by Danielle Triffitt – Right before Sam and I headed out the door to Bradbury this morning, I posted on Facebook: “Getting ready for a Bruiser.” Ha! I guess my mind was trying to just skip out on the Breaker 🙂 And then, while I was doing my very short warm-up, I tripped while I was trying to adjust my handheld and scraped up my hand in the gravel. Oh man. So, as you can tell I just wasn’t quite with it this morning!
In any event, it was, as always, a great event, put on by a great group of Trail Monsters, and it is always fun to have a chance to catch up with people at these races. Since I had Sam with me before and after the race, I didn’t get to do too much socializing but I was at least able to exchange a few hellos with friends 🙂
I had decided to keep things pretty mellow for the first lap, and just see how it went. I started off with Ryan and David at my side. David soon took off, but Ryan stayed with me for the first loop. It was fun to have a chance to run together, even if Ryan picked up speed on the downhills. Gotta work on that! We chatted with people here and there as we ran along. The day was overcast, but as has been the case most of the summer, it was humid. I am still not yet snot-free, and that combined with the heavy air, meant I was having a bit of trouble breathing in a few spots, especially the uphills. I haven’t been running that much, but I was definitely breathing much worse than I should have been. I really hope it clears up soon – both the cold and the humidity! What a pain!
Sam, Irene and Dana were at the playground cheering as we headed up the Summit Trail for the first time, which was a nice boost. We, and everyone else around us, walked up to the top where a nice breeze was blowing. Somewhere along the Tote Road, Nate Pike passed us, but we mostly kept him in our sights.
Ryan and I ran together into the start/finish area before heading off onto the second lap; he stopped to take a drink and I kept going. A few yards later, he went right on past and was gone. So much for running together 🙂 Ha! At this point, I was right around Nate Pike, Nathan and Susan, in some sort of order. Nate was ahead and Nathan and Susan soon got behind. I did more walking than I would have liked on the Boundary trail this time around, and the second time up the Summit was painful, although once again we had a good cheering squad at the playground with Morgan and Kristen joining in too.
I made a conscious effort once I hit the Tote road this time to pick it up and run the last 1 1/2 miles at a good clip. I passed Nate along the way, and didn’t want to be passed back, so I tried to move! 🙂 I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me down the Terrace, and into the finish. I did end up slowing down on the second lap, but only finished 2 1/2 minutes behind Ryan so it wasn’t too bad. Overall, my slowest Breaker yet (1:34:13), but it was an honest effort for not really trying to truly race. I was glad I was able to give it a little extra at the end of the second loop, so all is not lost.
Once I was done, I just kept sweating! Sam and Morgan were dancing to the music coming out of the DemerBox, and having a grand old time. I chatted with a few people, but missed out on most of my socializing time as Irene and Dana were ready to go by that point. Not to mention, it was getting time for lunch and to head home for naptime, so we didn’t hang around for the final finishers or the awards.
Kristen, Morgan, Sam and I hit Edna & Lucy’s for lunch – yum! – and I brought home a chocolate cupcake for a treat while Sam napped. Perfect.
