Run, Run, Run... or, Hike, Hike, Hike

The Humdinger 7.1 Trail run is coming up in less than two weeks (March 3) and the Hyner Challenge 16.4 Trail run is April 21.  Folks on the Hyner Ultra Hike Facebook group are asking tons of questions that are answering bunches of thoughts I too had.  The biggest... do I have to run this whole thing and feel like I have to "compete."  I'm thrilled to find out, NO.  If I wanna walk the whole thing, I can.  If I wanna run some, walk some, I can do that too.  The last person to finish last year took 10:04 and the last gal in my age group was just under 9 hours.  The fastest gal in my age group was around 4 hours.  That's quite a spread and I'll fit snugly in between the two.  Ricky and I hiked 8.5 miles yesterday (all walking) on some steep, rocky terrain along with smooth trail and it took us 3 1/2 hours.  Rick quit at the 6 mile marker and I pushed on to get some more mileage.  Judged on that time, if I decide to hike the entire Hyner Challenge (unlikely), it should take me about 7 hours to finish.  Realistically, I'm guessing I'll be done in 5ish hours with a combo of slow run/fast hike.  But the nice thing is doesn't matter -- when I finish, I finish.  I really like that.