Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Run for the Wounded Warriors 5K/How I Got Lost in the Woods

As I mentioned (hopefully) tantalizingly in my last post, I ran a 5K on Sunday. It was my second ever 5K and I had big plans for this race. At the end of my first 5K I felt like I had a lot left and was planning to hopefully run this one much faster. But then I got lost in the woods. Yes, really. Glad I checked that off my life list.


(Image Source)
But before we go into that, here's a little more about the race.

The Race

Sunday's race was the Run for Wounded Warriors 5K run by Bishop's Events. The race supported The Wounded Warrior Project, a great organization working to honor and empower wounded service members. The race site was the beautiful Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, VA. It was a small race, with around 60 total runners. It was pretty darn cold, with temperatures around 30 degrees, so I wore a ridiculous amount of clothing.



The course was an up and pack path through the park on what was described as "smooth gravel roads". However, very feet (meters?) of the 5K course were actually smooth gravel roads. Most of the course was more leaves/tree branches/rocks and dirt with a little gravel mixed in. There were also a lot of hills. I should have known it was a tough course seeing as how the posted course record was only 21:35. 



We were conveniently able to pick up our packets the day before and so got to sleep in and arrive at the start line around 8:30 AM. The start went pretty smoothly but wasn't super organized, with a kind of disorganized line-up and lots of information about where to go on the course, which was a little confusing (foreshadowing).

The course was really narrow and rocky at the beginning, and I expended a lot of energy in the beginning trying to get out of the congestion. I finally broke free and was pretty much by myself after the first mile, with only one person in site after the turn. This turned out to be a huge mistake. Not only do I run much faster when I have someone to chase, but with no one in front of me to follow, I didn't know which way to go and made a pretty serious wrong turn.



There were signs and volunteers on most of the forks in the path, but there wasn't a volunteer standing on my side of the trail at the branch where I made my disastrous wrong turn. There was, however, a volunteer standing across the way on the out portion of the trail. I slowed enough to actually ask for directions, and figured that if I interpreted her vague pointing wrong she would say something. 

She did not, and after a few minutes it became obvious that this was not the path I had taken out. Not only was it not the same path, it was also really steep and turned into dirt ledge steps with logs at some point. I kept going, figuring that it had to come out somewhere. But as my MapMyRun audio cues told me 3.1 miles had passed, I began to get worried that I was seriously lost in the woods. I wondered if the bf would get worried and look for me if he got to the finish line and I wasn't there (he was several minutes behind me). I walked a little. 

Then, miraculously, the path I was on opened up and I could see the other racers on the correct path. I felt super sketchy and frustrated re-joining the race but went ahead and ran through the finish line to get my chip time.

Results

My first 3 miles split times were 8:27, 9:16 and 9:14, so I was on track to finish much faster than my first 5K time of 28:59. Oh well. Despite running a little extra distance on a much harder trail than I would have if I didn't get lost, I still finished under 30 minutes and was 19th out of 61 overall and 9th out of women 39 and under. 



Final Thoughts

I was pretty mad at myself for getting lost for a long time after the race (I mean seriously, who does that?!?), but I'm trying to let it go. I am proud of myself for running so much faster than last time on a much much more difficult course. I also wish that I knew more about what the course was like beforehand. I probably would have worn trail shoes, for one. I also turned my ankle at some point and didn't notice until afterwards because of the uneven rocky surface.



So would I run it again? Not sure. I did feel kind of like a beast running on such a tough course. Maybe when it's warmer and there aren't quite so many leaves on the ground. But I do think that running this second race kind of makes me a runner, even if I still don't run very fast or very far.

Q: What's your most embarrassing race experience? Has anyone else out there gotten lost during a race? Anyone? Just me? Ok, cool.

17 comments:

  1. Oh man - I can't believe the volunteer didn't correct you!! I've taken a wrong turn in a race before and it's so frustrating! I bet you'll look at the map a bit more next time. :)

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    1. Lol yea I definitely will try, although my map to actual real life translating skills are a little lacking. Next time I have an out-and-back I'd consider dropping breadcrumbs to follow on my way back! :)

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  2. I once ran a 10K trail run where there was also a 5K race going on at the same time. The only thing marking the course was orange spray paint on some trees and on some spots on the ground. I could see very easily how one could have got off course! I was able to follow it till the end (not my best time either) but after the race, I did hear that several racers ended up going the wrong way ( because the volunteers told them too, (not on purpose though). This in turn skewed the results,( cause they ended up taking a short cut) it was a mess! So no, you are not the only one who has gotten lost!

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  3. I once ran a 10K trail run where there was also a 5K race going on at the same time. The only thing marking the course was orange spray paint on some trees and on some spots on the ground. I could see very easily how one could have got off course! I was able to follow it till the end (not my best time either) but after the race, I did hear that several racers ended up going the wrong way ( because the volunteers told them too, (not on purpose though). This in turn skewed the results,( cause they ended up taking a short cut) it was a mess! So no, you are not the only one who has gotten lost!

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    1. Oh no that sounds terrible! Glad to hear it has happened to other people, thanks for the reassurance!!

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  4. You finished with great time giving your misadventures. Sounds like the volunteer could have done a little more to keep you in the right direction! Happy SITS Day!

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    1. Thanks Erica! They definitely could have helped more, but I think my terrible sense of direction is ultimately to blame lol.

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  5. Who does that? I do! I feel for you because almost the exact same thing happened to me, except I was following a bunch of really fast high school boys who were not paying attention to the (small) sign for the turnaround. By the time we all realized it, we had run almost a half mile off course. Not good. So, instead of winning the race, I placed 3rd in my age group and ran a 4 mile "5k." At least it won't happen again...I hope!!

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    1. Oh gosh! Another reason to never follow high school boys :) Can't believe you came in 3rd in your age group anyways! You must be super fast!

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  6. Wow! I didn't even know getting lost was possible. So glad you found your way even if a bit later. Congratulations of finishing...

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    1. Thanks! Lol yea...I didn't really know it was possible either. I'm all about pushing those boundaries lol :)

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  7. Oh, I can relate. I start all of my runs with a goal time in mind. Sometimes I crush it. Sometimes I get crushed. But I keep running. A course record of 21:35 is cRaZy for a 5k. You should still be proud of your time - and most definitely proud of the effort. At my last 8k, I was running super fast. I was on track to set a PR. Until I ran so hard that I started dry heaving in the middle of the road. And quickly diverted to a trash can in front of the Marriott. So, I kind of got lost in the woods too. Fun blog. Happy SITS Day!

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    1. Oh jeez! I wish I was hard core enough to run until vomiting lol. Thanks for sharing and thanks for stopping by!

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  8. Your post is really inspiring to me simply because I have been wanting to get into running for a while. If you can run over sticks, rocks and gravel paths, so can't I. I've been running, but not in a 5k. I give you a lot of credit for that. I'm way far away from getting there yet. Great post!
    Visiting from The Sits Girls!
    -Kate
    http://theorganizeddream.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks for the kind words, Kate! I hadn't run as far as a 5K ever before last October, and I just ran a 10 miler a couple weeks ago. If I can do it, you definitely can!

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  9. Hi, visiting you via the SITS Girls. Well, at least you ran the race with your whole heart and that is a victory in itself! Wish you the best with your blog.

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    1. Thanks so much for the kind words and thanks for stopping by!

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