The Pasadena Trail Race Series is a series of four seasonal races taking place in the Pasadena area in April, June, July and October. Each race has several options in terms of distance and difficulty. To pursue my objective (Don't Let The Old Man In), I signed up for all four races, although I signed up for the easiest option available in each of the four races. To my delight, Tracy signed for all four races also.
LOGO FOR THE JUNE RUN
This second run was held on Sunday, June 9th. Tracy and I drove to the Hahamongna Watershed Park early Sunday morning and picked up our race packets there at the beginning area of the Run. Runners in this June Run could select either a 50K 5-Person Relay or a 10K Run. Tracy and I selected the 10K option. The 50K is simply five times around the 10K course for each runner, which is on a combination of dirt roads and narrow trails near the Devils Gate Reservoir and in the nearby Angeles National Forest. The course map is shown in the illustration below.
I don't know how it happened, but Tracy and I took a wrong turn somewhere after Mile 3, and never got back on the correct course until Mile 4. There was a woman running in front of us and she missed the turn and Tracy and I blindly followed her. When we got back on course I asked the woman what her name was (Linda Brizuela) telling her I wanted to know who had led us astray. She had a good sense of humor and knew I was kidding. I had neglected to start my All Trails App at the beginning of the Run, so I don't know our actual mileage, but we are certain that it was more than the 6.2 miles in a 10K. The three of us (Linda, Tracy and I) were the last three of the 98 runners that did the 10K individually (i.e. not the relay). Since we had planned from the beginning to walk a good amount of the distance, and then in addition we got lost, finishing in last place is not surprising. I usually look to see how many people my age got off their duff and participated. The results lists for the 50K Relay did not show age; there were no runners other than myself over 65 listed in the individual 10K.
The first photo below is the Start Area (also the Finish Line) and was taken as the 50K Relay began. The observers are some of the runners waiting for the start of the 10K Run, the one that Tracy and I ran. The Individual 10K began about 20 minutes after the 50K Relay. I should explain at this point, that Tracy and I did more walking than we did running. This was at my urging, since my training has been almost non-existent.
The first photo below of Tracy and I was taken prior to the beginning of the Run. The second photo is of us crossing the Finish Line (they needed a high-speed camera for this one).
All Finishers received a medal like the one pictured below. The medals are made from wood and are very well done. All runners, whether on a relay team or running solo, ran a 10K. However, the medal given to everyone just said 50K Relay, which is basically how the run was promoted.
The people from Run With Us did an excellent job of organizing this event, just as they had done in the April Run. Tracy and I enjoyed the morning out on the course, including making a wrong turn and getting lost, and are looking forward to the next run in the Series which takes place in July.