My First Trail Race @ Pt. Mugu!

Since I do enjoy a good run and a trail hike, I figure, why not combine the two loves with a trail run? Which is what I did this past weekend with XTERRA's Trail Race @ Pt. Mugu State Park.
Since this was my first trail run ever, I opted for the 11K instead of the 18, and I'm SO thankful I did
Check out the incline/decline on that elevation chart (over 1,100 feet!) And despite being less than 7 miles, running this course, with all its hills, rocky trails, and occasional sharp turns, gave my body & legs a half-marathon esque burn.
That being said, I had a fun time running the trails of La Jolla Canyon, even with throngs of people, I felt really calm & serene and just connected to natural landscape (and breathed a lot better too without having worrying to inhaling car exhaust from nearby roads.)

And, because of their no headphones rule (really understandable esp. when we were in single-file trails and people wanted to pass,) I actually was more attuned to my body, from the way my legs strided to how my feet hit the dirt and how my upper body is positioned.

And while the marine layer gave the whole route a mystical feel, it also made me uncomfortably wet since my sweat isn't evaporating as quickly as it should--so next time I'll be sure to check the weather reports and dress appropriately (i.e. a top that I strip off & can tie around my waist, or at least one that wicks moisture off my body super-fast)

My pace time wound up being 12-minute mile, not as good as I hoped or as bad as I feared so gonna work on improving that for future trail races, something I look forward to doing again (maybe even as soon as Thanksgiving for XTERRA's next SoCal event, the Topanga Turkey Trot!)

Last but not least, to celebrate, I met up with blogger-pal Caroline on Crack where I got a few brews @ Father's Office & a spiced-up Vegetarian "Not" Dog from the nearby Let's Be Frank cart. Probably not the ideal post-race recovery meal, but a well-deserved treat after one of the most strenuous runs I've done lately.

Oh yeah, I also called dibs for wearing this swanky medal for the rest of the day--and look forward to collecting more in the future races!

A few more photos from my flickr set here, and race map & elevation profile images courtesy of XTERRA Trail Run's site.