Campion Trail Archives - lifeisarun.net

Wounded Warrior

July 24, 2013 by Life is a Run · 5 Comments

Something crazy has been going on in Texas this summer and more specifically in Dallas as I can’t really speak for the rest of the state. 🙂 It’s called rain.

I was in top 500 or something like that so I also got a hat with my registration and every year they give you a pair of socks in addition to your race shirt.

I woke up race morning and this race really isn’t that far from my house though I was running behind and my fellow NTX Runners who were also running Wounded Warrior had planned a meet up for a pre-race picture. Just a few minutes behind I was making my way over to packet pickup and juust made it under the awning of the building when all of the water from the sky began to pour down. All of it. Luckily, I’d found some of my NTX people so I wasn’t just standing their by myself since Teal wasn’t able to run this race with me due to high school graduation where she works. We got a couple updates from a human being that the race was delayed 15 minutes and then another 15 minutes as there was just a massive crowd gathered together trying to stay dry.

For this race they have two distances, a half and a 10K, and per usual I was sticking with the 10K which started after the half did. It’s too darn hot to be doing a half in June, amiright? Except for this rainy race day. I also began tweeting with some other local runners who were hearing the delay was even longer than what I had heard. Eventually I knew I had 5-10 minutes before my race was to begin so I made my way to the start line in the rain. I’d already made the executive decision that I was not going to even begin to mess with my phone and Runkeeper for this race. The life of my phone was more important than music and having exact info on my race.

It rained for half if not more of my race. They actually had to do a detour on one part of the race that runs on the Campion Trail because it wasn’t just kind of flooded over it was REEEEALLY flooded over. As in if I ran through that I think the water would have been up to my hips, but I’m also short if you have noticed from all the pictures where I stand next to Teal. 🙂

Throughout the race I didn’t really know how I was doing and was just excited every time I passed a mile marker. With less than a mile to go I spotted some friends on the course, Lisa & Lucy (who I still had not meet IRL until that moment). That was nice little boost at the end. And then the race was over. I was drenched and had no clue how I did, but was excited to have my 10K bling! 🙂

I absolutely love this race! It’s for an awesome cause, it’s close to home and I get a medal for running a 10K! I didn’t get to stick around too long after the race as some friends of Brent’s were in town and I need to get to brunch. Priorities, people! But I did get to see quite a few people at the end which was very fun!

Julie and me

Jesse & me – love his shirt!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out later that day that my naked run at Wounded Warrior was only 15 seconds behind my 10K PR! I finished in 54:46 which was 9th in my age group. Not too shabby!

Filed Under: Races, Uncategorized Tagged With: 10k, Campion Trail, Half Marathon, Irving, medal, naked run, NTX Runners, PR, race bling, races, runkeeper, Wounded Warrior

The Texas Half

March 25, 2013 by Life is a Run · 5 Comments

So once upon a time we signed up for the four seasons challenge and we kicked that off by running the Big D Half in April of last year, then slowly completed the Hottest Half in August and then we decided to skip the Tyler Rose Half in October since wedding stuff with Beth was wrapping up and we were busy! Well, that’s only three halfs and that last sentence says FOUR seasons challenge. The last race happened to be just two weeks after completely The Louisiana Marathon.

Which worked out perfectly because we were sad that the Louisiana Marathon meant that we would no longer have a matching number of halfs that we have run. 🙂 Yes, we are nerds like that, but you are reading this so you apparently still like us despite that. Teal being the awesome friend and running buddy that she is still wanted to come and be there for the race.

Since so much time has gone by I don’t have a play by play of this to that mile for you (you’re welcome for that). It was a chilly morning and the race was small enough that I was able to sit in the car with Teal for awhile to keep warm. But when I did make my way to the start line I found a fellow DFW frunner, Caron! We both love getting to see her at races and talk with her!

I had time for a quick potty break and then headed back to the start line to wait for about five minutes. Then we were off and almost immediately ditched my zip up hoodie I had been wearing to stay warm which I found in the same place I ditched it after the race. Yay, small races! The first 3 miles were an out and back so that you hit the 3 mile mark right when you were running by the starting line again. It was fun getting to see the leaders of the race early on and admire them for their speediness! I also hadn’t really run in this area particular area of Irving so I was checking it all out, and trying to decide if I was running too fast or at a pace I could maintain throughout.

Like I said it was a small race so at right around the halfway point I saw Teal! My Runkeeper was at one point ahead on mileage and then got behind. Around here a fellow racer asked me where I was mileage-wise and I think I said around mile 6 and then 30 seconds later there’s the 7 mile marker! 🙂 Ok, it might not have really been a full mile off, but when I saw the 7 that’s what it felt like. Ha

During this race I got to run by my husband’s office building though no one was in there…..it was still fun because it made me think of him. In the last half of the race some of the miles were done on the Campion Trail which is where Teal and I did a couple of training runs while we were getting ourselves ready for Louisiana Marathon. It was here I saw a fellow Private Training Zone member who asked me, “What are you doing?!” “Running a race!” Haha. Always great seeing a familiar face!

The last two things that stand out to me about this race was as I was making my way over the bridge back towards the Irving Convention Center to the finish line the course here had blocked off one lane for runners so that cars had two lanes to themselves. This suburban was heading in the direction towards me and another car pulled up beside the suburban, rolled the window down and yelled “WHY ARE YOU DRIVING SO SLOW?!” Pretty sure I immediately rolled my eyes. Can we all just take a minute to shake our heads at the yeller?

