On October 6th of 2013 I completed my journey of falling in love with trail running when I ran Sandia Mountain Shadows 5k. I knew I loved trails and would enjoy competing but this was the event I had been waiting for. I had a hard time deciding whether or not to register for it but after completing the Albuquerque 10k on April 20th better than I thought I would I came home and registered that night for the Valles Caldera 10k which was supposed to be my first trail race. When I got word that the Thompson Ridge Fire had put an end to it for this year I registered for Sandia Mountain Shadows 5k.
Speaking of finishing better than I thought, going into Mountain Shadows my best training time had been over 37 minutes. I knew the adrenaline of the race should improve my time but to not set myself up for disappointment I had three goals, 1) FINISH, 2) not finish last and 3) finish in 38 minutes if possible but at least not over 40. 1) I did finish, strongly and happily, 2) there were 27 people finished in front of me but 25 finished behind me (middle of the pack is a great place to be) and 3) my time was 34:41. Thrilled doesn't even come close, I was ecstatic.
I came home wondering what would be next. How far could I run? In the spring while training for the Valles Caldera 10k I had run from the LaLuz Trail Head to Lomas, over 14.5 miles. There was quite a bit of walking involved and I had not yet accepted that a little walking is part of trail racing, unless you're an elite athlete which I obviously am not, but even with some walking if I could do that in the spring ..... can I do a trail 25k? That's just 1 more mile.
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| Coming down the back stretch |
Speaking of finishing better than I thought, going into Mountain Shadows my best training time had been over 37 minutes. I knew the adrenaline of the race should improve my time but to not set myself up for disappointment I had three goals, 1) FINISH, 2) not finish last and 3) finish in 38 minutes if possible but at least not over 40. 1) I did finish, strongly and happily, 2) there were 27 people finished in front of me but 25 finished behind me (middle of the pack is a great place to be) and 3) my time was 34:41. Thrilled doesn't even come close, I was ecstatic.
I came home wondering what would be next. How far could I run? In the spring while training for the Valles Caldera 10k I had run from the LaLuz Trail Head to Lomas, over 14.5 miles. There was quite a bit of walking involved and I had not yet accepted that a little walking is part of trail racing, unless you're an elite athlete which I obviously am not, but even with some walking if I could do that in the spring ..... can I do a trail 25k? That's just 1 more mile.
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