Figured I’d start posting about the runs that I do on a regular basis, since I put “run” in my user name.
Last weekend was the Seabrook Lucky Trails race, with distances from marathon to 5K. It is a “lighter” version of trail running, as it is about 20% on road and 80% crushed granite “hike and bike” trails.
Seabrook has REALLY leaned into a pelican as their “mascot”. These things were everywhere. I guess a coastal town near the Houston ship channel needs something.
Costumes were pretty tame for this race, but one woman dialed up the St. Patrick’s Day weekend with full on green from her hat, shirt, skirt, and down to her shoes that were actually green with a four leaf clover pattern. That is committed to the theme.
My dad, brother in law, and I did the half marathon. It turned out to be a great morning, with mostly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 50's. My training wasn’t great, and the low (for me) starting temp meant it took about 2 miles to get my legs loose.
Overall a good race, about 15 seconds slower than my PR for a road race, but 30 seconds or so faster than my pace for a real trail race.
One thing about a trail race, even this one, is you have to be ready for nature. I got caught in the face by a thorny vine hanging from a tree right about mile 5. Took some minor scrapes on my face, and had tiny thorns in my hands and face for the rest of the race. Mostly annoying, but surprised the heck out of me. I was so surprised that I kept on going, but luckily it was near a turn around on the trail, so I was able to pull it out of the way for other runners a couple of minutes later. My brother in law didn’t notice it, but my dad was more nimble than I was and avoided it the first time.
I am by no means fast, but I like getting out and doing races because I can be somewhat competitive (in my age group) and it is nice to get the competitive juices flowing. I get a nice rush making the turn, having an uptempo song come through my headphones, and picking out someone in front of me to try and chase down. And registering for the next race on the calendar puts a goal out in front of me to train for and keep in shape.
Side note - my dad is 69 years young, and still does these races. He is usually in the top 3 in any 10k or longer race we do. I continually hope I can be that active at his age.