My son Adam and I ran our first trail race ever on Sunday, May 03. It was the Medved Madness Trail Run. You could sign up for either the solo race and do 15 miles or the team relay and do one of three 5 mile legs. We opted to do the 15 mile solo race of course.
We arrived at the Hopkins Point Lodge at Mendon Ponds Park in Honeoye Falls, NY at 6:30am. It was cool but not cold, the sky was clear, and there was a slight breeze. All in all perfect weather for a race. When we signed in and received our packets we were met with our first surprise of the day. Our bib numbers were identical to our bib numbers the previous week at another race. I was 10 and Adam was 11. This was definitely a good sign, SWScorch would later say that it was ?providential?. Speaking of SWScorch, we met up with him and his lovely GF at about 7:30am and chatted for a few minutes before having to make last minute trips to the bathroom and whatnot.
The race commenced at 8:07am, Adam and I had a good start. The diclofenac potassium my doctor prescribed earlier in the week had done it's job as my leg didn't hurt at the start and wouldn't bother me at all during the entire 15 miles. I'm not sure how many of us solo racers there were at the starting line, but the pack thinned out much more quickly than it did at the 5K last week. We were in the middle at the start and kept our positions for the entire race.
Leg 1 was the wettest and muddiest of the three. I would say that at least half of the leg was a mudbog or swamp. There were some hills and natural obstacles (like fallen trees, large branches, bushes, roots, potholes) and at the very end we had to run through water. It was nice to wash the mud off, but the shoes were not destined to stay clean.
Leg 2 was dry and hilly. Overall I would say that it was the easiest to navigate, except I almost tripped right at the apex of the largest hill of the leg. My son said he almost shit, but I pulled it out. Those runners that we managed to pass were passed on this leg. One item of note, leg 2 followed a horse trail in part so there were piles of horseshit to dodge. hehe
Leg 3 was the most eventful of them all. The mud came back, but since I was tiring I wasn't able to juke and jive the way I did in leg 1 so I ran through more mud. I also managed to trip and cut my shin open. I didn't notice the cut for a few miles, I guess the mud numbed it. Fortunately for my ego, no one but my son saw me fall. Leg 3 was almost too much for Adam, he struggled to keep up and I had to almost stop several times. On one such occasion the people in front of me got so far ahead that they were out of sight and earshot. The trail markers were also more sparsely placed. As a result, we took a wrong turn and lost 5 or so minutes.
The grand finale of leg 3 was at about 14.5 miles ? the last hill. It was very steep and would have been a challenge to navigate quickly while fresh. Trying to do it quickly while dead tired was difficult to say the least, and it was almost too much for Adam. He fell 2 minutes behind trying to get up the hill. And then there was the finish line ? turning the final corner brought it into view. I was able to sprint the last couple hundred of yards and finished feeling strong. Adam turned the corner and the look of pain on his face vanished instantly. He was neck and neck with another kid and actually had the kick left in him to finish in front of him. I was really proud of him. I finished number 44 and Adam was number 47. Only 69 runners finished...
Post race was relaxed and the feeling of community was amazing. And lunch was great. We were fed the usual post race recovery items (water, fruit, carbs galore) and then the catered items were brought out. Rotisserie chicken, rigatoni, potatoes, macaroni salad, tossed salad, rolls. Adam and I both piled our plates high, but neither of us could finish it all. I came close though. After lunch at the awards ceremony we were greeted with our second surprise, Adam was second in his age group and received an award as a result!
All in all it was a freaking great day and I can't wait for next year's event. If the Rochester, NY area is within striking distance for you, I highly recommend this race.
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