I’m now (less than) two weeks out from my FIRST trail race. It’s also my longest race ever. To celebrate, I took a week off from my trail training to participate in my FAVORITE race of the year, the Panther Run. Three distances to choose from, naturally, I went with the 15K.
It was an EPIC race. Cool temps meant PR weather! I fell into a comfortable pace early, running alongside a woman from my running group. We didn’t speak at all. I think we were each racing the other the entire time. Trail running has encouraged me to power down the hills, even on the road now. So once we started hitting hills, I pulled away, but was never too far ahead. Eventually we ended up right back together and raced it out for the last mile. At the end, we exchanged a high five. I hit a PR by 14 minutes. Maybe it’s not as big of a deal, considering my only previous 15K was over a year and a half ago, but I’m still celebrating besting my time.
As for trail racing…I now have three trail races on my schedule between now and Thanksgiving. One 15K, one 25K and a half marathon. I’m super excited. Although the elevation chart for the 25K is just a little bit intimidating. I’ll leave you with this:
Outspoken Runner 
Oct 14, 2014 @ 20:37:59
Good luck with all those races!! I have been tossing around the idea of trying a trail race in hopes it will benefit me for the obstacle races I have lined up for next year. I will have to read your recaps on how your races go and maybe it will help me decide