2015 SoCal Spartan Sprint Race Recap | Team Grinderglam

Oh the infamous Spartan Sprint! I was having a hard time about blogging about this race with Jason’s major injury and all. If you missed it, you can read all about how he fractured his ankle HERE. So, after thinking about it for awhile, I decided I really wanted to introduce to you the team we raced with, Team GrinderGlam!

After completing the Spartan Beast the day before, I was ready to finally get my 2014 Trifecta with this race. I was pretty beat on Saturday, but after a good night’s sleep, I woke up feeling way better than I expected, except for the pain I was having in my left knee. It hurt when I put pressure down just walking around in the hotel room, so on our way to the race site, we stopped at Walgreens and I picked up a knee brace. There was no way I wasn’t going to finish this race!

Right before our wave’s start time, we met up with my pal Chelsie and I finally met a few other Instagram “friends” in person. So, here’s a bit of the back story on how my digital and real worlds finally collided! January of 2014 while on Instagram, I stumbled upon a daily prompt photo-a-day challenge with a fitness theme! I thought it sounded fun, so I played along a bit and started interacting and following a few other like-minded women on IG who were also doing the daily challenges. A little less than a year later, one of these ladies, Chelsie, was coming to Vegas to run the Rock N Roll Half Marathon and we met up! It was pretty cool to meet in person and I was super excited when she said she’d also be traveling to Temecula for the SoCal Beast and Sprint in January. As it turns out, Leti, who started the Grinderglam Challenges on Instagram (if you don’t do so already, you gotta go follow her!) got really into running Spartan races recetnly and TeamGrinderGlam was born! Jason and I didn’t have a team for the Sprint anymore, so we joined their team last minute and I was so excited to finally meet Leticia and others from the group!

Once the race got started, Jason and I stuck together and ran alongside others from the team. We’d run ahead of them or they’d run ahead of us, we’d meet at obstacles, help each other out if need be and keep going. I was running a bit slower than normal, due to my knee, especially going up and down those hills! Towards the end of the race I noticed Leti and her boyfriend, Jorge, had held back and were waiting for the team, helping and encouraging everyone (myself inlcuded)along the way to the finish line. Here’s where it gets bittersweet because we all know how this race ends. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t expected, but it’s what happened. Sadly, our Spartan Sprint celebration ended abruptly at the finish line and then the medic tent, but we did finish. Jason crossed that finish line. He dragged his foot over the fire, got his medal, and then called for the medic. That right there, people, that’s what it’s about.

But, yea, we didn’t celebrate with the team or drink our beers. I’ll admit, I wanted that. I wanted to be a part of that party. I wanted to celebrate my trifecta, but instead I was at Wal-Mart buying crutches and checking out the updates on Instagram. It is what it is and I’m ok with it. I’m happy we finished. I’m happy Jason is ok. And of course, I’m happy I got to race with such a supportive and inspiring group of women and a few guys too 😉

I’m excited I’ll be racing alongside Team Grinderglam again for the Spartan Super in Vegas. This time, I’ll have my team shirt and I’ll get to have my beer at the end!

Be sure to join the fun with #grinderglam challenges on Instagram! And of course, join Team GrinderGlam at a Spartan Race near you!!

How to Stay Motivated Through Life’s Challenges

You guys, having a hubby with a broken ankle, on crutches, and not able to do a whole lot is tough business (you can read about his accident: HERE) Being honest here, I’m exhausted. I’m taking care of all sorts of things these days. I’m kind of an introvert, so going out to run errands and get groceries has become his thing. I know, I’m a lucky girl to have him take care of all that for us. Anyhow, it’s been challenging these couple of weeks tackling it all alone. I’m not complaining, just keeping it real. It does make me realize how good I’ve had it with a hubby who helps so much, but boy do I miss it now! So, what’s the point here? The point is, I have a million things to do and my workouts and training runs were starting to suffer. I was not working out regularly and I kept my runs short. But the other day I had a good 3 mile run and felt amazing. I was able to tackle the rest of my day with more energy and I just felt in better spirits. I’m sure my family noticed too. Cranky mom was gone! Hello, fun mom! After that run, I have made it a priority to go back to my regular workout schedule and improvise when I have to, but really make an effort to not miss it. While things have been sort of crazy in my life, here are a few things that have kept me motivated through it all:

