Tonight was an interesting trail race. It was the Ghouls and Fools Trail Race at Mount Penn in Reading. What made it so unique was that it was at night. It was actually perfect racing weather at 7 PM.
I wanted to start towards the front anyway, but luckily someone at the start said it gets crowded early on. I started in the first third and it wasn't too bad. It was quite crowded out of the parking lot, but I managed to find a route around a lot of people.
The first few miles were definitely interesting. It was a single track trail, so most of the time you had to just follow the runner in front of you. It was my first time using the headlamp, but it worked out well. You couldn't see much, so you had to rely on the runner in front to tell you any obstacles. It wasn't uncommon to hear someone yell "log."
The crowded conditions allowed me to not go out too fast. The single track sections also provided for recovery segments. I tried to go hard where there was space and recover where there wasn't. I definitely passed a lot more people than passed me.
After awhile things got strung out. That was definitely better. I was solid on the uphills, but as I suspected, I rocked the downhills. I just flew down them and past other runners. I followed a women at one point who was very good on them as well. Eventually I passed her at a waterstop though.
It was up and down hills for a lot of the course. There was a tough climb around three and a half miles though. I recognized that it was the firetower. I knew it would be a lot of downhill after that. I was a bit beat though, so I didn't make up time as much as I hoped.
I knew one section looked familiar and sure enough it was the tough section that scared me during my run there a couple weeks ago. I didn't bother me as much in the dark since I couldn't see anything. We then came up on the pagoda. It is lit up all red and is beautiful. The view of the lights from Reading were amazing too. I almost wanted to stop and look at it.
The final waterstop was at the pagoda. I was starting to feel it at this point, so I looked to cruise. One thing I didn't like was all the time we had to go on roads. I lost time on those. I made up time on technical sections. One girl who eventually beat me, killed me on the roads, but I would end up passing her back on technical sections. I guess I'm definitely meant for true trail running.
At one point, we actually had to run down a storm drain. That was confusing and slowed me down. The end had a very difficult rock section. I thought we had another mile to go rather than just a short distance. They said this race was supposed to be 6.5 miles or so, but I was barely pasted 5.5 miles. I ended up walking up the rocks. If I knew it was the finish, I would've ran up them a little and probably passed that girl. Instead, I even got beat at a sprint to the line. That's rare because I always win sprints at the line.
The race was fun and it was neat seeing all the lights around you. I was just very frustrated that the distance wasn't close to advertised. I wouldn't have saved so much in the last half mile. All in all, I was definitely happy with the pace. I just had a little more left. I do wonder if starting up further would've helped a lot. I think I would've finished higher since it was so tough to pass. It was a good learning experience though. I did finish 73rd out of several hundred runners.
5.66 miles - 54:25 (9:37 pace)
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