The Race With a Sense of Humor

On Saturday Erik and I will be embarking on the Grasslands Trail Half Marathon. This will be our first trail race and I am really looking forward to it. The website includes a welcome letter that they require everyone to read. I really appreciated the humor in the letter and thought that I would share some of it here:

"The half marathon is 13.5 miles. Yes, it is longer than a true half marathon, you'll live."

"The marathon will cover 2 loops which together equals 26.3 miles. Consider the extra .1 miles on the house, as we did not charge you for that one."

"The loops have been GPSed by many, and the distance on the maps are a consensus. When you cross the finish line don't show us your GPS and show us we were wrong. This is a trail race, you are lucky we let you wear a watch."

"When will the results get posted? Sometime before next year's race. Relax; it is not the end of the world and we are pretty good about it."

"What can I do to get disqualified? Be mean to the volunteers. They will all have pepper spray, so we don't recommend this."

"Can I bring my dog? Absolutely! We are very dog friendly. They can race, and they can be in the Start/Finish area. Also, if you register your dog and pay the entry fee we will give them a finisher's medal and a bib."

Being a bargain hunter, I appreciate that I am getting an extra .4 miles for free! I am excited to try something totally different and I am not bringing any time expectations into this race. I haven't done much trail training, so my goal is to have fun and try something new. This is another attempt at getting outside of my comfort zone--something that is important if I want to grow as a runner and an individual. I understand this race to be runner friendly and an introduction to trail running and ultra marathons (there is a marathon and a 50 mile race at the same event, YIKES!). Hopefully I will have a fun report to share with you later on this weekend. Stay tuned!