Trail 1/2 Marathon Review

So today I decided to run a trail race. Originally it was supposed to be 6 miles, but they had the option for a 12 mile. I opted for the 12 mile...because I'm stupid LOL. However the course was so poorly marked almost everyone seemed to get turned around, and the total miles ran was almost EXACTLY 13.1 miles.

This was BY FAR the toughest thing I've ever...EVER done!

The trail was the hardest trail I've ever done, the path was so narrow in the most treacherous parts that you could barely fit both feet inside the trail. Not to mention it was muddy, and I'm slow so I was one of the last people, so you have all the foot traffic that you have to run in as well. NOT TO MENTION if you slipped you fell about 20 ft down the side of an incredibly steep ravine. Which I slipped...thankfully was able to pull some acrobatic BS and grab a small tree and swing myself out and around back to the trail.

Then you have the tricky bits that come with trail races which you jump over downed trees and through roots and across water etc.

Then you come across these gigantic hills (mountains). 5 of them it seemed. And a couple were so steep I had to bear crawl up there. Here is the only pic I took because I rounded a corner and just was like "oh hell no"...this was about 8 miles in, and one of the smaller hills.



I think the worst part of it, about 7.5-8 miles in, I slipped in the mud and twisted my ankle. There was NO access road and NO support staff..so you had to suck it up and finish.

I ended up at about 16 minutes per mile through this stuff, and it took me around 3 hours and 36 minutes to finish.

I'm PROUD of this...why??? Because I was the ONLY runner to run the 12 mile that hasn't run a full marathon, and I crossed the finish with 2 other people that had run a combined 32 marathons AND a couple Trail Marathons. There were only 7 people that ran the 12 mile trail (that ended up being 13.1), myself and 2 others finished at the exact same time...literally going 3 abreast so we finished with the same time after helping each other for the last 2.5 miles.