Burke Lake Park 15k Trail Race

Morning, friends. :) One of the big highlights of my weekend was a 15k trail race in beautiful Burke Lake Park in Virginia!

My friend Ashley found this race a few weeks ago; I love trail races and have been wanting to do more so I was fully on board. Our friend Kathleen got in on the fun, too!

Small races are so nice, especially having done so many big ones lately – Kathleen and I rolled up at 8:35, had no problem finding Ashley and her friend, hitting the bathrooms, and making it to the start by 9 for the race start. Awesome!

We had perfect running weather – cold and sunny, just how I like it. :)

Kathleen, Ashley, and I all stuck together for the first couple miles, then Ashley charged on ahead and Kathleen and I settled into a nice casual pace. Our #1 goal: have fun and enjoy the views. :)

And what views there were! Burke Lake was gorgeous – I need to come out here again soon! It reminded me a lot of some of my favorite running spots in North Carolina. :)

This was my favorite part. :)

Kathleen and I spent the whole race chatting away and catching up, which made the miles fly by. Around mile 8, though, we saw a hill looming ahead and both of us were starting to get a bit tired. Well what do you know – right before the hill, I was surprised and excited to see one of my AnneTheRD clients and her husband cheering us on! She’s my longest running client – we started working together when I first started my practice in February 2013, and still meet every month or two. I just met with her on Thursday, and told her offhand about the race this weekend. Well, they live near the trail so she decided to sneakily come out to surprise us!

So sweet of her – and just the boost we needed to get up that hill and finish the race on a high note. :)

15k – 9.3 miles – done!

We finished right at an hour and a half. Considering we talked the whole time and weren’t focused on speed (and given that about half the trail involved dirt/roots aka watching your feet so you didn’t trip), I was pleased!

The race was on 12/13/14, and was 15k – cool, right? I liked the race shirts. :)

We did some snacking after the race (they were well organized and had a good amount of snacks, water, hot chocolate, etc.) and then Ashley, Kathleen, and I headed to nearby Great Harvest to refuel more properly.

Turkey, egg, tomato, and cheddar for me on the cheddar garlic bread. It wasn’t the most amazing egg sandwich I’ve ever had (I’m kind of a connoisseur when it comes to eggs sandwiches, nbd), but it hit the spot.

Such a fun morning with good friends. Ladies, let’s do trail races together more often! And a big thank you again to my client and her husband for coming out to cheer us on! :)

I also wanted to give a big thank you to those who were out volunteering for us at the trail race. I was impressed with how well organized it was, especially for such a small race. The event was hosted by Metro Run & Walk Springfield; I’ll definitely be checking their website for future events!

Who else raced or ran over the weekend? How was it?

Trail races or road races? I like both for different reasons – road races for really pushing it and trying to PR; trail races for enjoying the ride. :)