Trail of Terror 1/2 Marathon Recap

Honestly, I was less than thrilled about this race. Obviously, I had some reason to fork out the dough for registration but the closer the event came....the less and less that I wanted to run. A week prior, I completed the Hayden Lake Marathon (third marathon in less than four weeks). I had given that race all that I had - it was a challenging course that left my muscles screaming in defeat. Every short run that I completed between the two events was like torture - slow and bordering on painful.

This was the first race that I've ever participated in that began in the afternoon (2 PM). Since I'm accustomed to a limited breakfast diet prior to racing, that is what I stuck to....I started my morning with a giant bowl of coco pebbles (I have the food desires of a toddler). Two hours before start,  I had a toasted waffle almond butter + jam sandwich. 

I was irritated by the fact that all participants were informed packets had to be picked up by 1 PM. It was clearly stated there would be no exceptions. You have to understand...this race began on someone's farm located in rural Idaho....there was absolutely nothing to do for an hour. To make matters worse, they had 2 bathrooms for the entire crowd. I spent almost 30 minutes lined up to use one.

Camera Face. 

Not sure what is happening here....

Now onto the race.... 

I had no goals coming into this race other than to finish (preferably with a smile). I started out strong but the wheels starting coming off around six miles. The adrenalin rush of racing wore off rather quickly. My entire body began to ache. I would not call this race "challenging" but it had some decent rolling hills. The course consisted of three out-and-back sections along country roads. Much to my delight, the most difficult section was repeated twice. 

I would never say that running a half marathon is easy BUT I am becoming quite comfortable with this distance; I have ran beyond it more times than I can remember. Therefore, I don't really have a special fueling strategy. Absent any unique circumstances, I just rely on whatever the aid stations have. The amount of aid stations on this course were perfect - about every two miles. I would have preferred Gatorade over Heed but no reason to get picky.

As always, the volunteers were amazing. How can you bitch about someone that is telling you how awesome you look and how great you're doing when you're hobbling by with an appearance that would cause nightmares in young children. 

The highlight of my race was a woman yelling, "I see you running around all the time. You are AWESOME!" That provided me the second wind that I needed to get through this race. I ended up finishing in 2 hours and 9 seconds. I was 29th overall and 10th female. I'm fairly proud of those numbers considering how I felt in the last half of the race. The amount of swag that participants received was impressive - a shirt + beer grunt + hoo rag + medal. I did not stick around for the post race festivities, I was anxious to get home and watch the World Series. I do not plan on doing this race next year unless the course is dramatically changed.

Still smiling 

My husband has mandated that I take a week off from running in order to recover from an intense year. I won't be resigning myself to couch potato status but I won't be taking any 30 mile bike rides either. I plan on gaining a couple pounds from inhaling every baked good that comes within my line of vision and drinking my weight in beer. Towards the end of this week, I'll begin the next cycle of training and this one I am quite excited about!