Grasslands Trail Half Marathon 2017/3/18

Casey and I talked about this race for years.  It’s usually the same weekend as Rock n Roll half marathon that marked end of my run race season.  In a blink of eye Casey had become a trail runner, and I no longer tried to PR at Rock n Roll.  Casey invited me to his first Grasslands 50 miler.  My drop foot limited trail run distance.  I compromised and signed up for 13-mile.

_goal
Raluca consistently talked about wanting to run trail but couldn’t act on it.  It's draining.  I decided to nudge her.  The barriers were mundane: dog arrangement, early wake up time, long drive, need for coffee.

My performance goal: safe finish + negative split.  Mostly I didn’t want Raluca’s first trail race to end in tears.

_the run

We started with Voon, Raymond and Stef on the sandy tail.  I made sure Raluca didn’t overexert early.  The course wasn’t technical: few roots and rocks.  By mile 3 she seemed confident about the course.  I raised the heart rate and let her run her own race.

I kept HR 140~160 for next 7 miles before raising the pace for 2-hour finish.

passing a runner who started too fast.

_#’s
Garmin 630:
Distance = 12.44 mi
Time = 1:57:21
Pace = 9:19

Official:
Distance = 13.1 mi
Time = 1:57:19

_mission accomplished
Raluca finished in 2:33:10.  She ran out of water but toughed it out.  She helped and received support from other runners.

She had a happy run and post-race sushi lunch.

[pace & HR]

I wondered if I could run the marathon in 4 hours.  This is a relatively simple trail course: perhaps I could try another 50-miler.

_live to fight another day
Casey and John’s bodies didn’t thrive on this hot March day and were pull off the course after 41 miles.