Featured Running Event of the Week - Fox Valley Winter Challenge Series - Oakhurst 8k

The Fox Valley Winter Challenge Series consists of 3 winter trail races, one in January, one in February, and one in March.  Each race is progressively longer, a 5k, 8k, and 10k respectively.

Race #2 takes place in February at the Oakhurst Preserve in Aurora and is the 8k.  This particular 8k is a 2-loop course.  This means that all challenges are faced TWICE by all participants.

A winter trail usually means snow or ice or cold - or all three.  This year, it happened to mean 55 degree start temperature and lots and lots and lots of mud.  But, yet, there was still ice - and quite a bit of it in one area. 

Jumping ahead to the ice situation - even though it as 55 at race time and 60 the day before, deep in the woods, probably near a pond of stream there was still about 90 meters of solid ice - and I do mean SOLID (sorta).  The 90 meters is the estimated length from the race director who informed participants during the pre-race briefing on course conditions.  At about the 2 mile mark - there was about 90 meters of ice.  Runner could not go around it - it was probably 90 meters or more wide as well.  The only choice - carefully traverse it.  Now, this was solid white ice, but it was also covered in about 1.5 inches of water.  So, it was like ice skating on water?  Ice skating IN water?  Second time around, due to 100 people trampling it, sunlight, and rising temperatures, much of this because not-so-solid ice - and people were sinking into about knee-high water at times, as the ice was no longer supporting people if they skated/stepped into the wrong spot. This was not only challenging - it was also unique.  A little bit of running, followed by some shoe-skating, and even water wading.

Now, the ice wasn't intended to be the challenging part of the course.  That was meant to be the 45-foot high toboggan hill, which runners had to scale TWICE. And it wasn't through a gradual 10-20 feet at a time, then plateau.  Nope, the trail was 45 feet up - period.  Now, the best part about a 45 foot hill - is the fact that what goes up must come down.  After a very brief distance at the peak - there was a nice 45-foot downhill run!  A refreshing run. 

That then led to a small section of the course that was on a paved bike/jogging path near the outer perimeter of the preserve - but the pavement was short-lived and maybe made up 10% of the course.  There was also some crushed gravel spots making up maybe another 5%.  But, it is safe to say 85-90% of the course was on grass/dirt trails.

However, being 55 degrees in the winter tends to mean melted snow, which tends to mean mud.  And there was mud-a-plenty.  Going down a 4 wide path, in normal conditions, turned into a group of people running single file on one side of the path - and another group on the other side - as much as possible to avoid 4-inch deep mud.  People literally were running through branches - even though there was a 10 foot open space (no branches) to run in.  This even added some strategy to the race.  Was the right side less slippery - or the left - or was it worth an attempt down the middle?  Which way was faster?  Which way had less obstacles?  Of course, being a 2-loop course, the second time around, runners could learn from previous mistakes.

Now, to non-runners or even to some runners, this might sound like miserable conditions.  HOWEVER, to every trail runner in attendance, this wasn't just a challenge - this was FUN!!!  No matter how tough the obstacle, how deep the mud, how wet the legs and shoes, how slippery the ground, how tall the hill - runners were smiling and laughing the entire time.  Participants could literally hear the laughter as they approached the ice portion, even though they couldn't see where the sounds were coming from.

Echos of happiness literally filled the woods - laughing and joking could be heard throughout the course.  Believe it or not - this is what many trail runners live for - this was the ideal event!!!

It's all about conquering the trail - and this was a trail that threw everything at the participants.

As for the event itself, extremely well organized from start to finish with a very well marked course.

One of those "oh man, is it really over?" type feelings crossing the finish line.  A chance for everybody to be a kid again!