First Trail Race

A few Saturdays ago, on March 9th, I ran my first trail race and fell in love with trail running. Trail racing is so fun! I've been missing out.

There was a ten mile trail race not too far from our house called The Prickly Pear 10 miler and 50K. I did the 10 miler, but maybe someday I'll do the 50K. I've always said I never ever wanted to run a step farther than a marathon, but after doing the trail race I thought maybe I could run a little farther than a marathon if it was a trail race. We'll see, but it's not going to happen anytime soon, that's for sure!

 I hadn't run a race in a long time, and I was craving one really bad. I loved doing a race again, rain, mud and all. It had been raining the day before as well as that morning, so the trails were a little slippery in places, but it just added to the adventure of my first trail run experience. My shoes were so heavy by the end because they were caked in mud, and my legs were all splattered with mud too.

One of the hardest parts about the trail race to me was knowing where to go, and making sure I didn't trip or fall. A whole group of people went the wrong way at the beginning of the race, and I was in that group. We only went about a quarter mile in the wrong direction, but when we turned around to go back the other way, all the people who were behind us were now in front of us. That was a little frustrating because it was hard to pass on the trails. After that, I was wondering if I was going the right way the rest of the race. I kept picturing myself running in the wrong direction and not even realizing it for miles, since that's what always happens whenever I drive somewhere new, but thankfully that didn't happen. I made it to the finish line without getting lost.

I loved how fast the time went by during the trail race because my mind was occupied with the things around me. I had to pay more attention to where I was stepping, and I loved how pretty the scenery was the whole time.

I had no idea what place I was in during the race until about mile eight when one of the guys at the water station told me I was the second female. That was a fun surprise. The first place girl and I had been passing each other back and forth for a couple miles, but neither of us had a clue what place we were in. At one point I stopped for a second to see if I could get some mud off my shoes. I was going to grab a stick, but decided that would take too long, so I just used my hands, and then wiped my hands on my shorts while I was running. It may have helped my feet feel a little lighter, but probably wasn't worth it. That's when the first place girl passed me and I never caught back up to her. She finished about 50 seconds or so ahead of me, but I was more than happy to get second female, and first in my age group. I really just wanted to have a fun race because I missed racing so much, and it was really fun!

I didn't take any pictures at the race, but I wish I had taken some pictures of how muddy my legs and shoes were when I got home. I jumped straight in the shower though and then rushed to a friend's baby shower.

Here's a picture of the beer mugs that were given to the the age group placers. I guess I should say root beer float/ice-cream mug because that's what it will actually be used for.