Notes
First trail run race for me ... since HS Cross Country.
Seemed quite hilly (some steep and long). I expended a lot of energy on the hills, and my legs were getting very sore toward the end.
My 12.5K (half-way) split was about 57 minutes, second half took about an hour. I felt like I slowed down a lot for the second loop, but was pleasantly surprised to see an average pace of 7:33 min/mile for the whole 15.5 miles. (Significant improvement, I think, over my half marathon in January where I averaged 7:39 min/mile pace for 13.1 miles. This course was much hillier, and had lots of mud and wood chips that felt like it took much more effort than road running. I feel much more sore after this run than after the half marathon, though.)
The Brooks Pure Grit shoes were great for trail running!