I will not be afraid of the chupa...I will not be afraid of the chupa...

Well this week was another one that ended in a race.  I am kind of getting used to this and liking it too!  This weekend my friends, Libby, Catherine, Shannon, and I braved the chupacabra and ran the Los Chupacabras de DFW 10K trail race at Lake Grapevine's Rockledge Park.  I will just go on record as saying that there is a reason it is called ROCKledge park.  I have never seen so many huge rocks to run over, across, around....you name it!  I didn't really have time to be worried about animals eating me because I was so worried about falling on a rock.  That has to be the most technical course that I think I have ever run and we did it in the dark.  The four of us held back at the beginning and let all the speedy people go out and then we got in our own groove and ran the whole thing except for a few places where it was way too dangerous.  At the beginning and the end the trail was on the side of the of the lake.  So if you fell, not only were you on just huge rocks, you would fall off and roll down to the lake.  As we were giggling about this on the last mile in,  my friends informed me not to trip as they wouldn't come save me from the lake and all fun things that reside in it.  Those rascals...We were doing really good...holding a nice steady pace with Libby up front with her new super, duper high beam headlamp.  I was second followed by Catherine and Shannon.  We got to about mile 3 and some lady was yelling something that sounded like "Chupa, Chupa!!!"  So Catherine started yelling it back because we thought the lady was trying to scare us or just be funny, because seriously, it was after 9:00 in the middle of the woods, why would anyone be out there if they weren't some kind of nut doing a 10K in the dark, right?  Well, turns out the lady had lost her dog and it happened to be named Cooper and she was calling him!  We felt kind of bad then...but I still think it was kind of funny...So on we go, mile 1, 2, and 3 were pretty uneventful except for the lost dog and a bunch of giggling and hurdling chupa poop (ie. glow sticks that mark the trail)...So we finally hit the last aid station at about mile 4 and the guy asked us if we were the last ones...I'm secretly hoping we aren't and Catherine told him actually we were at the front of the race, not the end just to give him a hard time. :-)  We knew we weren't dead last though, probably pretty close to it, but I didn't care too much.  So off we go and we get about a tenth of a mile from the aid station and all of a sudden Shannon, who was running about a foot in front of me, went flying and screaming and landed smack dab in the middle of the trail.  We all stopped and she was saying she couldn't get up and she wouldn't roll over either.  The rest of us thought she had broken her arm because of the way it was all underneath her.  She eventually rolled over and her arm was fine, but as she rolled over I noticed where her knee had been was a HUGE rock!  So her palms were all scraped up, really bad, but her knee was cut and I was worried more that it would do something internal to her knee because she landed right with that rock in her knee.  Luckily, the guys that were working the aid station that we had just passed heard the commotion and came out to us.  One of them was a paramedic (they were also marines) and they got her cleaned up and drove her back to the starting line where they got her ice, band aids, and some beer. Apparently they offered her water, and she told them no...she would take a beer...I love it!  Meanwhile, the rest of us went on our merry way.  A little more cautious at this point because all of us have races coming up, including Shannon who has a marathon in 2 weeks and was now sitting at the finish line waiting on us all banged up with a beer.  So we went on and it seemed the longer we ran, the more technical the trail got and at one point we were literally climbing up this rock wall.  Good times!  We finished up running along that crazy rock ledge that led down to the lake and then were done!  We headed back to the starting line and had a great BBQ dinner that was catered in and also some ice cold beer.  It was a great race and we had LOTS of fun!  I will totally do it next year.  I kind of like the night running.  It adds a whole new challenge to trail running. I don't know why that matters, trail running is a challenge for me in the day light and I have no idea how I didn't fall last night.  I think maybe I pay more attention to stuff in the dark because I have to.
I'll definitely do this race again next year and hopefully we can get more people to go because it was a good time!
So all in all, the chupa only got Shannon...but she gave him a good fight!

