Thursday night was the 3rd annual Twilight Trail 8k race. The past two years I have run this as a female team with Amie and we came in 2nd and then 1st last year. This year Amie is injured and since I was planning to race Perfect 10 I wasn't sure about doing Twilight Trail. I didn't want to pair up with anyone and hold them back since I knew I couldn't run myself into the ground. I have been training with NC the past few weeks and she asked if I would pair up with her. I decided she was fast enough that hopefully I wouldn't hold her back. Trails are usually my forte so I thought I could hold my own and help repeat the win.
Well we got to the race and there was a ton more people this year! Including a few new female teams that would definitely give us a run for our money. This event is special in that it has a staggered start based on age and sex and your final time is not your actual race time, but your staggered time. The race is for charity and in order to raise more money you can pay to move up one sex stagger. Last year I didn't pay and ended up running the fastest female split but coming in second because I started a minute behind the leader. Since we didn't know if the other teams were paying to move up we decided we better pay just in case they had, plus it is for charity. As a bonus moving up a stagger for us puts us in with the younger gals and gets rid of the backlog at the stream and hill that we would have to deal with if we started a minute later.
The race got off to a late start due to all the new faces. No worries this is a fun run mostly anyways. (As a side note if you have not done any of the clevelandplaysracing races this year you are missing out. Kate Pophal does a great job and these races are competitive but still lighthearted and fun and well run.) I decided to try and run with my partner as long as I could hold on. We took off and there was four of us together, Frank, NC, SAI, and me. SAI had a fantastic run at Muddy Paws so I figured she was in my league and that we could all work together. At the stream she started to take off the wrong way and the three of us start screaming right right right. She got back on track quickly and caught us shortly after the stream.
We headed up the monster hill and I tried to ease off the pace but in retrospect I should have eased off a bit more. We got to the top and my legs were toast. Apparently being on your feet all day at Cedar Point and doing a hard track workout on Tuesday equaled legs that were not up for long steep hills by Thursday. I did my best to try and catch back up to the group but never got my foothold.
The group passed a man running with his dog and I politely called out passing on the right. He didn't move so I called out again and he proceeded to ask me why I wanted to pass on the right. Frankly he was taking up the whole trail with his dog and I did not want to get tangled up in the leash, it wouldn't be hard for him to move an inch to his left while I don't think me communicating "on the left" to his dog was going to be very effective. I just said I was afraid of dogs to move things along, this is a freaking race after all and he proceeds to lecture me about how I need to get over that.
Whatever I passed on the right and tried to get my legs back. I am still a little irritated about this though. I know this guy and he is a nice guy has a very nice daughter, but if you are going to run with your dog in a race and someone asks you to let them pass you should be polite and let them do so. And even though I am not really afraid of his dog if I was that is a perfectly acceptable fear considering I have been jumped on by a dog while running and was left with bruises so big a guy at the gym thought it was a tattoo. And I also have many friends who were attacked by dogs while running. It is just natural for a dog to what to chase you, while most probably aren't a problem, you just never know how an animal may react to you. If I had just been out for a run I would have had time to ask if the dog was nice, give clearance etc, but this was a race situation and if you are being passed, dog or not, it is just polite to move over when someone requests it.
I lost a little ground on the group here and knew there was one more hill to deal with before I could get my legs back and try to catch up. I pushed through passing runners from the early staggered starts and cheering them on. I just never completely got my legs back. TM caught me about half way through and I couldn't get my legs to respond and go with her. I got excited before mile 3 thinking there would be water only to realize it was just a few kids cheering. They yelled out that they hoped I won, I said not likely. They replied that they believed in me. Too fun. Now if only my legs would believe it too!
