Bad Ass Derby Day!

     What happens on Derby Day?  Racing, right?  So bright and early, me and mom headed to Ozark, IL.  Oh, wait, the Kentucky Derby isn't in Illinois.  The Bad Ass Trail Dash is though!!  This is the second time I've travelled to this beautiful property for one heck of a trail race.  2013 was my first experience with this race.  I had only been doing 5k races for six months when I first entered this race.  I had just completed the LBL 23k and thought "this 5k will be a piece of cake."  Boy, was I wrong!  We had two knee deep creek crossings and downed trees as our obstacles.  We had three hills that were so steep, I practically had to slide down on my behind!  Below is a pic from before the race.  It was March and still pretty chilly.  It was super tough and I was just glad to finish!

     Now to Derby Day 2014!  The Bad Ass Trail Dash had a "mystery distance" this year.  Somewhere between 3-5 miles.  The race this year was MUCH tougher than last year!  Crazy ups and downs, smaller creek crossings,steep ass hills, all leading up to the grand finale...drum roll...mega cold water crossing! 

Thank you to Lindsay's son who took my picture AND delivered my phone to me at the finish line. Thank you to mom, Shannon, and Crystal.  You guys make craziness like this fun!  Check out their Facebook page for upcoming race dates!

5 Trails in 5 Days

    Each spring, me and my mom take a bird watching trip.  It isn't always a long trip but a couple of times we have travelled all the way to Dauphin Island, Alabama.  This year we decided to do several small day trips.  I thought it might be fun to combine this with some trail running, a different trail everyday!  

     I started day one at Columbus Belmont State Park with my sister, Dyanna.  We walked and ran the trails and paths for 3 miles and concluded with some good birding in the river bottoms. 

     Day 2 finds us headed to Reelfoot Lake for more bird watching and a quickie little trail run.  It was sad to see the Airpark Inn closed.  We did see some good birds and a snake! Here is a pic of the trail before we headed to Bluebank Resort for lunch. 

     Day 3 was a planned long run at LBL's Canal Loop.  6.43 miles on the Lake Barkley side, with my fastest time in that section!  We checked out the visitor center and got some awesome new shirts.  One has a map of the Canal Loop trail on the back.  It was kinda like getting a race shirt!  I took lots of pics on this day, but this was my fav. 

     Day 4 was a day for "home trails."  You don't always have to travel far to enjoy Mother Nature.  I save my runs at home for trying out new foods or workout gear.  If it's a food that really doesn't agree with me, I'm close to home, or if a clothing item (like new running socks) isnt working I can stop and change.  I think my home trails are as beautiful as any!

     The final day of my "5 trails in 5 days" challenge was soggy.  Matthew and I dodged the storm clouds on more home trails to do some birding.  We may not have logged many miles, but we had a couple of hours walking with some good birds.  This self-challenge truly does end in happy trails!