Cane Creek Trail ½ Trail Marathon Recap

This morning, I won one of the most subdued races that I have ever run. This Corona Virus has everyone one on edge as it spreads across our nation.

Personally, I find myself struggling with this social distancing that we have all been told to make our new life style norm. When I see someone that I have not seen in a while, I instinctively reach out to shake their hand. Physically touching reaffirms the shared relationship between us. Even harder is when they reach out to me first. I have to fight the urge to not return in kind. Inside this just feels wrong in every way even though I know it is the right thing to do - not just for me but for them as well. We are all going to get past this virus. It is just going to take time.

Today was like a who’s who of familiar faces. Jeremy, I have not seen in 5 years. Gray, Paul, Mike, and I ran the ½ marathon together.

Gray and I shared the lead for about 8 miles. I was glad of this. The course was marked with yellow ribbons, and four eyes searching for these elusive yellow ribbons really helped.  Overall, the course was pretty well marked. Runners did have to pay attention in several locations because getting off course would be easy to do.

I had never been on the Crane Creek Trails prior today. Most of the trails are pretty well traveled. A few of the trails that we ran were less traveled, and therefore, they were a little hard to run. I believe that most of these trails are for a combination use by runners, hikers, and horseback riders. We saw a lot of horse droppings. I didn’t encounter any horses, but we were told that the horse have the right away. I did see a few mountain bikers.

Around 9 miles we came back across the dam. Gray had been running just off my shoulder most of the race so I was expecting him to make a push here. May be the wind bothered him here because it was blowing hard across the water and over the dam. I don’t know for sure. I just know that my legs felt good, and I was moving well. When I checked over my shoulder coming off the dam, I had small lead over him that would continue to grow over the rest of the race.

I finished in 1:42:22 and received this nice ceramic mug with the race name imprinted on it for my award.

Given the state of our life right now and that this was a first time race, I give these guys a major kudo for their efforts. They could have easily canceled the race but they didn’t. The runners who came out had a good time and a good experience.

I would definitely consider heading back next year.

Kickin’ up the trail dust,

The Cool Down Runner