The Life of a Running Momma: Flint & Steel Trail 25k

My whole group of running friends was able to coordinate for this race! A couple years ago everyone in the group but me and one other friend in the group ran it. I'd just done the marathon at Route 66 and wasn't ready for a trail race so soon after, so I didn't go. We were so excited to all be together at a race again for the first time in years. I was torn between running the 10k and the 25k. I wanted to do the 25k but it started at 8am while the 10k didn't start until 9:30. It was about an hour and a half drive so I was leaning toward the 10k. That way I wouldn't have to get up quite as early. Then one of my friends suggested she and I go up the night before and share a hotel room so we wouldn't have to drive the morning of. Once we made that decision, I went with the 25k. Then they posted the 25k course records on their Facebook page and I was really excited I'd decided on the 25k because I felt like the course record was definitely doable for me. The course record of 2:39:41 was a little slower than my time at the Armadillo Ultra 25k and that race was in the middle of the summer and I was on the verge of heat exhaustion by the time I finished so I figured I should be able to beat my time from that race for this one. My friend, April, has run this one and War Eagle and said they were pretty comparable so I was expecting rolling hills the whole way and not too technical trails. The temps were in the low 50's for the start and didn't show warming up much during the race so I wore my tank top, shorts, headband, and gloves.

When I was almost to the hotel on Friday evening I realized I forgot to pack my water bottle from my fuel belt which I planned to run with in the pocket of my spandex shorts. I didn't want to have to rely on the water stops at the race. April told me the water stops were really good but I decided to go ahead and try to find a water bottle to carry with me. I'm glad I did because there ended up only being 2 water stops out on the course and even with temps in the 50's, that wouldn't have been enough water! Siloam Springs where we were staying didn't have a Wal-Mart, they just had a Neighborhood Wal-Mart. The only water bottles they had were 22 ounces and made of metal. That wasn't going to work. I decided to see if there were juice bottles for kids that might work instead. I landed on a 6 ounce apple juice bottle with a Hulk character head. There were also 12 ounce options but I thought that might get too heavy and I could always refill my bottle at an aid station if needed. Audrey and Paige saw the Hulk sticking out of my shorts pocket after I finished and they were cracking up. It was pretty funny and I was really excited to see if he made an appearance in any of my race photos.

My trusty water bottle for the day.

The hulk peeking out of my pocket during the race!

At the race start I saw a couple women who looked like they'd be fast but they weren't interested in coming toward the front when they called for racers to come to the line. We took off and there were a handful of guys ahead of me. We ran on a gravel road for a bit before getting onto the trails and that section of the course reminded me of the start at War Eagle because we ran uphill for the better part of a mile and it was steep. The course was a 10k loop followed by a shorter loop out in a different direction, and then the 10k loop again. I paid close attention to which mile the hills and tricky sections of the course were so I could be mentally prepared for them during the 2nd loop. When we made it up the huge hill at the start, I expected things to level off a bit but then we turned and went downhill just as steep and treacherous as the one we'd gone up. When we made it down that hill we turned and went back up. That happened 3 times within the first 2 miles and I was pretty concerned that I still had 13.5 miles to go and the hills were so steep and unrelenting. The downhills especially were tough on my quads. I kept telling myself to run conservatively as I didn't know what that smaller loop in the middle would entail and I felt like I was. I felt strong and was just cruising along. There was one guy out in front who was the course record holder and then 2 guys closer to me and then I had a decent gap on the people behind me. It was fun to watch the 2 guys in front of me because the one would run the downhills really hard and would pass the guy in front of him, only for the other guy to catch him again on the uphill.

My first 2 mile splits were 9:01 and 10:17. The first mile was probably a little fast considering there was almost 300 feet of elevation gain but it didn't feel fast. Finally when we hit 3 miles we had a flatter section and that part of the trail was not technical at all. I could actually take my eyes off the ground and enjoy my view. Then we came out into a field around mile 4 and did a little loop out there before going back onto the trails. It was nice to have a flatter less technical section in the field but there were little holes all over the place and your feet sunk down into the ground a bit because of it which I didn't mind on the first loop but made me feel tired during the 2nd loop. Miles 3 and 4 were 8:56 and 8:24. During mile 3 the guy who was only getting passed on the downhills caught up to the guy in first and they were running together. Then I caught the downhill runner a little bit after that. The guys leading the race had enough of a lead on me that I couldn't see them anymore when we want back into the woods. So once I passed the guy ahead of me there were a lot of miles where I was alone.

There was a hill in this section of the race that was so steep and long. I looked up and saw that it just kept going (it was also really rocky so I had to keep my eyes down) and I told myself, don't look up. When I finally made it to the top of the hill I turned to the right a bit and kept going up. I knew that was going to be brutal during the 2nd loop. But once I hit a mile to go in the loop there were no more big hills which I made a mental note of so I'd know it was okay to start pushing with a mile to go. Miles 5 and 6 were 8:48 and 9:42. I thought we'd come back through the finishing area and I'd get to see April and Alicia who would be arriving for the start of the 10k but they had us turn before we got there. After the race they told me they saw me out the car window as they were pulling in so they wouldn't have been over there anyway. I looked at my watch when I came out of that loop to see about how long I could expect the 2nd loop to take and I'd run it in 55 minutes, 9:24 pace which I was super impressed with and excited about because I knew the course record was over 10:00 pace.

