Bridle Trails Winter Trail Running Festival 10 Miler - Bellevue, WA

Dang, it's a cold day to run. I just checked my handy dandy weather station and it says that it's 29F with 80% humidity (that would explain the snow falling) and a light 8 mph wind. Now, don't get me wrong, while I enjoy running in all weather conditions, especially rain and mud, I'm just a little perplexed by the need to run on ground that is frozen solid and slick from ice mist. The roots will be like giant hard and slippery sausages embedded in the ground. Toe breakers is what I call them. There is a rapidly darkening sky considering that it's about 2:00 pm now and the race starts at 3:00 pm. Ah, I suppose I should just suck it up, lace up my shoes and get my arse in gear, right? I'll write about it when I get home later today. Bundling up now...

Whew! I just got back to the house. That was a fun little run. Two counter-clockwise loops of the outer trail at Bridle Trails and I was finished with 10.4 miles. It's a relatively fast course and is thankfully well marked with ribbon. I only slipped about umpteen times, my drool froze to my chin and my breathing caused a layer of ice to form on the inside of my running shades, but other than that I did alright. OK, the after-effects of New Years is still coursing through my veins but that will soon dissipate too. Now, if only I could figure out how not to produce saliva and how to run without breathing then I'd be doing really well! On the positive side, those Ibex wool running tights and my merino wool skullcap both worked like champs. And, the cold weather virtually eliminated all flying insects. No swallowing of bugs this time. Bonus!

The official name of the race is The Bridle Trails Winter Running Festival and it's managed by the Seattle Running Co. A few different events are offered: 5.2 Miles, 10.4 Miles, 50K Pairs, 50K Team Relay and 50K Solo. About 330 hearty souls lined up on the starting line this afternoon to tackle the course, which is fairly level and just kind of rolls up and down through the pine trees around the outer edges of the Park. There are a few 250 foot long hill climbs but otherwise you're running on a fairly flat course. It also helps that the density of the trees prevents snow from piling up on the trail too deeply. Instead, 330 pairs of feet pounding over the snow have scrunched it down into a compact layer of snow-ice that is akin to something you'd find in your local ice rink. Nice.

For those interested (or just unfamiliar) Bridle Trails Park is located in Bellevue, WA and encompasses 500 acres of natural woodland that is designated for equestrian use. It's a really cute little park with a few different little ecosystems happening along the way. To top it off, there are about 28 miles of trail. When you run in the Park it's up to you to watch out for horses. I like that. No bikers, no hikers, no hunters, nothing but people and horses. Being so cold and late in the day, I didn't see a single horse out there. I don't blame them at all. It's pretty darned cold for a horse even with wool blankets.

I just heard that Greg Crowther set a new course record for the 50K Solo by running it in a blazing fast 3:19:40. Holy smokes! Apparently, he was 51 minutes ahead of the second place finisher. I'm surprised that he didn't melt some of the snow as he motored along. What do you suppose would cause someone to want to run the 50K option in weather like this? Especially when the last 21.5 miles is run in the darkness typically with a head lamp and under very difficult conditions (frozen icy mud anyone)? By the time most of the 50K'ers reached the half way point I was here at home eating some pizza, drinking a beer and sitting in front of the fire place while typing this blog entry. Maybe next year I'll be crazy enough to contemplate the 50K, but for now I like to think of the 10 miler as a nice mid-winter training run. Not too much and not too little effort. Just about right for this time of year. To be honest, I would have preferred snowshoeing.

From Road to Trail...My New Year's Resolution

In the middle of 2005, I decided to get back into running in a more planned way. Rather than randomly entering races and running when it felt right, real training plans and goals and commitments to races became the norm. With that in mind, in 2006 I ran six half-marathons and four 10K runs (see the 2006 posts). It wasn't easy getting motivated to run on flat pavement often with very long straight-shot views of my next destination along the race course. I really dislike straight sections! And, all were all on road. At the conclusion of 2006, as I was making my 2007 resolutions, I was reading a running magazine which reminded of Scott Jurek's trail running camp that I attended in 2004 as part of the Breckenridge Crest Trail Marathon. That was such a wonderful treat of a long weekend. I sat there asking myself 'why haven't you run more on trails?' and 'when are you going to really test yourself and run an ultra?'. Hmmm, both good questions.

It didn't take me long to decide that 2007 was to be a transition from running on hard man-made surface to soft natural surfaces (at least most of the time), from fairly flat terrain to always-changing terrain usually with lots of vertical, from concrete to plenty of rocks and roots and mud, from cars and people dominating my view to trees, bugs, birds and animals inhabiting my vision, from the white noise of the city to natural forest sounds, and from general city business to tranquility and solitude (except for the presence of said forest creatures). I was really looking forward to experiencing these differences on a daily basis. Even though I've never had any issues with the physical impact of road running, I agree with others who believe that running on concrete and asphalt is just inherently hard on your joints, tendons and connective tissues. Hence, my decision to drop road running for a year and focus on trail running instead. I think I'm really going to enjoy spending more time on trails given that I live on Cougar Mt practically within spitting distance of two trailheads of the Cougar Mt Regional wildland Park, a 3,096 acre playground with 48 miles of trails. Heck, it is the largest urban wildland in the United States!

So, without further ado, time to get out on the trails and build up that base mileage...