Frogtown 10 Mile Trail Challenge

Part run, part obstacle course - the Frogtown Trail Challenge was one of the most fun events I've done in a long time. The trails were of the unmaintained ATV type with lots of logs to hurdle and ditches to climb through.

The first mile had us running through the woods with three ditches to climb through, which caused mass chaos right off the line. I was glad that I took off fast and was just behind the college cross country runners to avoid any bottlenecks. The next major challenge was a straight up, off-camber 200' vertical climb up a big hill that left me and everyone else gasping for air. I held the women's lead for about 5k but was passed somewhere between mile 3 and 4. We had to go through a culvert under the road which was waist deep on me. Mile 4 to 5 was probably the toughest for me...just felt slow...but then I started to feel better. Between mile 5 and 6 was a long section that we had to run in the creek bed which was pretty fun and tiring at the same time. I managed to not trip over any submerged rocks or logs, so yay for me!

At mile 6 I grabbed a couple shots of gel from my drop bag and the next two miles went by quickly and I felt fast again. We had to cross a creek on a log - thankfully no bottleneck there, but I did slip and slide down the embankment on my way down to the log. I'm sure there was a photographer there too to catch it all.

When I got to mile 8, I was thinking whoo hoo...only 2.3 more miles! It was the longest 2.3 miles ever, as the distance seemed to really be dragging on. There were a couple of big hills that I probably took it just a bit too easy on, as a second woman came charging by on the flat coming into the finish. I didn't even see her, and I thought I had a large gap behind me so I wasn't pushing super hard on the last mile. I wish I would have known she was coming, as I would have picked it up to keep her from bridging up to me. I felt good, but I didn't have any sprint left in my legs after all the log hurdling and high knee running through the creek.

I ended up finishing in an hour and forty minutes. I was the third overall female and won my age group. I ended up in the top 20-25 of 180 or so racers, so I was pleased with that considering I haven't run ten miles since my last long adventure race...and certainly not at that type of pace.

It was a really fun event that I'd definitely do again!