Weekend Review: White Tail Trail Half Marathon Race Recap

Saturday: 13.1 mile trail run

Well, hello there Monday! Why do you always arrive so quickly?

This weekend was neither productive nor restful. But we did have fun!

Friday night was spent prepping for my trail half marathon the next day. Foam rolling, laying out outfits, drinking wine...

Saturday morning I was up nice and early since the race was about 45 minutes away. I was nervous about finding the right location and there were buses to take us to the the start line so I wanted to give myself plenty of time.

It was a gorgeous morning and this sunrise greeted me at the finish area/packet pickup area.

The course basically went all the way around the lake.

This was probably the hardest race I have ever done. It was extremely humid and in the lower 70s at the start. The trail was gorgeous, but very technical - at least to my inexperienced trail running self.

I didn't want to risk losing my chip again so I used 4 zip ties. The poor volunteer at the end had quite a rough time getting it cut off, but it was worth it.

I fell at mile 3. But my chip stayed on!

Thankfully it wasn't that bad. I picked myself up right away and kept going, but I refused to look at my knees until the end.  I lost count of how many times I slipped or almost fell. I am lucky I only went all the way down once.

All the runners were very friendly and helpful. The woods echoed with warnings of  "mud", "log", "slippery" and the loud stutter steps of runners catching themselves from falling. I met several first time trail half marathon runners which was reassuring.

The second half seemed to be much harder than the first. There were more steep inclines and the trail seemed much more windy. Or maybe I was just tired at this point! I just kept saying to myself "the more you run, the sooner you're done" and "run when you can, walk when you must".

I wished the race was over at mile 9.5.

Looking back, I should have brought my own water and Gatorade. There were several aid stations, but it was so humid and pretty warm, I could have used more.

 On Saturday I was listed at finishing 3rd in my age group, but when I checked again I had moved to 4th. Darn! Overall the race was well-run. I am really happy to have completed my first (and possibly only) trail half marathon!