Day 1 of the Pelican Challenge (half marathons on both Saturday and Sunday) turned out to be a good day. My plan was to have a good hard run on Saturday, and an easy jog on Sunday. So far so good!

I lined up in the middle of the pack at the start line. I figure this error cost me a couple of minutes, as the pack to quite a while to thin out and passing on this course is fairly difficult due to congestion and two-way traffic. First few miles were all 9-min+. At the start of the second lap, I picked up the pace and ran most of this lap at 8-min miles. Aid stations were great....pleanty of volunteers and cups were big and full compared to a lot of races.

Trails are good footings and pancake flat. They're actually fairly scenic. You run along several bayous, and one of the turn-arounds is right on the edge of the bay.

In terms of overall effort, I'd give this an 8 out of 10.



1. Start further forward.
2. Pick up the pace earlier.
3. My garmin filled it's lap buffer durring this race and got so annoying with beeps and buzzes, I turned it off around mile 11.5. Clear laps prior to racing!

I figure this race was a few minutes slower than my potential. With more work, I should be able to get this distance down into the low 1:40's.


This race is just what it claims to be.....a small, well organized trail run on easy, flat, scenic trails. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.