Liz and Brad's Big Adventures: Wildwood 25K

When COVID shut down racing, I continued training and ran my first 25K on my own.

Two years later, I needed motivation to up my mileage, so I thought I'd train for another 25K.

I'm still not comfortable with in-person races, so I set my sights again on the Wildwood Trail.

I used my Peloton app for weekly outdoor runs and weekly hill runs - and then increased mileage on the weekends. Without a specific "race" date in mind, I listened to my body as I ramped up. And I decided Saturday would be the day.

Brad agreed to drop me at the Northwest 53rd trailhead and then wait for me at Germantown - 15+ miles away.

We left the house at 6 am, and because of the cloud cover, had to wait just a few minutes for it to be light enough for me to run. I did a 5-minute warmup, snapped this pic, and hit the trail:

Just starting to get light:

Meantime, Brad drove to Germantown and ran 8 miles of his own.

In 2020, I ran the distance in 3 hours flat. I had in mind that I could probably do it faster this time, but I didn't know by how much. This time I ran by feel, walking some hills to keep my heart rate under control, but also pushing enough to make it more of a race.

Last time, I ran very early on the Monday after the Fourth of July holiday and saw just three people the entire 15+ miles. This time, on a Saturday, I didn't have the trail to myself. Still, I was early enough to avoid big crowds.

Near the end was a large group of hikers. I spotted someone with orange hair and instantly recognized her as Jenny Bruso of the Unlikely Hikers. I follow her on IG, and I was so excited that in my late-race delirium, I yelled out, "I know you!!!" as I ran past the group. They all laughed (with me, I hope!). 😂

I was starting to drag when I rounded the corner and saw cars parked below - sweet relief 💓

I finished in 2:52 - 8 minutes faster than 2020! That's 30 seconds per mile!🏆