Gruesome Grizzly - Emily Barrett

Gruesome Grizzly 8K
38:47
2nd

Wow, trail racing is a whole different animal, isn't it?!  This was my first trail race.  I've been running trails this summer and loving it, but it's different in a race.  It's not the same when you're gutting it out on a hill as when you're pushing the pace in the last few miles of a road race.  Definitely not predictable.

But fun, surely.  This week had been a bit more for me than usual--on Wednesday, I did 10 miles with a trail hill workout, plus a second 8 mile run.  Then on Thursday, at 5:00 am, I ran with the fast boys, which was partially a tempo workout for me.  So, 28 miles in 24 hours with two workouts--I knew my legs were going to be sufficiently fried.  Going up the first hill, I could already feel the burn.  I asked Tris, right behind me at that point, if that was THE hill.  He laughed.

No fear, I discovered what they meant when they say Grizzly is gruesome.  Wow.  The entire back of my legs was on fire!  But hey--it could have been longer.  Once I hit the top, Melody (who I had seen going up the hill) had absolutely disappeared, which I was impressed with, because it took a while for my legs to kick back into gear, and they sort of started moving eventually.  I've done some running up there (always going DOWN Grizzly, not up it!) so I was really excited when we turned into Johnson's bowl--single track downhill, my favorite!

All in all, I felt OK about the race.  It was a fun first experience with trail running!