Run Toto Run 10 Mile Trail Race

Run Toto Run

February 8th, 2014

Saturday morning.  5 am.  I am awake.  Why?   Because I am going for a run, along with a few hundred other people looking for the right to call themselves Trail Nerds.  The few, the proud, the (some may say) crazy.  Sure, I proved myself worthy for the first time back in 2010 at the PsychoPsummer run, and a number of times since, including the Lake Perry Rocks 50k.  Like a yearly pilgrimage, I am setting out again to prove my worthiness and to find that which is in me.

Had I known what Bad Ben and Wyandotte County Park (WyCo) had lined up for this year’s test, I would have shimmied deep under the covers and stayed there all day.

Once I got out of bed, I started my normal pre-race preparations.  I gathered all of my race clothes, liberally applied glide to all those places that need some lubrication, and grabbed a bag of clothes to change into immediately after the race, so I didn't lock up like the rusty Tin Man as my sweat froze.  And, you know, not freeze to death.

Once I was ready, I walked out the door.  As I headed to my truck, I started to get a bit worried because my feet were abnormally cold, but as I glanced down I saw not my trusted Nike Pegasus (one blue, one black), but rather my very comfortable, dog chewed Crocs.  Crap!  I forgot my running shoes.  Was this Mother Nature trying to warn me not to go run because she had worked up a surprise for me on the trails?  If it was, I did not realize it at the time.  I went back in and grabbed the appropriate running shoes.

It is 7 am on a Saturday morning in Kansas City, the roads are bare.  I enjoyed the silence on the 20 minute drive to Wyandotte County Lake Park.  As I enter the park, the first thing I noticed was the small, red sedan with its nose buried in a mountain of snow left by the plows.  Was this a harbinger of today’s race?  Was this Mother Nature again trying to warn me off?  I don’t know.  I was too nervous about proving my worth to notice the sign if that is truly what it was.

I was glad I was there to see off the 20 mile and the 50k runners.  I love the atmosphere of a pre-race crowd.  The nervous energy mingled with excitement, as over 200 athletes prepare to head out to prove to themselves that they can do anything they set their minds to do.  Many of these runners were first-timers.  Some were running their first Trail Nerds race, where the specialty is making sure there is at least one HUGE climb right at the end of the race.  Some were trying a distance that they had never done before. 

Some people were reflecting on their training…was it enough?  Some were standing around catching up with old friends, while others made new ones.  One thing that we all had in common was our love of running.  We all had that bond, that commonality.

Trail Nerds Swag.

One thing I love about a Trail Nerds race is the serious amount of swag given to us runners.  We got a bag, sweatshirt and a coffee mug, and we hadn’t even run yet.  It’s like you get an honorary membership to the Trail Nerds just for showing up and trying to prove yourself.

At 8 am, the group made up of 50k and 20 mile runners takes off.  As I watch them plow through the foot of snow, I assumed they would compact a path for us 10-milers.  I would learn very quickly that was not meant to be.  Just like a shark’s fin cutting a path through the water, the path quickly filled back in.

Nine am, and it is my turn to step up to the line and earn another year’s membership.  I am calm.  My plan is to start towards the front of the pack so I don’t get caught behind the long conga line of runners at the back of the pack like I have done in years past.  Somewhere in my head I am still eyeing a course personal record, and want to get every advantage I can get.  Oh, how the Mother Nature chuckled at that notion, for she knew what she had planned for me that day!

We are off and running across the bridge and open field, past the car in the bank of snow.  Mother Nature was giving us one last warning:  “Turn around my children, this day is mine.”  Nobody listens, we head into the woods.

Once we are on the trail, it becomes very obvious what this day would bring to those of use trying to prove our worth, for we realize quickly that the snow is not cooperating with us.  It didn't compact, but rather turned into what many likened to mashed potatoes, or loose sand on a beach.  Within the first mile, my Achilles tendons are screaming at me to stop.  I don’t.

Mile 1.  My Garmin goes off, flashing at me my pace of 12:06 minute mile, as if laughing at my fool-hardy thought of getting a PR this day.  I come to terms with that, and soldier on.  What else can one do?  I quickly latch onto the runner in front of me, as he seems to be going at a pace that I feel I can sustain.  Little did I know that the first mile would be my fastest mile for this entire race.  Mile 2 – 13:11 minute mile.  Mile 3 – 14:21 minute mile. We then enter the Wyandotte Triangle.

