Remember that saying, “the
third time’s a charm”? Well I think this event is now certainly charmed, and in
a very good way. As a participant for three years now, this event has gone
through some growing pains, two years of mismarked courses sending the runners
off to explore uncharted territory, adding time and distance nobody wanted. But
anyone who has run on trails before knows trail running is a different beast
than road running: changing terrain, multiple trails merging into or away from
the main track, and it could take only a strong gust of wind to remove all of
your carefully placed markers. Trails are not perfect and neither are runners:
what makes sense when marking a trail could mean a missed key turn for everyone
else. What makes this race amazing is the enthusiasm and dedication of the
organizing company Off Road Pursuits. You can tell these guys love
running, they love trails and care about what they are doing. So they listened
to runner’s feedback, figured out what went wrong over the past few years and
fixed it.
I knew going in that this run
would be challenging, but I am always taken by surprise of how hard
this course
is. The heat, hills and uncertain terrain makes running here difficult. I
tripped at least twice, one of our members came out bleeding, and my blisters will
need a few days to heal. The steep downhill where the fluffy sand covers your
feet and goes inside of your shoes forcing most runners to stop and dump the
dirt out of their shoes and socks at the base is always a treat. But you can’t
beat the scenery, I always have to look around reminding myself of how lucky I
am to run in such a beautiful place and stop myself from just jumping in the
lake and refusing to come out. Based on prior years’ experiences on this course
and with no wrong turns, I went in thinking I would be able finish in 2:15 or
2:30, but a bad choice of shoes, blisters, heat related nausea and lost minutes
dumping dirt out of my shoes after going down “fluff mountain” set my finish
time at 2:37. I guess it wasn’t my day, but there is always next year.
MRTT had a strong showing at this
event and I hope to see even more next year. We had members from the Riverside,
Temecula and the High Desert chapters running the half and the 5k. Having the
MRTT support on the course was amazing. Knowing that your cheering “sole
sisters” were waiting for you at the finish made those last few miles a little
less painful for me. Thanks to whomever flipped my car magnet.
Because this event holds a special place in my heart I can’t wait until
next year’s trail race. I started running three years ago and the inaugural
SoCal Wine Country Women’s Half Marathon was my first half marathon. So what
keeps me coming back? Despite some problems in the past, Off Road Pursuits puts
on a pretty good show. They ironed out the kinks with the course, they’re
upfront with prerace information, the organizer and volunteers were everywhere
to happily help you stay hydrated and put you on the right path if you got
confused on a turn. The company was easy to work with if you have to transfer a
bib to another runner, a pleasant surprise where so many races now won’t let
you legally transfer bibs. You can’t beat the scenery and the changing terrain
makes running this course challenging to even the most seasoned trail runner.
Will I do it again? You betcha! But next time I am jumping in that lake,
blisters and all.
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