Run, Lift, Race, Repeat

I signed up to do the Franklin Mountains Trail Run series over the summer and it was one of the races I have been looking most forward to all year.   It would be just the second time I ran over a course that had tough climbs and significant elevation changes.   Bryce Canyon over the summer was a tough course but I ran it as a dedication run where I stopped every mile and recorded a short video to dedicate that mile to a person or story that was shared to me.   After my DNF at Mission Tejas just two weeks earlier, I was a bit nervous.   Not only would I be running another 50k, over a much harder course, I was sandwiching it between two more tough races in the same park.   I was still excited to run it, though, and I was feeling good going into the weekend. Originally, I planned to fly out, get a rental car, and stay in a hotel but I asked on Facebook if anyone was planning to drive out from our area to see if there was a carpool option and luckily, there was someone.

A little over a year ago, I started hosting a weekly social run on Sunday mornings .   It started with some friends from our local Team Red, White and Blue chapter doing a group run in preparation for an upcoming relay race.   Between this run and my recent attendance to a free Saturday community workout, The Killeen Community Games , I got the idea that a regular running group would be something that the community would like and I love the idea of being able to share something I love with other people. Over the past year, I’ve met so many new people that have come to the weekly events for the chance to run, the accountability, and the friendship that comes from running together.   I’ve seen so many of my runners sign up for races, some first time racers, some first times at new distances, including ultra-marathons and trail races.   In July, I scheduled the first trail run for a Sunday morning and we had more than 50 people attend.   By the end of August, I began sched