Piney Woods Trail Run - 10 Mile - Run10 Mile

Good run for me. I was hoping for just "solid" effort of 9-minute miles. Beat that by quite a bit. Went out slow the first couple of miles, but picked it up in the middle of the race. After things got shook out from a pace standpoint, I passed a couple people in the third mile. After that I only saw three other runner until the end of the race. One guy passed me at about the 6-mile point, then I passed two others in the last two miles.

I would recommend this race to people new to the trail running scene, who want to get a taste. The trails are very non-technical and easy. Race is small but well organized.

I made the classic trail runners mistake of blindly following another runner when I caught up to him at the 9-1/2 mile point. He took a wrond turn, and I just followed right behind. Realized the mistake about a minute down the trail. STUPID! I would also carry my hand-held bottle, not beacuse you really need it for this race, but because I think it's a good experience builder since I'm trying to get used to the hand-helds.

No warm down. Hung out at the fire for a while and got a plate of barbeque. Waited around and saw that I was 3-places from the poduim, so I skipped the 30-minute wait for the awards and headed home.


Went out too slow. Should have started at a faster pace from the get-go. Also, the wrong turn cost a minute or two.


This is great trail race for people who want to get a taste of what trail runs are like. The course is very easy, for a trail run. No hills to speak of and the single track really doesn't have any significant hazards.