Woke up last Wednesday and I swear my feet didn't hit the floor until oh...maybe the end of my first training session that evening. Boy, I was so excited. For starters, it was a dry day. Dropped the kids off at school, full day of work, the bell went at 4 and I quickly changed and headed West to The Cleveland Dam, which is on the base of Grouse Mountain. I had never been there before and was quite relieved to make it in time for our first "unofficial train".
Everyone looked so happy and healthy and EXPERIENCED...Yikes, could they tell that I was fresh out of the gate?? Probably. But the fact that they were all looking like excited little puppies made it totally worth it. I was standing inbetween two ladies and started a little small talk. The first lady said that it was her 5th Knee Knacker. Wow, that is awesome. What a gal. The second lady said that she is really excited, that this was her first, her goal is to finish.
I stood there and thought for a second. Then my unfiltered mouth said "My goal is to finish without shitting my pants" They both laughed and agreed that can be an issue.
I signed in like we were all asked to do, just to keep record of whom had made it back. Our distance was to be 8km. Brother's Creek and return.
It was awesome. I tried to stay in the middle, don't know if that actually happened or not...who cares. I was there. I didn't know a soul. (or Sole...ha ha) Not everyone there was lucky enough to have had their names drawn for the Knee Knacker race this year and they were all still smiling.
The trail went up 4km incline then straight back down...it was fast on the way down, I could not stop smiling...I was running with a man whom had loads of experience under his belt, told me about some of his racing and training. Even about some good drinks etc...all was going well until the last 2km when I saw the wet wooden stairs...but...couldn't..stop-p-p....
Swoosh! I must have flown down 5 of them easily. Ugh.
Man, that hurt and I had the mud all over to prove it. Yikes, lesson learned. C-O-N-T-R-O-L.
Took me a second to shake it off, but then found myself trying to keep up again with the experienced guy in the red coat, sucking up the tid-bits of information he would share.
The other thing I learned was to prepare my dinner before I get home. I just stood infront of the fridge at 8pm when I made it there and ate like a teenage boy. Fridge door open, double fisting whatever I could find to stop that famished feeling.
It was a great first training session.
Love it!!!!!!
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