down2Earth Oleta Trail Run
by rchackman
What: down2Earth Oleta Trail “Half-Marathon”
When: Sunday, June 23, 2013 – 7:30 AM
Where: Oleta Park, North Miami, Florida
I was not sure what to expect when I signed up for this race on Thursday and I certainly got more than I bargained for with this one. I had an 11 mile run on the training schedule for Sunday and decided I might as well do a half-marathon instead. I knew that my run could benefit from the camaraderie and excitement of a race as opposed to the usual routes around my parent’s extended neighborhood.
However, had I any idea what was in store for me, I most likely would have settled for the neighborhood run around my parent’s house. The race was called a half-marathon yet it was far short and much worse than your average road half-marathon. Just to give you an idea, here are the mile splits from my Garmin:
Split
|
Time
|
Distance
|
Avg Pace |
---|---|---|---|
Summary | 2:57:15.9 | 11.91 | 14:53 |
1 | 11:30.1 | 1.00 | 11:30 |
2 | 13:15.5 | 1.00 | 13:15 |
3 | 15:09.2 | 1.00 | 15:09 |
4 | 11:48.7 | 1.00 | 11:48 |
5 | 14:31.9 | 1.00 | 14:31 |
6 | 15:55.0 | 1.00 | 15:55 |
7 | 13:40.7 | 1.00 | 13.40 |
8 | 16:00.0 | 1.00 | 16:00 |
9 | 16:18.1 | 1.00 | 16:18 |
10 | 14:03.3 | 1.00 | 14:03 |
11 | 18:28.8 | 1.00 | 18:29 |
12 | 16:34.7 | 0.91 | 18:11 |
Pre-race Nutrition: English muffin + Peanut Butter, soymilk + banana blend, and coffee with almond milk @ 5:30 AM.
The trail we ran is normally an advanced mountain bike trail in Oleta Park. I figured that South Florida only has so much elevation so I though the race company, down2Earth, called it “trail run” because we would be running on a relatively flat mix of gravel, dirt and road. Oh, how wrong I was. In reality, it felt like a leg workout disguised as a run. By the end of it, my quads and glutes were screaming for me to stop as I was constantly going up and down steep sloped obstacles.
Race Nutrition: I had 1 pack of Clif blocks, 1 gel and a salt tablet throughout the whole run. No idea I would be running for this long though and would have brought more to eat had I known in advance.
The race itself for the half-marathon distance was 4 loops of the trail. Loops 1 and 2 felt tough but I felt good. I had to adjust mentally because I was not expecting such a tough trail. In loop 3, I entered the “shut-up and run zone” to just keep myself running and focused on the trail. The 4th loop was akin to chasing an ice cream truck that is constantly moving just a little bit faster than you. It seemed like the finish line was getting further away. I walked some of that 11th mile as you can see in my splits above so I did not wreck myself for this week’s workouts. All in all, I had a good time and was just glad to finish this race in one piece. I normally hate it when races might be less than the distance advertised. In this instance, I was extremely happy about it! With all due respect, those 11.9 miles were far worse than any road half-marathon I have ever ran.
Wow–sounds like a completely unpleasant surprise! Think of how easy your next half marathon will be, compared with this one. Great job. 🙂
Trail races are generally very different from road races, with a lot of small hills that can add up to some sore quads. Trail running got me in the best shape of my life last summer. My quads have never been stronger. Way to gut it out and finish strong!
South Florida can be sneaky at times…strong work!
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