Tuffburg 5K Trail Run

Yesterday I raced the Tuffburg 5K Trail Run!  HUB City VELO, our local bike club put on this race. Raland and Matt and the others did a great job with the race.  The course was on the mountain bike trails located just off the Longleaf Trace here in Hattiesburg.  The proceeds from the race go to maintaining these awesome trails!!!  HUB City VELO is the cycling group that I ride with and I wanted to go out and support the bike club's event. 

A couple days before the race my left SI joint locked up and I had some serious sciatic pain all the way down my leg into my calf. This happened to me a couple weeks ago on the same leg and it took 7 days and some self trigger point work to get it to release.  It made my knee feel like I'd torn it up again.  So I was undecided.... but of course being the hard-headed girl that I am decided to go ahead and race.  I figured one of three things would happen:  it would get worse, stay the same or get better.  Sometimes movement will help to unlock the joint and all the up and downs and turns on a trail run might just be the ticket!  And... I was right.  I never noticed the pain during the race (typical) and this morning it is gone!  Hurray!!!

Giant headed running Reindeer!

The race started about 3/4 of a mile from Jackson Station on the Trace by the pipeline.  Lance, JD and I jogged to the start and then Lance and I ran a little of the trails to finish our warm up.  He'd described the course to me - where to go hard, where it was tough and what to expect.  Thank you, Lance! 

The field found it's order quickly on the trails at the start and there wasn't much passing going on.  The course reminded me of the Mayo Lake triathlon course in North Carolina and I thought of my friend Carol as we twisted and turned through the woods.  When we did that race together she told someone to trip me - right after that she fell.  I guess it was bad karma to think about such things because I caught me heel on a root and pretty much face planted.  See that little low spot between 8:20 and 12:30?  That's me on the ground.  I saw my face headed fast toward a tree, felt my knee slam into the ground and had my hands out in front.  Not the advisable way to fall.  In the process of skinning up my leg a little I jammed my right ring finger.  This morning it's nice and purple and swollen.  (Notice my short index finger?  I chopped it off in the hinge of a door when I was three.  Bill calls it The Claw).



Pretty.



When I fell Marissa and Dan's youngest son Jake was right behind me and asked "All you alright?"  I told him yes and to go, go, go!  My hope for the future of the country is restored because after I got up and was running behind him he was calling out "Root" to me to help.  I was really impressed by this young man and his kindness during a race, and of course had to tell his Mom and Dad about what he did.  I know they've got to be proud of their son.  What a cool kid!  This was my high point of the day!

I ended up finishing first overall female and won a $15 Gift Card from RoadID®!!  I've already ordered it!  I got this one in small for my dinky little wrist!

My only dissapointment for the day was at registration when I signed up that morning.  Only Large and X-Large tshirts left.  The same thing happened to me at the LongLeaf Century ride.  I need a small.  I wish they would order more small shirts for us little people. I guess Bill gets another shirt.

Avg HR:     169 Max HR:    182 Time:        27:41 Avg Pace:  8:51 Best Pace: 5:10

Avg Speed:	6.7 mph
Avg Moving Speed:	6.8 mph
Max Speed:	11.6 mph