Description

An admitted shoe geek waxes philosophical about running, triathlon, and life in general.
Comments welcome!


Thursday, October 27, 2011

Trail fun

I finally finished a trail race this past Sunday. The Ft. Stielacoom Trail Run. I did the 10K race, because I wasn't ready to try to pump out a half-marathon or longer (not that I'd want to go longer). My wife did the 5K.

I say "finally" because I DNF'd the Soaring Eagle race earlier this year, which was to be 10 miles. I made it about 4 before bailing due to mis-stepping and injuring my foot. I've learned...

I wore the Altra Instincts for this run, mostly because I thought it was still a bit rocky to wear the Merrell Trail Gloves. I know there are some minimalist purists out there who would scoff at that idea, but I've found the Trail Gloves to be a bit thin for most anything but soft dirt/loam trails. In that environment, they shine, but once the rocks show up, my tender soles start complaining.

With the rains we'd had the two days previous (which only abated a few hours prior to race time), I was worried about lots of mud on the course, but the course was fine with the exception of some water-logged lawn
surrounding the registration/food area.

The course was two loops of just barely over 5K, with one good hill in the middle, and lots of twists and turns on the way back down. I managed to slog out a pace just a little under 7:30 a mile, even after a bee sting to the back of the neck on lap one.

At the post-race expo, there was a LOT of food and drink. Vasque and Vibram were there with their footwear offerings, and I tried on some Vibram FiveFingers just to satisfy my curiosity. Yup, as I suspected, they're made for people with shorter toes than mine -- by the time I got the overall length right, the ball of my foot fell into the cutaway in the arch. This is similar to what happens with the Trail Glove, and I hope that Merrell extended that area rearward in the Road Glove and Bare Access. We'll see.

The atmosphere surrounding the race was very relaxed, lots of fun. I can see myself doing more of these.

Oh, and just before we started, there was a guy who ambled through the start/finish. The RD/announcer told us all his name, that he's 73, and that he was doing the 50K... His fourth with them this year, and tenth for the year... so far. Amazing!

No comments: