I ran the Shikokuchuo Skyrun, which I had listed in my race plans back in August. This was my first mountain race, and I entered the 9 km Short Sky.
The event guide describes it as an out-and-back course to Sasagamine with roughly 1,000 m of cumulative ascent. I sometimes hike from Nagoro through Mount Miune and Mount Tsurugi to Minokoshi, so I thought 9 km would not be too much trouble. It was really hard.
The climb was steep from the start all the way to the turnaround. The trees blocked the views. It felt like being made to climb the Kusasuberi route on Mount Kita without being able to see the scenery.
At first, we were all bunched together, running as a group, but partway through I found myself alone. From there, it was mostly a battle with myself. Just keeping on climbing was hard.
I had never been on this trail before, so I did not know how far the steep climb would continue. With no views through the trees to give me a sense of distance, I kept going without knowing how much farther it was to the turnaround. I could not decide whether to hurry or save my energy, and I kept worrying about making the cutoff.
It was sunny, but the temperature felt cold rather than cool. The organizers had maintained the course, and it was generally in good condition. Some patches of moss-covered stone paving were slippery, though.
My activity record
I saved the activity on Yamareco. It shows a distance of 8.8 km and 968 m of ascent in the GPS summary. The course-time section lists a start at 9:29, Sasagamine Pass at 10:42, and the finish at 11:33, for a total of 2 hours and 4 minutes. These are the times in my Yamareco activity record, rather than an official race time.
Back in August, I wrote that I wanted to finish and find out what a mountain race was like. I managed to finish, but I had no idea trail running could be this demanding. Even though I finished, I felt like I came home beaten.