Do the Dirty- A race recap

I did my first trail "race".  It was more like a group run for me, because I have never really ran on a trail before. My time was horrible (59:45) but the experience was great.  Because of the small numbers (only 95 total participants) it had a really relaxed feel.  The line for the one and only women's porta-potty was shorter than at the RiteAid race where there are literally bathrooms galore, which is always nice pre-race.  However much like a normal run there were no potty's along the way.  This is one reason that I held back.  

The race started relatively close to 8 am.  The race started next a pavilion where they made some announcements about well something about how the trail was marked but I was a little to far out to hear it clearly.  My main goal was to keep up with and then follow the crowd that heard.  

The race started and we were off.  In the first half mile or so there was plenty of room as we were running to the actual trail on a paved path.  Once we hit trail it was single file.  If I had been going to for a PR that first half mile would have proven critical in picking my spot in line.  Unless you were willing to shout out for someone to please move over or elbow your way around it was hard to find a spot to pass.

It was beautiful.  And I kept thinking how clean it was.  It was amazingly clean.  I really enjoyed the scenery and the ups and downs of the race.  Even the big hill was kind of fun-a good spot for the challenge.  And the one and only water station was at the top-perfect motivation and timing for me.  I met a girl who had as little ambition as me and we chatted for the last 5k of the race. 

 It was here that I was super glad for company because this is where the marking got fairly confusing. The arrows changed from pink to white and there was no foot path so we were dodging and poking our way through the forest.   It wasn't long before we were back on a foot path though.

The race ended the way it began and as always I sprinted to the finish.  My babies were waiting for me.  It was sweet.  There is a next time on the horizon for sure.