War Eagle Trail 25k

Ty and I have always wanted to run the War Eagle Trail Running Festival in Arkansas and this year was finally the year! It's by far the largest trail race in the area and everyone talks about it. We've discussed doing it in years past, but never made plans early enough to register before the race filled up because it fills up fast. This year mom and dad said they'd watch the kids for us so we could go and both run. After the race we talked about it and we are pretty sure this is the first time Ty and I have ever spent the night at a hotel without the kids. We've had one or two nights at home by ourselves when Ty's parents took the kids to the hotel with them, but we've never been away from them overnight in a different town! After we registered I found out about a state park summer camp and signed Carter up. The camp was the Wednesday through Friday before the race and then packet pick-up for the race was Friday evening. Then we found out Paul and Amanda were coming to Topeka around Memorial Day so we ended up with a super busy first week of summer! The last day of school was May 28th. I subbed in a kindergarten class and then drove home to meet Ty. We picked the kids up from school and went straight to Topeka where we stayed until Tuesday afternoon. We got home Tuesday evening and I unpacked, washed clothes, and repacked for the state park camp which we left for at 7:45 the next morning! The kids and I were at Sequoyah State Park the rest of the week where Ty and my parents met us Friday afternoon. My parents hung out at the park with the kids and went with them to the family event that evening at 7pm while Ty and I headed for Arkansas for packet pick-up. So it was a super busy week! Ty said we started our summer with a bang!

The view on our drive to the race.

Ty's view as he parked the car after dropping me off at the porta potties.

The race started at 6:30 and we had about a 30 minute drive there from our hotel so we got up at 5:00 and left the hotel around 5:20. We wanted to get there a bit early in case parking was an issue. On our drive I ate a Zbar and drank some Nuun. When we pulled into the area where we'd park there was a line of cars waiting so Ty suggested I get out at the porta potties and he'd come find me. I'm glad he did because I ended up making it over to the start area right as the pre-race briefing started. The course started in a different place than where it finished so I decided to run with my phone in my water vest in case I needed it to find Ty after the race. I'm glad I did because he was there cheering for me when I finished but then I headed out on a cool down and he headed out on a shuttle to pick up our car and drive to the finish area. I would have easily found him because he hung out with our friends but it was nice to know where he was and what was going on.

Going into the race I was super excited. I'd never run the trails and didn't know what to expect. One friend told me I would slay it and that it was rolling hills the whole way and super easy trails, not technical at all. Another friend told me the race was so incredibly hard she decided not to run it this year because it was so hard. I decided to plan on something in between those 2. The course map on the race website was a link to someone's Strava from the race. I saw the first mile had over 200 feet of elevation gain so I decided my plan would be to take off conservatively. After my struggle bus race at the Armadillo Ultra 25k a few years back, I've really respected the challenge of a trail race and prefer to run a conservative first half and try to pick up the pace at the end. Combine that with the fact that I'd had a big weekend the week before with a 24 miler on Saturday followed by 14 miles on Sunday, I figured my best bet was a conservative start. We met up with friends before the race start and we were all excited to take off. I didn't realize everyone was walking onto the bridge and would then turn around to run in the other direction until I saw people standing to the side not moving who looked fast and I figured it out. So I probably started a little too far back in the pack but told myself that was a good thing because the last thing I wanted to do was get swept up in the crowd and take out too fast that first mile. We waited for a bit at the starting line and then we were off.

Tulsa crew waiting for the race to start!

The first mile was the only section of the race on pavement. We took off for less than a quarter-mile and then turned onto a road that was an uphill the rest of the way to the trail head. I could see lots of women ahead of me. Going into the race I'd looked at top 3 female finishing times in previous years and thought I was definitely capable of nabbing a top 3 spot. But from the start with how many women were ahead of me, I wasn't so sure. I picked out a woman I knew who started further up than me at the start and decided to focus on slowly catching her. By the time we made it to the trail head, I'd passed quite a few women, but I knew there were still quite a few ahead of me. I hoped to finish top 3 to win Ty a bottle of whiskey. Once we made it to the trail I realized why people start off so fast, the trail was single track and it was super difficult to pass. I got a bit stuck and had to work with other people to get around to pass when there was a bit of a decent section to the side of the path to run on. I wanted to keep a guy from our area I know and figured would run conservatively at the start and have a good race in my sight so each time I saw him pass a group ahead of me, I made sure to make my way around who I was stuck behind so I'd have him in view. At one point we turned a few corners and when we got to where I could see ahead again, he was gone. I was really disappointed but also figured there was no point in pushing around too many people at the start so I settled in behind a woman and man who were running together for about the first 5 miles, but then I started feeling really antsy so when we got to a section where there weren't as many trees to the side I went out and around them both. I'm glad I did because I ended up finishing around 20 minutes ahead of them.

