Big Horn Run 2016

June 18th, 2016

Scott and I spent a good part of the spring training for the Big Horn 32 Mile Trail Run.  It was nice once the kids were out of school to be able to run with Scott in the morning.  Sari and Kate are becoming good babysitters.  On Saturdays for our long runs we would just get up pretty early and go, so by the time Ian(and the rest of the kids) woke up we were only gone another hour or two.  Those last couple long runs take 4 hours or so!  The trails in the Rims right by our neighborhood are so nice to train on.  Phipps Park was closed starting in May because of a big rock slide that happened there.  Leah was actually outside when it happened and ran in to tell me "the rocks are falling!"  Sure enough, I looked out the window and there was a huge dust cloud settling.  Phipps didn't open back up until the end of August. 

We didn't make it to the starting line very early.  I had time to use the bathroom and then it was time to run!  I think it would have been better if I had time to stretch before we started.  I injured something behind my left knee.  I don't know if it was a strained tendon or what.  It really hurt to just walk for a couple weeks after.  It still hurts every morning when I get out of bed and the first mile of a run.  It's been three months and still hurts.  Hopefully it will get all the way better.  I finished the race in 9 hours 17 minutes.  I was about a half an hour slower this year than the first time I did it.  Our stop at 14 miles was longer than I would have liked, and the race was actually a mile longer than the first one.  So that accounts for some of the extra time.  Despite my injured knee, I felt pretty good racing.  It was SUPER hot though.  I had a cooling towel that I got wet every chance I could, to drape over my head or neck.  That really helped.  Kirk finished about 5 minutes after me.  Scott finished in 9 hours 53 minutes.  He said he just ran out of gas and couldn't run the last section of the trail.  I think we have decided to save our bodies from this kind of wear and tear and if we ever run this again we probably will stick to the 18 mile run.