Brazen Racing's Lagoon Valley 5k/10k/13.1

Another great Brazen race!!

Smiling faces everywhere, lot's of friendly people - both runners and volunteers - very organized, everything was easy. We had done packet pick up a few days before, so we just needed to exchange a few shirts for different sizes, which we did w/no problem.

Before I knew what was happening, the kids were flying through the air on a crazy rope swing that hung over a ...well, it's either a large ditch, or a small ravine/dried creek bed?? Either way, it meant they were flying about 7 feet in the air hanging onto a stick.  With 3 kids....odds are one was going to get hurt and before long we had a swinger down. A nurse/runner checked her out, since she was a bit stunned and dazed and wide eyed and in pain laying on the ground.  A little blood on her elbow, and a sprained wrist...before the race even started.

Brian started first, the girls and I 15 minutes later, and Myles and Tessa 15 minutes after us.  I let Em start where she felt comfortable, and did not see her the entire run, but the amazing Brazen volunteers caught her a few times out on the course.

Em ran with this runner nearly the whole time, in fact while Em was at the aid stations, this runner waited for her so they could run together.

 I had Soph set our pace and did my best to stay tucked in behind her.  She did great!! We met a runner named Blythe who was moving about the same speed as us, and Sophie just tried to keep her in site.

The last 3 miles I had a busy time making sure we knew when a runner was coming up from behind and having Soph jump off the trail so they could pass. The 13.1 course was loops, and since they started before us, they were coming up from behind us. I can only imagine how frustrating that would have been for them making their way through the 10k runners, but I did my best to always know who was coming up behind us and stay out of their way.  It meant looking over my shoulder every few seconds, and telling Sophie, "when I say right, I mean off the trail now!".....and every time I said it, she jumped right off into the grass.  There were some narrow sections of single track, and other areas where we just stayed off the trail and hiked up in the grass along the side. (like near the switchbacks).

She's practicing one of a few tricks she's learned for hills - when forward hurts, go backwards! She also uses the "butt pincher" - where you reach in front of you and pretend pinch the butt in front of you, and "pull the rope" - where you reach in front of you and hand over hand pull yourself up the hill with an imaginary rope. When you're 8, it works!

This was one of the narrow spots where we were getting lapped by 13.1ers, but those 2 guys swimming down stream were happy to grab the hill, cheer Sophie on, and let us pass.

This was the second aid station, which had a streaming camera on it. She's eating a rice crispy treat!

Almost to the finish. In the distance you can see the trail up the first hill she climbed up backwards, and the blue tent of the first aid station.

The finish is on our right, but there's a little loop to do, so you run past and loop back to it.

 She did great, though. I never heard one complaint of any kind, and she seemed to be having fun!! It was a great first 10k for her.

Myles ran with our friend Tessa. I guess he had 2 falls, one right at the start of the 5k, and one a little ways in that involved a lot of screaming and crying.  Tessa must have handled it all in stride because he said he had fun!! He was a bit scraped up, ended up matching Emma with bloody elbows, but it was nothing a huge medal and ice-cream didn't fix!

 I'm sure Brian will recap his run on his blog, but he did great!!  For a trail run, 2:28 is a great finish time. I was so happy he nailed his goal of keeping it under 2:30.  He had me sweating a bit, but when I saw him running up the trail along side the finish area, I knew he'd make it! We were all yelling like crazy we were so happy for him!  He's made quite the comeback over the past few months!

 We took our time after the race, enjoying some good eats and visiting with other runners. The girls picked up their age division medals. They were each the only ones in their divisions since not a lot of kiddos do the 10ks.   After tomorrow, Soph and Em will be in the same division again...let the battles begin!

As always, a huge spread of post-race goodies! You can sort of see the white ice chest at the end, that's holding the treasured Its It ice cream. There was also coffee and cocoa w/whipped cream.

Sam drank the Lagoon Water. We chatted a bit about Diablo.

One of the great things Brazen has been able to start doing is having a company stream footage of the finish line, and sometimes from out on the course. This race was the finish and aid station #2.  For runners with family that do not live close, this is such a great thing! We had several family members watching who were able to see the kids finish their runs, and spy us in the crowd around the finish area. It meant a lot to me that family took the time to watch, and that they had an option to do so. Just another example of a Brazen 'extra'. I would also like to mention the can of whip cream for the hot cocoa.....to warm you up after eating your It's It. Oh, and holy cow - this Biscoff stuff???  Oh my!! So good!! Who puts that in a goody bag?? Brazen.

And just like that.....our "Up Next" race is Brazen's  Save Mount Diablo Trail Challenge 50k!  In Sam's post race email, there was this little gem :

 BRAZEN GOONIES: THE MONSTERS OF TRAIL RUNNING WHO NEVER SAY DIE!

I think I have my mantra for Diablo.

 I'll be posting more pictures on our photo site HERE.  I'll post more race photo's as they become available.