the hilly nature preserve trail and she’s always on the wrong side of the trail. She used to have a friend who would walk along with her but I haven’t seen her friend in a long time. Lately, she has been singing classic rock songs at the top of her lungs while pushing herself up the hills. I’d probably be more friendly to her if she wasn’t always on the wrong side of the trail.

Baby Jogger Mom – This redhead with a wolf tattoo on her back shoulder used to push her newborn in a stroller in the preserve and I would see her nearly every run. Then she disappeared for a while, later to return with a double-wide stroller and two kids! But she seems to be fading quickly from the ranks of the regulars, as I haven’t seen her in quite a while.

Mario! – A long-time runner, this guy reminds me of Mario from the arcade game. He’s been out there as long as I have, and we just keep putting in the miles.

Will County Forest Preserve Lady – An older lady who wears a pullover-type top emblazoned with the logo of the forest preserve is one of the older regulars on the trail. A taller, thinner lady who I see often on the Old Plank Trail in Frankfort. There used to be a trail sentinel program run by the forest preserve district, so maybe she wears the pullover from that. Not sure.

Bill – Mostly a midday runner like myself, I encountered this local guy quite often, usually crossing the railroad tracks where the make-shift path gets me into the nature preserve. He was always friendly, and at one of the crossings, I took a moment to chat him up. He said his name was Bill and that he runs about four miles nearly every day. He doesn’t race and thinks the distances I run are crazy. But anyway, he’s a nice guy.

Curly-headed Guy – I used to see this curly-headed guy all the time running on the OPT and one day we stopped at a road crossing together and I introduced myself. He was wearing an Ironman visor and I had to at least say hello to a fellow Ironman. Turns out his name is Charlie and we are now good friends and follow each other on Facebook. He tends to ride more than run nowadays, but we are always joking about wanting to be each other when we grow up.

Bike Pusher Guy – I have passed people on bikes while running in the past, and although the speed needed to do that has long left me, but occasionally I come upon Bike Pusher Guy. This guy is older than me and doesn’t ride his bike very fast, and he always hops off and pushes it up the hills. Friendly guy, and we see each other often.

Me – I guess I’m a trail regular as well. I often wonder what others think of me as I jog by huffing and puffing in my sweaty clothes. Well, if you become a regular make sure to say hello to me because I’m always up for a chat.

Do you have any trail regulars where you run?

Running Stories: I Have Discovered Trail Running

It’s winter here in Illinois, and although mostly mild this go around, we’ve had a little bit of snow added to our area and it’s just enough to cover the trail and make it icy after people start packing it down. This forces me off of my usual running route and onto the local side roads where there is better running traction and little traffic, but not as much scenery.

Don’t get me wrong, I am glad I have the option to still run outside when the ice-covered trails make them difficult to run on. I have my favorite route too, it’s hilly and has enough variety that it’s a much better option than running inside on the treadmill. But after a few runs on this route, I started thinking about branching out from it and try some off-the-beaten-path trails. I am still signed up to do a “last runner standing” style trail ultramarathon and getting some practice and familiarity with running on trails would be a good idea for me.

One of these trails is located in the Van Horne Woods portion of the Hickory Creek Preserve located off of Route 30 in Frankfort, IL. The path starts just as you enter the preserve. There used to be a sign there where the unpaved portion of the trail began that said it was for use by the “Environmental Learning Center ONLY,” but that sign is now gone, and when I Googled it it said that it was permanently closed. A Facebook page for the site says it was closed in 2017. Seeing that the trail is still pretty heavily used, on Wednesday I decided to explore the icy path for the first time.

I ran from the lower part of the trail north and onto another natural surface trail just north of the creek.

Trail running, where have you been all my life?! I loved it! Although the trail was a mix of snow, ice, and a few clear portions, my trail running shoes handled them fairly easily. I slowed down where it was necessary, but otherwise it was runnable. There is a fairly steep ravine that had some great views and lots of twisty paths through the wooded area.

On Thursday, I decided to do it again, this time running it in reverse. Another awesome run, but there was a lot of rough running going on. I still had pretty good traction, but it wasn’t the best. Occasionally the tread of my shoes would nick my ankles and that is no fun. On Friday I stopped at the local hardware store and picked up some 1/2 inch sheet metal screws and screwed them into the bottom of my shoe. This is an old trick used by runners, but one I have never tried.

Saturday morning I woke up to a new coating of about an inch of snow and I was super excited to get out there and run through the woods again. The traction I now had with my modified shoes was unbelievable. I ran like there wasn’t any packed down icy snow at all. It was a game-changer. Even my pace picked up for the run from the previous days. This time I decided to explore some more of the off-trail segments and found myself following a set of fat bike tire tracks in the freshly fallen snow. I followed those tracks for almost three miles until I ran into those two bikers on the trail. I realized that these were the same two guys that always post pictures of their rides on the local biking Facebook page that I belong to. I got to get a fat bike someday. It looks like fun.

I ran until I realized that eight miles had passed and that I had three more to get to home, and without any water or gels to fuel me along, I decided to save some exploring for Sunday. I came home and told my wife that this was one of the best runs I have ever had.

