El Chupacabra de Houston

 

As soon as I heard about this race, I knew Adam and I had to do it.  It combines some of my favorite things:  running, camping, beer, and not to mention--mythical creatures of the night.  Actually, I had no idea what a chupacabra was until I heard about this race, but what sounds more fun than a night time trail race with bar-b-que and beer after?

This race, hands down, goes onto my list of the coolest running experiences ever.  Looking back at the trail of runners while all you can see is bobbing headlamps is a pretty cool sight.  There was something primal about running on the trail and having no idea where you were going, but you were just following the person in front of you.  Then later in the run, after the pack broke up, there was no one in front to lead you, and you could only see 5-6 feet ahead.

This was also one of most difficult races I've done.  Adam and I developed a theory that our body must have been working extra hard because our brain didn't quite know how to react to running in the dark with all the roots and uneven terrain.  This would have been a challenging trail race in the light, but throwing in the added twist of truly not being able to see made it even more difficult.  We really had to stay focused and even when we were, the roots would still somehow get us.  Luckily, we did not get hurt, but there were some runners around us that did.  

We're also lucky we did not get lost.  At some point, we weren't sure which way to go.  The guy ahead of us took a right, but we thought we should go straight and then a whole pack of runners for some reason decided we must know what we're doing and followed us.  Luckily, we were right.  I hope that other guy figured it out soon enough.

The coordinator for this race is called Run in Texas.  Their motto is "races off the beaten path."  There's another night time race in August in Galveston that Adam and I plan to do.  It's called the Galveston Sand Crab with a 5K and 10K distance.  I think I might opt for the 5K because running in the sand is HARD!  We'll probably camp again and of course, take the Jeep and do some sand dunning.  I'm not sure which one Adam will be looking forward to more.

We took lots of pictures, but none of them really capture the night like we experienced it.  If we tried to take one without the flash to capture what we were seeing; it was fuzzy.  When we took one with the flash, it was way brighter than what were seeing.

 before the race, back at the campsite;  we're totally decked out in our glow sticks

next year, I'm totally going for the glowing tiara

 starting line

 It's the chupacabra!!!

 looking back at all those headlamps; we couldn't actually see the runner's faces, just lights

 about mid-way; a race volunteer took this one for us

 that's me in the center

 chasing the chupacabra

 a shot of the trail; imagine this, but without light

that's what it was like for us

at the finish, totally soaking wet with sweat

Did I mention how humid and muggy it was in the woods?

Macie and Winnie in glow stick collars

A BIG shout out to Aaron, Brittany, and Casey for wrangling the dogs while we were out chasing the Chupacabra!  Thanks guys!

Next race?  Wounded Warrior Half in June--jury is still out on that one.  We haven't done a distance over 8 yet.  We're still playing it by ear.  But for sure the Mud Maxx in June.  5K in the mud.  Need I say more?