Race Report: Dry Creek Trail Half Marathon

So, after the last half marathon I ran a couple of weeks ago, I vowed to go into this one as a FUN RUN. 

It had a couple of things going for it, number one... it was a "trail" race. So, for someone like me, who sucks on trails, you have an automatic excuse for a poor performance. I say "Trail" because, a lot of the trails were actually jeep roads. So, while, yeah, running on gravel is tougher than running on asphalt, it's not like it was the Barkley Marathons out there or anything.

Easier than a raccoon riding a tricycle.

The other thing it had going for it in the lackluster performance excuse bin was that it had one really big hill. Except, the hill wasn't THAT bad and with walking up most of the damn thing, my pace that mile was still under 15:00 so... again... this is no Hardrock.

So, with my excuses ready and my expectations low, I lined up at the start. I must admit, I actually loved the first 7 miles of the race, there were some actual trails during that part and a couple of creek crossings and for the most part it felt like a fun trail race. 

The remaining 6 were all on the aforementioned jeep trails and the only thing that really kept my lazy ass going at a respectable pace, was the fear of The KoB seeing me walking (he ran the Full. Dumb Ass). Coincidentally, when we would have passed each other, The KoB was somewhere off in the woods unloading. ALL THAT RUNNING FOR NO GOOD REASON. No, really, it was good. I need to be running, for fuck's sake.

*** and now suddenly, my blog formatting has gone apeshit. I apologize.

And then, for the last couple of miles, Melissa Bitch, ran back to run with me. Which helped keep my honest as well. I must admit, in the last 200 meters, there was a girl in front of me and Melissa was like, okay, let's pass that bitch ahead of us. And I said... Nah. I'm good. 

So very un-bitchlike of me.

I finished the race in like 2:24. Which, I was pretty damn happy with and I've realized that I need to lighten up on myself some. I am so angry and feel so defeated that getting back into shape is taking so goddamn long. But, honestly, I need to just ease up a bit on myself and just enjoy the fact that I'm actually running 25-30 miles a week right now and with the exception of my long runs that have been entirely too fast for my current fitness, which means they feel like dogshit I'm ENJOYING them. That is goal number one and it happens to be the one thing that I'm consistently having success in. So, I need to proud of that and keep at it and one day, the fitness will be back.

Race Report Stuff: All in all, I enjoyed this race. It did get started late and the last aid station in the half was out of water when I got to it (more water was on the way, I was told), and there was no water at the end of the race, except at an aid station that was set up there, which I felt very sheepish about taking water at, since I was DONE racing. The race shirt is adorable and gender specific, but apparently,  I am not a large women's gender specific size right now (and honestly, I'm not sure if I could ever fit into the shirt) so, it's just taunting me with it's cute design and soft fabric.

The course was well marked and it was kind of nice to have hard parts and then easy parts, too. Too many times, trail races are just all HARD and it's hard to get into a groove. All-in-all I would absolutely run this race again next year. And maybe next year, I'll run the full! (Fingers crossed that I'm back in shape by this time next year).