Chickadee Trail Run 2012

A couple of weeks ago Andrew Myatt put on a great race at Head of Chezzetcook, NS.  The Chickadee trail run had two options an 11k or 25k race.  The turnout was fantastic considering the time of year.  49 runners braved the chilly weather to hit the trails.

Originally my wife Jenny wanted me to sign up for the 11k and so I did.  By 9PM the night before the race I was like "forget that"  I am going on in.  25k can't be that hard, right?  Well the next morning I got to find out what Andrew had in store for all of us.  He was making sure that this was no walk in park, or I mean bush.

Right from the get go the race started with a good climb.  Feeling great I pushed up and over the hump trailing only a couple of runners.  Next time to go straight down, and not really on a trail but one made more specifically for this race, can't wait for my LaSportiva C-Lites to arrive.  After this we ran through some single track and I started to pay the price for my fearless climb up the hill.  Another few runners passed me as I battled through the trails.  Now what could he through at us, wait for it.....an icy cold bog?  At the time it felt like a cruel punishment but in retrospect it was kind of cool, literally.  An then on to the race.

After the bog we the rest of the race was a cross between fire roads and single track.  Nothing to crazy other than the last hill you had to walk.  During this stretch I managed to push on several occasions at a good pace.  Near the 8k mark I was running with the 7th place finisher and spotted two runners about 1k ahead.  With my legs feeling strong I decided to throw it down and go get them.  By about 11 or 12k I had them.  For the next 7k we all ran together, but then my crazy effort to chase them down caught up to me, damn!

By the end I managed a 6th place finish which I was quite happy with.  I really saw some progress on both my speed and endurance compared to the previous race.  The runner immediately in front of myself for this race had beaten me by 45 minutes at the Cuddly Coyote.  Well done to me!  Hey I also had four cheerleaders at the end too!  Congrats to all the other runners and Mark Robinson on the victory.

So now I begin the winter phase of training and working towards the Wascally Rabbit 50 miler in the spring. Till next time...

For more info, results and a photo album from the race check out http://chezzetcooktrailrunner.blogspot.ca/