Having injured the big toe on my right foot, I was really doubtful that I would be able to compete on Saturday morning. I decided to go ahead and get my gear rounded up to be ready for the morning, just in case. I would wake up early and decide then if I would go to the race.
I asked Rhonda (my wife) if she wanted to ride down to Dauset Trails with me in the morning. She said she would, which was great because she seldom goes to races with me. That was really when I decided for sure to go to the race. My logic was we could go to Dauset Trails and I would run around a little to see how my foot felt and if it didn't hurt to bad I would go ahead and run the race. If it hurt to much then we would just have a day out together.
We arrived at Dauset Trails about 7:30 am and I picked up my race number and goody bag, then went for a short run on the nature trail. My toe seemed to be ok it was tender, but didn't really hurt. I decided to line up and start the race. I got in the back of the pack at the start of the race because I was going to start slow and see how things developed. I had my shoe laces tied really tight so my foot wouldn't slide forward in my shoe.
I Started the race slowly and found that I felt really good and my foot wasn't bothering me. After about a 1/2 mile we turned into the woods on the trail. I was very aware of each root, rock and stump on the trail, each was an enemy of my big toe. There were water stops at around 2, 4 and 7.4 miles.
I had decided to run to the 1st water stop then start doing a run 3/walk 1 pattern for the duration of the race. As I approached the 1st water stop I decided to take water and continue running to the 4 mile water stop before I started the 3/1 pattern. I was feeling really good. When I reached 4 miles I was still feeling good, but I decided to go to 3/1 so I would not burn out before the finish. That was a very good decision on my part. Between 4 miles and 8 miles I started passing people and very few of them came back on me during my walk sections.
This is the 3rd year that I have run this race and I really like the course, it has a little bit of everything - uphills, downhills, technical and very easy trail sections. According to my Garmin 305 there was 3250 feet of ascent and 3367 feet of descent, so there was a lot of up and down.
Everything was going great in the race until about the 8 mile mark. At that point I stubbed my toe again, it took my breath away. I didn't fall, but it brought tears to my eyes. I managed to keep running and slowly the pain lessened. I think it was just a matter of losing concentration near the end of the run. I was thinking about only having a little over a mile left and wasn't focusing on the trail like I had been previously.
Next at about 8.5 miles I started to get a cramp in my left shin. I have never had a cramp there before. I found as long as I kept running it wasn't as bad as when I walked. Fortunately the cramp was at the end of the race so I was able to just keep moving and finish the race.
As it turns out I ended up finishing 1st in my age group, so the sore toe and the cramps weren't such a big deal after all.
How soon we forget the pain and are ready to race again.
Rhonda too some great photos during the race, of which I have posted some.
Just Keep Moving!
