The Loop Race Review

Another trail race bites the dust. I haven't blogged much about training lately. What is there to say, its kicking my ass! Hard! It's been a lot of cramming on technical terrain, which is hard on a girl's body. My knees are trashed. When we previewed the Loop course I knew I was in for a challenge. Lots and lots of rocky ledges. The training runs had been very challenging, hot and slow, so going in to the race I was careful not to set the standard too high, its not exactly an "A" race and also I'm looking ahead to Saturday and the Hells Hills rescheduled race at Rocky Hill Ranch. I'm running a 25k at the same place I did my very first trail run. I'm looking forward to running much much stronger and improving on my time and endurance.
Anyway. The race.
I got there around 7 am. I guess I just missed the 30km start and malingered around for a bit, wishing I had more coffee. In hindsight I am glad I didn't because hydration was key for this race.
I lined up in the back of the pack with the same people I had run with at the Maze. I was happy to see them there and was hoping for a pacer. That was silly considering I had run the course the weekend before. I kept telling myself, run your race, save it for the ledges. About a mile and a half in, I was the pied piper. I had a trail of about 8 run/walk ladies. I guess my strategy, to walk up the tough verticals and really pick up the pace in the flats was the ticket.
Walk up ledges, sprint flats, charge downhills and repeat. I was having a bit of trouble coordinating my drinking (which I usually save for the flats) with my sprinting, but I worked it all out. I drank some nasty (looked blue tasted GRAPE, blech) gatorade at the half way mark and pressed on. I was separating from the crazy pack I had accumulated and started running downhills and jumping off the ledges. I was really kind of having a good time, totally inspired by all the familiar 30k faces passin me by. One might think it would be demoralizing to be lapped but it actually gives you this awesome wave of superiority (they have another lap and I dont)that can get you through what I believe may have been the hardest 3 miles I have ever run. By the second half of the run, there's less tree coverage and more sunshine, and unlike the trial run, NO BREEZE. It got hot out there in a hurry. I was very thankful I drank extra water before the start. I kept thinking I was finished with the technical stuff. I'd say the last mile was a running monologue with myself about the hole in the trees where I'd cut the run short in practice. Once I got to that spot, I could really turn it on, and it's right up here, after this one last ledge, really, it's there, really, this time I swear, fer reals! Yeah, I deluded myself that the end was near. And it was. And my time was pretty close to my Maze time. Whoa! How did that happen? No idea. I ran through the trees and back around the parking lot to the finish really trying to hit the same exact time as the Maze. No dice. Nothing...left...in... the... tank, and just like that it was over. Ta-da. 85 minutes. Only 4 min slower than the last race, but both times close enough together for my liking. And a 4 min difference between race times both with a gun start, not bad at all. I'm pleased with my unexpected success at the Loop and looking forward to a fun endurance run on Saturday. The Loop course was far more challenging than the Maze so I'm proud of the improvement in the flats.