1. Plan ahead. It really helps to plan your day. I’ve been using Jenny Collier‘s free printable planner. You can check it out HERE! I specifically use the Daily To-Do list and weekly meal planner. I try to get up a little earlier and with my coffee in hand, I work on my to-do list. I put it all down, from dropping off the kids at school to doing laundry. And of course, I put my workout time in there too.

2. Be flexible. Once you have your day planned out just right, things sometimes don’t go as planned. I’ve learned that remaining flexible to what life throws your way is key. So, you slept through your 5am alarm and weren’t able to get your early run in, can you make/find time to do it later? Your appointment is running late and your going to miss your Body Pump class. Can you adjust your day and make it to a later class? Hey if all else fails, you can do a quick workout at home and get your sweat on anyhow! Maybe include the kids too! You’ll feel so much better knowing that you still got that workout in even if you could have easily called it an “unscheduled rest day”.

3. Be realistic. As much as I’d want to, I know I can’t do it all. By the end of the day, some things just aren’t going to get done and I’d much rather it be folding laundry than my workout! Seriously though, sometimes a good run is way more beneficial to everyone in the family than whether the book shelf got dusted. Just sayin’ 😉

4. Don’t forget your goals. Think about why you started working out. Was it to lose weight? Get healthy? Are you training for a marathon or your first Spartan Race? Whatever the goal is, keep it in mind. Don’t give up on your goals just because life gets hard.

Do you have any tips to share on keeping motivated when life gets complicated? I’d love to hear them!

2015 SoCal Spartan Beast Recap

I absolutely love the Spartan Festival areas. There's always something fun going on and just have a nice community feel to them! — I absolutely love the Spartan Festival areas. There’s always something fun going on and just have a nice community feel to them!

I cannot begin to explain how excited I was to get back to Temecula, CA and run the Spartan Beast again! I ran it in Sept with my friend, NinjaEve, but due to the shortened course, we got to come back and race it again in Jan! This time, my hubby was running it with me and I knew it would be epic. We left Friday afternoon and after dinner near our hotel, we found a Target and picked up a few supplies before the race on Saturday. Our start time was the 10:30am wave, so we were up early and made it to the race with plenty of time to spare. It was super awesome getting to watch the 1st place elites finish the race and I even got to see my OCR crush Isaiah Vidal…shhh don’t tell Jason 😉 J/K he knows! He told me to go take a picture with him, but I just couldn’t!!!!

Anyhow, I’m not a big fan of play-by-play posts, I think it gets boring to read. I’d much rather you give you the highlights. First, let’s just get it over with, here are the obstacles I missed: spear throw (So close! The spear hit the hay, but bounced off) a crazy new obstacle that reminded me of something out of American Ninja Warrior. I think it was called Multi-Rig. It had monkey bars, a long medal rod to shimmy across, and ropes to swing from. Honestly, I didn’t even try it. I just did my burpees and moved on. I also didn’t try the rope climb or final tarzan swing obstacle. So, that’s a total of 120 burpees! Yup, I’m still working on my upper body strength and well, I’m not too fond of heights, but if you follow this blog you know this already (remember: Tough Mudder), so that’s the main reason for not even trying the rope climb or tarzan swing. I’m a chicken and I’m ok with that.