The Wyandotte Triangle is my favorite part of the course.  It is a mile long winding, twisting path through the woods, seemingly created by a drunken fool.  I remember thinking several times along the way, “how on earth did the first runners even know where to run?”  But, I followed faithfully along the path that my brethren before me had created.  That mile I registered a 14:35 minute mile.

At about 4.5 miles (this is off my watch, not official distances), we come to Fall Down Hill.  This is the only spot on this loop that I have ever fallen.  It was two years ago when I ran this race, and falling is not the word to use for what I did that year.  I was thown down to the ground.  This hill consists of a bunch of steep switchbacks.  When the weather is good and the trail is dry, you can just let your legs open up and you can fly down this hill.  That was the conditions of the trail two years ago, so I was flying down the hill, unbeknownst to me a tree decided to take root across the trail, and it reached up and grabbed me and flung me down on the ground like a sack of potatoes.  But that was then, this is now, and while it was certainly not fast ground this year, I was able to keep a decent pace going down the hill.

Now, as most people know, when you go down a big hill, you will typically have to go up an equally big hill, which is true in this case.  This hill is appropriately called the Dam Hill.  Located towards the top of the hill is an aid station, the third one on the trail.  As with all Trail Nerds events, this one is well-stocked with good food, drinks and the best volunteers on the planet!  I did not need anything, so I kept moving by, but the fellow I had been following up to this point,  a little over 5 miles,  was having issues with his toes being very cold, so he stopped and was graciously supplied with some hand warmers to put in his shoes.

At this point, I am tired, but still in very good spirits.  I was very much in the mode of running at this point.  My legs were tired from walking/running on mashed potatoes for five miles, but I was still feeling really good.

I really don’t remember much about the next few miles.  I know that at 6.8 I was passed by the first 50k runner.  I don’t know how anyone could run that loop more than once, let alone three times.  At 7.6 miles I passed by the boat storage and noticed the brand new fence that they erected there.  I passed a runner that asked how far to the next aid station, and it took me some time to do the math for him (about .5 miles).  I also know that at some point around mile 6 or so I started leading a man who moved up here from southern Georgia and that this was his first Nerd run.  Anytime I would step aside to let those behind me go around, he would also, as he liked the pace that I was setting.  It made me feel good to be able to lead someone through the run like that.  I know I have used people to pace me from time to time, and I was more than happy to return the favor.  I loved his comment about hills and the fact the hills they had in southern Georgia were “boat ramps and overpasses.”

I also know that my mile 7 was my slowest on the run, averaging 19:56 minute mile, followed closely by the last mile of the run, which was 19:50 minute mile.

The last mile.  This is where curses are thrown every which way.  Leave it to Bad Ben to put three steep ass hills in the last mile of an already tough course.  Every time I get to them, I stop, look up, curse, and move on.  They are some badass hills, made badasser by the fact that you just ran 9 hard miles.  Some call these hills the Three Sisters, others refer to them as the Three Bitches.  I kept encouraging my Georgia friend after the first hill, then the second, then the final one.  Pushing through together, we made it to the finish line where we got our medals and 10M sticker from Bad Ben himself, and where my friends and best cheerleaders Janet and Mark were waiting for me.

My average time worked about to be 15:46 minute/mile.  I didn't care how long it took  It was another great day for a run in the woods with my fellow Nerds.

In the end, I beat Mother Nature and once again proved that I am worthy to be called a Trail Nerd.  I am proud to be a Trail Nerd, and will be a member for life!

I need to thank my good friend Mark Rynard for helping to edit/write this post.  Thanks Mark!!

Official Results:
Time: 2:35:33 Place 91 out of 215
https://enter2run.com/results/default-mobile.aspx?event=25699&r=7320

Photo album from the Race.
https://www.facebook.com/jeffreyalgerrunning/photos_stream

Other Race Reports to check out:
http://dshadravan.blogspot.com/2014/02/psycho-wyco-50k-recap-tough-day-in-snow.html
http://russellwenz.blogspot.com/2014/02/adversity.html
http://a-runners-journey.blogspot.com/2014/02/psycho-wyco-run-toto-run-race-report.html
http://ewelsh723.blogspot.com/2014/02/winter-is-natures-way-of-saying-up-yours.html?spref=fb
http://www.runflaherty.com/2014/02/psycho-wyco-50k-race-report.html
http://www.freestateendurance.blogspot.com/2014/02/psychowyco-run-toto-run-50k-race-report.html
http://www.freestateendurance.blogspot.com/2014/02/psycowyco-run-toto-run-50k-race-report.html