Catherine, Libby, Shannon, and Me
Before the Chupa 10K

So glad that is done...The Shoe Race Report

Well, yesterday we went to Austin for my first trail race.  It wasn't anything spectacular in length - just a 10K but I was still very nervous.  I have gotten very comfortable on my trails up here in North Texas with friends and only started to realize on my way down to Austin that I was going to be on a new trail that neither I nor my brother knew at all...and that it was going to be getting dark, real dark before I finished the race.  On the way down, I looked up the estimated sunset time of Austin and it said 8pm...The race started at 7:30 that meant I was probably looking at about an hour in the dark.  Did I mention I have never run a trail in the dark?  Yeh, I figure if I am going to do it, go all out I guess...actually it was more like the fact that I didn't think about all the logistics ahead of time.
So we arrive at Muleshoe Bend Park in Austin about 6:45pm and the temperature reads 108.  My mom was texting me from the hotel that the news was saying it was the hottest day of the year in Austin.  Oh well...already signed up for the race...gotta do it....So we get ready, pick up our bib numbers, get our super cool shirts, and wait and watch as the 60k people head out on their trek, then 15 minutes later out go the 30K people, and finally at 7:30 we get our air horn start and off go the 10kers...

Before the race at the starting line...

Part of the trail before it got dark...

So off we go...at the time I noticed that I had a slight headache and attributed it to not drinking enough so I knew that I would have to be careful during the race.  Off we went, the scenery was beautiful!  There were rocks, steep ravines, sandy areas, limestone areas...it was very pretty.  So we continue through this beautiful trail, things are going great the first 2.5 miles...then my stomach starts cramping to high holy hell and I realize I am not going to make it.

Feeling strong at mile 2....

So off we go...I am seriously looking at the trees in the woods realizing that it might be my only hope...My Garmin tells me I am at 3.1 and there was supposed to be an aid station at 3  - but will it have a port a potty???  We finally reach it and it doesn't and I am seriously about to throw up or cry it hurt so bad...My brother points out that their is a building to our left and it is a bathroom so I hightail it over there and make it.  My wonderful brother waited and finally I felt better got some ice from the aid station and took off...I was doing great, we were back running although it had gotten VERY dark while I was in the bathroom so we had our headlamps on and were back on the trail - this time with toilet paper that I hijacked from the bathroom just in case....  Doing great until mile 4 - BAM! Mile 4 found me out in the woods in the dark....using my toilet paper...Finally feeling better we head out again...I am feeling great although I did notice that I had stopped sweating at that point...I didn't really chalk it up to anything other than we were making so many pit stops maybe I wasn't that hot...but looking back and putting 2 and 2 together - it was obviously heat related...so off we go again and I am thinking I got this in the bag...I feel great...1 mile left - let's finish this off!  Yeh, back in the woods I go equipped with my handy dandy tp.  I was really pissed by this point because I was feeling great except the severe cramps...At mile 4, I just said a prayer...literally, "God, please just let me finish this race...I don't care my time, I just want to finish."  At that was exactly how I felt. So finally after the 3rd pit stop, we finish the race.  It took us 2 hours and lots of sweat and almost some tears...but I finished that damn thing.

Definitely earned this one...

Someone in this picture got chicked at the finish line....

 So all in all, I had a great time and learned some valuable lessons:

1.   Don't ever underestimate the power of heat.

2.  Hydrate properly before the race...AWAYS!

3.  Never ever travel in the woods without tp!

4.  I'm not afraid of the dark...who knew...

5.  I can do anything  I put my mind to...sometimes I forget this one...and I need a humbling experience like this to remind me...The last time I was taught this lesson was about mile 17 of my last marathon...that one sucked too...but I finished it  and survived :-)



So where to go from here...well this week I am going to continue with my training plan which calls for:

Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 4 miles
Thursday - 6 miles
Saturday - 10 miles on the trail
Sunday - 5 miles

I am also going to continue icing that IT band and stretching because man, it was screaming at me on those trails...I have to get that in check.  There were a couple of times that I almost fell because the pain was so sharp and so sudden that it just caught me off guard.  It doesn't hurt all the time, just if I step just right on it.  It is very random...which drives me crazy! 

Happy Birthday to me!

As far as food, I did log all my calories and put on my Bodybugg Friday night so I have kept track of all that even while not at home - that is always my biggest challenge.  Although I did splurge at the Cupcake Trailer in Austin and got a cupcake for my birthday...