I ran a trail race this morning – technically my third trail race ever, but it’s been awhile. I decided to sign up shortly after moving back (for those of you who don’t know, I was living in Los Angeles for two years while pursuing my MBA and recently returned to Houston after graduating). My running has been sporadic over the last two years, but I’m looking forward to getting back into a routine and, hopefully, getting faster.
Anyway, back to the race report!
Pre-Race: 5AM alarm. Breakfast of yesterday’s leftover latte and half an English muffin with almond butter, honey, and banana. Out the door around 6:10AM. I get to the 7IL ranch around 7:30AM, just in time to watch the 25k/50k runners take off. The grass is damp and the sky is overcast, but no rain! It’s around 75 degrees and humid.
Race: We take off at 8AM on the dot! This is probably the smallest group I’ve ever started with for a race before. We run through random areas of soft sand – whoa, my calves are feeling it! Since we’re on a ranch, we pass by some cows that just silently stare. I’d like to think that that was actually their way of cheering us on! Sometime in the third mile, it started to rain. I had brought a hat in anticipation of the rain and put it on at that point. As the rain continued, the ground became more saturated with water and I definitely slowed down to avoid slipping. We ran through three creeks – the first were small and I simply jumped over them, but the last one was wider and deeper. At that point, I was completely soaked anyway. There were slight inclines and declines. I felt embarrassed that those very slight inclines were clearly affecting my pace! I told myself to not worry about my pace and keep my cadence consistent. Prior to the race, I had been mostly run 3-4 miles with one 5 mile run just a week ago. Well, I really started to feel tired and hungry after roughly 4.5 miles. The sand and mud were really tiring out my legs, so I let myself walk a little bit. There were 2-3 people who passed me in that last 1.7 mile stretch– the competitive spirit in me felt mad at myself for not training better, but I reminded myself that I’ve only just gotten settled in Houston and that I was still new to trail running. I was so happy to turn that last corner and spot the field of cars!
Splits:
1 – 10:48
2 – 11:52
3 – 11:22
4 – 12:12
5 – 12:58
6 – 13:20
6.2 – 1:37.5
Post-Race: I felt great! Not like I was ready to run it again, but I felt great for finishing. I immediately scarfed down a piece of banana and some goldfish. I joined a group of runners that were hiding out from the rain under a tent and watching other runners that were running longer distances run through to refuel. So cool! Maybe that’ll be me one day? I wandered over to the packet pickup area again where they were selling some Trail Racing Over Texas gear and purchased a baseball tee. Overall, I enjoyed the race! The course was more challenging than I anticipated, but expect that’s part of the fun of a trail race!
Blazing 7s Trail Race
September 29, 2018
Time: 1:14:12
Pace: 11:56/M
Overall: 24/40
Gender: 7/18
TANGLED SHOESTRINGS 