On Sunday, Luke, Collette and myself ran the Fleet Feet Arizona Trail Run out by Colossal Cave. The route was 8 miles and we were just hoping that it wasn't anything like our recent attempt at running Esperero Trail last week. 2300 elevation gain in under 3.5 miles? No thank you.
The event was limited to 250 runners and you could tell that these were serious folks. I saw a woman in her mid-60s that I've spied at other Tucson races in the past year. It's nice to think that I do enough local races that I'm beginning to recognize the hometown "crew". I find her, with her butt-long grey braid, to be an incredible inspiration. Although I'm always impressed by the folks who whiz in at the finish line with an average 6+ min/mile pace, I'm much more inspired by the 60-80 crowd who still get out and run.
Like the Tucson 1/2, this was a chilly start. According to one participant, her car was reading 32 degrees before she just stopped looking at it. Fortunately, the even was small enough that we didn't have to wait around long before the start.
The trail was beautiful and the sunrise was stunning over the desert. The trail was mainly a dirt single track that wound through Saguaro. the total elevation gain was about 500, mainly rolling hills. We stayed with the pack for more of the first half. I didn't want to push too hard and get tired, and passing people was kind of tricky. By the turn around loop I was really warm and able to push the pace the rest of the way home. In retrospect, I should have started faster (and just passed those people), and I could have pushed more on the return. On the other hand, I had a really comfortable run with no cramping- which is a victory in itself.
For nutrition I started the day with my banana + PB. I didn't take water b/c there were water stations ( I recently bought a hydration belt, but didn't want to introduce a new element on race day - aren't I a good runner? ). Because the race was on the short side, I didn't want to take a gel. Instead I took a few Jelly Belly sport beans at miles 3, 6, and 7. It actually worked pretty well and I'm going to play around with nutrition throughout the run (rather than a gel intake 1/2 way) a bit more.
I ran in my Brooks Cascadia 6s (love them), my tough girl skirt sport (pants + skirt), a long sleeved new Blanance shirt, and my new balance running jacket. In retrospect I could have ditched the jacket, but it was nice in the beginning.
Now onto the Skirt Chaser 5K with my mom and Luke on Sat!
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