The Maze - 30km Trail Race - Race Report

18.6 miles. Farther than I've gone any other week since the marathon in February.

My goal was to have good time, and run a good solid effort. The Maze, The Loop, and the Saint are highly popular and very competitive, bringing out all the fast guys, so I knew that all I was going to do was race against time.

Having run the 10km version (1 loop) 2 times before at right around 51 minutes, I decided that a good goal would be to run 3 loops at 57, 54, then as fast as I could. That would put me in at around 2:45.

I went and looked at last year's times for people and saw some names i recognized around there. Obviously you have no idea what their goals were last year, but it's a decent starting point.

So my goal was as follows(and no, I didn't have a "super secret goal" as we all often do.):
Sub 2 hours 50 = Happy
Sub 2 hours 45 = Very happy
Close to 2 hours 40 as possible = ecstatic.

How did I do?
3 Loops:
Loop 1: 00:50:11
Loop 2: 00:50:35 (included a quick pit stop at my bag to get my iPod for lap 3)
Loop 3: 00:49:56
Total time 02:30:46 !!

Loop 1 was tough to control. Adrenaline was flowing and I had a friendly rivalry (that blossomed at the Toughest 10k a few weeks ago when a friend beat me by a few minutes as either i ran the wrong course long, or he ran the long course short. All I know is, I passed him, and he never passed me back) that had me keeping pace with him.
He was keeping a pace I knew I wouldn't be able to sustain for 3 loops, and also knew that I was committing trail race suicide, for a 3 loop race. NEVER go out too fast. NEVER. There was one water stop about half way through. I had my water bottle, and the weather gods were smiling today, 62 and not humid, so I didn't have to stop, just ran right by the stop, but the other 4 guys all stopped. I built up a good 15 second lead or so, then slowly stretched that to where I was out of site. Came in for loop one at 50 mins and wow, that was fast. Waaay faster than last year's 1 loop race. I'm an idiot. A quick stop to refill my water bottle with water and I was off.

Loop 2 started and I immediately hooked on to a guy in a blue shirt. He was maintaining a nice cadence and I was just happy to keep[ up with him. He ran the steep hills, but i continued my trail race strategy of walking the steep ones. It's all about heart rate, and not using un-necessary leg energy. History repeated itself in that Mr Blue stopped for water, and I didn't need to so i ran away, and never saw him again. Eventually, one of the guys that ran the first part of the first loop with me caught up saying "Man, you're one tough guy to catch". We quickly realized that we knew each other through being in the same trail run invite email. So Travis and I had a connection and now worked as a team instead of rivals. I still lead the way, pulling him along and we came in at 50:35 for Loop 2, and set off for loop 3. I'm tired by now, but heck, lets see how long I can hold it. Travis is tired too. He just ran Boston Marathon 2 weeks ago in 3:11, so he can't be in prime shape. We quickly came up on a guy in a black shirt and black shorts. I quickly nicknamed him Mr Black and we struck a conversation with him. I continued to pull Travis, but let Mr Black pull me. Mr Black was running up the steep hills, but I would walk them, and Travis followed my strategy. Within 15-20 seconds we'd be caught up with Mr Black. I found myself congratulating Mr Black on his hill climbing abilities. "Wow! You are BEAST!" "Holly cow, you climb like a champ!". it was fun, and it gave us something to do. He told us he mountain bikes those trails all the time, and I think he wanted to show us he could run up them all. I'll be honest, this guy looked tough as nails. He wasn't slouched over, he wasn't breathing hard. Just a strong locomotive moving along. Eventually, on one of the bigger hills, he got a nice lead with us, and i think both Travis and I hit the low point in our race. We, well more like I, as I was pulling Travis, let Mr Black go. I was going to blow up if I tried to hold his pace for the last 3.5 miles. We stopped briefly at the midway water stop, i poured the water i had in my water bottle over my head to cool off, and refilled to the top. Travis grabbed a couple of cups and we were on our way. Eventually Travis took the lead as I faded, and kept yelling at me "Come on"... "COME ON, MIKE", and I did what i could to latch back on to him, but as we met a slight incline I would fall off, he'd take a 10 yard lead, and yell again "Come ON, Mike". I don't quite know how i did it, but I kept with him even though my legs seriously had nothing left. I kept looking at my watch, and knew i only had 14 minutes, 10, 8, may 5 more etc. And it is now that we had caught back up with Mr Black. He still looked strong, at least stronger than I felt, for sure. Travis was a stud. he kept pulling me, telling me to keep up, and we pressed along, lapping people by the dozens. Eventually we came upon the big wall. A 8 to 10 foot sever hill that is almost vertical. You can either attack it at full speed to get up, or, you can go really slow, and walk up it somehow. During Loop 2 I joked with Travis and told him the only way was to speed up like crazy on the flat to get up by the momentum. I also told him we had to make sure we didn't get stuck in a "walkers" traffic jam on Loop 3 on the wall. So as we approached the final turn before the hill, Mr Black slowed, and we both yelled like ARMY drill sergeants: "GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!" We must have scared the living crap out of Mr Black, because he sprinted and we sprinted and we all made it up. (it probably doesn't sound as funny written, but trust me, it was funny as hell how we both just started yelling GO GO GO GO GO GO! ha!

At this point we know we're about 5 minutes out, and Mr Black starts to show weakness. Sure he helped us and pulled us for quite a ways, but hell, when i war, you take what you can. Travis pulled ahead of him, I did all i could to stick to Travis and not get caught up in Mr Black's slower, and very inviting, pace. Travis yells out: "COME ON GUYS", to which i respond in a quiet voice: "I'm right behind you; lets go." I'm not quite sure where I found the reserves to forge ahead, but we were able to put about 23 seconds on Mr Black at the finish line. (I'll never know if he had planned on running all the hills, or if I 'egged' him on, but I'm pretty sure that was his mistake. I kind of felt pretty proud of myself for using that strategy to wear someone down. ha!)

Anyway, i gave it all I had, layed every ounce of energy I had into those last 2.5 miles and came in at just under 2 hours 31 minutes. Never dreamed of that good a time! Especially not after Loop 1's crazy fast time. Turns out, it wasn't that crazy after all.

On to the Loop (30km) on Sunday, June 1!