Lawrence, KS April 21, 2012
State #23
Trail Marathon
My original plan was to run the 100k race at this event but
with both ileopsoas injuries and a calf strain, my running mileage was quite
low after the New Orleans Marathon. One week before the race I emailed the race
director to drop down to the marathon distance, he granted my request no
problem.
I flew from Milwaukee into Kansas City, MO and rented a car
for the hour drive West to Lawrence. This ended up being the same weekend as a
big NASCAR race in the area, as well at the Garmin Marathon in nearby Olathe,
KS (pronounce Olathie). I had no real
travel issues and made good time to downtown Lawrence where race packet pick up
was at the local running store. About 1 block away was an outfitter where I
bought a fuel canister for my jetboil as I was camping at the state campground
near the race start. Once I got my campsite setup I drove the few minutes back
into town for dinner and some interwebs to check on some school work that was
going through some final end of term editing. Dinner at a chain pasta place
with desert and internet at Starbucks.
I headed to bed early in my tent in the quiet and relatively
empty campground. Race morning always comes early.
And then the fun began. A group of campers showed up about
midnight and set up 2 sites away from me, proceeding to start a campfire and
drink for several hours. Of course I had left my ear plugs in my car, thinking
I was in for a nice quiet night. But before going to my car I first had to
listen for a bit to see if I was in any danger of harm from them if I were to
get out of my tent and attract attention with my headlamp. After getting my
earplugs with only minimal noise control, probably an hour later I finally got
out of my tent to yell at them. “At least pretend that you are trying to be
quiet” seemed to do the trick. But the damage was done, I was out 3 hours of
sleep in the middle of the night. I accidentally bumped my car horn several
times as I pulled out of my camp spot heading to the race at 5am.
What I found out later that the “right thing to do” was to
call 911 to report the noise. Really?!? I work in an industry where 911 is
overused, abused, and misused. It did not occur to me to take that action. I
was thinking where is the camp host that is nearby? Where is park ranger? Why
is the park open for new guests at midnight anyway?
I had also decided I wasn’t going to spend a second night
there, and on my phone, as they partied next door, changed my flight for the
afternoon after the race, one day early. Ugh.
The race ended up being amazing single track trail in the
woods along the edge of the lake for most of the race. Due to the significant
leaf coverage GPS watches were off quite a bit as well and this threw me a
little. My effort was feeling like 9:30-10 min miles on the trails but Garmin
read most of the time 12 min miles, making me feel like I was really struggling
for some reason. Nope, turns out the GPS was 2 miles short by the end of the
run and I ended up finishing as 3rd female overall. This NEVER
happens.
Great race, great single track trail running. Turns out
there are hills in Kansas!!! If I
need Kansas again for a state I would do this one again!!!!
All photos were provided to the participants from the race photographer.
No comments:
Post a Comment