Scrap and Run: Mermaid 6 mi Trail Race (12.4.21)

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Mermaid 6 mi Trail Race (12.4.21)

I was supposed to run the half but I sprained my ankle on 11/30. That is just not enough time to be able to do a very difficult half marathon. I had emailed asking if I could switch but never heard back. I figured I could change but didn't 100% know until the day of when I did race registration.

I carpooled with Arren. I drove to her house for 7. We wanted to get there early but also were told the park didn't open until 8. Registration also started at 8. We got there at 7:50 and I was pleasantly surprised that they were letting people in and lots were already in. We got a great parking spot.

Before!

We got our race bibs. That's when I switched to a 6 mi instead of 13.1.When I mentioned it she made it out like she checked the emails but hadn't seen mine but I know I emailed days earlier. She said "so you want the 6mi and not the 9mi?" making me feel worse even though she said it in a nice way just clarifying which distance to put me in.

I warmed up with Arren. I had her take a short video of me running just in case I didn't get pics later. I got Arren's car key.

I recorded her start. Then I went to the car and mixed my energize and mixed my tailwind. I got on my vest and got ready. I hit up the bathroom.I then saw aid station one and tried to rush over but she was too far ahead so I had to take video from afar. (The video is on the google album.) After that I did a few last minute things like going to the car and deciding to run with my visor since I'm so used to it.

I only had a couple minutes until my start. Someone asked me to take her photo by the start. Then she asked if I was part of a facebook running group. She thought I looked familiar. I thought she was about my age and later learned she was 55! She looked so good.

I did not want to rush out in front since I had to take it slow. I started in the middle of the pack. I was in part of the instastory from the race organizers. I screen shot it. A few days later they posted pictures from each of the 4 distances and the one for 6 mi had me at the start standing around!

Taken right after I rolled my right ankle for time stamp :)

I set my phone to intervals but then didn't use them. I sometimes walked but not on every interval when I should. I rolled my right ankle 5 minutes in. I tried to prop my phone and get video of running 3 times. It wasted a good bit of time and they all failed. So later when 2 people in front of me were walking, I asked them if they'd record me. We waited for a few to pass and then they recorded me. Then on miles 3 and 4 I walked almost it all. There was so much uphill. My garmin, mapmyrun, and nike were way off so I had no idea how much there was until the end of the race. Someone said the downhill was going to start around 4 miles in. I had asked multiple people as I was passing them or they were passing me and none of our devices matched up.

Once it was downhill it was almost all running but I did take some walk breaks when the terrain seemed like I might roll an ankle again. I saw 2 people roll ankles and I did so I was extra careful. If I heard someone coming behind me I slowed way down to let them easily pass me instead of slipping or something. Some hikers moved over for me to pass and slipped at one point.

The last 2 miles were downhill and pretty fast. I wasn't caring about my time then near the end I thought I was so close to being slower than 14 min pace so I hurried up to not be slower than 14.

I finished. I had 90% of my water left, all my nutrition waffles left, and 95% of my tailwind left. I guess I carried too much. I definitely had amounts for everything as if I was doing a very slow half.

I drank the rest of my tailwind. I got all hopped up on caffeine. I should have had that DURING the race. oops.

I waited and got video of Arren finishing. I took video when Beth finished in October and I cheered for her during and I didn't like the loud sound on video so I didn't shout for Arren once when I was recording her. Then I felt bad I didn't shout. I would prefer a video than cheering but not everyone is like me.

We hung out a bit and then headed home. I wanted to recreate more running pics but we didn't.

The next day race photos were posted from various locations. I skimmed through 30 pages of photos to find photos of myself. After I realized you could search by bib number. But most photos didn't show up looking for my bib anyway. I also found photos of other people I know/met.

My overall pace was 13:54 so I did beat 14 that I told myself at the end I wanted to beat. Back before my injury I told Arren my goal for the race was 12-14 min but I didn't realize how much elevation there was. My pace would have won my age group for the 3 mi race. It just felt too short so I didn't run 3 mi.

Arren's pace was an amazing 12:11! She always runs trails and had practiced a lot with tons of elevation gain. I usually run on roads. I wish I could find more road races.

I should have ran up more of the hills and done more run walk but since I was injured I didn't. I was still huffing and puffing. I used my injuries as an excuse. It was a nice small race. Next time I think I'll download a podcast or 2. I used to always run without podcasts but now I'm used to them and like listening. I really can't believe how much uphill there was. Never ending! I love that they provided race photos. I don't know why but I feel like I would have tried harder if I knew they were free too.

Race photos and official results (1:23:23) are posted. I made an album of all the photos I took and the ones I saved.