Race Report: Summit RockTrail 10k - December 11, 2010

As many of you know, a cute logo is often all it takes to get me to sign up for a race.

This little bugger was actually cute enough to get me up early on Saturday morning when I would have rather hid under the covers all day.

I do love that his round little face is trying to be all bad ass. (WAY over exposed picture of the back of the t-shirt.)

I really like Brazen races. They are well supported, well organized, and in beautiful locations. They have a very hometown race feel, with all the frills of a bigger race. Plus on the girly side, they usually have cute logos and nice t-shirts that are available in tech fabric and women specific fit.

Front of shirt and the finisher's medal.

I am pretty over the men's, size medium white, cotton race t-shirts that make me look like an asexual box (shut up, G).

"Oh, but RBR, you can make a super cool race t-shirt quilt," you may exclaim! I have enough shirts to make like 12 "super cool" quilts, and let's be serious, I barely have the wherewithal to fold my laundry on the weekend much less sew a goddamn quilt. Soooo... yeah, I will pass on the white cotton race tee.

"Super cool" race shirt quilt. I know one Type A personality with too much time on her hands.

Pre-run

A picture that captures my status for the past couple of weeks:

Me, all rhinoceros like, wallowing in my own muck.

Upside: Wallowing is very restful and my hip is feeling MUCH better, so I was a 'go' to run the Summit 10k this weekend.

Downside: My mood was piss poor from the moment I woke up Saturday morning.

Run

I was thrilled to learn that Ron and Katie were doing the run, but was also surprised and excited to find that Ann (trail turtle) was also in town and running today!

Ann, Ron, Katie, Moi.
Sheesh. I am thinking Jenny Craig will not be calling me anytime soon to be their next spokesmodel. Whatevs.

I registered for the 10k in my new "RBR is only going to do reasonable distances that she is actually trained for" resolution. Sadly the maiden voyage of this resolution was a bit of a miss, since I have only been doing runs from 0 -3 miles in length on the treadmill for the last month and a half and this was a 6.5 mile trail run with 1889 ft of climb.

Oopsies. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Elevation profile (grumble...Bimactive.com sold out to Adidas and now they do not accept gps data anymore. *Unhappy RBR face*)

Dirty Details:

Total Distance: 6.67 miles
Total climb: 1889 ft
Total time: 1:44:21

Ann was doing the 10k as well, so we decided to run together. Ron and Katie were doing the half marathon and I must admit there was a twinge of jealousy that they were doing the longer distance while I did the 10k. That lasted until about half a mile into the initial 3.25 mile climb, then I was pretty fucking glad to not be doing the half marathon and was wondering what the hell my aversion to the 5k distance was.

Yes, we are walking. It was more of a 3.25 mile hike, followed by a 3.25 mile run.

Ann claims to read my blog, but before the race she kept telling me that if I wanted to go faster I did not have to wait for her. Yeah, that is how my race reports ALWAYS play out, with ol' RBR leaving people in the dust, so I have my doubts about her actually reading it. Needless to say, despite the fact that she was having some hip issues I huffed and puffed behind her trying to keep up.

Ann waiting on Huff n' Puff the 'out-of-shape' Dragon behind her. Notice she is nicer about it than Ron was at the Tarantula 1/2. I am just saying.

The course was gorgeous. The fog made for perfect running conditions that were neither too hot nor too cold. I had run out here once before and it was as beautiful and hard as I remembered. The ascent was brutal, but the downhill was much better than I thought it would be and we were able to run the entire thing. At 41, I spend a lot of time and money trying to defy gravity, but gravity CAN be your friend when you are ass endowed and running downhill.

Obligatory race dog photo #1. Super cute french bulldog.

Obligatory race dog photo #2. For the record, that wadded up thing was a dog bed and was intact when we started the race. By the time we left it looked like it had snowed.

At the end, I was very glad I decided to come out and run despite my horrid mood leading up to Saturday. Plus deciding to do the 10k and not the half marathon had its benefits:

1. At Brazen races they have 'It's It' ice cream sandwiches at the finish line. Now, since I usually do the longest distance they offer and am usually the slowest runner there, I am never done when there are sandwiches left, but not today, baby!

Ann with RBR and her 'Hey-I-am-not-last!' It's It. Cappuccino flavored. I mean, come on! Does it get better than that?

2. There was food left. Lots of food left. Including pie!

Yes, I had pie AND ice cream after running only 6.5 miles. Jenny Craig is not going so well, as you can imagine.

3. Judging from how Ron and Katie looked coming in, I could possibly still be out there trying to finish, if was doing the half marathon course.

4. I got to wait for Ron and Katie to come in. (That NEVER happens. They are always waiting on me)

And when they did come in I looked rested, and smug, and chock full of ice cream, pie and smugness. Did I mention the smugness?

They were a wee bit tired from the half marathon course, which did not get better after the 10k turn around from what I hear. I wouldn't know I was eating free ice cream.


Love you, man.

MANY thanks to Ann who helped me turn my mood around and have a really great run on Saturday.

You guys rock! Thank you all so much.

Next up Katie and I will be doing the 11 miler at Crystal Springs on January 8th. Ron didn't really think he could steal my girl without a fight, did he?