Review: Down & Dirty 5 Mile Race 3/23/13

My apologies this is later than I hoped to be writing about this but oh well. I ran my second race of 2013 on March 23rd as a part of the Dirty Trail Race Series.

I was super psyched for this five miler. I had been training much more than I was prior to the Dirty Love trail race back in February. Race day was super cold. I wore my ASICS running tights, my newVibram FiveFingers Women's Lontra's and multiple layers. I typically don't like to over dress for races but it was like running in Antarctica.

Okay so we know I'm a bit dramatic. Typically am super hot all the time and if I say it was cold...it was really cold.

Registration was good. I got my number and cool long sleeved tee shirt without any issues. My husband and I went back to the car to stay warm. About 20 minutes before the race I started warming up and getting use to the cold. Then it was race time! I made my way to the start with the other runners. I was super annoyed we had to wait 5-10 minutes for the reaming people to get out of the park bathrooms.

Don't get me wrong, after three kids my bladder is not what it use to be. But really people...go to the bathroom before you come to the event. Come to the event early and go to the bathroom when there isn't a line!!

Photo credit

The start was AWESOME! I was so thrilled...I could actually see the pack this race rather than like the last one blinking and everyone was miles ahead of me. At this point I have a tendency to speed up and try to run faster and tire myself out too soon. Then I remembered what my husband told me, "just run your race and worry about you."

The first couple of miles were going great. My splits were around 10 minute miles! BOOM! Then came some crazy hills and valleys!! My split time increased drastically however I showed some improvements on hurdling the lower obstacles and letting go on a few of the downhills. I was still a little scared of falling but was able to get go in a few spots instead of totally freezing up and stopping.

I ended up finishing 159 out of 175 in a time of 1:10:10. I was proud of myself. I took 2 minutes per mile off my time from the last race and improved by 10 minutes over all. Not too shabby!

The only thing I didn't like about the finish is that no race staff were working the finish line. I know I was at the back of the pack and wasn't expecting cheerleaders and ticker tape but dang! It was super disrespectful to be having awards while people were trying to finish their race. I would like to hope that the reason this was done was because the race had to be out of the pavilion at a certain time but who knows?

Despite the couple of issues I mentioned I still had fun and plan on participating in other races in this series in 2013. I LOVE TRAIL RUNNING!

On a side note....my hero...the AMAZING Kara Goucher talked about me-Diaper Derby Mama on a podcast by the RAD Another Mother Runner ladies.  Go to iTunes and download the 4/6 pod cast.Its free!

Last but not least...Please check out the Autism Awareness products in my Stella & Dot e-boutique. In April 20% of retail sales from Stella & Dot's Autism Awareness Collection will be donated to the HollyRod Foundation. My goal is to sell 10 products out of this collection to help with very worthy organization. Thanks!