Tag: Cry Me a River Trail Race

CMAR 2024: Waker of the Dead

Well, I’ve stalled long enough and time to get this race recap out so I can move on to the next challenge. Ever have that one event, be it physical, mental that just seems to have your number. Regardless of how hard you prepare, train, experiment, validate, pray, etc. it seems to always get the best of you. In my case, I can answer that question without hesitation – the Cry Me a River 50K Ultra Trail Run.

CMAR 2024

I have an embarrassing history with this particular race and this year’s event was held last month. If you would like a cautionary tale of endurance running or simply like living vicariously through the misfortunes of others, hit the jump – caution, there is a “graphic” element.

Continue reading CMAR 2024: Waker of the Dead

PTrSD: A Tale From the Trail

Disclaimer: Before I go any further, wanted to state for clarity sake that this is NOT intended to belittle in any manner the true medical condition referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That is a serious condition and truly wish the best outcomes for those that are having to deal with that on daily basis.

What this is referring to an incident that did cause extreme, although temporary, stress while training this morning on the Cry Me a River ultra trail course (link here). For those not familiar with this race, it consists mainly of the Illinois River Bluff Trail (link here) with some additional trails on the ends to accommodate the 50K/100K/100mile distances. One of the toughest courses in the area that will test your elevation training to the limits (the 100m course has 23,500 feet of elevation gain and the 50K is around 12K). It also has the distinction of giving me an ambulance ride to the emergency room (link here). I have since wiped that blemish off my race record, but the event remains cursed as last year I broke my elbow on a training run a week prior to the start – note, that was my first Post “Trail” Stress Disorder event as I still flinch whenever I pass that “Root of All Evil”.

Today, we are gathered here to talk about another PTrSD trauma that happened this very morning and it involves THIS BEAST!

Wild Turkey attack on Illinois River Bluff Trail in May 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this harrowing (Linda prefers hilarious) experience.

Continue reading PTrSD: A Tale From the Trail

Blemish No More

Well, by the fact you are reading this post means my latest physical challenge didn’t succeed in killing me – yeah! So, as a quick recap for those that are not regular readers of this side of Intrigued, yesterday was a big day for yours truly. A day that has been nagging at me for two solid years thanks to a …hmmm… let’s just refer to it as a blemish on my running career. A mishap that ended up in with an unexpected ambulance ride to the emergency room. The event was the Cry Me a River Trail Run (CMAR) held along the bluffs of the Illinois River. Back in 2018 I had run the half marathon distance and learned just how hard this course was – beaten to hell, but left grinning ear to ear in absolute enjoyment – trail runners can be a strange lot ha (link here). So much fun, I committed to the 50K the following year. That was supposed to be 31+ miles (more on the ‘+’ later), but I only made it ~14 before dropping from heat exhaustion. Passed out and hit a box fan on the way down earning myself a 2 inch gash in the back of my head (link here). The minute I regained consciousness there was one thing dominating my thoughts – redemption .. actually make that two – redemption and that’s a lot of wasted blood. My first DNF (did not finish) in any race and it gnawed at me every day. Trained my ass off to make another go at it last year, but thanks to that damn pandemic the race was canceled – ANOTHER year of gnawing and hard training in hopes this was the year to rid my record of those three humbling letters.

2021 Cry Me a River Trail Race 50K
Cry Me River 2021 Race Swag

It all came to a head yesterday morning as I lined up at 8am on the CMAR starting line in an attempt to fulfill a commitment made on a ambulance gurney 2 long years ago. Hit the jump to find out if my attempt was successful… or was this another endeavor cut short with another ride in an ambulance.

Continue reading Blemish No More

A PR for Failure

If there was one thing that went well this month it was my ability to make my blogging quota for the month.  To my own amazement with all the events and issues we have had to deal with this month I was able to not only get the self-imposed minimum of 6 posts out, but opted to go ahead and get this bonus entry out of the way.  Out of the way in this context means never to be spoken of again!  Like most people, I’ve had my fill of misfortunes and failures.  Some of those were due to my own making, others due to the actions of others and there are those things we can chalk up to things out of our control – like say, I don’t know, maybe the weather.   A pretty deep seeded fault of mine is not doing well with failure regardless of the circumstances, but especially if it is my fault which brings us to today’s “never to be mentioned again” race recap bonus.

Cry Me a River 50K 2019

Last year I signed up for my first 50K race ever.  I had fallen in love with trail running for its welcome departure from the body pounding pavement along with the challenge of taking on difficult terrain.  Having totally exhausted myself running the half marathon at the Cry Me a River event (link here), figured it was only natural to more than double the distance and do it all again.  Linda wasn’t too happy about that decision knowing of my difficulties after my full marathon a few years earlier.  No worries, a year to train I should be fine.  Unfortunately, I was not expecting the tremendous amount of rain we had this spring that limited my time on the trails and more importantly cost me valuable heat conditioning.  Who would have thought we would have been enjoying mostly perfect running weather up through May.  Come the day of the race, the weather gods decided we had enough of being spoiled and put the burners on high.

Hit the jump if you really want to know how this all played out – the title should limit your expectations.

Continue reading A PR for Failure