Weekend Wrap-up - WW Paddling and Trail Running

Playtime started Saturday with a 2.5 hr whitewater paddle in the Dauphin Narrows. Hubby and I were out a little longer than normal and my shoulders, wrists, and lats were paying for it today. Oh...so...tight... Had to stretch a bit this morning to loosen things up. The river level was 3.75 and dropping fast, so we wanted to take advantage of some nice surfing waves. Rick just loves the river, and we paddled from one side to the other 4 times -- attaining, surfing, and generally just enjoying day. Nice.

And today was the Xterra Trail run -- my first 10K and my very first race in age group 50-59. A 21K was being run at the same time for Xterra Trail Run Series Points -- the winner came in at 1:25! Holy hell. He was 8 minutes behind me finishing my first lap! (The 21K folks did two loops of the 10K and a little extra yardage. )




























So how did I do? 4th in age group 50-59 at at time of 1:17. Yes, there were more than 4 women (yippee - I wasn't last!). I knew I wouldn't fare well 'cause a solitary running race with no other sport with it brings out the hard core runners and they were there in force. Rick and I were getting a kick out of some of them warming up. I was wondering why the totally ripped girl (who won of course) was doing push-ups to warm up, of course while EVERYONE was watching her as WE were listening to the pre-race instructions. Back to my run.... I felt FANTASTIC! Even after a 4 month lay-off and only starting to run at a slow-mo pace about 3 weeks ago. Not sure what the heck was going on, but I was passing people going up hill AND downhill. I must have passed about 2 dozen people and was feeling extra good. I figured why not push it if feeling so well -- so I did. The trails are uber-technical. Rocks upon rocks, with switchbacks, bridges, muddy and slick spots, and steep sections. That's where I passed folks -- on the rocks and downhills (in rocks). I got the impression some of the runners were not accustomed to trail runs 'cause they were almost walking through the rocky sections. Odd. There was a bees nest at one section and I had to yell at the people to keep moving as the bees were stinging them. Get the hell away from them rather than stand there and say "ouch! I got stung!" Doh. It was fun being a group to race rather than always bringing up the rear and racing alone. I could get used to this kind of racing! Fun stuff. And kudos to Don Morrison, the former MASS organizer of years ago. He's been doing more and more Xterra stuff and he does a fine job of it. Great race -- I'll be back next year!

And to end the weekend, Rick and I were going to ride mountain bike on the same trails as the run, but they are rocky, and the rocks were slick so we decided to bag that. Instead, we headed to the Lehigh River Gorge and rode rail trail. Don't laugh, I LIKE rail trail -- it's concentrated, steady riding and that's all I wanted after a hard trail run. We ended up riding for about 1.5 hrs -- perfect. Wasn't the weather incredible?