For this race, I was really nervous, and really felt like I needed to practice beforehand. Sarah had me meet her at her work, and then we drove out to Elijiah Bristow to practice. She had had one race there previously (I think her first) and she was going to take the lead. Of course as soon as we got there it started raining. But having driven 20 minutes and spent a good amount of time lost, we didn't want to give up. So we went on a little adventure. We didn't even walk a mile down crappy, wet trails before we realized how late it was and the park was closing. We barely ran at all- right up until Charlie Brown (my beagle, who I had brought with me) smelled something funny, freaked out, and refused to keep going. His reaction was so extreme we mutually agreed we didn't want to know what he was smelling and would head his advice. We booked it back to the parking lot and said forget it.
This was such a fun race! It was my first trail run, and my first night run. We drove first to a parking lot at Elijiah Bristow State Park, and then were bussed over to the actual trail location which was just down the road. The parking lot faced Dexter lake, which was really pretty!
I thought I'd finish at around 1:15 or later, so I was really surprised at my time. The race was also really hard. The head lamps we got super sucked, and mine flipped off my face and smashed on the ground about 1/3 of a mile in. I ended up running with it in my hand, instead of on my head. It was just way too cheap and unstable. The shirts were also super ugly at this one, and to be blunt, made me feel like a cow. They weren't fitted and were cheap cotton. I think it took me one more race to give up on shirts (or rather, get more discerning about which ones I buy) but this was the start of the slippery slope on this issue!
The race was packed, and the trails were covered in glow lights. It really was beautiful. It was a little spooky at times, but I really enjoyed myself! Sarah's boyfriend Mitch came along for this one too!
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