Keystone Ancient Trail Trek 10k

We ran this race for the first time last year and loved it. Thomas and I decided to run it again. It fell on the same day as the Sweetheart Run so it took us a while to decide which one to run. Then Elise got the flu and I was worried I would get sick so I put off signing up. I ended up with an XL shirt because that was all that was left, but it was worth it to wait. There was a chance of bad weather during the week and Mother Nature was nice enough to get it out of the way before race day. It was 48 degrees race morning which was so nice and it was the first time I'd worn shorts for a run in quite a while. The downside was that we'd had snow on Wednesday and then warmer temperatures which led to the snow melting and making the trails a bit of a sloppy mess. I ran trails Friday evening before the race and slid and fell in a really slippery, muddy section. I knew the trails at Keystone Ancient Forest seem to drain pretty well, but there was so much water there would definitely be muddy sections. 

The race started at 9am so I got up a little after 7, did some yoga, ate breakfast, drank coffee, and then we were off. Last year I skipped a warm up because it was 17 degrees and I didn't think there would be much warming up going on outside. This year we didn't get there early enough. I had time to wait in line for the restroom and then head to the race start with about 2 minutes until go time. I looked around at the start and didn't see anyone who looked like they'd be competition other than a girl I ran a bit of a 5k with last summer before pulling away in the last mile. In the back of my mind as the race took off, I knew first place won $100 so if I could pull out the win, I'd make $60 after taking out my race registration fee. There were a couple women ahead of me and I passed them fairly early on. I felt pretty good about my chances at taking home some money. The race starts up a gradual hill that becomes pretty steep less than a quarter mile into the race. Going up the hill, my hips were burning and I was slipping around in the mud a bit. I was a bit concerned it wasn't going to be my day, but I planned to push as much as I could. I had originally hoped to beat last year's time, but with muddy trail conditions, I knew that was out the window.

Thomas pretty early in the race.

I went through the first mile in 8:16 which was 40 seconds slower than my first mile last year. I know the trail conditions made the race slower, but I don't think it was quite that much of a difference. Mile 2 was 7:57. Around in here I passed a guy I had been running around/with for most of the race. When I initially went to pass him, he looked over and asked me what school I went to. I decided to take that as a compliment that I looked young and told him I was a teacher. Most of the 2nd mile I was just waiting for the mile long hill that comes at 2.5 miles. I could hear a female running behind me. I could tell it was a woman based off some noises she made. She made a move to pass me a couple times and then would fall back without me speeding up. I told myself the race wouldn't really start until after we made it up the mile long hill and that's when I needed to start pushing. 

When we hit the bottom of the hill at 2.5 miles 2 females passed me. One was the woman who had started to go around me a couple times and the other was the young girl I'd run the 5k with. They had been running together, keying off me. I told myself to let them go, they may not know it was a mile long hill and I was mentally prepared for it. I didn't want to push up the hill and wound rather work my way up it. About halfway up the hill, the girl stopped and started walking for a bit. I caught her little by little and when we crested the hill I was able to pass her. The other woman had faded a bit on the hill and I was closing the gap on her slowly but surely. I could tell she was getting tired because she kept looking back to see how far back I was. Mile 3 was 9:14 and I knew I was through the worst of the hill. After that section, it becomes less steep and I was able to start dropping the pace again. Mile 4 was 8:49. That section was really muddy and each time I'd go to pass someone, I'd have to run through the most slippery part of the trail. I'd go around to pass and be running the same pace as the other person because the muddy terrain would slow me down. I felt pretty confident with how much I was chipping away at the lead the other woman had on me. Then we hit the portion of the race where the 15k turns to the right and she turned. Suddenly I was back in 1st female position! I was very tempted to let off the gas and coast it in, but told myself to keep pushing so I could get a solid workout it. It was a good thing I did because 2nd place female was only 30 seconds behind me!

Mile 5 was 8:11. Then we made it into the lollipop section where we had to navigate through the 5k racers. That slowed me down and mile 6 was 8:30. The swithbacks at the end of the race are tough for me and always leave me with sore hips. Its the only section of the race that's paved and since it was wet, it was slick. I'd take the sharp turn and start to slide a little bit, so it was hard to get up to speed. I ran that section of the race in 8:48 pace. My finishing time was 55:31 which was almost 5 minutes slower than last year. My watch again read 6.5 miles. I was 4th overall and 1st female. Thomas finished just 1 minute slower than last year with a time of 50:49 which put him 3rd overall and 1st in his age group. We stuck around for awards and I got my $100 bill in an envelope! Ty manned a Girl Scout Cookie Booth that morning so I could run the race so I used some of my winnings to take him out for dinner on Sunday evening. Read about last year's race here.