Nitro 10k Trail Race

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of enjoying the very wet and windy Nitro 10k in Pinole. My teaching/running friend Dana suggested it to me, since she knows I enjoy trials and it was recommended by our half marathon training program (which, come to think of it, I haven't talked about yet, so I will write about that soon).

Anyways, we signed up and were excited for this early June race, looking forward to the bay views and trail fun. However, the Bay Area (and I suppose California in general), has been getting weird weather this year, so instead of sun and warmth, we had wind and rain. Not exactly summery weather, but we were up for it.

We met at the Pruneyard, which is where we used to meet for our normal runs, and Dana graciously offered to drive. I am not good at driving in the rain - and by not good I mean I get very stressed about it - so I was happy to be a passenger on the little over an hour drive north.


In what seemed like no time, we were arriving at Pinole Park, and the rain had slackened to more of a drizzle, which were were happy to notice.

Source

We got there at about the perfect time - 8:15. The race started at 8:45, so we had just enough time to get signed in, use the facilities, and get a feel for the area before we got started. 

The course wound its way around the point through eucalyptus groves with views of the bay (though with the heavy clouds, the views, I'm sure could be even more spectacular than they were that day).

Dana and I ran at a comfortable 12ish minute mile pace and kept up a steady conversation throughout. About a half mile in, I warmed up enough to ditch the jacket and stuck with my long sleeves and capris for the rest of the race. 

(Dana and I at mile 5ish). 

Before long, we were reaching the finish line and running it in! We finished in a relaxed 1:16ish and celebrated with It's It sandwiches - perfect post race celebration. 

The next day, we ran a strong 8 miles. It was an excellent running weekend.