Tag: trail running

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

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.  

At the start of the race, a short grassy section that led to the path.

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. 

That’s a lot of hills.

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!

The Value of Course Recon

With one race left on the calendar this year, I decided to do a little course reconnaissance seeing that I had not run this particular race before.  I have been on the trails in this area, but it was a long time ago, and I felt it might be a good idea to see what I had gotten myself into.

The race is the Paleozoic Trail Runs – Silurian Fall II 25K held in Palos Park, Illinois in the Cook County Forest Preserve District commonly called Swallow Cliff.  If you have followed my blog you will note that I have done the spring version of this race before, three times actually, but that course is in a different location.

Last week I went out to find the start/finish area and ran from the start to about 4 miles out before turning around.  The trip paid off because I took a couple of wrong turns and had to double back to get back on course.  But the trail was nowhere near as technical as the spring course is.  There was about 540 feet of climbing for the portion I ran and the two hills were definitely steep enough to warrant walking them.  The trail was in pretty good shape, with good footing.  I ended up running eight miles in about 1:15, so I was pleased with my speed and effort.

Last Saturday, Kari and I went back to the trail to walk the second part of the trail, which I hadn’t gotten a chance to run last time.  It was also in good condition with very few technical aspects to it.  There were 530 feet of climbing in this section, so overall, that will be the challenge that awaits me.  Tackle the hills with the appropriate effort, and push pace on the flats and downhills. 

Tried to capture the type of trail and the rolling hills of the course.

 

The course.

 

Today I ran one final 8-mile run near home at a comfortably hard pace and held an 8:32 average pace, finishing in 1:08.  I was pretty gassed after that, so I may have to dial back my expectations just a little on race day.  Plus the hills will slow me down somewhat.  The race website asks you to submit a predicted finish time, and based on my three previous attempts at the spring version of this 25K, I estimated 2:40, but I think I have a good chance to be under 2:30 and maybe closer to 2:20.  At least now I know what to expect from the course and the pace I have been running lately.  I’m looking forward to race day.

If you are interested in running or would like more info about this race, here’s the website:  Paleozoic Trail Run – Silurian Fall II 

Off-Season Thoughts

I shut myself down from running in mid-November, after attempting Tunnel Hill 100 for the third time, only running occasionally and only short-distance stuff.  Doing nothing but running long and slow had been a blessing initially because speed was causing me some issues.  But now, after three years, long and slow is wearing me down too.

I’ve spent some time this fall thinking about what I want to do next year.  I like to find races and set goals, and I really miss riding my bikes and doing triathlons.  I was pondering whether to keep running ultra-distance runs.  I have really grown to like the challenge, and the backyard/last runner standing events are so enjoyable to do.  I know one thing for certain – I’m done chasing the 100-mile finisher goal for a while.  I’ve had three shots at it, and I’m not sure that distance is for me, an aging runner who should have attempted that distance earlier in life.  I’m not saying I’m done, I just don’t want to put myself through that again right now.  I already have the Chicago Marathon on my calendar, and I believe that is more than I should tackle.

I recently came across a new race format that I found very interesting.  It’s an ultra-distance event (50K) that has an element of the backyard/last runner standing format to it but adds a speed challenge.  It’s called the “Trail Golf Endurance Challenge” and is local to me, located in Valparaiso, Indiana.  The format is runners will run nine “holes” starting on the hour.  The distance of each hole is a little under 4 miles of technical trail terrain.  If you can average an 8 min/mile or under for the hole, you get an “eagle,” worth two points.  A sub-1o min/mile is a birdie-3, a sub-12 min/mile is a par-4, a sub-15 min/mile is a bogey-5 and anything over a 15 min/mile is a double bogey-6.  So if you run an average of 10 min/miles for each of the nine holes, you will end up with a score of 27.  The runner with the lowest score will be the winner.  Sounds like a lot of fun to me.

But there are two things that stand in the way of me signing up for it.  First, my daughter will be starting a new job and may have to move to another area on that weekend, which will require dad to assist.  And secondly, I KEEP TRIPPING AND FALLING DOWN!

The crack, the shoe, and me wondering what the hell happened.

I really don’t understand how a simple trip to put the garbage bins to the curb and to grab the mail can be a tricky endeavor for me, but on this cold day I decided to pick up the pace a little to get back up the driveway and into the house and my foot got caught on the lowest of low trip hazards ever – the small little gap between sections of my concrete driveway.  It’s barely 2mm high!  My legs were doing a cartoon spin trying to catch myself, but I went down anyway.  Fortunately I had time to get my hands under me to prevent a face plant, but my shoe went flying and so did the mail.  Fortunately, my dog Murphy was the only witness to this craziness.

So, maybe I should stop thinking about trail running altogether because my past history has shown that a fall is certainly a high probability.

