Battle @ Big Springs/My first race as a Sojourner! -Taylor Farnsworth

     Yesterday I got to run my first race in Sojourner's Running Club singlet. I'm excited to get to change things up a bit and run in some awesome gear at some awesome races against some awesome guys. I ran the Timp Shadow 5k in April and had a great experience, so I was excited to do race #2 of the Cascadia Trail Series. So excited, in fact, that I drove up to the course earlier in the week to take a look at things. From my two experiences last week running up at Big Springs, I can tell you this- Racing on that terrain is SO MUCH harder than just going for an easy run. Going into the race I had 3 main goals: 1) Don't trip and fall, 2) Get the win, and 3) Get the CR. Turns out the course had to be shortened/re-routed a bit due to some construction, so CR was out of the question from the get-go.

     The race started off on a fast downhill stretch for about 1/4 mile. Dave Taylor got out strong and went straight to the front. Shortly after the uphill began, I passed him, with Rory Linkletter in tow. Rory had warned me before the race that the first 1.5 miles are pretty brutal, and I should run conservatively. Unfortunately I didn't take that counsel as seriously as I should have. By 1 mile (6:54), I probably had a 5-10 second lead on Rory, and had climbed almost 400 feet from .25 mile to 1 mile. Shortly after I thought, "What have I done?!" The climb continued for another 5 minutes… up, up up, before the course gives you a few hundred meters of repose. I went through mile 2 in 7:22. I think at this point Rory had decided he was just gonna be doing a training run, because my lead had increased by quite a bit more. Mile 3 was another few hundred feet of elevation gain that thankfully also included about 100 feet of elevation loss. These first 3 miles all had plenty of ups and downs, but overall we did a lot of climbing. This third mile is where I had to make a new goal for myself- DON'T WALK. It was so tempting, and on certain hills I thought I may as well be walking for how slow I was moving, but I was able to meet this goal! Mile 3- 7:38. WOOF. Mile 4 had very little uphill and lots of downhill. I looked back a couple times to be sure I wasn't being hunted down. This mile was 5:48. The last .81m was at 4:57 pace. My new watch gave me a new mile "record" at 5:02, so that must have been from 3.81m to the finish. The last 2 miles my breathing eased up and I cruised down the mountain focusing mainly on my new goal of not falling. The terrain was technical, challenging, and fun. I came through the finishing line feeling good and in 1st place in 31:47. Rory and 3rd place had a sprint-off at the end and came in about 90 seconds later.

     What I learned from this race is that I need to pace myself a little better in that first mile, and be stronger in the middle uphill miles. Once you hit 1.5m to go, it's all downhill recovery from there. I was amazed at how hard and fast my heart was beating, and how much air I was sucking in the middle of the race, compared to how at ease I felt towards the end after recovering on the downhill. Trail running and racing is still relatively new to me and I feel like I've got lots to learn. I ran in my Altra Superior 2.0's and they handled the course amazingly well, even in the slicker spots.

Place: 1st
Time: 31:47
Distance: Unofficial 4.81m, but will probably be wheeled soon so we can know for sure.