Taco Trail Marathon

Taco Trail Marathon: Round Dos

Luckily, because I’ve run so many low-key races all over the Mid-Atlantic, I receive messages about races I’ve never heard about. When Leigh Weil sent me a message about the Taco Trail Marathon, I was immediately interested. Local race with tacos (and not just any tacos but delicious La Tejana Tacos)! I oddly wasn’t doing kid activities or another race on the day of the event. Boom, I was in!

Background
As soon as I became a runner, I started to follow the DC Trail Runners Club on Strava, but I never really interacted with the group. The only time I run in DC is when doing Tom McNulty’s Potomac Heritage 50k with the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club.

Leigh connected me with Joel Wanger, the race director of the Taco Trail Marathon and Ten Miler.

Joel put on the race last year with minimal assistance and he came off as an extremely nice guy. I really respected how much he cared about his race and that immediately wanted to make me run it even if there weren’t any delicious tacos.

The Race

The race date was Saturday June 29th. The start was at 6:30 AM at Pierce Mill Pavilion. Everyone brings an assigned item. Entry is limited to 20 people. Joel provides a GPX file.

Also, a turn sheet. This race is on the trails Potomac Heritage runs on and uses the same start area. Even though it shares the trails of Potomac Heritage the course is different and the late June heat makes it a totally different experience.

There are the following aid stations:

1. 6.1 Boundary Bridge - Jugs of Water

2. 10.2 Pierce Mill (If you want to just do a Taco 10 Mile this is also the start finish)

3. 15 Palisades Trolly Trail - Jugs of Water

4. 20 Whitehaven - Jugs of Water

Runners self-report times and distances at the aid stations.

Race Morning

As many of you may know, I live in rural Culpeper County in Virginia. In order to make the 6:30 start time I had to be up extremely early. So I did my best to get decent sleep the night before.

The drive was pleasant and I got there with plenty of time to get ready. Joel was the first one there and I was happy to meet him in person! We talked and he welcomed all the runners as they arrived.

Lauren!

My buddy who saved my ass pacing me at C&O 100, Lauren Gabler Masterson was running the race. I talked to her and my friends Erin Altemos and Stephen Wancowicz. We all joked around until the brief. We went around and introduced ourselves and Joel thoroughly went over the course with us. He also ran us all out there to make sure we started on track. He truly cares about the runners at this race.

Go!!!!!!!

We headed out and it didn’t feel warm at the start but I was immediately drenched. I wasn’t able to do long runs the last couple weeks because of a lot of summertime kid activities so this run was great to force myself to get one in. Initially, I started off running with Lauren, Erin and Megan. We stuck together for a bit and then Erin went ahead. Lauren was excellent at keeping us on track. I’m so bad keeping the right direction but Lauren really had it down. We made a few incorrect choices but she figured them out very quickly.

Mile 6.1 Boundary Bridge

Joel was waiting here with bottles of water for us. I ate a gel. We joked around and took a minute getting hydrated. We were all drenched in sweat but in good spirits. We headed out.

On this stretch back to the start we picked up Lauren’s buddy Alex and she joined our group. We all ran together back to Pierce Mill. It was great picking up Alex to have someone new to talk to!

Mile 10.2 Pierce Mill

Meghan stopped here finishing the 10 mile distance option. I used this opportunity to go to the bathroom, then refill my bottles with water, and get some food. I didn’t really eat much (my stomach was upset) but I drank a lot of soda. Lauren Alex and I got done quick here and moved on.

Alex Departs

Alex stayed with us a bit and then headed off on her own. We said our goodbyes and now it was just Lauren and me. Lauren was moving very well and I was definitely holding her back but she was super cool to hang because I didn’t know the course well.

Mile 15 Palisades Trolly Trail

So this aid station was supposed to be water only but Leigh Weil and Jeremy Krug were there with not only water but soda, Gatorade, chips, and all kinds of stuff. This was really appreciated-we needed it badly and it was very nice of them to take care of us. We talked for a minute, refueled, and headed out.

Struggling

I was really starting to fall apart and it was starting to get really warm. I just did my best to keep pace with Lauren. She was super cool, if I got too far behind she would wait for me.

Turn around ohhhhhhhh every now and then I fall apart!

I forgot to mention something earlier. There’s a sign you have to touch then turn around and head back. Lauren did the traditional high five to the sign and I gave it a kiss we also took a photo for proof we made it.

Movies

Lauren knows me well, when I start getting messed up I talk a lot about movies. I always love where conversation goes about movies when I’m bonking out. We talked about our hatred for Into the Wild and love for Kristen Dunst and Reese Witherspoon. I always like thinking about movie conversation after the fact. I wish I had some of these trail conversations recorded.

Mile 20 Whitehaven

This was a straight up water stop and much needed. The water was waiting for us in a cooler and it taste amazing. I needed anything at this point to help feel better.

The final push home

My plan was just stay as close to Lauren as I could to the end then walk the rest because I was hurting. I did my absolute best to keep running until the last mile then I told her to go on. At this point I did a walk, then run the rest, add got to the finish.

Taco Time

Lauren, Erin and Stephen were there hanging out. Joel got me a soda with lots of ice. I sat down for a minute because I was really out of it. I wanted to eat tacos but I needed to get my stomach right first. I finished the soda had some water. We all traded some pictures then ate a lot of tacos. They were so delicious. I wasn’t really able to eat anything all day so it was nice to eat something so tasty after the run.

Joel’s wife and parents were there helping out. They were super nice to us. This felt like such a low key event as if we were welcomed in to Joel’s family outing or something. It was an awesome vibe. I hung out for awhile and eventually had to go. I changed clothes and said my goodbyes. This was such a fun race it almost made me sad to go but I was so exhausted I needed to get home and fix myself and get ready for my daughter’s national dance competition next week. Going to be gone for it all week!

I absolutely cannot wait to do this race again next year. Please consider this race. I’ll post about it before in case you forget but don’t forget! This is an awesome race that’s held on a weekend when there’s generally not much going on. Please consider Joel’s awesome Taco Trail marathon and 10 mile race!

Photos