As for the rest of the race. It really was epic. Like the Beast in September, those almost 13 miles of hills were brutal. Half the course was uphill and the other half was downhill. Lots of the new obstacles were climbing. High vertical climbs. They were scary, but I got through them and felt good about conquering my fears! I did not like the slip and slide at all! I ended up sliding way too fast, flipped over mid-way and ended up scratching up my belly pretty good. Kinda bummed about it because I really thought it would be a fun obstacle. My 9 year old son said next time, to put my feet up against the “slide” to slow myself down and I’ll definitely be trying that trick next time. Thanks, son 😉 I was super proud that I passed the memory obstacle. At some point around miles 8-9 or so (I don’t remember exactly! LOL)we came up to this big sign right before the sled pull obstacle. Based on the first 2 numbers on our bib, we had to memorize a sequence that began with a word followed by numbers. At a later point in the race, we would be asked to recite it and of course, if we failed, it meant burpees! I was terrified of this. My memory is not the greatest, but I did my best to chant the numbers over and over in my head for the next few miles and I did it! No burpees for me. YAY!! Don’t ask me to recite it now, though. I’m sitting here trying to remember but all I can recall is OSCAR…867…and some other numbers….Like I said, my memory is wonky! My favorite obstacles are the pure grit ones. Hercules Hoist, Tire Flips, Atlas Rock, and the sled pulls. They make me feel strong and I don’t need help with those. Cuz, I need a boost getting over some of those walls, people! I’m short!

The best feeling ever during the Beast (Besides finishing) was helping a lady with her atlas rock after I did mine. She was so grateful for the help and I was so excited that I was able to give back on the course. Especially, since I’m the one who usually needs the help! LOL I remember during my first Spartan, the Super in Vegas last year, I couldn’t lift the atlas rock from the ground and a girl came over and helped me lift it up and I managed to walk it across on my own. I was so grateful to her and everyone else who helped me out there! At each and every race there is never a lack of support!

It took us 5 hours and 27 minutes to finish. Yea, it really did feel like forever and I was so ready to be finished. I was beyond tired at the end. Tired in the best way possible, of course! We managed to get a few pics after the race, but it was getting cold and we were starving! Dinner was an In-N-Out Double Double! Oh yea!! I dream of Double Doubles during the Spartan race. During most of my races, if I ‘m being honest.

We donated our shoes! They ran some good races, but it was time to retire them.

After our “fancy” diner, we went back to our hotel room, showered, rolled and stretched, and then we just vegged! It was glorious. I put on my comfy socks from the Spartan Survival Kit my fabulous sister put together for me. I sipped on some Sophia sparkling wine and York Peppermint Patty (also from the kit) and watched Terminator Salvation. Quick fact about me: I’m a sucker for the Terminator movies.

Next up, I’ll be doing the recap of Sunday’s Spartan Sprint so come back soon! Now, how many of you have done a Spartan Race or want to? I’d love to hear your thoughts & experiences on Obstacle Course Races! Don’t be shy 😉

Update: Spartan Races + Injury

I’ve been MIA again for a little over a week. This was not my intention at all. I planned on getting back from the Spartan Beast & Sprint giddy with excitement and ready to share the experience here on the blog. But, sometimes life doesn’t go as planned.

First, the good news:

1. The SoCal Spartan Beast was an amazing experience again. I’m glad Jason and I finished strong, albeit exhausted!

2. We both finished the Spartan Sprint and because the event had been rescheduled from September, we got both the 2014 and the 2015 medals. Woohoo, I finally got my Spartan Trifecta for 2014!

And now, the bad news:

Jason hurt himself on the last obstacle. It was a Tarzan swing type thing, where you had to swing from one end to the other without touching the water trench that was in the middle. Sadly, Jason’s foot hit the edge of the trench and fell into the water. He knew he was hurt pretty badly and got help getting out of the water. Meanwhile, I was on the side doing my burpee penalty. I didn’t even attempt that obstacle! I saw him limping towards the finish line, but assumed it was a leg cramp. Once I crossed the finish line, I saw that he was hurt and he immediately called for medic. That is of course, once that finisher medal was around his neck! True Spartan. At the medic tent I could see his ankle was super swollen and after they bandaged his ankle and put ice on it, we got a ride to our car and were told to go to the hospital. I had about 5 minutes to run to bag check for our stuff, grab our finisher tshirts, and on Jason’s insistence, I purchased the Trifecta holder I was waiting to buy after the race. Once I got back to the medic tent, Jason was already in the van that was taking us and a few other injured Spartans back to our cars.

