No frills race here...no water stops etc, so I hydrated very well before the race. Humid as all get out. Everyone was in the same boat though. Good experience for upcoming humid races in the summer. It was an age graded race. That means that the 40+ men, 30+ women got a 2 min head start over us 30-39 men, 20-29 women, and we got a 2 min lead over the 29 and below men, 19 and below women.

You know...something funky always happens to me every race I do. I get some perverse pleasure out of writing these off the wall things that happen to me...cause I know that you readers out there love to hear about them.

We get a warning before the race about how slippery the bridges are. Hell, the whole course was slippery as it was off and on drizzling the entire time. So in the first mile, I go out way to fast (of course). I wish the garmin was working in the forest cause I was easily in the 6:45 to 7:00 range. Roots everywhere, and yes the bridges were slippery. I come up on one that was right after a sharp turn...its your typical nature trail bridge. Pressure treated wood, no railings scaling a little creek. Maybe 20 feet in length. I lose traction and start into a little power skid...feet start to go out from under me. I'm naturally clumsy, so I'm used to this sort of thing. I put the left hand down on the bridge to stabilize the rightward sliding feet, but I don't slow down. Well, the feet never get anymore purchase. I push off with my left hand to get as vertical as I can. I reach the right edge of the bridge, and wonder if I'm gonna pull this one out or go over the bridge. Luckily, I was 3/4 of the way across and when I finally went over the edge, it was a short little drop...I had a nice little controlled fall, and amazingly enough picked spots for my feet to land that were not ankle killers. I straddle a log, but landed like the cat that I am. The cool thing was I just kept on going...not phased at all.

I paid for not warming up and going out too fast at mile 1.5 to mile 2.5. Slowed to a walk twice. Only walked for about 10-15 secs each time to fight off a very high heart rate. It was here where I realize my true state of fitness and my brand spanking new max heart rate of 194. LOL!

Holy crap...you have to watch every single step you take, or its an ankle. I've never had to pay so much attention to where I'm putting my feet during a race. Huge mental effort required while dodging tree roots, slippery bridges, sharp downhill turns. Its so cool to do every now and then to mix things up, but I was surprised at how much it takes out of you when your running.

After mile 2.5, I got into a good breathing groove with HR around 180. We hit the paved section that was all freaking uphill. 300 ft climb over 1 mile. Time for a confession....don't think I'm screwy now.....I love hills. Ok...I've said it. HR didn't budge for some reason and I felt really good. Pace did slow somewhat from a high 7ish to an 8, but it was a long ass uphill.

Right around mile 3, I got two songs stuck in my head that helped get me through some tough times. Cake's "Going the Distance", and Black Eyed Peas "Lets Get It Started". Very highly recommended.

These trails had me so freakin lost, when I realized I was close to the finish, I cranked it. Last 2 mins were at a 6:45 to 6:30 pace uphill. Felt good to finish.

Better warmup. Warmups need to become so freaking important to me. The faster I can get into my constant HR and muscular state, the better I'm going to do in a race.

Brought some endurox along. Downed that immediately. Took the kids to a soccer field and we jogged from goal to goal. Pigged out then at the picnic afterwards. Got a free Ironman cycling gloves Hat, and an Ironman cycling gloves T-shirt.


Need to get faster. Its a heck of a time for me, but everyone else is so much damned faster.


This race was laid back and informal on purpose. Its run by my Tri Team, so even though there weren't water stations, and loudspeakers...that's not the intention. Would do it again. Was lots of fun.