My shoe rating here may be wrong. Let me explain. Overall, 5 out of 5 easy. Course difficulty - Wow was I struggling. Not so much physically but psychologically. I … MORE
My shoe rating here may be wrong. Let me explain.
Overall, 5 out of 5 easy.
Course difficulty – Wow was I struggling. Not so much physically but psychologically. I love night races. I was going to do the 30-mile until a storm came in that I wasn’t comfortable sticking around for on account of all the things blowing around in the heavy wind and the lightening. It’s an easy 2.5M out and 2.5M back on a very gradual slope. No issues right? Cardio and feet were fine after 20 miles. What got me was all the frogs! So many frogs! Hundreds if not thousands of them. I’d clap my hands to silence them as I went through the darkness but they’d start again louder. It was like rucking through a giant white noise generator. I caught myself falling asleep once as I veered off the trail. The straight line trail. They didn’t care about the headlamp I was carrying (a very bright one at that). They just kept calling to me…telling me to nap. It was a very different experience than anything I’ve ever raced through. Between the storm and the frogs, at 20M I decided to bump down to a lower length. First time ever. Bring music. Even if you don’t normally wear earphones. Just drown out the frogs. That also was my third race in 24 hours. Might have been a bit much.
Race production is amazing. The RD is responsive and the whole group, a great many of whom knew each other from prior races was very welcoming. I met people I truly hope to get to race again with, plus to date my longest race is a marathon and I’d love to change that in 2024. The food at the turnaround is diverse and plentiful, the support crew and spectators hanging out were all amazingly friendly and I really felt like I belonged there.
The swag. There’s so much of it. This was part of a 2-day event. I got two medals that are huge AND light up, a pocket watch and a wooden train whistle, and a tshirt. I’m sorry if I forgot something else there was just so much I loaded up in my car all at once. Parking? Yeah parking is 10 feet away from the food at the start/finish/lap arch. Enjoy that one for sure.
My performance I did 3 even though technically it is my PR because I’ve never done exactly a 20-mile before. My time wasn’t the best because of the prior races and because I was going for endurance not time. It was only supposed to be another 4 miles than the marathon, but I was wearing more weight and I didn’t want to burn out early. I do feel like I saved too much in the tank by the time I hit the 20M mark though. Hopefully ’24 will have better weather and I can test that fully.
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Excellent production-can't wait '24
My shoe rating here may be wrong. Let me explain. Overall, 5 out of 5 easy. Course difficulty - Wow was I struggling. Not so much physically but psychologically. I … MORE
My shoe rating here may be wrong. Let me explain.
Overall, 5 out of 5 easy.
Course difficulty – Wow was I struggling. Not so much physically but psychologically. I love night races. I was going to do the 30-mile until a storm came in that I wasn’t comfortable sticking around for on account of all the things blowing around in the heavy wind and the lightening. It’s an easy 2.5M out and 2.5M back on a very gradual slope. No issues right? Cardio and feet were fine after 20 miles. What got me was all the frogs! So many frogs! Hundreds if not thousands of them. I’d clap my hands to silence them as I went through the darkness but they’d start again louder. It was like rucking through a giant white noise generator. I caught myself falling asleep once as I veered off the trail. The straight line trail. They didn’t care about the headlamp I was carrying (a very bright one at that). They just kept calling to me…telling me to nap. It was a very different experience than anything I’ve ever raced through. Between the storm and the frogs, at 20M I decided to bump down to a lower length. First time ever. Bring music. Even if you don’t normally wear earphones. Just drown out the frogs. That also was my third race in 24 hours. Might have been a bit much.
Race production is amazing. The RD is responsive and the whole group, a great many of whom knew each other from prior races was very welcoming. I met people I truly hope to get to race again with, plus to date my longest race is a marathon and I’d love to change that in 2024. The food at the turnaround is diverse and plentiful, the support crew and spectators hanging out were all amazingly friendly and I really felt like I belonged there.
The swag. There’s so much of it. This was part of a 2-day event. I got two medals that are huge AND light up, a pocket watch and a wooden train whistle, and a tshirt. I’m sorry if I forgot something else there was just so much I loaded up in my car all at once. Parking? Yeah parking is 10 feet away from the food at the start/finish/lap arch. Enjoy that one for sure.
My performance I did 3 even though technically it is my PR because I’ve never done exactly a 20-mile before. My time wasn’t the best because of the prior races and because I was going for endurance not time. It was only supposed to be another 4 miles than the marathon, but I was wearing more weight and I didn’t want to burn out early. I do feel like I saved too much in the tank by the time I hit the 20M mark though. Hopefully ’24 will have better weather and I can test that fully.