Sulphur Springs 25K Trail Run

I'm in training for the Sulphur Springs 25K Trail Run.  It will be my second 25K.  I've done one 21K.  The first 25K was Run For the Toad.  I enjoyed it, but it took a long time due to very muddy and slippery conditions (see older post on run). 

I'm really looking forward to the 25K Sulphur Springs one, because I do almost all my training on those trails.  I love them; they're beautiful.  It's a hard race as it's hilly, but the trail is great.

Anyone who has done this run knows 'the Gulch'.  Initially it was my nemesis, but I came to understand and appreciate the Gulch.  I felt I knew it and could handle it.  And now they've changed the route.  They've eliminated the Gulch!

And what have they done?  They've made it worse!  I didn't think it was possible.  Martin Road is the new hill and it's much, much longer.  It's a go-on-forever kind of hill.  And we have to do it twice.  And that's how we finish the race, running up a long long hill.

Really, race organizers?  Do we really have to finish a 25K on a steep long hill?  What are you, sadists??

Of course, what does that make me, because I'm signing up for it!

I guess that makes me hard-core.  (I love it!)

That reminds me of a time I was running with friends in the winter right before a predicted winter storm, and as we ran by a man he yelled, "Well, ladies, you won't be running four hours from now!"

I yelled back jokingly, "We're hard-core!"

The truth is, I love running in the winter.  I get so hot when I run that it's so nice to run in the cool weather.  It seems to give me energy.

I've run in very hot humid conditions and it's completely exhausting.

Now don't get the wrong idea and think I mean that I'm hard-core as in an elite runner.  I am definitely not elite.  I'm just addicted.  I don't want to win; I'm just happy to finish and I'm only running against myself.

I decided tonight, running in the cold, that my body loves running.  It loves it.  It's not just my mind that is addicted.  My body seems to need a really hard workout.  I feel much better and completely unstressed after a good hard run or a really hard boot camp workout.

I love that feeling of being completely worn out and having my muscles be exhausted.  It's very therapeutic.  Maybe it's just me...