My first five mile splits were 9:02, 10:07, 9:20, 10:02, and 10:02. I was happy with that because I knew in the past 3rd place was always around 10:00 pace so I was shooting for under 10:00 pace. I ate a Gu around mile 5 and then another around mile 10. When I took off around that couple during the 6th mile I felt like I'd gone out way too conservatively because I felt so good and was powering up hills and passing people the whole way. This race was the first time in years I'd seen a race have timing chips you tied onto your shoe. I was worried about it because they just gave us 2 twist ties to secure it to our shoe. I mentioned it multiple times to Ty and then around the 5 mile mark I noticed mine was no longer on my shoe. Around mile 8 I caught up to a woman and passed her. When I looked over I realized she used to be on the race team with me so I said hi and encouraged her. She told me there were 3 women ahead of me. I really appreciated that because at that point I had no idea how many women were ahead of me and it was nice motivation to know I had about 6 miles to catch her. I was passing a lot of people in this section which was a pain because I'd have to speed up to get around before I ran into a tree or run up on the side of a hill to get around. I was feeling really good and having so much fun. We came up to an aid station right at the top of a huge hill and I came up the hill smiling at them, they were really cheering for me and excited that I was smiling going up the hill. One of my friends from a trail running group stopped at the aid station and I kept going because I was wearing my camelback and didn't need water. A little while later he caught up to me and we ran most of the rest of the race together chatting. He told me I looked really good and strong and said I must've gone out too conservatively because I was really cruising.

When we hit mile 11 my Garmin lost satellite connection. I went into the race with 40% battery which I thought would be plenty but being out in the woods on trails really drained my battery. When my battery got low it couldn't connect up anymore. Miles 6-11 were 10:09, 9:22, 9:34, 9:22, 9:11, and 9:19. I hate that I don't have Garmin data for miles 12-14.2 because I was really cruising at that point. It was a little mentally hard not having any idea where I was or how far I had left to go and made it hard knowing how hard to push. I lost contact with my buddy at the last aid station, I'd guess around 13 miles so I didn't have him to tell me where we were. I was so excited when we came up to a sign that said we had a mile left to go so I knew where we were. There was a guy behind me and he asked if that sign was accurate because his watch showed 13 miles and some change and a 25k is 15.5 miles. I told him my watch was still showing we were at 11 miles so I didn't know but I'd heard the course was short and the Strava info they used as the course map showed it was 14.3 miles or something around there. 

We started passing 10k runners who were still out on the course. I was really not looking forward to doing a lot of passing because as I got more tired, passing sucked a lot more, having to go off-roading to do so. I was super pleased that all the 10k runners I passed were watching out for faster runners coming in the other distances and moved over off the trail to make way. It was a much different experience than what I'm used to in road racing! The guy behind me and I chatted a bit as we went and then we hit a big hill. I pushed up it but felt like I was barely moving so I was surprised that he wasn't with me anymore. He caught back up to me later and asked if he could steal some of my hill running ability which we laughed about. I thought it was funny because it felt like the hill was owning me but I apparently ran it well because I put a huge gap between us and it took him quite a while to catch back up. We went up one last big hill and came out onto a road. They started waving me toward a person in yellow and I realized the finish line was right there. I sprinted it in but definitely could have picked it up more if I'd known I was that close to the finish. I ran the last 3.2 miles in 28:54 which was 9:01 average pace. I'd like to know what each of those mile splits was, but oh well! 

I didn't look at the clock as I crossed but I did stop my Garmin. The race director was all excited when I finished and told me I had finished within a minute behind 3rd place. I told him my timing chip had fallen off my shoe so he hurried into the timing tent and had them add my bib into the results right away. My Garmin showed I finished in 2:14:55 and the results show my time was 2:11:20. I don't know if my Garmin messed up my time as well as distance or if they entered me wrong in the results. I assumed my Garmin time would be correct though because it was still running so it should have the correct cumulative time. Looking at the race pictures and the results, I'm pretty confident my Garmin time is correct because of the men who finished around me and their times. I think they just entered my time incorrectly since they had to add it manually. I think my time was probably 2:14:20 and they accidentally hit two ones instead of a 1 and a 4. I started my Garmin when I reached the front of the bridge thinking that was the start and then we ran further down to the timing mats, so I could see my watch time being around 30 seconds off. Not 3 minutes though! My Garmin showed 12 miles so I checked with all my friends who ran the 25k and their watches varied from 14-14.5 miles so I went with 14.2 because that's what the course map showed and that was the most common distance people had. Using that distance and my finishing time, that's an average pace of 9:28 per mile which I was really excited about. My finishing time would have been in the top two every other year. That's why I hate running for place because it all just depends on who shows up. This was the fastest 4th place time at this race. 

