On June 17, I ran the
Native Jackal Trail Marathon. This was
the last of the Jackal Marathons. The
first four marathon in this series all have the potential to be difficult,
depending on the weather. This one is
much tougher. This race can make you
cry.
The course was 10 laps of
a loop through Chickasaw State Park. The
loop is about 40 percent road and 60 percent trail. The road portion includes a long gradual hill
that most people have to walk. The trail
portion includes four steep climbs.
The loop is advertised as
2.65 miles. I suspect it’s longer. Maybe it doesn’t matter. The difficulty can’t really be measured in
miles. All I knew for sure is this race
has much more elevation change than the other ones.
My previous impression of
this race was definitely influenced by the fact that the heat index got up to
109 degrees last year. Also, I was constantly
tormented by deer flies. Last year, I
had multiple bites on each lap. This
year, I had a better experience.
This race venue was the
farthest from my hotel in Jackson. It
was a 40-minute drive. This race also
had the latest start time. It didn’t start
until 8:30 AM.
Fifteen runners signed up
to do all five races. All 15 finished
the first four and were at the start for day five. All 15 of us finished.
People have wondered why
this race starts so much later than the others.
The park opens at 7:00, so we’re not waiting for the park to open. Personally, I think it’s so we all have time
to reflect on whatever poor life choices led us to be here.
I was pleased to see that
it didn’t rain overnight. We didn’t have
to contend with muddy trails. That was a
relief.
When I arrived at the
race venue, the temperature was 67 degrees.
By the time the race started, it had cooled off to 66. That’s much cooler than I was expecting. There was also a nice cool breeze. That gave me hope that I could keep up a good
pace in the early laps.
The forecast high was 91,
with a heat index of 98. Because of the
later start, I knew I would still have a few laps to go when we reached the
hottest temperature of the day. It
wasn’t as hot as last year, but it still got pretty hot.
The time limit was 8:30. Last year, it took me 8:17. So far, I had been slower this year in every
race of this series. I didn’t want to be
slower in this one. I knew the time
limit was just a guideline, but I really didn’t want to be on the course after
5 PM. I also didn’t want people to be
waiting for me to finish.
The start/finish area was
at one end of a parking lot. As we left
the parking lot, we ran up a short hill.
I always had to walk that. After
coming back downhill, we had about a quarter-mile of mixed terrain. I usually made good progress there.
Next, we got onto another
road. We ran by one end of a lake and
then started a long gradual climb. I
could run some of it, but I always had to walk most of it.
After reaching the top,
we turned left and started running downhill, but only briefly. Then we left the road to get onto the
trail. The rest of the loop was on a
narrow trail with several steep climbs.
Each steep climb was
eventually followed by a long gradual descent.
Those were the easiest places to run.
After the second steep
climb, we descended all the way to lake level and came out next to the lake.
There were a few bridges,
as well as two stream crossings without bridges.
The four steepest climbs
were tiring, even though I was walking.
The last climb had logs built into it to form steps. Last year, I tripped on one of the logs and
tweaked my lower back. This year, I was
more careful about that.
The last part of the loop
was a descent that finished with a set of steps, leading back down to the
parking lot.
Each time I came into the
parking lot, I had to do three things.
First, I needed to make sure my lap was recorded. Next, I needed to reapply bug spray. I did that every single lap, in hope that the
deer flies would leave me alone. Finally,
I needed to refill my bottle.
The first time I entered
the forest, I no longer felt the breeze.
Instead, I immediately felt the humidity. It felt much warmer on the trails than it did
out on the road.
It was much easier to
avoid roots on this course. On the
climbs, the roots formed natural steps. Most
of the descents and flat sections had very few roots. There were a few gnarly sections, but those
roots were easy to see.
Having run on this course
before, it only took one lap to reacquaint myself with the course. On my first lap, I recognized all the major
landmarks as I reached them. By my second
lap, I could remember what was coming.
Familiarity made the trail feel easier this year.
There were a few new
features this year. Recent storms had
taken down some trees. In a few places,
we had to step over trees that were across the trail.
For the first few laps, I
was on pace to finish in 7:30. As it got
warmer, my pace slowed, but not dramatically.
In my fourth lap, I
tripped on a root and fell. That was the
first time I’ve fallen on this course. I
landed on a bed of pine needles. I wasn’t
hurt, but I scraped my elbow.
As it got hotter, I
needed to do one more thing before starting each lap. I had to put crushed ice in my hat. I started doing that at the beginning of lap
5. I also used some of the ice to clean
the scrape on my elbow.
During my fifth lap, I
had an awkward step with my left foot, and I turned my left ankle. That caused me to go off the side of the
trail. I had to grab a tree to keep my
balance.
I also turned that same
ankle on day one. I didn’t injure it,
but after that, the uneven footing often made my ankle sore.
When I finished my fifth
lap, I was half done with the race. At
this point, I was on pace for a time in the 7:30s, but subsequent laps were a
little slower.
I was never bitten by any
flies. Maybe my bug spray was
working. Maybe the flies just weren’t as
bad this year. I talked to other runners
who also weren’t getting bit. I took no
chances. I continued to reapply bug
spray every lap.
For a couple laps, I was
the last runner on the course. Then I
caught up to Mike, who was running his 500th marathon. I ran the last three laps with Mike, which
made them seem easier.
With three laps to go, it
was obvious I would beat my time from last year. After thinking about it some more, I realized
it was also obvious I would finish in less than eight hours. That took the pressure off.
Running with Mike in the
last few laps, I relaxed a little. I
didn’t work as hard to run everywhere I could.
We still ran the easy descents, but we walked some sections that we
probably could have run.
Before we finished, it
had warmed up about 25 degrees. Somehow,
it didn’t bother me too much. I had still
one other thing I could do to try to cool myself. I had a cooling bandana that was soaking in
ice water. It’s effective in cooling me
down, but only until my body heat warms it up.
Since its effect is only temporary, I waited until the last lap before
putting it on. I did the same thing in
Tuesday’s race.
The Bandana felt good
when the wind was hitting it. By the
time we reached the trail section of the course, the bandana was already
warming up. After that, it was just
extra weight.
On our last lap, I was
counting down the remaining steep hills.
When we were on the last hill, Mike said he was going to hang back. I continued at my own pace. When I finished, I told everyone Mike was
coming. They were all waiting to
congratulate him on finishing his 500th marathon.
I finished in
7:50:01. I was 27 minutes faster than
last year. In addition to my medal, I
received a belt buckle for running all five Jackal marathons. I’ve done that twice now.
There was still one other
runner on the course, but he finished a few minutes after Mike. Later, several of us went to dinner together
in Jackson.
Would I do this series again? Only if my fitness approves. I need to be confident that I won’t be bumping up against time limits. If I do return, I would probably wait until the last minute to sign up. I would want to know what the weather was going to be like.
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