For those of you who question my sanity, well I do believe that now the question has been answered. I ran in a local winter trail series, and had such a good experience that I signed up for the summer trail series as well. Race #1 was last night, which is the first piece of evidence to my lack of sanity. I am doing a triathlon on Saturday and a Half on Sunday, so of course I figured that a 4.5 mile trail race would be just the thing to get me warmed up (Exhibits 2 & 3).

I forgot to check directions for Mendon Ponds Park, so I didn't know exactly where to go to check in for the race. Because of this I arrived a little later than I wanted to and felt a little rushed. I got my bib, put it on, warmed up, headed to the starting line and realized I had no idea where my car keys were (exhibit 4). As I am trying to figure out where my keys are the horn sounds and we are off. As we start to run I realized that I never started my stopwatch. Here is some free advice to people who are as absent minded as me: Do not take your eyes off the trail to make sure you get your stopwatch just right. About 50 yards from the start, as I am looking at my watch, a rock decides to come up out of the ground and trip me at that very moment (exhibit 5). I managed not to get trampled, but put a nice abrasion on my left knee. I had raced 5 trail races on snow and ice and stayed upright for all of them, alas.

The beginning of the race was more down than up, which was good because my HR was certainly elevated after taking a tumble. The trails then started to go up and down, hitting its lowest point at a very muddy section of trail. I looked for higher ground, but none was to be found. Trail shoes can get heavy with an inch of mud caked on the bottom of them. I ran along the rest of the way without further incident. I kept my pace comfortable and tried my best not to sustain any more injuries.

For a race that I was treating as a(n) easy? tune up run, it turned out to be an adventure. The finish was at the top of some stairs at the end of a trail. It was the first time I had ever finished a race by going up stairs. When all was said and done I finished: 91/206 OA, 75/115 M, 16/22 AG. I didn't stick around after the race as I thought it best to locate my keys, which were on the front seat of my vehicle (go figure). My knee is a little swollen and definitely scraped up, but I don't see it being a problem for the weekend's events, but stay tuned.

Sound like you had fun....!!!!

 

I'm terrible at trail running, but I keep going back regularly for more and more punishment ,and the scars make nice long lasting memories!!!

 

Francesca

Ooh, ooh!  I LOVE trail running/races!  Sounds like you had a good time, despite all the "exhibits."

So your car was unlocked?  Or were the keys locked inside?

 

Funny RR - thanks for sharing!

Ouch!  And to end a race with some stairs - that's just mean!

Golly - that looks REALLY mean!