I hammered the downhills down to Squire Castle and could see that NC had a huge lead on me and that SAI and Frank were a little ahead of her. I cheered for her as I made my way around the castle. Made the mistake of looking over my shoulder to find that a young guy and KG were coming up on my quickly. I know KG is faster than me, but having her pass me when I had a 60 second head start still isn't good for the ego. I tried to go with her, but just didn't have the juice. I knew I needed to hammer it in though in case her partner was right behind me. I also knew Frank was going to need to push as this young guy was coming up quickly. Frank is tough though and he held out for the win!
I did my best to hammer it in, thanking Kate for another great race as I made my way to the finish. Ended up running 34:55 compared to my 34:21 last year. Not bad but would have liked to have at least run the same time as last year given I am obviously in much better shape. But last year I was on the trails a lot and this year I have hardly run trails at all. In the end the effort was good enough for our team to pull out the win. Very glad I didn't hold my partner back, I would have felt bad if we lost because of me.
It was another fun night and I got in a good hard effort run which is the goal on Thursdays. Hung out with my friends chatting about the race after as they gave out awards. First place was good enough for $125 for our team. Not too bad for 35 minutes hard work. Finished things up with a beer and headed out to DQ for blizzards. A good way to end the night.
Once the race posts photos I will try to update with a few. Great job to NC and Frank! Daisy and GP also had a good team run! TM pulled out the female win again and ran much better than last year, girl is one tough cookie!
Showing posts with label Twilight Trail 8K. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twilight Trail 8K. Show all posts
Twilight Trail 8k
Last year Solar, MT, Daisy and I decided to do this new fun race at North Chagrin. The Twilight Trail 8k is run on the bridle path and it is a special event in that they use a staggered start with the first runner to the line winning and they also have a team competition and as it is for charity you can buy your way into an earlier start slot. In general the start is ranked by age and sex, with the older female runners kicking it off and moving along to older gentleman, then young and master females, then the rest of the females, and so on to finish out with all the men. This system put most of my friends in the 9:00 starting wave. Solar and I didn't buy up a slot because we wanted to win fair and square ;)
Last year Solar and I (Two Trail Freaks) just missed first place with Daisy and MT (Team Pimp my Stride) taking those honors. This year MT was still recovering from Burning River so Daisy picked up another fast chick in CJ (now CV!). CJ isn't a trail lady but she is a speedster, but even with these two fast chicks in the race I was confident Solar and I could pull out a win and get some new shoes in the process! Solar wasn't so confident but I had faith in her. She has been crushing the runs lately.
We got in a small warm up but while everyone stood around the line waiting to go I jogged around and threw in some strides. My legs were feeling pretty trashed from Tuesdays 5k and my upper body was still a wreck from the upper body workout on Monday. So I wanted to make sure I was warmed up. TM was here but she had donated to charity and would be starting one minute ahead of me. I was a bit bummed about this because I would have liked to have used her as a gauge on my performance, but that's what I get for being cheap!
Last year Daisy made us crazy torn off white beaters to wear, this year Solar stepped it up a notch and we were in iron on decal shirts! Thankfully it wasn't quite so hot and humid as last year, but I still managed to get pretty sweaty in this thing! I definitely think more teams should unify in their clothes for this race, it adds another element of fun. On top of this fun staggered start this race throws an awesome after party with free beer, pizza, and cookies as well as a raffle drawing for all kinds of goodies. If you like trails, beer, and pizza this is the race for you!
With about a minute to go I lined up with the girls and we cheered on TM and DM as they made their way around the grass field that is the start. The course winds through a grass field before heading into the woods on the bridle path. Pretty much upon entrance you run over a creek and then it is a quarter mile stretch before you head straight up a long steep climb. Last year I walked this hill it is so steep and if it is humid it just zaps you. After that the course is a few rollers, one significant climb, and one twisty turny downhill before popping back out into the field and grass to the finish.
