So recently I ran the River Valley Ranch 10k in Manchester, MD. I had done some trail running on my own and have run the Cinco de Miler in the past and really enjoyed it so I figured "Meh, I can do a 10k!" but I had NO idea what was ahead of me in this race. The course map is pretty well laid out showing some of the obstacles and lots of water stops, however I did not take a very close look at the elevation map.
Overall the race was organized very well. The week of the race we received email updates everyday, including the recommendation to subscribe to text updates (which I did.) There were three opportunities to pickup your packet before race day at the Timonium and Baltimore Charm City Run locations and at the ranch that hosts the race festival. (You could also get your race packet the morning of the race until shortly before the 15k started.) I opted to pick up packets for myself and two people I carpooled with to the race.
Before the Race
In the short time I was offline on Friday morning, the race directors had begun notifications that they would be changing the start times to the races due to an excessive heat warning the next day. (Meaning that the heat index would be well into the 100s!) So initially they sent out emails saying that all races would start 45 minutes earlier. (So the 8:10am 10k start was pushed back to 7:25am.) They also cancelled the kid's race and decided to open the kid's play area a little earlier to keep them busy while the adults ran. Then the organizers made sure everybody at packet pickup knew of the changes, as well as that everybody had a water container for the race. (It's a cupless race so they provided coolers with water and nuun, but no cups.) Everybody in my group had hydration backpacks so we were set, but the organizers had hydrapouches for sale with the race logo for $10.Throughout the afternoon the race director sent a text message and a recorded message explaining why they made the time change. Both arrived within minutes of one another, which was a little annoying but totally understandable with such a major time change. The race director covered all of her bases and made absolutely sure everybody knew what time races would begin. I was happy that the organizers decided to move back the race times because I was definitely nervous about the heat. (I've gotten heat exhaustion on a training run before, and it was scary but thankfully it happened early on in my run. It was totally my mistake because I started out when it was already 84 degrees and didn't hydrate properly beforehand.)
Race Morning
I got up super early that morning and woke up before my 4:28 alarm to be ready to leave for the race at 5am with some ladies in a local running group. We left soon afterwards and an hour later we were close to the ranch when we were rerouted around due to a downed powerline. (Because of this they also changed race times again so they were 10 minutes later, so instead of starting at 7:25 the 10k was scheduled to start at 7:35.) We were directed to the northern parking lot so I got a mini preview of the insane hill towards the end of the first mile. But we also got a great view of the other side of the valley!
We then walked the short distance (about half a mile) through the finishing area to the portajohns at the far end, closer to the starting area.
The lines for the portajohns were short enough that in the 45 minutes or so we were able to get through them twice and still have extra time left to watch the 15k start, then go through the line one last time! (They also had camp sinks so you could actually wash your hands too.) It was then finally time for us to line up.
I was definitely excited. For the national anthem they had a flag hung up on the ziplines over the starting area, and after hearing the anthem they sent a zipliner down one of the other lines carrying a flag! (Of course, it was such a surprise we didn't get a picture of it!)
Then we were off! The first 0.75 of the race were fairly flat leading to a slight incline, then a pretty dramatic incline of 126 feet over 0.2 miles. (I walked it.) It was really just a preview of the things to come. Holy hills, Batman! I don't think I've ever encountered a race with so many hills. It was challenging with the heat too, but a lot of fun. I enjoyed being able to fly down some of the hills and having to think on the fly of where my foot would go next. I did see a few people fall, including the most graceful fall ever. The woman basically went with it, then somehow rolled onto her feet and was standing back up within seconds. I asked if she was okay and she said she was fine and I told her that was the most graceful fall I've ever seen, and she made it sound like she had quite a bit of practice.
During the second half of the race, there's a fairly infamous water or bridge crossing. Some people chose to take the river crossing because it was easier, but I decided to be a wimp and go for the bridge crossing. I chose the bridge and caught up with three others and I was amazed by how trail running really becomes a group experience. One of the people in our small group fell hard in the very muddy and steep trail conditions and all of us made sure he got up again and kept going. (Full disclosure, I slipped a couple times and the mud covering the backs of my calves was proof!) After the bridge crossing it was nice and flat. There were some points with some large rocks lining the path so I still took it easy, but once I saw we were returning to the starting area, I pushed it as hard as I could. I still needed to take a couple of walk breaks, but once I hit the roadway leading to the finish line I knew I could push it to the end.
