Race Report by Ron Horton

This one was different. Umstead is a trail marathon, run on a wonderfully hilly course located
entirely within the 5000 acres of William B. Umstead State Park near Raleigh, NC.
Limited to 200 entrants (150 finishers this year) it attracts those runners who love the sport for the
purity of it. No cheering crowds, no bands, no gimmicks. Just 26.2 miles of challenging trails run
with your good friends. Here the crowd gathers as the clouds threaten the 0900 start. Temperature
is about 62 degrees.

I was apprehensive about this marathon. I had taken a bad fall the previous Saturday night
(note to self - be careful when trying to ice skate with your granddaughter who is 50 years younger) and
wrenched my upper back. The past week was spent with heating pad and other home remedies,
but I needed this as a Long Run for Bataan on 3/30. Besides, I keep trying to run all the marathons
in my home state, and had not run this one yet. So I made the trip to Raleigh, stayed the night before
with my sister Sandy in our home place 25 miles away in Wendell, and found my good friend
the Donster just before the race start. He is wearing his Raleigh 2000 shirt, where he earned his first
marathon medal. He was volunteering today. Always great to see old friends.

I'm running today wearing my Playbook for Life Racing shirt - click here for their website.

Just before the race started, the bottom fell out. Le Deluge. Here Doom (aka Fred, from MTC)
finds that smaller people (like his lovely wife Susan) are using him as a rain shelter.

click here to go directly to pics of MTC members

Robert from nearby Benson shows up at marathons all over the country. He did 17 last year.
I saw him at Pikes Peak and Bataan. He had a stent put in his heart on Feb 12 (Yep, just over
three weeks ago) and here he is again!

Most of the course is wide smooth bridle/running/hiking/biking trails. It handled the rain nicely.
This picture was taken about 20 minutes after the start, the rain has stopped for good.

Umstead State Park is right beside Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Here is our airport view.

At mile 3 the course turns into single track for a little over three miles.

This was the prettiest - and most challenging - part of the marathon. Great running.

Creeks were overflowing. Here we ran along The Devil's Spine, then crossed the creek to run
back on the other side.

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