st year I was late to the race start so this year I got there in plenty of time, although after packet pickup, bathroom break and walk to the start, there was not much time. I debated on how much clothing to start running in, as usually I warm up fast, but hate being cold. I choose a mixture and took my tights off, but left my jacket on. After walking to the start I ran into Tough Love who was pacing Corndog in the 50k and made our plans to meet up afterward. Not long after the gun went off.The Bandera trail run is a route with a lot of hill climbs and tons of rock. On the one hand hills and rocks are what make it hard, on the other, they are what make it interesting and beautiful. Time flies by when you are having to constantly recalculate where your foot should fall and at the same time sneak peaks at the gorgeous views. I was maybe, one mile into the run when I had my first fall, and that is fall flat on my bottom. My feet just rolled on the rocks and out from under me. I looked back at the person behind and said “Now that is gonna pretty, smiled, and then picked myself to keep going.” As we began the ascent of the first hill my left leg quad muscle began to tighten. I think it was mainly from the cold and the uphill, which honestly I’ve been mainly road running, and that is not what will help in this type of run. I pulled to the side for a sec and stretched it out. When I realized that wasn’t helping much, I figured I would just keep running on it and hopefully as I warmed up more it would stretch out. My leg remained tight and it felt like I was just dragging it along in a way. I looked forward to the first rest stop because my next thought was maybe I’m a bit dehydrated and if I get some Gatorade in me it will loosen the leg up some. I had water with me and drank all I had, but Gatorade or juice would hydrate my muscles a bit faster. We crested
a hill and I could hear people cheering. “Great” I thought. “Now I can get some fuel and hopefully that will work.” As I ran down the hill just before the rest stop with all eyes on me, I tripped hurtling forward scrapping my leg and hand. The girl next to me kindly handed me my water bottle and embarrassed as I’ll get out, I picked myself up and headed straight to the water. I glanced down at my leg which was all scrapped up, but knew it was just surface and splashed water on my hand as quickly as I could. I knew I needed to just keep moving or I would tighten up. My leg hurt but nothing horrible, only when we had to run through the sotol did I wince. The course definitely felt easier than last year in a way that I was running harder but making it up the hill with a bit more ease cardio-wise. I still felt like I was dragging my left leg on the run and kept stumbling on most of the run-this slowed me some, but I was still completely enjoying myself. Especially when I crested one of the hills to see a volunteer at the top excitedly clapping, encouraging all the runners, he was stationed at a beautiful, albeit windy overlook. “Thank you for being out here. You’ve got a great spot to watch us from.” I gasped out to him. “Well I love it and you are looking great, at least you are smiling.” He chortled back. The volunteers really do a grea
t job with this race. I was running the shortest distance 25k, but a lot of people would be out here all day running 50 and 100k. I was looking at my time to try and figure out how far I was in the race, but knew I was going faster than previous races by my location. I decided to ask someone who looked like he was wearing a GPS watch. “8.5 miles” he said. “But I’m not sure how accurate that is with the hills and all.” He said. I could tell he was proud of his watch and I was happy to know where I was at. It gave me motivation to keep on pushing. I knew I was way ahead of pace from the previous year and just needed to hang in there to beat my previous time which was my main goal. I came to the rest stop at the bottom of the hill and got some water and headed back out. In previous years, I’ve grabbed fuel here, but I felt pretty good on that front and just kept chugging. The aid station I just passed was the just under 11 miles so I knew it wasn't too much farther and for at least the next mile or two we had flat, soft trail. My legs breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time were crying "uncle". I did the same thing I did in the marathon and ignored the pleading of my legs knowing it would be worse to walk and just kept at it. We had on more steep climb which I ran half way up and then was slowed so much I was at a walk. One of the guys I kept passing on the uphills and then he would pass me on the downhills for pretty much the whole race passed me on the way down and with the way my leg was feeling I knew that was it and let him go. Finally, I came to the last aid station a half mile from the finish and I stopped and got water even though I knew I was close, I felt water was more important. Then I looked at my watch and realized if I could just pick it up for this last half mile I would break three hours. "Wait, what is that, break three hours?!!!" I had yet to break three and a half hours on this course in the previous two years. As I rounded that last corner I saw my parents cheering me on in the cold then saw the clock 2 hr 59 min- I had done it! And I beat my previous PB by forty minutes, my legs hurt but all I could think was-"I can't wait until next year." How great it is to surprise yourself.
1 comment:
Way to go, girl!
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