Let's Be Fit Friends

On Sunday we did our last race of the year, a 35k trail run in the redwood forest. Such a lovely way to end the year! A little background: 

Apparently I was having a severe math brain lapse because when I signed up for the 35K I sincerely thought it was about 12 miles. It never even crossed my mind until I said something a couple weeks before like “Wow, I haven’t really been running more than 3 miles, I’m not sure I can run 12ish so well” and Kevin was all “you know 35K is WAY FARTHER than that, right?!”. (It’s definitely 21.8mi) 

So I decided to run the 17k instead, unless I felt good at the top of the 1,800ft climb, and yes, it was pointed out to me what a ridiculous statement that was. 

This elevation map is tiny but you get the idea. It was a lot of..up

So because I’m stubborn and felt pretty good at the top, I decided to run the 35k anyway. Overall, I’m glad I did. My knees hurt a bit and I was ready to stop running by the end but I never suffered the severe mental breakage that happens to me during a road marathon. The redwood forest and banana slug sightings likely helped with that! 

It also didn’t hurt that my GPS watch lost signal in the mountains so the distance was a bit off. I thought I had 2 more miles left when I saw Kevin and the finish line! My exact words: “That is excellent news!”

Things I’ve learned from long trail runs:

• They. Are. Awesome. I felt like Pocahontas running through the forest.
• Makes me hungry. Like starving to death. This trail run company has the BEST aid station food too and it was hard not to gorge myself. 
• Real food> fake food. I ate steamed potatoes and oranges and had ZERO tummy issues. Had no desire to eat a shot block ever again. 

I’m also happy to know that I can run that far without massive amounts of training. Could I have run faster if I was trained? Yes. But I still enjoyed myself and could finish. It’s a great feeling!

Here’s a really unflattering photo of me because sometimes you don’t look pretty after running 22 miles. I forgive me.