Keystone Ancient Forest Trail Trek 10k

Thomas and I love running at Keystone Ancient Forest together. They've been having a race out there for 10 years, but we've never done it. I really wanted to do it the last couple years, but last year it was too soon after the Houston Marathon and the year before I got Covid and wasn't feeling up to it in time. This year I tentatively added it to my training schedule. I really wanted to run a road 10k because I felt like I could run a fast time, but I couldn't find one that would work so I decided a trail 10k it was! I invited Thomas to come run it with me and he decided to do it. I was hoping to be able to run with him, but he's a stronger trail runner than I am so I figured he'd likely beat me. I found out the top overall male and female in each race win money so I was also hoping to compete for that. I figured I'd skip my 6 mile tempo the Wednesday before the race if I felt like I could compete for the win. I checked the participants when I signed up and saw a girl in the 10k who I knew would beat me so I decided to go ahead and run my tempo. It also happened to be 25+ mph wind gusts so after I ran my tempo, I felt like I'd gotten beat up! 

The race didn't start until 9am. I slept until a little after 7, did yoga, and ate some oatmeal before we left for the race. It was really cold Saturday morning (feels like 17 degrees) and felt even colder after running in 60 degree weather all week. I was pretty relaxed since my goal was to have fun with the race. Once we were parked, we didn't have much time so we didn't run a warmup. The line for the women's bathroom was so long, I didn't have time to go before the race. I would have popped a squat in the woods, but I wasn't interested in having bare skin exposed with 17 degree weather. 

The race took off and Thomas went out really fast. There was a girl ahead of him and he was running right with another girl. I was solidly in 3rd female. I didn't want to go out too fast because there's a mile long hill at around 2.5 miles into the race, so I wanted to be a little bit conservative. I was super surprised when my 1st mile was 7:35. I was hoping to average around 8:00 pace and wasn't expecting to be anywhere near that fast! My 2nd mile was 7:30. Then we hit the big hill. I felt like I was running so slow up it and there was such a big gap between the person closest in front of me and me, so I wasn't super motivated to push up the hill. I started thinking that my Strava segment on the hill during the race wasn't even going to be my fastest Strava segment on the hill. After the race, I saw it was a course record and I had run it way faster than I ever had when out running the course in training. That mile was 8:42. My goal after that was to keep all my miles close to 8:00 so I would have an 8:00 average. 

Once I made it to the top of the hill and out into the field-like area I could see there were 2 guys ahead of me who I had caught quite a bit on the hill. One of them even walked a little at the top of the hill. I was so excited I had 3 miles left to catch them and that helped me drop the hammer again. I went through mile 4 in 8:06. When we got to the point on the course where the 15k went to the right and the 10k was to the left, the 2 guys ahead of me turned off for the 15k which was disappointing. Thomas and 2 other people he was running with were the closest to me and they had a very sizable lead on me. Mile 5 was 7:27 and mile 6 was 7:23. I was excited that was my fastest mile of the race! We did an out and back with a little lollipop section that was also part of the 5k course so I was having to yell out to 5k walkers and run/walkers so I could get through. It slowed me down a bit getting around all the 5kers. Then we turned onto a paved section for the last portion of the race which was mostly downhill with a bunch of tight turns with switchbacks. My left hip was sore the next day from all the turns! My goal was to finish the race in under 50 minutes and I looked down toward the end of the race and saw I was at 6.3 miles and still had a ways to go. I knew the race was going to be long. I finished in 50:36 which was very close to sub-50 even with an extra 0.3 miles I wasn't expecting. The course read 6.5 miles on my watch. Others had it as long as 6.7. I ran the last 0.5 in 7:44 pace.

We waited around after the race for awards and it was so cold! Thankfully they had a fire pit so we could stay warm. They also had coffee and Chick fil A chicken biscuits. I was 3rd overall female, but the only overall awards were for 1st place. I won my age group and joked that I was the first woman who finished because the girls who finished ahead of me were in their teens. Thomas was 2nd in his age group. He was 7th overall in 49:42 and I was 8th overall in 50:36. The race was an absolute blast and the food and drinks after were awesome! I was a little bummed to see I would have easily won the 15k and $150, but I was glad I ran the 10k because it was an absolute blast! I'd definitely like to run this one again.

What I Read: January

I had a lot of time for reading in January with the first half of the first week still falling over winter break. Then in mid-January we had super cold weather and snow come through which turned into lots of time indoors along with 2 distance learning/snow days! I read some incredible books this month and was super excited that I started off the year with some 5 star reads!

Tried to get my snuggled up with a good book socks in the picture because there's a cat on them snuggled up to a book like Mr. Milo here!

A book and snuggles with a dog and 2 cats!

Milo is the best reading snuggle buddy!

Reading along with drinking coffee in the morning on our snow days was my absolute favorite!

