Charge! Let the White Bull loose.. Time for race #3 in the series. Out of all the races in this series Marr scares me the most, I run all trails in this series a lot and know what to expect, kind of a curse and a blessing. I can psych myself out knowing the torturous climbs and technical terrain coming up, but I can also employ strategies like saving my legs for certain climbs on the course or slow down for a fast turn coming up. Marr is deceptive because it starts out with a quarter mile of down/flat fire road but you can see to the top of the "mountain" your about to climb giving you a false sense of security. More on that later in the report.
I show up to this race without my awesome support crew that is usually there to cheer me on although I see all the regulars and friends at the starting area. Another bonus running a trail series is that you run with most the same people each race with a few new faces sprinkled in so you develop continuing friendships and make new friends each time, who doesn't want more trail running friends? While I was chatting it up with some of the White Bull regulars, I failed to notice some of the new faces that showed up to run this race (oops bad start on my part) what I did notice is that Melissa never showed up to the starting line. Good news right? No! I wanted a challenge, someone to push me to run harder and Melissa was the only one close to me in the overall standings for White Bull, I could run easy now and still get first place overall, make me work for the win, I want to earn it.
All the runners line up at the start and its off, charging down the hill like rabid White Bulls, I get to the start of the "mountain" that is nicknamed Hotdog Hill, wait who is this? a tall fit guy just darts off in front of the whole field, well crap this guy is in a completely different league! Okay don't be stupid Kenny just let him go I have someone else breathing down my shoulder to worry about; all of a sudden just like that I get past up by yet another new face. I'm in third now but I'm not going to let this one get away, so I stay hot on his heels the whole way up Hotdog Hill, he keeps looking back realizing exactly what's going on. Now the back side of Hotdog Hill is a super fun single track that I can normally fly down, the only problem is the guy in front of me is running slower than I want but I cant get past because the trail is too tight. No problem though, I know there is a steep ascent coming up so I will save my legs for the climb.
Here is the part of the course that I think caught a lot of the runners by surprise, after all that climbing up Hotdog Hill you get a false sense of security that the worst is over with and for the most part you would be right, but a very steep albeit fairly short hill awaits to test your legs all over again. I could tell it caught the runner right in front of me by surprise when all of a sudden his very fast climbing ability slow to a crawl, ahh.. here is where I make my move. As I pass him we both say good job to each other with a tired smile, a mix of running and power hiking with my hands upon my knees I make it up the brutal ascent. All down hill from here! my favorite.. I kick it into high gear and float all the way down Hotdog Hill securely in second place. I really like Randy (the RD) but what a cruel guy he can be sometimes, who puts a very steep quarter mile ascent right at the finish line? You have to sprint up it and try to look your best (as your secretly suffering) because everyone is watching you climb it to the finish line! Across the finish line among many cheers with my bull horns up in second place with a time of 36:48! 3 races down 1 to go, here I come Chumash. Till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run!
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