WWC New Years Eve Trail Race

First, Happy New Year to everyone. While the memories of '20 will last forever in our minds, '21 is now upon us so let's focus on making some new happy memories. 

 Drizzle settled over Charlotte on the Thursday so I wasn't sure what I was going to experience during the WWC's New Years Eve Trail race. The ground will only take so much water before it becomes a sloppy, muddy, slippery mess. 

I grabbed a quick 3+ miles before the race to warm up and recon the course. I found the course in pretty good shape. Only the small section on North Main was pretty slippery. Ok, this section was really slippery mainly because this part is mostly downhill. 

They opened the course promptly at 6 pm, and I was off and running. Lately, their races have gone off from the pavilion so this has eliminated us running around the channel. I had really missed this part. However, for this race, they were starting in over the stage so we got to run the entire way around the channel. 

As left the gravel section and headed in to the trail section of the course, I noticed it was a bit slippery than I experienced during my warm up. I adjusted my gait accordingly and kept moving forward. I went with only my 450 lumen Black Diamond head lamp. I love this thing. It lights up the world like the sun, but on the down side, it burns batteries like a Hummer through gasoline. Because the course was so wet, I found myself nodding my head up and down so my eyes could see the trail ahead. Often, I would not see a root or rock until I nearly on top of it. 

This particular course has long climb up to the power lines. My body was demanding more oxygen, and my lungs were begrudgingly attempting to comply. They just were not doing it fast enough. 

Crossing under the power lines, I could hear the cars on interstate 85 whizzing by. Bound for who knows where on New Years Eve. 

The course now turned back toward the WWC and the finish line. My legs were beginning to feel the burn. 

From the trail, I popped out in to the parking lot. The arrows led me down and back in to the North Main trail that I knew was slippery from my warmup. Entering it, my feet were already trying to go in directions other where I intended them. My arms were waving wild like I was trying hail a cab in New York City. Finally, I relented and slowed down. 

Off to my right, I could see the WWC's lights trail and their mushroom village. More about this later. 

A few others were on the trail, and I called ahead to them. They were walking, and I was coming up on them quickly. 

Once I popped back out along the channel again, I was home free. I had no more worries about falling. 

I crossed the finish line in 23:11. Given the conditions of the course, I was pretty happy with my effort. I ran as hard as I could where I could. I slowed down where it made sense. Live to fight another day is my motto.

After the race, I grab another 3 miles to flush out the lactic in my legs , and I took to this opportunity to explore the WWC's lights trail. If I had to describe these lights to someone, I would say that it is like Pandora but with only white lights. They have a mushrooms, vines, crystals, moss, etc light ups. Made me wonder where they got these. These lights are not your typical holiday decore. Someone spent some time either tracking them down and or creating them. 

As I was finishing up my cool down run, I noticed that my head lamp was going off. I kept having to turn it back on. I pulled it off and checked the power reading. The power level was nearly empty. I typically used Duracell batteries, and I get about 2ish hours on maximum brightness. This time, I picked up Rayovac batteries. I was major disappointed. They lasted less than hour on maximum brightness. No one wants their head lamp to go dark on a trail run. This would make for a lengthy and likely painful run as I tried to feel my way out of the woods. I made a mental note to use Duracell next time.

Lastly, kudos to the WWC guys for another successful and safe event. I think this goes without saying but should be said, we all appreciate their efforts. They gave us an opportunity to the explore the trails. 

Cool Down Runner Adventures