On June 22, I ran the Backass Jackal Trail Marathon. This was the second race of The Jackal Marathons. Our course was the same trail loop as the Jackal Trail Marathon, but we were running it in the opposite direction.
Yesterday, I talked to
two runners who both thought it was easier to run the trail in this
direction. I was skeptical. I had to wait and see. All I knew for sure was that I was still
somewhat sore and tired from yesterday.
I felt somewhat stiff and
sore when I got out of bed. I felt
better after taking a bath and doing some stretches, but my back was still an
issue. I had a lot of soreness on the
right side of my lower back from my fall during yesterday’s race. Most of my morning stretches are for my lower
back. Those were difficult, if not
painful.
My digestive system also
wasn’t too happy. When I got up this
morning, it had been 12 hours since I ate dinner, but my stomach still felt
full. With difficulty, I ate a cinnamon
roll and drank a cup of tea.
Yesterday’s race gave me
a good idea what to expect today, but I couldn’t count on the course feeling
familiar. Everything would look and feel
different running it in the opposite direction.
I was expecting today’s
weather to be about the same as yesterday.
It was actually a few degrees cooler at the start, but the humidity was worse. Also, it was going to warm up faster.
Yesterday, I altered my
stride to pick up my feet more, so I wouldn’t be constantly tripping on the
roots. That worked reasonably well for
most of the race, but it was tiring. Today,
I couldn’t do that. My legs just weren’t
as fresh as they were yesterday. I was
tired, and my legs were a little bit stiff.
Yesterday, I mostly drank
Gatorade. With my stomach feeling full,
I didn’t know if I could handle that much sugar. Another runner gave me a drink mix packet for
an electrolyte drink that he uses. I
drank that during my first lap. After
that, I alternated between water and Gatorade.
My first lap was all
about learning the course and figuring out how to avoid the roots. I couldn’t run the same stride I used
yesterday. Instead, I had to go at a
more cautious pace, so it was easier to avoid the roots. Where there were too many roots, I had to
walk.
We started out going
backwards along a section that came at the end of the loop yesterday. Nothing looked familiar. It’s amazing how different the roots look
when you’re going slightly downhill instead of slightly uphill.
The first thing I
recognized was a tree. Yesterday, there
were several short ups and downs near the end of the lap. Today, they came at the beginning. Some were only about five feet high, but you
were running (or walking) at a 45 degree angle.
I recognized this tree as one I would brace against to keep my balance
as I went down the last of these hills.
Today, I used the same tree to help me get up the hill.
These hills made the
first mile the most difficult mile of the loop.
On the bright side, I got them out of the way quickly.
I was about a mile into
the race when I encountered a sharp turn that was difficult to recognize coming
from a different direction. It looked
like the trail went straight, but there was a sign with an arrow pointing to
the left. It wasn’t at all obvious that
there was also a trail going to the left.
That was the whole point of the sign.
Anything that wasn’t obvious was marked.
I saw the sign, but somehow
it didn’t register in my brain. I was
beginning to continue straight when the runner behind me told me I needed to
turn. I thanked him, and then I came
back and turned. After that, I always
looked for this turn. I was also more
mindful of the course markings.
There were other parts of
the loop that I recognized only when I was on them. I didn’t see them coming.
One section I did see
coming was a long section where the trail was fairly runnable. Yesterday, it came in the second half of each
lap. Today, it came in the first half. There was a downed tree that we had to step
over. Yesterday, it was right at the end
of this section. When I saw that tree
today, I realized I was about to start this section.
That section wasn’t quite
as runnable today, because parts of it were slightly uphill, and they got
tiring. Yesterday, those same sections
were slightly downhill. On the uphill
parts, I needed to take walking breaks.
Because of the higher
humidity, I felt sweaty from head to toe before I was even halfway through the
first lap.
My first lap was about a
minute slower than my first lap yesterday.
I was fine with that. I expected
it to be slower.
Before starting my second
lap, I put ice in my hat. I was also
doing that yesterday. Yesterday, I was scooping
ice with one hand. Today, I used both
hands. I could get much more ice that
way. Using both hands, I put two large
scoops of ice into my hat. That was too
much. It was so intensely cold that it
was unsettling. I had to walk briefly
before I could resume running.
As the ice started to
melt, it only took a minute or two before I felt more comfortable. Then I could run again. In subsequent laps, I didn’t use quite as
much ice.
My second lap was also a
bit slower than yesterday, but only by a couple minutes.
With each subsequent lap,
the temperature climbed a few degrees. As
it got hotter, the relative humidity dropped.
I didn’t have as much sweat dripping off me, but the heat made running
more tiring. My walking breaks got
longer and more frequent.
Yesterday, two runners
lapped me when I was still in my third lap.
As I neared the end of my third lap today, I wondered when I would start
seeing the faster runners.
When I finished my third
lap, I was about 14 minutes slower than yesterday, but no runners had lapped me
yet. I continued into my fourth lap.
I was about halfway
through my fourth lap, when I saw one of the fast runners. There are numerous places where the trail
doubles back, so you can see runners who are ahead of you or behind you.
The runner who was
catching up to me was Lindsay, who was the first female yesterday. Yesterday, about six men lapped me when I was
in my third or fourth lap. Lindsay didn’t
lap me until I was in my fifth lap. It
didn’t take her as long to catch up to me today.
I wondered why I hadn’t
seen any of the fast men. As my mind
focused on that, I got distracted and I momentarily took my eyes of the
trail. I was on the long runnable
section, but there were still a few roots.
