Race Debrief 001: Wild Goose 13.1
This morning I ran the Wild Goose 13.1 in Ringwood, and the watch tells one story: 13.4 miles, 2 hours and 48 minutes of moving time, 1,529 feet of climbing. Here's the story the watch can't tell. This was my first trail race since ACL and bilateral meniscus surgery, and the longest distance my rebuilt knee has ever carried.
By the numbers
Distance: 13.4 miles. The course ran long, which trail courses consider a feature.
Moving time: 2:48:47. Elapsed: 2:55:26, which means about seven minutes standing still, at the aid station making sure my knee could handle the second loop.
Climbing: 1,529 feet.
Average pace: 12:36 per mile, at 170 steps per minute.
Relative effort: 455, which is Strava's way of saying I did not save anything for the drive home.
How it actually went
Really well-organized race with great course marking and an awesome aid station spread. It was rainy and cold at the start, so I kept my rain jacket on a little too long and eventually got pretty hot. I wore a CEP knee sleeve as a precaution and was glad I did.
The course was very “East Coast runnable”: lots of roots, rocks, mud, steep angles, and some really fun single track that felt like it could double as a mountain bike trail.
My legs started feeling a little shaky around miles 12–13, so I was pretty happy I signed up for the half instead of the 30K. Plenty of time to keep building distance before December!
What this means for Big Bear
Big Bear is 28 days away, and it's a different animal: shorter, steeper, with a rock scramble where today's course rolled. Today answered the big question, which is whether the engine and the hardware can hold a race effort for nearly three hours on trail. They can. The next four weeks sharpen climbing legs rather than build distance, and if you want to see Big Bear's best sections in peak foliage before I race them, the October 10 group hike walks exactly that ground. Details at www.buckleyemily.com/events
The Volcanic Year is seven races, and this wasn't one of them. It was the tune-up that proved the machine runs. October 18, Harriman. Let's goooooooooo.