A good friend of mine turned 50 this year, so she said she was running this 50 miler. I surprised her on race day at the starting line because I … MORE
A good friend of mine turned 50 this year, so she said she was running this 50 miler. I surprised her on race day at the starting line because I wanted to support her. She and I are both marathoners, so 50 miles is a bit farther for me :-).
As a non-trail runner, I had some challenges, so, for me, this was a difficult run. Lots of uphills and roots in the ground. But that’s trail running.
There were 2 drop bag locations on race day. So I didn’t have to carry around a lot of extra stuff, I put socks, GUs, chapstick and vasoline in my bags The bags were collected on race morning by the start and dropped off at the mile 24 and mile 40 aid stations. The best part was the bags were brought back to the finish line waiting for you.
The main thing that stood out for me was the race support. I have run over 25 marathons and I have never had race support like this. There were 10 official (and at least 2 unofficial) aid stations. The food that was provided was fantastic. Tater tots, pb&j sandwiches, hash browns, quesadillas, m&ms, bananas, sodas, pickle juice, soups, etc. I barely used any of my own GUs. Volunteers constantly asking if they could get me something.
The good news is we beat the last cutoff by more than 30 minutes, so my friend got the finish she was looking for.
As a road runner and (until this race) not an ultra-marathoner, I can highly recommend this trail run.
And the only reason the swag was a 3 shoe review and not more (or less) is that it was not what was important for this race. It was a minor item that had no bearing on why I ran or what I liked about the race.
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Amazing race support
A good friend of mine turned 50 this year, so she said she was running this 50 miler. I surprised her on race day at the starting line because I … MORE
A good friend of mine turned 50 this year, so she said she was running this 50 miler. I surprised her on race day at the starting line because I wanted to support her. She and I are both marathoners, so 50 miles is a bit farther for me :-).
As a non-trail runner, I had some challenges, so, for me, this was a difficult run. Lots of uphills and roots in the ground. But that’s trail running.
There were 2 drop bag locations on race day. So I didn’t have to carry around a lot of extra stuff, I put socks, GUs, chapstick and vasoline in my bags The bags were collected on race morning by the start and dropped off at the mile 24 and mile 40 aid stations. The best part was the bags were brought back to the finish line waiting for you.
The main thing that stood out for me was the race support. I have run over 25 marathons and I have never had race support like this. There were 10 official (and at least 2 unofficial) aid stations. The food that was provided was fantastic. Tater tots, pb&j sandwiches, hash browns, quesadillas, m&ms, bananas, sodas, pickle juice, soups, etc. I barely used any of my own GUs. Volunteers constantly asking if they could get me something.
The good news is we beat the last cutoff by more than 30 minutes, so my friend got the finish she was looking for.
As a road runner and (until this race) not an ultra-marathoner, I can highly recommend this trail run.
And the only reason the swag was a 3 shoe review and not more (or less) is that it was not what was important for this race. It was a minor item that had no bearing on why I ran or what I liked about the race.