I had taken my gloves off around 3 miles in and tossed them when I turned to the left to get to the shorter loop. That way they'd be close to the finish line and easy to pick up after I finished. I crossed over the river on a bridge and then ran through a couple of fields to get to the other section of trail. They made the course super easy to follow by coordinating your bib color with the color of ribbons they used to mark the course. I was following red flags the whole time but then when I got to the shorter loop, I had it in my head that I had been following orange and thought they must've used red to signify being on the shorter loop. Then I chuckled when I remembered my bib was red so I had been following red all along! We had to cross over a little creek and one of the stones I used to step on was underwater more than I expected so I got my left foot completely soaked. I was worried it would cause a blister but I didn't have any issues.

The smaller loop was a real wild card. I kind of figured the small loop would be similar to the 10k loop and hoped maybe there wouldn't be as many hills. I was correct in thinking there wouldn't be as many steep hills, there weren't, but that loop was way more technical than the 10k loop. There were rocks all over the trail but they weren't stuck into the ground like most trails I've run. They were smaller (maybe baseball sized) and would roll out from under your feet. Much of the trail was on a slant which was also tricky. Then there were LOTS of down trees. The first 3, I was all smiles and thinking, "Fun, I get to hop over some trees!" But then it started to get old and my legs started to get tired. There was one tree that was so tall, I had to climb over it and as I slid down on the other side I caught my hand wrong and got a splinter. I also scratched my leg a little. I figured the loop was about 3 miles since we ran a 10k loop twice and I was counting down the miles until I was finished with that loop! I also knew once I finished that loop I got to go up monster steep hills for the first 2 miles of the 10k loop so I tapered my excitement a bit.

I checked my watch at 7.75 miles so I could estimate my finishing time to see about how much under the course record I might be, I was at 1:14:something so figured I'd finish around 2:29, putting me 10 minutes under the course record. Toward the end of the loop we had to go along a creek bed that was shale and wet so super slippery. They had rope embedded in the hillside so you could hold it and keep from falling as you went. There was no way to run that section so I just walked, holding the rope. Miles 7-9 were 10:10, 11:37, and 11:56. Then it was the start of the 10k loop again. I was gearing up mentally for that long, steep incline and this time my legs were beyond tired after hopping over all those trees and dealing with the rocks slipping out from under my feet. I was making my way up the hill that I now knew went on for an eternity when all the sudden this guy goes hauling past me. I was like, woah, I can't believe he has that kind of speed in his legs after everything we just went through. Then here comes another guy and then 2 more guys. I checked the time on my watch and realized I was getting passed by 10k runners who had just started their race. After not seeing anyone for about 6 miles, it was nice to have people around me but at the same time, seeing them blast up the hill made me want to walk a little bit. After the surge of 10k runners passed me on that first hill there was a guy running not that much faster than me who passed me but then we'd go back and forth with me passing him and then him passing me back. That helped make the race more fun and gave me someone to work with.

I powered through all the hills in those first couple miles and used the mantra "that lady who set the course record didn't walk up these hills, you won't either," to motivate myself. Miles 10-12 were 10:03, 11:51, and 9:55. I knew if I kept my pace down around 10:00 I should still be doing fine since I was well under course record pace at half-way. The race really starts to blur in my mind at this point because I was so tired. We crossed paths with the 5k at some point and they must not have had to run up the monster hills at the beginning of the race because they just appeared on the trail ahead of us from somewhere else. I was a little bit jealous of that! So we were passing a lot of 5k runners which was a nice distraction. When I hit 13.5 miles I checked my overall time and I had 25 minutes to run 2 miles so I was confident I would make it in under course record time as long as I didn't fall. There were a few steep downhills where I just kept thinking, don't fall. The guy I'd been running with yelled to ask me if I was in the 10k at one point and I told him that I was in the 25k and he asked if we had the same course because he was worried about taking a wrong turn. We made it to that huge hill that this time I knew kept going even after we turned. I told myself, don't look up and just powered up it. But by the time I made it to the top where we'd turn right and then go back up again, my legs were burning. I decided I was better off walking up that last portion of hill. The guy in the 10k passed me as I was walking but didn't make it that much further before deciding to walk himself. Once the hill was starting to level off I started running again but he kept walking so I passed him back. After that I'd hear him behind me at times but didn't see him again.

I made it in the 10k runners photo!

When we came downhill and ran alongside the river, I was so excited, knowing I was super close to the finish line. I looked at my watch and saw I wasn't at 15 miles yet so figured the course was a bit under the 15.5 miles of a 25k, but I was totally okay with that. I was sooooo ready to be done! I ran miles 13-15 in 9:01, 11:03, and 9:46 pace (mile 15 was really around 9/10ths of a mile). I could see the finish line and took off sprinting. I smiled and gave a thumbs up as I crossed the finish line and noticed on the clock that I ended up being 10 minutes under the course record after all, since the course was shorter than I was expecting as I was calculating how much I'd be under the record. I saw Audrey and Morgan when I finished and then Paige walked up. They were all cracking up over Hulk who they could see poking out of my pocket. April came in, running her mom in to the finish, and then we all watched Alicia finish the 10k. Everyone had a blast and we all ate the lunch they served and stuck around for awards. I was 3rd overall and 1st female with a finishing time of 2:29:30. That put me 10 minutes and 11 seconds under the previous course record! It was a good day made even better by the company of friends!