Alot of Fun, Some Pain, and a Little Kick

I had a great time in Omer this Saturday night running in the Winter Wolf Run, a 15 mile trail run that takes place at night. I will go through my experience and results in the race, but I wanted to include a little background on the race. The Witchy Wolf Run (run in the summer) and the Winter Wolf Run are run to celebrate a local legend, the Witchy Wolf. As the legend goes, the Witchy Wolf has roamed the fields and wilderness around Omer known as the Omer Plains. This habitat, divided by the Rifle River, contains vast stretches of woods traveled by the wolf himself. The creature is rarely seen and that is the reason for the run. It is the hope of the race organizers that with so many runners out on the course, the Witchy Wolf comes out and a specimen can be captured.

Alright, enough about the legend...on to the race. The weather forecast was excellent, 32 degrees and a slight wind, and the area had not received half the snow they received the year before. Last year, the roads and trails had a foot to two feet of snow and made for a tough night of running. We would not have to contend with snow, but would have to contend with icy roads. After getting the icy report from some of the race officials, I decided to wear the "screw shoes" to have extra traction. The race participants moved to the start line with the race director to go over the final instructions before the 6:30pm start. We started the race with the participants howling and starting down the road. A pack of 20 or so runners took off up ahead and then everyone settled into their paces. We were quickly out of Omer and on icy and snow packed two tracks. This is where I was glad I went for the extra traction.

Somewhere around the second mile, we turned from the two track and into the woods. This is where I had the most fun during the race. We were essentially running on a deer (or wolf in this case) trail. The runners had to bob, weave, and duck around trees and follow the fluorescent markers the organizers placed on the trees. My pace slowed dramatically during this section, but it was a blast to really be running through woods at night. Before I knew it, we were back on the two track and heading toward the exchange point for the 2 person relay teams near the Rifle River bridge. The people waiting at the exchange rate were great and offered encouragement while they were waiting for their teammates. A mile or so after the exchange point, we went past a dead end sign and started down a hill. It turned out that there was a creek crossing at the bottom of the hill where we walked across a plank. I tried to run the uphill, but was losing traction so I decided to walk up the uphill. After that, we hit two track again. This section seemed to last forever and this is where I started to feel some ankle and hip pain. Since it was more of a dull pain, I decided to just keep running but slowed down a little.

I continued the slower pace until we passed a bonfire at the last aid station and the Omer City Limit. I figured we were less than a mile and a half left so I picked the pace back up. We passed a couple people that were waiting to cheer on their friends and they said the finish was right in front of the blinking red light ahead. It looked to be about a quarter mile away and there were 4 people ahead of me, so I said, "Why not go for it?" I kicked it in, ran as fast I could, and passed 3 out of the 4. I finished at 2:09:03 on my Garmin and around that time on the race clock for my first 15 miler, my first night race, and my first trail race.

Back at the Omer Hall, the organizers had chili and chicken noodle soup for the runners which hit the spot after being at the freezing point for 2+ hours. I talked to a lot of great people while we waited for the Awards Ceremony to begin. Some had great experiences, some took wrong turns, and a couple slipped bad on the ice. I talked with a fellow Brooks ID Runner, Farra Karsen, who was there with a large contingent of runners from the Running Fit Ultra Team. As the awards were announced this team was well represented. A funny thing happened when they were announcing the Male 35 to 43 age group. They announced the top 3 and the third runner was the last runner I passed before crossing the finish. I checked the results with the race director after all the awards were handed out and what do you know...I was not listed anywhere. The results did not have any times and the director said that the race timer was having computer problems. He said he had an extra award and would look into seeing if they could find my results. Either way, my time matched the race time and the award was unique. It was a hand painted Witchy Wolf on a piece wood. All in all, a great race that I would recommend and look forward to running again.