Muddy Sneaker

Today, I did a 20K off road half marathon called the Muddy Sneaker...and as you can see by the photo above, the race name does not disappoint.

 I usually always say this after my most recent race but this was one of the hardest races I have ever done.

The distance is really a poor indicator of the difficulty of the race, It took me 2 hours and 23 minutes to complete. The last 2 miles feature 800ft of elevation gain. That's an average of 8% grade on a rocky rooty trail for the last 2 miles of a half marathon. There are stream crossings, terrain that goes straight up, rocks, roots, mud so deep your entire foot sinks in. To top it off there was 40 degrees temperatures and 20 mph winds. It even started to snow at the higher elevations. One downhill was so steep and long my quads started to give out. The last 2 miles of the uphill I literally had to walk most of it. I would start running and my heart rate would peg at its maximum and my legs would literally stop moving. So it was back to the walk. Somehow, I managed to run the last 640 meters.
 
I did the race with Carrot Chopper as my pacer and motivator. CC was running so far under her capacity that she would stop to go the the restroom, I would keep running and she would catch up.

So I am left sore...exhausted.. Red Queen Less (She is at a seminar today)..in gastric distress ( I will leave out the details) and my sneakers are dirty. Cant wait to do it again next year!