Trail Race Recap

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to head to the Blue Mountain Reservation for a trail race.

 I rode up with one of my weekend running buddies and we got there with more than enough time to check in and pick up our bibs. The race was so small, we probably would have been fine showing up about 15 minutes before the start.

I don't know the official number of runners, but there was a 5k and a 10k that were capped at 150 between them. I would guess the actual number was somewhere closer to 75 or 80 runners.

We spent a good 10 minutes watching a guy try to fix the start/finish line banner after the wind snapped one of the zip ties that was holding it up. It was a very complicated fix that involved a picnic table, two sticks and some rope. It was pretty entertaining.

The race started a few minutes late to allow some stragglers to get their bibs, and then we were off through the muddy start line. The trails were really beautiful, but definitely more trail-like than most of us are used to. There were loose rocks, tree roots, a couple of very steep climbs (and descents), and lots of mud and water. The man in charge declared that it was "the cheapest mud run you'll ever find."

The course was a 5k loop, so those of us running the 10k ran the loop twice. I'm not a huge fan of running the same hills more than once, but it was generally a fun course.

There were plenty of post-race snacks and drinks, though the promised REI branded swag turned out to be a pair of shoe laces and some lip balm. I don't know that I would call that swag, but with a registration fee of $15, I guess I can't complain.

I started my watch at our official "everyone count down from 10" start and stopped it a few yards after the finish line. It came up with 5.85 miles in 58:00. The clock at the finish was right about at 1:00:00, so I'm not really sure what time to claim. It wasn't chip timed, and who knows how accurate their course measurement was (and there weren't mile markers).

It's ok though, the point was to run a fun race someplace new. You can't really compare trail race times to normal race times anyway, we were all running a minute and a half to two minutes slower than our usual pace.

My shoes may be dry by now, but they could definitely use a run through the rain to clean up a bit.

I spent Saturday night babysitting. The three year old I was watching told me I was bad at puzzles. Thanks kid.

Today was amazing weather. It was sunny and warm! We finally brought the cushions up for the patio furniture, and Buddy and I had a nice morning lounging on the back deck.

I just finished reading Wild. It was pretty good, though I never had a hard time putting it down. I want to see how the movie turned out, I've heard mixed reviews.

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