Hagg Lake 25k
another Hagg Lake 25k notch on the belt. this is my third time around and after my first time i said i'd never do this again. i think we all do. my last race is usually a cyclocross race somewhere between thanksgiving and the first weekend of december. this time it was the Silver Falls Marathon on november 2nd so as usual i was getting a little itchy for a supported run with fun food and hot chocolate at the end.
i crewed for someone years ago and it looked pretty miserable so it was pretty much taken off the table. but...being a cyclist the last several years, this is one of the few trail races that offers a fun distance that won't take up half my season and doesn't clash with my bike season so there's always a couple cycling friends that are willing to jump in there with me for a good challenge. this year i dragged out a running newbie.
"don't worry. it'll be fun. just a little muddy, that's all." i said it so much i was almost believing it myself.
once committed, we began training the first week of december. we kept it somewhat easy but solid the whole month. then got a bit more serious and structured in january. a couple weeks out from the race a snowstorm, pulled calf and just some general fatigue started to pile up so i started getting lazy and distracted...then worried.
the thing about hagg lake is it really shouldn't be that hard. it's only 15+ miles, some pretty decent trails, (some of it on the road, even), not much elevation change (about 1700 total) and the weather usually magically clears up with temps in the low 40's.
what DOES make it so hard is, it's the first race of the year so everyone is jacked up, nervous, excited feeling the race vibes and the energy of everyone else and with that long out and back at the beginning on the gravel road, i think a lot of us go out a lot harder than we intended. certainly a lot harder than we should. i can't even count the times over the last three years how many times i've heard someone saying they went out way to hard. guilty of it myself.
and of course the other reason IS the weather. while the last few years it's been somewhat tame, that still leaves a few months of solid rain to completely saturate the course. it's like a 15 mile tough mudder out there. and name your mud. there's the saying about the hundreds of different varieties of snow that are given names by native alaskans and cyclists who race cyclocross and have the same infatuation with mud could find everyone of those mud varieties on this course. from the thin, slick, oily stuff on top of solid ground that'll send your feet right out from under you, to the thick peanut butter stuff that just adds up more and more until your shoes are several pounds heavier, to the quicksand stuff that will steal a shoe. there's a few sections after about the 9-10 mile mark that will just break your heart. not this year. i made friends with each and every one of those sections. i knew they were coming months ago and i accepted it. i told my newbie friend about those stretches but describing them really does no good. whatever you're feeling at mile nine is about to change. if you're feeling good...get over it. if you're in bad shape....it's about to get worse. as my friend said after the race about those areas, 'i died in the mud.' well, i was reborn. even though i'm a few pounds heavier than my last two years, about 20 minutes slower along with 20 spots down the list. i handled those sections the best i could have imagined. was even able to pass those ahead of me and put time on those behind me. it's the small victories.
the thing with this race that i think is so great, is it's such a bonding race. there's the top local trail guys who just pin it. and when you see their times afterwards you're just left thinking, "how?" then there's the newbies. either just eager to get started on some new year resolutions or dragged out for initiation by a hagg lake veteran posing as a "friend." then down the road as you enter and compete in trail races and ultras down the line, everytime you get to a muddy section on a course you'll over hear mutterings along the lines of, "reminds me of hagg lake." or "where are we at, hagg lake?" and you know you're part of a club.
along with dragging newbies out i've added another hagg lake tradition to the routine. retiring shoes. i've found i can run so much easier knowing the shoes i'm wearing are on their last miles. putting post-hagg lake shoes back on your feet just isn't acceptable nor responsible. toward the end of the year i pick out a pair of shoes then hagg lake/ winter training begins. during the race i step in every puddle, attack every mound of mud or section of winter swamp and then in the trash. not even back in the car. i "bury" them in the parking lot trash can. thinking next time i'll add the socks to the ceremony.
anyway, hot dogs (sans buns of course) never tasted so good and hot chocolate never felt so warm and decadent. and muscles other than my legs have never been so sore.
i crewed for someone years ago and it looked pretty miserable so it was pretty much taken off the table. but...being a cyclist the last several years, this is one of the few trail races that offers a fun distance that won't take up half my season and doesn't clash with my bike season so there's always a couple cycling friends that are willing to jump in there with me for a good challenge. this year i dragged out a running newbie.
"don't worry. it'll be fun. just a little muddy, that's all." i said it so much i was almost believing it myself.
once committed, we began training the first week of december. we kept it somewhat easy but solid the whole month. then got a bit more serious and structured in january. a couple weeks out from the race a snowstorm, pulled calf and just some general fatigue started to pile up so i started getting lazy and distracted...then worried.the thing about hagg lake is it really shouldn't be that hard. it's only 15+ miles, some pretty decent trails, (some of it on the road, even), not much elevation change (about 1700 total) and the weather usually magically clears up with temps in the low 40's.
what DOES make it so hard is, it's the first race of the year so everyone is jacked up, nervous, excited feeling the race vibes and the energy of everyone else and with that long out and back at the beginning on the gravel road, i think a lot of us go out a lot harder than we intended. certainly a lot harder than we should. i can't even count the times over the last three years how many times i've heard someone saying they went out way to hard. guilty of it myself.
and of course the other reason IS the weather. while the last few years it's been somewhat tame, that still leaves a few months of solid rain to completely saturate the course. it's like a 15 mile tough mudder out there. and name your mud. there's the saying about the hundreds of different varieties of snow that are given names by native alaskans and cyclists who race cyclocross and have the same infatuation with mud could find everyone of those mud varieties on this course. from the thin, slick, oily stuff on top of solid ground that'll send your feet right out from under you, to the thick peanut butter stuff that just adds up more and more until your shoes are several pounds heavier, to the quicksand stuff that will steal a shoe. there's a few sections after about the 9-10 mile mark that will just break your heart. not this year. i made friends with each and every one of those sections. i knew they were coming months ago and i accepted it. i told my newbie friend about those stretches but describing them really does no good. whatever you're feeling at mile nine is about to change. if you're feeling good...get over it. if you're in bad shape....it's about to get worse. as my friend said after the race about those areas, 'i died in the mud.' well, i was reborn. even though i'm a few pounds heavier than my last two years, about 20 minutes slower along with 20 spots down the list. i handled those sections the best i could have imagined. was even able to pass those ahead of me and put time on those behind me. it's the small victories.
the thing with this race that i think is so great, is it's such a bonding race. there's the top local trail guys who just pin it. and when you see their times afterwards you're just left thinking, "how?" then there's the newbies. either just eager to get started on some new year resolutions or dragged out for initiation by a hagg lake veteran posing as a "friend." then down the road as you enter and compete in trail races and ultras down the line, everytime you get to a muddy section on a course you'll over hear mutterings along the lines of, "reminds me of hagg lake." or "where are we at, hagg lake?" and you know you're part of a club.along with dragging newbies out i've added another hagg lake tradition to the routine. retiring shoes. i've found i can run so much easier knowing the shoes i'm wearing are on their last miles. putting post-hagg lake shoes back on your feet just isn't acceptable nor responsible. toward the end of the year i pick out a pair of shoes then hagg lake/ winter training begins. during the race i step in every puddle, attack every mound of mud or section of winter swamp and then in the trash. not even back in the car. i "bury" them in the parking lot trash can. thinking next time i'll add the socks to the ceremony.
anyway, hot dogs (sans buns of course) never tasted so good and hot chocolate never felt so warm and decadent. and muscles other than my legs have never been so sore.