We knew getting him to the hotel room would be difficult, so we stopped at Wal-Mart and I bought him some crutches. Thank goodness for elevators! We made it to our room and decided to not rush home, but rather keep the foot iced, elevated, and give him ibuprofen. Throughout the entire ordeal Jason remained calm and said he wasn’t in much pain. The next morning, we checked out and arrived to Vegas a little before noon. We went straight to the urgent care and after getting his xray, it was confirmed his ankle was fractured and we got a referral to see a podiatrist the next morning. At the appointment, we learned his injury and fracture was pretty bad and had to have surgery. Surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning. I’m relieved to say that surgery went well and he’s healing now. We’re doing everything we can to keep him comfortable, but of course he isn’t able to move much and he needs to keep his leg elevated, so he isn’t always feeling great. But, the doctor is sure he’ll make a speedy recovery! Not sure he’ll be doing another Spartan race anytime soon, but we’ll see 😉

Big thanks to all our family and friends for the visits, phone calls, texts, and messages on facebook and instagram! We appreciate it so much.

So, that’s where I’ve been since Sunday, playing nurse and taking care of the Mr. I’ll be blogging the race recaps later this week, though. Hoping to be getting back to some sort of routine here soon. Not just with blogging, but with work, home life, and nutrition and workouts!

Highlights From My 14 in 2014 Race Challenge

Last year I accepted the challenge of running 14 races in 2014 and I’ve been chronicling each race here on the blog. Feel free to go back and check them all out, HERE! I’ve gotta say, I’m really proud for achieving this goal, but I’m kinda glad it’s over. I really enjoy running races, but ensuring I had 14 throughout the year was tough at times. I was literally scheduling my life around races, not that I minded that too much (wink wink)! We got to travel a bit for races too, which I loved, except when Jason forgot to pack our bag with my race sneakers for the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon. Yea, that wasn’t too fun. Thankfully, it all worked and I ran the race in new shoes thank to my sister! We also traveled to Temecula, CA for what should have been my Spartan Trifecta weekend. I’d ran the Spartan Super in April here in Vegas and was all set to run the Spartan Beast & Sprint SoCal but the weather had other plans. There was a major heat wave and although I did finish the Beast with my girl, NinjaEve, the Sprint was canceled the following day. I really enjoyed running the Spartan Beast, even though it was a pretty brutal course, and I’m looking forward to going back and trying for my trifecta again next weekend! AROO!!!!

A few other favorite races were the Bubble Run 5K because I got to run it with my 5 year old daughter and that was just a blast! I also had fun running the Komen Race for the Cure 5K with my sister. Of course, I can’t forget Tough Mudder and facing my fear of heights. Different than Spartan in so many ways, Tough Mudder has a way of changing me for the better each time I run it. I can’t wait to see what Tough Mudder X3 has in store for me in 2015.

Running 14 races in 2014 ranging from fun 5Ks to a half marathon and physically grueling OCRs, taught me that I am capable of so much more I give myself credit for. We are all capable of so much more. Our bodies are strong and can get us through anything, it’s our minds we have to convince otherwise. I see that now. But, most importantly, this year has shown me how much support I have from my family and friends. I could not ask for better people in my life and I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve it. I just know I couldn’t get along without them. I couldn’t get along without friends willing to french braid my hair at 10pm so I don’t have frizzy hair for a race, for a sister who is willing to drive over 3 hours to watch the kiddos while we run a half marathon, for friends & parents who don’t complain when I ask them to watch my kiddos so I can run and train for races, for racing OCR peeps who run & encourage me even though I’m slower than they are! Thank you!

Yes, 2014 has shown me so much love and support. It’s made me appreciate those in my life so much and I hope to always be there for them like they are for me. I’m ready to take on 2015 running some fun and challenging races. I know I won’t ever be alone. This journey is not mine alone, it’s a journey I started for myself, but has become so much more than that. It is about finding inspiration where there was none before, it’s about motivating not just myself but those I love. No, I won’t be running 15 in 2015, but every race I run this year I will run with purpose. I will give it my best because it’s the least I can do for everyone who is helping me get to where I am going. Where that is exactly, I’m not sure, but wherever this journey takes me has got to be way better than where I was before. It’s already been a fun ride so far!

