Fits Do Race Reviews: Hyland 7 Miler: The Endless Summer Trail Run Series

Last Tuesday night, I ran the last trail run of the Endless Summer Trail Run Series (not so endless after all, eh?)

This summer, I ran the French 5k and the Lebanon Jensen 10k. I missed the Lebanon Schulze 7 mile, and now did the Hyland 7 miler this week. I wish I would have been able to participate in all 4 of the races in the series, but 3 out of 4 isn’t bad. At each race, you get a commemorative pint glass. Since Dustin did do all four races, we are a little heavy in our household on pint glasses….!

Of the three races that I did do, I thought that this Hyland race was the most challenging. It did happen to be the longest of the three of course, but it wasn’t the distance that made it hard. It was the hills and terrain that made it challenging. Lebanon was challenging because of the mud, but Hyland was definitely the hardest terrain (in my opinion.) Keep in mind, however, that I did do a hill workout the day before, so my legs were definitely not fresh. I was proud of myself for not having to walk up the hills, but it was very tempting. At the pace I was “running” sometimes, I might as well have been walking!

The race started at 6:30 pm. The course was a “double lollipop” as they called it or two different loops on different areas of the park.  With the looped course, we were able to hit a support stop about halfway through that corresponded with the finish line area.

I thought that the second loop was definitely the hardest. There was a short bit that was paved, but almost all of it was trail and this is where there were some serious hills.

At the finish, there were cold sponges and water, and of course beer and pizza.

I love the vibe after these trail races. Everyone seems so happy to be outside! There weren’t quite as many of my run club members at this race, but those who were there all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The race was chip-timed, and my official results said my average pace was 9:30 min/miles, but I think that must have been calculated off of 7 miles instead of the nearly 7.5 that my Garmin had…. I am not trying to be a crazy runner, as I honestly don’t worry about pace at a trail race, but my Garmin was quite a bit off on my average pace versus the official results. Here were my splits: 8:24, 9:05, 8:59, 9:23, 9:12, 9:58, 8:59, and last 0.4 mile- 7:41. Finish time: 1:06

Considering that I do my long runs under 9 min/miles, I think you can tell how challenging the course was.

Challenging but fun…I am definitely not calling myself a trail runner, but I have enjoyed mixing it up a bit this summer with these runs.