Lady Hounds Scuttle West Virginian Trail (6/12)

On Saturday, June 2, three lady Hounds placed 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th in the Deckers Creek Trail Half Marathon near Morgantown, West Virginia. Before the race, runners (limited to a field of 600) are bussed to the start in Masontown, WV. All save the final 2.7 miles are run on a downhill trail, which descends 800 feet; the final portion is run on flat pavement, finishing in Morgantown.

Jamie Morgenstern, Michelle Corkum, and Laura Harnish camped out the night before the race, accompanied by a mysterious chaperone. Although Morgenstern and Corkum may have consumed a few clandestine mouthfuls of beer the evening before, all performed impressively on the gently downhill course. Indeed, Morgenstern not only shattered her previous personal record, but bettered her anticipated time by roughly five minutes, placing second female, and twelfth overall in 1h22:49. Corkum followed soon after, placing fourth in the women’s race, and sixteenth overall, in 1h23:28. Harnish, meanwhile, had an uncomfortable run in a new pair of minimalist shoes (one's heels, we now know, touch the ground even when racing downhill), yet still clocked 1h24:28.

All showed up, in good spirits, for the Hound-hosted beer mile the same evening. Woof!