Who knew Indianapolis, IN had a trail marathon?

I live in the mountains of Virginia and frequent Shenandoah National Park and the Appalachian trail with my family. We are used to steep trail ascents and descents hiking up and over the Appalachian mountains. With the Eagle Creek Trail Marathon being held in the Indianapolis area, I was anticipating mostly flat, well-maintained trails for the 26.2 miles. However I would be in for a challenging surprise.

The course would wrap around the perimeter of Eagle Creek Park running from the west side of the Eagle Creek Reservoir over to the east side, looping around a small lake, and then heading back to the starting point. One lap would be a half-marathon distance, so that meant the marathoners would be looking at two laps. As for terrain it would be mostly dirt trail in the woods, with the lap portion around the lake taking place on a gravel road. Only a mile or so of each lap would be on paved surface where runners would cross over the reservoir via a 56th street bridge.

The trail was fairly narrow but made of well packed dirt, and with no rain for the past few days, the traction and footing was good. However every few minutes it seemed like there was a tree down across the trail in which you either had to jump over, or for several of the larger ones, stop and actually step over one leg at a time. The trail took us continually up and down hills, some of which had wooden crafted steps to get up them, and some of them did not.

I definitely underestimated this trail marathon and was not anticipating the heat and humidity to affect me as much as it did. As it turns out I was not the only one to have a tough time with the trail, as I finished 35th out of 66 runners. Come to find out 136 people signed up for the marathon…88 actually started it (meaning most switched over to the half-marathon distance prior to the start)…and only 66 actually finished. Despite my slow time, it made me proud that I completed the race under tough conditions and played it smart to ensure a finish to add another state to my list.

I highly recommend this trail race for trail runners looking for a nice challenge during the summertime! Read my full race report at: https://runningriddles.com/races/the-2019-eagle-creek-trail-marathon-in-indianapolis-in/