Westminster Trail half marathon (race recap)

Saturday, April 29
Westminster, CO
Half Marathon #162
Weather - Cold, windy, snowy

While the 10 day forecast always had snow in the forecast I was optimistic that the weather-people would be wrong. Fair to think that... they have been wrong a LOT lately. However, the snow started falling right on cue as I was getting home Friday night.

The Westminster trail race start only being about 10 minutes from our house we didn't need to get up until about 6:30 - and even then, we were parked with about 50 minutes until the start. Picking up our packets was very quick. As an ambassador/season pass holder, all my stuff was pre-packed and ready with no wait. A only had to wait a few minutes for her stuff.

We sat in the car until about 10 minutes until my race was supposed to start (and even then, I only got out of the car so I could use the bathroom). Met up with Francesca, Lisa and Becky and lined up towards the back. A's race started 10 minutes after ours did and she saw us off.

Kristen and I started together and although I felt super crappy and tired, the first hour ticked by with conversation. We (and by we, I mean I) had to take quite a few walk breaks, especially within the first two miles. It was about 30 degrees and lightly snowing. Not the worst I've ever run in, but certainly not ideal. Kristen dropped me around the 5 mile mark, which was fine, I was running pretty poorly. I did start to feel better after the second aid station around mile 5.5 and ran fairly decently through the turnaround. 

By the way back the wind had picked up and the moisture had made the trails really muddy. Like super muddy. I was having some cramping and was very glad that the city has put in a permanent port-o-potty that I would hit around mile 10. Shortly before arriving there I saw a giant coyote running across the trail. He seemed to be enjoying the weather. I felt much better after stopping and ran... ok until about mile 11.

The small loop around the lake was crazy muddy and slick. A bulk of that section I couldn't even run, and at one point I almost lost my shoe!! The wind really picked up the last mile and the snow became the weird pellet snow that stung my face. I did not enjoy the last part of the race.

I was a tad disappointed to have finished a little slower than last year, although keeping mind I did use the bathroom this year AND trail conditions were much worse. So, meh. Probably a pretty comparable run. (Comparing my mile splits from this year to last year, I actually ran a much stronger second half this time, even though I did have to stop).

Met up with A, Kristen and Becky and waited until Lisa and Francesca crossed the finish line and the scurried out pretty quickly.

Official time - 2:31:18
Overall place - 78/101
Gender place - 41/61
Division place - 15/17
Mile 1 - 11:25
Mile 2 - 11:56
Mile 3 - 11:31
Mile 4 - 11:07
Mile 5 - 11:01
Mile 6 - 10:56
Mile 7 - 10:50
Mile 8 - 11:53
Mile 9 - 11:10
Mile 11 - 13:07 (bathroom)
Mile 12 - 11:54
Mile 13 - 11:18
Mile 13.2 - 10:13

A had an INCREDIBLE race - she got a PR of about 3 minutes in these horrible conditions!

Official time - 1:04:22
Overall place - 54/94
Gender place - 28/59
Division place - 1/1

Thoughts:

• This is not the most interesting route, especially since it is in my own backyard. Since it's not shaded at all, the weather was actually preferable to a nice sunny day, and the weather made it... interesting.
• It's a bit of a stretch to call this race a "trail race," although there are dirt sections, it's best to look at this as an "urban" trail. 
• The medal is huge, and the post race "party" is awesome. (Although, no beer at this one - per city rules, and the party was a bit of a bust due to the crappy weather. We were given about a dozen Noosa samples, so it wasn't a total loss).
• Other than the FYCO "races" that A put on, this was my first half since the first week of February?!