My first trail race! (and first race ever with the BF)

the results are up...and they have John and I finishing 92nd and 91st, respectively, though our times are not right since he finished on my heels.... but whatever.  I think his time reflects our results more accurately.  It was a lot of fun and a new physical challenge - and his first footrace!!!  In just over two months of dating, look what I've done!  I created a new runner!!

The race was in the town forest in Groton, MA on trails that John uses for mountain biking.  LOTS of roots, and plenty of hills.  None too long, but most VERY steep.  I could barely run up most of them and going down was slippery and scary more than a few times. 

We picked the 3.4 mile course (that my Garmin only measured at 3.17 - click here to see my Garmin data) and hoped to finish upright, not bleeding and in under 45 minutes.  Two other couples that signed up with us did a slower pace and hung as a pack for a while, but they came in one at a time, all of them running!  None of us had any idea what to expect of ourselves and the course, but since I had the most running endurance, I figured I would be able to run most/all.  (for the record, I ran MOST, definitely not ALL)  John sprinted out ahead at the beginning, and I hung back doing my own thing.  I didn't know what the course was and wanted to conserve.  I passed him around the 1.2 mile mark and we were never really out of eye sight of each other after that - other than during some turns.  We ran together for a bit, but seeing as he'd never run that far or for that long before, he needed more walking breaks than I did to keep moving forward. 

We accomplished our goals and while I definitely conserved speed-wise on some of the flats at the end, I put on the gas when he caught up to make sure I beat him.  :)

This was us before the race.  Sadly, since we were all in the same event, I have no finish line photos until the pro pictures get posted. I wore my Half shirt to inspire confidence.  Sometimes I looked down and thought to myself - "you've done harder than this!".  I used the same strategy at the BAA Half (I wore my Worcester Half race shirt to remind myself I'd done this before).  I think it was more useful for that event, but hey, any advantage you can give yourself.  Plus, it's a cool shirt!