I have to be completely honest: I underestimated the difficulty of trail racing. Going into this year, I had only ever done two trail races. Both had been under 50 minutes long and a classic format (up the mountain, down the mountain), which meant they were hard, but generally on par with the difficulty of a track race. In the last 2 months, I did 5 trail races, 4 of which were over 2.5 hours long. As someone who is used to racing for 5-15 minutes, this was a shock. The abrasive ups and downs, altitude, constantly changing weather conditions, and need for intra-race fueling were also shocking. The result was a few humbling experiences, some major lessons, and a desire to come back better next year.
I didn’t finish a single race thinking “wow, I was prepared for that.” Instead, I finished every race thinking “wow, I missed at least half of the training elements necessary to have success in that race.” This was unfortunate, but I also find it exciting because that means I have so much room for improvement. Despite feeling unsatisfied with my preparation and results this season, I truly enjoyed the races and trail community; it definitely made me want to come back and test myself again next year. Watch the video below to see my last two races of the season (against the best in the world!).
