I ran the North Face Endurance Marathon this past Saturday and enjoyed myself a great deal. This was the first trail race I've run in over a decade and the first marathon I've run since the Oakland Marathon back in March.
I had originally signed up for this race last year, but it was canceled due to the poor air conditions that had been caused by wildfires. I either had the option of receiving a refund or of gaining automatic entry into this years race, and I chose the later.
Having not run a trail race in years and because of the nearly 6,000 feet of elevation gain on the course, I took my finishing time from the Oakland Marathon and added an hour to use as a target time. I ended up missing it by about 15 minutes, but overall I was pretty happy with my both my finishing time and with my performance on the course.
North Face Endurance Marathon - 26.29 miles through the Marin Headlands.
- Mile 1: 9:15
- Mile 2: 8:58
- Mile 3: 8:15
- Mile 4: 6:48
- Mile 5: 7:11
- Mile 6: 9:06
- Mile 7: 9:38
- Mile 8: 8:46
- Mile 9: 7:51
- Mile 10: 7:43
- Mile 11: 10:25
- Mile 12: 13:18
- Mile 13: 8:41
- Mile 14: 8:36
- Mile 15: 8:44
- Mile 16: 10:22
- Mile 17: 6:34
- Mile 18: 8:54
- Mile 19: 12:19
- Mile 20: 9:38
- Mile 21: 7:20
- Mile 22: 9:57
- Mile 23: 10:12
- Mile 24: 10:08
- Mile 25: 8:37
- Mile 26: 10:07
From a hydration and nutritional standpoint, because this race took place on the same course as a 50k and 50 mile ultra that went off earlier in the day, the aid stations contained all sorts of awesome snacks like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potatoes, M&Ms, donuts, pretzels, and fruit.
I love all of these things and ate them pretty liberally throughout the course, which ended up upsetting my stomach some on account of how rich it all was. Going into a race like this in the future, I'd definitely train more while eating those types of foods.
Melanie met me at the finish line and we finished off the day by seeing Ford vs Ferrari at the Alamo. All in all, a great Saturday.