Yetifunk

Two coworkers and I left at around 5:30 PM on Friday night for the drive to Kansas City. We arrived at our hotel at around 9PM after a detour to “Taco John’s” for dinner. If you have the opportunity to eat at Taco John’s don’t. Just saying.

After checking in we walked across the street to grab a beer before crashing for the night. We got up around 6:30AM, grabbed a quick shower and some breakfast and then drove to the race start. When we got there the parking lot was already full so we had to park about a quarter of a mile down the road in another parking lot. We then hung out for about twenty minutes waiting for race start.

The race started at 8AM and the first few hundred yards were through calf deep snow before we climbed a short hill and hit the single track. The first 30 minutes were the normal single file start and stop you get at trail runs. The snow was still soft and you had to watch you’re footing to make sure you didn’t roll an ankle. After thirty minutes we hit the triangle, a section of the trail that was switchback after switchback until you pop out at the same point you entered to keep running down the trail.

After the triangle the trail became mostly flat and runnable until we hit a long downhill section that kicked us out at the base of the dam.

The course here was flat but the snow was still soft making it difficult to run. I shuffled across the clearing and started climbing back up the other side. When I got up to the road I saw the sign for the five mile mark, grabbed some suckers at the aid station and started walking up the road to the next set of trail.

The next few miles were a brutal set of climbs and switchbacks known as “Fester’s Way” after the race directors dog who allegedly chose the route when they turned him loose on a training run. The next two miles were extremely difficult to get into a good pace as you were constantly ducking trees or climbing for short distances. With three miles to the finish of the first loop the trail becomes runnable again although now you have to contend with steep hills followed by sections of flats.

I felt good to be running consistently again and probably pushed it too hard through this section finishing the first loop in around 2:07 before heading out for the second loop. I felt really good during the second loop until I hit Fester’s way where I also hit the wall for about a mile. Luckily I was able to recover and finish strong with a second lap of 2:17, total time 4:24 and 34th male finisher.

This was my first race of the year and it felt pretty good. I was a bit sore this morning but I managed to get an easy 6 mile run in. I have a 50k in two weeks which should be a good time as well.

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