Melissa Kitcher wanted to complete her first half-marathon on Sunday, but  ended in a little different way.

Kitcher was missing for around 12 hours after running off the trail during the Trail Hog Half-Marathon near Venice at the Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County, in Florida.

She said, "I kept thinking to myself, 'Wow, how do people run these trails? I could’nt even walk them. When I hit the power lines I said, 'Yes I'm surely way off course. I'm lost.'"

Kitcher said that there was no marking to indicate her. Later, Kitcher explained, “The website said that you're supposed to be on Jeep trails. So when I came out there was a Jeep trail and I figured out that was the path I needed to be on.”

She said that the runner ended up 6 to 7 miles off course with no phone, it inconveniently froze up two minutes before the start of the race.

Thierry Rouillard, the Race director had said about the situation, "It was the worst nightmare for a race director. I love what I did and want everyone to be happy. That was her first half-marathon. That was her first trail run. She learned the hard way.”

Kitcher ended running over 16 miles before the park’s department located her in the reserve around 7:30 PM.

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By Prakriti Neogi