About 2 years ago, I ran in my first Trail Racing Over Texas race: Mission Tejas. I fell in love with TROT so much so that I have been a brand ambassador for them for the last year. But Mission Tejas left me scarred. Before the race, I had done a couple of training runs out there so I was aware of the difficulty but add heat and the race was awful. I hadn't been back to train at Tejas since that day. I had visited with my family, even worked a race, but no runs.
At the beginning of October, TROT put out a call for volunteers. I signed up and then I went ahead and signed up for the 10k. It was the 25k that had kicked my ass before so the 10k seemed like a safer distance. I would only have to run everything 1 time. I wanted to give myself a new Tejas story. It went well!
I went in thinking it would take me 3 hrs and hoping for 2 and half. I clocked in officially at 2:10! I was super proud of myself. I finished the race with a smile on my face and joy in my heart. It was hard. I had forgotten about the hills. The steep steps weren't so bad. Don't get me wrong, I still had to stop and take a few breaks to get up the damn things but there weren't as many as I had remembered.
I need to go back and start adding distance and vert to my training. My ultra dream is set for Sept 2022 and the vert on it is crazy. If I can challenge myself to a 50k at Tejas at least once before Sept then I think the Sept race will be doable.
Until I get a 25k at Tejas, I won't consider it a complete redemption. But I took my first steps so Tejas and I are no longer nemeses. We are more like frienemies. I need Tejas. Running Tejas will get me mentally ready for the challenge ahead: Golden Bears Ears! But more on that later . . .