Jaclyn writes:
Overall, we weren't too impressed with the Greenland race. The whole double loop thing wasn't too exciting, and I feel bad for the people that ran the 50K, making it a quadruple loop! I am happy to have discovered this new trail. About 8 miles in length, it has about five mellow uphill miles followed by three slightly downhill miles. I would love to return to the trail for some non-technical mountain biking. I'll probably never take the time to drive up there for a run, though. Not when we have such an amazing trail system within Colorado Springs, that is simply more interesting.
The only thing I didn't like about the race was how the "turn about" was arranged. It was about 200 yards from the finish line (which I was not aware of while racing). After my first loop, I had assumed this was the finish, as well. This resulted in a fabulously strong finish about 200 yards before the real finish line, which was out of sight. I probably lost 20 seconds, which doesn't matter. But I was disappointed about getting my body going again.
I finished 7th in my age group with a time of 2:15:12. I was the 10th female, overall. That fact makes me tempted to run one of those all women races. My age group place was disappointing, but the age group was a 10 year span. Duane finished 3rd in his age group, 10th overall, with a time of 1:53:42. He had a pretty solid race. He tried to hold his own against the first female, but she ended up smoking him and setting a course record for women.
In the end, we've decided that we would not race in the Greenland Trail Race again. I'd recommend trying it out, though. We're excited to be gearing up for Fear the Dear on June 4th. It should be intense; and since only 90 people are running, it should prove to be thrilling...as in...I hope I don't get lost.
