Tails on the Trail 2013

why do i look so serious?

This was suppose to be my recovery week but i kind of had some poor planning on my part and planned a race the weekend after my half.  My running coach wasn't exactly thrilled but I promised i wouldn't push it and as luck would have it, it rained pretty much all week so I couldn't push it.  The trails were slick and muddy and there was standing water in several places so stella and i had to take it easy in several spots.  I was amazed that my legs were not sore all week but they felt tired and heavy.  Went for a shake out run friday with a new running friend and did 3 miles in like 30 minutes flat and we weren't even pushing it.  Hmmm...getting faster, slowly but surely.  We talked the whole way and neither one of us were out of breath.  So weird.  Anyway, mom, andrew, stella and I all headed to topeka saturday morning.  It was cold but sunny and the wind wasn't too bad.  I did this race last year and did it in 38 minutes.  It was my first race post andrew and I was mortified at my time.  My body was not in the best of shape from the c-section and my core was a wreck.  I had tried to do the bridge to 10 K program and I was NOT ready for this.  It was too much running too soon.  Instead of training smartly, I trained stupid and gave up.  Shortly after this race, I went back to my bootcamp style work outs 5 days a week and got my core back into the shape it needed to be for me to run and to run injury free.  This race is one of my favorites because you can take your dog and it is a very pretty trail run.  I need to do more trail work as it is really different than pavement running and is a different mental game.  I made sure of two things this year.  I made sure stella pooped before we ran since she pooped mid run last year and really killed my pace.  I also made sure I was at the beginning of the pack because the trails were narrow in some places and there were many walkers last year.  Also last year it was a gun start and no chip timing so being in the back, I started a lot later than the pack and still got a start time that they had.  So last year I was a finish time of 37:55 (12:14 pace), 17th in my age group and 96th overall.  I can't find the total runners, will have to see if that is somewhere.  This year, I ran it in 30:26 (9:49 pace) was 19th out of 185,  and 2nd in my age group.  A testament to good training.  I probably could have pushed it harder and gotten first but I just didn't want to fall and hurt myself.  I got a trophy, a bag of dog treats and stella got this super cool embroidered scarf.  I was more than a little happy:)  Can't wait till next year!