I love to race local, and this was the perfect local race. It was put on my The Turning Point, which is an organization to help victims of bullying and sexual abuse. All of their services are free of charge and they go above and beyond to make a difference. I picked up my packet the day of the race and it took less than five minutes. But during that time I scoped out all the amazing goodies they had. Loads of bagels from Einstein’s, water, Gatorade, cereal bars, granola bars and fruit.

The Race:
At 8:00 the race started and it was time to go, it started with a loop around a lake, and down the trail under some trees (thank God). It was beautiful, and flat, no complaints. It was not a closed course so you had to dodge other runners and bike riders, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t something I was used to doing in a race. Furthermore I saw a sign that had the symbol for horses, I was thinking that surely there weren’t any people riding horses along this trail. I’m aware of the fact that I live in Texas, but you don’t really see people on horses, at least where I live. Wrong, there were horses, I was in shock and couldn’t even comprehend possibly taking a picture. At the turn around point at 1.5 miles there was water and time to head back. Which is where I have my one problem with this race. In the beginning you run around the lake and go down the trail, the ending point of the loop around the lake is where the start finish line is. However, when you come back and have already completed 2.5 miles in the sun, running around the lake with no shade completely killed my mental state especially when the finish line was literally right in front of me, ice cold Gatorade was right in front of me, along with food. I run/walked sweaty miserable self around the lake and finished and immediately grabbed a Gatorade. They had a raffle, which was very generous of the organization, and the best part happened. The In-n-Out Burger truck arrived to feed us. The whole loop around to the finish line quickly became a distant memory. Overall I enjoyed the race, and it was nice to see such an amazing organization get such support from the community.