Books:

• The Toy King by Adriana Herrera- This book was in the book basket I got in the book basket exchange at book club. All the books were written by Latinx authors. This one was very spicy. I loved the fantasy aspect to it and how he was a toy runner for Santa Claus.

• Dogtown by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko- I read this with the kids. They both LOVED it and I really enjoyed it too. I wouldn't rate it up there with Applegate's other books, but it was very cute.

• Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward- I really liked Sing, Unburied, Sing by Ward so I was excited for this book. I had a hard time getting into it. The premise sounded so interesting and I really wanted to like it, but I struggled to get through it and didn't enjoy it all that much.

• Day by Michael Cunningham- This book was recommended by Ann Patchett when I went to hear her speak. I was really excited about it and was a little misunderstood on the format of the book. I thought the entire book took place on the same day, but the book took place on the same day during 3 different years and each year was a separate section. It had a very melancholic feel to it and made me sad. When my favorite character died, I was so tempted to quit reading. It was interesting that one of the years was set during the Covid pandemic. That's definitely a time we can relate to!

• The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova- I was in the mood for sci fi/fantasy, but didn't want to over do it since I was listening to Iron Flame at the time, so I chose this one since it sounded like a bit of a fantasy. It pulled me in from the get go and I loved it so much. There were aspects of it that reminded me of Encanto which I love and wish the kids wanted to re-watch!

• The Heartstopper Yearbook by Alice Oseman- I didn't plan to read this but Books-a-Million had a 50% off sale and this book was one that was half off. I bought it and it was a short, cute read. I enjoyed seeing the first versions of Nick and Charlie she had drawn.

• A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power- This book was so incredibly well written. I loved the voice she gave to the dolls. I always like books written through multiple generations. This one was interesting and different in that it started with the youngest generation and then went backward in time, ending with the youngest generation again. It made me want to read it again to read each character's section with the background of what came before it as I read.

• The Art of Scandal by Regina Black- This was our book club pick for February. I loved the characters, but the storyline was just kind of slow and boring for me. I didn't like that the main characters didn't get together into the very end of the story.

eBooks:

• The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel- When we listened to Finkel speak about his book The Art Thief, I excitedly went to add this book to my TBR list on Goodreads, only to find it was already there. It was moved up in my mind of books I wanted to read sooner rather than later. It was really interesting and I liked it. I wished there was more information on what life was like for him in his camp, but I'm guessing it was limited due to his lack of interest in talking to anyone.

• Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger- I read over half this book as an ebook and then a different book I had on hold came in so I decided to finish this as an audiobook. The audiobook was read by Schwarzenegger himself which added to the book, but sometimes it was hard to understand him. I usually listen to books on 1.2 speed when I run because when I listen to it slower, my mind wanders. I couldn't listen to his at 1.2 speed because I couldn't understand him!

• Belladonna by Adalyn Grace- I saw Foxglove and the cover was so beautiful, I couldn't help but buy it. I started reading it and realized it was a sequel to another book so I went online and put Belladonna on hold at the library. I really liked it. The premise is so interesting and the mystery part of the story made it hard to put down.

• Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez- This was a short story in The Improbable Meet-Cute series. It was so good. I loved it so much and was just sad it wasn't longer! I definitely didn't want it to be over yet. I would have paid for this, but I got it for free through Amazon.

Audiobooks:

• The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin- This book was so incredibly well written. I was sucked in immediately. She did a great job of showing how difficult it is to navigate the judicial system in our country and how it seems set up to make people fail. I was so excited at the end of the book when I realized she helped ghost write Anthony Ray Hinton's book which I read and loved.

• Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed- I saw this displayed at the library and decided to read it. When I started it, I realized it was a young adult book which I hadn't known. It was really cute and they did a great job of touching on some very difficult issues in a way that was relatable and interesting. I really enjoyed it.

• Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros- I loved the first half of Fourth Wing and got a little bored during the 2nd half so wasn't in a big hurry to read this one, which is the sequel. I ended up absolutely loving this one. I liked it so much more than the first book. It was more of everything I loved about the first book and way less of everything I found annoying.

• The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush- I loved this book so much. I loved hearing the stories of these incredible women. It was frustrating at times how they were treated at the time and what happened to the women who attempted to come before them, but their accomplishments spoke for themselves and I loved learning about it.

• Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver- I'm in a Facebook page for Abby Jimenez fans. Abby herself recommended this book on the page and I was so excited about it. I liked it, but it was also super gross. The main characters were both serial killers who kill other serial killers, think Dexter. They meet and fall in love. There was enough gross stuff in the book to keep me from loving it like an Abby Jimenez book. I will read the next books in the series though.

• A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds- I found this book in a Little Free Library. Later I saw the audiobooks was read by Folds so I decided to listen to it as an audiobook. I'm not a huge Ben Folds fan, but I really enjoyed the book. I especially liked that there were bits and pieces of music in the audiobook. Later when I flipped through the book, I realized it was an autographed book.