I know what you guys are going to say about this.
I really should blamed that Coastal Trail Running Club which made this race too attractive , the river crossing part was so tempting that I even changed the distance from 10k to half marathon.
How could I miss that! It's trail running + river crossing we are talking about here.
Even though I just finished a half marathon race last weekend 460 miles away. Haha..
San Lorenzo River, it was located in Harvey West Park, Santa Cruz. It took us 40 mins
to get here, not very far from where I lived. Another good place to visit in the future.
Because of this river-crossing, I was thinking
for days about how was I going to pass the river smoothly without getting my running shoes wet, and getting my feet injured in the water. Initially, I planned to pass the river barefooted. But since I had my Nathan backpack, I should be able to carry a flip-flop.
However, the night before the race day, out of no where, I changed my mind again and decided to bring my Crocs with me by using my running belt.
As you could see in the picture, I had my Nathan running backpack plus the Crocs on my belt. As it turned out, I was over-concerned ! I was the only one who brought extra shoes for the race, kind of sissy ?
Race started.
As soon as the race started, my legs gave me the sign of fatigue right away.
My calf were so tight that I ran only about 4 miles, I felt like I was going to cramp already.
Therefore I kept trying to distract myself and paid my attention to the girls in front of me...
The distraction trick was kind of working, but somehow she started to walk on the first
hill of the route, well, I had to say good-bye to my little helper.
I can hardly catch my breath , but running in the red wood forest was so amazing. It made
you feel like you were in a "Zan" state , forgot all the trouble and just blended yourself into the forest. But, still, my legs was hurting me ....
Finally, the first downhill was ahead of me, I could even smell the river .. within seconds,
I was on a small beach, and ready to crossed the river.
So, I chose a rock to sit on, and started to take off my shoes. Runner 1, 2 jumped into
the water non-stop.
Then, I took out my Crocs and tied my running shoes around my neck. Runner 3, 4
jumped in the water non-stop.
I took out my camera, and started to walked slowly into the river. Runner 5, 6
arrived and walked right behind me. They were still in their running shoes.
After I crossed the river, I took out my towel , wiped my feet clean, and changed
my running shoes back. Runner 5, 6 passed me, and runner 7, 8, 9 just crossed the river.
Anyway, I was finally ready to go, more people were coming ..
Crossed the river.
other river-crossing pics.
The river-crossing part was so..so..cool, thank God I didn't run the 10K, or I would be
too bored to death. The water was deeper than it was described on the website, I was all wet from waist down, include my ipod !! Because the music suddenly stopped when I was half way cross the river. But it felt very good ~~~~
I can't remember when was I last time in the river like this.
I finally made it to the turn around point and was not dare to stop, cause I didn't want to lose the momentum.
My legs were shaking and started to getting heavier as I tried to step forward...
Yi abandoned me after we crossed the river on our way back, somehow he just could climb the uphill
non-stop while I could only try to walk to keep up. However, the big difference from my previous races was, I didn't let anyone pass me this time. Just kept pushing myself, ran if I could, walk while I still could but never stopped and rested. I believed I even passed one guy on my way to finish line !!
Anyway, another great and fun race was collected.
Finally, finished time : 2:31:00
Some great runners were worth mentioned and showed my respect. A group of people who were
in their 50's ran the 50KM race and finished the race in 8:25:20 !!! Wow ~~~~
