I started off fast to get ahead of as many people as possible crossing the field before hitting the forest. Once you're in there it's single track for much of the first couple of miles so it's hard to pass. I probably went out a little too fast. My HR was sky high with all the early climbing. I had to throttle back for a little while to get my HR back down and a small group passed me. I stayed on their heels for as long as I could but they slowly moved away from me on each hill. There was a short period where I couldn't see anyone ahead of me and I kept feeling like I was getting lost. It's much easier following someone. I came to a stop a couple of times because I wasn't sure which way to go. Two girls came cruising by me at around mile 4 and I fell in behind them for pretty much the rest of the race. One of them sort of pulled ahead but I stayed on the other girls heals. I fell on my face once and had to scramble to catch back up. As we cleared the forest I pushed hard for the last 1/4 mile and passed one girl back but couldn't catch the other. They were strong runners.

Not much. I've never done a trail race like this so I think I did OK. I got through it without getting hurt which was my main goal.

Just had some water, a PBJ and a cookie then headed to Starbucks.


Not running enough hills and trail runs.


This is a low key local race. The course is longer than a 10K but everyone is aware of it. It's billed as a 10k..ish course. I clocked it on my Garmin at 7.07 so it's somewhere around 7 miles. I would recommend it and probably do it again.