High Country Dreaming: Wet, Cold, and Muddy

My first ever trail race was the Prickly Pear 10 Miler back in 2006. I won 3^rd in my age group, scored a free pair (my first) of Brooks trail shoes, and had a blast. Since then I have been hooked on trail running. Although my tastes have changed and I now prefer more hills and rocks, I return to Prickly Pear every year. I am drawn to this race for a variety of reasons. The course is close to my house, it’s a chance to run a “fast” race, and Bill Gardner always throws a good party. My goal the past 2 years has been to break 5 hours. Given my level of fitness coming out of Bandera, I felt like this was a reasonable goal this year. I trained hard, logged 2-3 speed workouts per week, and felt great (physically) going into race week. The only thing that could derail me was weather. Usually Prickly Pear marks the first really warm day of the year, making the 3^rd loop (there are 3 loops in the race) really hot and difficult. Surely one year I would get cooler weather for the race. Be careful what you wish for…

Although I generally don’t trust a 5-10 day forecast in Texas, the weather report leading up to the race looked ominous. We would get our cooler weather, but with it would come rain, lots of it. Anyone who has run McAllister Park in the rain will tell you the mud can be quite the challenge. Oh well, nothing OI could do about it, so there was no sense in worrying about things. Sure enough, the front blew in on Thursday, and the downpour started. In a way this was a blessing for me. Mentally I wasn’t feeling too peppy, having been stressed out quite a bit and not getting much sleep. I wasn’t really excited about the race. Knowing the trails would be sloppy with mud was a blessing in disguise. I knew that running a sub 5 hour time would be nearly impossible for me in these conditions, so I might as well just enjoy myself and get some time on my feet.

I awoke Saturday morning and didn’t want to get out of bed. I was really not excited. I check the weather outside and found rain and 40 degree temps. Oh well, let’s just have fun. I arrived at McAllister and chatted with Chris and other Rockhopper friends. I decided to wear my compression calf sleeves, arm warmers, and gloves. It wasn’t overly cold, but being wet for 5+ hours would take its toll on my body, so I needed to be prepared. Joe T had agreed to run with me and help me break 5 hours, so I met up with him at the start, and off we went. My legs immediately felt sore and flat, not good considering we hadn’t even hit the mud yet. Joe and I chatted, running with Rachel “Honey Badger” Ballard for a bit. Although there was less standing water than I expected on parts of the course, the mud was deep and slippery. I told Joe that 5 hours was not going to happen. He suggested we keep plugging along and see what happened. I can’t thank Joe enough for keeping me going those first 2 loops. I for sure would have walked more than I did if he hadn’t been around.

The first loop was fairly uneventful. I enjoyed chatting with Joe, Rachel, and Olga. The mud seemed to come in 3 sections. The first 4-5 miles were slick and treacherous, but the mud didn’t stick to your shoes too badly. The next 2-3 miles were the worst of the course. The amount of mud wasn’t any worse, but it was more of a caliche-type mud that clumped to the bottom of your shoes. It felt like you were running with ankle weights on. My ankles still hurt from that section. Luckily, the last 3 miles were more of the mud from early on, with several puddles and sections of flowing water thrown in. It felt good to splash though this section and wash off some of the mud from my shoes.

Joe and I hit the start/finish in just over 1:40. My legs felt better with each step, but I knew that wouldn’t last forever. We would have to maintain this same pace for the next 2 loops for me top break 5 hours – not going to happen. The second loop is always eventful because you catch up to many runners in the 10 mile race. This makes for a lot of passing and shouting “on your left”. It’s fun to see so many people enjoying the trails, but this also means more feet to chew up the already muddy trails, making the 2^nd and 3^rd loops especially tough. I found it funny to watch and listen to some of the things being said on the trail. This race attracts a lot of new trail runners and roadies. Not all are prepared for the conditions found on trails. I chuckled to see people pulled off on the side of the trails scraping mud from the bottom of their shoes. Yes, it feels good to get the clumps off, but experience tells you the mud will be back on within seconds. I overheard a couple ladies asking each other, “are we crazy for doing this”? I saw people slip and fall (I did plenty of slipping around as well), get dirty, and laugh at the absurdity of it all. Laughing is really all you can do in races like this. Getting upset and angry won’t make the mud go away, so you might as well enjoy the moment, even if the moment hurts. Several memorable things happened on this loop. I got to see some of my cross country/track kids working an aid station, which was neat. I reunited with an old friend, Mr. inner thigh chafing (less than pleasurable). But my favorite moment had to be approaching the final aid station and seeing Joe T leading a group of 4-5 girls in a chant of “we love mud, we love mud…”

At the end of the 2^nd loop Tony and Olga caught up to me, passing me as we were leaving the aid station. Tony looked great and went on to take 2^nd place in the master’s division, while Olga took 2^nd overall female and 1^st master. I, on the other hand, slowly made my way through another round of mud. After a bit of mental math, I realized I could break 6 hours if I hustled through the last few miles. This kept me motivated enough to trudge along. After a long, wet day on the trails, I crossed the finish line just under 6 hours. I was greeted by Chris, John Sharp, Tom, and Elizabeth. We chatted for awhile about the day, and then I headed to the car to find some dry clothes.

Although I didn’t break 5 hours like I had hoped, I had a good time and good some good “mental toughness” training in. It seemed that most times were sower than usual, obviously due to the conditions. The winning time in 2011 was 3:25, but this year the winner crossed the line in 4:44. Quite a difference. Congrats to all the Rockhoppers (too many to name) who ran or helped out at the race. You guys are awesome! As for me, it’s time to de-stress and start hammering hills. Mountains here I come.