Yowza! A tough course but I knew it would be, so planned accordingly to just have fun with it and enjoy nature. In the spirit of it all I ran without watch or mp3 player. I started way in the back of the pack. It started right on the trail so I had to run slowly for about a quarter mile before we hit the dam, and stormed it--right up the side, steep! After what felt like a near-vertical climb we hit the top of the dam and I was able to reach comfortable cruising speed and pass some folks. This didn't last long. We hit the horse trail--just a swathe through the praire out in the baking heat and humidity and the holes, oh the holes. A girl biffed right in front of me. I stopped and made sure she was okay and got up before moving on. Not too much later somebody fell and was crying pretty far behind me--rumor has it she broke her ankle but I don't know. Anyways we all struggled in the holes; whenever I passed someone I wished them happy ankles--we were all in the same boat here. There where places where the trail would smooth out a bit and I would try to make up some time. At each aid station I stopped, dumped water over my head, drank a cup of gatorade, thanked the volunteers, and then moved on. It was super hot but I didn't get crampy or nauseous so I was happy. Finally, toward the end, we hit concrete for a while. I saw it and thought it would feel good to get on the smoothness, but oh no! It hurt. My legs and feet were pulverized and the concrete was too hard. Finally we turned into the last wooded portion with shade(ahhh) and soft trail, real trail, not horse trail. Now this I liked! It was very narrow and it ricocheted up and down but no horse holes and I got to jump over some logs. Then we came out of the woods, ran through a campsite, and then down a track of grass to the finish. Good workout! Ran a personal worse as far as a half-marathon time but totally acceptable with the nature of the course. I will be sore from this one! I'm totally glad I ran it without pressure or need to race or place and just enjoyed it! I am thinking about a 50k, a real trail run, pycho wycho, in July--this is kinda fun! | 