I went out hard, I wanted to push the first part of the course since I knew the hill would be slow. There was one girl on my shoulder that seemed to be pushing too as we forded the stream, I went straight through, the water was low and I really don't care if my feet are wet for 5 miles, and after the stream I was on my own passing people from the early waves. Got to the hill and I put it into a lower gear, trying to conserve energy but avoid walking. My goal was now to try and run the same time as TM and not come in more than a minute behind her. My legs felt absolutely trashed on the hill and I got passed by a young girl who had started in our wave. I let her go just trying to save my legs for the runnable sections of the course.
I passed DM and she said I looked great which made me feel better and as I crested the hill to a mile just under 8 minutes I was relatively pleased. I tried to do the math to see where that put me compared to last year. I ran 37:08ish last year and I was really hoping to go a few minutes faster this year. I slowly made my way back up to the young girl who had crushed the hill but caught her just as we started the only other decent climb so she re-passed me :) I knew she was mine though as despite my legs feeling somewhat tapped and trashed my pace felt strong and my energy was good. I passed her shortly after the top of the hill.
I passed BH here and I am not sure how he ended up starting in front of me, I guess he donated to move up a few starts. Team VR was out representing at this race for sure, everyone did great. By about mile three I had passed everyone but TM, and one of the last gals I passed told me I was close. As I couldn't see TM I wasn't sure what close meant but it was encouraging regardless.
I did my best to hammer the winding downhill by Squires Castle and as I exited the woods I finally spotted TM. I wasn't sure if she knew I was coming up on her or not, but she still had a good gap on me. I just wanted to close the gap as much as I could. I didn't really care too much about passing her since she had a head start and I was in the race as a team, but I was definitely using her as a target to run faster.
I was cruising through the woods telling myself if Jason Lezak could come back from starting behind and win I could certainly finish within 60 seconds of TM. (Anyone else using Olympic races as inspiration during their own races the past few weeks?) I passed a father and son out walking and as I passed the kid exclaims "WHOA!" which was certainly a nice ego boost. I used his exclamation to push myself harder as I neared the exit of the forest and heard a trumpet announcing that TM was making her way through the grass field. I received the same horn salute and I hammered the last few hundred meters finishing 11 seconds behind TM in 2nd place overall (Run time 34:21, fastest actual run for women). As I finished a guy with beer at the finish line announced that it wasn't over until you chugged a beer so I cracked one open and started chugging while waiting for my girls to come in.
I didn't have to wait long and had only gotten down about half the beer as I saw Solar and Daisy pushing to the line, Solar had a slight lead and Daisy looked good. Even though Solar was on my team I had to holler for both my gals, but was happy that Solar edged Daisy out (I need some shoes!) CV wasn't far behind and then came our inspiration in Salty running it in with GP to the announcer exclaiming how Salty was running for two and putting us all to shame!
Got in a very short cool down and took a photo with Solar. Yes that is mostly sweat, but I did dump two cups of water on my head.
Had a few more beers and chatted with my friends and my hubby while we waited for the awards.
Award time came and Solar and I crushed it winning first female team! We were only a few seconds slower than the fastest coed team so I would have to say we rocked it! We had a few more beers and chatted before calling it a night. Another great race in the log book, and another fun night with friends that will be remembered for a long time to come.
Last year Solar and I (Two Trail Freaks) just missed first place with Daisy and MT (Team Pimp my Stride) taking those honors. This year MT was still recovering from Burning River so Daisy picked up another fast chick in CJ (now CV!). CJ isn't a trail lady but she is a speedster, but even with these two fast chicks in the race I was confident Solar and I could pull out a win and get some new shoes in the process! Solar wasn't so confident but I had faith in her. She has been crushing the runs lately.
We got in a small warm up but while everyone stood around the line waiting to go I jogged around and threw in some strides. My legs were feeling pretty trashed from Tuesdays 5k and my upper body was still a wreck from the upper body workout on Monday. So I wanted to make sure I was warmed up. TM was here but she had donated to charity and would be starting one minute ahead of me. I was a bit bummed about this because I would have liked to have used her as a gauge on my performance, but that's what I get for being cheap!
