My First Trail Run

Early morning drive outside the city

I've been running "seriously" for about a year now, and can you believe that I've never, EVER, ran on a trail?!  Where we live {a-hem, 3rd world country} there aren't any trails that are considering safe enough, so our runs are always on asphalt.  After hearing about an organized trail run just outside Santo Domingo, we signed up right away.

 

Named the "Endurance" run, it offered 2 distances: 7km and 16km.  We can currently do about 16km since we're training for a half marathon, but we were told that both distances would feel much, much longer, as there would be strenuous hills and lots of mud.  We did the 7km (4.35 miles) and boy was I sure we chose that one!

We ran up and down steep hills and through lots and lots of muck, and we even crossed a river twice!  I saw some people remove their shoes to run across it, but I ran straight through; the water reaching my shins.

Post Race

Running the trail was a bit tedious and stressful, as I felt like I always had to be looking down to avoid an ankle sprain, but at the same time it was exciting and invigorating to run at full speed through a new setting.  The quick changes in scenery prevented the run from ever feeling monotonous; I loved it!

One of my favorite metals so far!

Fiancé and his big sis

Hydrating...

When we crossed the finish line we were handed Miller64 (a race sponsor), so I guzzled that instead of water (probably not the smartest thing to do!).  Besides the beer, we had bananas, coconut ice cream bars, Goldfish, rice, and I decided to give my free hot dog to my new friend, this guy:

Looking at our results online I realized that I made excellent time, finishing in the top third of the racers!  I can't wait to do another one.