Nitro Trail Half Marathon - June 5, 2010

I agreed to do this run with Stacey about a month ago.  I have not run with her since May, 2009.  So long, in fact, that she was under the impression I was a fast runner.  Funny, eh?!  Of course, to her credit, May, 2009 was before two ankle sprains and my arthritis diagnosis. 

She wanted to pick me up since she gets car sick (good idea).  She pulled up right at 6:15 a.m. and out to the car I went with green smoothie in hand.  You know it's going to be a hot day when your (her) sunroof is open at 6:15 in the morning.  Luckily when we got to Pinole, which is right above Richmond, it was covered in fog.

Here we are pre-race:

 

This run was billed as a trail run and in all aspects, I *guess* you could say it was.  It wasn't the kind of trail runs I'm used to doing but with Stacey there, it really didn't matter!  We were there to have fun and that's exactly what we did.  This is mostly what the course looked like:

There was quite a bit of this:

And an over abundance of pavement.  Yes, pavement.  There are reasons I don't run on pavement.  One being my bone-to-bone arthritis in my right knee.  Flat running beats up my knee pretty bad too.  So, imagine what flat pavement does to it.  Not too pleasant.  Luckily, Stacey was nice enough to walk along with me when I needed to, to give my knee a break.  We enjoyed a lot of chatting, and of course we stopped along the way to take pictures.  Yes, we take our races very seriously!!

 

We crossed the finish line in 2:50.  Not *terrible* for a trail half-marathon but not great for one that has that much flat.  I am so happy I ran it with Stacey though.  She definitely made the time go by fast with making me laugh and being such good company.  I'm excited about our future plans together.  For right now though, they're "top secret".  ;)

Ron from Punk Rock Racing was kind enough to wait around for us to finish.  He finished in 2:08 - awesome job, Ron!  He sent me a shirt a couple of months ago but I had not met him until Saturday.  We actually met while I was in the potty line before the race started but I didn't get a picture until after the race.  He brought Stacey a shirt and hat that day so now I believe he has all the women in the bay area outfitted in clothing with his logo on it.  Not bad, Ron!  What a super nice guy he is.  So down to earth, easy going. 

 

This Point Pinole is not a place I will rush back to.  For any reason.  Well, unless Stacey wanted to run it again and wanted my company.  Then I would. 

"MED2010" Accountability:

06/05 - 13.1 mile run, 2 mile walk

06/06 - 3.65 mile walk

06/07 - 3.55 mile walk, Yoga class

Until later.............