ORN: 30 miles, 8:31:51; 25th of 49 finishers (52 starters); 5th of 9 men 50+; Oldest runner in race by 5 years!! ; Lap times: 2:27:33, 2:54:08, 3:10:11
Summary: It was a rugged, steep, slow, humid, toe-busting, leg-straining event in the middle of the Illinois prairie. And it was how I chose to spend my birthday! The Farmdale Trail Race was all of that.
Gory Details:
I’ve had the Farmdale race on my radar for years. It happens near Peoria, Illinois each fall on the Saturday BEFORE the Chicago Marathon. In many ways, it’s the opposite of the huge event in the city...this is a trail race, on narrow twisting trails for a handful of people who, for the most part, are experienced runners, happy to run alone on a demanding course. No glory in this one. Indeed, the group who now organizes the race calls itself “No One Cares You Run Ultras”. Yeah. That’s about right.
This year, the race finally fell in my schedule. It took place exactly two weeks after my 100th marathon in Ely, Minnesota. I was ready for a simple run by myself. Further, it fell on my 68th birthday and it seemed a great way to celebrate.
As fitting a proper trail race, the organizers allowed tent camping in the big clearing encompassing the star/finish area. I drove the 3+ hours to Peoria on a fine autumn Friday afternoon, choosing to take county and state highways rather than Interstate 74. I got a close-up view of modern farmers harvesting thousands of acres of prime American farmland. It was impressive in scale.
And flat. The Farmdale course, a 10-mile trail loop in a park near Peoria, is billed as “very hilly”. Driving there, it was hard to imagine a hill, anywhere. Once there, it became clear the park was part of a flood control project associated with the nearby Illinois River. And, shoot, no way you could raise soybeans on all those river bluffs.
I registered, pitched my tent, grabbed some supper and was looking forward to a night outdoors ahead of a trail race. No rain, the temperatures were mild, the air was calm, all set for a good night’s sleep, right?? Except...the organizers had the HQ tent lit all night (which wasn’t a problem) and the lights driven by a very loud portable generator (which was). Oy. I think I fell asleep around 2am until about 4:30am.
At that point, folks were stirring ahead of the 5am start of the 100 mile and 50 mile events. With the ten mile loop, multiple events were possible. I was happy to be up, to watch the group gather and head into the pre-dawn woods on their adventure.
Those folks gone, I had my usual race-day breakfast of two turkey-cheese sandwiches and got set for the 7am start of the 30 mile event. I had my car backed within about 20 feet of the course, set up my gear for the two pit stops I’d have and we got going right on time at 7am. Bib on my shorts, I got ready.
As it was my first time ever running this course, the first loop’s focus was just figuring out what was going on. I had wondered how serpentine a course would be to fit a 10 mile loop into a mere 850 acre site. It quickly became obvious. The course was mostly single track, with a bit of time on some service roads and a very few open prairie, grass-covered crossings. Each loop had about 1,000 feet of elevation gain.
There were also about six stream crossings. Since the weather had been dry, these weren’t big obstacles. Only one got your shoes wet...here's a video of one of my traverses:
I did take two wrong turns as befitting a newbie on this course. The first during lap one when four of us all missed a quick right turn and the second on lap two when, like a teenager, I had my face glued to a text conversation while on a service road and I missed the trail jumping off into the woods. Duh.
The most significant event of the day occurred at about mile 7 of the race, on the first lap. I whacked a stub of a tree trunk hidden under some leaves with my right foot and caught it full on. I hopped around and was bent over in discomfort for some minutes. Lap One...good grief. How will this go? I walked a while to catch my breath and assess the damage. I chose not to remove my shoe. It became evident most pain was from my third and fourth toes. My big toe and pinkie toe were OK. I could push off reasonably with my right foot. There was no sharp pain, so I figured I didn’t break anything. But, man, it was there...I could feel it with every step. It continued that way the rest of the race but didn’t get any worse. So, I gradually got back to running and carried on.
I finished lap one, sat down, refueled with chocolate milk (yes, you can drink milk DURING an event, something my HS football coach would never have condoned) and got going again after about three minutes. Lap two had me entirely by myself, only rarely encountering other runners. And it became quite enjoyable, a long day alone in the woods.
By the end of Lap Two, it was early afternoon and temperatures on this sunny day were rising. I moved my pit-stop chair under a neighbor’s canopy to get some shade. I took a little longer to refuel and re-hydrate then headed out again. Lap Three was slower and warmer and had more bugs in the woods. The hardest portion was the super steep climb just ahead of the one on-course aid station about halfway around the loop. It was slick, steep, almost requiring all fours to scale the slimy, root-clogged climb. I got to the top, walked the 75m to the aid station and paused to collect myself while refilling my water bottle and having some salty snacks. That was the lowest point physically and mentally.
I carried on from there, with a little over four miles to go and regained some energy. Knowing the landmarks now, I was happy to see the final crossing of the dam, telling me only one mile remained.
Crossing the finish line, I was stunned to look at my watch and realize I’d been on the course for over 8 1/2 hours. It seemed like an awful long time for just 30 miles...but the course was just that difficult.
Only then did I pull off my right shoe...what a sight that was.
Yikes...it was sore and looked awful. But my self-diagnosis had been accurate. I’m glad I didn’t quit.
I spent a good hour or so just sitting and refueling after the run. The heat was up and I needed to collect myself before packing up the tent and driving home. The organizers had a great spread and the sub sandwiches were perfect. I polished off a full quart of chocolate milk and a lot of water. It was a nice drive home, with more corn and soybean harvest features.
The next morning, my foot was even more colorful. But it didn’t hurt any worse.
It was a tough race. I don’t know if I’ll run it again...it really depends on my overall strategy of focusing on ultras or trying to get in some more good marathon times. I’m really glad I did run it though and had I camped somewhere else with better sleep, it would have been nearly a perfect adventure.
Thanks for reading. And persevere.
.
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