I caught my foot on a
root, and I immediately hit the trail.
Lindsay saw me fall, and she asked if I was OK. I was.
It was a soft landing. I didn’t
hurt anything. In particular, it didn’t
aggravate my back, which was gradually loosening up as I ran.
When Lindsay passed me, I
commented that she was the first one to lap me today. She said, “Yeah, you’re doing good.” Actually, I didn’t feel like I was having a
good race. I was slower than
yesterday. I was simply pointing out
that nobody else had passed me yet.
I asked her, “Where are
all the fast guys from yesterday?” She
said, you’ll see them tomorrow. Some of
the fast runners may have skipped today’s race, but most of them were actually
there. Some of them lapped me later in
the race.
It felt hotter today than
it did yesterday. I assumed the
temperature was getting higher, but we also felt the sun more. When the sun gets high enough in the sky, it
can shine on us through the trees.
Yesterday, we had some cloud cover.
Today, it was a bright sunny day.
The heat didn’t just slow me down.
It slowed everyone down. Lindsay
seemed to be the sole exception. She’s
one of the runners who feels that the course is faster in this direction.
In the middle of each
lap, we briefly came out into a clearing.
I really felt the sun there. In
my fourth lap, I stubbed one of my toes on a root just before I reached the
clearing. Running was painful for the
next several minutes. Eventually I
stopped noticing it.
Lap four took me an
hour. Yesterday, I only had one lap that
took that long. I wondered if my
remaining laps would all be slower today.
The heat was forcing me
to do more walking. I often had to take
short walking breaks during sections that I normally would run. I expected my fifth lap to be much slower
than my fourth lap. Depending on how
much I slowed down, I might be in danger of taking more than seven hours to
finish.
Lap five was actually
slightly faster than lap four. I knew at
that point that I wasn’t in any real danger of taking seven hours. Still, I tried to be vigilant about running
where I could.
There were some sections
I had to walk, because they were uphill and very tiring. There were other sections where I had to walk,
so I could be sure to avoid the roots.
The additional walking was because of the heat. By now, the heat index had climbed above 100
degrees. I had to be careful not to
overexert myself in the heat. My number
one goal was to finish without experiencing heat stress or heat
exhaustion. Whenever I felt too tired, I
did a little walking.
Yesterday, I started to
lap the slowest runners when I was in my sixth lap. Today, I finished six laps without lapping
anyone. By then, several of the faster
runners had lapped me, however.
When I started my last
lap, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could break seven hours just by
averaging 20 minutes per mile in my final lap.
That didn’t mean I could walk the whole way. On these trails, my walking pace was often
slower than that. Going up a hill, it
was much slower. I still needed to keep
some running in the mix, but I could afford to do more walking if I felt it was
necessary.
When I came out into the
clearing for the last time, I checked my time.
I had about a mile and a half to go, and enough time that I actually
could walk the rest of the way. I still
ran as much as I reasonably could.
After re-entering the
forest, I spotted someone who was walking, using trekking poles. Then she disappeared around a turn. After making a few more turns myself, I
finally saw her ahead of me. She was
walking, and I was running, but it was frustrating how long it took me to catch
up to her. I passed her so slowly, that
we had time to chat briefly.
A few times during the
race, I saw a food wrapper on the trail, and I picked it up. I put it in my fanny pack, so I could throw
it in the trash later. These were
probably left by inconsiderate hikers.
If a runner was caught littering, it was grounds for disqualification.
In the last mile of the
race, I bent down to pick up a piece of trash.
After standing up, I briefly got lightheaded. I probably stood up too quickly. The feeling passed quickly. Then I was able to resume running.
The rest of the loop was
mostly runnable, but I had to keep taking short walking breaks. I knew I would easily break seven hours. I wanted to run the rest of the way, but I
also didn’t want to overheat. With a
run/walk mix, I eventually got to the finish.
My time was 6:45:20.
After finishing, I needed
to sit down for a few minutes. I was
sweating like crazy. I filled my bottle
with ice and Coke. Drinking that helped
me to cool down.
In addition to our
finisher medals, we each got a hat when we finished. There were two styles. I chose this black one.
GPS isn’t accurate on a
course like this. There’s are too many
turns, and we didn’t always have a good line of sight to the satellites. I wore my Garmin watch so I could get a
record of my heart rate. After downloading
the data from my watch, I was pleased to see that my average heart rate was
110. It never got higher than 123. For the second day, I did a good job of
managing my effort, so I wouldn’t overexert myself in the heat.
After finishing my Coke,
I walked back to my car and drove back to the hotel. I refueled with chocolate mile and bread, and
I took a bath.
Yesterday, one of my feet
cramped up. Today, both feet did. I also experience a cramp in my side when I
bent to the side. Later, I had a cramp
in my hip. All of these passed quickly,
but it told me I was either dehydrated or my electrolytes were off. I can easily rehydrate by the end of the
day. I’m hoping I can restore my
electrolyte balance just by eating normal food.
I also noticed a black
toenail. I’m pretty sure that was the
same toe that I stubbed halfway through the race.
I’m really happy to be
done with this trail course. For the
next two days, we’ll be running on pavement.
That course is more sun exposed, so it’ll feel even hotter, but I’ll
have an easier time running on pavement.
No more roots until Wednesday.
If I had known how
difficult these trails were, I probably would not have signed up for this
series. I’m glad I did these races, but
I won’t do them again. It’s probably good
that I didn’t know what I was getting into.
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