A week or so ago, I was at the weekly run with my running store. After the run, a few friends were talking about the upcoming Bridle Trails race. I was bummed that I forgot to register for the 10 mile races. Well, they had signed up for a relay team and needed a 6th person. I was sort of ‘volunteered’ but I didn’t really care. It sounded like fun!
Fast forward to last Thursday. At the run, I pinged the team about our plans for Saturday. They needed to ping one other girl, but tentative plans were made for running order and carpooling. Now the slight detail I missed was that the race STARTS at 3pm and so most of it is in the dark. Yes DARK. woods + dark + running .. uhhh… ok.. Just go with it I told myself. However we did have an awesome team name: 5 fit Chicks & Dave!!
Saturday I got up and had some cereal and starbucks thanks to my free drink coupon! Then I had to head to work for a few. I had a banana. Then I headed home to get some lunch and get ready to go to the run. I had a bagel with cream cheese and some strawberries. Then I packed up with extra clothes to wear after running and a pb&j with a string cheese and my liter bottle of water. I also packed my running gu and some powerbar energy blasts (strawberry banana!!). I headed up to meet the gang.
We met up and were going to drive just 1 car, but Jamie wanted to drive herself in case she wanted to come home early. I was glad so I could catch a ride back early if necessary. We got to the park with great time and got a good parking space. I had to go pick up my number so we did that and hit the porta potties. Then it was time to get ready. I ate my energy blasts and had some water. It was kind of chilly standing around, but I knew once we got running it would be warm.
Here is a pre-run picture:
The race started late.. like 20 minutes late.. Jamie was running the first lap so she could be in the light. I volunteered to run with her so she wouldn’t be alone. Really I needed closer to 10 miles for the day, so I wanted to run more. We took off and took it easy. I let Jamie lead the pace and walk when she needed to. We had fun and kept up the running. I took a gu about 4 miles in as I knew I had another lap to run. We were pretty close to the finish before I realized it! We finished the first lap in 1:11. I met the group and gave them my gloves while grabbing my headlamp and a hand held flashlight. My lamp is not the brightest! I took off with a goal of picking up the pace. I didn’t remember too much about the coarse but at least new a few places to look out for. I chugged up the hills and caught myself going a bit fast early, but slowed down well. As it got darker, it was pretty cool, and not too creepy. There were some muddy points and after trying to dodge a few in the low light, I gave up and just started going through them! While fun, it made my shoes a bit slick! I had to walk up some of the hills still (as did almost everyone else!) but did pretty well on the downhills. I took my second Gu at mile 7 so that I could make it through the last 3 miles. I didn’t ever fall but there were a few close calls and I was wishing I didn’t have my handheld so I could have better balance! There were a few places towards the end I wasn’t sure I was on the path. I couldn’t find the next glowstick and didn’t know where the trail went, but figured I should keep going! I never got off track thankfully! Before I knew it, I was heading down the last hill to the finish! I handed off to Leslie and she took off. My second lap was 60 minutes. I was hoping for faster, but since it was the second half, I was pleased!
Always good to have a negative split!
Trail racing is fun. I don’t particularly have trail shoes, but I want some now to do more trail running. One of the fun parts is to see how dirty you get! Here is my before & after pictures:
I wore my Lulu run inspire crops and they were great! My shoes survived!
After running, I changed to some dry clothes to wait around. I ate my food, but we got cold quick. Jamie and I ended up leaving early before our last 2 runners were done. Our team ended up finishing in 5:44!
Overall this was a very fun race! I want to start running some of the trails here more! It is such a great workout!!
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