Start of the race!!!
Friday morning!!! What a great feeling to get the kids off to school...head into the city for some great breakfast with Izzie and then head out to Big Lake to meet up with Shawn and head north for the firwst inaugural Duluth Trail Festival. real quick synopsis...DTF is a 3-day trail racing (running) event in which each individual races different running event each day of the weekend. Today was a late afternoon 5k at Chester Bowl...more to come on that later, but nlets not get ahead of ourselves.
So, I'm on my way to Shawns. He bought a new house a while ago and I haven't seen it yet, but was very excited to (mostly because he says it has a chicken coup). I call him up and he gives me the directions and I'm about 30 minutes out...can't wait for this trip to get going...gonna be so solid. I find Shawns place, and its quite a neat joint! We get the truck packed up, tie-up a couple loose ends on the internet, and head to the great white north. It's just the 2 of us this weekend, so we plan for some fun, some relaxtion, some good hiking and great racing.
The drive up isn't too long...Duluth is about 180 miles away I suppose...so about 2 and a half hour jont. Very beautiful scenary, smoothe pace, and lots to look at. We started chatting about triathlon, racing, the expecdtations of the weekend, and Shawns dating life as of late....in my 'non-gay' opinion, he is a very eligible bachelor...What?
Anyway, we're making our way and having a ton of laughs the whole time. Our race for today is slotted for a 5 o'clock (PM) start time and we are right on schedule. We get into duluth right around 3:15 and get checked into the hotel, which is right across from Spirit Mountain recreational area...great views, and just a little ways out of downtown Duluth. Get checked in, unpacked, calmed down and we are on our way to Chester Bowl, which is right by UMD St. Scholastica school way up on the north ridge (its where the big downhill ski jump is). What a beautiful drive out to the race sight...we were really looking forward to what was to come, and we had ZERO idea what we were getting ourselves into.
Found the race area and got parked, and headed over to registration, which was in an old school chalet at the foot of the "mountain". Everyone around seemed real nice and in good spirits! Always great to see....! So Shawn and I made our way to the top level of the chalet to check in and get our race bib and what nots...very cool 'swag' they gave us! Cool t-shirt that says "dirty-runner" on the back along with the sponsors, a sweet Brewhouse pintglass with logo, a grip of raspberry Hammer Gels, and some stickers and other coupons for some local bars and clubs. We were pumped to say the least. The two nice ladies at check in gave us our offical numbers, which were to be used throughout the weekend races and we chuckled at the fact that Shawn was #2 and I got #5...thats alot of pressure. Haha.
Headed back to the truck to change into our official race gear and shed some layers...took a look around at some of the route, did some 'extinguishing' in the woods and headed toward the start area to warm up. Talked to a few locals and some folks who were racing from the metro as well. Again, everyone we encountered was so nice. A quick pre-race speech by race director Rod Raymond (google that, you'll be surprised what you find) and we were ready to get running.
Ready set and GO! And we were off to 3.1 miles of trails....but I wasn't quite sure what that meant since I am so used to the flat roads in the metro area. Straight away we got into the trails and they were no joke either. it's easy to think you can hold the pace up and down the 'small' hills, through the roots and rocks and mud. Thats a lie, well for me anyway. After mile one I was dying, but it was so much fun....so much to look at, yet you miss alot of it cause you have to concentrate on the path so hard. I remember navigating my way through the course, running with some unfamiliar faces and limbing alot of rocks. We were soon approaching the chester Bowl hill challenge part fo the course...one of the steepest
This is a view of Chester hill, you can see the ski jump at teh top of the picture, well, chester hill is the landing...it's nearly straight up!
So..I see a water aid station, which means we are about to round the corner and climb the hill. What you shouldn't do is look up at the hill, but most did I'm sure. And I did too, then I looked straight into the hill and started digging, choosing good spots to put my feet and propelling myself up and up and up and up....grueling at best. As you make your way to the top, you lose sight of whats actually going on, then you get tot he top with a sigh, and realize your lungs are shot and your legs are like jelly and you don't want to move (Mamma, thumb sucking). So you keep going....accross the ski hill and more ups! Finally there is a spot on the trail where you head into the woods and start a downhill descent. Wow, I am so ready for this part. So down we go. i've been running on the heels of this other guy who is just plugging away, so I'm drafting him and we are cruising the best we can. Down through the backside of the area where we started this madness, around the soccer fields and back into some gnarly trails...about 1 mile to go (or a bit less)...still plugging away and helping the guy in front of me navigate the tree flags.
Me...coming accross a secton of the race trail....
Shawn and Rocky getting it done!
After coming up one more steep incline I get passed by a gentleman ( I now know him as Rocky...well, thats his name)...it was time to pass the guy who had been just in front of me the whole race so I did...he wasnt' real happy about it but it had to happen. I have Rocky in my sights and I'm not letting go as we traverse through the final stages of the race. I remember seeing the point where we were at beforehand and I knew as soon as we got to the bottome of the hill it was pavement mixed with trail, and I was ready to open the throttle. And so it was, down the hill (steep) and onto the road and i opened her up and my legs felt stronger than ever. Sorry Rocky, but i had to snipe you and as I passed him...I had to LEAP over a rock and it felt as if I were flying and then to the finish. Small crowd with big cheers, i turned and waited for Shawn to come through jsut a few moments later and yelled for him to push it to the finish....he's a good listener. And there you have it, the first of 3 races over the course of 3 days in beautiful Duluth. couldn't wait to go out and celebrate with dinner and beer.
Headed back to the hotel after chatting it up with some new friends (Rocky and Brenda) and got ready for a fun night on the town.
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