Well..I have no pictures for this post because I had intended on posting a video log of the entire race. But my technological inefficiency showed through and my Go Pro battery was drained when I got to the race. I guess I must have left it on after I charged it. Anyways this was a good race and a great day.
The first great thing was, it was the end of Daylight Savings time and I got to sleep in an extra hour. The second great thing was I able to get in 11 pre race trail miles at Beverly park and got to see the usual squirrels but with the additional bonus of the 6 point buck that hangs out in the park. He is usually pretty elusive and its only the 3rd time I have seen him. The third great thing was my son ran the race also and my wife was able to watch. She doesn't go to a lot of my races so that made me happy.
This race is literally a block from my house but I have never run it before because of scheduling conflicts. So after I got done with my warm up miles the family and I moseyed on down to the race site and checked in. I had tried to scope out the course prior but wasn't 100% sure on the route. We hung out for about 40 minutes talking to a lot of my running friends and introducing them to my wife. My son Jay was going to run the 3 mile race and I would be running the 5 mile.
Eventually we all lined up for the start and wouldn't you know it my GD Garmin wouldn't work. I have never had an issue with it before but I just decided to go without it. Once we started I tossed it to my Wife as we ran past. I ran pretty hard the first mile and my breathing was pretty ragged. I am not sure if that was because I wasn't in rhythm or because the first .5 to .75 miles was mostly uphill. I tried to keep some runners I knew ahead of me in sight but eventually I slowed slightly to a more manageable pace. My legs were really dead going uphill and as this course is nothing but rolling hills that was a problem.
I just decided to run comfortable and hard without redlining it. At about mile 2 we did a short extra loop that included a small obstacle course of a waist high tree log contraption. That was exciting (insert sarcasm here). I had run most of the trails obviously but this course was new so I wasn't quite sure where we were at most of the time as far as distance.
At what I thought was about mile 3 we did a lot of climbing followed by a down hill and some more climbing. At mile 4 we headed back into familiar territory so I picked it up, knowing there was only about a mile left. The last .5 miles is deceptive as you can see the finish but there are about 3 or 4 switchbacks before you actually hit the finish. I hit the last straightaway with my normal energy and finished in 46:33. Not sure where that put me age group place wise as I forgot to look at the results..meh.
Jay finished his 3 mile run just ahead of me and he looked strong. We all hung around to cheer on the rest of our friends as there were quite a few of us at the race. Post race I had a cookie and then Starr,Jay, I and our 2 dogs walked about a mile or so back home taking the scenic trails instead of the straighter paved route.
Trail running is probably my favorite thing to do at this point in my life.
The first great thing was, it was the end of Daylight Savings time and I got to sleep in an extra hour. The second great thing was I able to get in 11 pre race trail miles at Beverly park and got to see the usual squirrels but with the additional bonus of the 6 point buck that hangs out in the park. He is usually pretty elusive and its only the 3rd time I have seen him. The third great thing was my son ran the race also and my wife was able to watch. She doesn't go to a lot of my races so that made me happy.
This race is literally a block from my house but I have never run it before because of scheduling conflicts. So after I got done with my warm up miles the family and I moseyed on down to the race site and checked in. I had tried to scope out the course prior but wasn't 100% sure on the route. We hung out for about 40 minutes talking to a lot of my running friends and introducing them to my wife. My son Jay was going to run the 3 mile race and I would be running the 5 mile.
Eventually we all lined up for the start and wouldn't you know it my GD Garmin wouldn't work. I have never had an issue with it before but I just decided to go without it. Once we started I tossed it to my Wife as we ran past. I ran pretty hard the first mile and my breathing was pretty ragged. I am not sure if that was because I wasn't in rhythm or because the first .5 to .75 miles was mostly uphill. I tried to keep some runners I knew ahead of me in sight but eventually I slowed slightly to a more manageable pace. My legs were really dead going uphill and as this course is nothing but rolling hills that was a problem.
I just decided to run comfortable and hard without redlining it. At about mile 2 we did a short extra loop that included a small obstacle course of a waist high tree log contraption. That was exciting (insert sarcasm here). I had run most of the trails obviously but this course was new so I wasn't quite sure where we were at most of the time as far as distance.
At what I thought was about mile 3 we did a lot of climbing followed by a down hill and some more climbing. At mile 4 we headed back into familiar territory so I picked it up, knowing there was only about a mile left. The last .5 miles is deceptive as you can see the finish but there are about 3 or 4 switchbacks before you actually hit the finish. I hit the last straightaway with my normal energy and finished in 46:33. Not sure where that put me age group place wise as I forgot to look at the results..meh.
Jay finished his 3 mile run just ahead of me and he looked strong. We all hung around to cheer on the rest of our friends as there were quite a few of us at the race. Post race I had a cookie and then Starr,Jay, I and our 2 dogs walked about a mile or so back home taking the scenic trails instead of the straighter paved route.
Trail running is probably my favorite thing to do at this point in my life.
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