Rich challenged me to a 7 mile trail race put on by the Trail Nerds running group. I ran their Pilgrim Pacer half marathon last November, but this was my first real trail race with the gang. It was a challenging, technical course with a creek crossing in each direction and loads of rocks, roots, logs, and slippery patches. As evidenced by the guy who slipped and tried to catch himself on one finger... Resulting in one very broken finger. But by his own account, the Nerds took great care of him, and shortly after the race he posted his sobering X-ray as his Facebook profile photo--and seemed to be having a lot of fun joking about it. Much respect for him!
And much respect for Rich, too: this was his longest race so far, and it was a butt-kicker. But he kicked back valiantly! He made it look easy (though we'd both tell you it wasn't!)
Mile 90 Photography got some super nice shots showing off the morning majesty of Kill Creek Park. The wide-angle, fish eye lens was a nice touch—this is the same technique Sam recommends for underwater photography, so it's cool to see how investing in a lens like this would benefit me on land, too.
I was pleased with my results: 59th place overall, 6th in my age group, 13th woman overall, 1:24:59 (12'08"/mile). Rich came in just a few seconds behind me—so close that I wasn't able to whip out my iPhone in time to snap a photo of him crossing the finish line. I'll have to be faster next time. ;)
He treated me to a big brunch at Eggtc. A biker named Big John and his wife let us have the first two open seats at the bar. We must have looked very hungry and tired, and we were. And we were delighted when a few minutes later, seats opened up next to us, and a lively conversation ensued. What a fun morning!!!
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