……

Thanks for sharing in that moment with me! I also applaud the slow suburban driver as they were simply being a cautious driver! As I got myself over the bridge and under the highway I saw Teal again! Teeeeeeeal!! She was telling me, Push! And you got this! But I didn’t feel like I had that much give left. Maybe that’s due to my lack of running between Louisiana and this race? Ha, but what I had I left out on the rest of the course. Then there was the finish line! Not only did a bring home a shiny medal from my 16th half marathon, but I also brought home a shiny new PR at 1:55:02! I finished 13th overall in my age group. So crazy that my half marathon PR stood at 1:56:39 since I ran my very first one in December of 2010 then December of 2012 I beat it at Dallas Marathon and come back to beat that in February 2013. Running can be a crazy thing!

Tied at 16th again!

Filed Under: Races, Uncategorized Tagged With: Campion Trail, Half Marathon, halfs, Private Training Zone, races, runkeeper, running, Texas Half

Wounded Warrior 10K

June 11, 2012 by Life is a Run · 8 Comments

This weekend was another solo race weekend….well, kind of! Teal was off at a friend’s wedding in the Dominican Republic and I was still here in Tejas! 🙂 I might have driven to the Wounded Warrior race alone, but managed to see some friends out there! Before I could even get out of my car I saw my friends Ashley & Jason walk by. Somehow I always miss them at races so I jumped out of my car as fast as I could to catch up with them. I’d also planned on meeting up with a few other twitter ladies, but sadly we didn’t all see each other! :-/ We’ll have to work on that again for another race, Caron & Kyra!! But it was SO good to meet Shannon as well as your mom and Cory!

Totally stole this picture from Shannon! 🙂

The half marathon started 15 minutes before the 10k, so we all parted ways. I walked up to see the half marathoners take off and chatted with a mom and her daughter who were also doing the 10K. Loved hearing about how her other daughter was running the half and she had gotten them into doing races. They’d driven up from Katy (Houston area) to participate in the Wounded Warrior race. The mom told me she would probably be the last person finished. I quickly told her I doubted it and with her run walk method she had she would be ahead of others. I was proud of her when I saw her on the back part of my race and there were plenty of people behind her. I quickly gave her a high five and told her good job and to keep it up!

Anyways, back to the start of this race, I had run this same race last year and kind of knew what I was getting into. I just kept thinking let’s get this done and over with before it’s reeeally hot out there. Off we were! Within the first half of a mile I realized they had made the course different this year which was nice because it created less direct sunlight as a lot of it was on the Campion Trail in Irving. I ran without any sort of water on me, but grabbed some at each water stop.

Thanks to my Runkeeper app I knew I was coming up on the 3.1 mark and therefore the turnaround because I might have missed it. I didn’t need to make this a longer race than it was suppose to be like I did Too Hot to Handle last year! Ha, but there was only a small sign that said turn around. Not a human being there to reassure you that you do in fact need to turn around. Turn around here? Or like this is my warning sign that it’s coming up?? A barefoot man in front of me yelled TURN AROUND and I then said this is really the turn around?? But I followed his lead and figured if I needed to I could just admit to all of you I accidentally cut my run short. That is probably my one and only complaint about the race, but I think the Race Director does such a good job with this one that I can let it slide. 🙂

Once I turned around I kind of had a need to vomit feeling hanging around me for the last three miles. I just wanted to be finished with the heat. I drank water, dumped water on myself, took cold towels from the awesome volunteers and kept chugging along. When I got off the Campion Trail I was in the home stretch for the finish line. I kept telling myself to push but not so hard that you do in fact vomit. Well, guess I did push too hard bc in the last .1 of a mile I had to pull over to the side and you know…vomit not once, not twice, but three times. Ha. See I knew my pace had a potential for a new PR, so I was having an inner struggle of get that PR yet don’t kill yourself.

I didn’t get a PR yesterday and I’m completely OK with that. I crossed the finished line running with 2 minutes and some change until the hour mark and I’m proud of that. If you look at my results online I finished 10th in my age group and 170th overall and I’m proud of that! If you look at the ladies who finished 8th and 9th in my age group even if I hadn’t have had to make my little stop before the finish line I wouldn’t have gotten there faster than them and would have still been 10th in my age group.

(source)

Thanks to April who got to see my fun incident right before the finish for checking on me! I got some water, powerade and pop ice in me and was feeling MUCH better! I absolutely love that they provide pop ice at the end of this race! Love it so much I ate three of them!

After that I hung around to see if I might see anyone else that I know plus I knew Ashley was around somewhere with their cute dog, Atlas, since she’s sidelined from running right now. 🙁 Hoping your recovery time heals you up all the way, lady! Overall, it was fun just sitting and watching people finish and the soliders that were out there. Love this race! It is for such a good cause that even though it’s freakin’ hot in Texas in June it still draws a crowd! This was the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon & 10K’s third year and drew in over 3,000 runners and doubled their fundraising this year from last to over $50,000 raised for the Semper Fi fund.

I ran into Jason, Ashley & Atlas again after Jason completed his half. Congrats to you on a new PR and completing a half in that heat! So impressed with everyone that goes out there and runs the half in that toasty weather!

If you are in the Dallas area you should really consider adding this race to your schedule for next year! Like I said it’s for a great cause, but it is also a race that is put on really well!

Do you have a race that you go back to every year that despite everything else the cause gets you signed up again and again?