OC Chili Winter Trail Run Series #3

This isn't the next race chronologically, but I don't have pictures for it so I can blog about it now. This past Saturday was the last race in the trail run series I've been doing. After the second race I was in 2nd place overall for the women. That means I just needed to keep the same pace as the past two races and I would grab a podium spot. Being the competitive person I am, I really wanted that BJ's Restaurant gift card.

This was the first time that Skyler got to race with me. He was my photographer the first race and he was in Mexico for the second one. I was excited for him to race because I really like the course and I wanted him to experience it too.

The race started and I tried to keep up with Skyler, but he took off. And then I started feeling tired. The two previous weekends Skyler and I raced hard at two triathlons. I think that everything finally caught up with me. My whole body was tired and it was super hot outside. My pace suffered and I found myself walking up several of the hills. I knew this wasn't normal because I had been able to run up these hills on the previous races. I ended the race feeling a little dejected. My time was 44:21, about 4 minutes slower than last month's time (2nd in my age group and 5th woman overall for the day). I didn't think this would affect my standings, but I got bumped off my podium by 30 seconds. It's easy to look back and say I could have ran 30 seconds faster, but that's just how it went. Of course I was bummed, but I learned by lesson.

Skyler, on the other hand, had a great race. He also came in 5th, but that's out of men and women! He also got 1st in his age group. His time was 35:33. That's great considering this was his first time racing this course.

Even though it was hot outside, that post-race chili still tasted awesome. I'm definitely doing this trail run series again next year.