I know it may seem that I live a privileged, adventurous, jet-setting life of a running enthusiast without a care in the world, but that is not the case at all, what I do have is a very supportive husband, stubborn ambition, and dollar-stretching creativity, but not a bottomless budget. In fact, the life of a visual effects driven family is anything but safe, and secure. Marion works as a freelancer, a very in demand freelancer thankfully, but jobs go for months at a time, not years, and in early March of this year we needed to re-think a few things, and my racing schedule needed an overhaul. Unfortunately, that meant I would not be running the Whidbey Island marathon in Washington in mid-April, which was a bummer because I was looking forward to visiting with my step brother Jeff, and his adorable gaggle of little girls; another time for sure. Instead what I needed to find was a race within driving distance, verses flying distance. Thankfully, I did not need to search for long until I found the perfect “hometown” race that would offer up a whole new kind of challenge, racing two marathons within three weeks. Oh, and one more thing, this one was a trail marathon, yee-haw! Marathon #33 would be the Griffith Park Trail Marathon on Saturday, March 29th.
I was not nervous about the trail aspect of this race because I had already conquered the North Face trail marathon in the Marin Headlands back in December, and that course was an annihilator of the soul, so if I could survive that race, I had faith I could survive any other trail race for the rest of my running days. However, I needed to consider that my legs would not be fully recovered from the LA marathon, running a trail marathon so close was not wise, but I wanted to do it, it fit the bill, literally, and once again I was excited to run around and above my gorgeous Los Angeles. Also, I had an ace up my sleeve, my best friend Hadara was my coach, and I knew if I placed my care in her hands she would get me to another starting line refreshed and ready to rock.
When race morning came along I was excited, and relieved not to have to worry about a specific time to hit, because trail runs generally take much longer than a road race, this race I could relax and just let myself enjoy the day and see where I shook out. The starting line was buzzing in the dark pre-dawn hours with a breed of runner that is more jovial then most, and little nuttier too, the Ultra runner. This was not an Ultra marathon, actually the course did go a little over 26.2 miles, still this was advertised as a marathon, but that did not stop the Ultra runners from coming out and mingling among us mortals, I felt like an amateur, and eavesdropped on stories that made me weep with admiration, and took it as a sign that this was going to be a brilliant day.
The first seven miles were tough, lots of up, up, down, and down even steeper around twisty bends of loose sandy dirt native to the chaparral landscape within Griffith Park. I was keeping a decent pace even though I didn’t pay attention to my watch, I felt good, and was hanging with a few shaggy lookin’ yet swift-footed dudes, so I knew I was doing alright. We hit a long ten mile stretch of virtual flat land as we wound our way around the park, and the Los Angeles Zoo, which was fine, but I wish I would have researched the course better, I would have picked up my pace along that stretch.
Luckily, my intuition was correct about needing to conserve energy because the last seven miles of the course tossed us into the hills again, and wow, that was a treat. It was much more up, up, and up, then down. I think mile eighteen was the first time in my running life when I felt truly pressed against the mat, being suffocated and taunted by nature to tap out, give up, and walk. I was on a sheer single track rocky tail on the back Siberia-esque section of the park, I knew other runners were around me, somewhere, but I felt alone, and needed to punch this course in the mouth, so I just cranked slowly up the hill, crested the top, opened up my stride and giggled on my way down the other side, silly trails.
I was spit back into civilization abruptly around mile twenty-one when I took a right turn down a fire road and was among other runners, day hikers, and horses. Sweet. This was a very exposed part of the course, and the day was heating up, I had my Camelback on, so I was okay water wise, but I knew I needed to finish soon and take a nice long swig of electrolyte infused sports drink, my focus shifted from “running on trails is so fun, and pretty”, to “get to the finish line, asap.”
The next five miles or so were a mix of cheers with fellow runners, and dodging big and small dogs off leash, and annoyed families being dragged out to nature to spend time together instead of mind-numbing hours on the couch, ah Los Angeles. I felt inspired and annoyed by my fellow Angeleno’s zest for the outdoors, there were no barriers keeping the crowds from the course like there were on Hollywood Blvd. just a few weeks before, today I needed to “share the trail”, so I leapt and darted around everyone as safely as possible and ran down the hill to the finish as fast I could.
I was all alone for the last mile or so into the finish shoot, there were slight cheers, and enthusiasm from the crowd as I crossed the line, but it was by far the most low-key finish line I had ever run across, but I appreciated its understated integrity. Also, it was cool that the race director came up to me and thanked me for bringing my Camelback, suddenly I felt like I was part of the Trail Runners gang, and not just a spoiled road runner whining about the flavor of the free Gatorade handed out at the aid stations, but a real runner ready for anything the trails and that saucy minx Mother Nature threw at me, plus I earned a belt buckle.
I felt like I matured a lot during that race because I planned around a “life” hiccup and still finished marathon #33 on schedule, in fact ahead of schedule. I placed 7th overall female, and 2nd in my age group in 4:31 hours, not too shabby considering I ran a marathon less than a month earlier. Plus, I fell in love with trails that day, even though I am not built for them, I knew trail races would play a big role in my running future; they are a fun and challenging romp among friends and inner demons, my favorite kind of race.
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