nice tech shirt
Last Saturday I had my second Dirty Spokes Trail race. We were in Cumming, GA at the Sawnee Mountain Nature Preserve. I was immediately impressed with the new visitor’s center. Everything still seems so fresh and new. My buddy, Jason, and I got there a little late to take advantage of the small parking area so we were directed down the street to park in a cow pasture. I dropped the TL into 4-wheel drive, splashed through a couple of pillow-sized cow patties and got us parked.
We walked over to the visitor’s center and got checked in. The Dirty Spokes series of trail races are so well run. As I mentioned, this was only my second one, but, once again, I was impressed. We not only got a quality technical shirt again, but also got our timing ankle strap to ensure quick results after the race.
Jason and I jogged around for a mile to get warmed up and then took our spots at the start. This being the last race in the series, there seemed to be a bit larger crowd than normal. The race was supposed to be 3.5 miles. The first 2+ up Sawnee Mountain and the remaining back down on a different trail. I wasn’t necessarily excited about the uphill portion of the race. I couldn’t keep my mind from flashing back to the Boling Park trail run and the steep inclines that had me walking and on the verge of puking. However, I was excited to get going because Jason and I had been putting in the work on the road and the track lately and I felt stronger than before.
At the start, we did a lap around the small parking lot to get a bit of spacing before we headed into the woods. The trail up the hill was double-wide so you could pass folks if necessary. I felt strong early on and was steadily making my way up the hill. After about a mile, Jason was long gone ahead of me, but another friend of mine, Freddie, was nearby. We were struggling up the hills making decent time. About 1.6 miles in, Freddie asked how much farther we had until the top. Another guy nearby said we were getting close, but the worst was still ahead. Great. Thanks pal. At about 1.9/2 miles, I couldn’t handle it anymore and stopped to walk a couple times. It was so steep and my calves and thighs were burning. I’m a wuss. What can I say? A bunch of the guys around me were walking too. We would pass each other over and over as one guy would start walking and another would stop walking. Freddie pulled ahead of me at this point, but I thought I could possibly catch him on the downhill.
At the top I was actually concerned I wouldn’t be able to run the downhill. My calves were like jelly. After a couple minutes though, they chilled out and I was able to start chugging down the mountain. The problem was that the trail down was so steep that you actually were out of control in a couple of places. Everyone was forced to go down about the same pace: breakneck speed. I passed a few people, but never could catch Freddie. He ran a great race. That P90X stuff must really be working!
I finished in 29:29 and the course measured 3.28 according to my Garmin. I was kind of disappointed in the race. I did better than Boling Park, but I hate the fact that I stopped to walk again. Jason and I checked our times and I was surprised to see that I finished 3rd in my age group. Sweet! Jason finished in 26-something and 2nd in his age group. We hung around and got our little Dirty Spokes medals. The overall winner was in 21-something and was the same guy who won the Woodstock Freedom Run in 15-something.
3rd place 35-39 age group
I really enjoy the trail runs even though both of them have kicked my butt (I was sore until Wednesday evening probably). I vow to run more of the races in the series next year and maybe even finish top-3 in the season ending overall point standings. This year by just running two events (7th place & 3rd place), I finished 4th in the overall point standings.
This Saturday I’ll be at Cherokee High School for the Etowah River Run. A notoriously fast course, I’m hoping to really put down a good time. We’ll see…
