After taking more of an off-season than I’ve done previously, I was feeling like May would be the earliest I’d be ready for a race.  My mileage was way down during January – March 2016, with April being a 100+ mile month.  So feeling slightly less than ready for a race, I ventured out Mother’s Day weekend (oops, didn’t realize that when I signed up!) to Frederick, MD, just about 2 hours from home.

The Expo was small but had great vendors. I left with 2 additional free shirts from the vendors. Pickup was fast and easy and I was out quickly.  The next morning I arrived about an hour before the race and parking was at the fairgrounds.  The bathroom lines were not crowded at that time.  Later the lines were quite long, 10-15 minutes before the race began.  

The race started on time. The weather was in the mid-50’s – perfect.  The course is pretty flat with occasional slight up hills, but mile 12 does have a bigger hill. The course itself had plenty to see and even ran through the Hood College campus.  I paced my run to be under 2 hours finishing time but eventually caught the 2:00 pacer and joined their group.  But around mile 12 (the hill) I began having some stomach issues. All of my miles had been on at or under 9:00, but the last 2 miles were about 9:38 each. That gave me a finishing time at 2:00:14.

Even though my time was less than ideal for me, given my mediocre training and stomach issues, I am okay with my time.  The post race was good. There was the usual things and Harpoon was there for beer. Each runner was allowed to have 2 free beers. There was a band playing music. This is a race I would run again, if it doesn’t fall on Mother’s Day, and knowing about the hill at mile 12 would help too. 

Rating: 4.5/5 stars