Greenland 8M Report

Well, I finished. Still waiting for the official results. My Garmin says I did 7.72 miles in 1:51:04.

It wasn't a terribly difficult course. Wide single and double track, sandy and gravelly, no shade, one loop (for the 8M) with one hill. If only I had trained....

The course was not technical at all. Wide single and double track lanes easily accommodated the runners (and their dogs). The start was mostly sandy and gravelly. Yuck. I should have worn gaiters. I hate getting rocks in my socks. The sand made it fairly tough going. I stopped a few times to pull the small bits of gravel out of my socks. The first three and a half miles were relatively flat. Gradual uphill for the most part that had one minor noticeable hill.

The first aid station was at the start of the one hill in the loop. I didn't think it was too terribly steep. I would have really enjoyed it if I had trained properly for this one. At the top of the hill was this:

It seemed a fairly ominous sign. But, stopping to take a photo of it made me think back to all of my "first" races when I was just out to have fun, enjoy the moment, take pictures, and finish. While stopped, I was taking some self portraits when another runner asked if I wanted her to take my picture for me. She said she wasn't in a hurry and happily took two shots of me. She was running the 50K so we were both at about the halfway mark of our races. I wonder how she did?

When I started up again after the short break, my knee started hurting. :-( I was afraid of that but was surprised it happened so quickly. There was a smaller hill just beyond this one, which was the actual peak. At the top, I high-fived the guy cheering us at the top and started to run down. Only three more miles to the finish and it was to be all downhill. However, my knee did not like it at all. I was sad to find that I couldn't run the downhill finish.

Here are some photos of the course:

 I also ran this race with my new trail shoes. I bought a pair of Montrail Mountain Masochist trail shoes. I'd only worn them one time before this race. They still looked brand new and very clean at the start. I was worried they hadn't been broken in enough to wear them but they worked out just fine. The trail though, wasn't very technical so the shoes with the rock plate did seem a little stiff. I think the shoes will be great on more technical trails like the Bear Chase trail half. :-)

The last three miles were the hardest I've ever done. My knee and hip were hurting quite a lot. I would try to run for a bit but there was no way I could manage it. I tried to stay out of the way of the other runners making their way to the finish. It was the longest 3 miles ever. Eventually, the finish line appeared and I ran to cross it. 1:59:16 was my official finish time. Phew. It was over.

It wasn't the way I planned to finish my first trail race but, I'll take it. And now, for a much needed break. My vacation begins in one week.