Cross Timbers 13.1 Trail Race

Starting from Juniper Point West on the South side of Lake Texoma, this race is not for people who hate hills! It seems you are always going up or coming back down. A tough course, but like last year, so much fun with really great people and a fantastic overall event. The aid stations are so great at trail events, tons of candy and sandwiches, chips and pretzels. There's always tons of stuff to aid any issues that might come up like papaya enzymes, Tums, ibuprofen, salt tablets, Vaseline, Kleenex. Basically if you need it, they have it. Although I didn't have my best day, I felt really run down and depleted, I still would rather spend a Saturday morning with great friends playing in the mud and running in the woods than doing just about anything.

Me, Beth, Diana after the race.

I'm almost done!

Ah...the mud pit. Me and Diana

We actually got a guy to stop and take our picture during the race! I love trail runners!!

Diana coming up the final hill.

It was hard to believe between the 3 of us we only had one fall...at least she did it in the soft mud pit! : )

Snow Running in Dallas!

We ventured out to the trails this past weekend, how often (never) do you get to run in snow in Texas?! We had a great time maneuvering around fallen trees and branches, flooded crossings and huge mud pits. Wet, cold shoes the whole time but worth the enjoyment of playing around in the woods for 2 hours!

This creek behind us is actually the trail. : ) This was the one time we had to hike up to the road and find a new way.

One of the many branches that had fallen on the path.

First we were going to go this way but then thought...no let's try the other way.

Below was "the other way."

We ended up going with route 1. hahaha!

Clair de Lune

Marimbas: Dan Darrah, Corey Gilmore, Patricia Islas, Jimmy Labrecque, Kevin McNulty

"Vainement, ma bien-aimée" from Le Roi d'Ys by Édouard Lalo

Craig Blackard

Christine Dominguez

Love Never Fails, Jesse Manibusan

Thanks Coyotes!

Dad - Piano, vocals

Tom - Guitar, vocals

Joe - Guitar, vocals

Chrissy - vocals

Doug - drum set

Bold in the Cold 5k (me) 15k (Beth)

I did the 5k in 23:45. It was good enough for 1st in my age group (Females 30-34). There were 46 of us. I felt really good the first mile, struggled the second and struggled the third. lol. It was really fun to "race"! Bold in the Cold was put on by my running club, Lake Grapevine Runners and Walkers. The volunteers were awesome and I was super proud to be a member!

Beth did the 15k and got 3rd in her age group! She turns 30 on Friday (2/5) and Diana (who was exploring the wineries of CA the weekend of the race) turns 30 in May. Ahh, let the good natured competitiveness continue into our new age groups! : )

Up next: the three of us tackle Cross Timbers Half Marathon at Lake Texoma. See last years race report. (We're driving up the morning of. I learned my lesson last year.)

White Rock Half Marathon December 13, 2009

Well, I don't have any pictures from this race so I wasn't going to write about it but I think I'll like having the memory next year at this time. : )

This race was really tough for me. I spent all fall doing speed work at the track on Tuesday nights with my RAW friends, the "Trackies." I only missed one Tuesday, when I was in NY for Kelly's wedding. I knew I had gotten significantly faster and my form had improved a lot. (This was my 5th Half.) However, I despise the pain of going fast. Everyone's fast is different and my "fast" is way faster than it used to be, but oh dear god does it hurt.

My goal was 1:54:00. Diana and I got there in plenty of time to do a warm-up and decide what layers we wanted to wear. (Not the easiest decision, oddly enough.) Well, everyone that runs with me knows I normally have to pee at least 3 times before a race. I was seeded in the A corral but we could barely even make it to the B corral the madness of people was so overwhelming. I do not enjoy being surrounded by that many people. At all. There was about a 45 min wait for every porta-potty and I had to pee so bad! We spotted some porta-potties right before the chip line at the start and I quickly made my way over to them. When I ran back, we were thick within the C corral.

This proved to be such a challenge to my time goal. For close to 5 miles we would have to sprint in the very little open space and then get stuck behind a line of people, and then sprint, and then get stuck. FOREVER! We wasted so much energy and were so frustrated. Live and learn. This was my first big (in terms of participants) race that I actually had a time goal and not just a finish goal. Now I know, get to the correct corral and just suck it up if you still have to pee.

Evan was at mile 7.5. I was seriously so tired from my pace at this point that tears came to my eyes when I saw him. It feels so ridiculous to say that but there was such mixture of emotions going through me. I was so proud of myself for the track work I had put it and the pace I was able to keep up to that point, but I was hurting so bad and I knew I still had a while to go.

The last mile was the hardest. I have a lot of faith and confidence in my endurance but not my speed. Oh man, it sucked. It ended up being an 11 minute PR (personal record) for me, my overall time was 1:54:46. I definitely didn't negative split it, which is always my goal, but I did learn a lot of lessons for next time.

Up next:

RAW's Bold in the Cold 5k

Cross Timbers Half Marathon

St. Patty's Sprint Triathlon

Grasslands Half Marathon

By request: Richland Concert 2007 ; )

Wedding Photography Part 1

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Wedding Photography Part 2

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