We strap ourselves up with our heart rate monitors, garmins, ipods etc and make our way all the way past the finish line to the other end of the parking lot to get our race numbers while everyone is gathered around the start line. Bless the heart of the man giving me my #... here it is 7:22, race about to start NOBODY else in line besides Jen and Nia and he is trying to get his highlighter to work so he can cross my name off… I looked up at the two of them like REALLY?? But since I’m nice I didn’t say anything… Finally we got our numbers and as we were pinning them on we made our way to the port o johns already deciding we were going to have to start the race late but oh well, when someone came up to us and said you guys are the 5 milers (there was 2 races a 10.52 and a 5.2)? I said yeah why (she was frantic and late as well) she said ok good so we still have 10 minutes right? They are starting us later?? I was like um sure ok (do I look like the race director??) but it sounded familiar and I think I remembered reading something to that effect on the website.. SWEET we weren’t going to be late for the start after all!! So after we do our business and the 10 milers start we gather up to the starting line. It was pretty amusing, some people must have been in denial about the impending rain and showed up in shorts and t shirts.. ha I like the cold but you will never get me to stand outside in chilly weather with the threat of ran in shorts and a t shirt or tank top.. NOT going to happen! One guy even squatted all the way down to the ground…he had his arms wrapped around his legs, trying to keep them warm.. I mean the weather has been cool for almost a week.. . you had to know you couldn’t run this in shorts!! Regardless, despite the cool weather, the cloud cover, the threat of rain we were excited and ready to go… Jen said we should stick to a 10-11 minute mile pace… me being the slow runner I am said well ok, because I figured I would be slow going up but I could be fast going down.. and it all averages out to be the same.. right?? Well the gun goes off and we start, nice and easy of course (big mistake) we run down the paved road warming up our legs going about a 11 minute mile pace. Then we turn a corner and there is our first “hill” or rather mini mountain we need to run up… of course since it’s a trail run and they started the other runners first it was single file up regardless of how fast or slow you were, and due to the rush of people starting it was packed.. and we were literally standing around for 2-3 minutes while we waited for everyone to fix the cluster ---- and get merged in single file (there goes our pace) we finally get our turn and of course the slow walkers ended up in front of us.. how the?? Me being the slowest decided that this was even too slow for me so I cut to the side, and cut a bunch of people, I mean there was enough room for at least 3 people go to abreast, so there was room for me to pass and the other runners to come down… we finally get to the top and break away Jen and Nia taking the lead. Both their Garmin’s started chirping (we hit .25 miles yay!) they set the pace since they have the cool piece of technology… they would speed up and I would catch them, I would hold my pace for a minute or two then they would speed up again when they could.. it really was a mess we need to start up front next time!! People were walking which is fine, it’s a run/walk event, but it made it harder for us to get around them on the single file trail, and since it IS the desert you can’t just step off to pass, unless of course you want a leg full of cactus needles. Suddenly after the half mile mark there it was.. the sky opened up and it went from a misty morning to a light rain… I smiled and yelled out (since the gazelles were about 25 feet in front of me) “if it ain’t raining you ain’t training!!!” a nice corny saying adapted from the army, basically meaning shut up and don’t’ even think about stopping what you are doing and or complaining just because its raining… DRIVE ON! Luckily we were approaching the area where we had just climbed up and were getting ready to enter the covering of the woods (yes we have woods in the desert) but of course first we needed to run down that huge (mini) mountain we had just climbed… of course I get the chick in front of me going down the trail the “right” way, aka zig zagging at an angle so the pitch of the trail wasn’t so extreme for the joints… but come on I don’t have time for that AND I’m using this as a way to speed up and catch back up to Jen and Nia, so I said “left” and hoped for the best as I lost control of my legs and let myself fly down to the bottom… of course there was a sharp turn and a water table backed up with people so I had to slow down again while I swiped my water and tried to drink without drowning myself.. oh right before the water table was a camera man as well~ 
Once I turned the corner and got into the woods, I was free from the cover of the rain BUT I found the terrain had suddenly changed. Instead of the normal packed dirt you expect to find on a trail it was lose grainy sand like you would find on a beach… my pace slowed significantly at this point (have you ever tried running in sand??!!) but I trudged on. The trial began to become twisty and I lost sight of Nia and Jen and I was totally choking (on their dust haha). But I felt good and there was still plenty of people behind me and no 5 year olds in sight. The rain continued to lightly fall, and I continued to slog in the sand (yes the sand lasted FOREVER) I passed the mile markers, fairly consistently and of course as I hit each one I said to myself YESS only __ to go!! Then I came to the stairs… yes stairs, a lot of them! And they were steep and they twisted up. I had to walk up these, it seemed dangerous to attempt to run up