I tried something new this past weekend!!! A friend of mine invited me to join their 100 mile relay team for the Habenero 100 put on by Trail Racing Over Texas ( TROT http://www.trailracingovertexas.com ). I do not have much trail running experience so I was very worried about the race for safety and endurance reasons. After the race I am so happy that I went along with our crazy idea!
I arrived Saturday to find out our 5th team member had an accident on the way to the race and could not join. This meant that we would each have to do an extra lap, at 10am this didn’t seem like a big issue. 🙂 After the high noon start I waited for William to get back for my first lap. He came in pretty fast and said it was a tougher course than anticipated. Since I had zero reference on trails and what to expect this kind of sent some fear through me. I took off on my first lap WAY too fast and ran out of water before the aid station and the finish. That was a very bad thing with the heat and humidity and really set me back in hydration and food. Overall I was pleased with a 1:40 loop with conditions. There was LOTS of loose rocks and lots of roots to dodge through the whole trail.
After we each had a lap under our belts our team leader made an excellent suggestion of dropping to the 100k instead of the 100m. We each wanted to do the extra, but after my second lap it was the best decision of the day. I struggled to get any food down after the first lap so when I started the second I was slightly behind still on hydration and nutrition. It was down to the 80s and dark though so I had a whole new set of challenges. I was running a lot smoother and consistent than the first lap, but the slimy frog that jumped on my leg caused me to jump about 3′ in the air. That was the only incident of lap 2 and I finished it in 1:44.50.
Our team leader finished our final lap just before 3am and we collected our medals and called it a good day of running. My 2 laps were enough to convince me I need to invest more of my time and energy into trail running though. My entire body has been sore for the past 2 days and I have muscles with soreness that I haven’t ever felt before. I truly know why trail runners are usually skinny and strong now!