Sunday, April 20, 2008

Race Report: Granite Grinder Trail Half-Marathon

Awesome. Fun. Challenging.
Yesterday, I ran the Granite GrinderLooking at the course map and profile and having run some of these trails before, i knew i was in for a challenge. Also, I ran 3 days during the week so I was curious to see how my legs would do. I wasn't concerned with time. My focus was to enjoy it and practice. My longer goal is to finish a 50 miler this year.
With just a 1-2-3 GO for the race start, we were off and running. The course was a mix of grassy meadow crossings, narrow, single-track technical trails, granite slab sections and lots of up and downs. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I found myself smiling a lot and going as fast as i could on the downhill sections. It was so fun and free-ing! The uphills were tough and i just took my time. It was gorgeous scenery all around. It had rained the night and early morning prior, leaving some sections good and muddy. At one point, i just directly went into a big muddle puddle rather than shift around it as some of the folks in front of me had done. Heck...it isn't a trail run if you aren't gonna get muddy, right! I also took 2 wrong turns on the course and this probably cost me about 3-5 minutes off my time. Again, this is bound to happen in a trail race. The first 6 miles were the toughest but they did throw in a good steep section at mile 11.5! Soon enough I was headed for the finish line clock. 2:31 (not counting for lost time)
Great post-race. Lots of bagels, peanut butter, donuts, bananas, water, Vitamin Water (which i tried for 1st time and really like it) and a great Brooks TECHNICAL race shirt.
I will definitely do this race again and I hope these folks put on more! A great job. Most fun I have had in a race in quite some time!!

April 19: 2:31/13.1 miles/11:31 pace - trails
April 17: 39:03/4 miles/9:46 pace - road
April 16: 58:52/6 miles/9:48 pace - road
April 15: 30:23/3.25 miles/9:20 pace - treadmill

2 comments:

Josh said...

sounds awesome! congrats on a great race!

Scott McMurtrey said...

mud is definitely a must. glad you had such a good time. i like how you said it was free-ing. i feel that way too when i'm on a good trail.