them considering they were so steep, my legs were tired and it was muddy. At the top was a breathtaking view over the park. I really wished I had brought my camera to snap pics along the way but I didn’t want it to get ruined in the rain so I took a second to “click” take a mental pic and grab a cup of water from the water station and also thanked the tween aged girls standing there in their rain ponchos looking freezing!!! (really the course support was awesome in spite of the rain and cold!! They rocked for being so motivating and helpful even though the weather was crappy for them!) I went on my way eventually coming to a fork in the trail and a older guy stood there in a bright orange rain jacket, he clapped his hands and I said hey thanks for being out here in the rain!! To which he replied “hey if you give me 5 bucks I’ll let you cheat” (jokingly of course) I said ah that’s ok I need to burn the calories! So he said ok then go to your left right up the mountain! Ahh so there I go, up the mountain single file as there were runners on the way down on the other side… and of course the other side had the nice packed dirt while the side I was going up was that sandy beach stuff again! Just as I get going the skies open up even more and the rain starts REALLY coming down! I could hear the moans of the disgruntled runners but it only put a smile on my face… I LOVE the rain!!A short while later I pass Nia and Jen on the way down (choke gag dust!!) but of course seeing them pumped me up ;) it wasn’t too steep of a climb until you got to the last 25-10 feet it was a pretty drastic incline.. there was a volunteer at the stop behind a cone saying “all the way up and AROUND the cone everyone! Around the cone!” I’m guessing he was either on auto pilot at this point or a few people had tried to be sneaky and cut…
My legs breathed a sigh of relief as I headed down I just let them go how they felt they could go and my pace picked up fairly drastically without too much extra effort… of course about halfway down there is this older gentleman RIGHT in my way… running up the easier side of the path while I am trying to go down… of course there is nowhere for me to go except off the trail and into a cactus and I’m NOT about to do that, this is MY side! It’s great that you are older and out here doing it BUT I don’t care I WILL take you out old man!!! I put my arms up to signal to him what are you doing?? In the end I won the game of chicken and he stepped to the side as someone yelled “stay to the LEFT!” and I said what the f&*k! I finally get to the bottom, past the man in the orange coat and make a sharp left and I get another beautiful view of mountains and clouds and rain and I’m faced with another steep decline. I let body take over once again and build up momentum going down.. at this point I could see the finish line to the right, however I could tell there was still a lot between the two of us.. of course we could hear everyone yelling and cheering for the individuals crossing the finish, we hadn’t quite hit the 5 mile marker yet so I said to nobody in particular “well that is misleading!!!” and the woman behind me said I know right!!!
Well luckily after I got down that hill I did see the 5 mile sign… but it was facing the wrong way… man!! So I dive back into the wooded area and continue trekking along. My braids at this point were so waterlogged and heavy they were slapping me in the shoulders hard enough for me to look around and see if someone had snuck up behind me.. nope! My braids became my focus for the rest of the way, as my whole body was beginning to tell me that it had enough running in the sand for today. Each time one of them slapped against my shoulder I dug in a little bit more.. and began to think about our percheron draft horse back home, and how I understand why he never took to well to a halter… having someone slap your shoulders (no matter how lightly and innocently) could be real irritating when you just want to stop hauling ;)
As random the thoughts were they kept me going as I loped around this last bit of the race. At long last I came to the 5 mile sign the right way this time. I was excited, I only had .2 miles left to go, that’s not even one loop on a track! There was a lady in front of me that I had played tag with a few times during the race, for some reason I found her a bit annoying (not for any real rational reason besides maybe she kept passing me??) and I really wanted to pass her but she got her second wind before mine and she opened the gap while I was still convincing my muscles to pick it up. I opened my stride and started to pick up speed, and out from under a tree popped Nia and Jenny yelling for me YAY!!! I focused on that lady and picked up my pace… I was actually afraid I was going to fall over my legs were sooo sore and jellified (it’s a word) from running in all that sand but I tried to just stop thinking… the gap got closer and closer between me and the lady but of course I didn’t quite catch her (I will next time!) and I came in at 1:14. Not quite what my goal was but considering the horrendous terrain I say for me that is pretty good..
Later when I checked the official results on the website my eyes automatically went to the bottom of the list for the age group 25-29 because I am 99 percent of the time dead last for my age group, however this time it took me a second to find my name, this time I was 4th from last in my age group!! I’m moving on up!!! Post race water logged chilled but happy! 
and here is a good one of Jenny and Nia on the trail~ 
I love how you captured the race. Your descriptions are so vivid I felt like I was back there again, you are such an awesome writer. I really enjoyed the race, the rain made it even better. Will miss running with you guys! :(
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