Burton Creek Trail 10K

Sunday the stars were aligned for Team Library Dork, because for the second week in a row we were able to gather for a race this time up at Lake Tahoe for the Burton Creek Trail 10K put on by Big Blue Adventure, who is putting on 4 races (all on Sundays whoo-hoo!) for a series, and hopefully I'll be able to go to more of them. Well, Dave , Chris and I ran the 10K and Turi ran the half marathon. If my knee wasn't actin' up on me so much this season I would have joined him on the longer distance, but as it was, I enjoyed the 10k train immensely. It was a small gathering for the four distances- 5 and 10k's and half and full marathons, plus there were 5 year age groups, which bode well for TLD. The 10k was 2 loops of the 5k, and the marathon was 2 loops of the 1/2 course. All 4 distances started together right at 9 (and for some reason I was shivering like crazy even though no one else was, so I couldn't WAIT for the start), and started up a steepish climb right off the bat. I ran with Dave for the first couple miles or so before his tummy started giving him problems and he dropped behind. Of course Chris was at the very front, and Turi close to to the front as well. You can see Chris to the right all in black, with long sleeves (thank you for the picture Abby!):

The trail was decently technical with some windy sections, rocks in the path to watch out for and logs and a gap in the dam to jump over. Made for a fun course, and after a downhill and another uphill the course settled into a beautiful canopied section which I truly enjoyed. I could run through the trees all day long! Then the trail headed back downhill again and about a half mile from the start/finish I followed a large group of people down a wrong turn and added about 5 minutes to my first loop back-tracking searching for the correct trail. I wondered how this would affect my placement in my age group. Chris, in the lead, also took this same wrong turn because it wasn't clearly marked, but fortunately he was far enough ahead that he didn't lose his lead spot. The final push to the end of the first lap was all wood chips and rather steep, and I developed a side stitch that I didn't go away until I started climbing into the second lap, quietly as no one noticed I went by. Nothing like a steep hill to slow me down, make me focus on my breathing and stride to make a side stitch go away! I enjoyed the second lap more than the first, despite having to walk a few steps here and there on the hills- the crowd had thinned out and I enjoyed a peaceful run on my own until I caught up to Dave who hadn't taken the wrong turn as I had. We walked a bit and caught up on race details and then I pushed ahead and ran the rest of the way back to the finish (this time not missing the turn!), and I timed myself at about 1:16.40, but they adjusted my time to the shorter course (shorter? Dave measured the course on his Garmin closer to 6.95 miles) at 1:15.30, with Dave only a minute behind me. Chris came in first in 48:19. Nice Chris!

The Big Blue Adventure series is sponsored by Merrell, and how cool is this- they brought demo shoes that they let us try on the trail! Brand new trail shoes! So while we were waiting for Turi to finish his half (in 1:55.25!), I strapped on a new pair of shoes, a half size bigger than what I normally wear because it seems that my shoes are tight on my toes lately. Do your feet keep growing into adulthood? Because I've worn the same size since I started high school. Weird. Anyway, this particular pair were for people who slightly pronate. Turns out, my physical therapist says I do, on my right side. I headed back up the start of the course (by that time everyone had started on their second loop, if they were doing one) and ran a good mile in the Merrells and walked about half way back and ran the rest of the way. (I'm marking this as a 9 mile day, including walking!) I liked them, but they were pretty expensive...

Turi came in just after I ran back in, and then we waited around for awards. Chris placed first as I mentioned, and Dave and I both received 2nd place in our age groups,


and Turi got a 3rd place glass even thought they reported on the results page on the website that he came in second.

I should probably trade him for my 2nd place glass since they're showing a 3rd place for me. I don't care what it says- I just love winning stuff! Here are the 3 10k-ers with our winnings,

and all 4 of us with our glasses, along with our mascot, Hannah:

Chris also scored an awesome waist pack that holds 2 water bottles and lots of pockets for gels and other goodies. Abby drove up with Chris along with Hannah, despite being just about done being pregnant with their second child (thanks Dave for being today's photographer!)- She is such a trooper and gor-geous! :)

One final silly pic of TLD:

Then we headed up to 50 50 in Truckee for lunch, where Hannah would be my booth-pal playing games with me and giving the most awesome little girl hugs! I need a girl-fix every now and then, and she filled that need perfectly. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boys and they are sweet as can be, but it's nice to get girl hugs too. :)

A beautiful day for a race, fantastic course, and of course great friends made for one happy day.