Had my stuff all set to go. Good thing as I got up at 5am, to take a wake up shower and eat. Was planning on leaving at 6am once my friend A got there. I slept really good the night before, going to be earlier then my great grandmother (7pm).
Aida and our buddy Hiker Dave. He does the 25k and is currently in 1st place in his division.
The three of us, Aida, Dave and Moi
At the start/finish line. This was by far the best turnout they have had to date.
5minutes later. Dang it is hot. Shed that shirt. Gosh why didn’t I just take the shirt off earlier? Like before we started?! My knee had been hurting me at Vegas but I went on this one anyways. I have never had any body issues i.e. pain from running in my LIFE, but there is a first for everything.
The course was held on the bike trail. This is usually a mountain bike trail. I was awesome. Lots of rolling hills. Total fun!
The view was your typical desert landscape. It was at mile 5 that my knee said “Diana, you are NOT going to run anymore”. So from mile 5 on I WALKED! ARGH!!! I would try to run the downs, but it was horrible. So since I was all alone in the wilderness miles from anyone I figured I should consider just doing my superhero power walk/hike.
Tons of trail markers on the course with funny names.
Aid station. Trail running is different. It’s totally acceptable to not man the station. This was at mile 6. They were stocked with Gatorade, water, Gu, tons of snacks. Like a buffet in the desert “runner style”. If I hadn’t wanted to finish I might have had a seat and had some lunch.
My favorite crossing out of all of them. Convict Crossing..tee hee .. I amuse so easily. At this point you can see the finish line. I was still walking, but fully planned on running through the finish line. To be honest I felt like a dork walking. I could have easily done this in under 2hours, being as it was not a hard course. ARGH! If I was honest with myself, which I am not, I would understand why this happened to me, but I am still residing in the island of DENILE. (lack of consistent exercise).
After we were done. Nice medal and lovely fun times!
I really dig the fact that EACH finisher gets a medal. They don’t do age awards, but with all the other perks i.e. FOOD, I don’t worry about that as much. The shirts are always really cool and match the medal. I also dig the bibs! In case I am found lost on the trail they will at least know my name. Bet they never thought of that when they were making the bibs.
Oh and all I have to say about my GARMIN, is I love you! This little guy is what saved me from going “Huh, I wonder how many miles I have gone, I wonder what mile I am on”.
