Active Appeal

With an year or so of road running races, I had never signed up for a trail race. Oh well, that's not technically true, since I did run the Salem Lake 30K last year, but with packed dirt and gravel and a paved section, that was more a hybrid than a trail race on Lake Norman. I had seen these cool graphics from the folks at  Vagabond Endurance  and when Gabe suggested I should try, I was tempted. The deal was any number of loops around a ~5.5 mile trail that had to be completed in under 4 hours. When Jeff offered a discount code I could use, I was sold! Even if all I did was run 1 loop. I would have earned my swag and the custom medal.  A whole bunch of folks from the Carolina Beer Temple run club had also signed up to (or volunteering for) this race. I got a starting, smiling picture. When it rained every single evening for the past 4 days, I wondered what the trail would be like! Looks like Thor had been actively promoting his lousy new movie - love and thunder, but...

  This event had been sold out. I suspect there's been a fair number of deferrals or cancellations as folks realize flying & hotels at a race are expensive, and the current flight tickets and cancellations are making folks queasy about that. This may be the reason the event organizers opened up these spots for new registration. For me, I am simply thrilled I am signed up for not one but two iconic races this year, the 50th Portland and the 47th Marine Corp marathon.