Mission Accomplished: 5k Trail Run

That was FUN! That was 3.1 miles of puffing up hills and jumping over rocks and running around tree roots and carefully negotiating stream beds... and it was FUN! I definitely wasn't fast. In fact, I finished second to last in the 5k. And, since a 10k (6.2 miles) was running consecutively on the same trails, I was lapped by quite a few of the speedy 10k runners... and it was STILL fun!

It was a big ol' party. A chilly, damp party. At a ridiculously early time in the morning. But a party nonetheless. The runners were all 'good job' and 'keep it up' and 'you go girl!' as they zipped by me on the trails. The scenery was gorgeous! And when I say 'scenery', I also include the aid station at the 2 mile mark. I was never so glad to a table with cups of water in my life :)

I ran almost all of it. There were a couple of hills that kicked my rear, and after I almost took a nose dive on a particularly sneaky rock (who put rocks on the trail!??!), I decided to walk and catch my breath before doing serious injury to myself, but I'd guess that I ran at least 40 of the 50 minutes it took to complete the course. As we came up the trail to the finish line, the race organizers were ringing cowbells and yelling encouragement and it was FUN!

I'm hooked. I'm signing up for the 10k in May. And if I have to walk some of it, so be it. No one at the race seemed to care if I was first or last, and neither did I. That was a blast.