Rocky Road 1/2 Marathon @ WWC

 The WWC team throw out an interesting concept with their Rocky Road races last weekend. The idea here was to have races which were both on pavement and trail. They gave us runners three options with a 5k, 10k, and 1/2 marathon. 

I, of course, opted for the 1/2 marathon. 

By my estimation, the courses were roughly 60/40 pavement to trail. All of the races started at the Pavillion, and they headed out toward the entrance. The 5k had the first turn around with the 10k next, and the 1/2 marathon turn around went all the way to WWC entrance. 

The 5k returned on the Parkway trail, while the 10k and 1/2 marathon returned and did the South Main trail. The 1/2 runners repeated the first loop. 

The real drama was in picking the right shoes. With all the rain during the week leading up the race, South Main was more than a little muddy and doubly so on the 2nd lap.

I thought about going trail but at the last minute decided on my road shoes. 

As I expected, I was fast enough on the roads, but I really had to watch my step once on the trails. I didn't take any falls, but it wasn't for a lack of trying.  Of course, I was covered in mud afterwards. Kind of fun actually. 

I finished 3rd overall with a time of 1:31:41, and I won my age group. 

Kudo for the WWC guys trying some new and throwing some difference challenges at us. 

The Cool Down Runner