Coldwater Rumble 20 Mile Trail Race

Last weekend, I did my first race of the year – the Coldwater Rumble 20 mile trail race, organised once again by Aravaipa Running. The race came just 3 weeks after doing the Across the Years and I wasn’t sure whether racing 20 miles so soon after a 24 hour race would be too much for me – would I be recovered enough to do myself justice? I’d had an easy couple of weeks following my race at New Year but training had started to increase once again ready for my forthcoming marathon, and with a 30k run planned for this weekend anyway, the Coldwater Rumble fitted in perfectly with my training schedule,.

The event was held at the Estrella Mountain Regional Park in Goodyear just south of Phoenix. With living in the north of the City, it's an area I had yet to explore so I was excited about running on unknown trails and going somewhere new. I was also finding that doing the longer trail races gives me the perfect opportunity to get off the beaten track away from the more popular trails and to see the more remote areas that I perhaps wouldn't go to on my own - it also meant I wouldn't get lost in the desert as the course was very well marked!

The 20 mile race consisted of one loop with around 1,600 ft of climbing – not enough to call it hilly although there were some longer, gradual climbs as well as lots of meandering through washes with plenty of short, sharp ups and downs on considerably rocky trails. We also encountered a decent stretch of proper sandy trails which lasted for a good couple of kilometres and which certainly sapped the energy. The scenery was once again amazing and I loved the fact that at certain points during the race, I felt that sense of isolation and being away from civilisation - just me, myself and I embracing that feeling of solitude, being alert and aware of my surroundings, and loving every single minute with every step that I took.

I went into the race without any expectations whatsoever, although being my first race as a member of the Aravaipa Running racing team, I did want to at least have a half decent run to justify my being on the team. The course record for ladies had been set last year and stood at 2 hours 43 minutes so I anticipated running around 3 hours depending on how tough the course was and how my legs had been recovering. Other than that, I just wanted to get in a good solid run which would hopefully give me some confidence moving forward for the rest of the year.

The race started with a short stretch along the road before turning off to hit the trails, and immediately we were greeted with a pretty tough climb to get us on track. I was actually surprised that I made good progress up the hill and was already placed well up the field both in the ladies race and overall. I took care not to get carried away though, fully aware that it was still very early in the race and we had a good couple of hours of running still ahead of us. There were a couple of ladies ahead of me and I noticed that whilst we were all pretty evenly matched in pace, one of them appeared to lack confidence on the rocky downhill sections. Sure enough, it wasn’t too long before I passed her on a downhill stretch and I managed to open a gap which got wider the further we went.

Start of the 20 mile race

I was happy to sit in 2^nd place for now and got into a nice easy rhythm where I was just focusing on doing my own thing, but around about 5km, I caught the leading lady. I knew that if I took the lead now, the pressure would be on me to maintain that lead but the pace I was running felt easy and I didn’t particularly want to slow things down any further. I was feeling strong and to my surprise I was flying up the hills (I'm currently learning to enjoy running hills again after an on/off love/hate relationship in recent years). It didn't feel like I was particularly over exerting myself, so I made my move and went past.

After that, I just tried to keep things controlled. My training schedule had called for 10k at race pace during my long run today, so after about an hour of running, I attempted to pick up the pace and found that I was running my road pace despite being on the trails. The course had flattened out by now though, but it was here that we encountered the proper sandy trails and I found  it hard work trying to keep going. I was determined to push on though even when things felt tough, and I started to catch some of the other runners doing other distances which was actually quite nice as we got to give eachother some encouragement and a few cheers as we passed by.

By 20k, I eased off the pace a little but having checked my watch, I realised that I was actually on track to set a new course record if I could just keep the pace going. Having not ran it before, I had no idea what the rest of the course would be like, but with a possible course record now within my reach, and with still leading the ladies race and having moved into second overall, I was willing to take the risk and just go for it. If it all went pear shaped, at least I know I gave it my best shot.

That last 3 to 4km were pretty tough as the climbs started again and the trail meandered up and down the mountain side. It had also started to warm up by now and I was started to sweat more profusely. I hadn’t actually looked behind for a good while, but as turned a corner and got sight of runners behind me, it was then that I notriced that the second lady had started to gain on me and I had about 600m over her if that. Having led the race for so long, I really didn’t want to get passed in the last couple of km, so despite the heat and despite the fatigue now building in my legs, I tried to push on. 

As I looked down into the valley, I could see the main road and a parking lot, but I still couldn't see the finish line. My watch was telling me that I had about 2km still to go, but being a trail race, I didn't want to rely on the course being exactly 20 miles and was bracing myself for it to be slightly longer but praying that it was slightly shorter. Up ahead, I could see runners heading downhill, but I'd turn the bend to find that I had to run up again before we got to head down, and still there was no sign of the finish line. This happened a couple more times - we'd go up, we'd go down, we'd head around the bend only to repeat the up/down once again.

Finally, we started a descent and a few hundred metres below, I caught sight of the road and heard the hustle and bustle of the finish line. I was still clear of the second lady as I attempted to sprint that last stretch along the road and at last, we made the final turn back onto the grass and the finish line was ahead. Thankfully I had managed to hold on for the win and to my disbelief I was just over a minute from an outright win although I missed the course record by around 2 minutes.

Top 3 Ladies in the 20 mile race

The second lady had an outstanding run, finishing about 90 seconds behind me and having spoken to her afterwards, this was the furthest she had ever ran on the trails - given her peformance, it was certainly impressive!

I never anticipated winning nor was I expecting to get into a proper race where I was made to work towards the end to secure the victory. It made the win much more satisfying and it was a good feeling being pushed like that, rekindling memories of races over the years where there has been good competition and a win is never guaranteed. It also gave me the confidence that things are on track for my marathon in a few weeks time as well as my other planned races for the rest of the year. I'm feeling happy, I'm feeling confident, and I'm determined to put in the work to ensure that I'm able to meet my other running goals that I've set myself for the rest of the year.

Happy trails folks :-)