I love the Terrapin half course.
Nowhere else I know has such variety-demanding climbs, long technical descents, incredible views, water crossings, and plenty of boulders-all in such a short course.
The first time I ran this course was in 2012. I had just started running and really had no idea what I was doing. The next two years, I ran the 50K race. And last year, I did the half course with two ladies doing it as their first trail race-we were not racing at all, but enjoying the day and taking lots of photos.
Since running Hellgate a few months ago, I've been just running for fun. I've stayed in shape but haven't trained rigidly like I do before big goal races. Still, I thought it would be fun to try to beat younger me. My 2012 time was 3:22. I was hoping to do it in 3:20 this year. Our last training run was closer to 3:30, but we weren't racing and there were a few places we had stopped for pictures, so I was hoping to be able to make up the time.
The morning started off comfortably cool, in the lower 40s. As we stood around checking in and waiting for the prerace briefing to start, it seemed to be getting colder. I changed into my cold weather contingency clothes, switching out shorts for capris and my tank top for a long sleeved shirt, plus my prized Hellgate jacket. I was wearing a pack, but without the hydration bladder, mostly just for the convenience of pockets for snacks and my Salomon soft flask, plus the option of stashing my 12oz water bottle when I needed my hands.
Soon we lined up near the start, and the gong sounded-what a great way to start a race! We all headed out down the road. It was about 15 minutes before sunrise and there was just enough light to run up the road without headlamps. Several friends were nearby and it was nice to start out together. My first goal of the day was to run the first mile without walking. It's mostly flat or slightly uphill, and followed by a long climb, so I wanted to get some running in while I could. I made that goal, and finished the first mile in 10:30. Then we set in to run/walk (well, mostly walk) the long climb up to Camping Gap. There were still a lot of people close together, which made the climb go by relatively quickly. The sun came up and it was a beautiful morning to be out. I started to feel warm at a few points up the climb and wondered if I had overdressed. Before I knew it, we were taking the hard right turn off the fire road and arriving at Camping Gap at 1:02. I was very pleased with that time, knowing it was several minutes faster than we had done on the training run and I was still feeling good. The aid station crew there was great, very cheerful and helpful.
From there it was on to the toughest part of the climb, the better part of a mile up to the Terrapin summit. This part is always tough on the legs, but every time I climb it, whether training runs or races, it does seem to get a bit easier, if only because it gets more familiar. Even though it felt like forever, it actually took less than 20 minutes to get to the summit. There was a line at the bib punch and I had to wait for 5-6 people to punch their bibs, but it was nice to rest for a few minutes and catch my breath.
From there, we ran along the ridges towards Fat Man's Misery. It was nice to be able to stretch the legs out a bit in between rocky patches, and remember what it's like to run instead of just climb. Now I was not only glad I'd chosen the long sleeves, I started to wish I had added gloves. Before long, we were at Fat Man's Misery. Once again, a bit of a traffic jam. I was pretty tickled to have to wait; when I ran it as a 50K, or ran/hiked last year, I was pretty far behind the pack by this point and had it all to myself. I was quite flattered that I was in the mid-pack still at this point in the race. It didn't take long and we were all through and back on the trail, ready to take on the pounding downhill.
There are a LOT of rocks in this section, and it's very steep. I tried to run hard enough to push myself, but still concentrate on not tripping. Going through the rock garden, I found myself wishing someone would come and paint a few rocks that wouldn't move as you stepped on them so I'd know where to step. The part afterwards feels especially precarious, and is the most challenging section of the course to me, when it's so steep that I often find myself sliding down more than running. Thankfully, the recent rain had given the ground a bit more grip than when it's dry and dusty, and my legs were able to just keep up. I arrived at the last aid station at exactly two hours into the race. I was thrilled with that time. I knew I had run the downhill much stronger than I had any previous time on the course, and yet my legs did not feel trashed and I was looking forward to running strong on the last section.
I was trying to remember exactly how long the race was. My watch said I'd only gone a little over 7 miles by this aid station, but I thought it was pretty close to 13 miles. I decided to do my mental math with 6 miles to go. I was hoping to run 6 miles in 80 minutes, which sounded very doable. I started to get excited about beating Younger Me.
My main goal for this section was just to run as hard as I could the whole time. I'd kept that up so far today and wanted to finish knowing I'd really given my all the entire day. If I did that, I'd be happy with any finishing time. Coming in and out of the last aid station, I'd seen many of my running buddies-Ruth, Rhonda, David, Joe, Tim...it was fun to know that we were all having a good day out there. I chased Rhonda down during the first part of this rolling section and chatted with her for a few minutes. I was experiencing Selective Runner Memory, whereby I remembered this section as having much more downhill and much less uphill than it actually had.
Eventually, we did get to the boundary signs about the edge of the forest, and it started to go downhill. Now this was the running I remembered! It really felt glorious to run hard again, after many miles of challenging climbs and treacherous descents. We blazed through the rest of the swoops in and out of the mountain, and through the last big stream crossing. I ran hard down the rocky road, faster than I normally would but feeling confident and strong and trying to eke out the best finish I could. I ran with a few guys during those last few miles and we really pushed each other to keep going strong. Finally, the picnic table! One more mile. No walking now! We came out to the paved road and headed over the bridge. My last miles friends took off here and I couldn't catch them anymore. There's one last hill that's not big, but just large enough to be annoying when the finish line is so close. Then you can see the finish line, only it's still almost half mile away and you have many cows to run past before you get there. Finally, finally, we came around the corner to the gate. Another girl and I turned the corner at the same time and we both turned on the jets for a sprint across the field. And we were done! 3:02. Twenty whole minutes faster than Younger Me. So much better than I had hoped for!! I was thrilled with my time. It was a great day out there!
The best prize of all was finishing before the freezing rain and snow began. The 50Kers and slower half marathoners definitely had a tougher day as far as weather conditions. Hats off to them.
It was great to watch so many friends finish. Lots of us had set PRs for the course, and everyone seemed to have a good experience out there. We enjoyed a delicious post-race meal of bbq sandwiches, and as icing on the cake, I won a pair of socks in the giveaway.
All in all, it was a magnificent day on the mountain. Can't wait to come back next year and try to break that three hour mark!
