Trail Trekking

Let us run with perseverance the (trail) race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

I have found my niche in the world of running and it is trail running. I absolutely love it. I love the natural scenery, the challenge of watching my step over roots and rocks, navigating my way via the signposts when there are not necessarily volunteers at every twist and turn for guidance, and I especially enjoy the type of people that gravitate to these events. Everyone has been very friendly and helpful to one another, the outfits are varied and interesting, the age range of participants range from children to senior citizens--multi-generational families seem to be attracted to these small races. I feel comfortable at these venues. I don't like large crowds of people and I prefer dirt under my feet rather than pavement.

I had decided to run a race a month in 2015 and experience trails in all seasons. January was supposed to be my first race of the year at Taltree Arboretum in Valparaiso, and I was looking forward to it. It was called Ruff, Tuff, and in the Buff and I wanted the Buff neck gaitor that the first 150 registered would receive, so I signed up early. But the day of the race came with extremely frigid conditions. It was 6 below zero with windchills of up to 25 below! I wimped out for fear of frostbite. The race went on without me, and 83 participants braved these conditions out of the 111 who had signed up. Pat was disappointed in me. He thought I could do it but he had more confidence in me than I had in myself.

The February race I signed up for was on February 28 at Bluhm County Park in Westville. It was called the Yeti 4 mile Trail Run. When I signed up I figured it wouldn't be unseasonably frigid again that late in the winter. But it turned out to be a challenge once again, and I almost backed out. LaPorte County gets lots of snow, and there was still about a foot of snow on the ground here. Plus, the temperature was forecast to be in the low single digits after a night of below zero temps. I asked my coach, Dana Neer, if he thought I should do it, and he encouraged me to go for it. So did my run mate, Kelly Norton, at Run Class. She said I would not be cold once I got moving. So I committed to doing this race.

The morning of the race was frigid but sunny. At least there was no wind. I dressed warm because I figured I would be mostly walking in the deep snow. I wore my ski jacket, two hats, boots, two pairs of gloves. Pat came to cheer me on. I immediately liked the friendly Race Director, Paul "CrazyLegs" Stofko, as he walked around with a funny purple hat. He explained that we had to run through the snowy field about a half mile to get to the trails. He had snowshoed them about 7 times to make a path to follow, but the snow was so deep he could not find the regular hiking trail across a stream, so we had a two loop snowy field and the more hard-packed snow switchback mountain bike trail to complete the 4 miles.

About 50 runners showed up in all kinds of attire. Some wore yaktrax or microspikes on their running shoes. At least the snow was dry, but I was glad I wore boots. I love my Propet Blizzard boots. They are lightweight and comfortable enough that I can run in them. I did not care about my time in this race, I just wanted to finish the course. I started near the back of the pack and off we went through the snowy field, following in the deep footprints the other runners were making. It was impossible to run. It was almost impossible not to fall down, and some did. I almost did. I tried running on the somewhat frozen virgin snow but took three steps and sunk in on the fourth....almost up to my hip! After finally making it across the field, we came to a paved bike path for a short distance. I followed the guy ahead of me and ran along this path, oblivious to the orange flags directing us to the mountain bike trail. One runner told us we were going the wrong way, another one told us we were going the right way, runners were going in all directions on the switchback trails next to the paved trail. It was very confusing. Realizing I was going the wrong way, I turned around rather discouraged. I thought, "well I'll just head back on this paved path and quit. What's the point of finishing." Several runners had already quit, realizing they could not run fast in these conditions. As I was heading back I encountered MorningSun Kelly, a Native American woman close to my age who has the distinction of coming in last in almost every race. I had noticed her name on the roster and had hoped to meet her. She walks, jogs, "wogs" many races for enjoyment while her husband runs them competitively. I told her I would follow her and get to the right path, and we eventually got on the switchback trail. She knew these trails as she had run this race in previous years.

From this point on, I had a delightful time trekking with her, getting to know her, trading stories, making plans to run together in the future. We did very little jogging on these ankle twisting snow paths but we walked at a fast enough pace that we were not cold. It was very scenic and we both remarked that we enjoyed the scenery of trail races and had no desire to run at a competitive pace where everything was a blur. As we finished the first loop, she was weary and her knee hurt. It had been some tough going through the woods with all this snow. We had to decide if we were going to quit there or go on and finish, knowing we'd be last and keeping the race director waiting even longer in the frigid temperatures. She said Paul had told her he did not mind waiting for her to finish in previous races. I said, "Well I could go either way, quit or finish." We decided we would finish the course. She wouldn't have done it without me, and I wouldn't have done it without her, so we "rocked the back of the pack" as she later termed it. She would also tell me later that she didn't want me to have to tell my coach that I quit. So onward we went on the second loop through the snowy field once again. She fell, I helped her up, we kept going. We noticed the orange flags this time and got right on the switchback trails without a problem and trekked our way through the scenic winter wonderland once again. The creek was pretty, and MorningSun mentioned that in past years they crossed the creek to trails on the other side. I will definitely have to come back to this place in the Spring and traverse these trails.

As we neared the finish, MorningSun urged me to run on to the top of the hill and finish line ahead of her. I finally got to run on bare ground (a wooden bridge and the paved bike trail) and there at the top of the hill cheering me on was Paul the Race Director with icicles in his beard and a few other nearly frozen but smiling encouragers, including Pat. It was a fun finish....in a little under ninety minutes. Soon MorningSun joined the winner's circle....yes, we are winners because we FINISHED the course! We hugged and became friends. I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot more of her in races to come and training runs together. We both got award medals for first and second in our age category and a cute t-shirt. No other females over 60 had the courage to participate apparently. The third place winner overall was a man in his 60's however. WhiteWolf, MorningSun's husband, did not run this race but was a volunteer helping Paul.

Trail Trekking is what I'm calling what I do. It may not always be running. It may be walking, jogging, trudging, falling down, getting up, persevering under adverse conditions, but it is onward to the finish line. There are life lessons to be learned in this activity. Signing up for these races has kept me active all winter in preparation. I might have wimped out on the January race, but I had prepared for it, even doing a 5K run a week earlier in my woods and on my road. And I've been running indoors with the Run Class on Wednesdays, walking on Thursdays at noon, doing the Cycle Core class on Fridays, and trying to learn to do push-ups and upper body strengthening exercises. I am more fit this winter than other winters by keeping at it. I won't have to "start over" in the Spring as usual, which is hard for a few weeks. Recently I joined a new "Motivated to Move" run club in Culver organized by one of the teachers, David Lawrence. Pat walked/jogged/ran the 2 mile route with me on March 7 at a 13 minute mile rate. A few days later he ran 3.1 miles with me at Tippecanoe River State Park in 39 minutes (12:28). He's on his way to leaving me in his dust in no time. I'm hoping he will join me in these races eventually, especially the DINO race at Potato Creek in June. I would love it if several family members would join me at that one!

Next trail race is tomorrow, March 15....the Forrest Gump Hump at Oak Ridge Prairie, Griffith Indiana. Paul is the Race Director for this "Crazy Legs" series of trail races. Could be wet and muddy as the snow has melted now. Whatever it is, I am determined to finish the course. Onward, by all means!