Catalina State Park 10.75 Trail Race

Me and my friend Steve, the self-proclaimed 'Slow Old Goat' (although, in truth, he really is pretty speedy). It is always good to see you, my friend. Hope your travels in Bangkok go well and your shin splints are history soon.

Distance: 10.75 miles (although you can choose a 5.5 mile distance).

Finish Time: 1:40:03 (9:18 min/mile pace) Last year, my time for this race was 1:46:48 (9:43 pace). Yay for improvement!

I was 61st out of 111 people. It was a fast crowd out this year. I got third place in my age group (40-44).

Quite a few people turned out, although it had been raining hard most of the night, and up until race time. The rain pretty much slacked off for the race, although it was freeeeeezzzzing!!! I warmed up quickly on the run, shedding my rain jacket (thanks Shari for hanging on to it for me!) after the first 5.5 miles.

The 10.75 mile is 2 loops of the 5.5 mile race. Even after all of the rain, there was not much water on the creek crossings. Tucson needed it, although I think the race director was panicking a bit! The great thing about all the rain is that it really packed down the sand, so it was much easier to run those super sandy trails.

After the race, the rain clouds moved in and boy, did it really get cold! I hung out for a while, but I guess there were some problems with the race timing, so they weren't able to give awards out at the race after all. The results are all fixed and posted now. I'll have to pick my award up, which is fine! I was just thrilled to do better this year. However, they did give out prizes and I won 2 free smoothies from Robek's!

I got out of there just in time for it to really get raining. Thanks to Robin for letting me sit in her car to stay warm and for giving me a ride back to my car (I took the shuttle to the park).

Cool note: the women's technical shirts this year were actually women's cut and sizes! Steve, the RD, will be doing this from now on for the Everyone Runs races, which is a good reason to register. Good job Steve. I will be wearing it in my Sunday post (it fits so nice).
BTW, his next race, Run with the Roosters, will be on Sunday, July 12th. It will be a 5 miler near Old Tucson, and will be held at 5:15 am to avoid the heat.

Catalina State Park 11 mile (10.75, really) Trail Race

This was my second running of this race, although the first time I did it, the course was in reverse (actually, this race was called 'Reverse the Course'). When I ran it back in April, my time was 1:46:48 (and I was second in my age group!) Today, it was 1:44:06. I'm not sure if the course was the same distance before and just got measured a little more accurately this time, but it seemed the same to me (it starts on a little stretch of pavement and ends on pavement and the trails were the same.) We did the Canyon Loop trail, Nature Loop trail and Bridle trail, all times two. The 5.5 milers just did one set of the same trails.

Here I am with my friend Steve right before the start:

Here we are getting ready to line up behind the new Everyone Runs start balloon:

It was so nice and cool at the start, which was 6:30am, and besides a little bottleneck here and there along the trails, it went really smooth. I had a great race, with no real complaints but some heavy breathing (my allergies, or just challenging?) It was really fun. I ran behind a gal for a while that was doing her first trail run ever! (she is in the top picture) I passed her at some point, but she passed me in the end! Some people are just naturals on the trails. The CSP trails are only true singletrack in a few spots, so it is fairly easy to pass. There is plenty of uphill (2 big hills that you have to do twice!) but also some great, screaming downhill, which is so much fun. The trail is fairly wide, but boy, is it sandy! Looks and feels like a sandbox most of the time:Here is my friend Shari coming into the finish. Shari was 4th in her age group! Shari is currently training for the El Tour 109 mile bike race in November and the Tucson Marathon in December. Wow!

Everyone Runs had Robek's smoothies (yum!) and beans, eggs and tortillas for the after-race breakfast, so I scarfed a bunch of food (sans eggs, I like mine very well, well done) and water down and headed over to the awards ceremony.

I won 1st place in my age group! Wahoo!!! I just about fell out when I heard my name announced. Very cool. We received beer glasses like we did in April (although I don't drink, so they'll just sit on my dresser, looking pretty). Here I am with Mary (left) and Rachel (center), who both placed in their age groups (Rachel 1st, Mary 2nd) as well:

I finished 43rd out of 89 total in the 11 (10.75) mile race and 1st in my age group out of 5 total (it was a pretty small race - the 5.5 mile option got more people -179 to be exact). My friends Steve and Martinho placed 4th and 2nd in their age groups, respectively. David from Sierra Vista, who I met at the BPR trail races, was 2nd in his age group. David, if you are reading, OP50 registration starts Monday, September 29th and is expected to sell out in 4 hours or less! Jump on it and good luck! My new friend Julie is suspecting a stress fracture on her foot, so she opted out of the race. You were missed!

