20K

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! On Saturday, I got to run my first race for my buddy Lauren! I ran the Double Down 20K. The race was one of the trail series put on by Muddy Monk. Muddy Monk is a Chicago area trail series with an emphasis on two things Chicagoans love [besides running 😉 ]… beer and hotdogs! The series has a trail race every month ranging in distances from 5ks to a half marathon.

This month’s race which I ran on Saturday, was the Double Down 10k & 20k. The race took place at a local forest preserve. The 10K was a single loop and then those running in the 20K completed another lap of the loop. This was the first time I have ever ran this particular distance. It was super fun!

Here are some pictures of the course. Some areas were very muddy and required me to leap to avoid major puddles! Overall I thought the course was great because it included a bit of everything. I got to run through some short brush, up some hills, down some hills, through the puddles, over flat grass, and even a wooded bridge. I really enjoyed the challenge of the mixed terrain.

Overall, I finished with a time of 01:32:19. I placed 2nd overall for the females! I think the course may have been shy of the full 12.4 miles, because with the terrain my time was faster than I anticipated it to be! I was wearing my GPS watch, but it cut off while in the forest :(. Despite this I had a great time! The staff and volunteers were wonderful and the weather was in the upper 60s, which was amazing considering it was been so cold here in Chicago!

Me Post Race:

Here is the race swag. The race shirt definitely resembles the Chicago beer theme the Muddy Monk series has. Also every year the trail series has a different theme for its finisher award. This year it is glasses. The glass for this race was a pint glass with the race’s logo. Definitely adding the glass to my collection from the 3 other races so far this year!