It said "Trail Run." I didn't plan on signing up for running, swimming, skating, and body surfing. Honestly one of the toughest runs I've ever done- so one of the most rewarding and satisfying to complete. It had been raining since Wednesday. Everything was already saturated, wet, and slippery. Best advice ever from Brent- "bring an extra pair of shoes and socks." I wouldn't have been able to finish without them. Thanks for helping me out Brent! I had a wonderful call from Terri on the way to the race to check and see how I was doing & if I was ready for the run. The call got me pumped up and ready to run. Thanks for the support Terri! There were more people at the run than I had expected with the poor weather. They said 250 signed up, but there certainly weren't that many who were running. The 9 mile and 18 mile runners started out together (18 mile was just the 9 mile loop twice). Ray's widow said a few words, and we were given a crash course on how to run the trail and trail running etiquette, then there was a countdown from 10 and we started running. I stayed in the back of the pack because I had no illusions that I was going to do anything in this run other than just try and stay safe, dry, and finish. The first 2 miles was all on the road, which was full of huge puddles and made the "stay dry" walk the plank of the proverbial pirate ship. Then we headed for the trails, and while they were terribly wet, hilly, slippery, and often full of sticky clay, it was beautiful. Most of the run was on bike trail paths. From mile 2, until mile 9.2, it was all trails. Some were green/easy difficulty, most were blue/moderate, and I saw some signs for double black diamonds, but we didn't run on those.
I had a rain poncho I'd put on for the run to stay dry. Eventually, my feet were wet and the rain let up, so I took it off around mile 4.5. This photo was sometime before that.
 When I did take the poncho off, I realized how quiet and peaceful it was out on the trail. Up until that point, all I could hear was the rustle of the plastic. I wished I would have taken it off earlier. I did have my garmin wrapped in a plastic sandwich bag to keep it dry. Don't want to have to buy a new one due to water damage. At mile 8, the trail flattened out (which my quads appreciated) but the water puddled up really bad on the trail and by the time I got to the 1/2 way point, my shoes were full of water and mud. I could feel big hot spot blisters forming on my arches and it the fire was getting hot. I ran the road section we started out on, and by this point, everyone and their dog and run on this wet, muddy road at least twice (some of them 4 times because it's an out and back). There was not one dry place to run on the road. It was just 2 inches deep muddy water in the shallow places, and shoe sucking clay mud in the deeper parts. I had to make a decision at this point. Stop and call it quits, or change my shoes/socks and do it all over again. I saw MR waiting for me at the intersection with some gatorade (what a great guy....waiting for me in the rain and not knowing when I'd ever show up)- and I told him I didn't need a drink, I needed him to dig around in the car for my shoes, socks, and body glide. He ran to the car, got the stuff together, opened the back hatch and waited for me. He pulled off the wet and dirty shoes and socks while I tried to dry my feet and rub them down with body glide. My fingers were so cold that I couldn't tie the laces up on the shoes- he even did that for me. My hero for the day!!! Who else would drive 6 hours, just to turn around and wake up at 5 am, drive 2 more hours, stand in the rain and wait for me 4 hours, then humor my sad and sorry sore legs for the rest of the day? Only my MR MR! My feet felt great in the dry shoes and socks. I didn't have any further problems with blisters on my arches for the rest of the race. I only saw one other person on the trail. I followed him for a while, then he stopped for water and I ran ahead. At mile 13.5 I tripped over a root and went body surfing on the trail. Scraped up my arm a little bit but all my running parts worked fine- so I got up and kept running. Thankfully, no one was anywhere near me on the trail, so my pride was still in tact. 
I tripped once more a few miles later, but I was able to reach out and
grab a tree to keep myself from falling on the ground. At mile 15.5, I
found myself in a very, very dark place. The skies had gotten so dark
that it was as if the sun had set- the rain picked back up and was back
in big, fat droplet form, and I couldn't focus. Which makes focusing on
the trail very, very difficult. I tried rubbing my eyes and blinking,
but nothing was helping. I finally had to stop on the side of the trail
and drink and have some gu. I was on track to take more gu at mile 16,
but realized that since my pace was so much slower than normal, I
should have been refueling sooner than I had been doing. The guy I had
passed miles earlier ended up passing me while I was getting my wits back about me. That was a soul crusher, because I was pretty sure I was the last person out on the trail. Nothing like knowing you're the very slowest person out there to pull you out of a funk. But I kept running- and thought of how if this didn't make me a "runner," then nothing would. Sometime during mile 17, I saw two other guys on the trail in front of me, and I was able to pass them. They were at least twice my age, but I was so relieved and happy not to be the last person out on the trail. Thank you Frog-jacket man and Beard-man for being there to make a silly pirate happy. The volunteers were amazing and always had a smile and encouraging word to say. I stayed warm in the rain because I was running, but it had to be miserable for them. They were great- thank you for sticking around for me to finish the race!
As I came down the last quarter mile stretch, there was MR, standing in the rain and waiting for me. There were a few volunteers at the finish line, and a couple with the oranges and bananas and drinks. One of them even called out my name and sounded as excited that I was crossing the finish line as if I'd been the first one to cross it. I cried. It took everything I had to finish the run. Perhaps I would have quit if I hadn't been alone out on a trail with no way out- it's hard to know for sure- but I dug deep and finished. There were the 2 men behind me and one woman people said was out there behind all of us. That was it- the toughest run was the "worst" PR run, but one of my proudest run. So this PR is for "proud run." Here's a photo of the finisher's trophy/keepsake they passed out to all finishers. Their time clock said 3:30 when I came across. I'm not sure what that would make my pace, but I used my garmin (it was on when I was moving- I stopped it when I stopped for shoes, gu) and it said my avg pace was a 10:53. Fine by me.
It turns out that only 5 women attempted to even finish the 18 miler. I was #4. MR said I could have gotten a skateboard trophy for being #3. All I can say is that those 3 women who came in before me earned every bit of those trophies they got. I don't wish I was one of them- I am just grateful I was a finisher. I hope woman #5 was able to finish- they said she was out on the trail. I can not be disappointed with my time or my #4 place when I was only one of 5 women tough enough to even try to do it. I earned my pirate name today. Thank you to Brent, Terri, MR, and the folks at the race that made it such a memorable and wonderful day.
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