Running With Wolves

Ok, so maybe they didn't let the wolves out to chase us runners, but we did start and end the race at the wolf habitat in Bays Mountain Park.  A little howling was encouraged by the human pack, of course.

I'm talking about the Wolf Run (see map) that we did Tuesday night.  Thankfully this trail run race was done in daylight at 6:30pm (versus the Crazy 8's), otherwise that could've been dangerous!  Seven miles long, on gravel forest road and single-track, with one "big hill".  After running two miles uphill from the start, the "only big hill" was easily recognizable.  It went *up*.  Visibly.  For about 1/4-1/2 mile I guess.  It's a rare race that we've run when all runners stop running at the same time.  I only saw three guys attempt to run it (or parts of it)...and I have to mention that I ended up passing them later on the trail.  We were warned by those who have done it before not to burn out your legs trying to run it.

A beautiful park, great trails, friendly racers and volunteers...all made it a great event.  It was our first trail race and our second-longest race.  Andy did awesome, finishing at 59:44 -- I think he is officially addicted to trail running.  For whatever reason it was a tough race for me - I suffered from "dead legs" for most of the race.  This means that instead of feeling like a propulsion device, your legs feel like useless tree stumps.  It wasn't until a volunteer told me I was on the last mile that I felt energized.  I came in at 1:09:03, which was better than my anticipated 10-minute mile. 

Considering how I felt, I was very surprised that I placed 2nd in my age group!  Yippee!  My trophy?  A travel coffee mug.  I love it.  For a $12 entry fee I was surprised there were any awards.  I also won a drawing prize, too.  Guess it was my night after all!

Just for the record - Andy came in 55th out of the 182 racers.  Pretty darn good for just running trails about three times.  I'm so proud...and soooo jealous!  Oh, and by the way, the girl who beat me in my age group?  She was just 6 seconds behind Andy.  That'll be me some day!!!  Watch out Andrew!

I was trying to remember what the elevation changes were - somewhere around 1847 - 2150ish, I believe.  Here's a quick look at the area - the course went around the lake - via Google Terrain.

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