So this race happened on a whim, I signed up for this race at the very last moment. I have always been a fan of Aravaipa Running based out of Phoenix, but always seem to be out of town on race day. This time, my wife and I were fresh off the Mt. Everest Adventure of a lifetime and I wanted to see if my high altitude acclimation would have any effect on my running. While in Nepal we spent a few weeks between 12,000-19,000 feet elevation in freezing temperatures. We are from the desert of Arizona, rarely seeing cold or elevation, so this really put a damper in my running while on the Everest Base Camp Trek. Not only were we spending 6-8 hours a day hiking with complete gear, we were also climbing 2,000-3,000 feet elevation gain per day. The trails we were on were far from flat. With that said I was only able to run twice in the three weeks I was trekking (mainly due to altitude type issues, even walking was hard some days!) In the next week, I tried getting back into a running groove but had what some people call the "Khumbu Cough" (A type of bronchitis caused by breathing in freezing air at high altitudes.) I started feeling better a few days before the race and thought "why not, what's the worst that could happen".......
This race takes place right outside of Fountain Hills, AZ. A city that is known for its fountain that shoots 560 feet into the crisp desert air. I had seen this fountain from afar, but had never made it this direction to see it up close. I thought that would be a cool thing to see on the morning 2 hour drive to the race from Tucson. Just my luck, the fountain was off as we drove through the city!! I was actually a little disappointed, even though the fountain has never really been a big deal!! I wasn't here for that anyway, I was here to do a good trail run in the desert and see how hard a 25k with little training could be. This is race 3 of 7 in Aravaipas' Desert Running Trail Series (DRT for short). Many people complete many, if not all, trying to win the series title. This was my first of the 2016-2017 series and I also completed the final of the series last year (Timing just hasn't worked out for me to do more than that).
The course is entirely made up of competitive mountain biking trails. As you could imagine this meant billions of short ups and downs and a trillion tight turns. Seen on the elevation profile below, we weren't gaining a ton of elevation on each climb but it added up at the end of the day.
For the 25K race we completed a lap on the 10 mile long loop and then circled back around through the finish line and complete the 5 mile technical loop. The race started off at a fairly slow 7:30 pace. Nobody shot out of the gate never to be seen again like in my previous race in Flagstaff (thanks Jim Walmsley). There was a tight group of about 10 people sticking together through the first 3-4 miles. It was at this time that I realized my pace might be too fast for my current fitness level. Not running anything consistently in a month was starting to make this race way harder than it looked on paper! I kept my current pace for as long as I could, but slowly started getting passed. I had debated for a while between a hand held vs my hydration vest for this race. I ended up choosing my Ultimate Direction Anton Vest as these desert races get hot and I always feel a little dehydrated. This was a great choice as I felt like I couldn't get enough water in from the start. There were aid stations every 3 miles, until mile 10 and then one the last 5 miles. As the miles kept passing by, my pace slowed to around 8:15/mi as I was nearing the 10 mile loop finish.
At this point in the race, I felt as bad as I ever have in a race. The small ups and downs had killed my hip flexors and even the small climbs were wearing me down. Since I had signed up for this race last minute and I hadn't been running in so long, I hit a bunch of hard workouts back to back trying to jump start myself back into shape. Looking back the workout that did me in was a hard run and 10,000 meter row workout the day before the race. Probably not the smartest plan, as a 25k is no joke. Back to the race at hand, I was about to cross the finish line and head back out for the technical 5 mile loop. This was the only time in recent memory that I actually thought about just calling it quits as I crossed and not leaving for the next loop. I have yet to DNF a race and sure as heck wasn't going to let this one be the first. I pushed on at a slower pace and knew this was going to be a 5 mile grind to the finish line. Most of the harder, steeper climbs were on this loop and I had to end up walking up most of them. As I started walking I kept getting passed (which for me is a new thing, I always feel like I'm the one doing the passing toward the end of races). This wore me down mentally, but I kept pushing forward. Right around mile 14 of this 15+ mile course the hardest climb awaits. It's nothing huge or super long, but at this point nearly everyone was walking up. Nobody was passing anyone and everyone was just waiting for that finish line to come. Luckily after the big climb, it was downhill and then right around the corner!!
I ended up finishing the race in 2 hours and 15 minutes for 18th Male and 23rd place overall. Not my greatest finish of all time, but I was just pumped to be able to finish despite my lack of training. The month out climbing mountains and being at high elevation was awesome, but that paired with only hiking and no running made for a rough transition back!!
Now onto the scores:
Race Location: Located within 30-45 minutes from Phoenix, but far enough outside of town that it feels like you're in the middle of the desert. The sunrise drive out to the course was amazing with the bright pinks and oranges and cactus backdrop. Trails were maintained and very runnable! 8/10
Swag: T Shirt with race logo and Race Logo Finishers mug. T shirt is 100% polyester and isn't the most comfortable. Would love to see a soft cotton/polyester blend. This is one of those race shirts I might not ever wear (Even though I like showing off what I have done)! Finishers mug is awesome and cuts down on cup waste at finish line. Great to drink a well deserved finishers beer from the finishers mug! 7.5/10
Experience: Aravaipa puts on great races. All races I have been too have been smooth and well put together. There were enough port-o-potties for a minimal wait time (and had enough TP), enough parking right by the venue and had a fire and heaters for the cold desert morning. The aid stations were well stocked and the finishing aid station had everything you could think of. (Gummies, pickles, coke, pumpkin pie) 9/10
Post Race: This isn't a huge race, but they had the Freak Brothers wood fired pizza and beer for post race. My wife didn't run this race with me this time, so as soon as I finished we took off. AZ wildnerness brewery is about 30 minutes away and I had been wanting to go there for a while. Brewery had great atmosphere, food and of course great beer. Any race in the Phoenix area will have great post race for out of towners as there are great restaurants and breweries throughout town to chill. 8/10
Overall: Overall I had a great time at this race, despite suffering through the second half. You could tell the trails were more built for mountain bikes with the banked turns and sharp ups and downs. It was kind of hard to get in a running groove for this fact, but trails were very well kempt and runnable. Will definitely add this race to my race schedule in an upcoming year to get my revenge! Would work on better t-shirts, but other than that, this was an outstanding race and environment. Overall 8/10
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