The Bad thing Race

 At the end of October, I went to Goderich, ON for The Bad Thing Trail Race . It's a point to point meaning, they take you in a bus from the finish line to the start line and let you out to run back.  The Bad Thing is a 50k race that takes place on the Maitland Trail along the Maitland River.  The beginning of the race wasn't marked well enough or we missed a turn or something, but 90% of us ended up crossing a river first thing in the race (thankfully I'd brought dry socks to change into at the first aid station) and then bushwacking our way uphill through the woods to the trail. The rest of the race was well marked and we all got lost together, so I chalked it up to a regular trail race.

The trail was lovely, though I was glad I'd brought poles as it was very narrow on a hill at times and most of the trail was covered in lots of fallen leaves, so there were plenty of roots, etc. hiding.

I was very pleased with my outcome. There were 1200 meters of elevation, a lot of up and down hills.  I'd originally thought it would take me 8 hours or so but I finished in 7 hours and 19 minutes.

Yay! We found the trail!

The start is a secret location every year. This year we started in the Historic Gaol.  The rock walls did little to protect us from the winds coming off Lake Huron. There was a little rain and hail during the race and tons of wind.

Leaves everywhere, but it gave us a good view of the river.

Those of us who went to the race from our local run club.

More views of the river.

The best aid station was the 4th.  It advertised itself as a Troll Bridge. It was under a highway bridge, but the volunteers were dressed as Troll Dolls.

This was the second river crossing.  The first time I've ever said the last km of an ultra marathon was the easiest-my feet were frozen from crossing a river in October!

The finish line!

When it wasn't raining, the sun was lovely.

We had the river to our right the entire way.

I did enjoy the race, lots to see, varied landscape.  The afterparty was great, food, a great cover band, etc. However. There was more road than I'd wanted (gravel at least, a little easier on the body) and when it was road it was super windy.  The leaves over the roots was a little scary, though we got lucky on the weather with little mud. On a rainier year it would have been a mud fest.  So while I liked the race, I don't know that I'd do it again. Keep in mind I'm generally a 1 and done type runner anyway (once I run a race, I'm not keen to do it again, there's just too many races out there).

That's the end of the season for me.  I'm looking forward to curling season and planning next year.  I just signed up for a race yesterday though-72km a little further up the Bruce Trail that's the Caledon section which I haven't done.  Maybe I'll train in one of the other sections and get closer to my goal of seeing the entire Bruce Trail?  Stay tuned!