A nice refreshing dunk... Just couldn't see to well after!

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day :)

Last Sunday (May 30, 2010) I went to the Patapsco Trail Race in Catonsville (Baltimore County), MD. I have done this low-key running event before in 2007 and 2008, and both times they were slightly different courses. I like it because it is relatively inexpensive and close to where I live. The course is fairly rocky and quite hilly in some areas, so I have taken this slow in the past, and that was what I intended to do with this one.

I had not run anything longer than about 5.5 miles since I got back from my last break from running, so I intended this 6+-mile race to be a "long run of the week" for me.

When I got there, it was pretty hot and fairly humid. They apparently had a record turnout of over 100 participants, and I was waiting in the registration line for the better part of 10 minutes probably. By the time, I registered, I drank more than half of my water bottle and I realized I should probably run with it in this race, and take it real slow. I was grateful to hear that there would be a fairly deep river crossing somewhere along the course. I had also hear that this course was probably gonna be longer than what it was the previous two times I had run it, because I heard it was gonna be somewhere fairly well over 6 miles. Though, I hoped that if I ran with my now-almost-empty water bottle, and if I maybe really soaked in the deep river crossing, I would be able to get through all right. I was definitely feeling a little doubtful about it, since my mouth was kind of feeling dry and I heard there weren't gonna be any water stops. I prayed and I had confidence that God would get me through, as He has always done.

The race started, and I started towards the back. Not more than about 15 seconds after it started, I was slowed to a slow trot as the crowd backed up to a narrow and somewhat steep and fairly rocky descent into the woods towards a creek. In the past this downhill seemed more steep and treacherous with rocks, in fact the first time I ran on it with my friend David several years back, I twisted my ankle on it. Yet, I was fortuante it did not seem that bad this time around.

Once I got more on the water level and splashed as we ran through a couple of puddles/creeks, I felt pretty good, in fact much better than I had before. We got out onto a portion of road not more than a mile into the race, and I saw a water spicket off to the side of the road, and I excitedly angled toward it, and stopped briefly to fill up my water bottle and grab a sip of it. Now I think I was ready to get moving with this run.

A few minutes later, we turned back onto the trails and soon came to a deep river crossing (which I later found out was the Patapsco river dividing Baltimore and Howard Counties). I joyfully got in the water, swam in it a bit, slipped, plodded/waded through it, and then just before I got to the bank on the Howard County side of it, I went under to really cool off, and once I got to Howard County on the riverbank, I realized my glasses were gone! AHHH!

I had probably not gone much more than a mile into the race, and there was probably well over 5 miles of some fairly treacherous trail ahead. Without my glasses that could be dangerous for me; and I would need to really have my wits about me driving home without my glasses. I quickly thought it was best to just retrace my steps the way I came and drop out of the race. I now had bigger worries on my mind (for one thing, I had made Memorial Weekend plans with Kay, and I would have to cancel on her if I could not get replacements and be able to drive safely). Fortunately, I was blessed to be able to find my way out all right. Some bikers helped me find the trail once I got back on the road, and then I found one of the race coordinators, and he was running back towards the start/finish area outside of the woods, so we ran back there together. I think we got out of the woods in a little over 43 minutes, around 10 minutes before the gentleman in first place finished.
Fortunately, I was not too far from where I lived, and once I got back, showered, called my mother for a ride to the eyeglass store, my dad had actually found older glasses of mine from several years ago. That was such an awesome blessing, because even though the prescription was probably a little outdated, they fit well and I could see fine to the point where I almost forgot I was without my current pair.

I am so grateful I got out of those woods safely, and that I still have glasses to drive about safely in. I have been wearing glasses since I was in kindergarten, so I have gotten used to them (and I hope I am not making much of a crutch of them either).
So that was my racing adventure this past weekend. Last time I ran a trail race like that was mid-July last summer when I did the St. Roch's Trail Race (I ran the 7K option), where I fell and my glasses fell off, and after about 15 minutes or so of looking, some other runners helped me find them, and I ran the rest of the way with them in hand.
I think the next time I run a really rugged trail race like that, I should really be careful... And not be so quick to take a dip if I want to cool down... "Cooling down' should maybe be a nice light jog after the race.