Where will 2015 take you?

Race 14 of 2014 | Changing of the Year 5K

I am such a procrastinator! I seriously waited until the last day of 2014 to complete my 14th race. Not only that, I didn’t even register for the race until the day before. Honestly, I’m not usually this bad at procrastinating. With the Spartan Sprint being postponed in Temecula in September, it throw off my schedule. My last race should have been Trails of Glory. So, I was stuck trying to figure out how and when to add a race to an already very busy end of the year schedule. I was going to settle for doing a virtual 5K, but I honestly don’t love “virtuals” so I held off. Finally, it was down to the wire and I had to find something. Like I said, Dec. 30th I finally signed up for the Changing of the Year 5K put on by Jus Running. It’s held at the historic Floyd Lamb Park in Las Vegas. It’s a nice park with lakes and pathways, so it made for a pretty location for sure.

I am not a cold weather runner. I live in Vegas and we have pretty mild winters, plus if it’s cold I run inside or change up my workout! I’m a bit of a chicken when it comes to the cold. So, I was pretty nervous about the weather for the race, since all week the forecast was for snow! Brrrrrrrr!! I ended up purchasing a pair of fleece lined leggings and a beanie to cover my ears. The rest of the stuff I already had and layered!

On race day, we did have some flurries in the morning by my house, but the temps rose to upper 30s and the wind calmed down by the time the race started at 4pm too! My family came with me to the race, they too were bundled up. I did feel kinda bad for them because I knew that once I got running, I’d warm up, but they were just going to be waiting for me at the finish line. They didn’t even complain about the cold. I love them so much for always supporting me. My children and husband are just too good to me! I also met a few runners before the race from my facebook running group, so that was super nice! It’s always great to actually meet people you interact with only on social media.

Here I am with Emily, from Our Knight Life blog and my little Elysse!

I am not a huge fan of 5Ks because it usually takes me about 2 miles to warm up and find my running groove. I’ve only ever done a few fun 5Ks with friends like the Color Run, Bubble Run, and some trail 5Ks. My time for the trail races was not so good and of course, we weren’t running for time on the fun ones! So, when the race started I wasn’t going for any PR, I just wanted to give it my best, push myself to take off faster than my usual pace, and see what happened. I forgot to take a whiz of my inhaler before the race started, so 3 minutes in or so, I pulled off to the side to take my puffs and move on. A little after mile 1, I saw the first person heading back to the finish and that’s when I realized how much I don’t like out & back courses. I can see all the faster runners coming back and it’s a little disheartening. It killed my spirit during the Wild Land Fire Awareness Trail 5K and I was starting to get that same feeling during this race, but I didn’t let it creep in. This was my race, not anyone else’s and I shook it off. I made it to the turn around and started to lose steam. The gap was getting wider between me and the small group I was behind. I’d also been having some calf pain all week and it was acting up. I slowed down a bit and even took a 10 second walking break before I took off running again. I knew I was close to the finish line and I really wanted to push myself to run faster. I saw my son at the sidelines and he started running alongside me. That was the best thing ever! And when I looked up a the timer and saw it was at 29 minutes, well that was just gravy! I ended with an official time of 00:29:24 with a pace of 09:28. I was 6th in my age group, 14th female, and 28th overall. Woohoo!! Not only did I finally get a sub 30, but my family was there with me cheering me on and supporting me. It’s such a great feeling to have your kiddos say they’re proud of you! I was so happy with how I ended my year of 14 races in 2014!

