This summer I have met, become great friends, and trained with a fabulous group of people. Training has honestly never been this much fun. As much as I try to avoid getting up at 5am every morning, the lure of a killer run or tough swim with my training buddies, far outweighs the sleep. Morning after morning, I get "talked" into doing something.
Sunday was no exception. I got talked into doing a 26km trail race!
The Rubble Creek 26km trail race is by far one of the most beautiful races I have ever done, as well as one of the toughest. Although it is in its 25th year, the race is still relatively small and boasts no race numbers, aid stations or chip timing. The race organizer stood on a rock, said "ready, set, go"and we were off. The race started with a pretty tough uphill, taking us up 2600 feet, leveled out for a few km's before descending 4000 feet to the finish.
Here is the course profile thanks to Adam's GPS!
The reason why I am a sucker is because I hadn't really trained for this race... and got talked into racing it. Sure, I had started running a little more towards the end of the summer, but the longest run I had done was at the tail end of the 2 halfirons I raced! I was a little worried about finishing the race, but Steph assured me she would run with me and that it would be just fine. We started the race at a conservative pace, while Adam, Graeme and Shannon took off with the main pack. Once we reached the top of the climb, we stopped to take a couple of photos of the breathtaking view... we just couldn't resist!
Me - taking in the view of Black Tusk
Once we reached the descent, I was sooo happy/relieved. My legs were pretty tired and the thought of running up another hill was not very appealing. Steph and I took turns leading the way down the winding slope (she looked quite graceful, while I tried to not kill myself with my clumsy feet). After a good hour of running downhill, we were both very excited to see the parking lot and the end of the run. We were met by Shannon (who came 2nd!!), Adam and Graeme and the race organizer with a stopwatch calling out times.
Needless to say, I didn't exactly race the run. My goal was to get out and get a solid 3 hour run in with some great friends in the beautiful West Coast trails.
Needless to say, I didn't exactly race the run. My goal was to get out and get a solid 3 hour run in with some great friends in the beautiful West Coast trails.
Post race: Graeme, Shannon, me, Steph and Adam
Next up, the North Shore Half Marathon!
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