Horseshoe 50k Random Race Thoughts

The Horseshoe 50k was yesterday, and it was so fun!  As RD Rob Goyen promised, about half the course was underwater, and the other half was a shoe-sucking, slippery mess of mud.  As I passed one runner, I commented on how much fun this was to run through, and she said it would be fun if the course were dry.  I thought, "You're totally missing the point!  That's why this is so fun!  It's an adventure!"

Random thoughts from the five loops of the race:

Loop 1: At the first water on the trail, a few people in front of me were stopping and trying to walk around the water, like they didn't want to get their feet wet.  My reaction:


Loop 2: The second loop seemed more slippery than the first., I think because all of us were churning up the trail.  While trying to go up one particularly slippery hill, I couldn't gain any traction, and just slid right down the way I came, like Goofy in that old skiing cartoon.


Loop 3:  "After this loop, and the next loop, there's only one loop left!"

Barney: Hey Homer, I'm worried about the beer supply.  After this case, and the other case, there's only one case left! [pretending to be the other people in the room] Yeah, yeah! Uh, Barney's right. Yeah, let's drink some more beer. Yeah! Hey, what about some beer? Yeah, Barney's right.

Loop 4: I saw a baby armadillo on the trail!  It was so cute!  I didn't have my phone to take a picture, but it looked like this:


Loop 5: By the final loop, I had devised a system of "cleaning" off the top of my water bottle with the bottom of my chin each time I wanted to drink out of it.  Running through the muddy water (that stank suspiciously of horse poop) resulted in the top of my water bottle continuously getting dirty, and I thought it would be best to try to avoid consuming standing water, even if it didn't really contain horse poop.  No square inch of my clothing or skin was clean, so the bottom of my chin seemed like the best bet.

Conclusion
I really needed this experience -- just having fun out on the trails, ignoring my pace, enjoying the adventure.  My runs lately have been pretty crappy, and I'm waiting for the results of a blood draw to see if it's anemia or what that's leaving me short of breath and lightheaded whenever I stand up, climb the stairs to my apartment, try to run down the block, etc.  I've been thinking maybe I'm just really out of shape, and maybe that's true, too -- I recently took 4 weeks off running to try to heal a knee injury -- but whatever it is, I'm so happy and thankful for a fun experience yesterday, that was challenging because of the terrain, not because I can't run fast.  And I'm so grateful to Rob and Rachel Goyen for putting on such a wonderful, well-planned event.  I can't wait for the next Trail Racing Over Texas event I can attend!

Post-race muddiness