I ran a 3 mile cool down to get 17 miles in for the day. I planned to run 10 miles the following day but was so sore and it was such a struggle, I ended up only running 5 miles. Note to self for future years, plan to take a day or 2 off after this one. My quads were trashed from the nearly 2,000 feet of elevation gain. I think the downhills are what really got me because I was okay going uphill a couple days later but the downhills still hurt! I think if I ever target this race as a goal race, instead of doing hill repeats were I sprint up the hill and jog down, I should add in some hard downhills as well. Maybe sprinting downhill and jogging back up, not sure, I need to do some research on it. Knowing what I know now, I think I'd go out more aggressively that first mile to get into a better position once you make it to the trails and to be able to see the other top women. I was in a hard place with all the passing I had to do on the trails and having no idea how many women were ahead of me when we were on the trails. I really think I could have placed top 3 if I'd run a faster first mile and not needed to pass as much as well as been able to pass easier in the beginning of the race. I was too cautious about passing and too conservative with my pace at the start. I don't regret that though because I had so much fun and felt good the whole way! I was worried the 2nd half of the race would be a struggle but the 2nd half seemed to have fewer big hills than the first half, so I'd be okay going out harder in the future. This race was such a blast! We had catfish, hush puppies, and watermelon as post race food and Ty went for chicken tenders instead. We hung out and watched the top male finisher in the 50k break the course record and then we headed to the hotel so we could shower before check out time. Ty and I each found a tick during our showers.

Ty early on in his race.

Ty finishing the 10k.

Ty hadn't been training due to his kidney stones and the stint they put in. He would bleed when he ran so he decided time off was for the best. I told him not to worry about it and even just hike the whole way if he wanted since I was running so much farther than him and even if I finished before him, I wouldn't mind. The 10k course ended up being long at over 7 miles which he was not happy about. He finished in 1:43:40 which put him 109th out of 172 overall and 15th in his age group. I finished 1st in my age group, 4th female, and 20th out of 265 overall.

With my friend April after the race. They gave us frisbees at the finish to use as our plates to reduce waste.

Tulsa group really represented!

As I mentioned earlier, I planned to run 10 miles the day after the race for my back to back long runs of the weekend at 17 and 10 miles. I figured 10 miles would be conservative enough for the day after a race. I was shocked how sore I was. I was even walking differently and noticed my quads were so sore, it was causing me to lock my left knee as I walked and I'd occasionally lock it and stumble. Dad took a video of me trying to run on Sunday and it's obvious I should have taken the day off. I struggled through 5 miles hoping the soreness would abate but it never did and I was in pain the whole way. I did feel better after running than I had before so I was glad to know it wasn't a huge mistake. I took Monday off and was still incredibly sore Tuesday but managed 9:07 per mile pace. Wednesday I went ahead with my mid-week long run but decided to drop my workout since I was still so sore the day before. I was still sore, just my quads, but Wednesday wasn't as much of a struggle. Finally on Thursday I felt almost back to normal so I threw some strides in at the end of my run. I decided to swap my long runs for the coming weekend with the next weekend and do 17/13 instead of 26/16 just to help my legs recover the rest of the way. I'm hoping next week I'll be ready to get a workout in because then it will be time to start tapering for the 50k! I was so glad to get to experience this race and have a little night away with Ty, especially after being apart that week for Carter's summer camp. It was such an amazing couple of days and I had an absolute blast at the race. It was the most fun I've ever had in a trail race and I didn't fall, woo hoo! A woman fell behind me in the first few miles and a guy fell in front of me in the 2nd half of the race so I was even more proud of myself that I never even stumbled! These trails were way less technical than the ones I'm used to running on, so that helped.

For fun, I thought I'd share links to all the trail races I've done:

Escape From Turkey Mountain 2016 (5 miles, my first ever trail race!)

Armadillo Ultra 2018 (25k)

Red Dirt Shuffle 2018 (half-marathon)

Dark and Dirty 2019 (10k)