Last year the Cougar Half (OK, let’s call it what it is – the Cougar 13.7 mile) was one of the harder runs I’d done, harder even than the Watershed Marathon. I remember getting to the final aid station around the time I expected to be done and finding I had three more miles and one more grueling climb to deal with, it was a bit disheartening. I vowed not to do it again.
Yet, here I was up at 5:00 making a pinole-chia waffle, on the road by 6:00 and at Cougar Mountain Park by 6:30 in the morning helping set up for the event. I even went out and bought new shoes. I’ve been doing the bulk of my running in Luna Leadvilles this year and just knew this route would be too much with the steep descent down Wilderness Peak. I also bruised the soles of my feet pretty bad the week before so wanted something with a bit more protection but still pretty minimal. The new Inov-8 Trailroc series get delivered just in time and I picked up a pair of the Trailroc 245s on Friday and didn’t even really lace them on until the race started, these shoes looked perfect for the rugged terrain that Cougar would be dishing out.
I went for a total Thrive/Vega Sport nutrition solution for this event, it was going to be hot and steep so I knew I needed good hydration and some calories to keep me going. I wore my Ultraspire Kinetic vest to be self contained and not have to spend any time at the aid stations, saving several minutes of time easily. I carried one bottle of water and one bottle of electrolyte mix. For food I had two Vega Endurance Gels and two Thrive Chocolate-Chia energy balls. Having done a half on Rattlesnake a few weeks ago and a Watershed 25k last weekend with the same setup I knew that this would be perfect for the run and keep me going non-stop.
The event was pretty much as I remembered it, the first easy 3+ miles to the initial aid station were completed in about 35 minutes. Then began the climb to Wilderness Peak and the huge descent which seemed as if it would never end. The Trailrocs were great on the descent, good traction on the somewhat loose and mixed terrain and I never even felt the bruises on my soles when I did hit a rock or root. I know I made it down that hill way faster in the Trailrocs than I would have been able to do in the Lunas. Somewhere along the descent I got stung by a wasp in the arm, that hurt.
The next ascent was quite a bit of walking, it was long and pretty steep. I made it to the second aid station in 1:11. The next leg of mixed terrain wasn’t too bad and I think I only walked a few small steep sections arriving at the final aid station at 1:53, a bit ahead of my last year’s time which was right at 2 hours. On this ascent I got stung by another wasp in the left knee. Not sure what is going on with the wasps and me today.
Running past the last aid station I ran until I hit the last somewhat evil hill on the Quarry trail. There was no way I could run that thing and just started walking. I got stung by another wasp in the same arm as the first one but kept walking. I wasn’t really sure I’d start running again when things leveled out, I was feeling pretty drained. I downed another energy ball on the walk, chugged some electrolyte and got myself moving again vowing to make relentless forward progress until the end. I did get running and even got back to pace on the last mile. Crossed the finish at 2:34:30 which turned out to be 7 minutes faster than my last year’s time.
The new shoes – no complaints at all aside from a bit of bruised toe from wearing shoes again. These things rock for the rugged terrain around here with a pretty perfect tread pattern, just enough protection to keep the feet feeling good and still a low enough drop, 3mm, that my barefoot stride didn’t get impacted. I think these will be my footwear of choice for some of the more rugged or longer runs that I have coming up. Next planned event is the Dash Point Marathon on September 8 on my way to a 50k in October.