Shakori 40 Miler Gone Wrong!

A couple of weeks ago I went back to Shakori Hills to run the Shakori 40 miler. I had run the race last year and had a blast! The event has several distances, a 4 mile, 40k, 40 miler, and a 40 mile relay. Depending on the distance you choose you will be running a number of 4 mile loops. The race is part of music festival weekend and it's a really fun atmosphere with a big crowd at the start/finish of every lap. I describe it as an entire cross country season in one day! Last year I had set my 40 mile PR of 7:45 during this event but this year would be a much different story. I'm still recovering from the Grindstone 100 and have been dealing with several nagging injuries including a groin strain as well as a tight hamstring and adductor. Due to these injuries I had barely run in the two and a half months since Grindstone and had gained 20lbs! 😱 As a result I went into this event knowing that I would most likely drop. With this being the case I did not go into this race with my usual focus and made a year's worth of mistakes in one day. Follow along as I make blunder after blunder and end up dropping out even earlier than I expected.