This is the third and last trail race in a series and I chose to do it virtually. Unfortunately, due to the date I had to submit my time and the unlucky weather streak we had, I had to run it in five inches of snow. Not fun, but it definitely challenged me. Yesterday, we received our swag – a hat and medal. The hat is…interesting. It seems they kept with the 90s clip art theme they used for the t-shirts in the other two races in the series. I’ll likely the donate the hat. I’m not impressed at all. The medal is a different story. It’s the whole reason I decided to do the virtual series in the first place. It magnetically connects to the medals from the Harrod’s Creek and Waverly Park races, and it’s so pretty! I’m usually not the person who races for the medals, but this one is an exception. Will I do this race series again? Likely, especially when life is back to normal and I feel comfortable participating in a live race. DC Timing knows how to put on fun races, and there’s usually donuts and coffee at the end. I do hope they’ll rethink their swag and revisit the t-shirts from a couple of years ago. They were incredible soft, colorful, and had great graphics.

The Waverly Park Trail Bash has two distances - a half or a quarter marathon. It's also the second race in DC Timing's three-race Trail Bash series. While they offered both in person and virtual options, I opted to do virtual because I'm not quite ready for an in person race.

My friend Melissa and I completed the quarter marathon at Waverly Park a couple of weeks before the race. It had snowed, but the trail was easy to see and it made the woods so pretty! The trail was in decent condition and the elevation made it challenging enough to keep it interesting.

The medal is super cool. This year for the race series, DC Timing picked a really pretty medal design, and the idea is that the three medal will connect together to form one big medal. While the medal it awesome, the shirt quality and design isn't on par with previous DC Timing race shirts. They used to be known for super soft shirts and cool designs, but the shirts this year aren't soft and the font reminds me of an early 2000s screen saver.

I've run the 5k distance the last two years, but a friend convinced me to sign up for the 10k this year, which is essentially two loops. Due to COVID the race went virtual. I have to say I was disappointed that the course wasn't marked. Of course, maybe the park managers didn't allow it, but nevertheless I thought that was a big drawback - especially since there are four trails out there and the course goes on bits and pieces of all. We haven't received our swag yet, but typically this race company has the softest shirts, and the photos of the medal look really cool.

I decided to do this race because a friend of the family helps organize it every year. It benefits the University of Louisville School of Music and was pretty inexpensive. to register. Like most everything else in 2020, it was a virtual race. I haven't received my swag yet, but from what I've seen them post on social media, it looks like lots of goodies. Note - I gave three stars to most categories simply because I wasn't able to experience the in-person race.

I initially decided to run this race because it supports a great cause. They offered a 5k and a 10k for the same price, so I went with the 10k. To go with the theme, I chose to run it on National Coming Out Day (October 11). My swag arrived a couple days before then, and I couldn't believe all the goodies! The medal was awesome, plus there was a rainbow fan, fanny pack, and wrist bands. I was definitely impressed!