Hailburtion Forest 2010

On about two weeks notice I decided to do the short course of 26k in Haliburton. That is why I want to keep my weekly long around 20-25k so I have the freedom to do most distances on a whim. I had flirted with the idea of a slow 50k.......and after doing the first 13k I was incredibly happy I wasn't insane enough to attempt a quite frankly not enough training to even consider a 50k.

I drove there the night before and made a rather comfy bed in the back of the RAV, and slept ....unsettled. Woke around 0430 and forced myself to stay in until 0540. Got up and made a tour of people getting ready to set off. Saw my first nakedness of the day- a gentleman lubing up his testicles with his bare bum to the world. Watched people set off, then informed the stragglers that this was in fact the start line and the race went that a way.

Had a really nice morning , borrowing random strangers cook stoves for my oatmeal and meeting awe inspiring people. In particular I met a couple from Michigan who race every weekend year round Saturday and Sunday if they can manage it. The man had raced Western States earlier this year and happened to have no toenails left!!


I had all this time waiting for my race to start at 0900 but of course I had to rush to make it to the start line. Again a very informal start and quick first few kilometres on road to the start of the trail section. It quickly became a two woman race between myself and a another woman. She smoked me on the flats but as soon as it got technical I seemed to blow past her. Had tremendous fun with the technical single track stuff, even the uphills were fun. Unfortunately it was not all single track. A large portion of the race was held in mud. Mud puddles, mud streams, mud accented with large rocks. At first it was fun trying to a solid way around the obstacles but soon one grew tried and just be damned how muddy it was, cause everybody was suffering and slowing down.
Really glad I had water with me as the aid stations were more geared towards the long slow runners who wanted to stop for a visit. I needed to fill my bottles at the turn around so had to take about 30 seconds there. Realized I had about one minute on the second girl at the turn around- if she took as long as I did at the station and she wasn't caring anything so I assumed she would. The second half was definitely more uphill and thus slowed down. Did alot of power walking cause it was way faster than my running on the ups. A guy who had got lost came up behind me and assured me I had alots of time on second so I think I got sloppy- I stopped to kick a tree twice to get the mud off my shoe, once used a stick, went pee- and generally slowed down. At this point I turned around and saw second and really didn't know if I could hold her off. I tried to keep visions of the first place stool in my mind but then I got seriously distracted.

For a while I had seen a wolf on the ridge above me, I could hear lots of rustling so I knew I was sharing the forest with wildlife. However I seemed to have become quite urbanized, for when I saw a large black object coming out of the forest my first thought was big dog.....umm nope.. How about BIG BLACK BEAR!!!!!!!!! Honestly it was full sized and I think it was less than 10metres away, it just ran across the trail and didn't seam to care about me. I slowly yelled bear not knowing if it would be better just to stay quiet or make a fuss to startle it. It would have been an ok place to be mauled by a bear really. There were lots of people about and I'm sure I would be aided to quickly. In any event I cared more about the bear than the bear cared about me, and I was more startled by the bear than second place girl was. She had caught up and we took a few minutes than set off. She let me go ahead to make up for the lead that was lost while dealing with the bear... but I had crashed a bit and let her go. We did chat for a bit and she conceded that I was a way better technical runner than her, and I conceded that she was fast on the flats. By the time I came out of the trail to the road I never wanted to see a muddy trail again. I finished in about 2:5??? about half hour off my usual time for that distance, which seemed to be a common occurrence on this trail today. It was within my goal time of under three hours so I am pleased. As well I looked up first place girl and she has done a sub three hour marathon so she can beat me anyday. I'm just happy I held her off for so long. Apparently it was about 50%more muddy than previous years. Again and again it was said that this was the muddest anybody can remember it being. It was so muddy it seemed unreal as evidenced by a guy asking me in all seriousness if he thought the course director had watered the course!


Now for my complaints.....Note if anybody has answers to my complaint speak or be forever silent.
Everybody goes on and on about how wonderful this race director is, long standing I assume, but from where I'm standing I didn't see it. WHY?

- Course markings...just not as it should be. I encountered a guy who went of course TWICE. Perhaps he wasn't paying attention but it could have been a tad clearer.
- I ran the 26k and paid $65. The 50kers paid $80 ( All late fees figures) After the race the 25kers and the 5okers got two bagels, a granola bar, a juice and piece of fruit. The 50milers paid $85 and got a meal at a the restaurant . Ummm for $5 less you sure got a heck of a lot less.
-Could we have some race results posted oh soon perhaps. There was a person writing times down on paper with a pencil. The 1970s called and they want you to get a computer. I have no idea what my time was cause I forgot to stop my garmin. I have no idea what the winner did cause it wasn't posted. For a person who liked to analysis results this is painful.
- The awards went overall three deep male/ female and Male/female winner over 50. So essentially eight people get recognized for their efforts. I say more awards. People like them- even if it is just a laminated piece of paper. Also, when you say awards are at 1pm.. maybe do it than rather that at oh say 75minutes later. Make a production of it; people even if they didn't win any awards want to see who did. Seriously.

Overall my ouser experience at Creemore could not have been more different than at Hailburtion.