Athens Big Fork Trail Marathon (Pre-Race Report)
I consider myself a trail runner, first and foremost. The end of 2018 and first half of 2019 really seemed to support that narrative, with Run Your Can Off , Back 40 Trail Run , Bandera 100K (at Camp Eagle), Ozark Highlands Endurance Run 50K , 3 Days of Syllamo , and Mt. Magazine Trail Run . It was fun times. Maybe the best of times, aside from injuries sustained in falls. Since then, though I run trails regularly, I haven't really raced or competed on any. There were the 51 miles of The Eliminator last August, run on flat rails-to-trails that I can't really count as a trail competition. Then in September there was Crest Fest , during which I put in 100K of paved loops up, down, and around Mt. Sequoyah. After that was Arkansas Traveller 100M in October, some of which was on legit single track, but most of which was on jeep roads and such. Off road and in the woods, but not the trail I love. Yesterday I threw down in my last key workout befor e Athens Big Fork Trail Ma