Happy 4th of July!!
How’d Nate and I celebrate? A race, of course :).
We did the Afton trail run for the first time the morning of the 4th. We went out to the park once before to preview the course so at least I knew I was going to have my butt kicked :). The race itself was a lot of fun. The trail is gorgeous, challenging, and the people running and volunteering are super friendly. I’d definitely do the race again next year.
There are a couple things I’d do differently next year:
1. Practice on trails more often. Every time I’d get to a relatively flat or even uphill with secure footing I could open up my stride and fly. Everytime I’d be in an area where I wasn’t quite sure where I was stepping (the entire last 3 miles of single track course) or was trying to navigate the downhills I’d have to pull up BIG time on my speed. With practice I think I could get much better at these.
2. Wear a Fuel Belt or other hydration system!!!! Nate ran with one and I was SOO jealous! 🙂
3. I was very gratful for my Vasque shoes! Anyone still running in their road shoes should really think about upgrading 🙂
I finished 2nd for women overall (official results still pending), so not a bad debut for the trails :).
Now… on to the rest of this week, which marks the start of ramping up the mileage for TCM!
Way to finish second for women! I agree, if you are going to do a trail race you really need trail running shoes to help you footing on the uneven terrain, especially if the terrain is wet or heavily rooted.
Practice does make perfect. While trail running uses a lot of the same muscles that road running does, there are some muscles used in trail running for balance that you don't necessarily work out during road runs. Trail running is the best way to strengthen these muscles. Great job in the race!