World Trail Running Championships

I've made my way back from the beautiful sight of the Xterra World Trail Running Championships in Oahu, Hawaii. On one hand its depressing, leaving 80 degree weather and exchanging it for 30 degrees. I come home with a 2nd place trophy at the World Championship so that brightens my day.

The race went nothing as I had expected. There were no mile markers, nor was I able to run the course before the race due to the race being held at Kualoa Ranch (private land). The location of the event was nothing less than amazing! Movies such as Jurassic Park, 50 First Dates, Me, You, and Dupree and a few others have been filmed on the same exact course of the race. I had my hands full with fast guys from all over the World. My biggest concern came from that of Max King. We had a battle last year in a mountain race, which I was able to hold him off for the win. Also, I had Ben Bruce a 13:30ish 5k guy and John Tribbia, a well seasoned trail/mountain runner from Colorado. Not to mention, a list of other international trail runners to get me nervous due to my lack of knowing what they were capable of. I knew Max would be my biggest competition as he was the fastest in say a flat half marathon and also had great hill running ability.

Once the race started Ben, Max, and I seperated from the pack and by 5k we were clear ahead of the field. Ben started to drop back shortly after and then Max and I exchanged leads for a while. He put a sharp surge on me and I thought to myself, "he must be going too soon". I figured we probably had 8-9 miles left and also a ton of hills. We actually had less, much less than that remaining. By not covering his move I was left alone trying to figure the correct route through the switchbacks of the thick forestry. I backtracked a few times to make sure I was going the right way and that costed me MINUTES. Max and Ben, having run the course before last year were able to more aggressively in the switchbacks than I, due to my constant feeling of mis-direction. By the time I knew I was on the right path Ben had shrunk my lead and Max had pretty much run away for the win. I held on to 2nd and finished under the old record set in 2008 by over a minute.

Looking back on the race, the course was definitely challenging. However, something to remember is that trail races are definitely much different than mountain races. Mountain races are much more extreme in terms of descents and ascents, which is what I love most, but I do enjoy normal trail running races as well. This race in particular was even more challenging due to the heat and humidity of Hawaii. Not knowing where you were on the course made it even more of a stuggle, but now that I have run the race, next year will be a better situation. I will be able to be more aggressive from start to finish. I hope they again, leave out the mile markers so that I can have the upper hand on a rookie for the event next year!

After the race I hit some trails with Max in some forest I think called Manawili? Then we headed for some beach time at Waikiki. Being in the ocean in December is unheard of in Washington so I took full advantage of this. Before heading out, I of course had to get in a run at Diamond Head Crater. My adventerous nature wouldn't allow me to take the path frequently traveled. No, I decided to scale up a very steep and slippery side of the crater. The good thing about this was I found a nice trail that went along the rim of the Crater. You won't see any tourists on this trail, its pretty slim and kinda dangerous, but its worth it.

You will get a much better view than any of the 5 million tourists that go up the stairs each day so I recommend doing exactly what I did. Just make sure you find a safer way down, preferably on the side you came up. I made the dumb mistake of running to a different side of the crater by the water and trying to get down. Only there was a cliff there so I had to pull some Indiana Jones moves and jump over to a branch on a nearby tree and climb down.

I have a few pics to come, but here are a few random ones from the race. The last pic has a mountain in the background, I think it looks similar to the Matterhorn in Switzerland, don't you?

Here is a link to the article: http://www.xterraplanet.com/news/dsp_content.cfm?id=2590