Montrail Run Like a Girl 8k -- First trail race -RR (Read 497 times)

Got up early this morning and had some coffee and oatmeal. My roommate, boyfriend (i.e., cheerleader) and I got in the car and drove the 40ish minutes to the race. Stood in line for portapotties, walked the advertised 7 minutes to the start and then waited for a while for things to get going, stretched some (should have stretched more), drank some water (should have drank less). Jen, the RD, who is a former coworker of mine, gave us a rundown of the course and what to expect, saying that the aid station would be at about mile 3 and then we lined up and the gun went off. There were no mile (or K) markers, and so I basically only had my watch and the promise of the aid station at mile 3 to tell where I was. I started out fast, and passed many people in the first two miles. Then, I realized from nausea that that pace would not sustainable for the next three miles, and tried to rein myself in a bit and find a rhythm. Which I sort of did, but it was also just really hard and awful for the middle two miles or so, in part because I kept looking for the aid station and not finding it -- it was more more at mile 4 than at mile 3. My BF was at a trail junction in that part and I sort of grimaced in his general direction. Hanna had dumped some rain on us yesterday/last night, so there were puddles and mud, but they were really fun. I slipped on a root and fell at one point to my left knee and one hand, but got up and kept running without really missing a beat. In general the trail aspect was really fun, I felt a bit like a mountain goat, and the fact that I am so aggressive served me well, there was one point where we had to jump over a log, the woman in front of me was slowing down to step over it, and instead I sped up to jump over it. I stayed ahead of her for the rest of the race -- that kind of thing just doesn't happen in road races. I passed the aid station took a cup of water and sort of drank some of it. At that point, I knew that it just couldn't be that much farther, and so I was happy with where I was and started to edge up on the woman in front of me. We turned a corner, and someone said less than 1k, so I slipped into a higher gear and was about ten feet behind the woman in front of me when we came to two puddles each about four inches deep and twenty feet long filling the entire track, beyond that it was maybe fifty meters to the finish. So I raised my knees and ran like h@ll and beat her by a good ten feet. I always sprint from the corner of my street to my house and I think that even though it seems like a not good idea it does convince me that I always have something to give at the end of a run. The volunteer at the finish said it was the strongest finish they had seen all day. My watch time was 40:09. I'm not sure how I finished in the field, but the leader came in at around 33:30, so considering I wasn't training for this at all, I'm happy, and I've decided that trails are FUN!!

Trails are great! Your report was excellent, and I like that aggressive attitude. Sounds like you know how to take a spill (that's gonna come in handy for trail running!), and you don't mind getting a little muddy and dirty - rampin' it up as they say. I enjoyed reading that. Bill

Great running - I think it was the wet & tipsy training that clinched it for you!