Turkey Swamp 20 miles 8/08

Marybeth and I ran the Turkey Swamp trail run in Freehold NJ yesterday. I ran the 20 miler, and Marybeth ran the 10 miler (her longest distance yet).
It's a 2.5 mile loop through Turkey Swamp Park. It's a really nice trail, especially for beginner trail runners. Mostly single track dirt trails with a lot of roots and a few stretches of soft sand. Basically a flat course with a couple of very short inclines. Almost every root on the course was marked white, so they would stand out, although I did see one girl in front of me go down pretty hard. She was real tough though, popped right back up. I asked her if she was ok, and she said she was fine.
It was about 70 degrees and sunny, but we were mostly running in the shade, a really nice day. I think the news said about 83% humidity.
For me and I think most people, I would rather run one large loop or a point to point race then multiple loops around a small course. I had to complete this loop yesterday 8 times and it does mess w/ my head and slow me down after a while.
I have a marathon in 11 days called the Self Transcendence Marathon and it is also 9 loops around a 3 mile course. There are not many choices around here in August.
I don't have many exciting details about the run, but I will tell you one thing that I've learned from doing these loop races. I instinctively seem to speed up when I am passing other runners, and I slow down when I am getting passed. I'm not sure why, it just makes me feel better to be passing people(Obviously).
Marybeth overcame a bunch of adversity to complete her race; she almost bailed out 20 minutes before the start. (Personal women issues) One of those times that make you appreciate how easy us men have it compared to women sometimes. She took on her longest distance yet and conquered it in a time of 1:44.03. She continues to impress me.
I finished my 20 miles in 2:47.50, it came out to an 8:23 pace which was the same pace I ran the NY half 2 weeks ago. I don't know, I guess I'm stuck at that pace for now even though I've picked up my speed work, it doesn't seem to be paying off yet.
It was a great day at the races, really nice people, and a well put together race by NJRR club. We both felt really good afterwards. I took an ice bath when I got home and have only a little bit of soreness today.
After running 50 miles and many Marathons, maybe I took this 20 miler for granted, but when I was on mile 18 yesterday I realized that 20 miles is still a really long way. Lol