I don't even remember why I was browsing Race Guide, but I found a new race: Run Forest Run. I sent the link to Shannon because it's close to where she is currently and she and Darek signed up. Then she asked me to go too, and I couldn't refuse, seeing The Jenny as an option, and I love me a timed race.
My first shock via the pre-race email:
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I'm the least elite runner, how did I end up with bib #1? |
Looking at the list of participants, I was the only "out of towner", despite a 1:45 drive. Race morning was cool and cloudy. I arrived at the trailhead and skeeters swarmed the car the moment I opened the door, so I doused myself liberally with bug spray.
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| The blue crew. |
The events had different start times, and there were 2 other people besides me doing the 4 hour - a woman and her teen son. The woman told me that they were only going to run "a few" loops and took off VERY fast, while I settled into my easy trot. I had been told by Shannon and Varty that the 3K loop was very runnable. I ran the entire loop save a few steps, but hiked the hills on the subsequent laps, just to have a little break.
At the start of the second loop, I thought I could just keep my head down, feeling settled in, and just run. But soon after the start of the lap, I was running up a gradual sandy incline that didn't seem familiar. Checked my watch and sure enough I had missed a turn.
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| Jenny, right; Everyone else, left. |
I backtracked at top speed but at the end of the loop, I had done more than 1K extra. The lady and her son passed me again at the start of my third loop and I didn't see them on course again.
I'm very pleased that my splits for each loop were very even. By the last few loops, the RD and the Full Gump finishers knew my name and were cheering me on every time I finished another loop.
With about 1K left in the final loop, 3 runners came to run me in. They said they just wanted to have more fun. I'm down with that.
It's hard to believe, but I WON A RACE! Shannon won a box of chocolates "you never know what you're gonna git" and I won a can of peas and carrots because..
Email shock #2 - I made the post-race roundup. Just call me Fireball Patty from now on.
I'm leveling up to a new age group this week, and *fingers crossed* I seem to be on the road to recovery from the horrific bout of piriformis syndrome and training for Tally 12 hour.
