Paris Mountain Xterra 7k

This past Saturday I ran the Paris Mountain Xterra 7k in Greenville, SC. I ended up having to miss the Scenic City half marathon
back in May due to pre-wedding planning and obligations, so this was the first
race I’d been able to run in awhile. It
was also the first race I got to run as a married woman so that was exciting. :)
My new hubby and I were really glad to be competing again, though we both
experienced the painful “why do we do this again?” moment mid-race when the
extra push of competition, combined with high humidity and some stout hills,
makes you think people are right when they tell you you’re crazy to get up and
do this type of thing on a Saturday morning. But when it was all said and done,
we still came away with our runner’s high, feeling like there really is nothing
like a race to reinvigorate your running and get you excited /motivated about
training. Though the course was muddy
from heavy rain the night before, conditions overall were not bad considering
it is the middle of August. There were
240 runners who came out and completed the run which weaves around the trails
in the lovely Paris Mountain State Park.
This race is the shortest of the three-race South Carolina Xterra trail
series which also includes an 11k (coming up in November) and a 15k that took
place in May. Coming into the race a bit unfamiliar with the Greenville trail
running scene, I didn’t know what to expect as far as competition. There were a lot of strong runners, but I
ended up placing 4^th woman overall and 1^st in my age
group with a time of 36:18. After this, I’m really looking forward to hitting these
trails more regularly and getting ready for the Stump/Jump in October. I met
several other people at the race who are also planning on coming out for that
event for the first time, so it was fun to talk with them and let them know
what a great event they’ve signed up for.
I’m always amazed at the way the common bond of trail running paves the
way for new friends and gives you great excuses to keep “running” into people
from all over the place. What a blessing
to get to do this!