Just got back from mountains after a mountain trail race. And, I didn’t finish it! It is not a great feeling to be back from a race with a DNF. For some reasons, I can’t get my head around mountain races!
This is the third mountain trail race I was in and I couldn’t finish any! The first two were hard core climb-focused races and my seasoning was I was not a good climber and I am scared of heights and so, the steep downhills scare me!
But this last one – the Buddha trails 53 km on April 8 – was not supposed to be a DNF race. Even with steep climbs and downhills there were many “runnable” sections! Still my body gave up towards the end!
For trail running, especially mountain running, we need a lot of strength training. Your legs need to be strong and you also need to have some upper body strength to use your running poles on those climbs. Unfortunately for me, I had the entire 2022 affected with a shoulder and elbow injury and I was just back on track to build further. So, going into the race I may have zero strength to manage those climbs with the poles.
I started the race on a very positive note. The first 10 km were easy peasy trails with usual rolling hills. then came 10 km of steep climb for an amazing view of the majestic ‘Sleeping Buddha”’. It took me 4 hours for that and all those climbs with my running poles, my shoulders were on fire. Then slowly everything started hurting.
The next 10-12 km were just maintenance in pain – more climbs and downhills mostly on cobblestone roads. I have decided not to use any more of the poles since my shoulders were crying still. At around km #32, my body had enough of the nonsense and I wanted to quit there. But this was a checkpoint/aid station at the top of the hill and they didn’t have any vehicle to take my down. So, they just pushed me to be back on course telling you can get a vehicle at the 39th km and the next 7km is going to be downhill!
I always sucked at downhills. My knees hate them. But for some reason, that day, I was okay running down those hills through a really beautiful forest. I almost forgot about my weak shoulders until around the 37/38th km I slipped and fell. It was not a nasty fall; but shook me a bit. After almost 10hrs on foot, you need a fall to cause further damages. I dragged myself to the aid station at km #39 and told them I am done. I had almost 2.5 hrs to the cut off and the volunteers there were confident I can make it and I should keep moving despite my weak body.
So, the thing about the race was. This was originally a 65 km race. Earlier in the week, thanks to some rain, some portion of the trail was cut off due to rain and snow and organisers were forces to change the route and cut it short to 53km. We received the gpx file for the first 39km; the rest according to them during the race beefing ‘usual trail with couple of climbs and then road to finish line’. How big/small those climbs were nobody (other than the locals) had an idea.
Motivated by the volunteers in the aid station, I took off only to find – after couple of kilometers – that those climbs were nasty and the downhills were like garden steps. So, absolutely no running. When I was on my last hill before the road (at the 45th km), I was in this forest climbing the stairs!!! I couldn’t move my body any further and I took like 100 pauses there and as soon as I reached the road, I found an volunteer and told him ‘if I don’t stop now, I am going to end up with some serious injuries’. He asked me to have a gel or take a sip of energy drink. At that point my body was rejecting any kind of sugary items! So gels were out of the question for 2-3 hours!
We managed to stop a cab and I was taken to the finish line and that was the end of it!
I was okay with a DNF then because my body was in serious pain for a long long time and happy to have the misery ended!
Looking back, I felt the whole experience was great. I wanted to do the 65km and not the shorter 30 km, the views from top for the 65km race would be stunning. I could experience that and I am happy I went up there. But on a running point of view – it was disappointing. I should have never registered for this one considering the lack of strength training. But, every race teaches you something and lesson learned for the next one.
As I wait for the wounds (physically – from the fall) to heal and waiting for the doc’s appointment, I am glad to have my legs safe at least. Small mercies 😀
Eat, Run, Live, Sleep, Repeat 
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