Well, I promised a race report. So here it is.  Sunday's marathon actually went very well for me for twenty miles.  The race was put on by Planet Adventure and was top notch in my book. Great water stops, and post race snacks were awesome. Where else can you get a chunk of log for your finishers medal?

The race started off without a hitch.  The first 1/4 mile was a bit harrowing as there were walnuts on the ground everywhere. So I started off a bit hesitant so I didn't ruin my race in the first 200 yards...  Once I made it to the trail, I was in around 10th, I slowly picked off most of the fast starters within the next 2-3 miles.  The trail was a mix of some sandy spots and hard packed dirt.  LOTS of turns and technical portions on this trail.  I can't tell you how many logs I had to jump/climb over and fallen trees I had to duck under. There were 3 river crossings, they all had stepping stones fortunately. The course had a last minute change the night before as the back half of the course was unrunnable because of water so instead they made the marathon a double loop course.  After the first loop I was in 5th place with 4th place not to far in front of me.  I caught him shortly after the turn and held that spot until mile 21ish (my split at mile 20 was 2:31).  Around this time I stepped in a depression and slightly turned my left ankle (the good one, not the one I hurt at Pikes).  It was minimal and I didn't even stop, within 2-3 minutes after that I stepped on something in a dry creek bed and turned it again, this time it hurt bad.  I stopped and started massaging the area in hopes of starting up again.  The pain was intense and I tried to start walking to keep it from swelling and tightening up.  I kept walking for what felt like forever, but in reality was around 5 minutes. During this time I had 2 people pass me.  The pain was tolerable so I tried jogging again, within the next 1/2 mile after that my right calf started cramping up bad, so bad I thought I pulled the muscle again.  I stopped and massaged the knot I had it in.  Again I tried to start running and again the calf cramped up within a minute.  I think it was because I was compensating with my right leg from turning my left ankle.  Suffice it to say, my race was pretty much over. I started walking again, with a little bit of jogging thrown in just to make me feel good.  When I felt the calf starting to cramp up I slowed to a walk.  By mile 25 I was able to keep a steady pace of a slow jog without cramping. But during this time, I had another 9 people pass me before I was able to get to the finish.  All in all, I had a good time and learned a bunch.  The only thing that's sore today are my calves, mostly the right one obviously. I'm just glad the calf held together and I didn't pull anything.  If that happened, history tells me that I would have had to take at least 2-3 days off or more. As it stands now, I'll probably get back out tomorrow for a short one to see how everything feels.  Yes, I am contemplating another marathon in 4 weeks (on the road this time), I'll have to see how things go and maybe a 50k in December.

Getting ready to start.. #165