Whew, having never run on a trail, I must first admit that I severely underestimated the difficulty that it added. It rained the entire race too which would have been fine on roads but made it muddy and slick on the trail.
The first half-mile was nice and open as we headed for the rugged hills. Checked the Garmin and it had a 7:30 pace which felt 10K-ish and just fine. Then we entered the trail part...
It was very rocky and narrow. When it went uphill, it really went steeply uphill. The downhills you had to go even slower because of hairpin turns, rocky terrain, steep hills and bad slippery footing. You have to concentrate with every step and even so I rolled my ankle a couple of times (minor rolls). The first mile ended up being 8:10 and it became clear this wouldn't be about time, just survival! The next 4 or 5 miles were a blur of sharp turns and crooked terrain. I glanced at the Garmin a couple of times and saw 8:20s for a pace. At first I thought it was because of all the 180 turns and maybe the signal was getting blocked by the hills and trees (it felt like 7:30 pace) but then realized that it was accurate and that's all I was gonna get on this trail. The GPS track on Google Earth looks like a bowl of spaghetti!
Once I accepted that, I had fun and just made sure I kept a good, even effort and got a great workout. I even went the wrong way once and had to double back a little (the pack of 5 I was leading all passed me)! Pretty fun little race though, with some cool views on some of the ridges. They admitted it was more like 9.8K and the Garmin agreed. Ended up with an 8:19 pace for the whole thing but I know I gave 100% effort so it was a great workout. Looking forward to the road 10K in April to see what I can do. | 
