Although this was a trail, it was hard packed dirt so it was muddy only in a few places - nothing major, but there were quite a few big puddles filled with water that you had to side-step. The only thing I didn't like running on was the gravel sections - it's not fun running in loose gravel (just like it's not fun running along the beach in the sand - don't believe the hype on tv with the people running serenely on the beach).

I walked a few times during the first 6K, until we got to the first water stop. Then I got in a rhythm passing by the 2nd and last water stop at 9K. I ran with 2 guys until about 11K when more uphill sections started coming at me. My legs pretty much quit on me then and I ended up finishing the race in a time of 1:26:10, and fittingly enough, it was an uphill finish!

The winner finished in 46:15 - just amazing. The younger folks (20s and under) dominated the top 20 - usually around these parts, the 40 year old males take tops - but they still represented in the top finishers, which had a good mix of age groups. The 1st female came in 24th (58:25).

This is definitely a challenging race to do - both in the terrain and with the competition. 100% worth doing.