Grand Ridge Half Marathon - 2nd Overall

My buddy Dave has been raving about trail running this and that, and how awesome it is compared to pounding pavement. So this past Saturday I decided to give it a go with a half marathon that had 2,000ft of elevation gain. I figured it would be a really good workout for this build block. Little did I know the leg-pounding fest I was in for.

Post-race, food & drink in hand, happy the pain was over.

My impressions? It sure is different- it is a laid back atmosphere, and it is cool. It is also crazy, especially going downhill: I felt I was running borderline out-of-control, trying to place my foot in the right spot among holes, roots, rocks, branches, all while running as fast as possible without falling face first or injuring something. I almost won the thing too, but a XC runner hunted me down in the last 400m. I'm pretty happy with the result given, IMHO, how tough the terrain and the elevation gain was.

Will I do it again? Not sure. I found it a little dangerous, I felt like I was about to lose it at almost every corner and down section. Maybe there is some technique involved, as I smashed my legs. The workout was awesome, though. Now let's recover for next weekend.

JC