Last year Daisy made us crazy torn off white beaters to wear, this year Solar stepped it up a notch and we were in iron on decal shirts! Thankfully it wasn't quite so hot and humid as last year, but I still managed to get pretty sweaty in this thing! I definitely think more teams should unify in their clothes for this race, it adds another element of fun. On top of this fun staggered start this race throws an awesome after party with free beer, pizza, and cookies as well as a raffle drawing for all kinds of goodies. If you like trails, beer, and pizza this is the race for you!
With about a minute to go I lined up with the girls and we cheered on TM and DM as they made their way around the grass field that is the start. The course winds through a grass field before heading into the woods on the bridle path. Pretty much upon entrance you run over a creek and then it is a quarter mile stretch before you head straight up a long steep climb. Last year I walked this hill it is so steep and if it is humid it just zaps you. After that the course is a few rollers, one significant climb, and one twisty turny downhill before popping back out into the field and grass to the finish.
I went out hard, I wanted to push the first part of the course since I knew the hill would be slow. There was one girl on my shoulder that seemed to be pushing too as we forded the stream, I went straight through, the water was low and I really don't care if my feet are wet for 5 miles, and after the stream I was on my own passing people from the early waves. Got to the hill and I put it into a lower gear, trying to conserve energy but avoid walking. My goal was now to try and run the same time as TM and not come in more than a minute behind her. My legs felt absolutely trashed on the hill and I got passed by a young girl who had started in our wave. I let her go just trying to save my legs for the runnable sections of the course.
I passed DM and she said I looked great which made me feel better and as I crested the hill to a mile just under 8 minutes I was relatively pleased. I tried to do the math to see where that put me compared to last year. I ran 37:08ish last year and I was really hoping to go a few minutes faster this year. I slowly made my way back up to the young girl who had crushed the hill but caught her just as we started the only other decent climb so she re-passed me :) I knew she was mine though as despite my legs feeling somewhat tapped and trashed my pace felt strong and my energy was good. I passed her shortly after the top of the hill.
I passed BH here and I am not sure how he ended up starting in front of me, I guess he donated to move up a few starts. Team VR was out representing at this race for sure, everyone did great. By about mile three I had passed everyone but TM, and one of the last gals I passed told me I was close. As I couldn't see TM I wasn't sure what close meant but it was encouraging regardless.
I did my best to hammer the winding downhill by Squires Castle and as I exited the woods I finally spotted TM. I wasn't sure if she knew I was coming up on her or not, but she still had a good gap on me. I just wanted to close the gap as much as I could. I didn't really care too much about passing her since she had a head start and I was in the race as a team, but I was definitely using her as a target to run faster.
I was cruising through the woods telling myself if Jason Lezak could come back from starting behind and win I could certainly finish within 60 seconds of TM. (Anyone else using Olympic races as inspiration during their own races the past few weeks?) I passed a father and son out walking and as I passed the kid exclaims "WHOA!" which was certainly a nice ego boost. I used his exclamation to push myself harder as I neared the exit of the forest and heard a trumpet announcing that TM was making her way through the grass field. I received the same horn salute and I hammered the last few hundred meters finishing 11 seconds behind TM in 2nd place overall (Run time 34:21, fastest actual run for women). As I finished a guy with beer at the finish line announced that it wasn't over until you chugged a beer so I cracked one open and started chugging while waiting for my girls to come in.
I didn't have to wait long and had only gotten down about half the beer as I saw Solar and Daisy pushing to the line, Solar had a slight lead and Daisy looked good. Even though Solar was on my team I had to holler for both my gals, but was happy that Solar edged Daisy out (I need some shoes!) CV wasn't far behind and then came our inspiration in Salty running it in with GP to the announcer exclaiming how Salty was running for two and putting us all to shame!
Got in a very short cool down and took a photo with Solar. Yes that is mostly sweat, but I did dump two cups of water on my head.
