Race Recap: Sheriff's 10k Trail Run

Yesterday I completed my first ever trail race and my second 10k.

Now when I signed up for this race back in January, I knew I was in for challenge. After all, the event description is:

The Sheriff’s 10K Trail Run is a grueling off-pavement trail run along foot paths and fire roads surrounding the Sheriff’s Department Training Center. The 6.2 mile course includes challenging hills with moderate to steep inclines. COME GET SOME!!!

Now what I did not realize when signing up was that the "hills" would be so steep you could not actually run them. No joke, guys, there was one hill so steep people used hands and feet to literally crawl their way to the top. Crawl. To. The. Top.

That happened.

This was definitely not one of the steep inclines.

Now I actually trained on hills for this race. Nothing I could have trained on would have prepared me for these hills. Nothing. This was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and, by far, the most rewarding.

The course started off nice and flat. I ran the first mile at a 9:03 minute pace. There was a little warmup hill, but nothing I hadn't prepared for.

And then we got to mile two, and my pace slowed to a solid 18:08 minute pace. Why, you might ask. Well, here's why:

That's right friends, a 500 foot elevation change according to Map My Run. Here's the official elevation mapping:

You see those ridiculous elevation changes between miles one and two. They were as ridiculous as they look. This would have been a serious hike, yet alone a run. I'm still a little astonished that I managed it. And so proud that I did.

The next three miles were significantly easier than mile two. The hills were definitely a struggle, and I was slow. But I was able to run most of it. Mile three met a 13:25 minute pace. Mile four clocked in at 14:56. And mile five came in at 13:17.

I thought coming in to this race that I would definitely be able to run downhill, but some of the hills were so extreme, I had to slow down to keep from falling. Last thing I wanted to do was fall on my ass and have to be carted off the trail.

The extreme elevation change right at the three mile mark is where there were people literally on hands and feet crawling back up the hill. This was also our out-and-back turn around point.

Once I got back up the hill at around three and half miles, I was feeling awesome. I knew I wouldn't have any more hills to walk up, so my running pace increased. I did mile six in 11 minutes, and finished with a solid 8:43 pace.

Map My Run clocked me in at 6.97 miles in at 1:28:46, and my official race time was 01:28:20.65. I finished fifth in my age group, 25 of 81 women, and 76 of 177 overall. 

And for reference, the top finisher came in at 52 minutes. For a 10k. My first 10k, the top finisher was at 37 minutes. So that gives a little perspective on just how challenging this course really was.

The fact that I came so close to placing in my age group makes me want to do this race again next year. It was the best race I've ever done. I feel so accomplished and so proud.

The next race is in two weeks: the Angels 5k. Keep training, y'all.