Last Wednesday was my second Portland Trail Series race in Forest Park. (Race #1)
It was advertised as a 6.56-mile out-and-back course:
I don't know if the distance was way off, or if I lost signal in the woods, but my TomTom had it at only 6.1 miles. But considering this hill, I'll take a half-mile short :)
I walked much of the uphill after the turnaround, and once I got up on the flats, I stuck behind a couple guys who were running a good medium pace. Then we hit that downhill, and I took off! I passed both guys I'd been trailing and managed to pass a young woman in the final section on Leif Erikson.
I finished in 1:08:19, an 11:12 average based on my shorter 6.1 distance.
I'm used to finishing in the middle or upper middle at my races. But there are some seriously hard-core people in this series, and I'm getting my butt kicked. Before this week's race, I heard others discussing their recent 100-mile ultra marathons and such. They aren't just trail runners - these are ultra marathoners (30-100 miles, usually on trails)! This week, I finished 13 out of 15 in my age group, 53/61 in females and 108/126 overall. But since I'm just out there for fun, that's OK with me :)
This week's route is supposed to be 5.56 miles with lots of downhill! We'll see :)
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