Congratulations everyone on a fine race!

Next up: tomorrow morning, I'll head out to Mt. Hopkins (near Mt. Wrightson) down South of Tucson to do a little run (hike?) with the Tucson Trail Runners. Not sure what my legs will feel like after today (I'm trying to work up the courage to do an ice bath) but I thought it sounded like fun. I won't go all the way to the top (23 miles!); instead, I'll turn around at the gate at the end of the dirt road, which will be around 15 miles. Just 15 miles, unless I get some burst of energy, which I highly doubt will happen. I'll probably hike up and run down, but I didn't want to miss it. The views are supposed to be great! Plus, Troy was planning on doing it after doing the Flagstaff Marathon today, so I figured I should try and do it after an 11 mile race!

I treated myself to a wonderful facial afterwards, which was great. I'll be getting a massage on Monday, which I'll really need after this weekend! My calves and shins are seriously tight right now.

And finally, a little quote that fits me well today:

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

The Official Catalina State Park Trail Race Report

It took me a few days to do a race report - I've been working on our taxes - spent 9 hours on them Sunday (they are fairly complicated and my husband uses the 'pile 'o receipts' method of accounting for his business, which is always fun at tax time) and got them finished up last night. Yes, we had to pay Federal tax, but it was offset with our refund from the State tax filing. And, we'll be getting that $1,200 'economic stimulus' cash in May sometime, which we'll use to boost the economy somehow, I suppose (more running gear?)

I finished the 11 mile trail race in 1:46:48, which was a 2nd place finish in my age group (40-44). The gal in 1st place in my age group finished in 1:46:35, so I missed 1st place by 13 seconds. There was a bit of a race timing snafu - I guess a lot of people switched on race day, without letting anyone know ahead of time, from the 5.5 to the 11 mile distance and from the 11 to the 5.5 mile distance so it messed up the results. I thought they had it all figured out on race day (I was in 1st, then I was moved down to 2nd) but I noticed that I was listed as 1st in my age group on the results on the race website. They have since corrected it and I'm officially 2nd place in my age group. I was very excited when they called my name for 1st place, but within minutes the real 1st place winner stepped forward and disputed it. I was slightly embarrassed, mostly because she made a scene about it, I thought. She said to me, "Don't you remember me passing you? I was picking off people at the end!" I basically told her don't worry about it, that I'm sure it will get figured out. I guess she gave the race director a lot of hassle for it, and he emailed me and told me he felt bad for me that she made such a public scene. I don't blame her for being upset, but I think she lacked a little sportsmanship. But I'm happy! 2nd place is awesome! Here I am with my 2nd place beer (?) glass, which I'm very proud of! Not too bad for right under 2 weeks after my marathon!

The 11 mile race was 2 loops of the 5.5 mile race:

1. Canyon Loop Trail (with the 92 steps!)

2. A .9 mile out and back on Montrose Pools trail (up on the out and down on the back)

3. Nature Loop Trail (big hill to get up, and then it is flat)

4. Bridle trail out and back (fairly flat, rocky and sandy)

The second 5.5 miles around was easier in some ways (I was warmed up). However, my legs felt a little tired from all the training. I actually felt nauseated off and on throughout the race, but I'm not sure why. It was fun to see people I knew on the out and back parts. I kept waving at my friends Shari and Steve at different times during the race as we passed each other which energized me.

Great race! We did a little rock hopping in the streams, but there really wasn't much water running. The weather was gorgeous and not too hot. They serve a wonderful mexican breakfast afterwards and all finishers get a technical race t-shirt (although it was canary yellow!) I'm getting known for being 'pink' out there on the trail and in races. The race director, Steve Landau, said, "Hey, there's the pink lady! Hi Renee!"

Regarding my friend Steve (there he is on the left resting his eyes)- thank you for the wonderful things you said Steve! Steve said he has been following my blog and at the awards ceremony he told me he was impressed about my accomplishments and proud of what I was doing with my running (I'm paraphrasing - at least that is what I remember him saying!). He made me feel so great! His comments were warm and sincere and it felt so good to be his friend. Steve's comments really made my day. Steve also came in 2nd in his age group (50 - 54). I'm proud of you, too, Steve!

I was never good at sports growing up and always felt awkward and shy around people. I love this life I've been given today, which is so different from then. I have so many wonderful friends and I feel like I really belong in the running commmunity and the world in general. I try to show up and see what I can bring to others rather than worrying about what they think of me. I usually chat with new runners and give them encouragement and applaud their successes. It takes me out of myself and I get to really see what life is about.

"Don't surround yourself with yourself." ~ The band 'Yes', song "Roundabout".