I was feeling really good about my training coming into this race. The only issue was the trail conditions. As the minutes passed waiting for the race to start, the ground was thawing more and more. Now, not everything was terrible, but there was more than our share of slop. Castlewood is one of my favorite places to run and ride. There are challenging hills and places to open the throttle as well.
I also had quite the support crew there as well. My mom and dad, my wife (Emily), and dog (Penny). I was pretty nervous with the expectations I had placed on myself. I got all checked in and got another fantastic hoodie. They seem to have one of my favorite race shirts every year. I always see a lot of familiar faces and make my rounds to say Hi and wish everyone the best. I got to start in the 1st wave where most of my competition was. It wasn't going to be easy. I did also have Tim Vickers in the heat behind me. We have a bit of a rivalry and have gone back and forth with who comes out ahead. He was the reining champ here at Castlewood Cup in our personal battle. It was going to be tough not knowing where things stood with that. I just needed to push all the way though the finish and hope it would be enough.
The pace started off fast with a flat loop around the field. It quickly ramps up with the big climb up to the top of the cliff. It didn't take long after that to get into the mud. The footing was horrible and kept things interesting when trying to take the downhills fast. I had managed to start off with a pace that I could manage without burning myself out too much. I was slowly tracking people down, passing them, and moving onto the next. Things were really shaping up nicely. Maybe a little too good. I was feeling so good about it, I decided to try to ramp things up yet again as it took longer and longer to catch the next guy in my sights. I was going strong and was able to pass a few more in this manner. However, it was a pace too fast and I started it too early to take it all the way through to the end of the race. Maybe on a day with dry trails this would have been possible, but not today. That mud was slowly sucking my last bit of energy. Soon enough, a few of the most recent people I had passed were able to catch back up and go on by. I was struggling to do my best to hang onto to each of them as long as I could. The river crossing was a welcomed sight. That meant there was only about a mile left and surely, I could make it without giving up more time and places. I gave it my best and held my position into the last loop around the field. One guy passed me about half way around, but I held on tight to his heels. I needed to make it to the final stretch to make my move to try to overtake him. I went... slopping through the muddy, puddle ridden field. Far from being silent, he heard me coming and kicked as well. He was able to hold me off and crossed the finish line a second in front of me. The real kicker was that I had started in the back of the heat and our chip timing didn't kick off until I crossed the starting line. He must have been close to the front, so my race time actual placed me ahead of him in the standings. I was sure to ask my family members how close Tim was. He was in the final loop by then, but my gap was more than enough. I was 23rd overall and just missed the awards with 4th in my age group. Amazingly I had also done a personal PR on the course despite having run in several years and in conditions that were perfect. No time to hang around and waste any time. I had another race to get to.
Cliff Cave: St. Louis Orienteering Club event - 2/22/14
After a great trail run, I was feeling pretty good about my results so far. However, I was definitely fatigued. I had to rush to get there. I felt like Cliff Cave was my home course and I really wanted to try to show my stuff there. By the time I got to registration, I only had an hour whereas the rest of the field had the full 90 minutes. I regret not taking a moment throw on my trekking pants over my running shorts, but I was already behind on time. On my way to the start I quickly identified a point of two that I was going to have to punt, especially with some bonus points that I would be given in the field that would be worth double. I punched at the start and made my way to the cave side of the park. I punched the first two quickly, but made a mistake heading towards the 3rd. I only gave myself a moment to try to figure it out and wasn't going to be able to without losing too much time. I got back to trail and was able to pick up the map again. I got the bonus points on this side and everything else I went for pretty cleanly and quickly and was paying for it with scratches. All things said and done, I lost 3 points on that side (2 on purpose due to the distance). I had a good path for getting to the cliff side of the park to get the remaining CPs. I did have one small miscalculation, but was able to recover somewhat quickly and still get it. Knowing the SLOC organizers were wanting me back in about an hour, I was having to push it. Descending the path from the cliff faster than I should have on tired legs. Finishing in 67min 32sec and good enough for 10th place overall. Ended up they were sticking around for others on the course and I actually would have had time to clear it and get the remianing 3 CPs. It was great practice and I was happy with how it went being that I'm normally just a back up navigator to Nathan on our Toporadical adventure racing team. It had been a long day and I enjoyed eating to my hearts content and vegging out on the couch watching TV and movies the rest of the day.
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