If you are less of a klutz and would like more info about the Trail Golf Endurance Challenge, here’s the link:  Trail Golf

I Be Trippin’

I’ve heard people say that time seems to slow down when you fall, and you feel like you are falling in slow motion. But that hasn’t been my experience, quite the contrary. For the second time this year, I tripped and fell today and I barely was able to brace myself for the impact, just like the last time.

The first time I fell I was on my fifth loop of the WausaUltra Backyard Ultra in Wausau, Wisconsin back in late April. I was doing well and feeling pretty good as I closed in on twenty-one miles. But out of nowhere, something grabbed my toe, and down I went.

Today, I was pacing myself through a 10-mile run and was just coasting along on the paved bike path. It was pretty sunny and I had decided to head into the forest preserve for the much-appreciated shade. Once in the preserve, I had a choice to make; I could stay on the paved portion of the path, or I could live dangerously and run on the much more technical trail. Now, for the past few years, I had sworn off running on the dirt path because I was training for some big race and didn’t want to chance – get this – possibly tripping and injuring myself! But for some reason, my brain overrode that failsafe breaker switch, and happily, I trotted onto the tree root-laden path.

I wasn’t more than a quarter-mile into the path when I encountered a walker ahead of me, going in the same direction and wearing earbuds. I attempted to get his attention with two loud requests to pass and as I watched to see if I had got his attention, I got tripped up and down I went.

I seemed to fall with the same velocity as the first time, but I was actually able to instinctively tuck my arms underneath me and brace myself for the impact better than I did the last time. I kind of felt like a wide receiver that had been tackled by the ankles and was glad to know that I was still holding on to the football. It’s comforting to know that I’m getting better at falling. Maybe someday I will be able to do a tuck and roll and pop right back up.

As I lay there looking at some gnarly roots and groaning loudly, I could hear the gentleman asking me if I was okay, repeatedly. I guess I had his attention now. I took an assessment of what happened and I quickly came to the conclusion that I am one dumb-ass trail-running fool. It was nice to know that the guy was able to see me embarrass myself in front of him. I think it was the fifth or sixth “Are you okay?” that I finally answered him with a “yeah, I’m okay.” I also added, “Why the fuck does this keep happening to me?!” It was a rhetorical question, and he didn’t answer it anyway.

What’s the old saying? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, if trees are anything like me, you bet your ass they do. There was a loud OOMPH! when I hit the ground. I got up and grumbled, and ran off down the path swearing loudly at myself – WTF? WTF? Dammit!

The last time I fell it was into some mud. You’d think that might have worked out better for me, but I must have hit the wooden plank footbridge first. This time I hit the dirt, but somehow managed to miss the bazillion roots that surrounded me. I looked and saw some abrasions, but no bumps or bruises this time around. I took my water bottle and rinsed the dirt out of my wound and continued down the path. Then I realized that I had to run the remaining four miles home looking like I had just ran a Tough Mudder or something.

I got home in one piece. I grabbed my phone to document my stupidity and then jumped into the pool to cool down and wash off the rest of the dirt from the fall. I think I’ll skip the trail running for a while. I’m not “falling” in love with falling.

Paleozoic Trail Runs – Carboniferous Spring II – 25K Race Report

Paleozoic Trail Runs – Carboniferous Spring II 25K Race Report

When:   March 19, 2022

Where:   Willow Springs, Illinois

Finish Time:   2:28:46

Finish Place:   12th overall, 2nd in Age Group M50-59

Results Link:  Paleozoic Trail Race 25K Results

 

Too Long/Don’t Read Version

I had a great time running a 25K trail race through a very muddy and challenging forest preserve course.  

 

All Of The Muddy Details 

Pre-race Course Reconnaissance:

Seeing that I have never run a trail race before, and because I have never run at this particular location before, I decided on Monday to drive the 30-minutes to Willow Springs and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County to see what I was up against. I’m glad that I did because I received an in-depth view of the course. There were lots of missed turns, lots of rocky terrain, and lots of hills. Seeing that there was rain in the forecast for race day, I bought a pair of trail running shoes for the race. Rain or no rain, the trail shoes certainly improved my traction on this trail system.

Race Day

Mud can be fun, right?

It rained on Friday – a lot. I knew that this was not going to make for a good run, but what can you do? It was still raining on Saturday morning, and it was cold too. You can’t control the weather, so I always hope for the best conditions and plan for the worst. Of the bad weather races that I have done, this one ranks around fourth I would say, behind Leon’s Triathlon 2015 (3rd – downpouring rain), Ironman Chattanooga 2019 (2nd – extreme heat), and the Boston Marathon 2018 (1st – cold, downpouring rain, headwind the entire way). 

I met up with Jodi, the ultra-marathon crazy friend of mine who was running the 50K.  

The Bad Influence and me. The Stones logo was not placed there intentionally.

