The Kal-Haven Trail and I have a love/hate relationship, maybe it's more of a bond. We go back a long way, the trail and I, or maybe it's just because I've been in this area so long. In the moment, the memories are always something awful, like my friend John making me ride on the trail to spend time with him. Or even more recently, when first starting running, it always felt like death himself was two steps behind. After the fact, my memories are vastly different (better).
Thirty three and a half miles! I spelled it out instead of simply using numbers, because I want it to seem longer. Even then, it doesn't do the length justice. Only a fool would want to bike that distance. At least that's what I'd tell myself every time John wanted to do it. For as ridiculous as I thought that was, it never even entered my head that people would or could run that far. Only a damn fool would attempt something that stupid! A person would have to crazy...(do you know where this is going?)
It's 7:59 am and I'm giving a kiss to my fiancee and wishing her good luck as she is going to give this foolishness a try. This is where I'm taking FULL credit for aptly naming her CT and I did it within minutes of meeting her. Completely off topic, but this obviously shows I'm a reincarnated Indian Chief. Clearly, she is Crazy to even want to attempt this. Train, also seems very appropriate since this feet is going to take place on an old railroad route. The clock hits 8:00 and there she goes. Honestly, I'm not sure what is going to come out on the other side, but here we go.
Because I'm the sensible one, my race is only half of this trail and that's being generous. My leg is only 16 miles (see, I won't even spell it out because it's so short). The plan is to get my teammate started, sneak out along the route and check on my soul-mate, then get ready to take over at the halfway point. The staggered start between the solo runners and the team relays made it a little challenging, but I got out to the ten mile point and waited. That was my first real look at the trail conditions, which were horrible. A few inches of hard packed snow that had ruts all over in it. Watching the first few runners coming through, I could tell every step had to be planned. As if thirty-three and a half miles weren't difficult enough, mother nature really played a cruel trick to make each step twice as hard. There's CT! From a distance, I could see the smile on her face, which eased some nerves. But as soon as there was some relief, she also said her foot was bothering her. Good lord, twenty-three and a half more miles to go, on a sore foot, with the trail a mess? This CT might get derailed.
It's a mixed bag of nerves waiting at the halfway point. Anxious to run, but also worried how CT is doing and knowing that on my leg I've got zero input on how she's doing. There she is! She's still smiling. If I could make the NASCAR sounds of a tire change I would, that was my one good idea to have a fresh pair of shoes and socks for her. That will be the first and last time NASCAR ever appears in this blog by the way. Off she goes again. I'm glad I got to see her before having to run my leg, so thank you slow teammate! Now, I also know that I will be able to see her another time on the way, provided I can catch her.
Here's my teammate. No gun sound this time, just a simple high five, oh and instructions where to find the car, hopefully the GPS is programmed right, good job, and whatever else needed to be said without wasting precious time on the clock. This will be my third time running this leg, both times prior I did pretty good, but this time I had the goal of raising the bar. 16 miles in 2 hours comes out to a nice round number of 8 MPH. I want it. I've flirted with that speed for that distance before, but have always came up short. Really, there's nothing significant about it, other than I wondering if I could do it. The trail condition was horrible! The saving grace seemed to be a vehicle had driven down the trail at some point which made the tire tracks the best thing to run on. Even so, it was not exactly stable footing and caused my first short related injury. Running in that narrow tire track at times cause my shoes to gently brush my calf muscle on my other foot ever so often. Expand that out over ten or so miles, gently turns to missing skin. The final miles the snow disappeared, but what replaced it was wet concrete of the trail. Hmmm, do I run straight down the middle splashing in wet slop or run on the edge of the trail waiting for the ankle twist of who knows way laying hidden? In the end, it was a mix of trying to pick the lesser of the evils.
For as bad as the trail conditions were, I was running at exactly the pace I needed for my goal. Which made it all the more confusing why it was taking me so long to catch CT. Granted, she had a bit of a head start, but I was flying, passing people like they were standing still. Had she gotten hurt? Did her sister pick her up? Where was she? With ten miles to go, finally, I saw her. On passing, we walked some, I offered her words of encouragement, told her how great she was doing, etc. Her comment back? She thought there were four girls ahead of her! Why do I even worry about this animal? She's in pain, know she's tired, what's she worried about, what her place is going to be! As I took off, I think this where my mind eased. Any doubt she would be unable to finish this craziness, gone. Only thing left to do is wait for her at the finish line.
Damn close to my goal. Finished with a 2:02. Slightly disappointing, but deep down I know I would have had it if the trail was an actual trail and not an obstacle course. As a team, we got 4th overall. Secretly, I wanted to place too, but there is always next year.
Watching CT cross the line was a wave of emotions. I expected to see a hobbling, broken, mess. She was tired, yet I almost expected to see her pull her shirt open to reveal the Superwoman "S". I'm proud of her, happy for her, happy for her accomplishment, hell I'm even happy she's still alive. Seeing her cry, only made me cry. Which brings me to this picture, which is my new favorite race photo. This is now my Ultra Crazy Train. Oh, and if you are wondering, she finished first in her age group!
This trail brings some awful physical abuse, but also some life defining moments. Thank you Kal-Haven trail.
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