Holy Crap! Beautiful Estrella Trail Run
As I mentioned in my last post, since the weather has gotten nicer recently (read: dropped below 90, finally), the Valley currently has tons of fun runs, like the Color Me Rad event Kristen and I did last week. Today, my friend Sara Murphy (who shall henceforth be referred to as "Murph") and I completed the Beautiful Estrella 5K Trail Run, the first run in the new Cactus Flower ladies trail run series.
It was held out on the southwest side of town at Estrella Mountain, which also houses Phoenix International Raceway.* Here's Murph and I fighting not to fall back asleep before the gun went off:
The field for the race was on the small side - maybe 50 people - but that's not unusual for a first run in a new series, especially on the trails. Even the bigger trail runs have 200-300 people max, and that's generally for a multitude of events. The weather was fantastic this morning as well - around 60 degrees and overcast, with the sun peeking through the clouds just enough to keep you warm but not enough to get too toasty. Just perfect!
We both ran hard, but I was really surprised to see myself fall into 5th place at around the 1.5 mile mark. As I passed the person who finished 6th, I gradually lost the sound of her footfalls, and all was quiet behind me. This sparked an extremely odd feeling for me, which was that 5th place was apparently mine to lose. I tried not to totally freak out and just stay focused, knowing that one step in the wrong place could cause me to wipe out and end all hopes of this amazing finish.**
Thankfully, I kept it together and crossed in 5th place, in a time of around 28 minutes. I had the perfect amount of time to jog to the car and grab my phone, so I could snap some pics of Murph crossing the line a few moments later:
As we crossed the line, we got these really neat laser engraved wood medals. We're both doing the third race in this series in mid-December (hopefully with our friend Erin as well), so I'm excited to add to the collection!
In speaking with the lady who finished in front of me on the course, I could tell she was a bit older than I was (I have no shame about this - she was crazy fit), so I figured I might have a shot at an age group placement. What I didn't realize was that the Top 3 finishers of a race are sometimes taken out of the age group medal contention, so more people can earn awards. So, when the television showing results switched to the 25-34 year old age group, imagine my shock to see this:
In case you can't read it, that's my name in FIRST PLACE! HOLY SHAT! Also, that's Murph in FIFTH PLACE! KICK BUTT! Although we don't always bother to stay for awards ceremonies (since they don't normally involve us), this is one we couldn't miss. Here I am with my major award:
* A side note - the NASCAR race was held at PIR last weekend, and we benefited from having an ample selection of Porta Johns from which to choose at the race's start line. The vast majority of them were a little on the...funky...side. Eesh.
** By the way, this isn't hyperbole. I fall down on trails ALL THE TIME. Chris has even considered banning me from trail running, but I just love it so much. In fact, this race freaked me out a bit since my only trail DNF (Did Not Finish) was on this course in October 2012 (a different race series). I wrecked myself around mile 6 of a race and had to be carted out in a pickup truck at the end. Fun times.
It was held out on the southwest side of town at Estrella Mountain, which also houses Phoenix International Raceway.* Here's Murph and I fighting not to fall back asleep before the gun went off:
Murph has some sweet instagramming skills, as you can well see.
The field for the race was on the small side - maybe 50 people - but that's not unusual for a first run in a new series, especially on the trails. Even the bigger trail runs have 200-300 people max, and that's generally for a multitude of events. The weather was fantastic this morning as well - around 60 degrees and overcast, with the sun peeking through the clouds just enough to keep you warm but not enough to get too toasty. Just perfect!
We both ran hard, but I was really surprised to see myself fall into 5th place at around the 1.5 mile mark. As I passed the person who finished 6th, I gradually lost the sound of her footfalls, and all was quiet behind me. This sparked an extremely odd feeling for me, which was that 5th place was apparently mine to lose. I tried not to totally freak out and just stay focused, knowing that one step in the wrong place could cause me to wipe out and end all hopes of this amazing finish.**
Thankfully, I kept it together and crossed in 5th place, in a time of around 28 minutes. I had the perfect amount of time to jog to the car and grab my phone, so I could snap some pics of Murph crossing the line a few moments later:
I swear the arch says "Finish" on the other side.
As we crossed the line, we got these really neat laser engraved wood medals. We're both doing the third race in this series in mid-December (hopefully with our friend Erin as well), so I'm excited to add to the collection!
In speaking with the lady who finished in front of me on the course, I could tell she was a bit older than I was (I have no shame about this - she was crazy fit), so I figured I might have a shot at an age group placement. What I didn't realize was that the Top 3 finishers of a race are sometimes taken out of the age group medal contention, so more people can earn awards. So, when the television showing results switched to the 25-34 year old age group, imagine my shock to see this:
In case you can't read it, that's my name in FIRST PLACE! HOLY SHAT! Also, that's Murph in FIFTH PLACE! KICK BUTT! Although we don't always bother to stay for awards ceremonies (since they don't normally involve us), this is one we couldn't miss. Here I am with my major award:
We're number one!
Overall, we both had an amazing time and are looking forward to running the Sassy White Tanks race with this group in about a month.
Later!
Amy
* A side note - the NASCAR race was held at PIR last weekend, and we benefited from having an ample selection of Porta Johns from which to choose at the race's start line. The vast majority of them were a little on the...funky...side. Eesh.
** By the way, this isn't hyperbole. I fall down on trails ALL THE TIME. Chris has even considered banning me from trail running, but I just love it so much. In fact, this race freaked me out a bit since my only trail DNF (Did Not Finish) was on this course in October 2012 (a different race series). I wrecked myself around mile 6 of a race and had to be carted out in a pickup truck at the end. Fun times.
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