Last Race of 2012...maybe

This is the 'medal' received for finishing the 10 miles. This is actually
Christina's, I stole the pic she posted of it since it was such a cool pic.
That's how I roll. 

Here in Illinois it was in the 70's on Saturday. This morning it was 28 degrees when I woke up. Welcome to our crazy Illinois weather!

I ran the McNotAgain trail race on Saturday. It was a beautiful day for it. Sunny and dry. This was the same course that I ran a while back when the remnants of Hurricane Isaac were coming through. Very different run that day compared to Saturday.

It was still a very tough course without the rain and mud. This trail is 10 miles of hills basically. Someone described it by saying, "God took every hill in Illinois and shoved them all into this park." Which must be true because Illinois is pretty flat everywhere else. Just when you think, please God, no more hills. There's an even bigger hill ahead... laughing at you. I'm very glad that I decided to sign up for the 10 miles instead of the 30. I might have been able to finish 2 loops for 20 miles but it would not have been pretty. It also would have probably taken me the full 11 hour time frame. Fred did finish 2 loops and I'm vey proud of him as that was a new distance pr for him.

Here's a pre-race pic of some of us. Colleen, Renee, Steph, Bekah, Christina
...and the guy in the back 'Photo Bombing' us is Steph's husband, Joe.
He's awesome.

We had several friends running it as well. I ran with four of my friends the whole time. We stuck together and made it a fun event. One of the things I love about trail running, there is no pressure. It's so much more laid back than road running. I'm not a competitive person/runner so it's really enjoyable for me. The race directors and other runners are amazing and will even send runners out to pace with you if you are struggling. They really care that you finish and will help you to do just that. It's a really fantastic community of people.

Fred and I after his 2nd lap.

Plus, I have to say, this was the best post-race spread ever! One of the race directors has an awesome wife who made chili for everyone. She is so awesome, in fact, that she even made vegetarian chili. It was delicious. There was a ton of other snacks there as well. Which you definitely needed after this 10 mile course.

I currently have no more races this year. This was the last race of the year for me. I'm both sad and happy about that. I feel like I need a break from training runs so I can just run. Too many training runs for me starts to feel like work. Now I can run just because I want to. Unless I get talked into something else before January...

Peace, Love, Happiness!

~Bekah

One of my friends, who I met because of running, won first place in the 10 mile run for the women. 

Congratulations to Crystal Kyle!!!