….and My Story Runs On….
One of my favorite things to do is explore new places. And now that I’m a runner (still find it hard to call myself that but since I’m a running coach and I run, I guess I’m a runner!), I love to run in new places.
My boyfriend and I are in the middle of a two week road trip to OH. As soon as I knew the dates, I looked up a race to do here right away. I found the 10 mile Chippewa Creek Trail Challenge from the Dirty Trail Race Series. Since I love trail running and 10 miles is a good long distance run for me, I signed up….and so glad that I did! It was the most beautiful run that I’ve done so far!
I’ll admit I was a bit nervous being in a new place but the gorgeous scenery calmed me down right away. I stopped and took a few photos that you can see below. It was just such a nice change from the AZ desert scenery. I had my MP3 player just in case since I didn’t know anyone at this race to talk to (I mainly run with my friends and chatting helps the time go by). The scenery was so pretty that I couldn’t even think of replacing the sound of my footsteps on the trail, the birds chirping and just the sounds of nature with music. It surprised me how many people were listening to music but then again, this was their “regular” scenery.
The other few things that cracked me up was the fact that it was 62 degrees when I started at 8am (I could actually sleep in!), I had my arm warmers on the entire time, and I had my sunglasses on my head ready to put them on (I can’t run in AZ without my sunglasses) and I never had to use them…..the trees in the forest covered most of the run.
I thought for sure that I would be last since there seemed to be some “competitive” people but I wasn’t…still not ashamed to post that I was 7 of 10 women in my age group, 50 of 58 women, and 120 of 134 runners. I did average a 12:23 pace finishing at 2:03:49. My “goal” was 2 hours so I’m happy with my results…although this race was so much more than just my results.
Besides the scenery and the results, this also happened to be my virtual Hangover Run for Will Run for Bling and Charity. Love this idea! You can see my bib below…more importantly my race entry fee is helping the Lupus Foundation of America.
Check out my 1:42 minute video clip 😉
So when is the last time you visited another town and ran a race? or had a first time experience that you really enjoyed?
From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)