I really love trail racing more than road racing, and XTERRA and Dirty Spokes productions puts on great events. This is the third trail race I ran with those folks and I will continue to go back. The races at Oak Mountain are always tough, I wouldn't have it any other way. One thing I would like to see is more support on the course. I attempted the Half marathon. I know it is hard to get to some of the areas on the trails, but one or two more aid stations between MM 7 and 10 would have been nice. I passed the last station it seems like on MM 6.

For the first 6 miles I thought I was going to set a trail PR. After 6 miles was a different story. Mile 6 to the peak of Oak Mountain at 7.10 miles was an mostly uphill continuous run/walk climb on rocky terrain. The rocky terrain continued for a mile or so with 'slow caution' signs on the the way down. Very tough course but fun.