A little bit of a warm-up occurred on Saturday afternoon, melting what had fallen that morning. But I woke up again to light snow on Sunday and decided that this was going to be another amazing run. This time, however, I drove to the forest preserve so not to waste energy running three miles to get there and have to save enough energy for the three miles to run back home. I’m glad I did, this run was an awesome repeat of Saturday, only more so! I explored further east along Hickory Creek until I got turned around and lost my bearings. I found the creek and knew what side I was supposed to be on, but I truly believed that I had crossed it somehow. It wasn’t until later when I reviewed the gps map that I realized how turned around I was. I ended up backtracking until I saw some familiar things that I thankfully took the time to study for just this reason. I had also drawn some arrows in the snow to make sure I knew where I should turn at a few of the adjoining trail spots.

I was getting a little tired and a little worried that I was overdoing it, so I decided to head back and save some more of the unexplored areas for another time.

In all, I ran 53.5 miles this week, which is very high for me, and all because this little off-the-beaten-path rekindled a passion for running that I hadn’t realized was missing. I certainly felt like a kid again. I will definitely be running more natural surface trails in the future.

Orienteering Fun

My coworkers had been talking about this show called “The Worlds Toughest Race” on Amazon Prime Video and asked if I had watched it. I hadn’t, but I asked if they were talking about the Eco Challenge, and sure enough that was it!

I was familiar with the Eco Challenge having watched a series or documentary on it probably ten years ago. Apparently it lives on and somehow escaped my attention. That’s probably because I watch two cable channels and nothing else. But they were adamant that I should watch it and so I checked it out. I probably shouldn’t have because now I have a new hobby.

The Eco Challenge requires a lot of skills to get through it, but as I watched and studied it I realized that orienteering is most likely the greatest of the skills to have. So I looked into orienteering and found that a local forest preserve district had some dedicated orienteering courses to try. All I needed to do was to recruit the wife to join me and try it out.

The course we checked out is in a forest preserve called Waterfall Glen. The f.p. website had a lot of great information on orienteering and maps to their four dedicated courses. If you are local to the Chicago suburbs, you can check out their website and course maps here: Click here and scroll down to Orienteering Course

I did convice Kari to join me without much arm twisting or begging and we talked about preparing ourselves for this mini adventure.

Kari: “Do you think I need to wear pants?” Me: Nah.

Kari: “Should we bring water?” Me: Nah.

Kari: “Do you want any sunscreen or bug spray?” Me: Nah.

Well, we probably should have worn pants and water would have been a really, really good idea. We did end up bringing the sunscreen and bug spray and did apply it, but it probably wasn’t really necessary. It was a really nice day so we got by okay.

I have never been to Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve but as soon as we neared the entrance I realized that it might be the most popular forest preserve in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago. It was packed. People were walking, running, biking, hiking and just generally hanging around on the trails. Fortunately for us we weren’t on the main trail for long as our orienteering took us onto much less traveled paths.

We decided that we would try the long beginner course (Long Beginner Course Map) first instead of the shorter beginner course mainly because we didn’t know how to find the start of the shorter beginner course. That’s pretty funny considering map reading skills are necessary for this little adventure. Fortunately the longer beginner course started right at the exact spot we were at. We settled on nicknames – I would be both Lewis & Clark and Kari would be Sacagawea. I thought that was pretty clever until I realized that Sacagawea was actually the one showing the experienced explorers where to go. As fate would have it, Kari was a perfect Sacagawea.

We easily found the first “control” marker and I patted myself on my back for not getting us lost. The second control marker was located down the path a little bit, but I looked at the map and tried to convice Kari that it would be quicker if we took this side dirt path through the woods. Fortunately she was game and off we went.

UL3sQLfsRUOTSJ9MibFDIQ — Let’s just try that shady path instead of the completely safe path. Okay, sure!

Tr35dyQdRrCysjTk3iDKrg — Found one! Here’s what the markers look like. You were supposed to write down the letters on the map for some reason. I guess its so you can prove that you found it. Photos work too in this day and age.

We made it through alive! And the rest of the control markers were fairly easy to find, with the exception of two of them that had fallen down and were laying on the ground. One of the markers was hidden in the trees somewhat and we had to double back a little bit when we realized we had missed it. But we found them all and it really wasn’t too challenging. It took us about an hour to navigate our way through the map and upon finishing we decided to take a crack at the other beginner course, mainly because we had time and also to the fact that our map reading skills had improved dramatically, thanks to Sacagawea – I mean, Kari.

I foolishly thought the beginner course (Beginner Course Map) would be easier since it wasn’t as long as the other one. Wrong. For a beginner course, this one was much tougher, mainly due to the terrain – lots of indistinct trail with fallen trees and other stuff to confuse the heck out of us, and some open grassy areas which really tore up our bare legs. Should have worn pants.

The first four markers weren’t tough to locate, but the fifth one had us a little worried. The trail wasn’t very clear and we had to double back and take different routes until we were finally able to locate it. For minute there I thought I might have to resort to cannabilism, but fortunately for Kari we found it and continued on.

As we continued on the trail to the next control marker we would occasionally pass some people heading the other way, usually asking if we had found the waterfall. We didn’t find a waterfall, but we did find this hill that would have been a nice waterfall if the area wasn’t experiencing drought conditions.

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We made it back to the parking lot with our legs a little scratched up from the brush, our lower legs covered in trail dust, and kind of thirsty. But our first shot at orienteering was a success and lots of fun! I can’t wait to go back and try the intermediate and advanced courses. I’m just going to make sure that I wear pants, bring water and maybe add some trail shoes to make it a little more easy to navigate.