Wild Vine Trail ½ marathon Race Recap
They pushed the start of the Wild Vine race up from previous
years. Going off 8 AM over 10 AM made a huge difference. Most runners were
finished before the temperature pushed in to the mid 80s. Also, they changed
the course. Due a wedding at the Pavilion, they started the race at by the Pump
House.
This is my favorite place to have race. After finishing, we
all set on the grassy hillside and cheer on the other runners as they finish.
The new course is faster than in years passed. The first
couple of miles included running around the channel and on some of their service roads. Paul and I hooked up and were running the early miles together.
I could see Jamie ahead of me. He loves the more benign
trails and was making use of them to push the gap between us.
The humidity was terrible this morning, and I was constantly
wiping sweet from my forehead. Coming off the Lake Loop at 5 miles, my legs
felt tired which isn’t a good sign with East Main laying ahead of me.
I just sucked it up and kept moving. Paul seemed to be
struggling a bit as well. Usually, I am chasing him but today, our roles were
reversed.
May be this is the reason that we couldn’t get away from
each other.
Coming up to where East Main crosses Prairie Dog, I was
surprised to see a purple arrow turning us right. This wasn’t in the course map,
but the arrow says turn right so we turn right.
Prairie Dog actually provides a nice break from the
toughness of East Main. Before long, we were back on East Main, and then turned
on to Tributary Trail. Tributary is a tale of two trails. The first mile or so is downhill and flat. Then,
it turns in to a rolling climb back to the point where it touches East Main.
I was hurting in this section. I thought that I would do
better but I just couldn’t seem to get my legs going.
Paul and I picked up the East Main trail again. He seemed to
be feeling better and passed me. He was still struggling on the hills but he
was flying on the downhills. I lost sight of him at one point.
Finally, we popped out on the service road headed toward the
finish. I realized that he was only about 30 yard ahead of me. I dug deep in
this section because not only was Paul there but so was Jamie.
Slowly, I was closing down the distance between us. There were
two more hills before the finish line. I committed myself to charging both of
them.
Topping the first hill, I was on Paul’s heals and quickly
passed him. Jamie was dangling out there about 15 yards. I charged hard on the
last hill but so did Jamie. I was gaining, and for a moment, I thought I might
catch him. However, I think he sensed that I was coming. I could never make up
the last 5 yards. He finished 5 overall. I finished 6th, and Paul
finished 7th.
I was super happy with my 1:48:59 time, and I landed a 1st
place in the 50-50 age group.
This year the race had a “burgundy red” theme. The medal had red
coloring and a red ribbon. Even better, I loved the burgundy red shirt.
Kudos to the WWC crew for putting on another quality race.
Kickin’ up the tail dust
The Cool Down Runner
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