Friday, November 24, 2006
Did I Actually Sign Up For This On Thanksgiving Morning?
So I actually did it and actually managed to get up and do the 9.5 mile trail run on Thanksgiving day. I really thought I'd wind up backing out since I went out wednesday night and since registration for the trail run was free. But despite having only had 2 hours and 45 mins of sleep I dragged myself out of bed and made it to the trail run in plenty of time to start with the early (slow) runners.
I was happy to see that a few other people from my training group made it out as well so I wouldn't be running alone. However, our coach who encouraged us to do the run was a no show. This would be my first trail run and I knew going into the run that it would be tough, however, I don't think I realized how tough it actually would be. It was very cold when we started, so I was anxious to get going. We started going on the trail and it wasn't too bad in the beginning since we were just running along a little trail and having to walk across the creek beds since they were rocky. It was a little annoying b/c the trail was only really wide enough for one person and I really don't like setting the pace for people behind me. It was also a little tight and the branches would sometimes hit up against my legs. But still this wasn't that big of a deal, and once I stepped to the side and let the quicker runners pass me I was feeling a little better about the run. However, shortly after that came the hills. Now I had heard that there would be hills that we'd definitely have to walk up, however, I didn't realize they'd be difficult to even walk up and that half of the 9 miles would be extremely steep inclines that never gave. Once we hit the hills I was back with most of the other TNT members and together we attempted the hills. We had to walk up them and even that was quite a challenge. The toughest part was that they kept going up and up and never leveled off, not even for a little bit. Everytime we thought we had finally reached the top we turned the corner to see more incline. At this point I was miserable and trying to figure why the heck I had actually woken up so early on Thanksgiving day to put myself through this, but was happy that at least registration was free and that I hadn't paid to put myself through this. Now the "run" was in the hills of Pacific Palisades and well was absolutely beautiful, but it was rather difficult to fully enjoy it as I was just feeling so tired and worn down and miserable from all the hills.
I wound up running pretty much the whole thing with a friend of one of the girls on my team as the other girls managed to go on a little quicker than the two of us. Her and I had a great time together though and it definitely made it easier and more fun having her there to chat with the whole time. The hills did start getting more gradual and a little easier to handle, however, my left knee was killing me and only got worse as I went on. People passing us kept trying to encourage us that it'd get better and start going down hill eventually however, I was skeptical that there was a downhill section as it seemed we just kept getting told that and yet just kept going uphill.
We eventually hit the half way mark and sure enough we finally started heading downhill. This however acuatlly hurt my knee more and made it a little tough. After one stop to stretch a little and one stop to walk down a slop that was a little too steep and hurting my knee too much we managed to run the entire second half and did the entire run in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Not an amazing time considering the distance, but considering the trail I was very very pleased with the time.
Well so I've now officially completed my first trail run and I am rather pleased with myself, however, I rank it as one of the toughest things I have ever done. I'm not so sure I'll be joining the trail runners club, but perhaps I'll attempt another trail run one day.
I was happy to see that a few other people from my training group made it out as well so I wouldn't be running alone. However, our coach who encouraged us to do the run was a no show. This would be my first trail run and I knew going into the run that it would be tough, however, I don't think I realized how tough it actually would be. It was very cold when we started, so I was anxious to get going. We started going on the trail and it wasn't too bad in the beginning since we were just running along a little trail and having to walk across the creek beds since they were rocky. It was a little annoying b/c the trail was only really wide enough for one person and I really don't like setting the pace for people behind me. It was also a little tight and the branches would sometimes hit up against my legs. But still this wasn't that big of a deal, and once I stepped to the side and let the quicker runners pass me I was feeling a little better about the run. However, shortly after that came the hills. Now I had heard that there would be hills that we'd definitely have to walk up, however, I didn't realize they'd be difficult to even walk up and that half of the 9 miles would be extremely steep inclines that never gave. Once we hit the hills I was back with most of the other TNT members and together we attempted the hills. We had to walk up them and even that was quite a challenge. The toughest part was that they kept going up and up and never leveled off, not even for a little bit. Everytime we thought we had finally reached the top we turned the corner to see more incline. At this point I was miserable and trying to figure why the heck I had actually woken up so early on Thanksgiving day to put myself through this, but was happy that at least registration was free and that I hadn't paid to put myself through this. Now the "run" was in the hills of Pacific Palisades and well was absolutely beautiful, but it was rather difficult to fully enjoy it as I was just feeling so tired and worn down and miserable from all the hills.
I wound up running pretty much the whole thing with a friend of one of the girls on my team as the other girls managed to go on a little quicker than the two of us. Her and I had a great time together though and it definitely made it easier and more fun having her there to chat with the whole time. The hills did start getting more gradual and a little easier to handle, however, my left knee was killing me and only got worse as I went on. People passing us kept trying to encourage us that it'd get better and start going down hill eventually however, I was skeptical that there was a downhill section as it seemed we just kept getting told that and yet just kept going uphill.
We eventually hit the half way mark and sure enough we finally started heading downhill. This however acuatlly hurt my knee more and made it a little tough. After one stop to stretch a little and one stop to walk down a slop that was a little too steep and hurting my knee too much we managed to run the entire second half and did the entire run in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Not an amazing time considering the distance, but considering the trail I was very very pleased with the time.
Well so I've now officially completed my first trail run and I am rather pleased with myself, however, I rank it as one of the toughest things I have ever done. I'm not so sure I'll be joining the trail runners club, but perhaps I'll attempt another trail run one day.
