OK, so I started out good, and had every intention of running as much as possible, but then the first serious uphill arrived and I walked. Actually, I stopped for about 30 seconds to catch my breath before I started to walk.

Somewhere along one of slight downhills spots between steep uphills, I turned my left ankle and fell. Nothing serious, and I got up and continued running. A little later, I full-on twisted my right ankle and fell. OK, a little more serious, as I could feel that I sprained my ankle, although only slightly. I tested a few running steps on it and it didn't hurt, so I kept running, albeit a bit more cautiously.

I remember from doing this race a year and a half ago, there was a volunteer whose only job was to stand at the top of the steepest downhill and say, "Be careful, steep downhill." She wasn't there this time. And that steep downhill surprised me (it's around a corner and you're practically on it before you know it). I watched a woman two people ahead of me slid on her butt. Then, I watched as the man in front of me did the same. And yet, I continued running down at the same speed, only to do the same thing myself! Hahaha. I just laughted and crab-crawled the rest of the way down. I figured that way if I fell again, it wouldn't be so far to fall.

There were no mile markers, so I just had to guess how far I'd gone and how fast I was going. I felt as though I was holding a faster pace than the last time I'd raced this course, but I couldn't be sure. So, when I was out of the steep sections, I pushed as hard as I could.

I'm happy to say that I trimmed nearly 17 minutes off my time! Nice work!

Not trip?

I hobbled around the parking area. As soon as I stopped running, my calves and my feet got very stiff. Little did I know at the time, but I had developed, during this run, a fallen arch in my right foot, not related to my fall (see note about pain in my foot during my warmup).


Overall strength and ability to run uphill, and stability and ability to run downhill and not fall down.


I enjoy the Envirosports series, mainly because they're in such beautiful places. And the organizer is so cool and casual.