VA Happy Trails Women's Half-Marathon

On Saturday morning, my running pal Mandy and I ran the Virginia Happy Trails Women's half-marathon at Fountainhead Park. Even though we had run the course a few weeks ago for practice, it was our first official trail race. The race kicked off at 8:30 with the guys from the Happy Trails Club singing what else but "Happy Trails".

The first mile or two of the course was a bit crowded making it difficult to pass anyone since it was single track. Passing on the trail requires a little more planning since you have to make sure there isn't a tree or some other obstacle when you go around the person in front of you. I found the course was a little easier than the first time I ran it and managed to pass people fairly easily on the uphills. (Guess I have my elephant-sized quads to thank for that.) I finished in 2 hours 20 minutes which is about 25 minutes slower than my road time but I'll take it. Mandy finished about 9 minutes after me. The post-race spread included pita chips, hummus, fruit, and brownies.