This race! What a joy fest. I signed up for the DINO Brown County 15K more as a training run for the Indiana Trail 50 Mile than as a race. This changed my whole attitude and approach. I planned to run conservatively for 5-6 miles and then ramp it up for the final few miles. Goal races are great and all, but I’m so glad I gifted myself this no pressure race day.
I traveled to the race with my husband and our friends Robyn and Jason. Robyn was running the race also, while our two fellas planned to hike. The drive, entry, and parking went so smooth and we didn’t need any of our planned buffer. Luckily it was a beautiful morning and I was glad to have a crew. We joked and made up marketing slogans for DINO while stretching, since no one seems to know how to pronounce it.
The race was the definition of low key. No anthem or PA system at the start, just a guy with the megaphone and a few course instructions. No photographers peppered throughout the course. And no medals at the finish line either, unless you placed overall or in your age group and hung around for the awards. Yet it had all that was needed. Plenty of flags marking the course. Three aid stations manned by very cheerful volunteers. A positive vibe. And miles of single trail for the taking.
My knee was thankfully not a factor. The Monday before the race, I felt a strange tightness in my knee after a bike ride. I must have tweaked it just slightly, because I don’t recall any moments of pain. The lateral side of the knee puffed up and stayed tight and swollen to varying degrees for five straight days. When I woke Saturday morning, it looked and felt mostly normal again. Icing, foam rolling, and cutting way back on mileage got me where I needed to be just in the nick of time.
The course starts on a horse trail, which was a bit mucky (and of course you know it’s a mud/poo mixture). But it quickly transitioned to nice, rolling and super well maintained single track. There were a few mud slicks and one spot of standing water. I watched people ahead of me slowly try to balance on rocks or a log to get across without getting wet feet. I considered it a sign of growth that I didn’t slow down and just smashed through the puddle. The terrain was not nearly as rocky or rooty as my last trail race (Tecumseh Trail 50K), and surrounded by lovely, lush greenery all around.
One thing that made the race extra special was that I finally saw and heard the Brood X cicadas. My neighborhood in Indianapolis, plus the parks I’ve hiked or run trails (Marott, Eagle Creek) just don’t have them. I’ve learned they are super slow to spread to new places—they like to stick near where they emerge. Brown County State Park has plenty, but not too many. They weren’t plague level or deafening. I saw maybe a handful flying or moving, a couple of molted husks, but mostly their presence was felt through their song. Their hum provided a meditative soundtrack. I also loved spotting the tiny emergence holes throughout the trail.
A favorite sighting along the way was an old cabin ruin. All that remained was the stone chimney and an outline of the foundation. I can imagine being quite happy in such a place that can only be reached by single track.
After having been warned about a mile long climb at the start and another big midpoint hill, I vastly overestimated how difficult the terrain would be. Since I just started ultra training, I’m still finding my trail legs, so I assumed I’d get a nice ass-kicking. I definitely could have ramped it up earlier, but no regrets. I enjoyed the early ease as much as I did being strong enough to pass people in the final miles. My GPS registered a 971 foot elevation gain. My watch read out was short by nearly a mile, but I think that was just GPS being wonky and dropping.
This being my shortest trail race ever worked in my favor. I’ve only done trail 50K and 50 mile races, so I felt like I was just getting started. I did feel a little sad for it to be over so soon as I ran through the finish chute. I would have gladly run another loop or two, but I guess I’ll have to settle for racing this one again in the future (and I’d gladly run this one annually if it fits in my training plans).
Louie, Robyn, and Jason were all there cheering me in through the finish. Robyn absolutely crushed her race and placed 1st in her age group, so we hung out for the awards. Initially, when I checked results it looked like I was 4th in mine. Kind of a bummer to be 4th, but considering my conservative start, I was surprised to finish as quickly as I did.
Then, during the ceremony I got a nice surprise. A husband and wife had mistakenly swapped their bibs, and he accidentally placed as a female. The race organizers realized and corrected the mistake in the middle of the ceremony. After everything shook out, I was actually 3rd for the 40-44 age group.
And since this was my first 15K race, that makes this an automatic PR. Not bad for a low-key race day!
The details:
DINO Brown County 15K
June 5, 2021
15K #1
Weather: 69 degrees at the start, sunny, and humid
Official time 1:33:03.2
And, lastly, pizza because RACE DAY!
