From the Archives: Little River Big Hills (A Race Report)

I have quite a few race report rough drafts floating around.  I'll never get them properly finished, but I figure they hold some entertainment or informational value to someone (even if by someone, I mean myself).  I completely forgot I ran Little River last year.  After reading what I wrote then, I can see why..BRRRR!

THE OLD:

1/14 race 110 mins @ Little River Trail Run 10 mile in Altra Lone Peaks

temp REALLY COLD (20-30's)
HR avg 169 max 181

I'm pretty sure this was at the finish.

Sporadic holiday training combined with extreme cold resulted in a what felt like a very lackluster, yet incredibly hard race.  I didn't intend to run this hard, but everyone seemed to be going for it and I decided to stick it out.  Although part of the problem was my desired pace did not want to align with my desired effort level.  So I said screw you effort and kicked up the pace, although this doesn't seem like it worked out too well as I could feel myself slowing down as the cold crept into my body.  Perhaps the course really is significantly more difficult than the races I am using for mental comparison (Medoc and Run at the Rock).  Oh well, let's get to the race  report part.

While the +1 was at home snuggled in her bed (while visions of bouncing baby boys danced in her head).  I was making the difficult decision between silk shirt or arm sleeves.  I don't own a pair of tights (yet), so at least I didn't have to worry about that.  Although around the 6 mile mark I started wishing I owned a pair, as my long johns weren't offering quite the level of heat retention I desired.  After gathering up my gear and my breakfast, off I headed to the beater Jeep and into the great white north Durham (ok, none of those words really go together).  The Jeep battery seemed to be feeling the effects of the cold as much as I was, as I nearly had a DNS on my hands.  Thankfully she got me there with minimal fuss.  I got parked near the registration area and shut her down to <end>

THE NEW:

Ok, seeing as how I forgot I even ran this race until I saw the report draft, I don't remember specifics, but I do remember feeling like even my bones were cold on this one.  I also remember my Jeep BARELY started when I went to fire it up after picking up my bib and stuff before the start.  This would have made for a really rough morning, as sitting an hour in the cold before the race would have put a real damper on my spirits.  Although I got to spend the whole race wondering if my Jeep would start for the ride home and thinking that if it didn't, everyone would have probably gone home already by the time I finished, so I'd most likely die of exposure and wouldn't be found until the next LRTR.