Road Ends 5 mile trail run

I ran the Road Ends 5 mile trail run Saturday in Pinckney. I have never run it before, so I didn't know what to expect. I signed up for it because I wanted to try something different. Trails are something different.

The course was very hilly and had tons of rocks and roots scattered all over the trail. I was always looking ahead of me to see the path ahead so I wouldn't trip or twist my ankles. At one point during the second mile, I didn't lift my foot up high enough and tripped and fell over a root. I was asked by two guys behind me if I was OK. I was. I ended up landing on my left hip. It is a little sore still this morning. Otherwise, no injuries.

Most of the first two miles included huge hills. I got up them, but they did take a lot out of me. I was really thankful that the third mile was mostly flat. I made up a minute or two by speeding up and passing a bunch of other people. There was a huge hill during mile 4. There was no point for me to try to run up it. I walked the hill like the others in front of me. It slowed my time. It basically wiped out the time I made up in mile 3.

I was pleased when I passed a volunteer and he said we had less then a quarter mile to go. I picked up my speed and headed towards the finish line. With less then 200 yards to go, I was sprinting towards the finish. I gave it all that I had. A guy that I passed during the race out sprinted me right at the finish line. He was less then a step ahead of me. I was hoping to hold him off. Besides the guy beating me right at the end and my fall, the race was really fun and challenging. I finished in 52:13:70. I improved my 5 mile trail run time by 26:05. I checked my previous 5 mile trail run time from February. I thought I improved by 19 minutes, I was wrong. I went off a different time. I improved my trail run time by 26:05. The improvement is huge. It is that big because the trail run I did earlier this year, snow was up to our knees. It is so much nicer running without snow to slow you down. I will be running this race again next year.