With trepidation I went to the Festival Internacional Salva el Diente this weekend outside of Guadalajara. After a late arrival, I wasn’t sure how I was going to be feeling for the 10k trail race early on Saturday morning, but I just wanted to run as a part of my marathon training (which is only three weeks away!). I welcomed the opportunity to run on trails, outside of the city, away from the crazy traffic and sidewalks, and not one of my normal routes. I think my experience running down mountains to catch the bus in Switzerland and dodging a bit of everything on the sidewalks in town made me well-prepared for the trails. I can high-tail it down a rocky path, and enjoy doing so. So, I came in second place. Very exciting. It wasn’t a big race, but my prize pack says otherwise – new backpack and water bottle are awesome (and portable backpack, and thermal headband).

I’m now going to lay out a bunch of excuses for the terrible picture of me receiving the prizes, but I still want to show it. I missed the actual winner announcements, but the race organizer kindly went to get my bag of prizes. So, clearly I was a little blown away, and tired, and looking into the sun, and someone else had my camera.

And then I had the rest of the day to boulder a bit. Even just playing around on some easy stuff was a lot of fun. It poured last night, but I was pretty snug in my tent. My legs are a bit extra-cramped from not being able to stretch them out completely, but totally worth it.

Finally, an homage to my happy coffee maker au natural this morning.