On Saturday, I made my way to San Dimas for the Renegade 3 Mile Trail Run Challenge. This race was one of the several events going on that day including the XTERRA Renegade Off-Road Triathlon, and the Off-Road Duathlon. After the heat that we’ve had the past week, I was very happy with my choice of only the 3-mile trail run.
It took me less than hour to arrive at the location, because I wasn’t quite sure how the traffic would be. I got there a little early, and was able to set everyone setting up for the triathlon. I had this beautiful view at about 7am that morning.
If you look to the top of the photo, you can see those hills with the trees. Yeah umm, what I didn’t realize was, but found out later, was the course for my 3-mile run.
Before the race started, I hung out at the Renegade Race Series booth and handed out information, and answered questions. I also hung out with some of my fellow Renegade Racing Rep buds (from left to right; Andrea, Bryan, Bill, and of course, me). It was just starting to get a “little warm”, right when we took this photo.
At about 8:00am, the triathletes started their swim, and I headed over to the starting line for the 3 mile trail run and duathlon start. It was a pretty small group of about 100 people. We were all laughing at ourselves because it had been so hot all weekend, and it was already getting quite warm. And then the race started…
Now, I’ve turned into quite the trail runner in the past year or so…but wow, was this some trail running. Or should I say, trail climbing? We kept running up, up, and up, then we would go downhill a bit, and then up, up, up. Did I forget to mention that it was hot? Luckily, I had my fuel belt on with (2) 8 oz. bottles of water, because I needed it, plus my inhaler for my asthma. My pace for the run was all over because of the terrain. There were several times that I had to walk up the hills. When I say walk, I really mean, brace my hands on my thighs and I force myself up the hills. You could say that my hamstrings were a bit tight during the race.
I looked at my Garmin while I was running at one point and was shocked to see that I had only gone 1.5 miles, which was half way. Luckily, we had some of the mountain bikers pass us and cheer us on. I’m pretty sure that they were starting to realize that they also had to endure this part of the race after their bike ride. That part motivated me and got me to push myself a little harder to finish.
At the end, I was happy to run down the hill and towards the finish line. I literally choked down a bottle of Gatorade in like 2 minutes. I also grabbed two bottles of water, one to drink, and one that I could pour on myself.
But I was sooooo happy to be done, yay me! I will stick with hiking and my Summer Trail Series at Peter’s Canyon from now on. These hills were a bit too intense for me. I highly recommend this course if you like a “difficult climb” in your trail race.
As for race attire, I wore my usual uniform of a Sparkle Athletic skirt and tank top, along with my Brooks PureGrit 2, an Under Armour visor, white Oakley sunglasses, Garmin 310XT, and of course, as always my GoSportId on my wrist.
Did I mention that I bought my husband a bike while I was at the race? One of the vendors was selling a used mountain bike at the race, and I could not pass up a good deal. My husband already has a mountain bike, but it is old and needs a ton of work. So “Happy Father’s Day” to him.
I was pretty hungry on my way home, so I stopped at Yogurtland for some lunch. Yep, this what my lunch on Saturday. It was delicious.
Like I said before, I cannot wait to run Renegade’s Summer Trail Series, with the first one starting June 19th. There are (3) races in total, on Thursday nights at 6:15pm. There is even a BBQ after the race. You can use this code: JULIE10 to get 10% off the races!
Until the next race!!
Disclosure: I am a representative/ambassador for Renegade Race Series. I received a free bib to run this race. I was not compensated with cash to run this race or even write this blog post. All opinions and awesome iPhone photos are mine.
