Fall Series #3 - Race Report

Sunday was yet another beautiful day for a race. Especially a PPRR Fall Series, kick-you-in-the-rear race! This race took place at Ute Valley Park and was a little more interesting because

1. It was Halloween so I dressed up
2. It was the day after our annual Halloween Party
3. I hadn't run since my final leg at the Bourbon Chase

I got to bed about 2am after the party and set my alarm for 8am. Uggggh. Fortunately the only beverages I consumed were the H2O kind so I was just a little tired. Race morning was mostly typical - ate my oatmeal, peanut butter and banana and then took my time to get ready. The only difference is that my sister was here and she helped me get into character. I was going as a Punk Rocker. I had my sweet black and orange shirt from Punk Rock Racing, I picked up some tattoo sleeves, rocker pins and some gummi bracelets from Wal-Mart the day before, along with a cheap pair of black sunglasses with an orange-ish tint. We also picked up orange and black hair color. I got dressed and Jess went to work. A little bit of black face paint for the eyebrows and lips and I was ready to Rock-n-Run!

The race: This one is a hard one. Here's the Garmin Data. Ute Valley Park has hilly, rocky and this time sandy trails. Throw in a creek (how do they always manage to find the creek??!?) and some bales of hay and you've got yourself one heck of a cross-country course.

Photo by Anya Z, and yes, that's a banana, a gorilla and Elmo: 

(http://pikespeaksports.us/profile/AnyaZhuravleva)

We started at an elementary school track and did one lap (a smart thing to do to spread out the field before hitting the narrower trails) and then up we went. Up the trails, down the trails and all around. Walked a bit up the steeeeeep stuff. At about mile 4 I was hoping the hills would go away. But the race organizer always seems to find all the hills for us!

The views were phenomenal (when I wasn't staring at the trail as not to trip on rocks and roots). Some sections were so sandy (we've had a dry summer) that I expected to see the ocean at the edge of the trail.

I hung in as best I could, my legs hating the hills but otherwise feeling pretty good.  About 3/4 of the way into the race we get to the creek. It's not very wide, but just wide enough that I got a little muddy. I was heading up a hill after the creek and heard "come on Nicole!" It was Kelly - she caught up to me. So now my goal was to stay with her as much as I could. I did until the end when her open speed just beat mine. We had one last hill to climb at mile 5.5 and it felt like a long one! Then back down to the track and we had some hay bales to hop.

Heres a link to Results and Photos - lots of Photos! I ended up 3rd in my age group and now am in 2nd place for my age group in the series. One more race to go on Nov. 14th.

Jess was at the finish line with my recovery drink (thanks sis!) and I chatted and introduced Jess to a few people hanging around. Tim Bergsten of PikesPeakSports.us got this cool shot.

Jessica and Nicole, the twins...

After the race we headed to REI so Jess could get a Garmin for geocaching and was she cool to pick me up up some bike shoe covers so my feet stay warm in the winter! Then we hit up Sonic for some tater tots and their famous beverages (lemon slush for her, cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper for me) and I dropped her off at my brother's house. Great day!