The Maze Race Report

You know you loved your race when you sit down at your computer on Monday morning to look for more races. My first trail race was The Maze at Walnut Creek park on Sunday morning. I ran the 10k. There had been a thunderstorm the night before so the course was definitely sloppy. Rainwater rushed the normally gurgling low water crossings and the normally dusty single track was muddy from the rain. I was so relieved it wasn’t actually raining on us, I didn’t care. In fact, I thought the wet course made the park new and exciting which was good. I had done soooooo many training runs out there that it was hard to get excited for race day when it felt like just another long run.

It turns out all the course training paid off, and my coach’s race plan was right on the money. We had practiced all the technical sections of the race so many times, that when it was race day, my only imperative was to run it faster than I had before.
I was able to lock in a quick pace for the beginning of the race, having measured the weekend before that there was absolutely no excuse to shoot for any thing less than road pace for the first 2.3 miles. The first half of the race was a breeze. The gps function on my older garmin cuts in and out on the trail, counting forward progress as rest time, or not at all, so I arrived at the aid station ahead of schedule. Of course, I am a total dork and run with my hydration pack so the aid station was exciting because my mom, Tiger and Dixie were waiting for me there (with signs) yay! Of course when I came by Dixie tried to break loose and run with me, but Tiger kept the terror saurus tethered.

The second half of the course was much more technical (I knew this) but the sun was starting to come out making it a lot easier to see slippery mud vs. regular mud (yes, there is a difference). I was also getting lapped by 30k dudes several of whom were from my training group and it was fun to see their speedy familiar faces and cheer them on. I felt like I pulled away from the walk-run crowd and narrowed the gap between me and the pace of the runners from my training group as I jogged (instead of walked) up and down rolling hills along the power lines.

I still had a good bit in the tank so I ran hard through the woods, Mark’s Art (which had been my nemesis on several hot afternoon runs) flew by and before I knew it I was trying to take the short cut home after the main creek crossing. Had there not been a man with a cute dog at the intersection who actually stopped me from going the wrong way, I would have missed the Severe Consequences loop AGAIN as I had on every long run up to race day. Always trying to avoid those I guess.

I had blast back in the woods and still had plenty left in the tank. I was looking at my elapsed time and looking at my distance and wondering if we were running windy loop. I saw the fence by the swimming pool and was still puzzled, then I saw the finish flags and knew I was done. My only goal was to do it in under 90 minutes. I probably could have done it in less than 80 minutes if I wasn’t holding back for an additional .5 mile that didn’t materialize.

I certainly feel like I could have easily raced another loop. There were a few climbs where I was tired, but nothing that could not have been handled with another pass at the aid station on the next loop. More caffeine! I’m not sure I could have done 3 loops (my original plan when I registered) but 2 was totally feasible. My time was 1:21:44. Only 13 minutes slower than my road 10k PR. I believe it is an easy task to shave a few more minutes off my time in the next few weeks leading up to the Loop at Emma Long on May 31 (I easily stood in line at various creek crossings and muddy embankments for 2 minutes).
I’m going to run some longer runs to get my mileage up, but there’s always the issue of longer distances at reasonable speed… I am not going to run a 4.5 hour 18 miler.