Not dissimilar to the Sesame Street song, one of these things is not like the other. In this case, it would be the trail half marathon....the last of MADKAP's four half marathons in four consecutive weekends and the only one off-road. Chattanooga's Raccoon Mountain provided the landscape for this effort. Now, depending on the course, a trail half is 50% running and 80% surviving. And yes, that's bad math, but it's accurate math. Mud, rocks, puddles, downed trees, stobs (devasting when concealed by leaves), exposed roots, more rocks, moving water, thorny vines and small tree branches growing over the path, race requirement for runners to carry their own sources of hydration, even more rocks, no mile markers or clocks, no bands, no fans, no frills. And that was just the warm-up. It was like Forrest and Bubba but with rocks....big rocks, small rocks, half buried rocks, sharp rocks, loose rocks, wet rocks, uneven rocks, rock paths, rock climbs, rock descents, rock and roll (Tom)...........that- that's about it.
For those of you interested in a way to amp-up your running without adding distance, the trail might be your calling. Find a trail with uneven terrain and ~100 feet of ascending per mile on average and you will have a different experience than on the road. If nothing else it's different because of the amount of mental energy given to watching the ground and focusing on the placement of each step....my feet are starting to hurt again just typing about it. It's the only race I can recall dreading downhills....you simply can't run fast on a steep decline for risk of a misstep and loss of control.
Alas, MADKAP persists and in its way prevails. This author posted a 1:38:07 to claim the male master's category, Counselor Tom contributed perhaps his final result in the M45-49 category with a 1:53:30 (including a ground-level view of the trail resulting in a minor epidermal breach), and Teacher Michael concluded the effort in 2:26:59. All were fatigued and in need of showers much sooner than a return drive to central time afforded.
So the remaining race is the race to $25,000, and we're about 70% there. A sincere thank you for all the support - financial and other - to date. I'll be back in touch soon with more posts related to this pursuit as well as the long-awaited profile of my son, Ryan.
{start/finish in background - wearing MADKAP shirts and pre-race smiles of unknowing optimism}
