Thursday and Friday were crazy days at work.  I don’t know why, but I think they made me stupid.  By the end of Thursday, I could barely speak without stuttering.  It was ridiculous, but my co-workers thought it was hilarious.

I packed my running gear of Friday, thinking optimistically that I would try to run on my lunch.  Then I got a call inviting me out after work.  One of my coworkers from my old location was moving and Friday was her last day, and they were going out to dinner to say goodbye.  For some reason being slightly run worn at work was ok but being funky for going out- not so much.   There was no time to get home and change in between work and dinner. So no run for me.   The dinner was fun though, it was sad to see her go.   Quite a few people went for drinks after but I had a race in the morning!  I headed home like a good girl.

This morning was the Spooner’s Cove Trail Run.  They offer a 5 mile, 7 mile, 25K and 50K.   The races are small, only about 160 people overall.   Which is good, because the majority of the race route is single track.

This was also my mother’s very first race.   She could have chosen an easy one like the HOB 5K, but she chose a trail race.  She’s crazy like that.  🙂  Sign in and shirt pick up was organized and super easy.   No goody bag, but who needs random flyers anyway?  All races started at the same time and on time.    And we were off!

First 100 yards was uphill (woo hoo), on a paved road, and then it was trail bound.  The first 2 miles weaved along the bluff and it was the widest part of the trail.   I said that this race would be run at my mom’s pace and that is what we did.  We ran when she wanted and walked when she wanted.   And, like I said before, she walks fast!  As the trail narrowed into single track, it was amusing how frustrated she got when we got stuck behind someone who had slowed down.  We eventually got passed her and we were running again.

We were heading into the real climb part of the trail when I felt something stab me in my shin.  I was momentarily confused, the trail had widened and there weren’t any bushes with branches on the side.  I tried to ignore but it just seemed sharper.  So I looked down at my shin and there was a giant wasp/ yellow jacket on my sock.  I had been stung by a freakin’ bee!    I had to flick it off; luckily it seemed my knee socks took the worst of it.  However it stung for the next couple of hours.   For the next ½ mile, I was trying not to turn into a hypochondriac.  I was just out of breath because of the incline, I was not allergic!

Miles 2-4 were pretty much all uphill.   There was no running just walking, hard to feel bad though, most everyone else was walking too.   We tried to pick up the pace on every slight downhill when switching hills but it was harder than we thought.

The area has had very little rain.  The last time I did Valencia Peak, the mountain path was hard packed.   Not so much this time.  The sand was very loose; we were either sinking in it or sliding on it.   That did not help our time.  We finally hit the split, the 7 miles, 25k and 50K runners continue up the mountain another mile, and the 5 milers headed back down.  At this point, we had about a mile to go.

We ran down as fast as we felt we could, at one point being overtaken by the speedy 50K’ers.  They were hauling.  We hit the road and walked for about 30 seconds.  Another 50K’er ran passed and told us were so close.    They had 23 miles to go and they were cheering us on.

We ran down the hill, and across the finish line.  We crossed at 1:06:??.  My phone was in my jacket pocket and by that time it was tied in knot around my jacket.  I couldn’t get it to stop it, so I am unsure of what the exact time was.   My mom is a bad ass and finished her very first race ahead of me.   And it was a hard one.  She just kept pushing.  We got our medals and were stretching by the cove when she asked when the next one was!

It was a good race and I am proud of our time.  We followed it up with a good lunch from Woodstock’s, a great salad and a slice of pizza.   Now it’s time for bed for me, my legs are kind of sore!

 

Anyone running Las Vegas this weekend?

 

Good luck to those bloggers (everyone else too!) running half-marathons, marathons and ultra’s this weekend.  

 

• Eat!
• Race Day
• Run!