Squish Squish Squish

My fabulous shirt!

Well, I started back into running for the season rather seriously again. The plan is to run a fall marathon and a few fun races before then. This is the story of once such race.

In another week I will begin my "official" training schedule....but before that I am building up speed and endurance as well as core so I can ward off injury(hopefully) this year. As such I decided to sign up for my first ever 10K and first ever trail run. I don't know why I thought it would be good idea to combine them into one run. However, I learned a LOT today....and I had a LOT of fun!

Today was the Flirt with Dirt race. Its one of 3 in the Serious Series hosted by the local running store Running Fit. They put together great races! Its also sort of a taste of their Dances with Dirt run which is a 50K/50 M/100K crazy trail run later on in the year.....eesh. Anyway, I digress.

So, race morning started off the same as always. I woke up before anyone else in the house and had my coffee, water, banana and slim bagel(btw, these things rock!). Got dressed, grabbed my directions and I was out the door before 7 a.m. I arrived at the park a little early as it was a sold out race and had limited parking. There were only about 600 people total between the 2 races (5K and 10K), however the park only had so much space.

Regardless, the whole affair was smoothly run, and there were plenty of traffic coordinators to get you parked without issue. So, I made it there(didn't even get lost!) and found my parking spot by 7:15 a.m. The 5K started at 7:30 a.m. and the 10K started at 8 a.m. I was happy I got there early to ensure adequate time to...errr take care of business before the run. You runners know what I mean. Anyway, I wanted to check out the trail and see the 5K start too. I could only see part of the trail as the trail head was essentially on a soccer field....but everything looked relatively dry considering it had poured buckets the night before.

So, the 5K was off and now I had 1/2 hour to kill by myself, so I stretched and took a little jog around.....yeah...so turns out the grass was wet and my shoes were now a little soggy. Ergh. Oh well...so were everyone else's too I guess! lol!

Running Fit truck and folks. They put on a good race!

Before long people were beginning to mill about the start line and get ready for the start....it so happens the end of the 5K was near the start so we actually got to see the first finishers before we took off. 2 guys were fighting for first and the younger of the two was covered in mud! Head to toe! Hmmm....this can't be good I thought. Not sure which did win the thing.No matter, time to go!

The start was slow as most race starts are, and began going down a sledding hill and around a soccer field and through a dirt parking lot before heading into the woods. This shouldn't be so bad I thought. I was SO WRONG! The first part of the trail in the woods was o.k. and had enough space for someone to get around if you needed to pass. That quickly ended. Before long we were on 1 person wide trails...and that's not all! When I first signed up for this and I thought 'Trail' I thought of where I used to run in Ohio....the towpath I think it was. Nice fairly level, meadnering long trails through the woods.....yeah, not this race! Trail takes on a whole new meaning! Here,there were a few things.

First of all if you didn't seed yourself according to pace correctly you would either be holding someone up(luckily I didn't do that) or get stuck behind someone slower than you(yea,this happened). A guy actually stopped and he finally pulled off the trail so I could keep going. It also meant that uphills where people tend to naturally slow, things get backed up. This was frustrating as I have learned to pass on hills! But, after a while I passed where I could(there were occasional breaks) and otherwise tried to remember this was for fun! Plus, it was beautiful in the woods eary in the morning.

So, beyond that the trail itself was well...tough. As it had rained the night before it was pretty wet and had some major all out mud pits! It also boasted many face slapper branches(also leg,arm and body slappers too!)....I have never ducked so many times during a race! Seriously! That was a workout itself! Then you had logs to literally jump over, big rocks to traverse, gullys to essentially run on opposing banks of(the cut wasn't big enough to get a shoe in), big hills, TONS of large tree roots(happy I got out without a twisted ankle), some very switchbcak-y turns( I was getting dizzy at one point) and oh yeah ipod girl...a few of those who seeemd oblivious that they were running on a potentially treacherous trail and no idea someone needed to pass. Ugh!

Sledding hill from the top you had to run UP to finish.
 It looks unassuming as there's no point of comparison
, but it was steep!

However, overall it was good time! Yes, it was tough, yes some parts sucked.....but it was fun! I really don't know how to explain it. Chris still seems baffled that I chose to do this and would again! Next year baby! I think its because it was a different sort of challenge. Granted it made me about a min/mile slower than my goal....but I quickly realized that I wasn't going to make it simply for being 'stuck' behind a lot of people and not being able to make it up. So, lesson learned...not as slow as I thought I was. That's great! Next year, I'll know! Oh and to be fair I did end up with a wicked side stich about a mile from the end....weird! So that slowed me down a bit. But, when I saw the end I powered through and up (yes up a sledding hill) and finished strong. It was one of those races that was so tough that at the end I nearly was in tears. With the exception of my marathon this was the toughest race I've done. And I'd do it again!

Anyone wanna come with next year? There's a cap so you have to sign up early! Like May 2012. :)

So, the other cool things.....the shirt is awesome! Bright green tech shirt that I adore! Most fave race shirt ever! Also,  the race was well put together and directed. You totally get bragging rights after too and get to tell all your friends how fun it is to get dirty running! :) And plus, how else can you better spend a Saturday morning in June?

And last but not least..the results. I finished 10th/27 in my AG. With a time of 1:03:51. Like I said, a little diappointing as I expected going in to finish in about 57 min....but, for the course I'll take it. So, hopefully I  remember the main lesson for next year. Don't think I'm slower than I actually am and run more on oneven ground. Oh, which reminds me...now I know why they make trail shoes! I think I need to get a pair! lol!

That's about it. First 10K and trail run in one!