My first run up at Croom.
I'm signed up for a 50K here in January called the "Croom Zoom" - it is basically a 3 loop course plus a small loop at the start. Running off road on some of the best trails around. This particular course avoids the big hills that the fall and spring races here run on but there is some pretty good rolling stuff. Never having run up here before I wanted to get a feel for the course.
I had wanted to get in 20 miles and I
was originally going to try and just follow the course as best I could.
But, Sean mentioned that he saw some people from FL Ultra runner's
group were meeting at 5:00 to run 3 loops on the Croom Zoom course.
So,
I woke up at 3:25, left the house at 3:44, and got there about 4:40.
Starter loop and loop 1
We did the "starter loop" then one full loop (with a slight detour
added),so a total of about 12.5 miles so far. There were a few spots on that first loop where I wasn't sure how well I was going to be doing for the day, going through some deep sand, having a hard time seeing and avoiding the roots while it was dark out, and I was needing a bathroom stop with about two miles left before we got back to the parking lot.
The pace was pretty easy for the first loop, about 11:35 or so which included periodic walk breaks to go up a hill or to decide whether or not we were still on the right trail.
Loop 2
I did a quick pit stop at the start area, then started on the next loop. Now it was light out and a picked up a few more people that wanted to run with the group but did not want to start at 5:00. The pace was a little bit quicker and the running was a lot easier now that it was light out. By the end of the second loop the pace was just a little slower than 11:00 pace.
Loop 3
After the second loop I drank some muscle milk - I had planned on refilling my drink bottles with Accelerade but had left one of them at home. Oh, well - two 10 oz bottles of Accelerade and 3 gels would have to do for 30+ miles. One of the guys was heading out for the third loop so I hastily
followed him back out onto the course.
Not sure if I
was making a mistake or not, but after the halfway point of the last
loop I felt pretty good. Picked up the pace for a few miles, then
finally found my way to the end.
Couldn't believe I ran that far. The
scenery was amazing (except for the first loop which was dark). Saw a
pretty big deer. Andy pointed out the holes in the ground where some of
the trees completely burned to the ground and then kept on burning, not
even leaving a stump, just a hole in the ground. Several hunters were
out so we made sure to periodically make some noise, like a "whoop
whoop" or a train (whoo-whoo). Had fun running again with Andy (ran
with him in Jacksonville in 2007), another Andy, Ash, Dave, Andrea,
Tori, Ashley, and a couple others whose names I forget now. Some of the
"rooty" sections at the beginning were a little bit tough in the dark.
Couple near misses with falling and a few minor ankle rolls but nothing
serious. After the run had yogurt, a cliff bar, and a quick stop at
Dunkin Donuts for coffee and a donut. Overall an amazing experience. I
wish I could think of more to write. Now I'm definitely ready to be
back there in January for the actual race.