Jodi’s race started an hour earlier than mine, so I waited around and was soon joined by my friends Jim and Leah.

Jim, Leah, and me. Photo credit to Leah’s husband, Steve, which I gladly stole from Facebook.

We lined up, wished each other well, and off we raced!

The race started on grass and 100 yards into it my feet were feeling the wetness from the grass. That soon gave way to much softer grass, and mud and I was trying my best to jump over visible puddles, but it was quickly becoming not worth the extra effort.

The course map with the colored trails we ran.

I bolted out from the gate a little stronger than I probably should have and found myself trying to keep pace with some faster runners that I had no business trying to keep up with. By a mile into it, I was passed by another more sensibly paced runner and watched him slowly pace away from me. I was starting to question the choice of layers I was wearing as I was getting a little warm. I took my gloves off, unzipped my pullover, and pulled the hat up to expose my ears. I was struggling with my eyes watering and my glasses fogging up. Miles 2-3 was the portion of the trail that most likely had the best conditions. We ran the Yellow Trail for about 3.5 miles and then came to the Orange Trail. I encountered the leaders of the 50K returning back to the start on their first loop. They were impressive. I saw that someone had ditched their jacket near the unmanned water station and I gave it a brief consideration but opted to keep wearing it.  

The Orange Trail was one of the worst portions – a ditch that was basically full of mud. I made an energetic effort to run the ridge and make my way through it. Thankfully, it was short-lived and soon was on the very technical Blue Trail, with lots of hills, roots, and rocks. The Blue Trail gave way to the Green Trail, but I never noticed the markers. I was too occupied with watching for the orange course marking arrows painted on the ground to make sure I was going the correct way. Thankfully, I was seeing more and more of the 50K runners coming back at me, so I knew that I was on the right path. Around Mile 6 I was hearing another runner coming behind me and he must have been watching me dodge puddles and really muddy spots. He advised, “at a certain point you just have to commit to it.” As he passed I could see he didn’t give a damn about the puddles, just trudged right through them. I paced behind him for a while, but I still lacked the confidence to plow straight ahead through the worst spots. I wasn’t afraid of getting wet or muddy, I had committed to that a long time ago. I just didn’t want to slip and fall, possibly getting hurt.  

Typical of the most of the course, but there were worse sections. Photo credit to Jodi – another steal and used without permission.

From Mile 6 until the turn-around at 7.75 miles was some of the worst of the muddy trail. I trudged through and reached the turn-around and walked over the sensor pad. I refilled my handheld water bottle, grabbed a couple of pretzels, made a quick toilet stop, and then made the turn to follow the same trail back to the finish. I was happy that I hadn’t ditched the jacket, as the light wind was now in my face and it had started to rain a little harder.

I saw Leah coming at me and figured she was about a mile behind me. One thing to be said about the runners I was seeing heading to the turnaround, they were all seemingly having a good time. I will admit, I was having some fun too.

Thankfully, I had brought some gels with me or I might have run out of energy much earlier in the first half of the race. I was eating a gel every half-hour and it was keeping my energy up. I took my fourth and last one around the 12-mile mark and hoped that it would get me through the last 3.5 miles. Back on the Yellow Trail with it’s better conditions, I pushed my pace again and tried to keep it up. I could hear another runner behind me and as I reached a rather steep hill, I slowed to a walk and he went around me. A glance over my shoulder didn’t reveal anyone else, so I made an effort to try to reel him back in and was doing a decent job of it until I hit the grassy portion with another uphill climb that just took the wind out of my sails. I ambled around the picnic area, following the course, and saw Jodi just leaving out for her second loop. That was something I would not have wanted to do at that point! I was spent. As I crossed the finish line, a guy with a clipboard told me that I was the 2nd place finisher in my age group. I made my way to the car for some much-needed warmth.  

My feet were squishy wet. Amazingly enough, the shoes looked out-of-the-box new after a turn in the washing machine.

I sat shivering in the car trying to warm up, which was made more difficult by the wet clothes I was wearing. I pulled my top layers off of me, found a long-sleeved shirt to put on, topped it with a couple of windbreakers and my sweatshirt, and then hopped back into the car. I texted Kari and advised her that I was done, and she texted that she and daughter Ashley were on their way, which was a little surprising to me, but I had left some extra shoes at home and she was kind enough to meet me with them. They helped me stay warm while we waited for the awards.  

Glad to be done with this crazy run and a little warmer.

I ended up with 12th place overall and second place in my age group and was very happy with that. And it was a fun and memorable experience that I won’t soon forget. Turns out running in the mud can be fun.

I opted for a beanie instead of a t-shirt. Nice medal and A/G award.  I ran with the map to make sure I didn’t get lost.
Made a lunch trip to Pop’s for some soup and fries. The looks I got in there with my muddy legs were priceless.

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.