2015 The Year for Finding Balance

I’ve been on this “fitness journey” for almost 3 years now. Like all these stories go, I was tired of being overweight and sluggish. I’m not saying my life was terrible and depressing, far from it! I was enjoying life, with maybe a little too much indulgence 😉 One day it just clicked. I needed to do something about my weight. So, in February of 2012, I joined a gym. One of the scariest things I’ve ever done is walk into a Body Pump class alone. But, as embarrassed and unprepared as I was, I kept going. I also started running and the weight started to come off. Slowly. Since Feb. 2012 and into the first part of 2013, it was all about the weight loss. It took 15 months or so, but I lost 30 + lbs. and I was feeling great! I was sure I would meet my goal to lose 50 lbs by the end of 2013. Well, it didn’t happen. I ran my 1st Tough Mudder in April of 2013 and I became hooked on obstacle course racing and running. I ran 6 races in 2013 and I couldn’t get enough! I blogged about 2013 being the year of the races. Never in a million years would I have said that crawling through mud and barbed wire, climbing over 6 ft walls, and running 13.1 miles would be my idea of fun. My friends didn’t recognize me. I was a changed person. Changed for the better. I was training hard and eating good, maybe too good! Hence, I didn’t lose the weight. I gained some, actually. My trainer says it’s muscle, I’m pretending I believe her 😉

Well, here came 2014 and I stumbled on a challenge to run 14 races in 2014. I was so on that. I’m running my 14th race today, but more on that later. All of this year I’ve been focused even more on running and training and getting stronger. I ran another half marathon, I did 2 Spartan races, 1 Tough Mudder, some trail races, and fun 5Ks. It’s been a very active year, but again, my weight has not changed. I’ll admit, it’s even gone up. I’m not happy about that. Sure, I feel stronger, but a part of me still knows that I’ve been totally slacking lately when it comes to making good food choices. I’ve let myself become overindulgent again, allowing way more “cheat meals” than necessary. I’ve tried to fool myself into believing that I’m “maintaining” but the truth is, I feel myself going down a path I don’t want to go down again. So, after thinking a lot about my fitness goals for 2015, I’ve decided to call this “The Year of Balance”. I want to focus on eating healthy again. I want this extra weight to come down. I no longer have a magic number that I want to reach on my scale (we broke up) or a must-have pant size. No, I am no longer going to allow myself to be hung up on a number. I know what I want my body to look like and that’s the goal I’m setting. Of course, I’m still going to be running in races and obstacle courses, they keep me focused and give me something to work towards. Plus, it’s fun 🙂 I just won’t be using my races and training as free passes anymore. No more, “It’s OK to eat this or that, I’m running 6 miles tomorrow.” Or “I’m carbing up!” OR “Good thing I work out” as I stuff the doritos in my mouth! Yeah, it’s time to be accountable for my eating habits and my results. It’s time to for balance.

Of course, I’ll be sharing lots more on goals and reaching this balance in the next few posts and throughout the year in my monthly goals blog posts. I will also be sharing my racing schedule for 2015 soon. Now, I’d love to hear about your goals for 2015 and how you intend on reaching them!

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Southern California Getaway

Earlier this month we got invited to our friends, Linda & Sean’s wedding in Orange County, California. My sister & her hubs (the Riveras) were also invited, plus it was a kid-free wedding, can you say “Road Trip!”

We left early Friday afternoon and made it in time for dinner out there. Every time we’re in the area, Jason and I try to make it out to our favorite sushi spot, Orange Roll and Sushi, and knew the Riveras would love it too! It did not disappoint! It was the perfect way to start our weekend!

The wedding was on Saturday (12-13-14) at 4pm, so we got an early start to our day with a workout in the hotel’s gym before making our way to Newport Beach & Huntington Beach. The weather was perfect and we had a great time relaxing and enjoying the California sunshine and taking in the ocean breeze! Before we knew it, it was time to get dolled up for the wedding. I gotta say, as wedding photographers, being guests at a wedding was such a treat. I got to dress up in a fancy dress, wear heals, and makeup! We only took our handy little Fuji x100S point & shoot camera and enjoyed the evening drinking, dancing, and mingling!

