Race Report: Nisene Trail 10K + Updates!

I think my running mojo decided to join me again.  Things are a million times better with my mom, in fact, she came home last Tuesday and I spent the week making sure she was all taken care of.  It was a huge weight off my shoulders when she came home - something inside of me was able to relax.  She is doing great!  Back to moving around and enjoying life.  It was a scary, dark 10 days, but I found out that I am pretty dang strong and for that I'm grateful.  THANK YOU to all of you for your kind wishes of support.  It meant so much to me to know I had all of you cheering for me.

Like I said, when she got home I finally breathed a sigh of relief and was able to hit the pavement running again.  I had a great week of training, topping out with 45 miles for the week :)  I even did some doubles a la Shelly, and really embraced my ability to run.  Each run felt better than the last and I am excited to pick up my Long Beach training where I left off.

Sunday I raced a 10K trail race in beautiful, FOGGY Aptos with my girl Stacey!  I know! I know!  I said I hate 10K's, and I do, when raced on the road.  But I absolutely love to race a trail 10K - it's the perfect distance.  I conned got Stacey to pick me up bright and early so we could carpool together.   When we left San Jose it was already warm and humid!  I was dreading what could be over the hill when we got there.  The race was supposed to start at 8:30 and I was thinking it was going to get HOT!  But we were pleasantly greeted with beautiful fog and chilly conditions that stuck around until we left!  The race was really well organized and before we knew it we were off! 

The majority of the race, except for the beginning and the end where we ran on a dirt fire trail, was on single tracks!  My favorite!  We were surrounded by beautiful redwood trees, moss covered fallen trees and TONS of blackberry bushes.  I had decided to let Stacey lead us this day since I didn't wear my glasses and I knew my legs were tired from my 16 miles the day before.  And don't believe a word the woman says when she says she is slow!  She is NOT!  That girl was speedy!  I had trouble keeping up with her!  There were some great uphills and some fabulous downhills and even a river crossing twice!  All the while we would stop and say to ourselves just how damn lucky we are to be in such a beautiful setting just minutes from our house.  We stopped a few times to take some pics and to soak it all up.  I think when she posts her race report you may or may not see me with my pants down :)  I have a good excuse though!  The blackberry bushes were sticking out all over the trails and their little thorns kept sticking me!  I pulled down my tack shorts to my knees and ran all "gangsta" so I didn't have to subject Stacey the whole time to me yelling, "ouch!" or "damn it!"  Those suckers hurt!  Needless to say, my shorts pulled down were more akin to running through the ghetto than on single tracks!

We had a couple of women in front of us that we had wanted to catch but we also wanted to enjoy the race.  So when we hit the last mile and could see them ahead we put pedal to the metal and raced in!  We finished with our arms in the air and smiles on our faces :)  It was a great day for a race with really great company - thanks Stacey!  It was just what my soul needed.  If you live in the Bay, I highly recommend looking up South Valley Endurance.  ALL of their races are wonderfully put on and always great.  They do quite a few duathalons also and I think I may have one of those in my near future ;)  They even hand out medals for the top three in each age group.  I also got a really nice hat that I forgot to take a picture of - I'm sure you will see it on me in the future.
6.55 miles 1:25:16  13:00/mi pace

So, I'm back to work today and attempting to get caught up.  I have been coming in for a couple of hours in the early morning to take care of pressing matters and clients but I haven't put in a full day in over two weeks!  I'm sure my day will be busy!  This weekend I also have the San Francisco Half Marathon that I'm really excited about.  I'm ready to race!  And Jill is coming to stay with me!  So.much.fun!

Thanks again to all of you for listening, reading and supporting.  It meant the world to me.  I promise to get caught up this week - or next ;)
Happy Tuesday and Happy Running!