PsychoPsummer 15mi Trail Race

I'm still amazed at how sore I am from this weekends race. My quads are completely wrenched. The stabilizer muscles on the sides of my ankles are achy, and my feet...well that's a whole different story. 6 black toenails, sore arches, and 1 big blistered heel, and I only ran the 15miler! This was the same exact outcome in 2007, and this time around I thought I would be more prepared. 50-60 miles a week since March, 16-18 mile long runs every Saturday, and hill repeat intervals the last 3 weeks in preparation for the steep hill sections. Apparently, nothing prepares you for mud, except mud

Yet despite the pain....I'm hungry for more

This is an awesome event, and the KC Trail Nerds go out of their way to provide a grueling, well supported course. I had a blast, and I'll be back

In 2007 I got bottlenecked in the middle of the pack as we funneled onto the trail, so this year I started on the front line. I went out way too fast and actually lead through the first mile before I blew up and relinquished my unexpected lead. The woods were hot and muggy (80% humidity) and made breathing difficult. It took me about 3 miles before I finally loosened up and got into a rhythm. Propelling myself up the steep hills with quick bursts of energy and then scrambling downhill on loose muddy rock was exhausting. I started to feel hot spots on the bottom of my feet within the first 5 miles. The previous night I had decided to wear a pair of super cushy socks that prevented my feet from sliding around. A poor choice, because the socks didn't vent well and held water. 9 miles into the race and my feet were water-logged and each rocky step or log jump became more and more excruciating.

I fell off the lead pack quickly and tried to keep composure, I knew there were 6 long miles of twisting, muddy bridal trails left. I planned on regaining some lost time on the out and back paved/gravel road, but the developing sores on my feet held me back from a full out run and I granny-trotted most of it.

The last few miles were filled with stretches of deep sunken mud holes, not only hard to walk through, but if you attempted to run you would most certainly leave behind a shoe. I caught a couple of staggering runners during the final decent onto the sun scorched field. I was happy to finally crawl across the finish line in 2:48 (6th place overall), 40mins better than 2007. I think I could drop it down another 20 minutes. Next year I'll run more trails in preparation and have the winning shoe & sock combo ready.