A 10-Mile Trail Run or The Hunger Games?

I love running on rails-to-trails trails which are generally smooth, flat and small gravel. But I’ve been wanting to tackle a real trail run with a description that includes words like … hills, narrow trails, meadows, rocky paths, messy mud holes, downed trees and more. So a friend and I decided to challenge ourselves with the Marsh Creek Raptor Run.

The night before the run I read some of The Hunger Games. I was about three-quarters of the way through the book when I fell asleep. So the next day I headed to the run with the predicament and fate of the main characters on my mind.

What will happen to Katniss and Peeta?

I’m not crazy, but my imagination can be … the italicized sentences will only make sense if you read The Hunger Games.

 

The run is on a trail I’ve never been on before, so I pause a few times to take pictures. The scenery is great,  but unfamiliar. I wonder if this is what the arena looks like. I want to look around and soak it all up, but after tripping on a rock in the first mile and scrapping my arm, I try to keep my eyes on the trail.

I realize that I can’t stick to my plan of running 4 minutes and walking 1 minute, instead I try to go with the terrain and adjust my pace and stride to what works best. The trail loops through woods surrounding a lake. We leave the woods a few times as the trail runs along a meadow overlooking the lake. I look around for a gold cornucopia.

I’m slow, so I’m near the back. A few times the runners in front of me pull away and I’m running alone. The trail is well marked, so I don’t mind. We enter the woods again and the trail loops back and forth. I hear footsteps behind and/or around me. I speed up so the career tributes don’t catch me.

It’s hot and I’m thankful I’m wearing my fuelbelt with my sports drink. I take sips every mile or so and also drink water at the aid stations … hoping the gamemakers didn’t add anything to it. After completing the 5-mile loop once, I head back down the trail for round two … if Katniss can run for a day, I can run for a few hours.

Though I’m getting tired, I’m still enjoying myself – the heat, the sweat, the hard work – it all feels good. I forgot bug repellent, but thankfully there’s not many. A few times, I swat at buzzing insects … and wonder if they are tracker jackers. On the narrow parts of the trail, rambling vines and grasses hit my legs. I sidestep them to avoid any potential traps. My scrapped arm burns as I sweat more … will my sponsors send me any first aid?

The last few miles, my fatigued legs complain wondering when I’ll give them a break. I evaluate my body. Yes, it’s tired, but nothing is hurting so much that I need to stop. So I ignore it and continue on … knowing that if I want to go home again, I have no choice.

I charge shuffle up the last hill, happy to be finishing. I’ve done it! I survived. I will live. I will go home again! I cross the finish line …  and look forward to the banquet that the capital will prepare for me.

The majority of the racers are thrilled with the post-race smells as the organizers hand out freshly grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. I eat a plant-based diet, so I head to my car for a Prana bar … thankful that I don’t have to hunt for edible berries or roots.

It was a great run and I was already thinking of the next one as I drove home. But first I needed a shower … and then time to find out what happened to Katniss and Peeta.

I look forward to doing another trail run soon … I know I can do it, if I read some of the second book in The Hunger Games series the night before the run.

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Have you done any trail runs? Did you enjoy it?

Has a book ever stayed with you so much, that you felt like you were living in it? Or used the story to entertain your brain while you were doing something else?

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