Saturday, December 3, 2011

Rockin' The Trails Marathon

In a perfect world, I would have completed a marathon every weekend for 52 weeks to earn my ten stars. Completing 26.2 miles and then having a full week to recover is the most ideal way to hit this lofty goal. However, life happens: injuries strike, races get canceled, and sickness rears its germ infested head. In planning my Titanium quest, I not only had to have a plan B, but I also needed a plan C, D, E, F, and the rest of the alphabet. Right now, I am at plan Y, as in “Y oh WHY oh WHY?!” I lost about 12 marathons throughout the first three seasons because “life happened,” hence I had to modify my schedule and cram in six doubles and two triples in the fall. Needless to say, I am tired.

To the Titanium Forest!

When Charlie Alewine added the “Rockin’ The Trails Marathon” to his schedule, I jumped at the opportunity to run it. This race in Orange County coupled with the Las Vegas Rock ‘N’ Roll Half Marathon the next day made for the perfect non-Disney Goofy Challenge weekend.

Logistically, hitting these two races proved to be quite a challenge, but I made it work. Check out this itinerary: Fly out of SFO Friday evening, arrive at LAX by 9pm, pick up car rental at LAX, drive to Orange County, car camp, take the early start at dark o’clock, finish race mid morning, drive 275 miles to Las Vegas, pick up bib, carbo load, sleep, run race next day, return rental car in Las Vegas, fly home. Up to this point, my body is so used to all this running, traveling, car camping, and what not, that this crazy weekend schedule didn’t phase me one bit. ‘Tis the life of the Marathon Maniac!

Trail!
More trails!
Creek. Wonderful.
Gotta be extra careful. Wouldn't want to fall in and destroy the camera!

Creek crossing!

You probably figured out from the name of this marathon and the photos above that this race is all trail, a surface that I do not love. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Endorphin Dude on trails is like an American on the dirt of Roland Garros. These endorphin legs are just not equipped for this surface!

Nonetheless, I had to face the Trabuco trails in order to reach my Titanium dream. I’m not going to lie or sugar coat. I did not love this marathon, but that probably doesn’t come as a surprise to any of you. I had to run up and down hills, jump over big rocks, dodge dirt bikers, and hop from stone to stone Frogger style to make it across the creek. Well, I ain't no Kermit The Frog. I missed one stone and fell right in. The water was only about 6 inches deep, so I didn’t have any worries about drowning. My big concern was that I landed on my bad foot, and the last thing I wanted was to have it aggravated. Fortunately, this slip happened later in the race so I was able to limp my way to the finish line.

No injuries, please!

The good news is that I finished this marathon with no injuries! I also took another step closer to Titanium! Feeling good, I jumped into my rental car and headed off to Sin City. I knew that I could relax the rest of the weekend, as the next race was only 13.1 miles. I can do that in my sleep.

Titanium Score Board: 47 down, 5 to go!

 I can now do the count down with one hand! FIVE!!!!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. That looks like a great trail race! Congrats for surviving it (barely!)

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  2. You are insane!! ...but in a good way ;-) Congrats on your amazing achievement.

    ReplyDelete