Quick Report: NJTS Winter Trail Half Marathon #3

I didn't take any pictures during the race, so here's a photo of my breakfast.

Three years ago, on Feb 8, I did this same race at this same venue, on a ten-mile course, and DFL'd the 10-miler in 2:55. It was awesome.

Today, I did the half marathon, and finished eighth-to-last in 2:46:48. This, too, was awesome. And I'm moving up in standings!! If I continue moving up standings at this rate I'll win this thing by 2040. Place your bets.

So the half marathon consists of a single ~1K loop followed by two 10K loops. It started at 9am, and after 36 hours of above-freezing temps (and some rain), the ice was almost all gone - but not so much that I didn't have to be careful.

I fell into a groove (figuratively) pretty quickly and enjoyed the first lap, which seemed rather long, but that's OK. I never stopped smiling. At the end of the loop I stopped for some water, and headed straight out. I walked maybe half of the second loop (after walking a small fraction of the first), but that's OK. Trail running!

By two hours into the race, ice was almost all gone and replaced with mud. Now, I have seen some serious mud, and when mud gets serious, I stop having fun. This wasn't too bad. But it was shoe-sucking at times and the last couple of miles in particular were pretty squishy. I somehow managed not to faceplant (or butt plant, or plant anything else for that matter) and finished happily and smiley.

I then jumped into an ice-cold creek (felt better than you think), to wash the mud off my shoes. I put on dry socks, but I didn't have a spare pair of shoes so I was cold the next two hours. Sometimes I never learn...

This made for an awesome weekend, where I ran 12 miles in Rockefeller on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday. Today was also running streak day 1111.