Bandera. - Brutal, Beauty...I give it a 10!

Well after a couple of days of settling in...finally getting to this race report. Many, many awesome moments. I have a full race report written on the Montrail site. But here are some add ons:

Bandera 100k is held in Bandera, TX outside of San Antonio. Texas? Hilly? Oh, you bet, and this course proved it! Not so much hilly but very very technical....lots of rocks! Thankfully my Montrail Mountain Masochist were the best...very sturdy in the forefront and served me well throughout the race. As well as my drymax trail socks...due to going from very cold weather, to warmer conditions, my feet felt awesome. Never changed my shoes nor had the need to. Now starting back to the beginning....

Anyhow, I arrived on Friday at around 1pm into San Antonio. Drove an hour with non-country music playing (sorry, not a country girl). Loved every minute of the drive and just very relaxed and excited to arrive. Annette Bednosky, who is my Montrail teammate, shared a room with me. She was already there when I arrived. Annette is AWESOME. What a kind, giving, caring, and all around great girl...very strong in mind and body! We shared alot of laughs together, hung out the rest of the day.

I managed to run out to the dollar store to pick up extra stuff for my drop bags. I had seen a santa hat which my 5 year old boy has been wanting, so for 25 cents I decided to purchase it. And this is the exchange that went on:

"Oh, I know, its after the holidays, but my son has been wanting this hat...and I am not from around here" "I could've told you that (strong texan accent)" "And where y'all from?" "New York" "Damn Yankees" "Well, I am originally from Chicago""I don't care, anything east of Texas, is a damn yankee...you want to know the difference between a yankee and a damn yankee""sure(as my smile got bigger)" "a yankee comes to Texas and vacations and goes home. A damn yankee comes to Texas and never leaves" "Well Sir, I will be a damn yankee tomorrow, but I'm leaving after that!" Wish I could have went into that dollar store after the race!

So, Annette and I ate our "safe" meals in our room and had a great time. I ate my tuna and rice with of course, a margarita...and Annette had her magic meal. We went to bed at a reasonable hour and woke up ready to Rock and Roll!

My race report in detail is on the Montrail site. I did leave a few things out such as : Being chased by two cows, my many trips, my mantra of "rocks, scrapes, falls, blood, sweat...easy day", and the signs that had two arrows pointing in two different directions with the word CHOICE in the middle...meaning they are both equally difficult, you make the choice.

After the race, I hung out with the Montrail group (Annette and Sean) along with Pam Smith, Chris McWatter, and a few others. Had our laughs and fun and truly healthy happiness after a tough competition between us all. So fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

Now I do talk about Aliza in my race report. But I must add more....Aliza is one tough cookie. Yes we TIED FOR FIRST...and it couldn't have worked out better. We ran together in the middle of the race and I truly enjoyed everything about her. She is from Vermont (yeah! Another East Coast Chic dominating a West Coast race! Woo hoo!) and boy does she have strength. I had asked for her approval on this so I hope she still does. Aliza had hurt her femur bone (broke it!)a few years ago and was told she would never run again. She said she had to teach herself how to walk....and here she is, flying on the course with me. And so considerate...we truly were caring for eachother, making sure we both felt good. I felt like we were out for a fun training run. My, what inner strength. I felt it. So, I hope I will continue to keep up with her...what a true inspiration amongst many other stories we shared. So to land on that timing mate and the same second really sums it all up!

I hope you get a chance to read my Montrail report. Mountain Masochist, and Drymax socks pulled my happy feet through this race...now what to do about the many other bruises on my body! Thankfully, it is not shorts season!