Had a few more beers and chatted with my friends and my hubby while we waited for the awards.
Award time came and Solar and I crushed it winning first female team! We were only a few seconds slower than the fastest coed team so I would have to say we rocked it! We had a few more beers and chatted before calling it a night. Another great race in the log book, and another fun night with friends that will be remembered for a long time to come.
Two Trail Freaks
I'm playing catch up here with the blogs but despite being busy with Burning River I have actually been doing a little bit of running and racing and I even have some awesome news which I will share in a post soon. In the mean time let's talk about the Twilight Trail 8K I did last Thursday with my gals.
I've been looking to do more trail races and get back into my cross country roots a bit. The Twilight Trail 8K was perfect as it is run in North Chagrin which is one of my regular stomping grounds and I knew the course well.
Of course Cleveland decided to bust out our first serious rain of the season around 4 PM. Wind was blowing everywhere and I watched as rain droplets floated up instead of down and we got a bit of a shock when we briefly lost power due to a very close lighting bolt. Also got to watch as nickel size hail impaled cars below and water was running over steps like a waterfall. I was swamped at work due to a new mail server sucking up half my day (what fun) and didn't get out of here until 30 minutes after I had wanted to.
Of course traffic was backed up like it normally would be at 5PM and I was worried about making it to the race on time. I called Solar and told her to leave my shirt at the start and I would just start running as soon as I got there. Fortunately for me quite a few other runners were stuck in traffic and they postponed the start. So I managed to arrive in time for a short warm up before we watched the first few waves of runners start.
The race turned out to have a fun format. The race was "age graded" with the older runners starting first, then progressing through age/gender groups that typically would be faster. First one to the finish line wins. Solar and I signed up for the team competition as did Daisy and MT. My friend BB was also out running solo. Still not sure how teams were awarded places whether it was combined time or place but we were (mostly) there to have fun so I just worried about running a good race.
Daisy had made us up some fun shirts to wear. Solar and I were "Two Trail Freaks" and MT and Daisy were "Pimp my Stride." For some reason no other teams were wearing matching outfits. :)
Dr. Louis snapped some pics for us as we lined up to get going. Our tentative plan was to stay together for a few miles then speed up or slow down depending on how we felt. We took off relatively quickly and caught the group who had left 1 minute before us just in time to cross the stream. Many runners were pussyfooting around here but I blasted through. The water was low and I barely got my feet wet. I didn't want to waste time here when I knew there was a huge incline coming up that would cause us to slow way down. And boy did it! Our first mile was over 8 minutes.
After that we settled into a groove. I felt good despite the humidity. MT felt better. I did my best to keep up with here but after 2 miles I let her pull away. I kept her in my sights figuring I would catch her on the down hills by squires. I typically can gain 20 seconds on her in a good downhill section but not that night! I never did close the gap on her. I ran as hard as I could for 8K and with the hills, humidity, and mud I was pretty happy with the results. My watch time was just over 37:05. (Mile splits: 8:16, 7:47, 6:58, 7:08, 6:54 (.9)) So around 7:30 pace. Not blazing fast but I am happy with it.
This race was well stocked and we were delighted to see that in addition to the typical post race fare there was also plenty of cold beers! I decided beer sounded much better than a cool down and grabbed one. MT would have none of it though and wanted to get in a proper cool down. I replied I'd cool down as soon as I finished my beer. And we did. Although we were all so sweaty and hot I don't think it can really be called a cool down.
We got back just in time for awards and were elated to find out that MT and Daisy got first female team and Solar and I got 2nd! Good enough for $25 gift certificates to Second Sole. Added bonus BB came in 3rd overall female! We were so excited they had to ask us to quiet down as you couldn't hear the rest of the awards over us. Ooops!
We hung out and chatted with some other tri/running friends before finally calling it a night. I'll definitely do this event again. Despite the humidity and the slight advantage to fast master runners we had a blast and the post race fare and goody bags were awesome!
