I hope these next 2 weeks go very slowly. The lady I nanny for is a school teacher, so when she's off, I'm off. It's pretty great!
Saturday I ran my last race of the year, the Otter Creek Trail race. They have an 8.5, 17, or 26.2 option. I decided to do the 8.5 since I hadn't been on a trail in ages.
Come to find out, I was so glad I was only doing the 8.5!
They don't post a picture of the elevation chart online, and now I know why!
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(From my Runkeeper) |
See that mountain around mile 6? Yea. That was crazy. It was literally straight uphill, as you can see. After running the first 6 miles, my legs sure didn't feel like climbing that! It was also my slowest mile, at almost 19 minutes. Eeek!!
Friday night Melissa and I went out to do some carb loading and some shopping. I stayed out way too late for having to wake up at 4:45 the next day!
Saturday morning I picked up Tyler and we drove a little over an hour to the race. It was
cold. 30 degrees cold. I came prepared though. I had on a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, a hat, earmuffs (that doubled as speakers), gloves and handwarmers. Oh, and my
hoorag. (Which was awesome!)
We picked up our packets and then got started at 8 am. Most of the trail was a single track, so I made sure to stay in the back, being a newbie and all!
For many miles I was alone, I couldn't see anyone in front of or behind me. It was absolutely amazing. Just me, in the cold, silent, beautiful woods, watching the sun come up.
There were definitely some scary places where the trail runs along an edge that drops off into the river below. I just tried not to look down!
A friend of mine who had ran this before told me to watch out for hidden roots and rocks. There were a lot of them. I was glad I wore my trail shoes, and not my running shoes.
I only fell once, as I was running downhill on some rocks and slipped, but I got up and kept on running. Thankfully no one was around to witness that either. :)
I was averaging around a 14 min. pace until mile 6 when I slowed way down.
What was crazy was when a few guys ran past me, on their second time around- and they were still running!
I finished in 2:16. I was hoping for 2, but didn't really know what to expect. This was definitely a hard race, but I absolutely loved every second. I love doing things that challenge me, that push me, make me work harder, and are different from what I normally do.
I have a feeling I'll do this race again next year, just so I can get a better time!
Tyler, on the other hand, came in 3rd place overall! I knew he would either win it, or come in 2nd or 3rd. He is a beast. There were a little over 200 participants.
This was a great trail race for beginners. Cynthia, the race director was amazing. After the race there was a chili cookoff, with many different kinds of chili. I didn't eat any, chili is the
last thing I wanted when I was done! So we grabbed some water and banana's and called it a day.
I was disappointed they had run out of medals by the time I got there. (Why has this been happening to me lately? Lol!) The medals were wooden, made by local school students.
But hey, they gave me a workout dvd instead. Ha!
I had a great time. Loved being on the trails again. I've gotta get back out there again soon, there is nothing like it!
When was the last time you were on a trail?