CRC Trail Race Report - Mike Everett

Mike Everett, a new addition to the Triple Threat Racing Club Team, had this to say about  Saturday's Trail race:

Jan 22, 2011 and the race season has officially begun at the Charlotte Running Company Trail Race with the thermometer showing a brisk 27 degrees at the start.  The event was held at the US National Whitewater Center just outside of Charlotte and offered a choice of 4 mile, 9 mile and 13 mile lengths on the outstanding single track trails at the center (I ran the 9). 

I rolled up to the event site about 30 minutes before the start, bundled up in my puffy Michelin-man coat, mittens and hat and briskly proceeded through registration, hastily greeting familiar faces.  I quickly went back to the car and sat in the glowing warmth of heated seats for a few more minutes, then starting shedding layers and getting ready to proceed to the start.  Clothing choice for the race was a pair of running tights, base layer shirt with mid-layer pullover, skull cap and light gloves.  I decided to eschew my heavier trail runners for a lighter pair of road runners (end result was very sore feet).  Fueled up on a, power bar, E-Gel and a bottle of Gatorade, fired up the iPod and jumped out of the car around 15 mins before start to hit the bathroom one more time.  Jogged around for a few more minutes to warm up the frozen 44 year old tendons and ligaments then toed the start with a few friends.  I am still amazed at people who sport nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt in sub 30 degree temps.

The gun went off and the 9 mile and 13 mile runners were off, the 4 milers were to start 10 mins later.  I took off to hard as always but managed to stick with a good pack for the first couple of miles averaging approx 7:45/m.  The trails are twisty and offer frequent ups and downs which kept the HR jacked up into high zone 5 (about 178 for me).  After a couple of miles I drifted back to a more normal pace around 8:30 - 8:45 and stayed fairly steady in this range with the avg HR settling back to around 166.  The rest of the run was steady and finished with a respectful 1:18:16 ahead of my goal of 1:21. Not a bad start to the early season coming off of consistent but easy winter base training.

Results:

Time: 1:18:16

Place Overall: 17/97

Place Age Group: 4/14

Next Event:  La Vuelta Puerto Rico (375 miles in 3 days), Jan 28-30.