Wildwood Games Half Marathon

Some weeks ago I signed up for the Wildwood Games Half Marathon which was scheduled for today. A couple RWB friends signed up as well.

Over the past couple days I grappled with the decision of whether or not I should run it. I've been experiencing some hamstring tightness which made running difficult. However I had no issues during a short test run yesterday so I felt like I didn't really have an excuse to not at least TRY it.

The first annual Wildwood Games was put on by Columbia County, GA (the county I live in!) and it is named for the park it took place at - Wildwood Park, right along the lake in Appling. Saturday was a mountain bike race and today were the trail races of various distances. I wanted this to be my second half marathon and first ever trail half marathon.

So I got up at a ridiculous hour to make the 6am packet pick up and 645 am start time. My morning was rushed and hectic, but I made it to the start line all in one piece and met Jasmine and James - my RWB running buddies for the day. All 3 of us wanted to take it slow and easy for various reasons. 

We all had time for a picture. 3 of us ran, the rest volunteered

Jas at the finish line!

We started on a fairly wide gravel trail road for awhile before turning on to your typical single track wooded trail. The trails were very peaceful and relaxing. Jasmine drank way too much water this morning and she kept having to pee. I think she peed 3 times within the first few miles! So James and I would run ahead for a bit and then she'd catch up. This part of the trail was an out and back so there was alot of overlapping of runners on a very narrow trail. Shortly after we turned back James said he wanted to take a breather and Jasmine had to pee again, so they told me to go on ahead. That was the last I saw of them for a long time. It was at this point I knew I'd be fine. Wasn't having any issues with my leg, it felt a little tight but it wasn't causing me any discomfort or altering my form. I knew that as long as I took it easy and didn't run too fast up the hills I'd be ok. I ran at what I call my "forever pace", where I could just keep going forever and ever and not be fatigued. I passed through the central area of the park, ran on some more gravel road for a bit, then around mile 4 is where the 10k runners turned around and the half marathon runners forked off to the right. Back on the single track wooded trails again. 

James with the flag

Around mile 4.5 I suddenly felt a sharp sting under my right arm. It was so unexpected and painful I actually yelled out loud. Something obviously stung me, and shortly after I approached a road crossing with 2 volunteers stationed at it. They saw me rubbing my arm and asked if I was ok. I told them a bee stung me and they said "Oh yeah there's alot of yellowjackets back there!" Yes, I know! The sting hurt but it wasn't enough to really hinder me so I kept on moving. At mile 5 I ate some Honey Stingers - hmm, irony? The trails started to get slightly hillier here. There were no huge hills on this course but there were several smaller hills and dips. Around mile 7 I started to see people coming back, so I had figured the turn around point was somewhere around mile 8. A woman came up behind me and ran with me a bit, we chatted for awhile and she told me this was her first trail run ever. A half marathon, seriously? But she was doing great and was enjoying being out on the trails, so why the heck not! Sure enough around mile 8 I approached the Team RWB manned aid station. They were so kind enough to snap this picture of me

Mile 8

They had all kinds of food - I don't really like to eat a bunch of snacks when I run (and I don't run long enough distances for that) but I saw some orange slices and grabbed one of those. It was the most heavenly orange ever! I quickly got right back at it and turned back towards the park center. This whole time I had been wondering where Jasmine and James were, I passed Jasmine first and she was doing good. James was further back, he was running at a slower pace just taking it easy, still holding the flag high. I tripped over a root and nearly face planted pretty hard, but I practically used every muscle in my body to stop myself from falling forward. I'm sure it must have looked hilarious.

By mile 10 I was pretty tired. I noticed myself "shuffling" more as my legs got heavier and heavier. I started counting down the miles. When I got back to the 2 volunteers at the road I asked them if anyone else got stung by the bees. Apparently everyone got stung and they went in there and sprayed. Wow. At least I'm not that one special person who got stung while no one else did. I passed through bee hell one more time and came out unscathed. Reached the 10k turnaround point, back on the gravel road. About a mile to go. I ran a little faster knowing the finish line was near. I finished in 2:42 - not a glorious time, but all things considered I'm not too disappointed.

I waited for Jas and James to finish, they came in together about 20 minutes later. We all made it!

Finish line!

I was tired, drenched in sweat, and so happy to have run this race. The trails were beautiful. It was a great experience with friends and fellow runners in my community. I can't believe I almost didn't do it.

I love the shirt and the medal. You can't really tell in the picture but the medal is made of wood! This medal isn't like any other medal I have - very outdoorsy, reminds me of going camping or something. Fitting for a trail race. The 3 of us got some celebratory BBQ at Shane's Rib Shack, then we parted ways. Until next time...