Saturday Morning as I pulled on my Vibram Five Fingers and got ready for my first 25k trail race of the season, the Cheyenne Mountain Trail 25k and 50k; I had no idea how epic of a day it was going to turn out to be.
It was the inaugural Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race, and I had accidentally stumbled upon it the day prior. I had not planned on racing Saturday, as I am currently training for my first Ultra Marathon: Greenland Trail 50k. I only entered after heading into Cheyenne Mountain State Park to get a 8-10 mile trail run in Friday. It was there that I ran in to Andrea and Jane, two of the race directors, who invited me to fill one of the final slots in the 25k the following morning. It only took me half a second to realize that this would be more fun than a solo 2o mile training run.
I also decided that I wanted to see what 25k would feel like with Vibrams on. Even though I had only been wearing them for a week, I figured it wouldn't be too bad. Saturday Morning was pretty cold, but I was still out there with shorts and my VFF's. I didnt have any goals for the race, other than go as hard as I could for the duration. I had put in 7.5 miles the day before, including a 1200 ft climb.
The race was well organized and they even brought the Air Force Color Guard out to do the National Anthem, which I though was a nice touch. The 50k started promptly at 8, and then exactly 30 minutes later we 25k'ers were off. Immediately we started climbing, and I found myself in the top 50 runners, where I managed to stay all day. The climbing was relentless for the first 4 miles, but the downhills really made it worth it.
My training the day before really put more of a tax on my legs than I thought it would, but that was a good thing, because I wanted to run this hard on tired legs. I soon found a pace and was able to hang with it pretty much throughout. There were a few hard uphills that I had to walk, and a couple sections with some really thick rock gardens that made picking my way through in Vibrams slightly difficult, but all in all it was an awesome run! I even managed to find a massive kick in the last mile and a half (the course was over a mile longer than advertised) a 7:13 pace. I finished 42nd overall, 32 male and 16th in my age group, which for some reason was HUGE...it incorporated teens, twenties and thirties. I was really happy with my 2:46:12 especially because of the 2500 feet of total climbing on the course. That is 1,000 more feet of climbing in half the distance as my upcoming 50k, which I have a sub 5hr target on. The support for the course was awesome and overall was extremely well run!
When I got home, I was about to put together a crib for my soon to come daughter. My wife was 9 1/2 months pregnant Saturday. But instead of putting together a crib, my wife started feeling some bad pains and we went to the hospital, where 4 hours later Caitlin Michelle Hughson was born! The first remark the nurse made....look at those toes, she is gonna be a runner!
When I woke, I knew God had made a wonderful day for me, however; you never know how much the Lord is going to bless you until you step out in faith and take on each day with verve and vigor, giving Him credit for all of it.
