1st Race of 2014-Dirty Snowflake Prediction Run

So Saturday I was up early to run my FIRST race of 2014. This wasn't just any race it was the first race in a series I absolutely LOVED last year-The Dirty Trail Series. 

Photo credit-Dirty Trail Series

Last year I didn't get to participate in the Dirty Snowflake Prediction Run due to a scheduling conflict. So I was super excited I was able to be a part of the Dirty Snowflake Prediction Run 2014.

The race took place at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, starting and finishing near the LEDGES SHELTER in Boston Township. I ran there last year in the Dirty Dirty 12K. The best way to describe that area is AWESOME! Simply gorgeous scenery EVERYWHERE you look.

Pre-race-It was a good morning, I got up in a reasonable amount of time and wasn't rushing out of the house.The only thing that stunk is I forgot my Silk Soymilk Iced Mocha glass before I left. Thankfully my husband got me some GU Chocolate Outrage packets that had some caffeine in them so I wasn't having a headache not having my morning coffee.

Luckily I had the rest of my race day goodies. I laid everything out the night before to help with that :).Getting out to Peninsula was pretty easy. Traffic was light and I had a stress free drive. This was a pleasant surprise as I was a bit worried about black ice because the weather was being Cleveland crazy! (Going from snow and cold to 40 in the course of a day)

I got out to the course signed in, got my bib and race swag (an awesome fleece blanket). Then it came time to give my prediction...this was something new for me as I had never done a race like this before. I said 53:00 because earlier in the week I was averaging about 12:00 miles.

Then a few minutes later organizers changed the race course. This was an awesome move, much appreciated as coming into the park I could see the paths looked really icy. I tend to be a tad bit clumsy at times so I appreciated them looking out for our safety. 

After that I met up with Katie, the chair of Moms RUN This Town-Cleveland Chapter. I had the pleasure of doing a Stella & Dot fundraiser with her and this group last year and was super excited to hear a number of the ladies were interested in trail running. Then we met up with  some other super cool ladies that are a part of Moms RUN This Town-Cleveland and we headed to the start line.

The course was that of an old school cross country course...I was having flashbacks of doing loops in high school and college. The first part of the course was flat then there was a midsized hill that took the runners up to a path in the woods then you would follow the trail out and repeat it again. 

It was so much fun! It isn't often as an adult you get to basically run and play in the mud and its okay. My feet and legs were wet and muddy and I didn't care.

POST RACE-
 

So I ran this race without my Garmin and without headphones. I called it kicking it old school in honor of my past cross country days. What was very interesting was I ran significantly faster than I was anticipating without all that stuff...my finish time was 42:49! So about 10 minute miles!! HOLLA!  It has been a long time since 10 minute miles for me. 

But that brings up an interesting question, have I been running to my Garmin and not running to run? My husband brought that to my attention when I got home and told him about the race. Hey, he may have a point. Also after doing a little online research I am not alone with this. 
Check out these posts about running Garmin free:
Health on the Run
ChiRunning
Then Heather Said
 
So this week I am going to experiment a little with this and see if  there is some truth to his theory.

Next race-Dirty Love 10K-Feb 9th.