Dirty Dog 10k

The saying is "What doesn 't kill you, will make you stronger", well I better start getting stronger. This was a hard race, I know being on the trail it was going to be hard but the ice and excess snow even made it harder but on the good side the weather even thou it was only about 26 degrees was very pleasant since there was no wind.

The race took place on the grounds of the Mosquito State Park, I wasn't even sure we would have found our way around if not for the great making with ribbons and turn signs.

This race had it all, ice, tree log jumping, water crossing, 3-5 inches of snow in some spots, uphill and downhill. The section where the snowmobiles could get through were either great to run on or icy, the run through the woods was all deep snow, forget running the tangent, either break a new path or follow in somebody else foot print, each one had it's own problem. Breaking your own path means you have a 50/50 chance of landing on solid ground, you could be stepping on a hole, ice, twig or ... and following in some else's path means the foot print was frozen and you run the risk of twisting an ankle, oh well.

The snow was so thick on the miles (3.5 - 4) along Route 46 that is was just so easy to walk it since it was a lot of wasted energy trying to run it, now I understood why they said we will be disqualified if we run on the pavement because it was so tempting, this was the harder phase my quads were screaming.

I decided not to carry my own water knowing there was water at about mile 4, and I also ran without music. The trail was really very well marked and even though I have never ran in this area I didn't have any problem at all and I ran mostly by myself.

The goal for the race was really to get trail time and finish in about an hour ten, even though miles 4 was hard I was glad I was able to rally back and not completely die off.

Great race, not sure I will do it again because it is a long drive for a 10k, but I am glad I did it, since it shows me that I am a lot stronger than I think.

Got back home just in time for the next snow storm to start.

Official Finish Time 1:19:53 course was long but no trail run is ever perfect.
Placed 35/49