Post Race
Shortly after crossing the finish line, I was handed a gorgeous wooden medal!
I then caught the eye of the ladies in my carpool and met up with them. We then went through the celebration area and grabbed cold wash cloths (definitely a nice touch!), a reusable cup with gatorade (was hoping for water, but got that on a refill), and lots of great snacks. I grabbed a piece of bagel, peanut butter, a granola bar, some chik-fil-a chicken nuggets, watermelon and a bag of pretzels. (I didn't see any bananas!) The cups were nice since it's an additional piece of swag, but with an arm full of food it was hard to carry it all without spilling. After eating our snacks, getting a drink refill and cooling off a little bit (there was also a misting station that I didn't take advantage of) we headed back to the car and drove back home.
Goals
This being my first real trail race with obstacles, I didn't have many expectations. It was a 10k and since I enjoy the distance I was fairly sure I could finish. I knew with it being a trail race and due to the heat my pace would be slower, but I wasn't totally prepared for how much slower until the morning of the race and one of my friends in my carpool (who's pretty fast) told me her finishing time the first time she ran the race. Then I felt a LOT better when I finished less than 5 minutes after her and within a minute of my other friend in the carpool.
Goal 1: Finish in under 1:20:00 (Kind of? Finished in 1:25:15)
Goal 2: Finish in under 1:30:00 DONE!
Goal 3: Finish. DONE!
Swag
This race offered the race shirt for an extra fee (but at a discount) at registration. This year it was a long sleeved Under Armour Locker Long Sleeved Shirt in purple with a white and yellow race logo. (Kind of a weird time of year to receive a long sleeved shirt for a race shirt, but I'm okay with waiting a little while to wear it.)
Front
Back
Even if you didn't pay extra for the shirt, you still got quite a bit of swag and it was definitely different than other races! At packet pickup you received a small reusable bag with the race logo and snaps shut (for bag check), a magnet advertising their spring half marathon, a copy of Trail Runner magazine and your bib (with the timing chip built in) At the race itself besides the great spread of food (I keep hearing there were bananas, but I must have only had eyes for the watermelon the second I saw it!) they gave out reusable cups and provided lots of coolers around the celebration area with cold water and gatorade.
Overall (or TL;DR)
I thought this was a pretty good race. There are still some minor communication issues to be worked out (I kept getting conflicting times for when roads would close on race morning, but that was not a big deal because we arrived well before the street closures.) It was fairly well organized otherwise--plenty of parking and it was easy getting there and leaving, lots of portajohns in a couple different areas in the main area of the race and in a couple places on the course as well. I enjoyed the variety of post-race food, but it was difficult juggling food and an open cup of gatorade.
Support before, during and after the race was fantastic. Lots of water coolers on the course and at the last minute they added nuun to a few of them (strawberry lemonade--yum!) to help with electrolyte replacement due to the heat. The starting and finishing areas were not that crowded at all and it was easy to move around from one point to another. There was also a good variety of post race snacks--I like seeing some of the usual things (bananas and bagels) with something different as well (like chicken nuggets and watermelon.)
Support before, during and after the race was fantastic. Lots of water coolers on the course and at the last minute they added nuun to a few of them (strawberry lemonade--yum!) to help with electrolyte replacement due to the heat. The starting and finishing areas were not that crowded at all and it was easy to move around from one point to another. There was also a good variety of post race snacks--I like seeing some of the usual things (bananas and bagels) with something different as well (like chicken nuggets and watermelon.)
Would I do it again? Most likely. It was a fun race and well worth the hour's drive that was not very stressful at all (and I'm not just saying that because somebody else drove.) I really liked that it was fairly competitive and had quite a few people but it wasn't too crowded. (It was also broken up by 2 start waves.) The trail was also challenging but doable and had many areas where you could pass slower runners easily.
Did you run this race too? Have you run it in the past? What was your experience like?
Did you run this race too? Have you run it in the past? What was your experience like?
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