Hiking on Hold but still on the Trails

I have only done about a half dozen hikes this year. I could blame the weather but I have not been away from the trails. I have several big trail runs coming up this month. I have a half marathon and a 50K trail run in a two week period. Also in April and May I have four races on technical terrain each ten plus miles long. I then take a two week break and go into 100K training. I like hiking and if I never started hiking I would not be trail running. I have a great group to run with and I happen to live in an area where I have six great trails within fifteen minutes from home. So here are some pictures of places I am training and people I am training with.Eagle Mountain ParkCedar Ridge PreserveNTTR Group when I am up north of the metroplexDDR when I am in my neighborhoodTrinity Groves with downtown Dallas in the background.The main group of crazies.

The places and the groups make training fun and interesting. I miss my solo hikes but running with a good group of people helps me take my mind off the training. This big guy will be back hiking soon enough.

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Running the Rose 11 Miler

Last September I ran a 25K at Tyler State Park and it ended badly. My legs became useless after three hours and I missed my anticipated finish time by one and a half hours. So I signed up for another race here even though it is shorter. Once again Tyler State Park got the best of me, sort of. I twisted my ankle within the first two miles of the race. I have rolled my ankle many times running the trails. I never had the pain I went through this time. I was limping for the next half mile or so. The pain eventually came and went continuously throughout the next nine miles. I did finish and the win was that I was only three minutes slower than my predicted time. My time of 2:33 was not too bad considering the difficulty of the course and the twisted ankle. I am guessing due to the previous damage that has been done to this particular ankle, the ankle did not swell too much. The foot was bruised and swelled a little. The foot already had so many crazy injuries so seeing swelling is hard. The next two days it was my achilles on that leg was very sore. The race itself was put on by Trail Racing Over Texas and their races are always great. Plus having the support of the Dallas Dirt Runners is always fun. I also had time to conversate with runners from my friends from the south, Waco Striders and north North Texas Trail Runners.

It was a fun race despite the injury. I have some other races I want to run that are put on by T.R.O.T. So returning to Tyler will be put on the back burner for awhile.

Next hike a hiking trip in the San Antonio area.

Rough Creek Trail Run 10K

The Rough Creek Trail Run is held in Glen Rose, TX which is about an hour and a half southwest of the DFW metroplex. I chose this particular race because I wanted a tough but short race before my 25K the next week. I am getting really use to running 10Ks now so this was the perfect distance. The tough part was the infamous Rusty Crown. The Rusty Crown consist of several 40+ degree gradient up and down hills ranging from 300 to 80 feet in length. If the uphill does not wear you out, the downhill will knock you down. I did not make the mistake I made last race but not eating enough. I was properly nutritioned and ready to run. The course had some rain on it from the previous days but held up well and the steepest parts were fine. Prior to the race it was great to see all the familiar faces from the different running clubs. The Waco Striders Running Club had members running the half marathon, North Texas Trail Runners and Dallas Dirt Runners had runners in all of the distances. The Rough Creek Ranch was absolutely beautiful and the morning sky was awesome. The sky was mostly cloudy and there was a heavy fog before the race. By the time the race started, the sky was clear and the fog has burned off. The Rusty Crown was everything I had heard about. It was a tough first climb and the first decent was the worse part of the entire Rusty Crown. The rest of the ups and downs were difficult but the first two were leg killers. On the way up many people had to stop and take breaks and some had to bear crawl up the incline. On the way down several people fell or just slid down on their bottoms. I had a strong run and felt good the entire time. I did not fall or need to use my hands to go up the inclines. My time of 1:27:41 was a good time for me. I took 4th in my age group and finished with four negative splits. I even passed five people in the last mile and a half.  

I had a good time at this race and feel really good about the race next week. Plus this was the race I did not get lost and also directed about a dozen other runners who missed a turn back on course.