Tigard/King City/Tualatin/Durham Half Marathon (4/4/20)

For my first race of 2020, I debated the downhill Vernonia Half Marathon or the more-challenging Silver Falls Trail Challenge half marathon - both the first weekend in April.

Previously, my longest trail race was 10K (6.2 miles), so I was really nervous about doing a longer event (13.1 miles). But, with the prompting of runner friends, I decided to push myself and choose the trail half.

Training went well. My friend, Tina, was also prepping for the Silver Falls race, so we did some long runs together and also commiserated about our weekly hill repeats. 

On March 7, Brad and I ran 10ish miles on Forest Park's Wildwood Trail. It was a terrible run for me - one of those runs that makes you doubt everything. But then the food poisoning hit! Brad and I both had a bad, bad stomach bug - we think it was food poisoning from Sweet Tomatoes. Well, that definitely explained the suffer fest on the trail!

Later that week, COVID-19 shut down school and shut down my trail runs. Running on single track (narrow trails with room for just one person at a time) felt very unsafe, so the rest of my training was solo and on the street and treadmill. Soon, the race was canceled, but I decided to finish out the few weeks of training and just run the 13.1 miles on my own.

On April 4, I strapped on my hydration pack and hit the road, running through Tigard, King City, Tualatin, and Durham:

Mom and Eryn saw my live track online and surprised me around mile 11. It was a good boost at the end of my solo "race."

And they were waiting for me at the end with a rope strung across the road for a finish line!!

All done:

It definitely wasn't the trail race I was planning, but I was pleased with myself for completing my training and following through with my race - even without the deadlines and crowds and swag and scenery and infrastructure that comes with a real event.

Then I celebrated with a Beyond Burger, fries, and Dr. Pepper from Carl's Junior - eaten at home, of course, because restaurants were closed :)

Runners are a tough bunch. It's as much a mental sport as a physical one, and COVID added an extra challenge. I'm happy to say I didn't let it stop me :)