Sunday was our last day before heading back home and I had scheduled a photo shoot in Laguna Beach while we were there. I got to photograph a gorgeous couple in such a fun location, while the rest of the crew enjoyed the sights. I caught up to them after my session and we all walked along the beach for a bit together before it was time to say “till next time” to lovely SoCal! Ya’ll know I love my kids, but getting away for a couple of days to recharge, is a must in my book! I am so grateful we got to relax, enjoy uninterrupted adult conversation, and make some fun memories with friends and family.

Taking a Break | Visiting Valley of Fire State Park

On Black Friday, rather than deal with crowds of eager shoppers looking for great deals, we took a little road trip to visit the Valley of Fire State Park. It’s about an hour’s drive north from Las Vegas and well worth the drive to get away for a bit. To our surprise, the park entrance had a super long line and we ended up waiting about 20 minutes to get to the gate. I guess we weren’t the only ones not interested in shopping!

I know I say this all the time, but I really do just love getting outdoors with my family and enjoying our time together unplugged from the world, even if it’s just for an afternoon. We sometimes (read lots of times) are so overwhelmed with being busy, that we forget to slow down. We know we should, but we end up getting wrapped up in our day to day routine. We get lost in the chaos of life. This is why it’s so important to be intentional with our lives and our relationships with others, especially our family. It’s important to carve out time to be together to visualize how you want to spend your time with each other and make it happen. For us, we find that being outside exploring nature, brings us together. There’s less bickering and whining out there. There’s time to breathe and laugh and just be.

What kinds of things do you do when spending some time with the ones you love? I’d love to hear about it and get some ideas for my crazy bunch too! xo

Trails of Glory 12K | Race 13 of 14

This past Saturday Jason and I ran the Trails of Glory race put on by Desert Dash. We also ran their Blood, Sweat, and Beers 10K trail race earlier this year and loved it. Trails of Glory was also a great time! We ran the 12K distance, but there were also 8K, half marathon, 30K, and full marathon distances. Vegas is a small town and it was a local race, so we saw lots of familiar friendly faces and even saw one of our neighbors there! For being a local race, there were lots of folks that came from all over the country and even Canada to run this race.

The race started at 8:30am and it was sunny and warm! We could not have asked for better weather mid-November! The trail was just as advertised, not too technical, no steep inclines, and lots of fun. The trail started with a bit of a decline, which was super nice and got me off to a fast start. Jason took off ahead of me soon after the start. He was never too far ahead, though. At the first mile we ran by the famous “Duck Tree”. Apparently it got it’s name because bikers would have to duck under it and yell “duck” to warn anyone coming behind them. Eventually, people started putting ducks on the joshua tree for decoration and voila, Duck Tree was born. I was having issues with my headphones and had to slow down or stop a few times to fix my music. I seriously need a new phone!!! Anyhow, at some point around mile 3 or so I passed Jason. At that point I started to get a little tired and the trail’s elevation started to go up nice and steadily. I slowed down some till I got to the aide station and then it was fast-going again and I had a strong finish. I looked down at my Garmin I noticed it read 6.90 miles, not quite the 7.45 miles a 12K should be*(more on that later!). I was sort of bummed, but didn’t make a big deal about it. I felt great and was able to take a few pictures of Jason coming through the finish line. He came in about 10 minutes behind me. He wasn’t too happy with his time, but he hadn’t been training for this race and was just happy to get out there and run a good trail. We hung around a bit, took a quick pic with our pal, Lisa (she’s awesome!) grabbed a banana and called it a day!

We live about 12 minutes from that trail, so we stopped by our house to shower and change before picking up the kiddos at my sister’s house. When we got there we were greeted with mimosas! I know, I say it all the time, but my sister really is the best! Of course, we were starving after the race so after picking up the kiddos and enjoying our celebratory mimosas, we went to our usual breakfast spot, Egg Works!!

*So, turns out some jerk (not anyone running the race) was seen removing some of the race flags and signs and most of us running the 12K missed a marker and turned too soon, cutting our race distance by half a mile or so. Why someone would do this, is beyond me!! Grrrrrr…..

I’ve got one more race to run before 2015 to reach my goal! Woohoo!! How are you doing with your fitness goals this year?