Two Trail Freaks Ready to Run
Teams look best in wife beaters!
At least I'm not the only OCD one!
Ready to start
All Done
Happy to be done!
1st and 2nd Female Teams
Excited to get $25 gift certificates
I've been looking to do more trail races and get back into my cross country roots a bit. The Twilight Trail 8K was perfect as it is run in North Chagrin which is one of my regular stomping grounds and I knew the course well.
Of course Cleveland decided to bust out our first serious rain of the season around 4 PM. Wind was blowing everywhere and I watched as rain droplets floated up instead of down and we got a bit of a shock when we briefly lost power due to a very close lighting bolt. Also got to watch as nickel size hail impaled cars below and water was running over steps like a waterfall. I was swamped at work due to a new mail server sucking up half my day (what fun) and didn't get out of here until 30 minutes after I had wanted to.
Of course traffic was backed up like it normally would be at 5PM and I was worried about making it to the race on time. I called Solar and told her to leave my shirt at the start and I would just start running as soon as I got there. Fortunately for me quite a few other runners were stuck in traffic and they postponed the start. So I managed to arrive in time for a short warm up before we watched the first few waves of runners start.
The race turned out to have a fun format. The race was "age graded" with the older runners starting first, then progressing through age/gender groups that typically would be faster. First one to the finish line wins. Solar and I signed up for the team competition as did Daisy and MT. My friend BB was also out running solo. Still not sure how teams were awarded places whether it was combined time or place but we were (mostly) there to have fun so I just worried about running a good race.
Daisy had made us up some fun shirts to wear. Solar and I were "Two Trail Freaks" and MT and Daisy were "Pimp my Stride." For some reason no other teams were wearing matching outfits. :)
Dr. Louis snapped some pics for us as we lined up to get going. Our tentative plan was to stay together for a few miles then speed up or slow down depending on how we felt. We took off relatively quickly and caught the group who had left 1 minute before us just in time to cross the stream. Many runners were pussyfooting around here but I blasted through. The water was low and I barely got my feet wet. I didn't want to waste time here when I knew there was a huge incline coming up that would cause us to slow way down. And boy did it! Our first mile was over 8 minutes.
After that we settled into a groove. I felt good despite the humidity. MT felt better. I did my best to keep up with here but after 2 miles I let her pull away. I kept her in my sights figuring I would catch her on the down hills by squires. I typically can gain 20 seconds on her in a good downhill section but not that night! I never did close the gap on her. I ran as hard as I could for 8K and with the hills, humidity, and mud I was pretty happy with the results. My watch time was just over 37:05. (Mile splits: 8:16, 7:47, 6:58, 7:08, 6:54 (.9)) So around 7:30 pace. Not blazing fast but I am happy with it.
This race was well stocked and we were delighted to see that in addition to the typical post race fare there was also plenty of cold beers! I decided beer sounded much better than a cool down and grabbed one. MT would have none of it though and wanted to get in a proper cool down. I replied I'd cool down as soon as I finished my beer. And we did. Although we were all so sweaty and hot I don't think it can really be called a cool down.
We got back just in time for awards and were elated to find out that MT and Daisy got first female team and Solar and I got 2nd! Good enough for $25 gift certificates to Second Sole. Added bonus BB came in 3rd overall female! We were so excited they had to ask us to quiet down as you couldn't hear the rest of the awards over us. Ooops!
We hung out and chatted with some other tri/running friends before finally calling it a night. I'll definitely do this event again. Despite the humidity and the slight advantage to fast master runners we had a blast and the post race fare and goody bags were awesome!
Two Trail Freaks Ready to Run
Teams look best in wife beaters!
At least I'm not the only OCD one!
Ready to start
All Done
Happy to be done!
1st and 2nd Female Teams
Excited to get $25 gift certificates
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