One for the Books

Everyone has a list of items they wish to experience. I am no different. However, as a runner, my list varies a bit. I still have the basics--I want to have kids, I want to see the Great Wall of China, I want to lay on the beach in Brazil, I want to see the Great Pyramids. But I also have items that classify who I am--I wanted to run a marathon (check!), I want to run a race and place, I want to run a trail race.

I have now completed the trail race. And, six hours after I finished, I still am not sure how I feel.

Ted and I went to Reading and ran the Chilly Cheeks. We had been training in a local park on technical trails, and felt we were pretty prepared. Our mileage wasn't real high for a 7 mile run, but we knew the distance. We had the trial shoes and we had dressed in layers (the wind chill in Reading this morning may have been single digits, and I'm being generous). But we weren't prepared for the race itself. It definitely wasn't for the faint of heart.

We were fortunate whereas there was no ice nor water nor mud. There was some snow, but just enough to add to the experience without hindering performance. The race started on a road, went down a hill, around a turn onto a trail, and....UP. We stopped when we saw the crowd of people, half walking/half crawling, up a long, steep hill.

The rest of the trail was like that. Steep hills. Long downhills. Some straight and flat, but most of it was anything but. Many points throughout I was able to stand at the foot of the hill and look straight up. The trail zig-zagged up the hill, and the line of colored coats and hats wound up the hill. My calves burned, my butt hurt, and I questioned my sanity at quite a few places.

Halfway through, at the second water stop, were cups of Yuengling. It was cold, it was carbonated, and it was delicious. We kept moving, up more hills, over trees, down rocks. Ted and I both stumbled and slid on more than one occasion, but we picked ourselves back up and kept going.

The phrase of the race was when Ted turned around and informed me (and the three people between us) "I'd rather be running the marathon." He was met with agreement from everyone between me and him. At the top of the next to last hill, we rolled over a thick wall onto the road and started heading back to the finish.

The last hill was actually one of the redeeming factors of this race. We heard the crowd before we saw them...then we looked up, and then we saw them. Dave was waiting for us at the top. This hill was very short compared to the others, but it was straight. Ted and I literally crawled--funny thing was, I don't remember really bending over to crawl over this hill, that's just how steep it was. That part was loud, it was exciting, and it was fun. Afterwards we had a hot breakfast, Irish band, and dancing.

Would I do it again? I don't know. I'm sick enough to....I'd eventually forget the pain of it all, and just remember the last 5 minutes. On the other hand, it may just be one of those things I experienced once and we'll leave it at that.