Blueberry Ridge 12K Trail Race

A nice cool morning for a race.  The rain had finished and the temperature was 57 degrees.

After picking up my race packet, the children asked if they could race too.  There was a 1 mile fun run scheduled just before my 12K race.  How can you say no to this:

The kids at the starting line:

Mr. T was the first to make it to the finish line.  He sprinted at the end to pass a girl.

Squeaker was with him the entire race.  You can see her in the picture behind the boy in the upper right hand corner.  My husband didn't get a picture of her coming into finish.  He was surprised that she had kept up with brother the entire race.

Lil' Chef coming in.  I was so proud of her.  She really struggles with exercise.  She said that she was getting side stitches.

The kids with their finishing 'awards' (tomato plants).


Hubby took a picture of me getting ready for 12K of hills.  The trail is used for classic skiing in the winter.  The majority of the runners ran the 5K event.

I even saw a barefoot runner.  He was going to run the 12K, but his daughter wanted to run; so he ran with her on the 5K route.  I didn't get a chance to chat with him after the race; hopefully, he'll be at the next trail race.  I've been reading a lot about barefoot running lately.

The event was to raise money for a local charter school.  There was no timing equipment, just a lady with a stopwatch.

The first three miles were all hills.  Up and down, up and down, up and down.  At a few of the hills, there was a sign at the top saying, "Caution, steep descent".  The first time I saw the sign, I was chuckling ... yeah, right.  Well, you could have almost jumped down from the top, the descent was that steep!  I had at least four of those type of hills.  I prayed my knees would hang in there on the way down.

Here is the elevation chart from my garmin:

The stats from my garmin stated that I was on flat ground 17% of the race.

The satellite image of the race:

The trail was beautiful.  I was glad that I didn't bring my ipod.  It was so peaceful to be out there running, looking at the trees, and hearing all the birds.

I had my Virtual Partner set for 11:45 pace.  I would stay close to my goal pace and then lose a bit of ground on the hills.  I was alone for most of the race.  At mile five, I started seeing more runners and passed a few of them which felt good.  For the last two miles, I kept my focus on the lady ahead of me.  I was slowly closing in on her but ran out of miles.

I don't know my 'official' finish time and placement as of yet.  My garmin stats were:

7.33 miles  (12K should be 7.456 mile)

1:26:14

11:46 / mile

938 calories

Almost beat my virtual partner!  =)  I received a lily for finishing.

After the race, we met a wonderful family with six children.  The mom and the older two kids had run the 5K.  They graciously invited us over for lunch at their house.  I hope that we can return the favor after the race in our town.