Until race day, I had no plans or expectations of what I would run. I knew Chris Garvin was running, which meant the win would not come easy and I was going to have to push the pace at some point. There wasn't much of an option of sitting and kicking or running only a moderate pace in the front. Having not raced Chris before on trails and with his close finishes to me in the last two road races, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to win this one. I knew Chris wasn't going to be one to dog it and wanting to both defend my title and annihilate the CR, I decided at some point to race it pretty hard.
I didn't get much sleep the night before and waking up early to volunteer at the race was a little hard. I believe this impacted my normal eating routine slightly. I only had a small oatmeal before heading out and it wasn't until 30 minutes before the race that I realized I had completely forgotten to eat the rest of my breakfast. Since this was a fun, carefree race I didn't care too much. Got down half a bagel. Helped mark part of the course before heading off for another small warm-up with Aaron, helping him preview the course. Like last year the course was soaked, making a number of obstacles (mainly rocks and bridges) much more difficult to deal with as well as it being pretty humid out (if I can remember right).
I had zero nervousness at such a friendly race, which is why I had no worries when I was doing things like putting on race shoes (wore my XC spikes) and going to the bathroom minutes before the race started. Got the line next to Chris on the far right when I realized I'd be running more distance than necessary and moved over with Colby and Aaron who had a shorter path, closer to the wide trail opening. I was only half-paying attention to the starting directions, chatting with Colby and Aaron before the start when suddenly Pete from SNERRO was giving us race directions and about to shoot off the gun. The next thing I knew the race had started. I wasn't really prepared for this, and my response was shoot out as fast as possible. It was there when I went from having no plan to deciding to push the pace on Chris, trying the method of going out fast and trying to maintain it so he won't catch me. I feel the push the pace whole time strategy or put in a big surge 2/3 of the way into the race are my two shots of winning in any race. The latter was a safer one, but potentially slower and Chris might be more likely to counter that and outkick me. It felt fast going out but I was surprised Chris had followed me out and wasn't too far behind. I was going to have to keep going to completely shake him.
Felt smooth going into the singletrack, chose my steps wisely and got through without any clumsiness or lost time. I looked back approaching the first major marked intersection and saw that I had a decent 150m gap on Chris. I slowed a little going through the stream and the brief but steep uphill yet felt strong and relaxed enough that it went by quickly and didn't take too much out of me. I was displaying a sub-6 pace on my watch, but it was definitely slowing as I was now running much harder terrain than I had started on. There are two very tricky technical spots in Wahaneeta and as I began the lollipop I quickly encountered one of them. The first section is a small 50ft rock garden, followed by a very slippery bridge followed by two giant rocks completely in the way. I later thought about what makes a good trail runner, as I took the cautious road runner method of slowing down greatly so I would avoid a fall or bashing my knees into the rocks, as I did last year. I got out unscathed and started to get back into my rhythm, but definitely lost some time there by taking the cautious method. The risk vs. reward in running technical single-track brings an entirely new element in trail racing, one that demands successful trail runners to throw themselves at obstacles and try their best to remain upright. I really wanted to stay smooth to avoid a fall here so I chose the slower option. The rest of the trail went by quickly and I passed Eric the course marshal right around the mile mark in 6:00. I half expected Eric to say "Chris is coming to beat you", but it gave me a little confidence that based on Eric's lack of saying much, he likely couldn't see Chris yet.
The first mile had gone well, but I still had a lot of trails ahead of me. This section of the lollipop had seemed very long on the warm-up and I was hoping it wouldn't drag on in the actual race. Got it through it pretty quickly here which was nice especially as this would not be a section I would have to repeat. I was starting to tire out towards the end especially with a couple of hills in there. I wasn't sure how the out and back section would work as I didn't want a whole lot of people coming my way, but just one lady went by right before I entered and I was fine. The pace was certainly slowing here especially in the small stream crossing with a tight, twisty path. I got a little boost from the downhill but I wanted to start wrapping things up. The trail back to the start was short and easy enough that it went by quickly. I was feeling pretty tired going through the field and like the second loop wasn't going to be so great. Coming around, I was worried about how bad I feeling and was thinking about the possibility of Chris' smarter conservative tactics getting me. I figured if I got all the way to the cabin and he was just getting out of the woods, that would be a comfortable enough cushion that I probably had the win in the bag. I had about half that as I got to the turn towards the cabin and saw him turning onto the dirt road. This was a little worrying and I tried my best to keep the pressure on. I was significantly more tired and more scared in lap 2. The pace continued to slow and I couldn't do much about it. Hit Mile 2 in 6:24, definitely slower than I wanted. Mile 3 wasn't going to be much better, based on how I was feeling.
My feet had been bothering me the whole race because I had tied my shoes way too tight. This made dealing with fatigue even harder as I had several problems that were making the race unpleasant. I wasn't very smooth in the second lap. I didn't choose my steps well and was now sloppy and slow rather than relaxed and fast. Got through to the major turn and it was here where the two way traffic section would be a problem. The trail seems to get really narrow in one spot, the tight curve around the stream and of course, it was here where I encountered a mass of people. There was hardly any room to move and pretty much no one gave me the courtesy of moving over. It was extremely annoying weaving my way around this and certainly made the section a lot slower and more tiring. There were enough people at the actual stream that I stepped in it rather than jumping like before. I was relieved to get past this disaster and move on. The hill really tired me out the second time around but I stayed focused on finishing and not my fatigue. Took the left again, once again slowing down tremendously to be cautious on the technical section. When I took the left at the Eric this time without sign of Chris immediately behind, I was pretty sure I would take the win, but I still remained on alert. I was very cautious on the drop onto the bridge coming up to the field and definitely lost time there. Swerved around the field and made my way towards the final turnaround. This went by quickly even though I was pretty uncomfortable at that point in the race. Made a the loop turnaround, not very efficiently and was wondering how far behind Chris was. Saw him halfway up the trail which was more than expected. I went past a muddy section where we took the bridge and despite having them too tight, one of my shoes came off. I noticed this but was so close to the finish that it wasn't worth going back for it. Finished up strong, getting just under 19 in 18:59. Chris also went under the CR (and grabbed my shoe for me while racing) but wasn't as close as I thought he was, finishing in 19:40. Mile 3 was a 6:26.
Overall a fun race. Was happy to get the win and CR, but not thrilled about how much I let up in the last two miles. I felt sluggish and incredibly slow in lap 2 and lost time taking the cautious approach on very technical sections rather than plowing through them and hoping for the best. I was surprised to feel so crappy, but not getting enough sleep and not eating my full breakfast may have contributed to that. Feel like an 18:30 would have been possible on a better day. This is such a fun course nearly all on challenging single-track, which made me pretty disappointed (even though I'm not the race director but just a participant) that only 50 people came out and honestly, Chris and I were the only fast trail guys out there. For what I think is one of the very best WTAC courses, it baffles me how low the overall turnout, the "elite" turnout and even the club turnout is. This is a perfectly enjoyable trail race that no one really seems to care about. Was also surprised that two people cut the course despite very obvious and large trail marking signs. It takes a special kind of idiot to go straight past a right turn sign (although I'd likely be that idiot in another race). Full results here. Will be back next year for sure.
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