Wildcat Trail Half Marathon Quick Race Report
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| Wildcat start. Me in dark grey ITR singlet. Lon with tongue sticking out. |
Wow, that had some elevation gain to it (2,500 ft gain). Brazen Racing's Wildcat Trail Half Marathon got started on time this morning. I briefly chatted with Lon Freeman before the start, knowing full well that he would win by a big margin. He and I scurried to the front of the field to avoid the bottle neck at the first quick turn onto single track. Lon started gapping me on the first climb. I just got into my groove and was in a pretty solid 2nd by the top of the climb.
On the next descent a guy came up behind me and we battled for the next 5 miles until I stopped at an aid station to grab a gel and cup of water. It took me until mile 9.5 to catch back up to him. I was climbing much stronger but he had better speed on flats. It was good having a solid race with someone shoulder to shoulder, which pushed me beyond what I would've run alone. Turns out he was bandit-ing the race.
Lon went on to win and I came in 3:48 after him for a 1:40 finish and 2nd place. Hopefully, it was a good enough effort to nudge me into 2nd overall in the 2012 Brazen half series ($500 for 2nd baby!).
My running is levels stronger than it's ever been and I'm really looking forward to San Diego 100 in three weeks.
Thanks to Brazen Racing for another superb event and thanks to the terrific volunteers out there today.
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| Mrs. Brazen Racing, Jasmin. |
Hey Tim, somewhere amidst all that racing you found a moment to offer encouragement to my 10yr old daughter out there running her first trail 10k. She didn't know who you were, but it meant a lot to my hubby, who did recognize you and knew you were 'racing', not just running.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to both "The Tims", you guys both had great days yesterday!
Aw, thanks, Beth. It was the last big climb and she didn't look to be having much fun. Tough little girl! Thanks for the comment. It made my day.
ReplyDeleteYou win the legs contest!
ReplyDeleteThe vibram bandit jumped into your race at the bottleneck (after telling the spectator next to him he raced last weekend and couldn't afford to pay for a race every week)
tim, new to trail running and i was curious how to increase the pain threshold or train for pain. or is it simply just an endurance thing by logging trail miles.
ReplyDeletei finished a couple spots behind you this weekend at wildcat. nice run.
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