Masters of All Terrain Trail 1/2 Marathon

Masters of All Terrain

We are on the left behind the lady in blue. The guys are in grey, Justin with
a hat on... My head is popping up behind their shoulders!

The course was crazy!

The 1/2 marathon started at 7 am, it was 75 degrees at the start of the race but warmed up pretty quickly. We left the house at 4:45 am to meet up with Jason, Jessica and Terry; and headed out!

Race: Masters of All Terrain
Date: September 11th, 2016
Location: Little Big Econ State Forest
Finish Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Distance: 13.1 miles
Gain: 64 ft

Start line!

Many bridges!

I decided to run this race with my husband, I needed the "time on my feet" for training and I knew I wasn't in "race condition"... it's also been quite a while since we got to run a race together so this was a great opportunity! The course was great. The first 4 miles or so were wide and pretty boring/flat. It was wide so made for a little less bottle necking at the beginning.

More beautiful trails

Wide tracks were nice for
passing and getting passed! 

Nothing really eventful happened during this time. We hit the first aid station (and skipped it because we had our handheld bottles) around mile 2 (ish?). The next one was around mile 4 and we stopped here to refill. Justin tripped leaving this aid station: Face Plant #1. He was ok and able to shake it off and continue.

So gorgeous!

 We then hit a narrow, single track section of trail that was beautiful. It ran along the water weaving in and out of the woods.

It was fairly technical with a lot of roots and stumps. We really had to watch our footing through here so we didn't trip! We ran through sections like this until 7.5 miles where we hit aid station #4 (which we hit 3 times #3, #4 and #5 due to the loops) and went into another wide section of trail. We ran this next out and back hitting some narrow single track trail on the "loop" part of the out and back where racers were coming and going opposite directions. This area is where Justin had Face Plant #2! He used a lot of energy trying not to fall, and having to catch himself when he did fall but managed to not get hurt - thank God! We had one section of about 30 feet (that we hit twice) that was really muddy and wet. There was no avoiding it! 

Some parts had a lot of roots to navigate

We crossed 4-5 bridges throughout the course each way

So much MUD!

Pretty trails!

We got back to the aid station #5 around mile 10 and had mostly wide track back to the finish line. This was the only stretch we hit some sun on, the rest was all shaded. The course was cut short due to some flooding so surprisingly we crossed the finish line at 11.44 miles (I then kept running to make the full 13.1). Yes, I'm that guy.

Justin, Me, Terry and Jason all completed the 1/2 marathon.
All 3 guys PR'd for a trial half and did amazing.

Justin had a HUGE PR at this race, we calculated his average pace the last few miles and totaled it up, he would have finished around 2:55, the last Masters of All Terrain Trail 1/2 Marathon he ran 3:15. I'm so proud of him!  Everyone had a great race, this course was awesome. It was a bit technical in parts, all shaded, had well stocked aid stations with great volunteers, and the course was very well marked. Only downside or negative I have was having to share the single track with runners going both directions. Although most trail runners are very courteous and aware, some are oblivious to other people on the course, or have music playing far too loud which was dangerous when coming both directions. Also that the course was cut short. I know it happens - but it was still such a bummer!

Dirty legs!

I love trail running

This was my first real test with training for my next big challenge - 100 miles! I ran the most miles ever this week capping out at 71.4. These runs included back to back miles days of 11/15/13.1 (trail half). I ended the week feeling great. My fueling has been spot on, my Achilles Tendon is a bit inflamed a little bit so I am icing extra and doing more of my PT exercises. All and all I feel great. I'm not real sore but do feel the fatigue in my legs and body. Excited for the day off tomorrow (Monday). I need to work on getting a little more protein post run, and just ordered Tailwind so I am anxious to try that out on my next long run. 100 miles with a smile! That is going to be my goal... along with finishing of course :)