I’m so sorry to everyone up north dealing with snow! And my family in Oklahoma is dealing with wildfires and trying to get their animals to safety. The pictures are so sad. So I’m very thankful to be able to sitting on my deck and relaxing right now after my half this morning.
Dismal Swamp Stomp Half Recap: This race is held in Chesapeake, VA, which is my hometown. We live right on the Chesapeake/Virginia Beach border. Besides the puppy trot mile I did in the fall, this was my first race in Chesapeake so I was pretty excited to race in my city. The race is held at the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail, which is a paved road. It is the old 2-lane Highway 17/George Washington Hwy. There’s a lot of history with George Washington here, so it was kind of cool to be running where he may have walked. The race went 6.55 miles in then turned around. It is mainly shaded by trees, and there’s a nice breeze coming off the water. But miles 5-8 are uncovered and it was hot today! I was really hoping to PR today, but my heart rate got too high during the non-shaded portion so I had to slow down. It’s in the upper 70s, but with only having a few warm days here or there to train, it was tough. I felt like it was much harder than Princess this year. There’s no crowd support since the trail is remote, but the volunteers were amazing. I believe they added water stations for today. My husband finished way before me so he ran back out to finish with me. I was struggling at that point, so I was happy to see him. There are less then 500 half runners, so the post-race festivities are a little lacking. The course itself is very boring, but it’s pretty serene. I’ve been dealing with a lot of calf cramping and pain, but I made it through today with 1 strip of rock tape and 0 pain. I had one twitch in each calf, but no full on cramp. I’ll take that as a win considering the weather. I would certainly run this again, but maybe as a last minute sign-up if it worked with my schedule. I wouldn’t travel for this race, unless you’re looking for a good shot at a PR since it’s flat, straight and no congestion.