Falling Water Trail 1/2 Marathon - Sunday September 12, 2021

 Surprised myself and had a blast Sunday competing the Falling Water Trail 1/2 Marathon in 2 hours 59 minutes.    The loop is similar to the run I have been doing weekly this summer it just had another 300m of elevation gain.   

The Eugenia / Hoggs loop I have been running all Summer is the same distance just a different part of Beaver Valley.  The race added another 300 or so meters in elevation so it was a more difficult loop.  I had been logging 3h50m ish on through the summer until I ran a 3h20m a couple pf weeks ago.   It was cooler and I was running by myself so it was all business.  I really enjoyed adding a bit of speed to my run so I was super looking forward to this race.   

 The run was a blast ,  started easy then picked it up a few Ks in after the big initial run.  I started keeping an eye on my HR allowing myself to run in the 130's and let it climb into the 140's on hills.  Going up Grahams Hill I was in the mid 140's just walking.    There were a couple of big climbs at the Beaver Valley Ski Club ... kept an eye on the HR keeping it in the 140s power hiking up the ski hills.   There was an aid station around the 17 k mark that had on  Endurance Tap left ... grab it and treated it like rocket fuel picking up the pace inn the last 4 Ks getting the 21 km run done in under 3 hours!