Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Awesomeness….Part 2

And on to Sunday…

The 10k trail run was scheduled for a bright and early 8 am start. Alarms while camping? Thank goodness for phones. To be honest, I was up before my alarm…so no big deal.

Our breakfast was much less exciting as we had to run soon after waking up. Granola, bananas…that was about it. Once we were dressed-in layers-we all piled into the truck and headed down to the center of the venue. Lauren and I spent some time warming up and stretching. We met up with Emily and got ready to run.

At 8:00 we were off and running…for real. We headed out of the little “town” and straight up a mountain. No, I am not kidding, straight up. Even Ken was blown away with what they had us do. We seriously spent the first 2 miles hiking…through mud and SNOW and more mud! I managed to lose Lauren and Emily pretty quickly. They were much more aggressive in climbing around people (something I need to learn). I just decided to do my own thing and enjoy the hike run. The first couple of miles were seriously stupid hard. I was huffing and puffing like I had taken up smoking. I was excited when we had a little reprieve of downhill (Normally I hate downhill-not in this race!).

That is us under the chairlift….

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And a little bit of straight across…

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Around mile 3 we started to do some single track running through the forest. It was awesome! I loved every minute of that part of the race. Jumping over trees, running through boughs, hurtling over ditches….epic! I was really surprised how fast I took the down hills. My new Brooks Cascadia's were…THE BOMB! I felt so confident in the grip they provided that I practically flew past people on the snowy descents. Come mile 6 I was about done. My quads and calves had had it! Normally I am not super competitive (one of my biggest problems when racing…I am much more competitive while doing training runs…see the problem in that?) BUT…there was this guy…and we kept trading places, him in front, me in front….dun dun dun! In the final stretch of the course (right after I passed Ken and Jasper-you guys are great!) I took him. I passed him on the inside of a corner and had at it! I was stoked to cross the finish line before him! Eye of the Tiger..hehe!

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Somehow Ken and Jasper managed to beat me to the finish line…

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See the guy I beat BEHIND me!!!

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And done!! Finished in about 1:10! I was excited for that time…I anticipated being much slower! Lauren is a rock star and finished in 1:05 and Emily in about 1:07. Hardest run I have EVER done!

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I must say, I felt quite accomplished though! Once we were done and recovered a little, we headed to find some crepes. It was a delicious way to finish off the morning.

No, I wont lay on the hard ground…give me your jacket!

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The rest of the day was spent wandering around the booths and watching events. We saw “bumper Kayaking,” Speed Retrieve by the dogs and other exciting sports. I managed to get nice and sunburned…oops! Jasper was great the entire weekend. He and Moki are great buddies and enjoyed hanging out and playing.

What a great day!! When we decided we were done…we headed back to camp to pack up. It seemed to take forever…because it was HOT!!! Luckily, we had watermelon to cool off with…tasty!

The trip home was good…the dogs were EXHAUSTED and slept on the floor for the majority of the trip. We detoured for some ice cream before making it back to Golden and unloading. Ken and I stopped at Costco to pick up a Rotisserie chicken…but it was too close to closing and there were none left … sad face! Luckily, I found some sweet Spinach and Mozzarella ravioli that proved to be delicious! We also happened to pick up The Fighter from Redbox…good movie!

Okay….one more thing…let’s talk Swag bag! This may have been the BEST part of the event. Teva Mountain Games had some sweet sponsors who totally took care of their athletes. I have never seen a more decked out bag!

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There was granola, coffee, tea, a hat, an Eddie Bauer shirt (male and female SPECIFIC!), sunglass holders, trail mix, a bag of dog food…..

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Stickers galore, a stainless water bottle, Outside magazine, other magazines, coupons….as in Free Chipotle….it was AMAZING. The events were so reasonably priced. I think the goodies in the bags were worth more than our entry fees! And since both of us competed…two bags!

We also managed to walk away with a Teva dog leash, Garmin visor and several other great things (Rocky Mountain Chocolate, anyone?).

What a great weekend with awesome friends!!

Monday was spent recovering…enough said! Jasper didn’t move from the couch, except to go sleep in the grass…and then back to the couch!

We did introduce a new member to our family…I will share that with you tomorrow!

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