Cool Trail Runs--NOT a PR

I opted to do the Cool Trail Runs 10k and not the 25k. I just didn't think I was ready for the longer distance. Friend M picked me up at 5:45 a.m. for the drive up to Cool. Chit-chatted on the way up and parked the car at 6:30 at the Cool Firehouse. I registered (no more t-shirts--BOO!). The 10k didn't start until 8 a.m. but the 50k, 21 mile, and 25k runners all started at 7 so we were able to watch them start.

By 7:50, I had my hydratino vest on and was at the starting line shivering--it couldn't have been warmer than 45 degrees with a fierce wind. The Cool Run was fairly casual--no "start line" to speak of--just a large clock and the race director counting down and saying, "GO!"

The run was stunning. Really really beautiful. The sun was glistening off of all the, uh, weeds and dirt. I got into a little groove with about 4 other women all around me. We were giving each other encouraging words, etc. One of the women had an IPOD clipped to her upper arm--this isn't a problem for me. However, she didn't have headphones.. she simply had the IPOD volume cranked as a loud as it possible so it projected all around us. It reminded me of those old boombox radios that people used to carry on their shoulders--she just wanted to be sure that we could all hear her disco music.

In any case she kept sprinting past me on the downhills and then stopping to walk. She also walked every single hill. Again, not a problem except she would stop right in front of me. I would slowly pass by her on the uphill only to have her bomb the downhill and almost sideswipe me on her descent. This back and forth went on for the first 6 miles.

About a mile before the finish, we cross a little wooden bridge and head up a long steep climb. Between the bridge and the climb, the grass and single track filled up with water, creating a marshy, swampy, muddy mess. IPOD girl walked way to the right, trying to find a way around the muck. I saw my change and barrelled through the mud, almost loosing my shoe in it, but I managed to pass her and I kept running up the long incline. I looked back near the apex of the hill and saw she was a good 1 minute behind me. I raced down the hill toward the finish line and finished 7 miles in 1:16. Approx 1000 feet elevation change. One muddy shoe.



What else? Hubby had oral surgery this week, so my running has been put on the back burner while I nurse the 3-year-old in a 45-year-old's body back to health. His favorite words this week? "I'm recovering so I get to do what I want!" Nothing like caring for a toddler while trying to log 40 miles running during the week. Suffice to say, I've only gotten in 2 miles this week.




I may just have to tell my coach that it was a bad week and I'll do better as soon as hubby's better.











My response to his whining isn't very empathetic. Good thing I don't work as a nurse.