Ft. Steilacoom Trail 21k

Yesterday I ran the Ft. Steilacoom trail half marathon. Since I refuse to call 13.1 miles half of anything, I have been calling it a 21k.

Anyway, I was using this 21k as a long run - not trying to PR just see how my body could perform and try to run the entire thing. The runs that Evergreen Trail Runs puts on are usually hilly beasts, but this one was described as "fast," so I thought maybe it wouldn't be too hilly.

The course consisted of a 5k loop, a 11k loop and then do the 5k loop again. I started out saying I just wanted to run based on feeling, not the pace my Garmin said. The first mile ticked away at 8:35, the second at 9:55. And that's when you know there is no way to keep consistent splits on a trail race. :) The rest of course was constant up and down. The ups weren't steep, but I don't run a ton of hills, so they definitely worked me. I guess this course could have been considered fast...for a trail race. The other trails I've ran it's usually climb, climb, climb then down, down, down. This was a nice variety of ups, downs, flats, wide trail, single track, paved road - it had it all!

Me and Lindsay

I told myself that I wanted to run the entire thing. No walking breaks. I didn't walk on any of the ups, but there were two times I had to walk the downs because my quads were shot and it was too steep to run down safely. I'm pretty sure running downhill is harder than uphill.

From mile 5 to 12 I had this girl in front of me. She was always about 20 yards in front, but she was my carrot. I kept going, and finally closed the gap at mile 12 on an UPHILL (she was walking and I refused to walk) and I passed her! Not that I really care whether I beat her or not, I was just happy that my perseverance lead me ahead of one that was walking. :)

My Garmin has me finishing in 2:03:xx. My current half PR is 2:02, which is on a super flat course. With my progression in running these days, if I ran a half next weekend on a flat course, I know I could PR, given I ran a hilly 13.1 miles in 2:03. And I just saw that I came in 2nd in my age group out of 9 women and 26th out of 75 overall (male and female). Not too bad.

I was super beat by the time I crossed the finish line. My feet were hot from bad choice in shoes and I had to quickly sit down because I was light headed. It's crazy that I had a stellar 11.5 mile run last weekend on all flat and then I run 13.1 miles on hilly trails and it totally wipes me out. I guess that's what hills do to you.

Overall I am pleased with my results. Would love to run more trail events, but now I want to find a road 21k and race for that sub 2:00!